JP2003333239A - Image processor with specified image decision interrupt - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To increase the processing rate of the whole system without holding image data in a controller until a specified image is discriminated and its decision result is outputted and to easily manage the image data with page IDs. <P>SOLUTION: Provided are a reader which reads image data out of a document, an image processor for the reader, a device which decides a specified image, an image processor for a printer, and a controller for the whole printer. Individual pieces of image data are handled as packets and a mechanism of page IDs is provided for page management. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing device for determining a specific image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a digital color copying machine, when it is necessary to read a document with a reader such as a scanner and determine whether or not printing is possible, the image data read from the reader is subjected to image determination and the determination result is determined according to the determination result. Image data that has undergone appropriate image processing is output to a printer for printing.

The image determination involves prohibiting printout of a specific image by image processing such as pattern matching, which takes time. Until the determination result is obtained, the image data of the document cannot be printed out and must be held in the controller such as CPU.

The controller manages whether or not the image determination has been performed by communication with an image determination device, interrupts, etc., and sends the image data to the image processing apparatus for the printer after the determination result is obtained.

[0005]

In the above-mentioned conventional example, it takes time to determine a specific image and obtain the determination result, and a controller such as a CPU reads the image data from a scanner or the like and image-processed image data. Must be held until the determination result is output to the controller, and the processing time of the controller is limited to the processing time of the determination result.

When the processing time of the controller is longer than the time when the determination result is output, it is not necessary to hold the image data for the determination result, but the operation speed of the controller is increased and the processing is faster than the determination result. In that case, it must be held until the determination result is output to the controller.

When the controller does not hold the image data and the processing speed of the controller and the operating speed of the printer increase, the image data is output from the controller to the printer via the image processing apparatus for the printer before the determination result is obtained. There is a risk of being killed. If the determination result is the result of prohibiting the printout, it has been printed out, which causes a problem.

Further, when a plurality of originals are continuously read from a scanner or the like, if a controller such as a CPU is interrupted after a determination result is output, the corresponding image data is specified and the determination result is determined. To perform the processing, the processing becomes complicated, and it becomes necessary to hold and manage all the information of the image data read from the scanner or the like in the controller. In addition, a memory for that is required, and it must be held until the determination result is output by the controller, which slows down the operation speed.

[0009]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention adds a page ID to the image data read from a scanner or the like so that the page can be managed,
An image processing apparatus for a reader such as a scanner interfaces with a discriminating device for discriminating a specific image, and manages a page ID of image data sent to the discriminating device.

An image processing apparatus for a printer is directly used to determine whether or not printout is possible for a page ID for which a measurement result is output from a determination device, and to pass the page ID when printout is prohibited through a controller. Send to. The page IDs for which printing is prohibited are sequentially sent to the image processing apparatus for the printer with the page IDs for which the judgment result is obtained from the judgment apparatus.

The image processing apparatus for the printer has a memory or a register for holding the information of the page ID for which printing is prohibited from the image processing apparatus for the reader, and stores the page ID for which printing is prohibited. .

In the image processing apparatus for the printer, the page ID of the image data sent to the image processing apparatus for the printer via the controller via the image processing apparatus for the reader is seen, and the image processing apparatus for the reader sends the page ID. It is determined whether or not the printout is possible by comparing with the obtained printout prohibited page ID.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The apparatus and its operation in this embodiment will be described in detail below.

First Embodiment <Description of Entire Network System> FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of a network system using the present invention.

The image input / output system 100 of the present invention is mainly composed of a reader and a printer, and an image read from the reader is read by a local area network 110 (hereinafter referred to as LA).
The image received from the LAN can be printed out by the printer. Further, the image read from the reader is transmitted to the PSTN or ISDN 130 by the FAX transmission means (not shown), or the PSTN or ISDN is transmitted.
The image received from DN is printed out by the printer. A database server 102 manages a binary image and a multivalued image read by the image input / output system 100 as a database.

Reference numeral 103 denotes a database client of the database server 102, which can browse / search image data stored in the database 102.

An electronic mail server 104 can receive an image read by the image input / output system 100 as an electronic mail attachment. Reference numeral 105 denotes an e-mail client, which can receive and browse the e-mail received by the e-mail server 104 and send the e-mail.

Reference numeral 106 is a WWW server for providing an HTML document to the LAN, which is used by the image input / output system 100 as a WW server.
The HTML document provided by the W server can be printed out.

Reference numeral 107 denotes the LAN 1 via the router 111.
10 is an DNS server that connects 10 to the Internet / Intranet 112. The database server 102 and the WW described above are connected to the Internet / Intranet 112.
Devices similar to the W server 106, the electronic mail server 104, and the image input / output system 100 are 121 and 12 respectively.
It is connected as 2,123. On the other hand, the image input / output system 100 uses the PSTN or ISDN 130 to
It is possible to transmit and receive with the FAX machine 131.

A printer 140 is also connected to the LAN 110 so that an image read by the image input / output system 100 can be printed out.

The overall structure of the image input / output system 100 is
This will be described with reference to FIG.

The reader unit 200 optically reads a document image and converts it into image data. In addition, the reader unit 200
Is a scanner unit 2 having a function of reading a document.
10 and a document feeding unit 250 having a function of conveying a document sheet.

The printer unit 300 conveys a recording sheet, prints image data as a visible image on the recording sheet, and discharges the recording sheet to the outside of the apparatus. The printer unit 300 includes a paper feeding unit 360 having a plurality of types of recording paper cassettes, and a marking unit 310 having a function of transferring and fixing image data on recording paper.
And a paper discharge unit 370 having a function of sorting, stapling the printed recording paper, and outputting it to the outside of the machine.

The controller unit 150 is electrically connected to the reader unit 200 and the printer unit 300, and further, the network 40 such as the LAN 110, PSTN or ISDN 130, Internet / Intranet 112, and the like.
It is connected to 0. The controller unit 150 is
The reader unit 200 is controlled to read the image data of the document, and the printer unit 300 is controlled to output the image data to a recording sheet to provide a copy function.

A scanner function of converting the image data read by the reader unit 200 into code data and transmitting the code data to the host computer via the LAN 110, and converting the code data received from the host computer via the network 400 into image data. The printer unit 300
Provide a printer function to output to.

The operation unit 160 is the controller unit 1.
A liquid crystal touch panel is connected to the digital camera 50 and provides a user interface for operating the image input / output system.

FIG. 3 shows the reader unit 200 and the printer unit 30.
FIG.

The document feeding unit 250 of the reader section feeds the documents one by one in order from the beginning to the platen glass 211,
After the document reading operation is completed, the document on the platen glass 211 is discharged. The original is platen glass 21
When it is conveyed to the position 1, the lamp 212 is turned on, the movement of the optical unit 213 is started, and the original is exposed and scanned. The reflected light from the document at this time is reflected by the mirrors 214, 2
It is guided to a CCD image sensor (hereinafter referred to as CCD) 218 by 15, 216 and a lens 217. In this way, the image of the scanned original is read by the CCD 218.

The leader image pre-processing unit 222 includes the CCD 21.
The image data output from 8 is subjected to predetermined processing and output to the controller unit 150.

The printer image processing unit 352 outputs the image signal sent from the controller unit 150 to the laser driver 317.

Laser driver 317 of printer unit 300
Is for driving the laser emitting units 313, 314, 315, 316, and emits laser light corresponding to the image data output from the printer image processing unit 352.
3, 314, 315 and 316 are made to emit light. This laser light is reflected by mirrors 310, 341, 342, 343, 344 and
345, 346, 347, 348, 349, 350, 3
The photosensitive drums 325, 326, 327, 32
8 and the photosensitive drums 325, 326, 327, 3 are irradiated.
On 28, a latent image corresponding to the laser light is formed. 321,
322, 323, 324 are black (B
k), yellow (Y), cyan (C), magenta (M)
A developing device for developing a latent image with the toner of. The developed toners of the respective colors are transferred to a sheet to be printed out in full color.

The paper fed from any one of the paper cassettes 360 and 361 and the manual feed tray 362 at the timing synchronized with the start of the irradiation of the laser beam is the registration roller 3
After passing through 33, it is adsorbed on the transfer belt 334 and conveyed. Then, the photosensitive drums 325, 326, 327, 32
The developer attached to No. 8 is transferred to recording paper. The recording paper on which the developer is carried is conveyed to the fixing unit 335, and the developer is fixed on the recording paper by the heat and pressure of the fixing unit 335. Fixing unit 3
The recording paper that has passed 35 is discharged by a discharge roller 336, and a discharge unit 370 bundles the discharged recording papers to sort the recording papers or staple the sorted recording papers.

When double-sided recording is set,
After the recording paper is conveyed to the discharge roller 336, the rotation direction of the discharge roller 336 is reversed and the flapper 337 is rotated.
The sheet is guided to the re-feeding conveyance path 338. Refeeding conveyance path 33
The recording paper guided to No. 8 is fed to the transfer belt 334 at the above timing.

<Description of Leader Image Pre-Processing Unit> FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the detailed arrangement of the reader image pre-processing unit 222.

In the reader image pre-processing unit 222, the original document on the platen glass 211 is read by the CCD 218 and converted into an electric signal (when the CCD 218 is a color sensor, RGB color filters are RG on one line CCD).
3-line CCD even if inline in B order
Then, the R filter, the G filter, and the B filter may be arranged for each CCD, or the filter may be on-chip or the filter may be configured separately from the CCD). Then, the electric signal (analog image signal) is input to the reader image pre-processing unit 222, sampled and held (S / H) by the clamp & Amp & S / H & A / D unit 401, and the dark level of the analog image signal is clamped to the reference potential. Then, it is amplified to a predetermined amount (the processing order is not limited to the notation order), A / D-converted, and converted into a digital signal of 8 bits for each of RGB, for example. Then, the RGB signal is output to the shading unit 402.
Then, after the shading correction and the black correction are performed, it is output to the controller unit 150.

<Description of Controller Unit> The functions of the controller unit 150 are also shown in the overall configuration diagrams shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 and the configuration diagrams of the printer image processing unit 352 and the reader image processing unit 354 shown in FIGS. And explain.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the internal configuration of the controller unit 150, the printer unit 300, the reader unit 200, and the reader image preprocessing unit 222.

The system control unit 2150 is the overall control unit of the controller unit 150. The printer image processing unit 352, the image processing unit 1 (353), the reader image processing unit 354, and the image processing unit 2 (355) are connected to the system control unit 2150 by the image ring 2008, and the data packet is formed into a ring system. The control unit 2150 transfers the data to each processing unit and returns to the system control unit 2150. The data packet will be described later.

The memories 356, 357, 358, 359 are for controlling the delay amount of the image data on the printer drum in the printer unit 300, and have a memory for each color component (YMCK) and an image for each color component. It can hold several pages of data. here,
Use SPRAM.

Image processing unit 1 (353), image processing unit 2
(355) is an image processing block that performs image processing for the printer and the reader.

The specific image determination unit 380 determines a specific image from the image data 391 acquired from the reader unit 200 which is an image input device or the network 400 by using pattern matching or the like.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an overall configuration diagram of the inside of the controller unit 150.

The controller unit 150 is connected to the reader unit 200, which is an image input device, the reader image preprocessing unit 222, and the printer unit 300, which is an image output device. On the other hand, the controller unit 150 is connected to a network 110 such as a LAN 2011 or a public line (WAN) 2051. It is a controller for inputting / outputting image information and device information and developing an image of PDL data by connecting.

The CPU 2001 is a processor that controls the entire system. In this embodiment, an example using two CPUs is shown. These two CPUs have a common CPU bus 2
126 connected to the system bus bridge 20.
07 is connected.

The system bus bridge 2007 is a bus switch, and has a CPU bus 2126, a RAM controller 2124, a ROM controller 2125, and an IO bus 1.
(2127), sub bus switch 2128, IO bus 2
(2129), image ring interface 1 (214
7), the image ring interface 2 (2148) is connected.

The sub-bus switch 2128 is a second bus switch, and includes the image DMA1 (2130) and the image DM.
The A2 (2132), the font decompression unit 2134, the sort circuit 2135, and the bit map trace unit 2136 are connected to arbitrate the memory access request output from the DMA and connect to the system bus bridge.

The RAM 2002 is a system work memory for the CPU 2001 to operate and also an image memory for temporarily storing image data. In this embodiment, which is controlled by the RAM controller 2124, a direct RDRAM is adopted.

The ROM 2003 is a boot ROM in which a system boot program is stored. It is controlled by the ROM controller 2125.

The image DMA 1 (2130) is connected to the image compression unit 3131, controls the image compression unit 2131 based on the information set via the register access ring 2137, and reads out the uncompressed data on the RAM 2002, Compress and write back data after compression.

The image DMA2 (2132) is connected to the image decompression unit 2133, controls the image decompression unit 2133 based on the information set via the register access ring 2137, and reads and decompresses the compressed data on the RAM 2002. , The data after decompression is written back.

The font decompression unit 2134, based on the font code included in the PDL data externally transferred via the LAN interface 2010, etc., the ROM 200
3 or decompress the compressed font data stored in the RAM 2002.

The sort circuit 2135 is a circuit for rearranging the order of the objects in the display list generated at the stage of expanding the PDL data.

The bit map trace circuit 2136 is a circuit for extracting edge information from the pit map data.

The IO bus 1 (2127) is a kind of internal IO bus, and is a standard USB bus controller, USB interface 2138, general-purpose serial port 2139, interrupt controller 2140, GP.
The IO interface 2141 is connected. IO bus 1
Includes a bus arpiter (not shown).

The operation unit interface 2006 is the operation unit 1
The image data to be displayed on the operation unit 160 is output to the operation unit 160 by the interface unit 60 and the interface unit. In addition, the information input by the system user from the operation unit 160 is changed to the CP
It serves to convey to U2001.

The IO bus 2 (2129) is a kind of internal IO bus, and the general-purpose bus interfaces 1 and 2 (214).
2) and the LAN controller 2010 are connected. I
The O-bus 2 includes a bus arbiter (not shown).

The general-purpose bus interface 2142 is a bus bridge composed of two identical bus interfaces and supporting a standard IO bus. In this embodiment, the PC
An example in which the I bus 2143 is adopted is shown.

The HDD 2004 is a hard disk drive that stores system software and image data. It is connected to one PCI bus 2143 via the disk controller 2144.

The LAN controller 2010 is a LAN via the MAC circuit 2145 and the PHY / PMD circuit 2146.
It connects to 2011 and inputs and outputs information.

The Modem 2050 is connected to the public line 2051 and inputs / outputs information.

The rendering unit 2060 develops the PDL code or the intermediate display list into a pit map image.

Image ring interface 1 (2147)
The image ring interface 2 (2148) connects the system path bridge 2007 to the image ring 2008 that transfers data packets at high speed, and stores the data compressed after tiling in the RAM 2002 and the tile image processing unit 21.
It is a DMA controller for transferring between 49.

The image ring 2008 is composed of a combination of a pair of unidirectional connection paths (image ring 1 and image ring 2).

FIG. 7 shows a block diagram of the printer image processing unit 352, and FIG. 8 shows a block diagram of the reader image processing unit 354.

The image ring 2008 is used by the system controller 2
150, printer image processing unit 352, image processing unit 1 (3
53), the reader image processing unit 354, and the image processing unit 2 (35
5) A bus connecting between the two.

The image ring 2008 is the image ring interface 1 (214) in the printer image processing unit 352.
7) and the image ring interface 3 (2301), the tile decompression unit 2303 and the command processing unit 2 (230).
4) is connected. Further, the image ring 2008
Is a reader via the image ring interface 4 (2302) in the printer image processing unit 352 and the image ring interface in the image processing unit 1 (353) (the image processing unit 1 (353 also has an image ring interface inside). Image ring interface 5 in the image processing unit 351
(2401) and is connected to the command processing unit 2403. Further, the image ring 2008 is connected to the image ring interface 6 (2) in the reader image processing unit 354.
402) and an image ring interface in the image processing unit 2 (355) (the image processing unit 2 (355) also has an image ring interface).
It is connected to 150 image ring interfaces 2 (2148).

The tile expansion unit 2303 is a bus bridge which is connected to the tile ring 2307 in addition to the connection to the image ring interface, expands the compressed image data input from the image ring, and transfers the expanded image data to the tile bus 2307. .

The tile compression unit 2405 is a bus bridge which is connected to the tile ring 2407 in addition to being connected to the image ring interface, compresses image data before compression input from the tile bus, and transfers the image data to the image ring 2008. .

The command processing unit 2 (2304) and the command processing unit 2403 are connected to the image ring interface and also connected to the register setting buses 2309 and 2407, and register settings issued by the CPU 2001 input via the image ring. Request to register setting bus 230
Write to the corresponding block connected to 9,2407. Further, based on a register read request issued from the CPU 2001, information is read from the corresponding register via the register setting bus, and the image ring interface 4 (23
02), and transfer to the image ring interface 6 (2402).

The status processing units 2305 and 2404 monitor the information of each image processing unit, generate an interrupt bucket for issuing an interrupt to the CPU 2001, and output it to the image ring interface 2302 and the image ring interface 6 (2402). To do.

In addition to the above blocks, the following functional blocks are connected to the tile buses 2307 and 2408.

Image output interface 2410, image output interface 2310, image rotation units 2406, 23
06.

The image output interface 2410 receives the raster image data corrected by the image input processing unit 1 (2411), which will be described later, as an input, and outputs it to the tile image by a predetermined method set via the register setting bus. Tile bus 2 with structural conversion and clock synchronization
Output to 408.

The image output interface 2310 receives the tile image data from the tile bus 2307 as input, performs structural conversion into a raster image and changes the clock rate, and outputs the raster image to the image output processing section 2511.

Image rotating units 2306 and 2406 rotate image data.

The memory control units 2415 and 2320 are connected to the memory buses 2409 and 2308, and write image data to the image memories 2416 and 2321 by preset address division according to the request of each image processing unit. Read-out and refresh operation are performed if necessary.

In this embodiment, the example in which the SDRAM is used as the image memory is shown.

In the image input processing unit 1 (2411), the image data input from the image input processing unit 2 (2413) is subjected to corrected image processing.

The image input processing unit 2 (2413) processes the image data input via the reader interface 2414, which is an image input device, for the corrected image processing.

The reader interface 2414 interfaces with the reader image processing section 222.

The image output processing unit 2311 performs the correction image processing on the image data input from the image output interface 2310.

Printer interface 1 (2316),
2 (2317), 3 (2318), 4 (2319)
An interface is provided to output image data for each color component (YMCK) to the printer unit 300.

Inter-drum delay control section 1 (2312), 2
Reference numerals (2313), 3 (2314), and 4 (2315) are control units for controlling the photosensitive drums to be developed for each tone color component (YMCK). According to the timing of the image request of the photosensitive drum from 300, the required toner color (Y,
M, C, K) image data is output.

The specific image determination unit 380 and the specific image determination interface 2412 will be described later.

<Data Packet Format> In the controller unit 2000 according to the present invention, image data, commands by the CPU 2001, and interrupt information issued from each block are transferred in a packetized format.

In this embodiment, the data packet shown in FIG. 9 is used.

In this embodiment, the image Data is set to 32 pixels.
Image data 300 of Tile unit of 1x32 pixels
An example in which the data is divided into two and handled will be shown.

The required header information 3001 and additional image information 3003 are added to the image in tile units to form a data packet.

The information contained in the header information 3001 will be described below.

The TyPe of the packet is the header information 3001.
It is distinguished by PacktType 3004 in. Pca
The ktType 3004 includes a repeat flag, and when the image data of the data packet is the same as the image data of the data packet transmitted immediately before, the repeat flag is set.

ChipID 3005 is the ID of the chip (LSI, device, etc.) that is the target for transmitting packets.
Indicates.

DataTyPe 3006 indicates the type of data.

PageD3007 shows a page, and JobID is Job for managing by software.
The ID 3008 is stored.

The Tile number is the Tile coordinate 3 in the Y direction.
A combination of 009 and Tile coordinates 3010 in the X direction is represented by YnXn.

The data packet may or may not be compressed image data. The distinction between compressed and uncompressed is CompressFlag30.
Shown at 17.

The PrintFlag 3018 performs identification for distinguishing whether or not printout is possible.

Process Instruction3
011 is left-justified and is set in the processing order.
process Instruction to the left 8 Bi
tShift. Process Instruct
ion3011 is UnitID3019 and Mode30
A plurality of 20 sets are stored. UnitID301
9 designates each processing unit, and Mode 3020 designates the operation mode in each processing unit. Thereby, one packet can be continuously processed by a plurality of processing units.

PacketByteLength301
2 indicates the total number of bytes of the packet.

ImageDenataByteLengt
h3015 is the number of bytes of image data, ZdataByt
The eLength 3016 represents the number of bytes of the image additional information, and the ImageDataOffset 3013 and Zda.
taOffset 3014 represents the offset from the beginning of the packet of each data.

<Specific Image Judgment Interrupt Control> The function of interrupt control upon judgment of a specific image will be described with reference to the configuration diagram shown in FIG.

The specific image determination section 380 determines the image data 39
Interrupt signal 2 if 1 matches a particular image
437 is actively output to the specific image determination interface 2412 in the reader image processing unit 354, and the image data 3
In particular, the interrupt signal is inactive if 91 does not match a particular image.

The specific image determining section 380 determines the image data 39
When determining 1, the determination end signal 2438 is output to the specific image determination interface 2412 to notify the reader image processing unit 354 of information indicating whether determination is in progress or completion of determination.

The image judged by the specific image judging section 380 is
Although not particularly limited, when the image read from the reader unit 200 or the image information from the network 400 is a banknote, the printer unit 300 is informed so that printing is prohibited.

The specific image determination signal control section 2421 controls communication with the specific image determination section 380, receives image data from the image input processing section 2 (2413), and synchronizes with the control signal for each page. The image data 391 is output to the specific image determination unit 380. Also, the interrupt signal 243 which is the determination result from the specific image determination unit 380.
7 and the judgment end signal 2438, the page ID analysis unit 2422 and the print prohibited page output unit 2423 receive the start signal 2432 and the interrupt signal 2 which are the information of the judgment result.
435 is output to the page ID analysis unit 2422 and the print prohibited page output unit 2423, respectively.

In the page ID analysis unit 2422, the page ID added by the image input interface 2410.
Information 3007 and the activation signal 2432 from the specific image determination signal control unit 2421 and grasp the page processed by the specific image determination unit.

Since the interrupt signal 2437 is sent from the specific image judging section 380 when the judgment is completed,
Arbitrary timing. That is, the timing at which the interrupt signal is input does not always coincide with the page processed by the reader image processing unit 354, and is the same as the page processed by the reader image processing unit 354 or the subsequent page. .

In the page ID analysis section 2422, in order to grasp the page processed by the specific image determination section 380,
An internal page ID storage register section 2424 stores several page IDs sent from the image input interface. In FIG. 10, the page ID register 24
25 can store n + 1 pages. When the determination end signal 2438 is sent from the specific image determination unit 380 and the processing of the target page is completed, the information of the page ID register 2425 of the target page ID is sent to the print prohibited page output unit 2423 and the next page ID is output.
Shifted to register information.

In the print inhibition page output unit 2423,
The register data 2434 of the page ID register 0 of the page ID storage register unit 2424 when the interrupt signal 2437 becomes active (when the interrupt signal 2435 becomes active) in the specific image determination unit 380 is used as the print prohibited page ID signal 2439. , To the printer image processing unit 352.

FIG. 11 shows an example of the flow of interrupt control when determining a specific image.

When the activation signal for receiving the image data from the image input processing unit 2 (2413) becomes active (S6001), the image information from the image input processing unit 2 (2413) is received (S6002), and each page is received. Output to the specific image determination unit 380 in synchronization with the control signal (S6).
003). The activation signal 2432 for starting determination from the specific image determination unit 380 is received (S6004), and the process waits until the determination end signal 2438 from the specific image determination unit 380 becomes active (S6005). In parallel, image data information comes to the image input interface 2410, and page I
The signal added with the D information is received (S6009), and the page ID information is received from the image input interface 2410 (S6010). The information of the page ID is written in the page ID register (S6011), and the image information of the next page is waited for from the color space matching unit. When the determination end signal 2438 is received from the specific image determination unit 380 (S6005), the page ID register is shifted (S6).
006), if the interrupt signal from the specific image determination unit 380 at that time is active, the print prohibited page ID
As a result, the page ID is output (S6008) and the process ends. If the page ID is inactive, no output is performed (S6012) and the process ends.

<Print Prohibited Page Control in Command Processing Unit 2> The control of the print prohibited page in the command processing unit 2 in the printer image processing unit 352 will be described with reference to the configuration diagram shown in FIG.

Image ring interface 3 (2301)
The data packet from is stored in the input buffer 2450 and the attribute of the data packet is set to Attribute
If the te analysis unit 2451 analyzes and there is a problem with the attribute, the data of the attribute is output to the tile path interface 2455 as an error. The header information of the data packet is analyzed by the header analysis unit 2452, and the analysis result is written in the header unit of the data packet and output to the tile bus interface 2455.

The header analysis unit 2452 extracts the page ID 3007 from the header information of the data packet and print prohibited page register controller 2 (2456).
It is determined from the print prohibition signal 2460 and the end signal 2461 from the page ID whether the page ID is print prohibited. When printing is prohibited, Print Flag 3 of the header information
Set 018 to 1. Other than that, it remains 0. Whether or not the print is prohibited is judged to be print prohibited when the print prohibit signal is active while the end signal 2461 is inactive, and it is judged to be printable otherwise.

The print-prohibited page register controller 1 (2458) receives the print-prohibited page ID signal 2439 output from the reader image processing unit 354 and sequentially writes it in the register 2457 from register 0 to register n. Register 0 corresponds to the first print prohibited page, sequentially stores page IDs, and stores print prohibited page IDs for n + 1 pages.

The print inhibition page register controller 2 (2456) acquires the information of the page ID 3007 of the data packet from the header analysis unit 2452, and the page ID 3007 is used as the page ID stored in the registers 0 to n. Determine if there is a match. If there is a register in register 0 to register n that matches the page ID acquired from the header analysis unit 2452, the header analysis unit 2452 activates the print inhibition signal 2460 and activates the end signal 2461. If there is no register in the register 0 to the register n that matches the page ID acquired from the header analysis unit 2452, the header analysis unit outputs the print prohibition signal 246.
0 deactivates and activates the end signal 2461.

The command analysis section 2453 is the CPU 200.
The register setting request issued from 1 is written in the corresponding block connected to the register setting bus 2309. Further, based on a register read request issued from the CPU 2001, information is read from the corresponding register via the register setting bus 2309 and transferred to the image ring interface 4 (2302).

The tile bus interface 2455 is an interface for outputting a data packet as a tile image to the tile bus 2307.

FIG. 13 shows an example of the flow of print prohibited page control when determining a specific image.

When the print prohibited page ID is output from the reader image processing unit 354 (S7001), the page ID information is written in the register 2457 in the output order (S7002). Image ring interface 3 (23
01), the data packet is input as the image information (S7003), the page ID is extracted from the header information of the data packet (S7004), and the register 2457 is registered.
Compared to the print prohibited page written in (S700
5) If there is the same page ID (S7006),
It is determined that printing is prohibited (S7007). When printing is prohibited, the PrintFlag 3018 of the header information is set to 1 and the process ends.

On the other hand, when there is no same page ID,
It is determined that printing is possible (S7008), and PrintFla is performed.
The g3018 is set to 0, and the processing ends.

The printer unit 300 and the printer image processing unit 352 determine whether or not printout is possible based on the value of PrintF1ag3018, and PrintF1ag3018
When ag3018 is 1, the printer unit 300 does not print out the image data from the printer image processing unit 352, or the printer image processing unit 352
No image data is output to the printer unit 300.

<Example of Sequence when Copy Image is Output> FIG.
4 is a flow chart showing the procedure for outputting a copy image in this embodiment. When outputting a copy image, S4
In 001, the user makes copy settings for the copy image output job on the operation unit 160. The copy setting contents include the number of copies, paper size, single-sided / double-sided, enlargement / reduction ratio, sort output, presence / absence of stapling, and the like.

In step S4002, when a copy start instruction is given on the operation unit 160, the system control unit 2150 of the controller unit 150 controls the reader unit 200 via the reader image processing unit 354 to read the image data of the original. To do. First, the document feeding unit 250 feeds placed documents one by one onto the platen glass 211, and at the same time, detects the size of the document. Image data is read by exposing and scanning a document based on the detected size of the document.

In S4003, the read image data is subjected to image processing by the reader image processing unit 354.

In step S4004, the reader image processing unit 354
Thus, the processed image data is transferred to the image processing unit 2 via the bus of the image ring 2008.

In S4005, the image data transferred via the image ring 2008 is subjected to desired image processing (rotation etc.).

In S4006, the image processing unit 2 (355)
The image data processed in (1) is transferred to the system control unit 2150 via the bus of the image ring 2008.

In S4007, the system control unit 2150
The image data is stored in the RAM 2002 via the interface.
Remembered above.

At S4008, the system control unit 2150
Reads the image data on the RAM 2002.

In S4009, the system control unit 2150
The image data on the RAM 2002 read by is transferred to the printer image processing unit 352.

In S4010, the printer image processing unit 35
2 is a printer unit 3 based on the copy setting parameters.
Image processing for 00 is performed. At this time, PrintF
Looking at the value of lag 3018, if it is 1, printout is not performed, and if it is 0, image data is sent to the printer unit 300 so that it is printed out.

At S4011, the controller unit 1
When the control unit 50 controls the printer unit 300 to print out the image data and the transfer of the image data is completed, that is, when the copy job ends, the print output ends.

[Second Embodiment] The apparatus of the present invention and its operation will be described in detail below.

The present embodiment is characterized in that the processing of the command processing unit 2 in the first embodiment is changed, and the inter-drum delay control unit has a process in which a control function of a print prohibited page is added.

Otherwise, the first embodiment is followed.

<Control of Command Processing Unit 2> FIG. 15 is a block diagram of the command processing unit 2.

The command processing unit 2 (2304) has no control function of the print prohibited page, is inside the printer image processing unit 352, and has the image ring interface 3 (2).
301) data packets from the input buffer 2470
Store the data packet attributes in Attr
If the attribute is analyzed by the ibute analysis unit 2471 and there is a problem with the attribute, the data of the attribute is output to the tile bus interface 2475 as an error.
The header information of the data packet is analyzed by the header analysis unit 2472, and the analysis result is written in the header unit of the data packet and output to the tile bus interface 2475.

The command analysis section 2473 has a CPU 200
The register setting request issued from No. 1 is written to the corresponding block connected to the register setting bus 2309 via the register setting bus interface 2474. Also,
Based on a register read request issued from the CPU 2001, information is read from the corresponding register via the register setting bus 2309 and the image ring interface 23
02.

The tile bus interface 2475 is an interface for outputting a data packet as a tile image to the tile bus 2307.

<Print Prohibition Page Control in Inter-Drum Delay Control Unit> Inter-drum delay control unit 1 (2312), 2
The control of the print prohibited page in (2313), 3 (2314), and 4 (2315) will be described based on the configuration diagram shown in FIG. 16 and the relationship diagram between the photosensitive drum and the document shown in FIG. Inter-drum delay control unit 1 (2312), 2
Although (2313), 3 (2314), and 4 (2315) have different color components to be processed, they have the same configuration. Therefore, the configuration diagram of FIG. 16 shows one of them. is there.

As shown in FIG. 17, the photosensitive drums 325,
326, 327, and 328, when developing a latent image with black (Bk), yellow (Y), cyan (C), and magenta (M) toners on a document sheet, respectively.
Since there is a gap between the photosensitive drums, the printer image processing unit 35
2 must output the image data for each photosensitive drum in accordance with the timing at which each photosensitive drum develops.

The control for outputting the image data for each photosensitive drum at the timing of developing each photosensitive drum,
Inter-drum delay control unit 1 (2312), 2 (2313),
3 (2314) and 4 (2315).

Inter-drum delay control section 1 (2312), 2
Since (2313), 3 (2314), and 4 (2315) must control the output of the image data for each photosensitive drum at a necessary timing, the memories 356, 357, 358, and 359 that hold the image data, respectively. Holding The memories 356, 357, 358, and 359 hold image data for black (Bk), yellow (Y), cyan (C), and macender (M), respectively.

By the time the developed toners of the respective colors are transferred to the paper and the full-color printout is performed, the four photosensitive drums are passed through, and the print prohibited page is reached by the last passing photosensitive drum (black) 325. If it can be discriminated, the normal passing of the printout is prohibited by painting the drum (black) 325 that finally passes through in black.

The inter-drum control unit 2480 controls the delay between the photosensitive drums, transfers the image data to and from the memory control unit 2483, the page ID analysis unit 2481 to the header information data, and the printer unit 300. Output the image data of the required toner colors (black, yellow, cyan, magenta) in accordance with the timing of the image request of the photosensitive drum.

The page ID analysis section 2481 extracts the page ID 3007 from the header information of the data packet from the inter-drum control section 2480, and the memory page control section 24
The data of page ID 3007 is sent to 82.

The memory I / F 2484 interfaces with the memory 356 or the memory 357 or the memory 358 or the memory 359.

When the memory control unit 2483 holds the image data in the memories 356, 357, 358, 359 in accordance with the timing from the inter-drum control unit 2480,
When sending to the memory I / F 2484 and reading, image data is sent from the memories 356, 357, 358, 359 to the inter-drum controller 2480 via the memory I / F 2484. Further, in order to determine the page ID of the image data held in the memories 356, 357, 358, 359, the memory page control unit 2482 reads the memory,
Send information about lights. Inter-drum delay control unit 1 (231
2), 2 (2313), 3 (2314), 4 (231)
The image data sent to 5) is stored in the memories 356 and 35.
7, 358, 359, write information to the memory is sent to the memory page control unit 2482, and the inter-drum delay control unit 1 (2312), 2 (2313), 3 (2
314), 4 (2315), the read information is sent.

The memory page control unit 2482 receives the memories 356, 357, 358, 3 from the memory control unit 2483.
59) Read and write information to page ID
By receiving the page ID from the analysis unit 2481, the page stored in the memories 356, 357, 358, 359 can be grasped, and the page ID is stored in the memory page register 2485. The memory page register 2485 includes memories 356, 357, 358, and 35.
Only the page ID stored in No. 9 will be stored.

Only when the page for which printing is prohibited is received from the print prohibited page register controller 2 (2486) and there is a page for which printing is prohibited in the memory page register 2485, the inter-drum control unit 2480 prints the page. PrintF1ag30 of header information when image data is output to the interface
Set 18 to 1.

The print inhibition page register controller 1 (2488) receives the print inhibition page ID signal 2439 output from the reader image processing unit 2122,
The registers 2 to 0 are sequentially written into the register 2487. Register 0 corresponds to the first print prohibited page, sequentially stores page IDs, and stores print prohibited page IDs for n + 1 pages.

The print inhibition page register controller 2 (2486) uses the memory page control unit 2482 to register the page IDs stored in the memory page register 2485 to the registers 24 to 0 to n.
It is determined whether or not there is a match with the page ID stored in 87. If there is a register in the register 0 to register n that matches the page ID stored in the memory page register 2485, the memory page control unit 2482 sets the page ID as a page for which printing is prohibited.
Let us know.

FIG. 18 shows an example of the flow of print prohibited page control when determining a specific image.

When the print prohibited page ID is output from the reader image processing unit 200 (S8001), the information of the page ID is written in the register 2487 in the output order (S8002). Inter-drum delay control unit 1 (231
2), 2 (2313), 3 (2314), 4 (231)
When a data packet is input as image information in 5) (S8003), the page ID is extracted from the header information of the data packet (S8004) and stored in the memory page register 2485 to store the memory 256, 257, 2.
The page IDs stored in 58 and 359 are managed (S8005). The print prohibited page written in the register 2487 is compared with the page ID of the memory page register 2485 (S8006). If the same page ID is found, it is determined that the print is prohibited (S8007). When printing is prohibited, PrintFlag of header information
Set 3018 to 1 and end 8008.

On the other hand, in (S8007), the same page ID
If there is not, it is determined that printing is possible (S800
9), the process ends.

[0156]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is not necessary to hold the image data in the controller until a certain specific image is determined and the determination result is output, which is expected to reduce the memory and improve the processing speed of the entire system.

Further, since information is sent directly from the image processing apparatus for readers to the image processing apparatus for printers, the amount of time required for processing image data from the image processing apparatus for readers to the image processing apparatus for printers via the controller. It is possible to delay the time of the determination result. Further, when the control for delaying between the drums is used, the determination may be made by the time when the black toner is developed, so that the determination result can be delayed.

Further, since the output of the determination result in the determination device is not related to the controller, it is possible to facilitate the processing of the controller, and by adding the page ID,
Facilitate control page management such as print prohibition.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an actual use environment of the system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of an image input / output system of the present system.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an overview of a reader unit and a printer unit.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a reader image preprocessing unit.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration inside a controller unit.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an entire internal configuration of a controller unit.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a printer image processing unit.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a reader image processing unit.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a data structure of a data packet.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a specific image interface and interrupt control when determining a specific image.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a flow of an interrupt control example when determining a specific image.

FIG. 12 is a configuration of the command processing unit 2 according to the first embodiment,
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating control of a print prohibited page in command processing unit 2.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a flow of a print prohibited page control example at the time of determining a specific image in the first embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a flow of outputting a copy image.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a command processing unit 2 according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a delay control unit between drums 1 according to the second embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the configurations of 2, 3, and 4, and control of a print prohibited page.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a photosensitive drum and a document.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart of a print prohibited page control when determining a specific image.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 image input / output system 101 image input / output system 102 database server 110 LAN 112 Internet / Intranet 140 printers

Continued front page    F-term (reference) 2H134 NA01 NA13 NA20 NA30 NA45                 2H300 EB07 EB12 EF02 EF06 EH16                       EJ09 EK03 GG00 GG31 RR30                       SS02 SS05 SS07 SS11 TT03                       TT04                 5B057 AA11 BA11 CE16 CH01 CH11                       CH14 CH16 DA06 DB06 DC01                       DC33                 5C062 AA05 AA35 AB17 AB22 AB41                       AB42 AC02 AC04 AC58 AE15                       AF12                 5C077 LL14 LL18 MM03 MP08 PP32                       PP33 PP55 PQ12 PQ22 SS01                       SS02 TT06

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A reader device for inputting information of first image data from a manuscript, and judgment means for judging whether or not the information of the first image data of the manuscript input from the reader device can be printed. An image processing device for a reader for correcting the first image data inputted from the reader bag, a controller for controlling the whole of the image processing device, and an image correction for a printer for printing out. An image processing apparatus for a printer, a printer apparatus for printing out image data processed by the image processing apparatus for a printer, an image processing apparatus for the reader, the controller, and a ring between the image processing apparatus for the printer. Connect in a bus shape,
An image processing apparatus comprising: a mechanism for performing transfer by using information of the first image data. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1,
An image processing apparatus, wherein the first image data is image data such as characters and images of a document. 3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1,
First image data is divided into packets, header information for managing the packets is added to generate second image data, and the second image data in the form of packets is generated by the controller and the controller. An image processing apparatus, wherein the image processing apparatus for a printer, the determination unit, a reader device for inputting the image data, and the ring bus-shaped data between the image processing apparatuses for the reader perform processing. 4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first image data includes page ID information for managing pages of a document, and the header information in the second image data. Image processing installation characterized by being incorporated into the inside. 5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1,
The image processing apparatus, wherein the determination means has a function of determining whether or not a specific image exists in the second image data. 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determination means determines that the printout is prohibited when a specific image is present in the second image data, and outputs information that prohibits the printout. Image processing device. 7. The image processing apparatus according to claim 6,
An image processing apparatus, wherein when the determination unit prohibits the printout, the page ID for prohibiting the printout is sent to the image processing apparatus for printer to manage the page for which the printout is prohibited. 8. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1,
An image processing apparatus, wherein the result determined by the determination unit is directly sent to the printer image processing apparatus without passing through the controller. 9. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1,
The image processing apparatus for a printer has a function of storing the information of the page ID for prohibiting the printout for several pages. 10. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printer image processing apparatus extracts the page ID of the second image data sent from the controller and prohibits the printout. An image processing apparatus which judges whether or not a matching page ID exists in the image, and when there is a matching page ID, does not print out or paints with black toner. 11. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printer image processing apparatus extracts the page ID of the second image data sent from the controller and prohibits the printout. An image processing apparatus characterized by performing image processing for a printer so that printout can be performed when a matching page ID does not exist. 12. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image processing apparatus for printer has an independent delay memory between drums for each color component of YMCK, and an inter-drum performing delay control between the drums. An image processing device having a delay control device. 13. The image processing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein in the inter-drum delay control device, when the page ID extracted from the second image data includes a page ID for prohibiting the printout, K The image processing apparatus has a function of managing the page ID in the inter-drum delay control device for the K component, as long as the page ID is known before developing the component. 14. The image processing device according to claim 13, wherein the inter-drum delay control device extracts the page ID of the second image data sent from the controller and prohibits the printout. An image processing apparatus which determines whether or not a matching page ID exists in the image, and applies the toner with a bluff only when the matching page ID exists.