JP2008271235A - Image processor, image processing method, image processing program and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image processor which can edit image data in the image processor and attain considerable reduction in a memory amount in the image processor, an image processing method, an image processing program and a recording medium. <P>SOLUTION: The image processor is constituted of a storage part 1, a block code control part 2, a block extension part 3, a compression part 4, a memory 5 and an editing part 6, the image processor reads block image data at a position where editing is desired, extends the block image data by the extension part 3 to perform predetermined editing. The image data after editing is compressed in the block compression part 4 and stored again in the storage part 1. The memory amount is reduced not by editing the compressed image data by performing page extension but re-compressing the compressed image data after extending it for each block. When only a part of the image is edited, processing time is considerably shortened since compressed data unnecessary to be edited is not processed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, an image processing program, and a recording medium, and more particularly to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, an image processing program, and a recording medium for editing an image.

  A device for storing image data, such as a printer, is provided with a memory for storing the image data. In such an apparatus, when image data is stored as it is, a large-capacity memory is required, which increases the manufacturing cost of the apparatus. Therefore, conventionally, a method of compressing and storing image data has been proposed. When outputting the stored image data, the compressed code is sequentially expanded to obtain the image data.

In addition, a technique has been proposed in which a compressed code is generated in units of rectangular blocks, and when the compressed code is output, only the compressed code related to the required rectangular block is read and decompressed (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).
JP-A-8-317225 JP-A-10-75345

  Here, as an apparatus that handles image data, for example, an MFP (Multi Function Printer) can be considered. There was a problem that it was impossible to edit the data in the MFP.

  In the proposed technique, only the reduction in the amount of memory by compressing image data and the output of image data are considered. In order to edit the compressed image data once stored in the MFP, it is necessary to send the data to the client PC side using software and edit it. However, since the image data is large, there is a problem that it takes a long transfer time. In addition, there is a problem that even after the image data is transferred to the PC, since the image data is large, the editing process is very heavy and takes time. In order to be able to edit inside the MFP, a very large amount of memory is required so that the compressed image data can be expanded and edited entirely, which may increase the cost.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a situation. By editing image data for each block, image data editing in the image processing apparatus can be performed in a short processing time. Since each block is compressed and stored, the object is to achieve a significant reduction in the amount of memory in the image processing apparatus.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided storage means for storing image data compressed in block units in block units, storage addresses of compressed image data stored in the block units, and blocks from the storage means. Reading means for reading compressed image data based on the storage address when reading in units, decompressing means for decompressing the read compressed image data, editing means for editing the decompressed image data, and the edited image data An image processing apparatus comprising: a compression unit that compresses the image.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the apparatus according to the first aspect, the format generation means for generating a predetermined code format from the storage means, connection means for connecting to a network, and the format based on the conditions of the network Adjusting means for adjusting the compression rate at the time of creation and adjusting the amount of data in the format.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the apparatus according to the first or second aspect, the editing means performs editing based on editing content received from the network.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, the image processing apparatus further comprises display means for displaying image data, and the editing means is based on editing contents instructed from the display means. It is characterized by editing.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the apparatus according to the fourth aspect, the image data displayed on the display means is small-resolution image data generated from compressed image data for each block stored in the storage means. It is characterized by being.

  The invention according to claim 6 stores the step of storing the image data compressed in units of blocks in units of blocks, the storage address of the compressed image data stored in units of blocks, and stores the block units from the storage means A step of reading compressed image data based on the storage address when reading in step, a step of expanding the compressed image data, a step of editing the expanded image data, and a step of compressing the edited image data. It is an image processing method characterized by comprising.

  The invention according to claim 7 stores the processing for storing the image data compressed in units of blocks in units of blocks, the storage address of the compressed image data stored in units of blocks, and blocks from the storage means A process of reading compressed image data based on the storage address at the time of reading, a process of expanding the compressed image data, a process of editing the expanded image data, and a process of compressing the edited image data An image processing program to be executed by a computer.

  The invention according to claim 8 is a computer-readable recording medium in which the processing of the program according to claim 7 is recorded.

  According to the present invention, by editing image data for each block, image data editing in the image processing apparatus can be performed in a short processing time, and image data is compressed and stored for each block. A significant reduction in the amount of memory in the image processing apparatus can be realized.

  Embodiments according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. The embodiments described below are preferred embodiments of the present invention, and thus various technically preferable limitations are given. However, the scope of the present invention is particularly limited in the following description. As long as there is no description which limits, it is not restricted to these aspects.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It comprises a storage unit 1, a block code control unit 2, a block decompression unit 3, a compression unit 4, a memory 5, and an editing unit 6. Reference numeral 7 denotes a bus.

  The storage unit 1 stores image data compressed in units of blocks for each block. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the image data is divided into 12 blocks (block Nos. 00 to 11) and stored.

  The block code control unit 2 stores the image data storage address of each block stored in the storage unit 1.

  The block decompression unit 3 decompresses the image data compressed in units of blocks. Decompression refers to restoring a compressed file (image data compressed in units of blocks in this embodiment). In general, a compressed file cannot be handled as it is by an application (for example, an editing application), and therefore needs to be decompressed when used. Also called thawing and unpacking.

  The memory 5 is a dedicated memory used when editing image data.

  The editing unit 6 edits the image data expanded by the block expansion unit 3. The compression unit 4 compresses image data in units of blocks.

  Next, the flow of operations when editing a part of image data in the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described. The dotted arrows shown in FIG. 1 represent the flow of image data. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the flow of the image processing operation in the image processing apparatus according to this embodiment.

  First, from the block code control unit 2 storing the address (image data storage address) of the compressed image data stored in the storage unit, the image data storage address of the block image data at the position to be edited is stored. (Step S1 in FIG. 8), and image data to be edited is received from the storage unit 1 based on the address (step S2). FIG. 3 is an address management table of each block data included in the storage unit 1.

  Next, the image data is sent to the decompression unit 3 and decompressed (step S3). FIG. 4 shows an example of the flow of reading the compressed image data of block No. 09 and decompressing it by the decompressing unit 3.

  Predetermined editing is performed by the editing unit 6 via the memory 5 (step S4). For example, the image data of block No. 09 includes a punch hole “◯”, but is white-painted by white-painting editing (see FIG. 5). In the present embodiment, white editing is performed, but the predetermined editing is not limited to white painting.

  The edited image data is compressed by the block compressor 4 (step S5). The compressed image data is stored again in the storage unit 1 (step S6).

  Since the image data after editing is naturally different from that before editing, only the address of the re-saved block image data is updated (see FIG. 7) (step S7).

  The updated address is managed again by the block code control unit 2.

  FIG. 9 shows image data after partial editing according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 9, the punch hole “◯” at the bottom of the image is erased.

  According to the above embodiment, when editing image data, the entire image data is not decompressed, edited, and re-saved, but is decompressed, edited, compressed, and re-saved for each block. The effect of shortening can be obtained. Further, since the image memory for editing may be one block, the effect of reducing the memory amount can be obtained.

  As another embodiment, when the memory 8 is directly connected to the bus 7 as shown in FIG. 10, the memory 8 can be used as a memory for other purposes as well as for editing processing. .

  Next, as another embodiment, an operation when image data is rotated will be described. When rotating the image, the block code control unit 2 changes the reading order of the block image data in accordance with the rotation angle. For example, the image data of each block is read and edited in the reading order as shown in FIG. That is, the main scanning and the sub-scanning starting position after rotation are read in order.

  The read compressed image data is decompressed by the decompressing unit 3 (see FIG. 12). The expanded image data is rotated by the editing unit 6 (see FIG. 13). In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 13, a 90-degree rotation process is performed.

  Next, the edited image data is compressed by the block compressor 4 (see FIG. 14). The compressed image data is saved again in the storage unit 1 and the address is updated (FIG. 15).

  FIG. 16 shows image data after all the block image data has been rotated. In this embodiment, since 90 degree rotation processing is performed, image data as shown in FIG. 16 is obtained.

  According to the above embodiment, since the image data is expanded for each block and rotated, the memory used for editing may be one block, and the amount of memory can be reduced.

  Furthermore, another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 17 is a block configuration diagram of the image processing apparatus 11 according to the present embodiment.

  It comprises a storage unit 1, a block code control unit 2, a block decompression unit 3, a compression unit 4, a memory 5, an editing unit 6, a format 9, and a network connection unit 10. Reference numeral 7 denotes a bus. The network connection unit 9 is connected to the network 12. The dotted line shown in FIG. 17 shows the data flow.

  FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing a flow of operation processing of the image processing apparatus 11 according to the present embodiment.

  Predetermined format data is generated from the block image data stored in the storage unit 1 (step S10 in FIG. 19), and an external network 12 such as a LAN (Local Area Network) is connected via the network connection unit 9. (Step S11).

  The amount of data (compression rate) of the format data is adjusted according to the line speed of the network 12 and the network load (step S12).

  According to the above embodiment, light format data can be generated, and smooth data can be transferred.

  In another embodiment, it is conceivable to specify the editing contents in the image processing apparatus 11 via the network 12 and the network connection unit 9 from the software on the client PC side in the configuration shown in FIG. The editing content in the image processing apparatus 11 is editing processing performed by the editing unit 6.

  The editing process is performed in the image processing apparatus in accordance with the editing content designated by the software on the client PC side. It is also conceivable that the edited image data is transferred to the designation source client PC so that the edited content can be confirmed on the client PC side.

  According to the above embodiment, the processing time on the client PC side can be shortened.

  Another embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 18 and 20. FIG. 18 is a block diagram of the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment. In this embodiment, the image data to be processed can be confirmed on the display unit 13 provided in the image processing apparatus, and editing instructions and additions can be performed from the display unit 13 as necessary.

  It comprises a storage unit 1, a block code control unit 2, a block decompression unit 3, a compression unit 4, a memory 5, an editing unit 6, and a display unit 13. Reference numeral 7 denotes a bus. The dotted line shown in FIG. 17 shows the data flow.

  The display unit 13 may include an operation unit, for example, an operation panel.

  FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing a flow of operation processing of the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment.

  A small-resolution image (thumbnail) is generated from the block image data stored in the storage unit 1 (step S15 in FIG. 20) and displayed on the display unit 13 (step S16).

  If the editing contents of the image data are designated from the operation panel, the editing process is performed in the image processing apparatus (step S17).

  According to the above embodiment, since thumbnail display is performed on the display unit 13 provided in the image processing apparatus, an outline of the image data can be confirmed without transferring the image data to the client PC, and an editing instruction can be given if necessary. , Can give additional instructions.

  Note that the program for the CPU to execute the processing shown in the flowcharts of each figure constitutes a program according to the present invention. As a recording medium for recording the program, a semiconductor storage unit, an optical and / or magnetic storage unit, or the like can be used.

  By using such a program and a recording medium in a system having a configuration different from that of each of the above-described embodiments and causing the CPU to execute the program, substantially the same effect as the present invention can be obtained.

  Although the present invention has been specifically described above based on the preferred embodiments, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above-described ones and can be variously modified without departing from the gist thereof.

1 is a block configuration diagram of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure for demonstrating dividing | segmenting and storing the image data based on embodiment of this invention in 12 blocks. It is an address management table of each block data which the memory | storage part 1 which concerns on embodiment of this invention has. It is a figure for demonstrating a mode that the block compression image data based on embodiment of this invention is expand | extended by the expansion | extension part 3. FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating a mode that the block compression image data based on embodiment of this invention is edited in the edit part. It is a figure for demonstrating that the block compression image data based on embodiment of this invention is compressed in the compression part 4. FIG. It is an address management table of each block data which the memory | storage part 1 which concerns on embodiment of this invention has. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of image processing operations in the image processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the image data after a partial edit which concerns on embodiment of this invention. 1 is a block configuration diagram of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the reading order of the block image data according to a rotation angle at the time of performing the process which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating a mode that the block compression image data based on embodiment of this invention is expand | extended by the expansion | extension part 3. FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating a mode that the block compression image data based on embodiment of this invention is edited in the edit part. It is a figure for demonstrating that the block compression image data based on embodiment of this invention is compressed in the compression part 4. FIG. It is an address management table of each block data which the memory | storage part 1 which concerns on embodiment of this invention has. It is a figure which shows the image data after the rotation process which concerns on embodiment of this invention. 1 is a block configuration diagram of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a block configuration diagram of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of operation processing of the image processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of operation processing of the image processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Memory | storage part 2 Block code | cord control part 3 Block expansion | decompression part 4 Compression part 5, 8 Memory 6 Editing part 7 Bus 9 Format 10 Network connection part 11 Image processing apparatus 12 Network 13 Display part

Claims (8)

Storage means for storing image data compressed in block units in block units;
Storing a storage address of the compressed image data stored in the block unit, and reading means for reading out the compressed image data based on the storage address when reading out the block unit from the storage unit;
Decompression means for decompressing the read compressed image data;
Editing means for editing the decompressed image data;
An image processing apparatus comprising: compression means for compressing the edited image data. Format generating means for generating a predetermined code format from the storage means;
A connection means for connecting to the network;
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an adjusting unit that adjusts a compression rate when the format is created based on a condition of the network and adjusts a data amount of the format.   The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the editing unit performs editing based on editing content received from the network. A display means for displaying image data;
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the editing unit performs editing based on editing content instructed from the display unit.   5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the image data displayed on the display means is small-resolution image data generated from compressed image data for each block stored in the storage means. Storing image data compressed in block units in block units;
Storing a storage address of the compressed image data stored in the block unit, and reading out the compressed image data based on the storage address when reading out the block unit from the storage unit;
Decompressing the compressed image data;
Editing the decompressed image data;
And a step of compressing the edited image data. Processing to store image data compressed in block units in block units;
Storing a storage address of the compressed image data stored in the block unit, and reading out the compressed image data based on the storage address when reading out the block unit from the storage unit;
A process of decompressing the compressed image data;
A process of editing the decompressed image data;
An image processing program causing a computer to execute a process of compressing the edited image data.   A computer-readable recording medium on which processing of the program according to claim 7 is recorded.

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