JP2011171787A - Image processing apparatus and image processing program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image processing apparatus for adding information about change processing of an image to an information image when the change processing is applied to the image to compose the information image to an image. <P>SOLUTION: An image accepting means of the image processing apparatus accepts an image. An information accepting means accepts additional information as information to be added to the image. A calculating means calculates the size of the information image as an image showing the information. A change information generating means generates change information showing the contents of the processing for changing the image on the basis of the size of the information image in order to add the information image to the image. An information image generating means generates information image showing information about the additional information and the change information. An image changing means changes the image on the basis of the changing information. A composing means composes the information image generated by the information image generating means to the image changed by the image changing means. The calculating means calculates the size of the information image generated by the information image generating means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and an image processing program.

A process of combining an information image with image information is performed.
As a technology related to this, for example, in Patent Document 1, even when an image including barcode information is input and the input image is edited and output, the barcode information included in the output image is displayed. The document image read by the reading unit is input to the image processing unit via the sensor board unit and the image data control unit, and the image processing unit receives the input document image. The barcode information included in the image is extracted, the extracted barcode information is converted into barcode information in an arbitrary barcode format, the original image from which the barcode information is extracted is edited, and It is disclosed that an edited image and converted barcode information are combined and output to an image forming unit via a video data control unit.

  Also, for example, Patent Document 2 has a problem of combining and recording a specific image so that the original image can be easily recognized without damaging the original image. Determine whether there is a margin area, and if there is a margin area, determine whether a margin area of a size that can form a specific image can be secured, and if so, shift the original image, and if there is no margin area, Alternatively, when the image cannot be secured, the original image is reduced to secure a margin area, a specific image is formed in the margin area, the specific image is synthesized with the original image, and the synthesized image is printed on one page of recording paper. It is disclosed that it outputs.

  Further, for example, in Patent Document 3, it is an object to provide an image processing apparatus that can securely embed digital watermark information without performing complicated processing, and a user creates a document and embeds it in the document. Set the watermark data, then detect the size of the document, calculate the area required to print the input watermark information, and calculate the required reduction ratio of the document from the detected document size. An arithmetic operation is performed to display a print example of a document image on the display. If the user sees this display and is OK, the reduced document in which the digital watermark information is embedded is sent to the printer driver to be printed. Is disclosed.

  In addition, for example, Patent Document 4 has an object to provide an image forming apparatus in which erroneous recognition of machine-readable symbols and occurrence of errors are reduced. This image forming apparatus uses a paper document in which machine-readable symbols are embedded. An image input unit that scans to obtain image information, a storage unit that stores image information obtained by the image input unit, and a detection / decode that detects and decodes machine-readable symbols as image information stored in the storage unit , A machine-readable symbol generation unit that encodes decoding information of a machine-readable symbol detected and decoded by the detection / decoding unit and generates a machine-readable symbol embedded in a paper document, and image information stored in the storage unit The magnification unit that scales the image, the image information that has been scaled by the magnification unit, and the machine-readable symbol newly generated by the machine-readable symbol generation unit are combined. A combining unit, that is configured to include a control unit that controls all disclosed.

JP 2006-262078 A JP 2007-194997 A JP 2008-048037 A JP 2008-187287 A

  An object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus and an image processing program that include information related to a change process in the information image when the image is subjected to a change process in order to synthesize an information image with the image. It is said.

The gist of the present invention for achieving the object lies in the inventions of the following items.
The invention according to claim 1 is an image receiving means for receiving an image, an information receiving means for receiving additional information that is information added to the image received by the image receiving means, and a size of an information image that is an image representing information. And a processing content for changing the image in order to add the information image to the image received by the image receiving means based on the size of the information image calculated by the calculating means. Change information generating means for generating change information to be shown, information image generating means for generating information information representing additional information received by the information receiving means and information on the change information generated by the change information generating means, An image for changing the image received by the image receiving means based on the change information generated by the change information generating means. And a combining unit that combines the information image generated by the information image generating unit with the image changed by the image changing unit, and the calculating unit includes the information image generated by the information image generating unit. The image processing apparatus is characterized in that the size of the image is calculated.

  The invention of claim 2 is an image receiving means for receiving an image including an information image that is an image representing information, a change receiving means for receiving a change to the image received by the image receiving means, Analyzing means for analyzing the information image in the image received by the image receiving means; deleting means for deleting the information image from the image received by the image receiving means; and calculating means for calculating the size of the information image; An image in which the information image has been deleted by the deletion unit based on the change received by the change reception unit, the size of the information image calculated by the calculation unit, and the analysis result that is the result of analysis by the analysis unit The change information generating means for generating change information indicating the processing content for changing the data, and the result analyzed by the analyzing means An information image generating unit that generates an information image representing information on the analysis result and the change information generated by the change information generating unit, and an information image generated by the deleting unit based on the change information generated by the change information generating unit Image changing means for changing the deleted image, and combining means for combining the information image generated by the information image generating means with the image changed by the image changing means, wherein the calculating means includes the information An image processing apparatus that calculates the size of an information image generated by an image generation means.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the information image in the image received by the image receiving means includes, in addition to the additional information that is information added to the image, an image other than the information image in the image. The second change information related to the processing content of the applied change is included, and the analysis result used by the change information generation unit includes the additional information and the second change information as the analysis result by the analysis unit. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the image processing apparatus includes information on the second change information, and the analysis result used by the information image generation unit includes the additional information.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image receiving unit that receives an image, an information receiving unit that receives additional information that is information added to the image received by the image receiving unit, and an information image that is an image representing information. Based on the size of the information image calculated by the calculating means and the size of the information image calculated by the calculating means, the image is changed to add the information image to the image received by the image receiving means. Change information generating means for generating change information indicating processing contents, and information image generating means for generating additional information received by the information receiving means and an information image representing information relating to the change information generated by the change information generating means And received by the image receiving means based on the change information generated by the change information generating means. An image change program for changing an image, and an image processing program for causing the image changed by the image change means to function as a synthesis means for combining the information image generated by the information image generation means, the calculation means Is an image processing program characterized by calculating the size of the information image generated by the information image generating means.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image receiving unit that receives an image including an information image that is an image representing information, and a change receiving unit that receives a change to the image received by the image receiving unit. Analyzing means for analyzing the information image in the image received by the image receiving means; deleting means for deleting the information image from the image received by the image receiving means; and calculating the size of the information image The deletion unit deletes the information image based on the calculation unit, the change received by the change reception unit, the size of the information image calculated by the calculation unit, and the analysis result obtained by the analysis unit. Change information generating means for generating change information indicating processing contents for changing the processed image, and analysis by the analysis means Information image generating means for generating an information image representing information relating to the change information generated by the analysis result and the change information generating means, and the change information generated by the change information generating means, An image changing means for changing an image from which the information image has been deleted by the deleting means, and an image for functioning as a combining means for combining the information image generated by the information image generating means with the image changed by the image changing means A processing program, wherein the calculation means calculates the size of the information image generated by the information image generation means.

  According to the image processing apparatus of the first aspect, when a change process is performed on the image in order to synthesize the information image with the image, information regarding the change process can be included in the information image.

  According to the image processing apparatus of the second aspect, when the change process is performed on the image in which the information image is synthesized, the information regarding the change process can be included in the information image.

  According to the image processing apparatus of the third aspect, when the information regarding the change process performed on the image is included, the information image including the content of the change process can be generated.

  According to the image processing program of the fourth aspect, when a change process is performed on the image in order to synthesize the information image with the image, information regarding the change process can be included in the information image.

  According to the image processing program of the fifth aspect, when the change process is performed on the image in which the information image is synthesized, the information regarding the change process can be included in the information image.

It is a conceptual module block diagram about the structural example of 1st Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the specific process example by 1st Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the data structure of the table in an information image. It is a flowchart which shows the process example by 1st Embodiment. It is a conceptual module block diagram about the structural example of 2nd Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the specific process example by 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the process example by 2nd Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the hardware structural example of the computer which implement | achieves this Embodiment.

Hereinafter, examples of various preferred embodiments for realizing the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a conceptual module configuration diagram of a configuration example according to the first embodiment.
The module generally refers to components such as software (computer program) and hardware that can be logically separated. Therefore, the module in the present embodiment indicates not only a module in a computer program but also a module in a hardware configuration. Therefore, the present embodiment also serves as an explanation of a computer program, a system, and a method. However, for the sake of explanation, the words “store”, “store”, and equivalents thereof are used. However, when the embodiment is a computer program, these words are stored in a storage device or stored in memory. It is the control to be stored in the device. Modules may correspond to functions one-to-one, but in mounting, one module may be configured by one program, or a plurality of modules may be configured by one program, and conversely, one module May be composed of a plurality of programs. The plurality of modules may be executed by one computer, or one module may be executed by a plurality of computers in a distributed or parallel environment. Note that one module may include other modules. Hereinafter, “connection” is used not only for physical connection but also for logical connection (data exchange, instruction, reference relationship between data, etc.).
In addition, the system or device is configured by connecting a plurality of computers, hardware, devices, and the like by communication means such as a network (including one-to-one correspondence communication connection), etc., and one computer, hardware, device. The case where it implement | achieves by etc. is included. “Apparatus” and “system” are used as synonymous terms. Of course, the “system” does not include a social “mechanism” (social system) that is an artificial arrangement. “Predetermined” means that the process is determined before the target process, and not only before the process according to this embodiment starts but also after the process according to this embodiment starts. In addition, if it is before the target processing, it is used in accordance with the situation / state at that time or with the intention to be decided according to the situation / state up to that point.
In addition, when performing a plurality of processes in each module or in each module, the target information is read from the storage device for each process, and the processing result is written to the storage device after performing the processing. is there. Therefore, description of reading from the storage device before processing and writing to the storage device after processing may be omitted. Here, the storage device may include a hard disk, a RAM (Random Access Memory), an external storage medium, a storage device via a communication line, a register in a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and the like.

  The image processing apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment combines an information image with an image. As shown in FIG. 1, the image processing apparatus 100 includes a reception processing module 110, an image / information image processing module 120, and an output module 190. Have.

The reception processing module 110 includes an image reception module 112 and an information reception module 114.
The image reception module 112 receives an image.
The image accepted here is electronic data of the image, and in some cases, electronic data such as text data, a moving image, and voice may be combined. The image may be a binary image or a multi-value image (including a color image). The number of images to be received may be one or a plurality of images. Further, the contents of the image may be a document used for business, a pamphlet for advertisement, or the like.
Accepting an image means, for example, reading an image with a scanner, a camera, etc., receiving an image from an external device via a communication line by fax, etc., a hard disk (in addition to what is built in a computer, via a network) And the like, and the like read out the images stored in the device etc.).

The information reception module 114 receives additional information that is information added to the image received by the image reception module 112. The additional information is information that is encoded and inserted into the information image to be combined with the image. For example, the image identifier for uniquely identifying the image, the creator of the image, the date of creation (hour, minute, second) The size of the paper on which the image is to be printed.
An information image is an image representing information. Specifically, it refers to an image code systematically created to represent electronic data (including at least additional information) in a machine-readable manner, such as a one-dimensional bar code or a two-dimensional code. Examples of the two-dimensional code include a QR code (Quick Response code (registered trademark)).
Accepting additional information means, for example, receiving additional information specified by a user's operation using a keyboard, mouse, touch panel, etc., receiving additional information from an external device via a communication line over the Internet, This includes reading out additional information stored in a hard disk or the like.

The image / information image processing module 120 includes an information image size calculation module 122, a change information generation module 124, an information image generation module 126, an image change module 128, and a composition module 140.
The information image size calculation module 122 calculates the size of the information image. Here, the size of the information image is the size of the information image, specifically, the area, the vertical length, the width, and the like. In other words, when combining with an image, it is necessary to determine whether or not there is enough space to combine the information image with the image. Therefore, when the surrounding margin is required as the information image, the information image may be a size including the margin.
The size of the information image is calculated based on the amount of information that is encoded into the information image. Since the amount of information that can be inserted into one unit of information image is defined, two or more units of information image are required to insert an amount of information larger than the amount of information. Information included in the information image includes at least additional information. And the change information mentioned later is included. For example, the size of the information image may be calculated using the change information as a predetermined information amount (for example, standard change information information amount, maximum change information amount, etc.). Further, for example, as information to be inserted into the information image, dummy information (information that is not necessary for making an information image of a predetermined size) may be included in addition to these pieces of information.
Further, the information image size calculation module 122 may calculate the size of the information image generated by the information image generation module 126. That is, after the information image is generated, the size of the information image may be calculated by measuring the size of the generated information image.
The information image size calculation module 122 calculates the size of the information image for each area when there are a plurality of areas of the information image to be combined with the image. As information images of a plurality of regions, a plurality of information images showing the same contents may be used, and each information image may be an information image showing different contents.

Based on the size of the information image calculated by the information image size calculation module 122, the change information generation module 124 changes the image to add the information image to the image received by the image reception module 112. Change information indicating the processing content is generated. For example, when there is no margin sufficient to synthesize an information image in the image, the image is changed to ensure the margin. For example, as the changing process, the entire image is reduced (in some cases, enlarged. Alternatively, enlargement / reduction at different magnifications in the vertical and horizontal directions (the same applies hereinafter), reduction of the area, movement of the area, and the like. As the area, there is an image divided into characters, paragraphs, figures, images, and the like. Therefore, the change information is information indicating the change processing, and specifically includes an area and a change instruction for the area. As a technique for dividing the area, an existing technique may be used. For example, there is a technique for dividing the area into a region surrounded by a blank area having a size larger than a predetermined value.
Specifically, the change information generation module 124 detects a margin in the image, compares the margin with the size of the information image calculated by the information image size calculation module 122, and the margin synthesizes the information image. If there is a shortage, change information such as a process of reducing the entire image, a process of reducing a part of the area, a process of moving the area to secure a margin, and the like, and a combination of these are generated.

The information image generation module 126 generates an information image representing additional information received by the information reception module 114 and information regarding the change information generated by the change information generation module 124. In other words, information about the additional information and the change information is encoded to generate an information image.
The information related to the change information may be information indicating the content of the reverse process of the change process in addition to the information indicating the content of the change process itself. That is, it is information indicating change processing for returning the changed image to the image before the change. Specifically, when the entire image is reduced to 80%, the entire image is enlarged to 125%.

  The image change module 128 changes the image received by the image reception module 112 based on the change information generated by the change information generation module 124. That is, the image is changed to generate a margin for synthesizing the information image. Of course, the change of the image includes the change of the entire image and the change of a part of the area in the image.

The synthesis module 140 synthesizes the information image generated by the information image generation module 126 with the image changed by the image change module 128.
The output module 190 outputs an image in which the information image is synthesized by the synthesis module 140. To output an image is, for example, printing on a printing device such as a printer, displaying on a display device such as a display, transmitting an image on an image transmission device such as a fax, or image to an image storage device such as an image database. , Storing in a storage medium such as a memory card, passing to another information processing apparatus, and the like.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a specific processing example according to the first embodiment.
An image 200 illustrated in FIG. 2A is an image received by the image receiving module 112. Within image 200 is document content 201. Then, it is assumed that information images of a plurality of areas are synthesized. Therefore, the image 200 has no margin for synthesizing the information image. This is determined by the change information generation module 124 by comparing the calculation result of the information image size by the information image size calculation module 122 with the margin. Therefore, the change information generation module 124 generates change information that is a change instruction for reducing the area of the document content 201. The image change module 128 changes the image 200 (which may be an area of the document content 201. The same applies hereinafter) according to the change information. The information image generation module 126 generates an information image, and the combining module 140 combines the changed image and the information image.

An image with information image 210 illustrated in FIG. 2B is an image output by the output module 190.
The information image-added image 210 includes document content 211 changed from the image 200 by the image change module 128, an information image 212 generated by the information image generation module 126, and an information image 213. The information image 212 or the information image 213 includes information relating to the change (processing information for changing from the image 200 to the document content 211 or processing information for returning from the document content 211 to the image 200).

  An image 220 illustrated in FIG. 2C is obtained by deleting the information image 212 and the information image 213 from the information image-added image 210 and using the information regarding the change included in the information image 212 or the information image 213. The content 211 is changed to the document content 221. That is, an image equivalent to the image 200 illustrated in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the data structure of the information image table 300. The data group contained in the information image is shown.
The information image table 300 includes an additional information group 310 and a change information group 320.
The additional information group 310 stores information received by the information receiving module 114, and includes an image identifier column 311, a creator identifier column 312, a creation date column 313, a paper size column 314, and the like.
The change information group 320 stores information regarding change information generated by the change information generation module 124, and includes one or more change information fields 330. The change information column 330 has an area column 331 and a processing column 332. The area column 331 stores information on an area to be changed (may be the entire image). For example, if the region is a rectangle, the upper left coordinates and the lower right coordinates or the upper left coordinates and the width and height are set. The processing column 332 stores the processing content. For example, there are a reduction instruction and a reduction ratio, a movement instruction and a movement distance (movement distance including a negative case in the X coordinate direction and the Y coordinate direction), and the like.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a processing example according to the first exemplary embodiment.
In step S402, the image receiving module 112 receives a target image.
In step S404, the information reception module 114 receives additional information.
In step S406, the information image size calculation module 122 calculates the size of the provisional information image. The reason for being provisional is that the information image itself has not yet been generated. This is because information about change information is also included in the information image, and it is necessary to calculate the size of the information image in order to generate the change information.

In step S <b> 408, the change information generation module 124 generates change information indicating processing details for changing an image.
In step S410, the information image generation module 126 generates an information image representing additional information and change information.
In step S412, the information image size calculation module 122 determines whether the size of the generated information image and the size of the calculated information image are the same. If they are the same, the process proceeds to step S416. Otherwise, the step S414 is performed. Proceed to That is, if the size of the temporarily calculated information image and the size of the actually generated information image are not the same, the processing after step S408 is performed based on the size of the actually generated information image (step S414). repeat. Of course, since the information images may not be the same size, the process is repeated until they are the same.

In step S414, the information image size calculation module 122 sets the size of the generated information image as the calculated information image size, and the process returns to step S408.
In step S416, the image change module 128 changes the image according to the change information.
In step S418, the synthesis module 140 synthesizes the information image with the changed image. Then, the output module 190 outputs the synthesized image.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual module configuration diagram of a configuration example according to the second embodiment.
The image processing apparatus 500 according to the second embodiment changes an image that has already been combined with an information image. As shown in FIG. 5, a reception processing module 510, an image / information image processing module 520 are used. And an output module 590. Modules equivalent to those in the first embodiment are the same as those in the first embodiment, and description thereof is omitted.

The reception processing module 510 includes an image reception module 512 and an image change instruction reception module 514.
The image reception module 512 is equivalent to the image reception module 112 of the first embodiment. However, the received image includes an information image. In addition to the additional information that is information added to the image, the information image includes change information B related to the processing content of changes made to images other than the information image in the image. That is, the image received here is the image output by the first embodiment described above. Therefore, the image other than the information image is a result of being changed according to the change information B.
The change information B included in the information image may be information indicating the processing content itself of the change applied to the image, or the reverse processing content (that is, the change processing content). It may be information indicating the processing state of the change for reproducing from the later state (the state of the image received by the image receiving module 512) to the state before the change.

  The image change instruction receiving module 514 receives a change instruction for the image received by the image receiving module 512. For example, a change instruction such as image reduction or black-and-white reversal. These change instructions are not instructions for changing the entire image, but instructions for an image other than the information image. In other words, the information image is meaningful in the contents represented by the information image, and if the information image is changed such as enlarged or reduced, the information image may not be decoded. is there. This will be described later with reference to FIG.

The image / information image processing module 520 includes an information image analysis module 522, an information image deletion module 524, an information image size calculation module 526, a change information generation module 528, an information image generation module 530, an image change module 532, and a composition module 540. is doing.
The information image analysis module 522 analyzes the information image in the image received by the image reception module 512. That is, the information image is decoded, and information (addition information and change information B) included in the information image is extracted.
The information image deletion module 524 deletes the information image from the image received by the image reception module 512. That is, processing is performed for only images other than information images.

  The information image size calculation module 526 is equivalent to the information image size calculation module 122 of the first embodiment. However, the target information image is not the information image already synthesized with the image (the information image in the image accepted by the image acceptance module 512), but the information image synthesized by the synthesis module 540 of the second embodiment. It is. Note that the size of the information image already combined with the image may be used as the temporary size of the information image. Further, the information image size calculation module 526 may calculate the size of the information image generated by the information image generation module 530, which is equivalent to the information image size calculation module 122 of the first embodiment. It is.

  The change information generation module 528 converts the change instruction received by the image change instruction reception module 514, the size of the information image calculated by the information image size calculation module 526, and the analysis result that is the result of analysis by the information image analysis module 522. Based on this, the change information A indicating the processing content for changing the image from which the information image has been deleted by the information image deletion module 524 is generated. That is, in order to generate the change information A, (1) a change instruction (for example, enlargement ratio, reduction ratio) received by the image change instruction reception module 514, (2) information calculated by the information image size calculation module 526 Three pieces of information are used: the size of the image, and (3) the change information B in the result analyzed by the information image analysis module 522. (2) The size of the information image is used in the same way as the change information generation module 124 of the first embodiment. That is, it is for generating a margin for synthesizing the information image.

For example, (1) the change instruction received by the image change instruction receiving module 514 is 120% enlargement processing, (2) 90% reduction processing is necessary depending on the size of the information image, and (3) change information B Is 80% reduction processing,
(120/100) x (90/100) x (100/80)
And 1.35 times enlargement processing is generated as change information A. In this case, since (3) change information B is information indicating the processing content itself of the change made to the image, “100/80” (reduction ratio) as a reverse process of “80%” Is used). The reverse process in the case of the area movement process is to invert the sign of the movement distance. Of course, if (3) the change information B is the processing content of the change for reproduction (in the above example, “100/80”), it can be used as it is. The specific meaning of the processing here is (3) returning to the image without the information image by the change information B, (2) generating a margin of the size of the information image, and (1) changing by the change instruction. Is what you do.

  The information image generation module 530 generates an information image representing an analysis result (specifically, additional information) that is a result analyzed by the information image analysis module 522 and information related to the change information A generated by the change information generation module 528. Generate. In other words, the additional information represented by the information image in the image received by the image receiving module 512 is inherited, and an information image representing information related to the change information A is newly generated. The information related to the change information A may be information indicating the content of the reverse process of the change process in addition to the information indicating the content of the change process itself. The information image generation module of the first embodiment 126.

The image change module 532 changes the image from which the information image has been deleted by the information image deletion module 524 based on the change information generated by the change information generation module 528. That is, change processing is performed on images other than information images.
The composition module 540 is equivalent to the composition module 140 of the first embodiment, and synthesizes the information image generated by the information image generation module 530 with the image changed by the image change module 532.
The output module 590 is equivalent to the output module 190 of the first embodiment, and outputs an image in which the information image is synthesized by the synthesis module 540.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a specific processing example according to the second embodiment.
An image with information image 600 illustrated in FIG. 6A is an image received by the image receiving module 512. It is the same as the image with information image 210 illustrated in FIG. 2B (an example of the image output by the first embodiment). The image with information image 600 includes a document content 601, an information image 602, and an information image 603. There is. The document content 601 is an image changed according to the first embodiment, and information regarding the changed content and additional information are represented in the information image 602 or the information image 603.

  An image with information image 610 illustrated in FIG. 6B is obtained by changing the entire image with information image 600 illustrated in FIG. 6A according to the change instruction received by the image change instruction receiving module 514. The change instruction here is an enlargement process. Since not only the document content 601 but also the information image 602 and the information image 603 are enlarged, the information image 612 and the information image 613 in the information image-added image 610 illustrated in FIG. Will become bigger.

  An image with information image 620 illustrated in FIG. 6C is an example of an image output by the second embodiment. The document content 601 in the information image-added image 600 illustrated in FIG. 6A is enlarged by being enlarged, but the information image 602 and the information image 603 are information images illustrated in FIG. The size does not change like the information image 622 and the information image 623 in the attached image 620 (in this case, it is assumed that the information amount regarding the change information is not changed). Of course, in the content represented by the information image, the additional information has not changed, but the information regarding the change information has changed.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a processing example according to the second exemplary embodiment.
In step S702, the image receiving module 512 receives an image in which information images are combined.
In step S704, the image change instruction receiving module 514 receives a change instruction for an image.
In step S706, the information image analysis module 522 analyzes the information image in the image.
In step S708, the information image deletion module 524 deletes the information image from the image.

In step S710, the information image size calculation module 526 calculates a provisional information image size. The provisional reason is that the information image generation module 530 has not yet generated an information image. This is because information about change information is also included in the information image, and it is necessary to calculate the size of the information image in order to generate the change information.
In step S712, the change information generation module 528 generates change information indicating the processing content for changing the image. As described above, the change information is generated using the following three items: (1) change instruction, (2) information image size, and (3) change information B.

In step S714, the information image generation module 530 generates an information image representing the analysis result and the change information.
In step S716, the information image size calculation module 526 determines whether or not the size of the generated information image and the calculated information image are the same. If they are the same, the process proceeds to step S720. Otherwise, the step S718 is performed. Proceed to In other words, if the size of the information image temporarily calculated and the size of the information image generated by the information image generation module 530 are not the same, the size of the information image generated by the information image generation module 530 is set (step S718), the process from step S712 is repeated. Of course, since the information images may not be the same size, the process is repeated until they are the same.

In step S718, the information image size calculation module 526 sets the size of the generated information image as the calculated information image size, and the process returns to step S712.
In step S720, the image change module 532 changes the image according to the change information.
In step S722, the synthesis module 540 synthesizes the information image with the changed image. Then, the output module 590 outputs the synthesized image.

  A hardware configuration example of the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The configuration shown in FIG. 8 is configured by a personal computer (PC), for example, and shows a hardware configuration example including a data reading unit 817 such as a scanner and a data output unit 818 such as a printer.

  A CPU (Central Processing Unit) 801 includes various modules described in the above-described embodiments, that is, the image reception module 112, the information reception module 114, the information image size calculation module 122, the change information generation module 124, and the information image generation module. 126, image change module 128, composition module 140, image reception module 512, image change instruction reception module 514, information image analysis module 522, information image deletion module 524, information image size calculation module 526, change information generation module 528, information image Processing according to a computer program describing the execution sequence of each module such as the generation module 530, the image change module 532, and the composition module 540 A control unit to be executed.

  A ROM (Read Only Memory) 802 stores programs used by the CPU 801, operation parameters, and the like. A RAM (Random Access Memory) 803 stores programs used in the execution of the CPU 801, parameters that change as appropriate during the execution, and the like. These are connected to each other via a host bus 804 including a CPU bus.

  The host bus 804 is connected to an external bus 806 such as a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect / Interface) bus via a bridge 805.

  A keyboard 808 and a pointing device 809 such as a mouse are input devices operated by an operator. The display 810 includes a liquid crystal display device or a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), and displays various types of information as text or image information.

  An HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 811 includes a hard disk, drives the hard disk, and records or reproduces a program executed by the CPU 801 and information. The hard disk stores received images, generated information images, images to be output, and the like. Further, various computer programs such as various other data processing programs are stored.

  The drive 812 reads out data or a program recorded in a removable recording medium 813 such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, or a semiconductor memory, and reads the data or program as an interface 807 or an external bus 806. , And supplied to the RAM 803 connected via the bridge 805 and the host bus 804. The removable recording medium 813 can also be used as a data recording area similar to a hard disk.

  The connection port 814 is a port for connecting the external connection device 815, and has a connection unit such as USB or IEEE1394. The connection port 814 is connected to the CPU 801 and the like via the interface 807, the external bus 806, the bridge 805, the host bus 804, and the like. The communication unit 816 is connected to a network and executes data communication processing with the outside. The data reading unit 817 is a scanner, for example, and executes document reading processing. The data output unit 818 is, for example, a printer, and executes document data output processing.

  Note that the hardware configuration of the image processing apparatus illustrated in FIG. 8 illustrates one configuration example, and the present embodiment is not limited to the configuration illustrated in FIG. 8, and the modules described in the present embodiment are executed. Any configuration is possible. For example, some modules may be configured with dedicated hardware (for example, Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), etc.), and some modules are in an external system and connected via a communication line In addition, a plurality of systems shown in FIG. 8 may be connected to each other via communication lines so as to cooperate with each other. Further, it may be incorporated in a copying machine, a fax machine, a scanner, a printer, a multifunction machine (an image processing apparatus having any two or more functions of a scanner, a printer, a copying machine, a fax machine, etc.).

The first embodiment and the second embodiment described above may be combined. Specifically, the information receiving module 114 of the first embodiment is added to the second embodiment. In that case, the information image generation module 530 generates an information image including the additional information A represented by the information image in the image received by the image reception module 512 and the additional information B received by the information reception module 114. Become. Further, the information image may be generated including the additional information B instead of the additional information A.
Further, the technology described in the background art may be adopted as the processing content of each module.

The program described above may be provided by being stored in a recording medium, or the program may be provided by communication means. In that case, for example, the above-described program may be regarded as an invention of a “computer-readable recording medium recording the program”.
The “computer-readable recording medium on which a program is recorded” refers to a computer-readable recording medium on which a program is recorded, which is used for program installation, execution, program distribution, and the like.
The recording medium is, for example, a digital versatile disc (DVD), which is a standard established by the DVD Forum, such as “DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM,” and DVD + RW. Standard “DVD + R, DVD + RW, etc.”, compact disc (CD), read-only memory (CD-ROM), CD recordable (CD-R), CD rewritable (CD-RW), Blu-ray disc ( Blu-ray Disc (registered trademark), magneto-optical disk (MO), flexible disk (FD), magnetic tape, hard disk, read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable and rewritable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash Includes memory, random access memory (RAM), etc. .
The program or a part of the program may be recorded on the recording medium for storage or distribution. Also, by communication, for example, a local area network (LAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wired network used for the Internet, an intranet, an extranet, etc., or wireless communication It may be transmitted using a transmission medium such as a network or a combination of these, or may be carried on a carrier wave.
Furthermore, the program may be a part of another program, or may be recorded on a recording medium together with a separate program. Moreover, it may be divided and recorded on a plurality of recording media. Further, it may be recorded in any manner as long as it can be restored, such as compression or encryption.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Image processing apparatus 110 ... Reception processing module 112 ... Image reception module 114 ... Information reception module 120 ... Image / information image processing module 122 ... Information image size calculation module 124 ... Change information generation module 126 ... Information image generation module 128 ... Image Change module 140 ... Composition module 190 ... Output module 500 ... Image processing device 510 ... Reception processing module 512 ... Image reception module 514 ... Image change instruction reception module 520 ... Image / information image processing module 522 ... Information image analysis module 524 ... Information image Deletion module 526 ... Information image size calculation module 528 ... Change information generation module 530 ... Information image generation module 532 ... Image change module 540 ... Composition module 59 ... Output module

Claims (5)

Image receiving means for receiving images;
Information receiving means for receiving additional information which is information added to the image received by the image receiving means;
Calculating means for calculating the size of an information image that is an image representing information;
A change for generating change information indicating processing contents for changing the image in order to add the information image to the image received by the image receiving means based on the size of the information image calculated by the calculating means Information generating means;
An information image generating means for generating an information image representing the additional information received by the information receiving means and the information related to the change information generated by the change information generating means;
An image changing means for changing the image received by the image receiving means based on the change information generated by the change information generating means;
Synthesizing means for synthesizing the information image generated by the information image generating means with the image changed by the image changing means;
The image processing apparatus characterized in that the calculating means calculates the size of the information image generated by the information image generating means. Image receiving means for receiving an image including an information image that is an image representing information;
Change accepting means for accepting a change to the image accepted by the image accepting means;
Analyzing means for analyzing an information image in the image received by the image receiving means;
Deleting means for deleting an information image from the image received by the image receiving means;
Calculating means for calculating the size of the information image;
Based on the change received by the change receiving means, the size of the information image calculated by the calculating means, and the analysis result that is the result of analysis by the analyzing means, the image from which the information image has been deleted by the deleting means Change information generating means for generating change information indicating processing contents to be changed;
An information image generating means for generating an information image representing an analysis result that is a result of analysis by the analyzing means and information relating to the change information generated by the change information generating means;
Based on the change information generated by the change information generating means, an image changing means for changing the image from which the information image has been deleted by the deleting means;
Synthesizing means for synthesizing the information image generated by the information image generating means with the image changed by the image changing means;
The image processing apparatus characterized in that the calculating means calculates the size of the information image generated by the information image generating means. In the information image in the image received by the image receiving means, in addition to the additional information that is information added to the image, the contents of processing of changes made to images other than the information image in the image Second change information about is included,
As an analysis result by the analysis means, the additional information and the second change information are included,
The analysis result used by the change information generating means includes information on the second change information,
The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the analysis result used by the information image generation unit includes the additional information. Computer
Image receiving means for receiving images;
Information receiving means for receiving additional information which is information added to the image received by the image receiving means;
Calculating means for calculating the size of an information image that is an image representing information;
A change for generating change information indicating processing contents for changing the image in order to add the information image to the image received by the image receiving means based on the size of the information image calculated by the calculating means Information generating means;
An information image generating means for generating an information image representing the additional information received by the information receiving means and the information related to the change information generated by the change information generating means;
An image changing means for changing the image received by the image receiving means based on the change information generated by the change information generating means;
An image processing program for causing an image changed by the image changing means to function as a combining means for combining the information image generated by the information image generating means,
The image processing program characterized in that the calculation means calculates the size of the information image generated by the information image generation means. Computer
Image receiving means for receiving an image including an information image that is an image representing information;
Change accepting means for accepting a change to the image accepted by the image accepting means;
Analyzing means for analyzing an information image in the image received by the image receiving means;
Deleting means for deleting an information image from the image received by the image receiving means;
Calculating means for calculating the size of the information image;
Based on the change received by the change receiving means, the size of the information image calculated by the calculating means, and the analysis result that is the result of analysis by the analyzing means, the image from which the information image has been deleted by the deleting means Change information generating means for generating change information indicating processing contents to be changed;
An information image generating means for generating an information image representing an analysis result that is a result of analysis by the analyzing means and information relating to the change information generated by the change information generating means;
Based on the change information generated by the change information generating means, an image changing means for changing the image from which the information image has been deleted by the deleting means;
An image processing program for causing an image changed by the image changing means to function as a combining means for combining the information image generated by the information image generating means,
The image processing program characterized in that the calculation means calculates the size of the information image generated by the information image generation means.

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