JP2015008427A - Image reading device, control method of the same, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image reading device capable of securing a storage capacity while keeping useful image data unused.SOLUTION: The image reading device comprises: reading means for reading an image; determination means for determining whether or not the image read by the reading means is a blank paper; and storage control means for storing, in a storage unit, image data of the image read by the reading means. When storing image data, the storage control means associates and stores a result of determination by the determination means. When the remaining capacity of the storage unit becomes smaller than a predetermined threshold as a result of additional storage of image data, the storage control means deletes image data determined as a blank paper by the determination means, out of the image data stored already in the storage unit.

Description

  The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus, a control method therefor, and a program.

  In an image reading apparatus such as a digital copying machine, there are mainly two types of document reading methods. One is a method (optical system moving method) in which an original is placed on a glass table, the original position is fixed, and an image of the original is read while moving the optical system. The other is a method (flow-reading method) in which the position of the optical system is fixed and an image is read while an original is conveyed by an automatic document feeder (ADF).

  Conventionally, in a multifunction machine using ADF, when a document printed on both sides and a document printed on one side are mixedly loaded, both sides are read. In this method, the blank surface of the original is also read, and as a result, unnecessary data is processed, and processing takes time. In addition, when the read original is output, the print processing operation is also performed on a blank page having no printing content, so that wasteful paper consumption and power consumption occur. In view of this, a method has been devised in which image data determined to be blank is deleted by using blank sheet detection, and wasteful printing, paper, and toner consumption are suppressed (see Patent Document 1, etc.). Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228561 proposes a blank page determination method for detecting an edge portion from image data read from a document and determining whether the detected edge amount is a blank page from the ratio of the total number of pixels.

  On the other hand, some image reading apparatuses temporarily store read image data as an image file in a storage area, and then perform necessary image processing and output. When a large number of pages are read by the image reading apparatus having such a configuration, the capacity may be exceeded. For this reason, a method has been devised in which an image file stored in a storage area is saved or deleted as necessary (see Patent Document 2, etc.). In Patent Literature 2, when the storage area is over capacity, the user is allowed to select to save or delete the stored file, and in the case of deletion, the oldest date or the less frequently used one is given priority. A method of deleting has been proposed.

JP 2010-178377 A JP 2006-261889 A

  In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-260688, only the detection of whether or not the read image is blank is not related to the capacity of the storage area. Further, Patent Document 2 has a problem that useful image data is deleted even if the date is old or the frequency of use is low.

  Accordingly, the present invention provides an image reading apparatus that secures storage capacity while leaving useful image data.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention has the following configuration. In other words, the image reading apparatus includes a reading unit that reads an image, a determination unit that determines whether the image read by the reading unit is a blank sheet, and image data of the image read by the reading unit. A storage control unit that stores the image data in the storage unit, the storage control unit stores the image data in association with the determination result of the determination unit, and stores the image data by newly storing the image data. When the remaining capacity of the copy is below a predetermined threshold, the image data determined to be blank by the determination unit is deleted from the image data already stored in the storage.

  According to the present invention, a finite storage capacity can be used more efficiently while leaving useful image data in an image reading apparatus.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an image reading apparatus. The figure which showed typically the image file and document file which were stored in the memory | storage part. 10 is a flowchart of processing for storing an image file in a temporary storage area. 10 is a flowchart of blank page deletion processing for an image file stored in a temporary storage area. The figure which shows the example of the screen which receives determination of whether a blank page is deleted. 10 is a flowchart of processing for storing a document file in a document storage area. 10 is a flowchart of blank page deletion processing for a document file stored in a document storage area.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[System configuration]
FIG. 1A is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an image reading apparatus 100 as an example of the image reading apparatus in the present embodiment. The control unit 110 is connected to the scanner 200 that is an image input device, and controls input of image information. On the other hand, the control unit 110 is connected to the LAN 140 and transmits / receives a job to / from an external device (not shown) via the LAN. The CPU 111 controls the operation of the image reading apparatus 100 based on a program stored in the RAM 112 or the like. A ROM 113 is a boot ROM, and stores a boot program for the image reading apparatus 100. The storage unit 114 stores system software, image data, a program for controlling the operation of the image reading apparatus 100, and the like.

  The program stored in the storage unit 114 is loaded into the RAM 112, and the CPU 111 controls the operation of the image reading apparatus 100 based on the program. The storage unit 114 includes a temporary storage area (first storage area) and a document storage area (second storage area). Details of these storage areas will be described later. The image processing unit 115 performs image correction on the image data input from the scanner I / F 117. A network I / F 116 is connected to the LAN 140 and controls input / output of various information to / from an external device via the network. A scanner I / F 117 connects the scanner 200, which is an image input device, and the control unit 110, and performs synchronous / asynchronous conversion of image data. The operation unit I / F 118 is an interface that connects the operation unit 130 and the control unit 110, and outputs image data to be displayed on the operation unit 130 to the operation unit 130. Further, the operation unit I / F 118 notifies the CPU 111 of information input by the user from the operation unit 130.

  An example of a detailed configuration of the scanner 200 will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1B, the document is read through the reading unit 210, and as a result, analog image data is output to the subsequent processing unit. The reading unit 210 includes a line sensor such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device), a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor), or a CIS (Contact Image Sensor).

  The A / D converter 220 digitally converts the image data output from the reading unit 210. The read image processing unit 230 performs processing such as shading correction, MTF (Modulation Transfer Function) correction, and high-frequency suppression processing for matching the levels of the highlight (white) and dark (black) portions of the image data. The blank sheet detection processing unit 240 refers to the image data 301 output by the read image processing unit 230 and detects whether the image data 301 is a blank image.

  The scanner 200 outputs the image data 301 processed by the read image processing unit 230 and the blank page detection result 302 by the blank page detection processing unit 240. Information output by the scanner 200 is transferred to the storage unit 114 based on the control of the control unit 110. The storage unit 114 temporarily stores the transferred information in a temporary storage area in the storage unit 114.

  FIG. 1C is a diagram illustrating an example of the internal configuration of the blank sheet detection processing unit 240 according to the present embodiment. The blank paper detection processing unit 240 is connected to a register (not shown), and holds control parameters and processing results in the register. Writing to the register is performed by the CPU 111 and the blank page detection processing unit 240, and the blank page detection processing unit 240 operates by reading the control parameters set in the register.

  Image data 301 is image data output from the read image processing unit 230. The blank sheet detection result 302 is an output result from the blank sheet detection processing unit 240 and is information indicating whether the image data 301 is a blank sheet.

  A region control unit 303 controls a region in the image data 301 where histograms and edge information are generated. A histogram generation unit 304 generates a histogram for a plurality of regions in the image data 301. The histogram here can be obtained from the pixel values of the pixels included in the image data 301, for example. The histogram generation method here may use a conventional method, and detailed description thereof is omitted. The histogram analysis unit 305 determines from the histogram generated by the histogram generation unit 304 whether the read document image (page) is blank.

  The edge information generation unit 306 calculates the number of edges for a plurality of regions in the image data 301. The edge extraction method and the measurement method here may use conventional methods, and detailed description thereof is omitted. The edge information analysis unit 307 determines whether the document image is blank based on the number of edges obtained by the edge information generation unit 306.

  Blank paper refers to a document without print information. If there is no print information, a colored document such as colored paper or a recycled paper document is also handled as a blank sheet. Also, the image data when these are read is also called blank paper. On the other hand, a document on which minute characters or objects such as page numbers are described is not blank.

  The blank page determination unit 308 calculates a plurality of levels of determination results according to the possibility of blank pages based on the information obtained by the histogram analysis unit 305 and the edge information analysis unit 307 and a predetermined threshold value. . That is, the blank page determination unit 308 finally calculates a plurality of determination results as to whether or not the document is blank. Here, the higher the level, the higher the possibility that the read image is blank, and the lower the level, the lower the possibility of being blank. Furthermore, in the present embodiment, a deletion setting level corresponding to the determined result is used, and the range is set to 1 to 5. The user of the image reading apparatus can select an image to be deleted according to the possibility of being blank by specifying this deletion setting level.

[file organization]
FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing an image file and a document file stored in the storage unit 114 according to the present embodiment. As described above, the storage unit 114 according to the present embodiment stores a temporary storage area for temporarily storing the read image file, and one or more image files stored in the temporary storage area as one document. It is assumed that a document storage area to be stored together as a file is included. Here, one image file is described as being equivalent to one page.

  FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an image file stored in a temporary storage area that constitutes a part of the storage unit 114. In this example, two image files are stored corresponding to page 1 and page 2. In each image file, the blank page detection result 302 determined by the blank page detection processing unit 240 and the image data 301 output from the read image processing unit 230 are stored in association with each other.

  FIG. 2B shows a document file stored in a document storage area that constitutes a part of the storage unit 114. In this example, two document files are stored corresponding to document 1 and document 2. The document 1 is composed of document information and three pages (pages 1 to 3). Further, each page has a blank sheet detection result 302 determined by the blank sheet detection processing unit 240 and image data 301 output from the read image processing unit 230. Are stored in association with each other. Similarly, the document 2 includes document information and two pages (pages 1 and 2), and each page stores a blank sheet detection result and image data in association with each other.

  Here, FIG. 2C shows the result when blank page deletion processing (described later with reference to FIG. 7) is performed when the storage unit 114 is in the state of FIG. 2B. For example, when the deletion setting level is 4 or more, page 2 of document 1 and page 2 of document 2 are to be deleted. Then, the image data of page 2 of document 1 and page 2 of document 2 is deleted by the blank page deletion process. Even when the image data is deleted, information about the blank detection result of the image file, other document information, and the like are not deleted in order to indicate the presence of the image file itself. Since the data size of these pieces of information is smaller than the data size of image data, the storage capacity is not limited.

[Processing flow]
(Temporary storage area saving process)
FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of a storage control process for storing an image file in a temporary storage area constituting a part of the storage unit 114 in this embodiment. In this processing, the program stored in the storage unit 114 in the control unit 110 is read out to the RAM 112 and executed by the CPU 111.

  In S401, control unit 110 receives input of image data 301 for one page. In S402, control unit 110 acquires blank sheet detection result 302 for the input page. In S403, control unit 110 associates image data 301 with blank paper detection result 302 and creates one image file.

  In S404, control unit 110 determines whether or not the remaining capacity of storage unit 114 falls below a threshold when the image file created in S403 is stored in storage unit 114. Specifically, it is determined whether or not the value obtained by subtracting the size of the image file created in S403 from the remaining capacity of the storage unit 114 is less than a predetermined threshold value. The threshold used here may be set to an arbitrary value depending on the setting of a management mode (not shown) in which only the administrator or service person can change the setting, or may be a value determined in advance in the program. .

  If it is below the threshold (YES in S404), the process proceeds to S405. If it is not below the threshold (NO in S404), the process proceeds to S407. In step S <b> 405, the control unit 110 receives an instruction on whether to delete a blank page via the operation unit 130. The reception of the instruction here will be described later with reference to FIG. If an instruction to delete a blank page is accepted (YES in S405), the process proceeds to S406. If an instruction to delete is not accepted (NO in S405), the process proceeds to S407.

  In S406, control unit 110 performs blank page deletion processing on the image file already stored in the temporary storage area. This blank page deletion process will be described later with reference to FIG. In step S407, the control unit 110 determines whether the file size of the image file created in step S403 exceeds the remaining capacity of the storage unit 114. Even when the blank page is deleted in S405, the size of the image file may exceed the remaining capacity. In this case, in S409, blank page deletion is executed at a blank page detection level different from S407. Determine again. That is, the control unit 110 determines whether the image file can be stored in the storage unit 114. If the size of the image file is less than or equal to the remaining capacity (YES in S407), the process proceeds to S410, and if it exceeds the remaining capacity (NO in S407), the process proceeds to S408.

  In step S <b> 408, the control unit 110 receives an instruction on whether to delete a blank page via the operation unit 130. If an instruction to delete a blank page is received (YES in S408), the process proceeds to S409. If an instruction to delete is not received (NO in S408), the process proceeds to S412.

  In step S409, the control unit 110 performs blank page deletion processing on the image file already stored in the temporary storage area. The blank page deletion process performed in S409 is the same as that performed in S406, and will be described later with reference to FIG.

  In S410, control unit 110 stores the image file in the temporary storage area. In step S411, the control unit 110 determines whether the next page has been read. If the next page is read (YES in S411), the process returns to S401. If not (NO in S411), the process flow ends.

  In step S412, the control unit 110 performs error processing. Examples of error processing here include processing such as displaying a message indicating that reading has failed, but is not limited thereto. Thereafter, this processing flow ends.

(Blank page deletion process)
FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of blank page deletion processing for the image file stored in the temporary storage area constituting part of the storage unit 114 in S406 or S409 shown in FIG. In this processing flow, a program stored in the storage unit 114 in the control unit 110 is expanded in the RAM 112 and executed by the CPU 111.

  In step S501, the control unit 110 acquires a deletion setting level designated in advance. A method for specifying the deletion setting level will be described later with reference to FIG. In S502, control unit 110 acquires an image file already stored in the temporary storage area. In S503, the control unit 110 reads a blank sheet detection result from the image file acquired in S502.

  In step S504, the control unit 110 compares the blank sheet detection result read in step S503 with the deletion setting level acquired in step S501, and determines whether the value of the blank sheet detection result is equal to or higher than the deletion setting level. If it is equal to or higher than the deletion setting level (YES in S504), the process proceeds to S505. If it is smaller than the deletion setting level (NO in S504), the process proceeds to S506.

  In step S505, the control unit 110 deletes the image data of the image file called in step S502. In S506, control unit 110 determines whether there is another image file in the temporary storage area. If there is another image file (YES in S506), the process returns to S502, and the process is repeated for the next unprocessed image file. If there is no unprocessed image file (NO in S506), the process flow ends.

(Example of UI screen)
FIG. 5 is an example of a UI screen as an accepting unit for accepting an instruction as to whether or not to delete a blank page.

  A UI screen 601 shown in FIG. 5A is an example of an operation screen displayed on the operation unit 130 in S405 or S408. By pressing the YES button 602, an instruction to delete a blank page is issued (YES in S405 or S408 in FIG. 3). In addition, when the NO button 603 is pressed, an instruction to not delete the blank page is issued (NO in S405 or S408 in FIG. 3).

  A UI screen 611 illustrated in FIG. 5B is another example of the operation screen displayed on the operation unit 130 in S405 or S408. By pressing a setting change button 612 on the UI screen 611, the UI screen 621 shown in FIG. 5C is transitioned to and the deletion setting level can be changed. An instruction to delete a blank page is issued by pressing the YES button 613. Further, when the NO button 614 is pressed, an instruction is given to not delete the blank page.

  A UI screen 621 shown in FIG. 5C is an example of a setting screen for setting a deletion setting level that is called when the setting change button 612 of the UI screen 611 is pressed. In this example, the deletion setting level is an example in which a value of 1 to 5 can be specified. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the granularity can be changed according to the processing load or the like. A cursor 622 indicates the current deletion setting level. In the example shown in FIG. 5C, the level 4 is set. A level change button 623 is used to change the deletion setting level to a lower level, and a level change button 624 is a button for changing the deletion setting level to a higher level. The setting is confirmed by pressing the enter button 625, and the setting change is canceled by pressing the cancel button 626. The deletion setting level determined here is called in the processing of S501 in FIG.

  The UI screen may be a user mode (not shown) setting screen in which settings can be changed for each user, or a management mode (not shown) setting screen in which only an administrator or a service person can change settings. Good. Also, a level different from the deletion setting level used in the blank page deletion process of S406 and the deletion setting level used in the blank page deletion process of S409 may be used. Thus, the image data can be deleted step by step based on the blank paper determination result. Also, the UI screen displayed in S405 and S408 may be different. In the process of FIG. 3, blank page deletion processing is performed by determining the capacity of the storage unit 114 and the state of the image data in two stages of steps S404 to S406 and steps S407 to S409. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the processing may be performed collectively.

(Document storage area saving process)
FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of processing for storing a document file in a document storage area constituting a part of the storage unit 114 in the present embodiment. In this processing, the program stored in the storage unit 114 in the control unit 110 is read out to the RAM 112 and executed by the CPU 111.

  In S701, the control unit 110 acquires an image file corresponding to each page constituting the document from the temporary storage area. At this time, the acquired image file may be deleted from the temporary storage area. In step S702, the control unit 110 combines the image files acquired in step S701 as one document file.

  In S703, when the document file created in S702 is stored in the storage unit 114, the control unit 110 determines whether or not the remaining capacity of the storage unit 114 is below a threshold value. Specifically, it is determined whether or not the value obtained by subtracting the size of the document file created in S702 from the remaining capacity of the storage unit 114 is below a predetermined threshold value. The threshold used here may be set to an arbitrary value depending on the setting of a management mode (not shown) in which only the administrator or service person can change the setting, or may be a value determined in advance in the program. .

  If it is below the threshold (YES in S703), the process proceeds to S704, and if it is equal to or greater than the threshold (NO in S703), the process proceeds to S706. In step S <b> 704, the control unit 110 receives an instruction on whether to delete a blank page via the operation unit 130. The instruction here can be received, for example, on a screen similar to the UI screen shown in FIG. If an instruction to delete a blank page is received (YES in S704), the process proceeds to S705. If an instruction to delete is not received (NO in S704), the process proceeds to S706.

  In step S <b> 705, the control unit 110 performs blank page deletion processing on the document file already stored in the document storage area. This blank page deletion process will be described later with reference to FIG. In step S <b> 706, the control unit 110 determines whether the file size of the document file created in step S <b> 702 exceeds the remaining capacity of the storage unit 114. That is, the control unit 110 determines whether the document file can be stored in the storage unit 114. If the size of the document file is less than or equal to the remaining capacity (YES in S706), the process proceeds to S709, and if it exceeds the remaining capacity (NO in S706), the process proceeds to S707.

  In step S <b> 707, the control unit 110 receives an instruction on whether to delete a blank page via the operation unit 130. If an instruction to delete a blank page is received (YES in S707), the process proceeds to S708. If an instruction to delete is not received (NO in S707), the process proceeds to S710.

  In step S708, the control unit 110 performs blank page deletion processing on the document file already stored in the document storage area. The blank page deletion process performed in S708 is the same as that performed in S705, and will be described later with reference to FIG. In step S709, the control unit 110 stores the document file in the document storage area. In step S710, the control unit 110 performs error processing. After S709 or S710, this processing flow ends.

(Blank page deletion process)
FIG. 7 shows a flowchart for performing blank page deletion processing on a document file stored in a document storage area constituting a part of the storage unit 114 in S705 or S708 shown in FIG. In this processing flow, a program stored in the storage unit 114 in the control unit 110 is expanded in the RAM 112 and executed by the CPU 111.

  In step S801, the control unit 110 acquires a deletion setting level designated in advance. As the deletion setting level, the value shown in FIG. 5C can be used. Different deletion setting levels may be used for the blank page deletion processing in S406, S409, S705, and S708. Further, the UI screen displayed in S704 and S707 may be different. In step S802, the control unit 110 acquires a document file already stored in the document storage area. In step S803, the control unit 110 acquires an image file from the document file acquired in step S802. In step S804, the control unit 110 reads a blank sheet detection result from the image file acquired in step S803.

  In step S805, the control unit 110 compares the blank sheet detection result read in step S804 with the deletion setting level acquired in step S801, and determines whether the value of the blank sheet detection result is equal to or higher than the deletion setting level. If it is equal to or higher than the deletion setting level (YES in S805), the process proceeds to S806, and if it is smaller than the deletion setting level (NO in S805), the process proceeds to S807.

  In step S806, the control unit 110 deletes the image data of the image file acquired in step S803. In step S807, the control unit 110 determines whether there is another image file in the document file. If there is another image file (YES in S807), the process returns to S803, and the process is repeated for another unprocessed image file. If there is no other image file (NO in S807), the process proceeds to S808. In step S808, the control unit 110 determines whether there is another document file in the document storage area. If there is another unprocessed document file (YES in S808), the process returns to S802, and the process is repeated for the other unprocessed document file. If there is no other document file (NO in S808), the process flow ends.

(Effect of this embodiment)
According to the present embodiment, in the image reading apparatus, when the remaining capacity of the temporary storage area and the document storage area falls below a predetermined threshold value, the image that has been determined to be blank is deleted, whereby useful image data is obtained The storage area can be used more effectively while leaving it behind.

<Other embodiments>
The present invention is also realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (program) for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various storage media, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, etc.) of the system or apparatus reads the program. It is a process to be executed.

Claims (8)

Reading means for reading an image;
Determination means for determining whether or not the image read by the reading means is a blank sheet;
Storage control means for storing image data of an image read by the reading means in a storage unit;
Have
The storage control means includes
When storing image data, the determination result by the determination unit is stored in association with each other,
When the remaining capacity of the storage unit falls below a predetermined threshold by newly storing image data, among the image data already stored in the storage unit, the image data determined to be blank by the determination unit An image reading apparatus, wherein the image reading apparatus is deleted. The storage control means further includes
If the remaining capacity of the storage unit after deleting image data that has already been stored in the storage unit and determined to be blank is smaller than the size of the image data to be newly stored, it is further determined to be blank. 2. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein other image data is deleted. The storage unit includes a first area for temporarily storing image data, and a second area for collectively storing one or more image data stored in the first area as a document file. The storage control means includes:
When the remaining capacity of the storage unit falls below a predetermined threshold by newly storing a document file in the second area, among the image data constituting the document file already stored in the second area, The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein other image data determined to be blank by the determination unit is deleted. The storage control means further includes
When the remaining capacity of the storage unit after deleting the image data determined to be a blank sheet constituting the document file already stored in the second area is smaller than the size of the document file to be newly stored The image reading apparatus according to claim 3, further deleting image data determined to be blank paper.   5. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit divides the image data determined to be blank into a plurality of levels according to the possibility of being blank. 6. Among the image data determined by the determination unit as blank paper, the image processing apparatus further includes a reception unit that receives designation of a level of image data to be deleted.
The image reading apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the storage control unit deletes image data according to a level determined by the determination unit and a level specified by the reception unit. A reading step of reading an image by a reading means;
A determination step of determining whether the image read in the reading step is a blank sheet;
A storage control step of storing image data of the image read in the reading step in a storage unit;
Have
In the storage control step,
When storing image data, the determination result by the determination step is stored in association with each other,
When the remaining capacity of the storage unit is lower than a predetermined threshold by newly storing image data, among the image data already stored in the storage unit, the image data determined to be blank in the determination step A method for controlling an image reading apparatus, comprising: deleting the image reading apparatus. A computer having a reading unit for reading an image,
Determination means for determining whether or not the image read by the reading unit is a blank sheet;
A storage control unit that stores image data of an image read by the reading unit in a storage unit;
Function as
The storage control means includes
When storing image data, the determination result by the determination unit is stored in association with each other,
When the remaining capacity of the storage unit falls below a predetermined threshold by newly storing image data, among the image data already stored in the storage unit, the image data determined to be blank by the determination unit A program characterized by being deleted.

Images