JP2559710B2 - Image processing method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an image processing method for storing a partial area of an image in a storage means.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, there is known a technology in which a character portion and a photograph portion of an image are separated and separately stored (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-59160).
-45765 publication).

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, conventionally, when a partial area of an image is specified, a specifying unit such as a digitizer is used. The operator could not easily recognize that.

The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional example, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image processing method with improved operability when designating and moving a partial area.

[Means for Solving Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the image processing method of the present invention includes the following steps. That is, the image based on the multi-valued image data stored in the printer buffer is stored in the display buffer and displayed on the display device, and the movement of the partial area instructed by the operator based on the image displayed on the display device is performed. In response to the instruction, the partial image corresponding to the partial area stored in the display buffer is moved, and the image area corresponding to the partial area stored in the printer buffer in association with the movement of the partial area. Is characterized by moving.

[Operation] In the above configuration, an image based on the multi-valued image data stored in the printer buffer is stored in the display buffer and displayed on the display device, and a portion instructed by the operator based on the displayed image In response to the area movement instruction, the partial image corresponding to the partial area stored in the display buffer is moved, and the partial area stored in the printer buffer is associated with the movement of the partial area. Move the image area corresponding to.

Embodiments Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[Description of Image Processing System (FIG. 1)] FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an image processing system using an interface circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a CPU, which is a host computer, and is provided with a main memory or the like used as a work area for storing a control program. Reference numeral 2 denotes a frame buffer which stores image data for at least one screen. Three
Is a CRT for displaying image data of the frame buffer 2 and displaying an instruction input from the keyboard 4 and the pointing device 5, and 4 is a keyboard for inputting various commands and control information. 5 is a pointing device (P
In D), the area is designated on the image displayed on the CRT 3 as described later. A disk device 6 stores image data and the like input from an image scanner 7 or the like which will be described later. Reference numeral 7 is a system bus that connects the CPU 1 to various buffers and the like, and the CPU 1 is configured to be able to access each buffer via the system bus 7. The above is the system configuration of the host computer.

Reference numeral 8 denotes an image scanner which reads image information by photoelectric conversion and inputs the image information as multi-valued image data, and 9 denotes a printer which performs printing using the multi-valued data.

10 is an interface circuit of this embodiment, which is a controller
11 is controlled. The multi-level image data from the image scanner 8 is supplied to a multi-level binary conversion circuit via a video bus 12.
13 and resolution conversion circuit 14 at the same time. In the multi-valued binary conversion circuit 13, the input multi-valued data is binarized by thresholding and stored in the binary buffer 15. On the other hand, the resolution conversion circuit 14 converts the input multi-valued data to a low resolution by thinning or the like and stores it in the multi-valued buffer 16.

When the image data is output to the printer 9, the binary data of the binary buffer 15 is min / ma by the multi-level binary conversion circuit 13.
x density conversion, multi-value conversion and output. The multi-valued data of the multi-valued buffer 16 is interpolated by the resolution conversion circuit 14, and the low-resolution data is expanded in accordance with the dot density of the multi-valued data from the multi-valued binary conversion circuit 13. It 17
Is an address counter for instructing read / write to the binary buffer 15, the multi-value buffer 16 and the area control buffer 18. 19 is the area control buffer when outputting image data.
This is a switching circuit for switching and outputting the image data from the multi-value binary conversion circuit 13 and the resolution conversion circuit 14 according to the area information 20.

An area determination circuit 21 determines the edge portion and non-edge portion of the image from the density values of the neighboring pixels of the image data from the image scanner 8 and determines whether the edge portion is a binary area and the non-edge portion is halftone. It is judged as a value area, and the result is the area information 20
Output as The area control buffer 18 stores the data of the area control buffer 18 in correspondence with the area information 20, such as "1" for a binary area and "0" for a multivalued area. When the image data is output, the area information 20 of "1" or "0" is output in synchronization with the reading of the binary and multi-valued buffers 15 and 16.

[Explanation of Image Editing Example (FIGS. 2 and 3)] FIG. 2 (A) shows image data input from the image scanner 8, 200 indicates a photograph portion, and 201 indicates a character portion. FIG. 2B shows image data for print output after the photograph portion 200 has been moved.

Hereinafter, the state of each buffer at the time of image input and image output and the operation at the time of image movement will be described with reference to FIG.

First, when multi-valued image data is inputted from the image scanner 8, the binary image data binarized by the multi-valued binary conversion circuit 13 is stored in the binary buffer 15. At the same time, the low-resolution multi-value image is stored in the multi-value buffer 16 by the resolution conversion circuit 14. At the same time, the area buffer 20 stores the area information 20 from the area determining circuit 21, and the bit of the photograph area 32 is inverted.
This is shown in FIG. 3 (a). Here, 30 is a photograph part and 31 is a character part.

Next, in FIG. 3B, the CPU 1 reads the multivalued data of the multivalued buffer 16 via the system bus 7, stores it in the frame buffer 2 and monitors it on the CRT 3.

Next, in (c) of FIG. 3, when the operator instructs the movement of the photographic portion 30 on the CRT 3 with the PD5, the photographic area 30 is moved in the frame buffer 2 as shown in FIG. The display also moves correspondingly. When the above editing work is completed, a binary buffer 15, a multi-valued buffer 16 and a region control buffer 18 are issued in response to an editing end instruction from the operator.
Similarly, the photographic area 30 is moved (FIG. 3 (d)).

This movement is performed, for example, as follows. First CPU1
Reads the binary image data of one pixel in the photographic area 30 of the binary buffer 15 and the binary image data of the pixel to which the pixel is moved via the system bus 7, exchanges the two, and executes
The value is stored in the value buffer 15. By performing this means for all the pixels in the photographic area 30, the binary image in the binary buffer 15 is in the state shown in FIG. The multi-valued buffer 16 can also be moved in the same manner as the binary buffer 15 by performing the movement shown in FIG. 3 (d).

Finally, according to a print instruction from the keyboard 4 or the like,
The respective image data and area information 20 are read out synchronously from the three buffers 15-18. The binary image data of the binary buffer 15 is converted into multivalued image data by a multilevel binary conversion circuit 13, and the low-resolution multivalued data on the multilevel buffer 16 is converted by a resolution conversion circuit 14. The image is expanded to match the resolution (dot density) of the binary image data. These two image data are output by the resolution conversion circuit 14 in the photographic area 32 according to the area information 20 read from the area control buffer 18 by the switching circuit 19 and multi-valued 2 in other areas. The output of the value conversion circuit 13 is selected and output to the printer 9. As a result, it is possible to obtain an image expressed by multi-valued data having high resolution in the character portion and low resolution and gradation in the photograph portion.

Further, when the image data is stored in the disk device 6, each of the binary / multi-valued image data cut out according to the area information 20 is stored after performing data compression suitable for each. Data can be compressed significantly.

In the present embodiment, the case of image editing has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this and can be applied to a wide range. Although the case of the binary image processing and the multi-value image processing has been described here, the same method can be applied to the area control of the constant threshold value processing and the dither processing even in the case of only the binary image.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, a high-resolution binary image and a low-resolution multi-value image created based on the same high-resolution multi-value data are stored in independent binary or multi-value buffers. By simultaneously inputting and outputting data and making each buffer randomly accessible from the system bus of the host computer, the host computer can freely use each buffer and handle high-quality images with a small amount of data. is there.

As described above, according to the present invention, the image displayed on the display device is confirmed based on the multi-valued image data stored in the printer buffer, and the partial area is instructed. The area can be easily designated, and the movement of the partial area is displayed on the display device in response to the instruction to move the partial area. Therefore, the movement of the partial area can be easily confirmed, and the operability can be improved. There is an effect.

Further, since the partial area stored in the printer buffer can be moved in association with the movement of the partial area, the instruction to move the image area on the display device can be surely reflected in the print result.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an image processing system using the interface circuit of the present embodiment, FIG. 2 (A) is a diagram showing an example of image data input from an image scanner, and FIG. 2 (B) is FIG. 2 (A) is a diagram showing an example of image data for print output obtained by moving a photographic portion of the image data. FIG. 3 is a transition diagram showing the procedure of image editing and the state of each buffer accompanying the editing. It is. In the figure, 1 ... CPU, 2 ... Frame buffer, 3 ... CR
T, 4 ... Keyboard, 5 ... Pointing device (PD), 6 ... Disk device, 7 ... System bus, 8
... Image scanner, 9 Printer, 10 Interface circuit, 11 Controller, 12 Video bus, 13 Multi-level binary conversion circuit, 14 Resolution conversion circuit,
15-binary buffer, 16-multi-value buffer, 17-address counter, 18-area control buffer, 19-switching circuit, 20-area information, 21-area judgment circuit, 30, 200 ...
… Photo part, 31,201 …… It is a character part.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A partial area instructed by an operator based on an image displayed on the display device by storing an image based on multi-valued image data stored in a printer buffer in a display buffer. The partial image corresponding to the partial area stored in the display buffer in accordance with the movement instruction of the partial buffer, and the partial image stored in the printer buffer in association with the movement of the partial area. An image processing method characterized by moving an image area to be processed.