JP2622112B2 - Image processing system - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing system in which image information (for example, a sentence recorded and printed on paper or the like) is input in pixel units, and converted into digital signals for processing. More particularly, the present invention relates to an image processing system capable of processing one pixel of image information with a binary digital signal and a multi-valued digital signal.

(Prior art)

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image processing system that reads image information such as a line drawing or a document in a pixel unit using a photoelectric conversion element or the like and converts it into a binary digital signal to perform editing, display, storage, and the like is generally known. Further, in order to process image information having a halftone expression such as a photograph, and to perform image processing such as gradation conversion, edge enhancement, and clipping of an object, the image information is converted into a multi-valued digital signal. Image processing systems for processing have been developed in recent years.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, in an image processing system that performs image processing using a signal in which image information is converted into a binary digital signal (hereinafter, referred to as binary image data), a signal in which image information is converted into a multi-valued digital signal (hereinafter, referred to as a binary signal) No image processing can be performed by using multi-valued image data), and even in an image processing system that performs image processing using multi-valued image data, there is no one that can perform image processing using binary image data and lacks versatility. Was. Therefore, a highly versatile image processing system capable of integrating binary image data and multi-valued image data and performing image processing such as text editing and printout has been desired.

[Means and actions for solving the problems]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an image area separating means for performing image area separation of input image data into first multi-valued image data and binary image data, Binary / multilevel conversion means for converting the converted binary image data into second multilevel image data, the second multilevel image data obtained by the binary / multilevel conversion means, and the image area Editing means for editing together the first multi-valued image data whose image area has been separated by the separating means; and output control means for controlling output of the multi-valued image data edited by the editing means. An image processing system is provided.

The present invention preferably solves the above problems,
The output control means controls display or printing.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an image processing system to which the present invention is applied.

In FIG. 1, 1-1, 1-2,..., 2-1 and 2-2 are binary image processing work stations (hereinafter referred to as binary WS) capable of editing and displaying binary image data. 3-1,3
--2,... Are image readers (hereinafter referred to as binary RD) for binarizing image information and 4-1, 4-2, etc. are image printers for printing binarized image data. (Hereinafter referred to as binary PR). Binary WS2-1, 2-2,
... are binary RD3-1, 3-2, ... and binary PR4-1, 4-2, respectively.
And a reader / printer system (hereinafter referred to as binary) comprising a binary image reader and a binary image printer via a network (hereinafter referred to as LAN) 12.
5-1, 5-2,... (Referred to as an RD / 2-value PR system).

In the above configuration, the binary WS1-1, 1-2,..., Are transmitted from the binary RD / binary PR system 5-1, 5-2,.
Receiving the value image data, editing the binary image data such as cutting, enlarging, reducing, rotating, moving, and synthesizing the cut portion while displaying them on the display, and finally obtaining the binary image data. Binary image data is converted via the LAN 12 into a binary RD / 2-value PR system 5-1, 5-2,
.., And the binary image data can be transferred to a binary WS external storage device or a storage file server (hereinafter referred to as FS) 6-1 connected via the LAN 12. , 6-2.

The binary WS2-1,2-2, ... is the binary RD / 2 on the network.
It can send and receive binary image data to and from the value PR system, and can also read binary image data from the directly connected binary RD3-1,3-2, ... binary PR4-1,4-2, ... .. Can be used to print binary image data.

Furthermore, 7-1, 7-2, ..., 8-1, 8-2, ... are multi-valued images.
A multi-valued image processing work station (hereinafter referred to as multi-valued WS) that can edit and display data.
Is an image reader (hereinafter referred to as a multi-valued RD) that reads image information in a multi-valued manner, and 10-1, 10-2,... Are images capable of reproducing multi-valued image data by reproducing a halftone. -It is a printer (hereinafter referred to as multi-value PR).

.. 8-1, 8-2,... Receive multi-valued image data from any of the multi-valued RDs, and edit and display the multi-valued PRs. Multi-valued image data can be transferred to any of them and printed, and can be stored in any of FS6-1 and 6-2. Editing of multi-valued image data here includes cutting, enlarging and reducing the cut portion, rotating it, moving it, and synthesizing them.
Gradation conversion and edge enhancement can also be performed.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal structure of binary WS1-1, 1-2,..., 2-1, 2-2,. As basic building blocks,
Input keyboard 13, pointing device 14, keyboard interface KBD-I / F15, cpu22, MMU (Memory
Management FD including program memory 23, read disk drive, floppy disk drive, interface FD / HD-I / F24, disk drive (hereinafter referred to as HD) 25, floppy disk drive (hereinafter referred to as HD) FD) 26, CRT display 16,
A video RAM (hereinafter referred to as a binary VRAM) 17 is provided for this purpose. Reference numeral 18 denotes a bit management unit (hereinafter referred to as BMU), which is a program memory PMEM23, a binary V
A large amount of data in units of words and bits can be transferred at high speed between the RAM 17 and the input / output device without passing through the CPU 22. The BMU 18 further has a logical operation function, a rotation function, and a scaling function of the transfer destination data and the transfer destination data. With regard to the scaling function, scaling can be performed by distinguishing between binary image data such as a line drawing and multi-valued image data such as a photograph. In addition, a companding circuit (hereinafter referred to as MMR) with data companding function 19, an interface LAN-I / F20 for connecting the binary WS and LAN, and an optical disk (hereinafter referred to as OD) 29, and an interface OD-I / F28 therefor.

Further, it has an interface binary LC-I / F27 for connecting either the binary RD or the binary PR directly or both. LC
-The internal structure of the I / F 27 is omitted because it is well known, but there is a buffer for storing binary image data, and the read data from the binary RD3 is directly transferred to the binary PR4 to
There is a function to realize copying.

The binary WS1-1, 1-2, ... receives the binary image data via the LAN12 by the LAN-I / F20, decompresses it by the MMR19, and stores it in the PMEM23 or the binary buffer of the binary LC-I / F27. Transfer the image data. This is edited using the function of the BMU18, and transferred to the binary VRAM17.
It can be displayed on T16. In addition, edited binary image data can be stored in HD25, FD26, OD29, and LA
Via N12, it can also be transferred to the binary values PR5-1, 5-2 or FS6-1, 6-2 shown in FIG. Multi-level / 2-level CV21
Has a function of converting multi-valued image data into binary image data, converts multi-valued image data transferred via the LAN 12 into binary image data, and converts the data into a binary buffer (BU).
F). The internal configuration is as shown in FIG. 10, and the corresponding density pattern is transferred from the binarization pattern ROM 55 to the binary BUF 54 corresponding to one pixel of the multi-valued image data. Thus, the binary WS1-1, 1-2,..., 2-2 can combine and edit the binary image data and the multivalued image data as the same binary image data. Can be forwarded to

FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 each show a binary RD / 2-value PR system 5-
, FS6-1, 6-2,... (The same components as those in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals). With this configuration, a binary RD / 2-value PR system 5-1,
5-2, ... read the image information and L as binary image data
It can be sent to AN12 or receive and print binary image data from LAN12 and copied locally. .. Have a function of performing normal file management and storing binary and multi-level image data in HD25, FD26 and OD29.

FIGS. 5 and 6 (the same configurations as in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals) are multivalued WS7-1, 7-2,.
-1,8-2,... Is a block diagram showing the internal structure of the multi-valued RD / multi-valued PR system 11-1, 11-2,. It is in the video RAM 32 and the multi-value LC-I / F34.
To connect multi-level RD9 and multi-level PR10, multi-level LC-I / F34
Is required, and a multi-valued VRAM 32 is required to display multi-valued image data as an image.

The multi-value LC-I / F34 has a configuration as shown in FIG.
The multi-valued RD9 controlled by the controller 37 reads image information into the multi-valued BUF 39 via the thinning circuit 45, and if necessary, binary image data such as line drawings and characters and multi-valued image data having halftones such as photographs. Has a function of separating the image areas.
This image area separation information is transmitted to the image area BUF40 via the image area separation circuit 46.
The line drawing / characters are binarized by the binarization circuit 42 and read into the binary BUF 38. The multi-value image data of the multi-value BUF39 can be transferred to the multi-value PR10 and printed.

Also, the binary image data of the binary BUF38 is converted to a multilevel circuit 41.
, And can be transferred to the multi-value PR by superimposing the multi-value image data from the multi-value BUF 39 via the superimposing circuit 43. The multi-valued VRAM 32 has a configuration as shown in FIG.
Store multi-level image data in multi-level BUF53 and store it in CRT16
Can be displayed. Also, binary image data is converted to binary BUF52
And superimposed on the multi-valued image data via the superimposing circuit 51 for display.

The binary / multilevel CV33 has a function of converting image data from binary to multilevel and from multilevel to binary.
As shown in the figure, read the data of multi-value BUF56,
The density pattern corresponding to one pixel is transferred from the binary pattern ROM 57 to the binary BUF 58. If the binary image data is data expressing a halftone expression by a density pattern, the data is read from the binary BUF 58 and the multi-value data expressing the gradation of one pixel is read from the multi-value pattern ROM 59 to read the multi-value data. Transfer to value BUF56.

.. Can combine and edit the binary image data and the multi-valued image data as the same image data. The result can be transferred to the multi-valued PR10, and the multi-valued WS8-1, 8-2,. It can also be transferred to the value PR4.

In such a configuration, the multi-value WS is used for the multi-value image,
The same function as the value WS can be realized, and the binary image can be included and processed if necessary.

The data format on the LAN 12 can be realized as shown in FIG. 9 in order to identify the binary image data and the multi-value image data as described above and to identify the transfer between various devices. Here, 47 and 48 are identification numbers indicating the transmitting side and the receiving side, respectively, which are added from the transmitting side. Reference numeral 49 denotes an identification number indicating the content of data. In the binary WS or binary RD / 2-value PR system, a number indicating a binary image is added. Value WS or Multivalue RD / Multivalue P
In the R system, a number indicating a multi-valued image is added.
Then, in accordance with the data iD49, the binary image or the multivalued image is stored in 50.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described with reference to the document editing flow shown in FIGS. 12 (1) and 12 (2).

First, in step S1, a binary image from a binary RD, a multi-valued
Multi-valued images from RD, sentences and figures stored in HD,
A table, a graph, a binary image, a multi-value image, an integrated document thereof, or a blank sheet are selected and displayed. Next, in step S2, the process branches to the following process according to the type of the displayed document and the designated command. Processing includes print processing S4, text input editing S6, figure editing S8, table editing S1
0, graph creation S12, binary image editing S15, multi-valued image editing S16, data extraction S22, and data synthesis S24.

If binary / multi-value conversion is specified for the binary image, the binary image is converted into a multi-value image in step S16, and the process proceeds to multi-value image editing in step S19.

When the multi-value / binary conversion is designated for the multi-value image, the multi-value image is converted to a binary image in step S20, and the process proceeds to the binary image editing in step S15.

In binary image editing, cutting of figures and characters, enlargement / reduction of cut parts, rotation, movement thereof, and composition of them can be performed. In multi-valued image editing, in addition to these, gradation conversion, edge emphasis, extraction of an object, and the like can be performed.

When the document editing is completed in S25, the document is written out in S26, printed out, displayed, saved on a hard disk or the like, and the flow ends.

In the image processing system having the above configuration, a document as shown in FIG. 13 is displayed in the multi-value WS 7-1, 7-2,..., 8-1, 8-2,. Can be edited. Here, reference numeral 57 denotes an integrated document, which includes a sentence 58, a figure 59, a graph 60, and a table 6.
3, including a multi-valued image 61 such as a photograph and a binary image 62 such as a figure. Reference numeral 64 denotes a display area for instructing different editing commands depending on the editing state. Where sentence 58, figure 59,
The graph 60 and the table 63 are bit-expanded from the code data to the binary BUF 52 in FIG.
The data is thinned out and transferred to the value BUF52 by the scaling function of the BMU 18 in FIG. The multi-valued image 61 is the multi-valued BU shown in FIG.
The data is transferred to F53 by the function of the BMU 18, and is superimposed on the data and displayed on the CRT 16 in FIG.

In the above-described embodiment, the image processing system is a network-connected image processing system. However, the present invention is not limited to this. One part of the system may be omitted, or a part of the system may be changed. Needless to say, the present invention can be realized within the above.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described in detail above, the present invention combines both the second multi-valued image data obtained by the binary / multi-value conversion means and the first multi-valued image data subjected to image area separation by the image area separation means. Since editing is performed, editing can be performed on a plurality of multi-valued image data equally.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image processing system to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of a binary WS, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of a binary RD / 2-value PR system. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the FS, FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the multi-value WS, FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the multi-value RD / multi-value PR system, 7 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the multi-valued LC-I / F, FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the multi-valued VRAM, and FIG. 9 is binary image data and multi-valued image data on the network. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the internal configuration of a multi-value / binary conversion circuit, FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the internal configuration of a binary / multi-value conversion circuit, and FIG. 12 is a schematic flow of integrated document editing. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a display example of an integrated document. 1-1,1-2, ..., 2-1,2-2 ... Binary image processing work station (Binary WS) 3-1,3-2-2, ... Binary image reader (Binary RD) 4-1, 4-2, ... binary reader printer (binary PR) 5-1, 5-2, ... binary RD / 2-value PR system 6-1, 6-2, ... file saver ( FS) 7-1,7-2, ..., 8-1,8-2 ... Multi-value image processing work station (multi-value WS) 9-1,9-2, ... multi-value image reader (multi-value image reader) RD) 10-1,10-2, ... multi-value reader printer (multi-value PR) 11-1,11-2, ... multi-value RD / multi-value PR system

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-63-13579 (JP, A) JP-A-57-131170 (JP, A) JP-B-7-109618 (JP, B2) Patent 2513636 (JP, A) C1)

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] An image area separating means for performing image area separation of input image data into first multi-valued image data and binary image data, and converting the binary image data having undergone image area separation by the image area separating means. Binary / multilevel conversion means for converting to second multilevel image data; the second multilevel image data obtained by the binary / multilevel conversion means; and image area separation by the image area separation means. An image processing system comprising: an editing unit for editing the first multi-valued image data together; and an output control unit for controlling output of the multi-valued image data edited by the editing unit. . 2. The image processing system according to claim 1, wherein said output control means controls display or printing.