JP2676735B2 - Image processing system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an image processing device, a plurality of external input / output devices, and an input / output control device that connects the image processing device and the external input / output device. The present invention relates to an image processing system provided with. (Prior Art) Some image processing systems are connected to a plurality of external image input / output devices. This external device, for example,
There are image readers that read images of originals, microscanners that read images for microfilm, laser printers that print out image images, and laser filmers that make microfilms by laser. (Problems to be Solved by the Invention) For example, an image processing system disclosed in JP-A-60-81961 includes an image input section, an image output section, an image processing section, and an operation section for instructing image processing. Therefore, the image input unit can be activated from both the image input unit and the operation unit. However, when connecting external devices to each other in an image processing system to which such an external image input / output device is connected, the image bus used for communication of image data can be controlled only by the control means for controlling the image processing unit. Therefore, conventionally,
The operation unit for instructing the image processing gives an instruction for connection of the input / output device, and the control means for controlling the image processing unit controls the image bus connecting the input / output device by the instruction from the operation unit,
Connect the indicated devices. However, in this method, the control means of the image processing unit must constantly monitor the external image input / output device, which imposes a heavy load on the processing. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image processing system including an input / output control device that can connect external input / output devices to each other from the external input device side. (Means for Solving Problems) An image processing system according to the present invention includes an image processing device,
In an image processing system comprising at least three external input / output devices and an input / output control device for connecting these devices, between the image processing device and the input / output control device, and the external input / output device. An image data bus for communicating image data and a control data bus for communicating control data between the output device and the input / output control device, and a different device provided in the image processing device and the external input / output device A plurality of operating means for instructing connection with the input / output control device, and a plurality of bus switching means provided in the input / output control device for switching connection between the plurality of image data buses connected to the input / output control device, and the input / output control device Storage means for storing data relating to the connection between the image processing device and the external input / output device, which is provided in the control data transmitted via the control data bus; Provided in the control device, on the basis of the data concerning the connection between the devices stored in the storage means, when between at least one pair of devices are connected,
If the control data input from the control data bus of the image processing device or the external input / output device requires a connection with a device that is not in the connected state, the connection is permitted, and the connection with the device that is in the connected state is permitted. A control means for controlling the plurality of bus switching means is provided so that connection is not performed if required. (Operation) In an image processing system including an image processing device, a plurality of external input / output devices, and an input / output control device for connecting these devices, the control means is control data input via a control bus. And controlling the plurality of bus switching means based on the data relating to the connection between the devices stored in the storage means, and causing the bus switching means to switch the connection. (Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention is described using an accompanying drawing. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the image processing system according to the present invention. The host CPUI that controls this system includes a main memory 3 for storing programs and the like via a system bus 2, a keyboard 4 and a mouse 5 for inputting instructions and data, and a floppy disk device (or hard disk) as an auxiliary storage device. Device) 6, image processing unit 11, CRT
It is connected to the controller 13, the optical disk interface 16, and the external device control unit 21. The host CPU 1 uses the program in the main memory 3 to perform overall system management, document management, optical disk management, image processing, man-machine interface processing, and the like. CRT controller 13 is a CRT
In accordance with an instruction from the host CPU 1, a menu selection icon stored in the CRT frame memory 14 and an input image are displayed on the screen 15. The operator proceeds with the operation by using the icon displayed on the CRT 15 and the key input of the keyboard 4 or the selection button of the mouse 5. The image processing unit 11 sets the image storage area and edits the image (enlargement / reduction / movement /
The image data obtained as a result is stored in the image memory 12. Optical disc interface
Reference numeral 16 is an interface for controlling the optical disk and for compressing, expanding and recording the image. The host CPU 1 further includes an external device 31 via an external device control unit 21 described later.
Connected with ~ 34. Further, the image processing unit 11, the image memory 12, the CRT controller 13, the CRT frame memory 14, the optical disk interface 16, and the external device control unit 21 are respectively connected to the image bus 17 for image data communication and mutually exchange image data. I / O can be performed. The external devices 31 to 34 are not directly connected to the image bus 17. The external device control device 21 is connected to the system bus 2 and the image bus 17 on the system body side, and is also connected to the image reader (DS) 31 and the microscanner (MS) 32, which are external image input devices with an operation unit. Further, it is connected to a laser printer (LP) 33 which is an external image output device and a laser filmer (LF) 34 which creates a microfilm. Even from these external image input devices, as will be explained later,
It is possible to control connection of the image bus 17 via the external device control device 21 and control the image output device via the system bus 12. FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of the external device control unit 21. Each of the external image input / output devices 31 to 34 has a control command line 22
Control commands are transmitted / received to / from the CPU 23 via a, 22b, 22c, 22d and a control command line 22 commonly connected to them. That is, in the control command lines 22a-22d,
In addition to the start command for scanning the image reader 31, printing the laser printer 33, etc., enlarging the image reader 31,
Information such as mode setting commands such as reduction, device status, and keyboard input ON / OFF is exchanged. Information for communication is stored in the memory 24. on the other hand,
CPU23 is a dual port RAM25 for communication with host CPU1
And exchanges information including control commands with the host CPU 1 via the system bus 2. Further, each external image input / output device 31-34 includes each image data line 26a-26d, each device 31-34 and the image bus 17.
Image data is transmitted and received via the switches 27a to 27d for switching the connection with. The CPU 23 switches the connection of the switches 27a to 27d based on the control command. The connections between the switches 27a to 27d are made so that various combinations of input / output devices are possible. Furthermore, memory control circuit
28 sets and activates the count of the memory 24 when transmitting / receiving data from the memory 24 to the output device and from the input device to the memory 24. The memory 24 is provided with a communication table (a table of commands from the input / output devices 1, 31 to 34) and stores the commands. The CPU 23 performs the above-described control command communication, image line control, information transmission / reception with the host CPU 1, control of the memory control circuit 28, and the like. As described above, the system bus 2 on the system body side and the image bus 17 can be directly connected to the image data lines 26a to 26d of the external input / output device. on the other hand,
External input / output devices can be connected to each other without using the image bus 2. That is, in this system, not only external devices are connected to the image processing unit one to one, but also an image reader and a laser printer can be connected to be used as a digital copier, and a microscanner and a laser printer can be used. Can be connected to operate as a digital reader printer. In this case, host CPU1
Can monitor the dual-port RAM25 and can concentrate on the control of the system itself. FIG. 3 shows a main flow of the CPU 23 that controls the external device control unit 21. When the power is turned on, first, as an initial setting, an internal CPU interrupt, ports, serial communication initialization, peripheral circuit initialization, and communication permission are performed (step P1). Next, the communication table (table of commands from an external input device or the like) in the work area of the memory 24 is checked (step P2). Then, it communicates with the host CPU1 corresponding to the stored control command, receives the control command from the host CPU1, and writes it in the communication table of the memory 24 (step P3). Next, if there is a startup command for booting the external device (step P4), the status of the external device required for startup is checked and image line connection control is performed as described later (step P4). P5). And
When using the memory 24 (step P6), the parameters for the external device are set in the memory 24 (step P7).
Next, the external device activation command is written in the memory 24 and the transmission buffer (step P8). If it is determined in step P4 that there is no start command, the above processing is not performed. Next, check the value of the loop counter provided for regular status communication with external devices (step
P9), if it has become a predetermined value, that is, every predetermined number of loops, the process returns to step P2. If it does not reach the predetermined value, external control is performed. That is, in the reception interrupt routine (FIG. 4), the reception data written in the reception buffer is analyzed and the contents of the communication table are written (step P11), and then the communication table map is scanned and each device is scanned. The state is monitored, it is determined whether there is data to be transmitted, and if there is data, it is written in the transmission buffer (step P12). Then, the process returns to step P9. In the reception interrupt routine shown in FIG. 4, when a reception interrupt is input from the serial communication port of the CPU 23, the data is written in the reception buffer (step P21). In the transmission interrupt routine shown in FIG. 5, when the CPU 23 receives a transmission data empty interrupt, it checks whether or not there is data to be sent to the transmission buffer, and if there is, outputs the data to the serial communication port. If not, the transmission interrupt is masked (step P31). FIG. 6 shows an image bus connection control (step P for connecting image data lines of a preset input / output device).
The flow of 5) is shown. First, the start instruction is analyzed (step P51), and the process branches according to the combination of the start instructions of the command flag (step P52). When the image reader (DS) 31 and the laser printer (LP) 33 are controlled and used as a digital copier, a start-up command is issued to both the input / output devices 31 and 33, and the processing is performed as follows. First, it is determined whether both input / output devices 31 and 33 are in use (step P61). If in use,
Next, it is determined whether or not it is the priority mode (print interrupt) (step P62), and if it is the priority mode, the interrupt key command is set (step P63). Then, the process returns to the main flow. If it is determined in step P61 that it is not in use, then
A signal for connecting the data transmission line from the image reader 31 to the laser printer 33 is output to the switches 27a to 27d (step P70). Next, it is determined whether or not the image reader 31 can be activated (step P71), and if possible, the image reader mode (size, number of sheets, etc.) is set (step P72).
If it is impossible, a message is sent to the image reader 31 (step P73), and a message indicating that the image reader 31 or the printer 33 cannot be moved is displayed on the operation unit (not shown) of the image reader 31. Then, the process returns to the main flow. When the image reader mode is set, it is then determined whether the laser printer 33 can be activated (step P7
4) If possible, set the laser printer mode (step P75) and set the image reader 31 and laser printer 3
The start command of 3 is transmitted (step P76), the start command is stored in the transmission buffer of the memory 24, and then the processed command flag is reset (step P7).
7). If the image reader 31 cannot be started, a message is sent to the image reader 31 (step P73), and the operation unit of the image reader 31 displays that the image reader 31 or the printer 33 cannot move. Then, the process returns to the main flow. In the above embodiment, the display of the message is input device,
Although what is performed by the operation unit of the image reader or the microscanner is shown, this display may be performed by the output device side such as a laser printer or a laser filmer. It should be noted that other external input / output devices are connected in the same manner, but description thereof will be omitted. (Effect of the Invention) According to the present invention, the control means controls the plurality of bus switching means based on the control data input via the control bus and the data regarding the connection between the devices stored in the storage means. Control. Therefore, the external input / output device side can instruct the connection between the external input / output devices. Further, since the control means is provided in the input / output control device, the image processing device does not need to control the connection of the external input / output device, and the processing load on the image processing device can be reduced. Furthermore, since the control means controls the bus switching means to directly connect the external input / output devices to each other without passing through the image processing device, the external input / output devices can be used in a local mode in the image processing system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an external device control unit. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the image processing system. FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, and FIG. 6 are flowcharts of external device control. 1 …… CPU, 2 …… System bus, 17 …… Image bus, 21 …… External device control unit, 22 …… Control command line, 23 …… CPU, 26a to 26d …… Image bus, 27a to 27d …… Switch, 31,32 …… Image input device, 33,34 …… Image output device.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An image processing system comprising an image processing device, at least three external input / output devices, and an input / output control device for connecting these devices, wherein between the image processing device and the input / output control device: as well as,
An image data bus for communicating image data and a control data bus for communicating control data between the external input / output device and the input / output control device; and the image processing device and the external input / output device. ,
A plurality of operating means for instructing connection to different devices, a plurality of bus switching means provided in the input / output control device for switching connection between a plurality of image data buses connected to the input / output control device, and an input / output control Storage means for storing data relating to a connection between the image processing device and the external input / output device, the storage means being provided in the device and included in control data transmitted via a control data bus; The control data input from the control data bus of the image processing device or the external input / output device when at least one set of devices is connected based on the data about the connection between the devices stored in the means. , Permit connection if requesting connection with a device that is not connected, and do not connect if requesting connection with device that is in connected state Cormorants, the image processing system characterized by comprising a control means for controlling said plurality of bus switching means.