JP2776874B2 - Image input device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image input device, and more particularly to an image input device suitable for inputting a large document such as one page of a newspaper.

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, a document image file system (electronic file) using a large-capacity optical disk has attracted attention as a new document management means. The use of this document image file system has also expanded, and there is an increasing demand for directly filing large materials such as one page of newspapers and architectural design drawings. In order to respond to this demand, large image input means such as an A1 scanner has appeared. This large image input means includes, for example, an optical disk image file system HI.
A1 scanana (HT-46) of TFILE650 (Hitachi, product name)
34-11).

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, A1 scanana is very expensive,
Since the size of the input surface is A1 size, there is a problem that a large space is required even when installing.

[Means for solving the problem]

According to the present invention, an original image is divided into a plurality of times, and an image is input using an image input means having an input surface smaller than the size of the original image. By performing the processing of (1), 1
One image. Further, since the joint portion between images is processed so as to be continuously connected without any boundary at any portion, the image quality of the connected image does not cause discontinuity when viewed visually.

[Action]

Since an image can be input using an image input unit having an input surface smaller than the size of the original image, a large space is not required when installing the apparatus. Further, the cost of the image input means can be low.

〔Example〕

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

FIG. 1 is a configuration example of an apparatus for realizing the present invention. 1 is a scanner for inputting an image to be processed, and 2 is a scanner controller for controlling the scanner 1. Reference numeral 3 denotes a keyboard for inputting code data such as the position of an image and coordinates of a connection area. Reference numeral 4 denotes a display for confirming code data input from the keyboard 3. Reference numeral 5 denotes a work memory for storing image data input from the scanner 1. Reference numeral 6 denotes an image memory for storing image data of a processing target and a processing result.
Reference numeral 7 denotes a file for storing the image data subjected to the connection processing, and reference numeral 8 denotes a file controller for controlling input / output of image data to / from the file 7. 9 is a CPU (Central Processing Unit: Ce)
ntral Processing Unit), which controls the entire system and expands black pixels for images stored in memory.
Processing such as detection of a connection position is performed.

Next, the flow of image processing in the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In step 200, the image data to be subjected to the connection processing is input by the scanner 1 and stored in the work memory 5. In this case, the image data is input by dividing the original image into a plurality by operating the scanner 1 a plurality of times.

FIG. 3 shows one method of inputting an original image by dividing it into two times.
Here is an example. In the figure, 31 is an original image, and the size of 31 is larger than the size of the input surface 34 of the scanner 1. Also, 31-1 and 31-2 in the figure are images obtained by bisecting the original image 31 at the center. When inputting the original image 31, the original image 31
And 33 are divided into two images and input. Image 32 is
The image 31-1 is obtained by adding an image on the 31-2 side by the width W to the image 31-1, and the image 33 is the image 31-2 obtained by adding the image on the 31-1 side by the width W to the image 31-2. Both are Sukiana 1
It is assumed that the size is smaller than the input surface 34 of.

In step 202, the inclination of the image data stored in the work memory 5 is corrected, and the correction result is stored in the memory 6-1.
To be stored. In step 204, it is checked whether or not two pieces of image data to be processed exist in the memory 6.

In step 206, when an image is input by the scanner 1, a parameter ORG indicating which position on the input surface 34 the image data has been input and an image width W to be added are input from the keyboard 3. The contents of the set data are confirmed by the display 4. Here, twice the input image width W to be added, that is, 2W, is the width of the connected area, and the connected area is the area indicated by the hatched portions of the images 32 and 33 in FIG. In step 208, it is checked whether or not the connection area specified in step 206 is valid.

At step 210, the image in the designated connected area is expanded. Now, assuming that the original image width is L, the width of the input surface 34 of the scanner 1 is R, and the left end of the input surface of the scanner 1 is the origin, the connection region of the image 32 is L / 2−2W <x <L / 2, and the connected area of the image 33 satisfies R−L / 2 <x <R−L / 2 + 2W.

The expansion process is performed on the black pixels in the image data in the connected area, as shown in FIG. 43-41
Is an example of a dilation function to be applied to the image 37, and reference numeral 42 is an example of a dilation function to be applied to the image 37. Here, in order to specifically describe the image linking process, an example of a process using an expansion function 45 shown in FIG. 4B is shown. The expansion function 45 has a width of 10
That is, the expansion processing is performed when W = 5. If the line width of the black pixel of the original image is d, the line width F after the expansion processing is obtained.
(D) becomes d (x <4) F (d) = d + 2 (4 ≦ x <7) d + 4 (7 ≦ x <10) 46 shows the result of dilation processing of a straight line having a line width of 1 using this dilation function. The hatched portions in the figure are black pixels of the original image, and the halftone dot portions are expanded black pixels.

In step 212, the connection position of the input image is detected. One example of a method for detecting the connection position will be described with reference to FIG. Reference numerals 51 and 52 in the figure denote images obtained as a result of expanding the black pixels in the connected area.

51-2 and 52-2 are connected areas of the image data 51 and 52, respectively. Here, the image data 51-2, 52-
The logical product of 2 is calculated, and the position of the image data 52 when the number of black pixels as a result of this is the maximum is defined as the connection position. At this time,
It is assumed that the image data 51 is fixed, and the position of the image data 52 is detected by shifting the image data 52 in the y direction. FIG.
(C) 53, 54, 55 are image data in the connected area,
When the shift amount s is s = 1, 0, -1, respectively, it is a processing result obtained by taking a logical product. In this case, image 5 of each connected area
The number of black pixels existing at 3,54,55 is 32,40,38, respectively. Therefore, in this processing example, the image 54, ie, s
The position of the image data 52 when = 0 is detected as a connection position of this image.

In step 214, the image data 52 is moved to the connection position detected in step 212.

In step 216, as shown in FIG. 6, image reduction processing is performed on the image data obtained by aligning the two image data into one. The image reduction processing is performed on the black pixels existing in the connected area 61-2 of the image 61, and 62 shows an example of the reduction function. Here, 63 in FIG. 6B is considered as a degeneration function corresponding to the expansion function 45. Assuming that the line width after the expansion processing is d 'and the line width after the reduction processing is f (d'), d'-4 (0≤x <3) f (d ') = d'-2 (3≤x < 7) d′−4 (7 ≦ x <10)

FIG. 7 shows an example of the image reduction processing using the reduction function 63. FIG. 7 (a) shows a process for connecting straight lines having a width of 1 without displacement, and FIG. 7 (b) shows a process for connecting straight lines having a width of 1 which are displaced by one. It is. In FIG. 7 (a), images 71 and 72 are images after alignment, and a method of performing image reduction processing on these two images and connecting the images is shown. 71-2 and 72-2 in the figure are connected areas of the images 71 and 72, respectively, and it is assumed that the image obtained by calculating the logical sum of these areas is subjected to degeneration processing. The image 73 is an image obtained as a result of ORing the images 71 and 72, and 73-2 is a connected area of the image 73. The halftone dot portion in the figure is a black pixel obtained by calculating the logical sum of the black pixels present in the images 71-2 and 72-2.
The image shown in the shaded area is obtained by degenerating the halftone dot area shown in FIG. Image 74 is an image of the connected area. Here, as a method for reducing the halftone dot portion, the reduction process is performed so that the black pixels resulting from the logical product of the images 71 and 72 are continuous in the sense of four concatenations. However, any other method may be used as long as the processing is such that the black pixels are smoothly connected by the degeneration processing.

FIG. 7 (b) shows a case where the reduction processing is performed by the reduction function 63 when the connection position is shifted by one.
Image 84 is the processing result.

At step 218, it is determined whether or not to input the next image. If the next image is to be input,
The processing of steps 216 to 216 is performed, and if no input is made, the processing ends.

The above is an example of a method of inputting an image larger than the input surface of the image input device by dividing the image twice, but in this case, the image is slightly larger than half the size of the original image. An input surface was required. Next, referring to FIG. 8, an example of a method for inputting an image by dividing it into three times when the input surface has just one half of the image to be input will be described. In the figure
Reference numeral 91 denotes an original image, which is divided into regions 91-1, 91-2, and 91-3 and input. In this case, three regions 91-
All of 1,91-2,91-3 are exactly the size of 1 of the original image 91, but the three regions only need to have an overlapping portion, and the sizes of the regions do not need to be the same. .

92, 93, and 94 are three regions 91-1, 91- of the image 91, respectively.
It is an input image corresponding to 2,91-3. First, with image 92
93 is consolidated. First, a part necessary for the connection process between the images 92 and 94 is cut out from the image 93. Next, the cutout result of the image 93 and the image 92 are connected. At this time, expansion processing, image alignment, image connection, and reduction processing are performed on the connected region of the two images, as in the case where the image is divided into two and input. In the figure, the hatched portions of the images 95 and 96 are the connection areas, and the connection result is the image 97. Next, the connecting process of the image 98 and the image 99 is performed by the same method as described above, and the image 100 is obtained as a processing result.

By performing the concatenation process described above, the original image is
Even if the image is divided and input, it can be made one image on the memory.

FIG. 9 shows an example of a method of connecting an original image divided into two in both the vertical and horizontal directions into one image. First, the original image 110
Is divided into four areas 110-1 to 110-4 and input. Images 111 to 114 are four regions 110 of the original image 110.
Input images corresponding to -1 to 110-4, and hatched portions are images added to each image. The size of the images 111 to 114 is smaller than the input surface of the scanner 1, and the four input images are all the same size. Also,
As shown in the figure, when the image divided into four is connected to one, it is necessary to perform the connection processing in both the x and y directions.
Images are added as shown in images 111 to 114 to provide a connected area. First, the images 111 and 112 are connected to obtain an image 115, and the images 113 and 114 are connected to obtain an image 116. Next, the images 115 and 116 are connected to obtain an image 117.

By performing the linking process in the above-described procedure, even if the original image is divided into four regions divided in both the vertical and horizontal directions and input, the image can be formed into one image on the memory.

[Effect of the Invention] Since an image can be input using an image input means having an input surface smaller than the size of the original image, a large space is not required when installing the apparatus. Further, the cost of the image input means can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an example of a method of inputting an image by dividing it into two parts. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an image expansion process;
FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of an embodiment showing a connecting process of an image, FIGS. 6 and 7 are explanatory views of an embodiment showing a degenerating process of an image, and FIG. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment of the linking process in the case where the image is divided into four, and FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment of the linking process in the case where the image is divided into four and input.

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] An image is divided into a plurality of partial images such that each partial image overlaps with a partial image adjacent to the partial image,
Means for inputting the divided images, means for aligning and connecting the input partial images, and means for weighting overlapping regions of the partial images in the connected images, thereby obtaining distortion due to the connection. An image input device comprising: means for correcting 2. The image input device according to claim 1, further comprising: means for expanding black pixels of the partial image input by the means for inputting the image, wherein the connecting means performs the expansion processing. An image input apparatus, which takes a logical product of each partial image and performs position alignment of each partial image by using the number of black pixels of the logical product of the partial images. 3. The image input device according to claim 2, further comprising: means for reducing an amount of expansion of the image connected by the connection means by means of expansion processing of the black pixels. Characteristic image input device. 4. The image input device according to claim 1, further comprising: a unit for designating a region desired by a user from an image input by the image input unit; Input means for dividing an image into an area specified by the specifying means. 5. The image input device according to claim 1, wherein an input surface of said image input means has a size equal to or less than a fixed size and equal to or more than half of the fixed size. apparatus. 6. A means for inputting a plurality of images, means for connecting the input images at corresponding positions, and weighting an overlapping area of each of the images among the connected images. And a means for correcting distortion due to connection.