JP2852145B2 - Scanner device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a scanner for reading the same image plural times by changing the resolution.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Initially, a document creation device such as a personal computer was intended to create and print a document containing only characters. Since then, it has become possible to create a complicated document, and it is possible to mix figures, graphs, images, and the like in one page mainly composed of sentences.

As a device for inputting an image into a document, a handy scanner which manually moves a printed material or the like to be read to read an image or a whole page including an image to be read is placed on a platen. And a stationary scanner that reads the entire page at once.

When actually reading an image using these scanners, a certain range of image images is read, and the entire image is displayed on a display device of the document creating apparatus. Then, only necessary parts are extracted from the whole image and inserted into a document to be created, thereby mixing images in the document.

[0005] A stationary scanner can usually read an image of about A4 size. Therefore, 1
In the second reading, the entire image is read at a certain coarse resolution, and the entire image is displayed on the display device. Then, a method is adopted in which the operator designates a frame of an image portion required on the screen, and performs the second reading at the final resolution only for the designated portion.

An example of such a system is the Hitachi Japanese word processor “Word Pal TH90”
The specific operation method is described in the operation manual “0”.

[0007]

However, in the above prior art, the resolution of an image to be read for the first time is generally determined by the scanner, and the number of display dots of the display device is not taken into account. Therefore, when the original image size is, for example, A6 size, the image data is displayed on the entire screen of the display device. However, when the original image size is A5 size, the image data is not displayed on the entire screen of the display device. There was a problem that it should not be.

In addition, the display device has a CR having a large number of display dots.
At the time of T, the whole is displayed, but L with a small number of display dots is displayed.
There was a problem that the entire screen was not displayed on a CD, and the screen had to be scrolled to view the entire screen.

Further, when the final image data is read by designating the image area to be extracted from the temporarily read image data, the printing resolution of the printing apparatus is generally not considered.

In order to solve these problems, when the reading resolution of an image is different from the number of dots displayed on a display device or the printing resolution of a printing device, the document creation device calculates the ratio of the two and calculates the ratio of the image data. There is also a method of performing density conversion to a resolution of a display device or a resolution of a printing device by performing enlargement or reduction processing.

However, such data enlargement / reduction processing requires complicated calculation processing, and if an attempt is made to perform an operation with a CPU without preparing special hardware, it takes a long time to perform the calculation, which leads to a decrease in operability. There was a problem.

The flow of reading image data is as follows. First, temporary reading of the entire original image is performed.
After that, the flow was to instruct extraction of a necessary part and finally read that part.

[0013] However, these operations require the user to instruct the scanner device twice to perform a reading operation, which is troublesome. In addition, there is a time lapse between the temporary reading and the final reading, so the original is shifted after the temporary reading, or the final data is read only in the specified range, so the sampling is specified after the final data is read If the user attempts to change the size of the frame or change the extraction position, the frame must be read again from the scanner device.

An object of the present invention is to read image data a plurality of times at a resolution corresponding to the number of dots displayed on a display device and the printing resolution of a printing device in response to one reading instruction.
An object of the present invention is to provide a scanner device which does not require enlargement / reduction processing of image data in a document creation device.

[0015]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to achieve the above object, and is a scanner device used in connection with an information processing device having a plurality of image output devices. It has a reading means capable of reading an image at a density designated in the range, and a function of receiving an image reading request, and upon receiving one image reading request, controlling the reading means to read the same reading target A scanner device is provided which comprises: control means for reading an image a plurality of times; and output means for outputting image data read by the reading means to the information processing device.

Further, the scanner device has storage means for storing information designating an image reading density, and input means for storing a predetermined reading density in the storage means in advance. At a reading density stored in advance in the storage means, each at least once,
It is preferable to perform image reading.

It is preferable that one of the reading densities in this case is equal to the output density of the image output device. Further, it is preferable that any one of the reading densities is a density capable of displaying the entire image of the reading target on one screen of the image output device.

Further, the scanner device has size detecting means for detecting the size of the object to be read, and one of the reading densities is determined by the size of the object to be read detected by the size detecting means and the size of the image output device. It may be a value calculated by the input unit based on the number of dots displayed on one screen.

Further, the above-mentioned scanner device has image storage means for storing image data read in response to one image reading request, and the control means stores the read image data in the image storage. The output means detects that the reading corresponding to the one image reading request has been completed, and collects the image data stored in the image storing means into the information. It may have a function of outputting to a processing device.

In another aspect, there is provided a scanner device wherein the reading density is changed in response to one image reading request and an image is read a plurality of times for the same reading target. .

In another aspect, there is provided an information processing system including the above-described scanner device.

In another aspect, there is provided an image reading method characterized by changing an output density and reading the same object a plurality of times in response to one image reading request.

[0023]

In the scanner device, the dimension of the original image is read by the dimension detecting means, that is, the dimension Lx (mm) in the x direction.
And the dimension Ly (mm) in the y direction can be identified. This size detection may be performed by scanning the object to be read by the reading unit, or may be performed based on information input by a connected information processing apparatus.

Further, the input means includes an output density of an image output device or the like, for example, an x-direction resolution Px
(Dots / mm) and y-direction resolution Py (dots / m
m) is detected and stored in the storage means. Further, when the operator sets the desired number of display dots when displaying the original image of the image, the input means detects this and sets the X direction display dot number Dx (dot) and the Y direction display dot number Dy (dot). Store in storage means.

The input means recognizes these values, determines, for example, the resolution of image reading required for display and printing, and stores the resolution in the storage means.

Specifically, a value obtained by dividing the number of display dots Dx (dots) in the X direction of the display device by the dimension Lx in the X direction of the original image (mm) and the number of display dots Dy (dots) in the Y direction are represented by the image original image. Divided by the dimension Ly (mm) in the Y direction, that is, the X direction resolution Dx / Lx (dots / m
m) and the resolution in the Y direction Dy / Ly (dots / mm) are the reading density of data to be sent to the information processing device.

The reading resolution of image data to be sent to the printing apparatus is P, which is the resolution of the printing apparatus.
x, Py (dots / mm).

The reading means reads an image at the respective densities from the same object to be read.

The read image data is stored in the image storage means. Then, when all the images have been read, the output means collectively outputs the image data to the information processing apparatus.

The image data read at a plurality of different resolutions in this manner matches the dot density of the image required for display and printing.

[0031]

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

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a general configuration of a document creation system having a scanner device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a document creating device such as a Japanese word processor or a personal computer, 2 denotes a printing device for printing a document created by the document creating device, and 3 denotes a document created by the document creating device. This is a scanner device for reading an image of a picture or picture when inserting a picture or a handwritten picture into the apparatus.

The document creating apparatus 1 includes a main body 11 for performing a process for creating a document such as a kana-kanji conversion, a keyboard 12 for inputting characters, a display device 13 as a display unit, and a floppy disk. It comprises an external storage device 14 for storing the data on a disk or the like.

The operator creates a target document by using the document creating device 1 while checking the target document on the display device 13. When an image input is required depending on the contents of the document, an image is input from the scanner device 3, the image is displayed on the display device 13, and a necessary portion is extracted. When saving the created document, the document is registered as coded data in an external storage device 14 such as a floppy disk. When printing is desired, the printing device 2 performs printing as an image document.

Here, the main body 11 is configured so that the maximum number of display dots of the display device 13 and the resolution of the printing device can be detected in advance via the interface cable 16 by using a built-in ROM or the like. Then, information such as the detected resolution is output to the scanner 3. The method of detecting the resolution is not limited to this, and may be set by the operator in advance using the keyboard 12, for example.

A more detailed configuration will be described later.

The scanner device 3 can input an image at an arbitrary resolution. Further, the scanner device 3 according to the present embodiment, via a
Display device 1 by exchanging control commands with the
3 and the number of display dots and the output density of the printing device 2 are obtained. When reading is performed, reading is performed at a density corresponding to these values. In addition,
The specific configuration of the scanner device 3 will be described later in detail.

The internal structure of the main body 11 shown in FIG. 2 will be described in detail with reference to the block diagram of FIG. The main body 11 stores a CPU 31 composed of a program storage type computer unit, a boot ROM 32 composed of a non-volatile memory ROM and having a program to be executed at power-on, a program for executing a function as a word processor, and created document data. Main memory 35 consisting of random access memory (RAM), display memory 36 for storing image data for display, printing memory 37 for storing image data for printing, CPU
A CRT display circuit 38 that creates a screen display pattern in accordance with a command from the CPU 31 and sends a video signal to the display device 13 and a flexible disk control circuit (FDC) that controls an external storage device 14 such as a floppy disk drive in accordance with a command from the CPU 31 33, a key input controller 34 for controlling the keyboard 12 and transmitting an input signal from the keyboard 12 to the CPU 31, a peripheral device control circuit 39 for transmitting and receiving data to and from the scanner device 3, and a transmission and reception of data to and from the printing device 2. Printer control circuit 4 for performing
Consists of 0 mag.

With these configurations, it is possible to instruct the scanner device 3 via the peripheral device control circuit 39 about the set value of the image data reading resolution as described above.

A direct memory access controller (DMAC) 48 directly transfers data without using the CPU 31. When the DMAC 48 is used, it is possible to store the read data of the scanner device 3 directly from the peripheral device control circuit 39 into the display memory 35 and the print memory 36 at high speed.

The configuration of the scanner device 3 will be described in detail with reference to the block diagram of FIG.

The scanner 3 mainly comprises a CPU 41, a program ROM 42, a buffer memory 43, an image document reading section 44, an A / D conversion section 45, a resolution conversion circuit 46, and an input / output control circuit 47.

The CPU 41 is a program storage type computer unit for performing overall control of the scanner 3. A program to be executed by the CPU 41 is stored in the program ROM 42, and the scanner device 3 operates according to the contents.

The buffer memory 43 comprises a random access memory (RAM), and is used for temporarily storing image data read from an image document. Further, it has a function of storing density information indicating the reading density corresponding to the display device 13 and the printing device 2 sent from the main body 11. Note that a storage device for storing the density information may be provided independently.

The capacity of the buffer memory 43 is large enough to store the dot data of the entire original image for a plurality of resolutions before the image data is sent to the main body 11. Therefore, while the scanner device 3 performs the reading operation and stores the read data in the buffer memory 43, the document creating device 1 can perform other operations. The main body 11 also has the advantage that a large amount of image data can be input at high speed by reading all the necessary image data continuously after the scanner device 3 stores it in the buffer memory 43.

The image original reading section 44 moves the line sensor in the main scanning direction when reading an image by using a step motor or the like. By controlling the step motor or the like, the image document reading section 44 is moved in the main scanning direction. The reading density is changed. On the other hand, the resolution conversion circuit 46 converts the reading density in the sub-scanning direction to a predetermined density in accordance with the density information. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be performed by the resolution conversion circuit 46 also in the main scanning direction.

The operation of the scanner device 3 for reading data from an image document will be described.

First, an image document is read at a predetermined resolution by an image document reading section 44, and an optical signal is converted into an electric signal. Since this electric signal is an analog signal, it is converted by the A / D converter 45 into a binary digital signal that can be handled by the CPU 41. The dot density of the image image read by the scanner device 3 can be set to an arbitrary value according to the density information sent in advance as described above. Also, the size of the document is detected based on information from the document creation device 11. Image data read by the image document reading unit 44 at a resolution corresponding to the density information in the main scanning direction is subjected to density conversion in the sub-scanning direction by a resolution conversion circuit 46.

The image data subjected to the density conversion is temporarily stored in the buffer memory 43, and when reading at the set density is completely completed, the image data is collectively transferred to the main body 11 via the input / output control circuit 47. Sent out.

When the number of set reading densities is very large, for example, a plurality of printing devices 2 having different output densities and a plurality of display devices 13 having different numbers of display dots are connected to the main body 11. In the case where the buffer memory becomes full before the reading of the data is completed, it is possible to easily output the read data to the main body 11 at that time. Further, the output timing may be determined based on other conditions.

A specific example of reading an original image from the scanner device 3 and then inserting the image into a created document will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 5A shows an example of an original image 51 to be read from the scanner device 3. Usually, the operator extracts only a portion necessary for a created document from an original image 51 such as a printed matter on which a photograph or a picture is drawn.
In general, in many cases, an original image such as a printed matter has a photograph or a picture drawn on a sheet of a fixed size of about A4 size. In such a case, the scanner device 3 can read the image of the entire sheet, that is, the entire original image 51.

The read image image 51 is displayed in its entirety on the display device 13 shown in FIG. 2, and the operator follows an instruction displayed on the display device 13 and interactively forms an image area 51A necessary for document creation. Is specified. Then
The image data of the image area 51A is inserted into the document 52 being created.

The document 52 finally shows an example of a document being created for printing. Generally, a character 52A image portion, a 52C graphic portion, and a 52B
Is assigned, and a document as a whole is created.

The image area 5 in the document 52
The 2A section is finally required as print data, and its resolution needs to have data at the same resolution as the printing apparatus 2. The data used for this printing is read in advance together with the data for output to the display device 3 as described above.

Next, the above-mentioned operation will be described in more detail as a series of operations using the flowchart of FIG.

First, in a process 61, the operator sets the dimensions Lx and Ly of the read original in advance, and the main body 11 stores these values. The size of the document may be specified by a paper size, such as "A4" or "B5", which is usually used.

In the process 62, the numbers Dx and Dy of display dots that can be displayed on the display device 13 are stored in the buffer memory 43.

In step 63, the resolution for reading the original image as display data by the scanner 3 is calculated from the values obtained in steps 61 and 62. The x direction of the display resolution is Dx / Lx (dot / mm), and the y direction is Dy /
Ly (dot / mm).

In steps 64 and 65, the image data reading resolution required for printing is determined. In the process 64, the main body 11 detects the printing resolution of the printing device 2 from the printing device 2. Then, in a process 65, the read resolution of the print data is set to the same Px, Py as the value obtained in the process 64.
(Dot / mm).

In steps 66 and 67, the main body 11 notifies the scanner device 3 in advance that the first reading resolution is Dx / Lx and Dy / Ly and the second reading resolution is Px and Py. deep. The scanner device 3 temporarily stores the reading resolution obtained in the processes 66 and 67 in the buffer memory 43. Note that the process 66,
The order of 67 may be reversed.

In the subsequent processes 68 and 69, the same image original is read continuously at different stored resolutions. The read image data is temporarily stored in the buffer memory 43 of the scanner device 3 as display data and print data. In addition,
The order of the processing 68 and the processing 69 may be reversed. However, in consideration of the order of editing and the possibility that the buffer 43 becomes full, it is preferable to read the data for the display device 13 first.

In the process 70, the document creation device 1 continuously reads display and print data having different resolutions stored in the buffer memory 43 of the scanner device 3, and reads the display memory 36 and the display memory 36 in the main body 11. It is stored in the printing memory 37. The document creating apparatus 1 uses the image data read in the process 70 as display data or print data in the processes 71 and 72.

Specifically, the image original 51 shown in FIG.
The process of extracting the necessary portion 51A from the whole image of the image is performed by outputting the display data directly obtained from the scanner device 3 stored in the display memory 36 in the main body 11 shown in FIG. Do. On the other hand, the created document 52
Is printed in the image memory 52A in the main body 11 obtained directly from the scanner device 3.
Is used.

In the flowchart of FIG. 1, the processes from the process 61 to the process 67 and the process from the process 68 to the process 72 are described as a series. The reading after giving to the scanner device 3 can be performed by executing only the processing from the processing 68 to the processing 72.

Next, the relationship between the number of display dots when an original image is displayed on the display device 13 and the image reading resolution according to the size of the original image will be described with reference to a specific example of FIG.

FIG. 7 shows an example in which the display state of the display device 13 when the reading density of the original image is changed is compared.

FIG. 7A shows an original image of a portrait document.
This is an example of a case where the X direction is also read at the resolution in the Y direction.
FIG. 7B shows an example in which an original image of a portrait document is read with the maximum number of display dots in the X and Y directions. In the case of FIG. In this case, the display device also reads the shorter image original image size (X direction in this case) in accordance with the reading resolution determined by the number of display dots of the longer image original image size (Y direction in this case). Can display the aspect ratio of the display image at the same ratio as the original image. In the case of FIG. In this example, the reading resolution is different between the X direction and the Y direction so that the number of display dots in the X direction and the Y direction is maximized.

FIG. 8 is an example in which the display states of the display devices 13 when the display devices 13 having different numbers of display dots are connected are compared. FIG. 8A shows an example of a case where the image is displayed on the display device 13 having a small number of display dots. FIG. 8B is an example of a case where the image is displayed on the display device 13 having a large number of display dots.
In the case of FIG. 5 is an example of FIG.
It was read in the same way as.

As described above, the reading resolution can be changed according to the size of an arbitrary image original image in accordance with the number of dots displayed on the display device.

In the above-described embodiment, the same original image is displayed at a plurality of different resolutions in accordance with the number of display dots when displaying the original image and the printing resolution of the printing device 2 connected thereto. By continuously reading the data, the document creation device 1 can perform display processing and print processing without performing enlargement or reduction arithmetic processing on image data.

In this embodiment, since the reading density in the main scanning direction is changed by controlling the step motor and the like as described above, the density conversion is performed by data processing after reading. The quality of the obtained image is higher than in the case.

The density information held by the scanner device 3 may be configured such that an input means is provided in the scanner device 3 itself and the operator directly inputs the density information by the input means.

When the printing device 2 and the display device 13 are connected in various types, reading is not performed for all the printing devices 2 and the like, but a reading instruction is sent to the scanner device 3. At the time of output, it is also possible to easily adopt a configuration in which a specific printing device or the like is designated and an image is read only at a density corresponding to the designated printing device 2.

Further, needless to say, the size of the original to be read may be detected by scanning by the scanner device 3 without specifying by the operator.

[0077]

As described above, according to the present invention, an image of the entire area is read in advance with a resolution corresponding to the number of display dots of the display device and the printing resolution of the printing device. Can be prevented. Further, even if the size or the position of the extraction frame is changed after the extraction area is specified, it is not necessary to read the frame again from the scanner device, and the operability is improved.

Further, the entire image of the read image can be displayed on the display device regardless of the size of the original image to be read, and the operator does not need to scroll the screen to view the entire image.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing an image reading operation according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a general configuration of a document creation system including a scanner device 3 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a document creating apparatus main body.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a scanner device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between an original image and an image area of a created document.

FIG. 6 is a table showing an example of combinations of the size of an original image to be read and the number of dots displayed on a display device.

FIG. 7 is a diagram comparing the display states of the display device when the method of reading the original image is changed.

FIG. 8 is a diagram comparing display states when display devices having different numbers of display dots are connected.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: Document creation device 2: Printing device 3: Scanner device 13: Display device 31: CPU 32: Boot ROM 33: Flexible disk control circuit (FDC) 34: Key input controller 35: Main memory 36: Display Memory 37: Printing memory 38: CRT display circuit 39: Peripheral device control circuit 40: Printer control circuit 41: CPU 42: Program ROM 43: Buffer memory 44: Image document reading unit 45: A / D conversion unit 46: resolution conversion circuit 47: input / output control circuit 48: direct memory access controller (DMAC) 51: original image 52: document

Continuation of front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H04N 1/04-1/207

Claims (7)

(57) [Claims] 1. A scanner device connected to an information processing apparatus having a plurality of image output devices and used , wherein a reading resolution for an object to be read is set to the plurality of image outputs.
For each image output device, based on the output density of the image output device,
Receiving means for setting an image reading request from the information processing apparatus
Receiving means and an image reading request received by the receiving means,
Image reading for the object to be read,
Setting means for each of the plurality of image output devices.
Repeated scanning according to multiple scanning resolutions
Scanner apparatus characterized by comprising a look take means. 2. The scanner device according to claim 1, wherein the image data sequentially read by said reading means is stored.
Storage means, and one image reading request stored in the storage means
Output a plurality of image data to the information processing device
And an output unit that performs the scanning. 3. The scanner device according to claim 1, wherein :
Thus, at least one of the plurality of image output devices is
Display device , wherein the setting unit is configured to display the number of dots displayed on one screen of the display device
And the display device based on the size of the object to be read.
Japanese that is used for setting the reading resolution for
Scanner apparatus according to symptoms. 4. A scanner device according to claim 3, wherein said setting means includes a reading resolution for said display device.
The whole image of the object to be read is one screen of the display device.
And characterized in that to set so as to be displayed above
Scanner device that. 5. The scanner device according to claim 1, wherein :
Therefore, at least one of the plurality of image output devices has a mark.
A printing device, wherein the setting unit performs printing on printing paper of the printing device.
Based on the number of dots and the size of the read target,
Set the reading resolution for the printing device
A scanner device characterized by the above-mentioned . 6. A scanner device according to claim 5, wherein said setting means includes a reading resolution for said printing device.
The whole image of the reading object is printed on the printing paper.
A scanner device, which is set so as to be able to perform scanning. 7. The method according to claim 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6.
An information processing system comprising a scanner device.
M