JP3090155B2 - Image processing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image editing processing section in which, when an output device connected via a network has a function capable of editing an image, the image editing process is shared by the output device. The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus capable of reducing the load on the image processing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When image processing is performed on a digitally expressed photograph or video image, the reason for preventing deterioration in image quality due to duplication of processing in the image editing processing or output processing, and increasing the response speed of operations, etc. Therefore, during the editing operation, there is a method in which the processing of the original image is not performed, the information of the added editing operation is retained in the form of a history or an attribute, and the processing is performed collectively after the operation is completed. . FIG. 9 shows an example of an image processing apparatus using such a method.

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram of a conventional image processing apparatus. FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining an example of history information in a conventional example. 9, an image processing apparatus 900 includes a control unit 9 that controls the entire image processing apparatus.
0, a storage unit 91 for storing images, intermediate results of processing, and the like.
And an image editing processing unit 92 that edits the image data stored in the storage unit 91, a history information management unit 93 that stores the history information and manages the image editing process, and inputs an instruction for the image editing process. And a data output unit 95 for outputting the image data edited by the image editing unit 92 to the outside of the image processing apparatus. The instruction input from the instruction input unit 94 is managed by the history information management unit 93 as history information as shown in FIG. After the image is completely edited, the image data stored in the storage unit 91 is processed based on the history information. Then, the processed image data is output from the data output unit 95 to another output device (not shown).

An example of such an image processing apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 62-140176. further,
Documents as image processing technology include “Color Hard Copy Image Processing Technology” 145 Supervision of Kawamura Naoto, published by Trikeps, “All About Scanners (Color Image Processing)” 121 Published by Japan Printing Technology Association.

[0005]

In recent years, image processing apparatuses have tended to increase the resolution of an image to be processed. However, in a state where a high resolution is obtained, processing such as enlargement / reduction, differentiation, and color adjustment is performed. It takes a long time to perform. Therefore, there is a problem that an expensive image processing apparatus is exclusively used by one user for a long time. Further, the image processing apparatus includes a plurality of output devices via a network or the like,
For example, some printers are connected to a printing apparatus and can output at a remote place. But,
Among the plurality of output devices, those having various levels such as those capable of enlarging and reducing an image and those not having an image editing processing function, such as an output device corresponding to a page description language (PDL), are available. is there. Therefore, when output devices having different image editing processing functions are connected via a network as described above, after performing all necessary image editing processes on the image processing device side, the image data is output to the output device. Output. Therefore, there is a problem that the image processing apparatus takes a lot of load, requires a long output processing time, and has a slow response from the output instruction to the output.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and in the case where a connected output device has a function capable of editing an image, the image editing process is shared by the output device. It is another object of the present invention to provide an image processing apparatus capable of reducing a load on an image editing processing unit.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an output device (101 in FIG. 2) having an image editing processing function capable of editing an image and connected via a network. , 102, for example, a printer or plotter that outputs a final image), an image processing apparatus (100 in FIG. 1) provided with the output devices (101, 102). Output information management means (16 in FIG. 1) for managing output device function information including image editing processing function information; and the output device based on the output device function information managed by the output information management means (16). Command conversion means (17 in FIG. 1) for converting the image editing processing information which can be edited by the apparatus into an instruction suitable for the image editing processing function of the output device; Kutomo the output device (101,10
An image editing processing means (12 in FIG. 1) for performing image editing processing that cannot be edited by 2) is provided.

[0008]

[Operation] The user edits an image by the image processing apparatus, for example, performs processing such as “enlargement / reduction” and “rotation”, and selects one of a plurality of output devices connected to a network or the like. Give instructions to specify one. The output information management means in the image processing apparatus manages information relating to the functions of the output device such as what image editing processing function the output device specified by the user connected to the image processing device through a network or the like has. doing. The command conversion means converts the image editing process into a command suitable for the image editing function of the output device based on the management information. For example, if the output device has a function of performing image processing by a command in a page description language, the image editing process that can be processed by the output device is converted into a command using a page description language. Then, the image editing processing means is, for example, an image not provided in the designated output device in the image editing processing in which the user instructed “enlargement / reduction”, “rotation” or the like in order to edit the image. Only edit processing is performed. In this way, if the output device has an image editing function, part or all of the image editing performed by the image processing device is shared by the output device, thereby reducing the load on the image processing device. Let it.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Before describing an embodiment of the present invention, a conceptual diagram of an image editing process for understanding the present invention will be described. FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram when an original image is output to a display device for editing according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 7, the user makes an input from the instruction input unit 14 using, for example, a mouse or a keyboard to perform editing processing and to specify an output device. The editing processing information according to the user's input instruction enters the history information management unit 13 and the image editing processing unit 12. In the image editing processing unit 12,
The original image previously read and stored in the storage unit 11 is converted into a thinned image having a lower resolution, and the instruction input unit 14
Is output to a display device (not shown) used when performing the editing process together with the editing process information. Therefore, the user can perform a desired editing operation such as rotation and enlargement / reduction while viewing the display screen of the display device.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram when image information is output to an output device in one embodiment of the present invention. 8, the editing process information designated by the user enters the command conversion unit 17 from the command input unit 14. Then, the command conversion unit 17 knows an editing processing function that can be edited in the output device from a management table that identifies the image editing processing function of the output device specified by the instruction input unit 14 stored in the output information management unit 16. Is converted into an instruction suitable for the editing processing function. For example, if the output device has a function of performing image processing by a command in a page description language, the image editing process that can be processed by the output device is converted into a command using a page description language, and a data output unit is used. Fifteen
To an output device (not shown). The history information converted by the instruction conversion unit 17 is deleted from the history information management unit 13. Then, the image editing processing unit 12
The history information not converted by the command conversion unit 17, that is, an image editing process not provided in the designated output device is applied to an original image stored in advance in the storage unit 11, and then the command The command is output from the data output unit 15 to the output device together with the instruction converted by the conversion unit 17. In this way, if the output device has an image editing function, part or all of the image editing performed by the image processing device is shared by the output device.
Reduce the load on the image processing device.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image processing apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, an image processing apparatus 1
Reference numeral 00 denotes a control unit 10 that controls the entire image processing apparatus, a storage unit 11 that stores images, an image editing processing unit 12 that performs an editing process on the images stored in the storage unit 11, and a history that has processed the images. A history information management unit 13 that stores information and manages image editing processing; an instruction input unit 14 that specifies editing processing information for performing editing processing on an image and an output device that the user wants to output; A data output unit 15 for outputting the edited image data in 12 and the commands and parameters generated by the command conversion unit 17 described later to the outside of the image processing apparatus, and is connected to the image processing apparatus via a network. An output information management unit 16 for managing editing processing function information of an output device (not shown), and a finger input by the instruction input unit 14 by the output information management unit 16. And a command conversion unit 17 for examining the editing processing function of the output device and converting the editing processing information input by the instruction input unit 14 into a command suitable for the editing processing function of the output device. Is done.

Next, a system of an image processing apparatus to which the present invention is applied will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an example of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2, the image processing apparatus 100 is the same as that described in FIG. And, in the local area network 103,
Image processing device 100, output device 101, output device 10
Are connected. And each output device 1
, 01, 102,... Include, for example, those having an editing processing function capable of processing in a page description language, those having an editing processing function of performing digital processing, and those having no editing processing function.

Further, specific editing processing in the image processing apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining history information according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining function information of the output device according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing commands / commands to the history information and output device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a relationship with parameters. The edit attribute information for editing the image input and instructed from the input instructing unit 14 is stored in the history information management unit 13 as history information 20 arranged in the order in which they occurred as shown in FIG. The output information management unit 16 includes, for example, an output device 1, an output device 2,.
The information 30 of the executable image editing processing function in is stored. For example, as the editing processing functions, the output device 1 has “enlargement / reduction” and “rotation”, the output device 2 has no editing processing function, and the output device n has the editing processing function of the output device 1. Other than “color adjustment”. Then, such edit processing function information 30
Can be provided in the output information management unit 16 as a table. The command conversion unit 17 refers to the editing function information 30 of the output device 1, 2,... N stored in the output information management unit 16 and uses the history information stored in the history information management unit 13 The editing attribute information corresponding to the editing processing function that can be executed by the designated output device is extracted, for example, the command and parameter 41 for the output device shown in FIG.
Convert to The command can be understood by a page description language, for example, as long as it is an output device that performs editing processing in a page description language, and takes a form appropriate for the capability of each output device. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 5, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, the image editing processing unit 12 performs a "differentiation" process on the image with a predetermined coefficient based on the history information 40 not converted by the command conversion unit 17. The edited image subjected to the editing process in this way, the command and the parameter are output to the output device 101 designated by the command input unit 14 through the data output unit 15. In the output device 101, “enlargement / reduction” and “rotation” shown in FIG. 5 are further subjected to editing processing on the image edited by the image editing processing unit 12 according to the respective parameters. In this way, the responsiveness of the image processing apparatus 100 at the time of output is improved by reducing the processing executed on the image processing apparatus 100 side.

The information processing when sending the history information to the output device will be described. FIG. 6 shows a flowchart when the history information is sent to the output device in the present invention. In FIG.
The information for editing the image and the output device 101 to be output are instructed from the instruction input unit 14. In the output information management unit 16 of the image processing apparatus 100, the output device 10
It is determined whether or not 1 has a function of editing an image (step 61). For example, as shown in FIG. 4, each output device 101, 102,.
・ It has a table corresponding to. Also, instead of the table shown in FIG. 4, each of the output devices 101, 102,.
It is also possible to determine a protocol for inquiring about the image editing function between the image processing apparatus 100 and the image processing apparatus 100, and make an inquiry about the image editing processing function from the image processing apparatus 100 to the output device 101.

For example, as a result of examining the editing processing function table for the output device 101 stored in the output information management unit 16, if the output device 101 has a function of editing an image, the output specified by the instruction input unit 14 is output. It is determined whether or not there is history information that has not been read in the history information of the image (step 62).

If it is determined in step 62 that there is history information that has not been read, the history information management unit 1
3, the history information that has not been read is read in the order of occurrence (step 63).

Next, it is determined whether or not the read history information can be converted into a command for the designated output device 101 (step 64). If the history information cannot be converted into a command for the output device 101, step 6
Return to step 6 and read the next information.

If the history information can be converted into a command for the output device 101, the read history information is converted into commands and parameters that can be processed by the output device 101 one by one in the command conversion unit 17. (Step 6
5). Thereafter, the history information converted into the command and the parameter is deleted from the history information management unit 13 (Step 66). Then, the process returns to step 62 until all the history information in the image disappears, and converts the read history information into commands and parameters for the output device 101. For example, the commands and parameters are shown as commands / parameters 41 to output device 101 in FIG.

If it is determined in step 62 that there is no history information that has not been read, the output device 101
The image editing processing unit 12 performs an editing process of the original image based on the history information that has not been converted into the command and the parameter, such as the history information 40 illustrated in FIG. That is, the "differential" remaining as the history information is processed by a desired coefficient (step 67).

The command and parameters created in step 65 and the edited image created in step 67 are sent from the data output unit 15 to the output device 101 via, for example, the local area network 103 (step 68).

If it is determined in step 61 that the output device 101 has no image editing function, or
If it is determined in step 2 that there is no history information that has not been read, the process proceeds to step 67, where the history information management unit 13
The original image is processed by the image editing processing unit 12 according to the history information in
01 is sent.

[0022]

According to the present invention, when performing image processing,
If the output device has an image processing function, processing of the image processing information that can be executed on the output device side is not performed by the image processing device side, and the processing information is changed to commands and parameters for the output device. To the output device for processing, the image editing process in the image processing device can be shared between the image processing device and the output device,
It is possible to provide an image processing apparatus capable of reducing the load on the image processing apparatus and obtaining a high-speed response when an output instruction is given.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining history information according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining function information of an output device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between history information and commands / parameters to an output device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a process of transmitting history information to an output device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram when an original image is output to a display device for editing according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram when image information is output to an output device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram of an image processing apparatus in a conventional example.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining an example of history information in a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 image processing device 12
Image editing processing unit 101 output device 13
History information management unit 102 ··· output device 14 ···
Instruction input unit 103 ... local area network 15 ...
Data output unit 10 Control unit 16
Output information management unit 11: storage unit 17:
Instruction converter

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An image processing apparatus having an image editing processing function capable of editing an image and capable of outputting image data by an output apparatus connected via a network, wherein the image processing apparatus is provided with the output apparatus. Output information management means for managing output device function information including image editing processing function information, and image editing processing which can be edited by the output device based on the output device function information managed by the output information management means Command conversion means for converting information into a command suitable for the image editing processing function of the output device; and image editing processing means for performing at least an image editing process that cannot be edited by the output device. Image processing device.