JP3093906B2 - Image processing apparatus and method - 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 processing apparatus and method for performing a scaling process on a binary image output in, for example, a raster scanning order.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An outline vector is extracted from a binary image, and the image is scaled using the outline vector.
The method of obtaining a beautiful zoomed image by performing smoothing,
It has been previously proposed by the present applicant as Japanese Patent Application No. 3-34506. As a method of extracting an outline vector from a binary image, a method that requires only three rasters of image memory by the present applicant is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 2-28.
1958. On the other hand, as a method of extracting an outline vector before that, a method of performing tracking along a contour line was generally used. therefore,
In the conventional method, after the entire image has been fetched into the image memory, the contour extraction process must be started.
The required image memory capacity is increased, and there are problems such as an increase in cost and a delay in processing time.

On the other hand, the aforementioned Japanese Patent Application No. 2-28195 has been disclosed.
According to the technique of No. 8, a small amount of image memory is required. However, even with this method, a large amount of memory is required to hold all the vector data extracted from one image, including the working memory.

[0004] From such a background, the input image is divided into strips as shown in FIG. 1, and the respective processes of outline vector extraction, scaling, and smoothing are performed independently for each strip image (hereinafter referred to as a stripe). After that, a technique has been proposed in which processing results are obtained by combining the processing results to obtain a desired image, thereby saving work memory.

When the above processing is performed in such an apparatus configuration, as shown in FIG. 2, outline vectors are sequentially extracted for a certain stripe, scaling / smoothing is performed,
Since the process of image reproduction is performed, and then the same process is performed for the next stripe, the throughput time from the start of the process to the end of the process is extremely long (see FIGS. 2 and subsequent figures). Is
An example in which the input image is divided into four stripes is shown, but the same applies to a case where the number of stripes is different.

Therefore, the outline vector extraction processing unit, the scaling / smoothing processing unit, and the image reproduction processing unit, which constitute the outline scaling processing described in Japanese Patent Application No. 3-345062, are previously independent of each other. As shown in FIG. 3, for example, while the outline vector scaling / smoothing processing of the i-th stripe is performed, the outline vector extraction processing of the (i + 1) -th stripe is performed. , Outline vector extraction for each stripe, outline vector scaling /
The technique (A) has been previously proposed by the applicant of the present invention to greatly reduce the throughput time of the entire processing by performing each processing of the smoothing and the image reproduction in a pipeline format.

By the way, for each stripe, Japanese Patent Application No. Hei.
The outline scaling process is performed by the method described in US Pat. No. 3,450,622, and the result is combined to obtain a scaled image of the input image. For example, in the example shown in FIG. It was found that the reproduced image deteriorated. That is, FIG. 4A is used as an input image, and FIG.
If the method and apparatus described in Japanese Patent Application No. 3-345062 are used, the recesses (white pixels) 401, 402, and 403 in FIG. In the reproduced image after scaling, the portions corresponding to the concave portions 401, 402, and 403, that is, the white pixels 401 'and 4 in FIG.
02 'and 403' will be missing. In order to prevent such image deterioration, the following method (B) has been previously proposed by the present applicant. That is, as shown in FIG. 5B, the input image is partially overlapped and divided into stripes (this overlapped portion is hereinafter referred to as "paste"), and each stripe is described in Japanese Patent Application No. 3-34506. The outline scaling process is performed, and as shown in FIG. 5C, a portion corresponding to half of the marginal portion of each stripe before scaling is deleted from each obtained scaling image, and then each scaling is performed. By combining the images, a scaled image of the input image is obtained.

[0008]

In the above method (A),
Although the throughput time of the entire processing can be greatly reduced, the image deterioration occurring between stripes cannot be prevented. Further, in the above method (B), it is possible to prevent the image deterioration at the joint portion of the stripe, but it is not possible to reduce the throughput time of the entire processing. Even if an attempt is made at high speed to obtain a scaled image without image degradation by applying these two methods (A) and (B) to an input image, the configuration for the method (A) does not The "gap" between the stripes required in (B) could not be obtained.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has been made in view of performing image processing for obtaining a beautiful zoomed image using an outline vector of an input image. After holding it down,
It is an object of the present invention to provide an image processing method and apparatus capable of dramatically reducing the throughput time of the entire processing.

[0010]

Means for Solving the Problems and

In order to achieve the above object, the image processing method of the present invention has the following configuration.

Extraction means for extracting contour vector data from the input image data; scaling means for scaling the contour vector data extracted by the extraction means; contour vector data scaled by the scaling means Reproducing means for reproducing the image data of each divided area based on the above, partially deleting the image data so as not to overlap with an adjacent divided area, and connecting the image data of each divided area to reproduce one screen of image data; A memory for storing image data of an overlapping area overlapping each other between divided areas obtained by dividing an area for one screen, wherein the image data of the overlapping area stored in the memory is provided. Is input to the extracting means, and the image data of the next divided area is input to the extracting means, and the image data of the next overlapping area is written in the memory. Make.

Further, the image processing apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration.

Extraction means for extracting contour vector data from input image data; scaling means for scaling the contour vector data extracted by the extraction means; contour vector data scaled by the scaling means Reproducing means for reproducing the image data of each divided area based on the above, partially deleting the image data so as not to overlap with an adjacent divided area, and connecting the image data of each divided area to reproduce one screen of image data; A memory for storing image data of overlapping areas overlapping each other between divided areas obtained by dividing an area for one screen;
After the image data of the overlapping area stored in the memory is input to the extracting means, the image data of the next divided area is input to the extracting means, and the image data of the next overlapping area is stored in the memory. Means.

[0014]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention;

[0015]

First Embodiment [Structure of Apparatus] FIG. 6 is a view showing the arrangement of an apparatus for changing the magnification of an image in this embodiment. In the figure, a binary image acquisition unit 601 acquires a digital binary image to be subjected to a scaling process and outputs a binary image in a raster scan format to an image memory 602. An input interface that takes in the data.

The image memory 602 includes a binary image acquisition unit 60
1 is a memory for temporarily storing a binary image input in a raster scanning format, and has a capacity for one screen of an input image.

An outline vector extraction unit 603 extracts an outline vector from a stripe image output from the image memory 602 in the raster scanning order by the method of Japanese Patent Application No. 2-281958, and stores the extracted outline vector in a FIFO format vector memory. (A) Output to 604. In response to the processing start signal of the control unit 609, the (i−1) × cutsize + 1) to (i × cutsize + tapesize) lines in the input image are read from the image memory 602 as the ith stripe, and an outline vector extraction for this stripe is performed. Perform processing. Where cutsize and tapesize
As shown in FIG. 5, when performing the smoothing / magnification processing while taking areas overlapping each other between stripes, the number of lines in the overlapped portion is cutsize, and the number of lines in the non-overlapping portion is cutsize. tapesize. The extraction method of Japanese Patent Application No. 2-281958 will be briefly described. The state of a pixel of interest and its neighboring pixels in image data is examined, and when two adjacent pixels have different pixel values,
An elementary contour vector is detected between the two pixels, and the detected elementary contour vectors are arranged in a loop shape surrounding black pixels to be an outline vector.

An outline vector extraction unit 603
Sends the interrupt signal to the control unit 609 when the last raster of the input image is read from the image memory 602, and sets the value of the flag last in the control unit 609 to 1.

The vector data memory (A) 604 includes:
This is a FIFO type vector data memory (A) for temporarily storing the outline vector data of the stripe image extracted by the outline vector extraction unit 603.

Outline vector smoothing / magnification unit 60
5 receives the outline vector data from the vector data memory (A) 604,
Vector smoothing and scaling are performed by the method shown in FIG. 62, and the result is again stored in a FIFO memory (B) 6 for vector data.
06. In brief, the smoothing / magnification method is, for example, a vector group forming the closed loop is formed when two vectors each forming a closed loop are horizontal and vertical and each of them has a length of 1. Such as deleting, based on the relationship between the vector of interest in the contour vector forming a closed loop and the vector before and after it, manipulate the contour vector according to a predetermined rule, or set a corner point as a fixed point and other points as floating points As for the target floating point, the vector is smoothed by a method of calculating the weight of the point before and after the target floating point and correcting the position of the target floating point, and scaling is performed by multiplying a coordinate representing the vector by a desired magnification. It is what you do.

The vector data memory (B) 606 includes:
The scaled / smoothed vector data output from the outline vector smoothing / scaling unit 605 is temporarily stored.

A binary image reproducing unit 607 reads the scaled / smoothed vector data from the vector data memory (B) 609, and converts the binary image into stripes by the method described in Japanese Patent Application No. 3-172098. Reproduce. In brief, the method of the reproduction process is a process of drawing an outline (including an enlarged image) based on vector data obtained by smoothing processing, and filling the inside with black pixels. After the end of the reproduction process, the number of lines (t) corresponding to half the margin of the input stripe from the top and bottom of the reproduced image
asize × (vertical scaling factor) 縦 2) is deleted. However, the upper part of the first stripe and the lower part of the last stripe are not deleted. After that, the image data is output to the image output unit 608.

The outline vector extraction unit 603, outline vector smoothing / magnification unit 605, and binary image reproduction unit 607 each have a CPU, ROM, and RAM (work memory) inside and operate independently.
The processing is started by an instruction 09. Each has a state flag memory (not shown). The flag is set to busy during the processing, and the flag is set to ready while the processing is completed and the processing start instruction from the control circuit 609 (for the next stripe) is waited. I do. These flags are
It can be accessed from the control circuit 609 at any time.

Upon receiving the image data from 607, the binary image output unit 608 automatically displays raster scan type binary image data, makes a hard copy, or outputs it to a communication path or the like. . For example, it is composed of a liquid crystal display, a thermal recording device, or a modem.

The control unit 609 controls the input / output timing of the processing in 601 to 608, and specifies which line of the input image on the image memory is output as a stripe, and the like. . It has a CPU, ROM, and RAM inside, and
Signal lines are connected to each part. A status flag can be read from these signal lines at any time, and a processing start / stop signal can be sent. These signals control each unit. [Control Procedure] FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the control performed by the control unit 609 of FIG. 6 in this embodiment. A program corresponding to this flowchart is stored in the ROM inside the control unit 609. Also, FIG.
When divided into two stripes, the image memory 602,
The timing at which each unit of the outline vector extracting unit 603, the outline vector smoothing / magnifying unit 605, and the binary image reproducing unit 607 performs processing for each stripe corresponds to each step in the flowchart of FIG. FIG.

In FIG. 7, j: the number of the stripe being processed by the outline vector extraction unit 603 (or the processing being completed) k: The outline vector smoothing / magnifying unit 605 performing the processing (or processing) 1): The number of the stripe for which the binary image reproducing unit 607 is processing (or has completed the processing) (note that the number of the stripe in j, k, and l follows FIG. 1). Last: a flag indicating whether or not the outline vector extraction unit 603 has read out the last line of the input image from the image memory 602. The values of j, k, l, and last are stored in the RAM inside the control unit 609.

When all the input images are input to the image memory 602 by the binary image obtaining unit 601, the control unit 609
Starts the following process.

First, in step S701, initial values of j, k, l, and last are set to 0 in advance, and step S7 is executed.
Go to 02.

In step S702, the value of j is incremented by one, and a signal is sent to the outline vector extraction unit 603 to start the outline vector extraction processing for the j-th (= 1) stripe. Here, the stripe from which the vector is to be extracted includes a line (tapesize) that extends above and below the stripe. The first stripe and the last stripe have no margin at the top and bottom, and a margin is added only to the side in contact with the other stripes. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S703.

In step S703, 1) whether the status flags of the outline vector extraction unit 603 and the outline vector smoothing / scaling unit 605 are both ready 2) whether k = j-1 is satisfied, that is, Is the stripe immediately before the stripe from which the vector was last extracted, or 3) whether k = 1 is satisfied, that is,
It is checked whether or not the scaled stripe has already been reproduced. If all are YES, the process proceeds to step S704; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S705.

In step S704, the value of k is incremented by 1, and a signal is sent to the outline vector smoothing / magnifying unit 605 to start the outline smoothing / magnifying process for the k-th stripe. At the same time, the value of j is increased by 1 and a signal is sent to the outline vector extraction unit 603 to start the outline extraction processing of the j-th stripe. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S705.

In step S705, 1) whether or not the state flag of the binary image reproducing unit 607 is ready 2) whether or not the values of j, k, and l are all equal, that is, the vector is extracted lastly 3) Last is (the outline vector extraction unit 6)
It is checked whether or not it is 1 (due to an interrupt signal from 03), that is, whether or not the input image data has been completed. Otherwise, the process proceeds to step S706.

In step S706, 1) whether the state flags of the outline vector smoothing / magnifying unit 605 and the binary image reproducing unit 607 are both ready 2) whether l = k-1 is satisfied, It is checked whether or not the last reproduced stripe is the stripe immediately before the stripe which has been subjected to the last smoothing / magnification, and if 1) and 2) are both YES, step S70.
Then, the process returns to step S703.

In step S707, the value of 1 is increased by one, and a signal is sent to the binary image reproducing unit 607 to start the binary image reproducing process of the first stripe after scaling.
The binary image reproducing unit 607 determines, from the top and bottom, half of the number of lines obtained by scaling the number of lines tapesize, that is, (tapesize).
× (magnification in the vertical direction) ÷ 2) lines are deleted and connected. For the first stripe and the last stripe, the processing is performed only on a portion where there is a margin.

By performing the processing in accordance with the above procedure, the processing of each part can be performed in parallel as shown in FIG. 8, so that the processing can be speeded up, and furthermore, the image deterioration near the seam of the stripe occurs. Without changing the input binary image, a beautiful image can be obtained.

[0036]

Second Embodiment Since the number of outline vectors extracted from one stripe varies greatly depending on the complexity of the stripe image, the vector data memory and the work memory built in the outline vector extraction unit are very complicated images. However, the capacity must be large enough to store all the outline vector data of one stripe. However, in reality, such a complicated image is rare, so that most of the memory capacity is eventually wasted. In order to prevent this, the following device configuration and processing procedure can be adopted.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the configuration of the apparatus in this embodiment. Thus, the image memory 602 connected to the image acquisition unit 601 is omitted from FIG. 6 of the first embodiment, and the image acquisition unit 601 and the outline vector extraction unit 6 are omitted.
03 is connected by two data buses. One of the buses directly connects the image acquisition unit 601 and the outline vector extraction unit 603, and the other has an image memory 901 of a FIFO format interposed therebetween. The capacity of the image memory 901 is tapes
Prepare as many as the size of the size line. The image acquisition unit 601 inputs the same image data to the outline vector extraction unit 603 and the image memory 901 in raster units. Image acquisition unit 60
1 has a CPU and a ROM inside and performs the following processing. 1) Image data input to the outline vector extraction unit 603 (and the image memory 901) is stopped / restarted by a signal from the control unit 609. 2) The image acquisition unit 601 outputs the same image data to the outline vector extraction unit 603 and the image memory 901 simultaneously. At this time, data overflowing from the image memory 901 is not used. With such a configuration, the image data of the lowermost tapesize line of the image data input to the outline vector extraction unit 603 always exists in the image memory 901. 3) The image acquisition unit 601 controls the timing of image output for tapesize lines from the image memory 901 to the outline vector extraction unit 603. That is, the output of the image memory 901 is controlled by the image acquisition unit 601 instead of the control unit 609. The image acquisition unit 601 includes the control unit 6
When the image input is restarted by the signal from the CPU 09, the image data in the image memory 901 is first output to the outline vector extraction unit 603, and then the outline vector extraction unit 603 (and the image memory 9
01) is input. By performing such processing, the stripe image data can be input to the outline vector extraction unit 603 in a form of being overlapped (only by tapesize) as shown in FIG. 4) When the last line of the input image is input to the outline vector extraction unit 603, an interrupt signal is sent to the control unit 609 to set the value of the flag last in the RAM of the control unit 609 to 1.

The outline vector extraction unit 603 has a CPU, ROM, RAM (work memory) and a status flag (accessible from the control unit 609) and operates independently, but starts processing according to an instruction from the control unit 609. It has become. As the processing performed by the outline vector extraction unit 603, the unit disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application No. 2-281958 is used, as in the first and second embodiments. Each time one raster is input, a primary contour vector is extracted from the image data, and the extracted data is stored in a work memory (outline vector extraction unit 603c in FIG. 9).
2) A vector alignment unit 6 that aligns the element outline vectors extracted in 1) and written in the work memory 603c in loop units, and outputs the extracted element outline vectors to the vector data memory (A) 604.
03b. The processing is performed in the order of the elementary contour vector extraction unit 603a → the vector alignment unit 603b, and the processing is not performed at the same time. The status flag 603e is set to bus when processing in the elementary contour vector extraction unit 603a starts.
y, r when the processing in the vector alignment unit 603b ends
It will be easy.

Up to this point, the operation is the same as in the first embodiment.
In the present embodiment, it is assumed that elementary contour vector extraction processing is performed simultaneously while inputting image data one raster at a time. Further, in this embodiment, the control unit 609 is configured to be able to separately send processing start / stop signals to the elementary contour vector extraction unit 603a and the vector alignment unit 603b.

The outline vector extraction unit 60
9, a vector number memory 603d in which the number of outline vectors extracted by the element outline vector extraction unit 603a is written at any time as shown in FIG. This can also be accessed from the control unit 609 at any time. The control unit 609 checks the number of vectors extracted by the element outline vector extraction unit 603a by accessing the vector number memory 603d from time to time, and when this amount becomes larger than a predetermined value, the image The acquisition unit 601 stops the image input to the outline vector extraction unit 603 and the element outline vector extraction processing in the element outline vector extraction unit 603a. The image input from the image acquisition unit 601 to the elementary contour vector extraction unit 603a from the start of input to this point can be regarded as one stripe.

Immediately after this, the vector aligning unit 603b starts the vector aligning process for this stripe. The control unit 609 controls the vector data memory (A) 604 as soon as the outline vector extraction processing for this stripe (that is, processing in both the element outline vector extraction unit 603a and the vector alignment unit 603b) is completed.
And outputs a signal to the outline vector smoothing / magnifying unit 605 to start processing for this stripe. At the same time, the control unit 609 restarts the image input from the stopped image acquisition unit 601 to the outline vector extraction unit 603 (at this time, the image acquisition unit 601 outputs the image data on the image memory 901 first, and Output the data on the image acquisition unit 601). The outline vector extraction unit 603 starts the outline vector extraction processing for the image data (which becomes the second stripe) in the same manner as described above. Thereafter, as in the first embodiment, the outline vector extraction, outline vector smoothing / magnification, and image reproduction processes are executed in a pipeline format.

FIGS. 10 and 11 are flowcharts of the control performed by the control unit 609 in the second embodiment. The program corresponding to this flowchart is stored in the ROM inside the control unit 609. Also, FIG.
When the input image is divided into four stripes, a binary image acquisition unit 601, an outline vector extraction unit 603,
The timing at which each unit of the outline vector smoothing / magnifying unit 605 and the binary image reproducing unit 607 processes each stripe is shown in association with each step in the flowcharts of FIGS. FIG.

In FIGS. 10 and 11, i: the number of the stripe input to the outline vector extraction unit 603 by the binary image acquisition unit 601 (or the input has been completed) j: the outline vector extraction unit 603 performs processing The number of the stripe that has been processed (or the processing has been completed) k: The number of the stripe that has been processed (or the processing has been completed) by the outline vector smoothing / magnifying unit 605 l: The binary image reproducing unit 607 performs the processing The number of the stripe that has been executed (or the processing has been completed) (however, the stripe numbers in i, j, k, and l are assumed to be the same as those in FIG. 1) last: The last line of the input image is an outline vector from the image acquisition unit 601 A flag indicating whether or not it has been input to the extraction unit 603. The values of i, j, k, l, and last are determined by the control unit 609.
It is stored in an internal RAM.

First, in step S1001, initial values of i, j, k, l, and last are set to 0, and the flow advances to step S1002.

Next, in step S1002, the value of i is increased by one, and a signal is sent to the image acquisition unit 601 to start inputting the image data of the i-th (= 1) stripe from the image acquisition unit 601 to the outline vector extraction unit 603. Send. At this time, if it is a stripe other than the first stripe, the binary image acquisition unit 601 controls the data to be output to the image memory 901 before inputting the data to the vector extraction unit 603, and after that, To start outputting image data.

The control unit 609 increases the value of j by one,
A signal is sent to the element outline vector extraction unit 603a to start the process of sequentially extracting element outline vectors from the input image data sent from the image acquisition unit 601 in raster units by the method described in Japanese Patent Application No. 2-281958. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S1003.

In step S1003, the vector number memory 603d is accessed, and the
The number of outline vectors extracted in 3a is checked. This number is greater than a predetermined value T, or the value of last is already (the image acquisition unit 60
If it is set to 1 (by an interrupt signal from 1), the process proceeds to step S1004. Otherwise, step S10
Go to 05.

In step S1004, the image acquisition unit 60
1 and a signal to the element outline vector extraction unit 603a to suspend the image input from the image acquisition unit 601 to the element outline vector extraction unit 603a and the element outline vector extraction processing in the element outline vector extraction unit 603a. The image data input to the elementary contour vector extraction unit 603a up to this point is processed as the i-th stripe. At the same time, a signal is sent to the vector alignment unit 603b to start the vector alignment processing for this stripe.

In step S1005, 1) whether the state flags of the outline vector extraction unit 603 and the outline vector smoothing / magnification unit 605 are both ready 2) whether k = j-1 is satisfied, that is, Whether the reproduced stripe is immediately before the last smoothed / scaled stripe 3) Whether k = 1 is satisfied, that is,
It is checked whether or not the scaled stripe has already been reproduced. If YES, the flow advances to step S1006; otherwise, the flow advances to step S1007.

In step S1006, after performing the following processing, the flow advances to step S1007. 1) Increment the value of k by 1 and outline vector smoothing /
A signal is sent to the scaling unit 605 to start outline vector smoothing / zooming processing for the k-th stripe. 2) The value of i is increased by 1 and a signal is sent to the image acquisition unit 601 to stop the image acquisition unit 6 stopped in step S1004.
From 01, image input to the outline vector extraction unit 603 starts. At the same time, the value of j is increased by 1, and a signal is sent to the element outline vector extraction unit 603a to start the element outline vector extraction processing for the j-th stripe.

In step S1007, 1) whether last has become 1 (already due to an interrupt signal from the image acquisition unit 601), that is, whether the input image data has ended 2) the values of i, j, k, and l are equal That is, whether all of the input image data has been subjected to vector extraction, smoothing / magnification, and reproduction processing. 3) Check whether the state flag of the binary image reproduction unit 607 is ready, 1), If both 2) and 3) are YES, the process is terminated; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S1008.

In step S1008, 1) whether the status flags of the outline vector smoothing / magnifying unit 605 and the binary image reproducing unit 607 are both ready 2) whether l = k-1 is satisfied, It is checked whether or not the last reproduced stripe is the stripe immediately before the stripe which was the target of the last smoothing / magnification, and if 1) and 2) are both YES, step S10
09, otherwise return to step S1003.

In step S1009, the value of 1 is increased by 1, and a signal is sent to the binary image reproducing unit 607 to start the binary image reproducing process for the first stripe. The procedure of reproduction is the same as in the first embodiment.

When the outline scaling process of the input image is performed by such processing, in addition to the same effect as in the first embodiment, the number of lines of each stripe is not constant, but the amount of extracted vector data is It can be made substantially constant for each stripe. As a result, the memory for vector data can be saved and the memory can be used effectively.

[0055]

Third Embodiment The second embodiment may be configured as follows.

As shown in FIG. 13, the control unit 60 shown in FIG.
9, a control signal line is connected to the FIFO image memory 901 so that the control unit 609 can start outputting image data (to the outline vector extraction unit 603) of the image memory 901 via the signal line. Further, the image memory 901 sends an interrupt signal to the control unit 609 when all the data in the image memory 901 has been output, and the flag fifo
Is set to 0. The flag fifo indicates the operation state of the image memory 901 and is stored on the RAM of the image memory 901. Further, a signal line for controlling the image memory 901 is removed from the binary image acquisition unit 601.

In this case, the flowchart of the control performed by the control unit 609 is as shown in FIGS. Hereinafter, only the changes from each step in FIGS. 10 and 11 will be described.

First, in step S1401,
Initialize fifo to 0 in addition to i, j, k, l, last.

Steps S1402 to S1405 are the same as steps S1002 to S1005 in FIGS.
Has the same content as

In step S1406, after performing the following processing, the flow advances to step S1406a. 1) The value of k is increased, and a signal is sent to the outline vector smoothing / magnifying unit 605 to start the outline vector smoothing / magnifying process for the k-th stripe. 2) Set the value of fifo to 1. 3) The value of i is increased by 1, and a signal is sent to the image memory 901 to output the image data stored in the image memory 901. This image data corresponds to the margin on the i-th stripe. At the same time, the value of j is increased by 1 and a signal is sent to the element outline vector extraction unit 603a to start the element outline vector extraction processing of the j-th stripe.

In step S1406a, the flag fif
It waits until the value of o becomes 0 by the interrupt signal when the image memory 901 has finished outputting. If the value of fifo becomes 0, the process proceeds to step S1406b.

In step S1406b, a signal is sent to the binary image acquisition unit 601 to start inputting image data to the outline vector extraction unit 603 from the binary image acquisition unit 601 stopped in step S1404. After this,
Proceed to step S1407. Hereafter, step S1407
Steps S1409 to S1409 are the same as steps S1007 to S1009.

According to the above-described procedure, the apparatus of the present embodiment is different from the apparatus of the second embodiment in that the binary image acquisition unit 601
Can be reduced.

[0064]

Fourth Embodiment The second embodiment may have the following configuration and control method.

As shown in FIG. 16, the control unit 60 shown in FIG.
9 is connected to the image memory 901 for control. The control unit 609 controls the image memory 90 via the signal line.
1 can be controlled, and the image memory 901 sends a signal to the binary image acquiring unit 601 when all the data in the image memory 901 has been output, and the binary image acquiring unit 601 sends the signal to the vector extracting unit 603. Start typing. In this case, the control performed by the control unit 609 is shown in FIGS.
It is necessary to change from the flowchart of No. 1 as follows.

In step S1006 of FIGS. 10 and 11, when inputting the i-th stripe image data to the outline vector extracting unit 603, the control unit 609 first sends a signal to the image memory 901 to send the data inside the image memory 901. Output. Thereafter, when the image memory 901 outputs all the data, the image memory 901 sends a signal to the binary image acquisition unit 601 to send the signal to the binary image acquisition unit 601.
, The input of image data to the outline vector extraction unit 603 is started.

[0067]

Fifth Embodiment In the first to fourth embodiments, the image input section has been described as inputting a binary image.
The present invention is not limited to this. A binarization unit is provided after the image acquisition unit, and processing after vector extraction is performed on an image binarized using the binarization unit. You may do it. Further, a binarization unit may be provided at a subsequent stage of the image memory, and the binarization may be performed before extracting the outline vector to implement the present invention.

Similarly, with respect to the image output portion, a configuration may be used in which, after reproducing the binary image, the binary image is artificially converted into a multi-valued image using a known method. Also, for example, each pixel value of the binary image is intentionally output as the minimum gradation value or the maximum gradation value of 256 gradation expression of 0 to 255 instead of the two gradations of 0 and 1. Is also good.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of one device. Needless to say, the present invention can be applied to a case where the present invention is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus.

[0070]

As described above, the image processing method and apparatus according to the present invention can be applied to the image processing for obtaining a beautiful zoomed image using the outline vector of the input image, and the image processing method of the present invention can be applied to the image processing method. It is possible to dramatically reduce the throughput time of the entire processing while suppressing image deterioration.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a method of dividing an input image into band-shaped images (stripe).

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing timings at which processing is performed for each stripe when an input image is divided into stripes and outline resizing processing is performed in the method and apparatus configuration disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 4-254899.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing that, when an input image is divided into stripes and outline scaling processing is performed in the present application, processing for each stripe is performed in a pipeline format.

FIG. 4 is an example showing that a processing result output image is deteriorated in a conventional example.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a flow of processing in the present application.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an apparatus according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a process performed by a control unit 609 in the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a timing at which each unit shown in FIG. 6 performs processing on each stripe in the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an apparatus according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a process performed by a control unit 609 in the second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a process performed by a control unit 609 in the second embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a timing at which each unit shown in FIG. 7 performs processing on each stripe in the second embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an apparatus according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a process performed by a control unit 609 in the third embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of a process performed by a control unit 609 in the third embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an apparatus according to a fourth embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 601 binary image acquisition unit, 602 image memory, 603 outline vector extraction unit, 604, 606 vector data memory, 605 outline vector smoothing / magnification unit, 607 binary image reproduction unit, 608 binary image output unit .

Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-1-307879 (JP, A) JP-A-61-156363 (JP, A) JP-A-2-277185 (JP, A) JP-A-5-307602 (JP, A) JP-A-1-134672 (JP, A) JP-A-3-22471 (JP, A) JP-A-54-152433 (JP, A) JP-A-3-14186 (JP, A) 6-318248 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06T 5/00 G06T 3/40 G06T 9/20 G06T 11/20 G09G 5/36

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. An extracting means for extracting contour vector data from input image data, a scaling means for scaling the contour vector data extracted by the extracting means, and a contour scaled by the scaling means. A reproduction unit that reproduces image data of each divided area based on vector data, deletes a part of the image data so as not to overlap with an adjacent divided area, and connects the image data of each divided area to reproduce one screen of image data. And a memory for storing image data of an overlapping area overlapping each other between the divided areas obtained by dividing the area for one screen, wherein the overlapping area stored in the memory is stored in the memory. After the image data is input to the extracting means, the image data of the next divided area is input to the extracting means, and the image data of the next overlapping area is stored in the memory. An image processing method for causing stored. 2. An extracting means for extracting contour vector data from input image data; a scaling means for scaling the contour vector data extracted by the extracting means; and a contour scaled by the scaling means. A reproduction unit that reproduces image data of each divided area based on vector data, deletes a part of the image data so as not to overlap with an adjacent divided area, and connects the image data of each divided area to reproduce one screen of image data. And the area of one screen overlaps with the divided areas
That a memory for storing the image data of the overlap region, the image data of the overlap region stored in the memory extracted
Input the image data of the next divided area
Input to the extraction means and the next duplication in the memory.
Input means for storing image data of an area . 3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising an output unit that outputs an image based on one screen of image data reproduced by the reproduction unit. 4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein said input means, said extracting means, said scaling means, and said reproducing means can be processed in parallel. 5. An image processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein said reproducing means deletes image data having a width corresponding to a scaling factor.