JP3235271B2 - Image reading 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 reading apparatus for inputting an image on paper to a document creating apparatus such as a Japanese word processor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, image reading apparatuses used in document creation apparatuses such as Japanese word processors have been reduced in size, and have been changed from manual to automatic using a drive mechanism such as a printer for more accurate reading. Some of them have been able to read images.

Hereinafter, a conventional image reading apparatus will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 7 shows a configuration of an image reading apparatus using a driving mechanism of a conventional printer. 7, reference numeral 1 denotes a cartridge mounted on the carriage 2 and having an image sensor. Reference numeral 3 denotes a carriage guide shaft which supports the carriage 2 so as to be slidable in the axial direction. The carriage 2 includes a toothed belt 4, a carriage driving motor 5, The transfer is driven by a driving pulley 6 and a driven pulley 7. Reference numeral 8 denotes a recording sheet having an image 9. By this driving, the cartridge 1 mounted on the carriage 2 is transported from left to right along the surface of the recording paper 8, and the image 9 on the recording paper 8 is read by the image sensor. The recording paper 8 is sequentially fed as needed by a paper feed drive mechanism (not shown) of the printer and a paper feed rubber roller 10 connected thereto.

When reading the image 9 on the recording paper 8 using such an image reading apparatus, as shown in FIG. 8, if the reading width of the image sensor is h,
The range that can be scanned at one time is the scanning distance × h. In order to read image data in a range of W × H with this image reading apparatus, as shown in FIG. 9, image data is obtained by horizontally scanning a range of W × h from above the reading range. The process is repeated n times. Between each scan, the paper is fed by h to move the position of the image sensor with respect to the paper downward by h. That is, by feeding the paper by a certain amount and sequentially shifting the paper, it is possible to read the image of the entire range to be read while changing the relative position of the image sensor with respect to the paper.

[0005]

However, in the above-described conventional configuration, an area where the image sensor cannot be moved may occur below the sheet due to an image reading device or a sheet feeding mechanism. I had to avoid it. Even when the reading range is set avoiding this area, as shown in FIG.
The first scanning range may overlap this area. At this time, even if an attempt is made to feed the paper to the image sensor in order to perform the n-th scan, a predetermined amount of paper is not fed,
Since a mechanical error occurs and the reading process is interrupted, there is a problem that image data in a desired reading range cannot be completely obtained. Assuming that the range that cannot be read is h ′, h ′ = H−h × (n−1)
Becomes

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an image data reading apparatus for controlling image data reading and paper feeding so that the final reading range does not overlap with an area where the image sensor cannot be moved mechanically. The purpose is to provide.

[0007]

In order to achieve this object, an image reading apparatus according to the present invention comprises: an image reading section for reading an image on a sheet by an image sensor; a sheet feeding section for feeding a sheet to the image reading section; An image data storage unit for storing image data read by the image reading unit; a format input unit for inputting a range for reading image data on paper; and a general control unit for controlling these units. When an image sensor scans a range in which the image data is read, the image data within the reading range can be obtained without leaving the image data reading range in a region where the image sensor cannot move due to the mechanism.

[0008]

With this configuration, when the overall control unit controls the image reading unit and the paper feeding unit, and the image data on the paper is read by the image sensor, the image data reading range is located in an area where the mechanical image sensor cannot move. And the image data within the reading range can be obtained without leakage.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an image reading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an image reading apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 denotes an image reading unit that reads an image on a sheet by an image sensor, 102 denotes a sheet feeding unit that changes the position of the sheet relative to the image sensor, and 103 denotes an image that stores image data read by the image reading unit 101. A data storage unit; 104, a format input unit for obtaining an image reading range on a sheet from an operator;
An overall control unit that controls the operation of each of the components 1 to 104.

The operation of the image reading apparatus configured as described above will be described in detail below. First, the image reading range is determined by the operator from the form input unit 10.
4 is specified. FIG. 2 shows the parameters specified here. W is the width of the range to be read, H is the height of the range to be read, Dt is the distance from the top of the sheet to the top of the range to be read, and Dl is the distance from the left edge of the sheet to the left end of the range to be read. It is. The overall control unit 105 obtains these four parameters from the format input unit 104, controls the image reading unit 101 and the sheet feeding unit 102, and performs reading processing of the entire range to be read. As shown in FIG. 3, the image reading unit 101 moves an image sensor having a height h in the horizontal direction by a length W from the left end of the sheet with the position Dl as a scanning start position in one scan. Therefore, the range that can be read by one scan is W × h. In order to read an image of the whole range W × H to be read, the paper feed unit 102 repeats scanning a plurality of times while sequentially changing the relative position of the image sensor with respect to the paper in the downward direction. The following three methods (1) to (3) are conceivable as control methods of the image reading unit 101 and the sheet feeding unit 102 for reading the entire W × H image.

Hereinafter, the methods (1) to (3) will be described with reference to the drawings showing how the image sensor is moved within the reading range by the paper feed unit 102.

In each of the methods (1) to (3),
Before the start of the process, it is assumed that the upper end of the reading range of the image sensor having the height h and the upper end of the sheet coincide with each other.
The position of Dl from the left end of the sheet is set as the start position of each horizontal scanning, and the horizontal length of the scanning is W. H 'is the remainder when H is divided by h, and the number of horizontal scans required to read the entire W × H image is n.
Then, H = h × (n−1) + h ′.

(1) As shown in FIG. 4, first, the relative position of the image sensor with respect to the sheet is moved downward from the upper end of the sheet by Dt- (h-h ') by the sheet feed section 102, and the image is read. Scanning is performed once by the unit 101 to obtain image data. In this first scan, the image reading range is W × h ′. Since the range that can be read by one scan of the image sensor is originally W × h, the height h ′ from the bottom of the read image data is used.
To discard the rest, or perform reading using an element in the range of h ′ from the bottom of the image sensor having the height h, and the resulting image data is W × h '. The obtained image data is stored in the image data storage unit 103.

After the second time, the paper feed unit 102
The relative position of the image sensor with respect to the sheet is moved downward by h, scanned once by the image reading unit 101, and the obtained image data in the range of W × h is stored in the image data storage unit 103. Is repeated n times.

(2) As shown in FIG. 5, first, the relative position of the image sensor with respect to the sheet is moved downward by Dt from the upper end of the sheet by the sheet feeder 102, and the image reader 101 scans once. To obtain image data. In the first scan, the range for reading the image is W × h ′. Since the range which can be read by one scan of the image sensor is originally W × h, of the read image data, only the height h ′ from the top is taken and the rest is discarded, or the image sensor whose height is h Of these, reading is performed using elements in the range of h 'from the top, so that the resulting image data is Wxh'. The obtained image data is stored in the image data storage unit 103.

Next, the relative position of the image sensor with respect to the sheet is moved downward by h 'by the sheet feeding section 102, and the image reading section 101 scans once, and the obtained image data in the W × h range is obtained. Is stored in the image data storage unit 103.

Thereafter, the relative position of the image sensor with respect to the sheet is moved downward by h by the sheet feeding unit 102, and the image reading unit 101 scans once, and the obtained image data in the W × h range is obtained. A series of processing of storing in the image data storage unit 103 is performed by n-
Repeat once.

(3) As shown in FIG. 6, first, the relative position of the image sensor with respect to the sheet is moved downward by Dt from the upper end of the sheet by the sheet feeding unit 102, and the image reading unit 101 scans once. , Obtained W
The image data of × h is stored in the image data storage unit 103.

From the second time to the (n-1) th time, the relative position of the image sensor with respect to the sheet by the sheet feeding unit 102 is moved downward by h, and the image reading unit 10
A series of processing of scanning once by 1 and storing the obtained image data in the range of W × h in the image data storage unit 103 is repeated n−1 times.

In the final n-th operation, the relative position of the image sensor with respect to the sheet is moved downward by h 'by the sheet feeder 102, and the image reader 101 scans once to obtain image data. In this final scan, the range for reading the image is W × h ′. The range that can be read by one scan of the image sensor is originally W ×
h, the read image data is taken only from the bottom height h ′ and the rest is discarded, or an image sensor with the height h is used by using an element in the range from bottom h ′. Reading is performed so that the resulting image data is W × h ′. The obtained image data is stored in the image data storage unit 103.

In any of the above methods (1) to (3), the reading width of the image sensor does not fall below the lower end of the paper reading range in the final scanning (n-th scanning). Therefore, if the region where the image sensor cannot move due to the mechanism does not overlap with the reading range input by the format input unit 104, the range of the scan and the region where the image sensor cannot move do not overlap even in the final scan. Thus, image data of the entire reading range can be obtained without omission.

[0023]

As described above, when an image sensor scans a range for reading image data on a sheet by the image reading section, the sheet feeding section, the image data storage section, the format input section, and the overall control section, the image on the mechanism is obtained. It is possible to obtain all image data within the reading range without positioning the scanner in an area where the sensor cannot move.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of parameters on paper set in format setting.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a range that can be read by one scan.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing how an image sensor moves within a reading range according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing how an image sensor moves within a reading range according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating how an image sensor moves within a reading range according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an image reading apparatus using a driving mechanism of a conventional printer.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a range that can be read by an image sensor in one scan.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing how an image sensor moves within a conventional reading range.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 image reading unit 102 paper feeding unit 103 image data storage unit 104 format input unit 105 overall control unit

Continuation of the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06K 7/01 G06K 7/00 H04N 1/04

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] An image reading section for sequentially reading an image on a sheet at a predetermined width by an image sensor having a predetermined reading width, a sheet feeding section for feeding a sheet to the image reading section, and reading by the image reading section. An image data storage unit for storing image data, a format input unit for inputting a range for reading image data on paper, and a general control unit for controlling these are provided. At the time of scanning, by controlling the paper feed so that the lower end of the reading width of the image sensor is aligned with the lower end of the image data reading range, reading is performed without positioning the image data reading range in an area where the image sensor cannot be moved mechanically. Ensure that all image data within the range can be obtained. Image reading apparatus according to claim. 2. The dimension from the top edge of the sheet to the image data start position is Dt, the reading range of the image data is H, the reading width of the image sensor is h, and the number of readings of the image sensor required to read the reading range H is n. , H
= (N-1) h + h ', where h'<h, and the reading width is h ', the paper is fed by Dt- (hh)',
2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein reading is started, the first time, image data of h 'width is obtained from the lower side of the reading width, and thereafter, the paper feed is controlled so as to sequentially read the image data of h width. Image reading device. 3. The dimension from the top edge of the sheet to the image data start position is Dt, the reading range of the image data is H, the reading width of the image sensor is h, and the number of readings of the image sensor required to read the reading range H is n. , H
= (N-1) h + h ', where h'<h, when the reading width is h ', the sheet is fed by Dt and reading is started, and the first time the image data of h' from the upper side of the reading width 2. The sheet feed is controlled so that image data of h width is sequentially read.
An image reading device as described in the above. 4. The dimension from the top edge of the sheet to the image data start position is Dt, the reading range of the image data is H, the reading width of the image sensor is h, and the number of readings of the image sensor required to read the reading range H is n. , H
= (N-1) h + h ', where h'<h, the reading width is h ', the paper is fed by Dt, reading is started, and image data of h width is sequentially read. 2. The sheet feeding is controlled so as to obtain h 'image data from the lower side of the reading width.
An image reading device as described in the above.