JP3722001B2 - Image rotating apparatus and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an image rotation apparatus that rotates acquired image data, and an image forming apparatus that includes the image rotation apparatus.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Various types of image forming apparatuses such as facsimile machines and digital copying machines are used, and scanners (readers) and printers (recorders) that are installed according to the models of these apparatuses. The processing speed and resolution are different. In these apparatuses, the read image data may be rotated 90 degrees and recorded on a sheet. In this case, the image data is rotated during reading or recording.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
Conventionally, an image rotation apparatus for performing image data rotation processing is designed and mounted on each apparatus according to the specifications of the scanner and printer mounted on each model of these apparatuses. Therefore, it takes a long time to develop and design the image rotation device, and when the number of models increases, the number of image rotation devices corresponding to them increases, and there is a problem that the management of components and the like becomes complicated. .
[0004]
SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides an image rotation apparatus that can be used in common even if the model of the image forming apparatus is different, and an image forming apparatus including the image rotating apparatus. The purpose is to provide.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
An image rotation apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a rotation unit that rotates image data, a first input unit that inputs image data read by an external reader, and a first input unit that inputs image data from an external image memory. A first input unit that selects any one of the image data input by the first input unit and the image data rotated by the rotation unit, and outputs the selected image data to the image memory; A second output unit that selects either the image data input by the input unit or the image data rotated by the rotation unit and outputs the selected image data to an external recorder, and rotates the image data at the time of reading In this case, the first output unit selects the image data rotated by the rotating unit, the second output unit selects the image data input by the second input unit, and records at the time of recording. In the case of image data rotation processing, the first output unit Select the image data input in serial first input unit, the second output unit is characterized in that so as to select the image data rotated by the rotation unit.
[0006]
In the image rotation device according to claim 1, when rotating the image data at the time of reading, the read image data input to the first input unit is rotated by the rotation unit and then passed through the first output unit. The rotated image data stored in the image memory is input via the second input unit, and the input rotated image data is input to the recorder via the second output unit. Output. On the other hand, when rotating image data at the time of recording, the read image data input to the first input unit is output to the image memory via the first output unit and stored as it is. After the image data input via the unit is rotated by the rotating unit, the rotated image data is output to the recorder via the second output unit. Therefore, it is possible to perform both rotation processing at the time of reading image data and rotation processing at the time of recording, and it is possible to cope with image forming apparatuses of different models.
[0007]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus comprising the one image rotation device according to the first aspect, the reader, an image memory, and a recorder.
[0008]
In the image forming apparatus according to the second aspect, the rotation processing at the time of reading and the rotation processing at the time of recording can be performed by one image rotating device, so that the size of the device can be reduced.
[0011]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings showing embodiments thereof.
(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an example of a facsimile machine as an image forming apparatus of the present invention. The image forming apparatus of the present invention includes a main control unit 1, a scanner 2, a scanner image processing circuit 3, and an image memory 4. , Image rotation device 5, codec (encoding / decoding) unit 6, printer control unit 7, printer 8, operation panel 9, image memory 10, ROM 11, RAM 12, modem 13, NCU (Network Control Unit) 14 and the like. Yes.
[0012]
The main control unit 1 is specifically composed of a CPU, and is connected to the above-described hardware units of the facsimile apparatus via a bus 15 to control them and to store them in a computer stored in the ROM 11. Various software functions are executed according to the program. The main control unit 1 controls the operation processing of the image rotation device 5 which is a characteristic part of the present invention.
[0013]
The scanner 2 and the scanner image processing circuit 3 constitute a reader. For example, the scanner 2 using a CCD reads an original and outputs an image signal. The image signal is shaded and ground corrected by the scanner image processing circuit 3. , After being subjected to gamma correction and the like, it is binarized into image data, which is output to the image rotation device 5 as serial data.
[0014]
The image memory 4 temporarily stores image data when performing various processes including the rotation process in the image rotation device 5. The codec unit 6 encodes the image data and decodes the encoded image data into the original image data. The image rotation device 5 performs rotation processing on the input image data as necessary, and outputs the rotation image data to the printer control unit 7. The image rotation device 5 outputs the input image data as it is to the printer control unit 7 when the rotation processing is unnecessary. The configuration and operation of the image rotation device 5 will be described in detail later, including the image memory 4 and the codec unit 6 that are peripheral circuits thereof.
[0015]
The printer control unit 7 and the printer 8 constitute a recorder. For example, the electrophotographic printer 8 has image data of a document read by a reader or rotated image data thereof, or an image received by facsimile communication. Data or its rotated image data is printed out as a hard copy.
[0016]
The operation panel 9 includes character keys, numeric keys, speed dial keys, one-touch dial keys, various function keys, and the like necessary for operating the facsimile apparatus. The function keys include a rotation setting key 9a for setting the presence / absence of rotation processing for image data, and a rotation mode key 9b for designating whether rotation processing at the time of reading or rotation processing at the time of recording is performed.
[0017]
The image memory 10 is composed of a DRAM or the like, and stores the read image data of the original or the rotated image data thereof, or the received image data or the encoded encoded image of the rotated image data. The ROM 11 stores in advance various software programs necessary for the operation of the facsimile apparatus. The RAM 12 is configured by SRAM, flash memory, or the like, and stores temporary data generated when software is executed.
[0018]
The modem 13 is connected to the bus 15 and includes a fax modem capable of facsimile communication. Similarly, the modem 13 is directly connected to the NCU 14 connected to the bus 15. The NCU 14 is hardware that performs operations of closing and opening the analog line L with the public telephone line network, and connects the modem 13 to the public telephone line network as necessary.
[0019]
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the image rotation device 5. The image rotation device 5 includes a rotation unit 51, an input serial interface (I / F) 52 as a first input unit, an input parallel interface (I / F) 53 as a second input unit, and a first output unit. Output parallel interface (I / F) 54, an output serial interface (I / F) 55 as a second output unit, and a buffer memory 56.
[0020]
The rotation unit 51 is controlled by the main control unit 1 and rotates image data. At this time, the image data to be rotated is temporarily stored in the external image memory 4 and is gradually read out to the buffer memory 56 to be rotated.
[0021]
The input serial interface 52 inputs the read document image data from the scanner image processing circuit 3 in a serial format. The output parallel interface 54 selects the image data input by the input serial interface 52 in the case of the rotation process at the time of recording, selects the image data rotated by the rotation unit 51 in the case of the rotation process at the time of reading, The selected image data is output in parallel format to the codec unit 6 for encoding.
[0022]
The input parallel interface 53 inputs image data obtained by decoding the encoded image data stored in the image memory 10 from the codec unit 6 in a parallel format. The output serial interface 55 selects image data input by the input parallel interface 53 in the case of rotation processing at the time of reading, selects image data rotated by the rotation unit 51 in the case of rotation processing at the time of recording, The selected image data is output to the printer control unit 7 in a serial format.
[0023]
Next, the operation will be described. 3 and 4 are flowcharts showing the operation procedure of the reading process in the facsimile apparatus having the above-described configuration.
[0024]
The main control unit 1 detects whether or not the rotation setting key 9a has been pressed, and determines whether or not rotation processing for image data has been set (step S1). When the rotation process is set (S1: YES), the main control unit 1 detects selection by the rotation mode key 9b and determines which of the rotation process at the time of reading and the rotation process at the time of recording is set. Judgment is made (step S2).
[0025]
When the rotation processing at the time of reading is set (S2: YES), the main control unit 1 activates the rotation unit 51, the input serial interface 52, the output parallel interface 54, and the buffer memory 56 in the image rotation device 5 ( Step S3), the codec unit 6 (encoding function) is activated (step S4).
[0026]
The input serial interface 52 inputs the read image data of the document from the scanner image processing circuit 3 (step S5). The rotation unit 51 performs a rotation process on the input image data (step S6). The output parallel interface 54 outputs the image data subjected to the rotation process to the codec unit 6 (step S7). The codec unit 6 encodes the rotated image data, outputs the encoded rotated image data to the image memory 10, and the image memory 10 stores it (step S8).
[0027]
While the reading of all the originals is not completed (step S9: NO), such processes of S5 to S8 are repeated. When the main control unit 1 determines that reading of all the originals has been completed (S9: YES), the main control unit 1 resets the activated image rotation device 5 and codec unit 6 (step S10).
[0028]
When the rotation process is not set (S1: NO), or when the rotation process at the time of recording is set (S2: NO), the main control unit 1 uses the input serial interface 52 in the image rotation device 5, The output parallel interface 54 and the buffer memory 56 are activated (step S11). The codec unit 6 (encoding function) is activated (step S12).
[0029]
The input serial interface 52 inputs the read image data of the document from the scanner image processing circuit 3, and the output parallel interface 54 outputs the input non-rotated image data to the codec unit 6 (step 13). The codec unit 6 encodes the non-rotated image data, outputs the encoded non-rotated image data to the image memory 10, and the image memory 10 stores it (step S14).
[0030]
While the reading of all the originals is not completed (step S15: NO), such processes of S13 and S14 are repeated. When the main control unit 1 determines that reading of all the originals has been completed (S15: YES), the main control unit 1 resets the activated image rotation device 5 and codec unit 6 (step S16).
[0031]
5 and 6 are flowcharts showing the operation procedure of the recording process in the facsimile apparatus having the above-described configuration.
[0032]
The main control unit 1 detects whether or not the rotation setting key 9a has been pressed, and determines whether or not rotation processing for image data has been set (step S21). When the rotation process is set (S21: YES), the main control unit 1 detects selection by the rotation mode key 9b and determines which of the rotation process at the time of recording and the rotation process at the time of reading is set. Judgment is made (step S22).
[0033]
When the rotation processing at the time of recording is set (S22: YES), the main control unit 1 activates the rotation unit 51, the input parallel interface 53, the output serial interface 55, and the buffer memory 56 in the image rotation device 5 ( Step S23). The codec unit 6 (decoding function) is activated (step S24).
[0034]
The input parallel interface 53 inputs the non-rotated image data read from the image memory 10 and decoded from the codec unit 6 (step S25). The rotation unit 51 performs a rotation process on the input non-rotated image data (step S26). The output serial interface 55 outputs the image data subjected to the rotation process to the printer control unit 7 (step S27). The printer 8 prints out the rotated image data under the control of the printer control unit 7 (step S28).
[0035]
While the printing of all the originals is not completed (step S29: NO), such processes of S25 to S28 are repeated. When the main control unit 1 determines that printing of all the originals has been completed (S29: YES), the main control unit 1 resets the activated image rotation device 5 and codec unit 6 (step S30).
[0036]
When the rotation process is not set (S21: NO), or when the rotation process at the time of reading is set (S22: NO), the main control unit 1 uses the input parallel interface 53 in the image rotation device 5, The output serial interface 55 and the buffer memory 56 are activated (step S31). The codec unit 6 (decoding function) is activated (step S32).
[0037]
The input parallel interface 53 receives the rotated image data (when rotation processing is set) or non-rotated image data (when rotation processing is not set) read out and decoded from the image memory 10 from the codec unit 6. The input serial interface 55 outputs the input rotated image data or non-rotated image data to the printer controller 7 (step S33). The printer 8 prints out the rotated image data or the non-rotated image data under the control of the printer control unit 7 (step S34).
[0038]
While the printing of all the originals is not completed (step S35: NO), such processes of S33 and S34 are repeated. When the main control unit 1 determines that printing of all the originals has been completed (S35: YES), the main control unit 1 resets the activated image rotation device 5 and codec unit 6 (step S36).
[0039]
In the above-described example, the case where the read image data is encoded and stored in the image memory 10 has been described. However, the rotated image data can be recorded in real time without passing through the image memory 10. In this case, the image data input from the scanner image processing circuit 3 via the input serial interface 52 is subjected to rotation processing by the rotation unit 51 and the rotation processing is performed via the output serial interface 55. Data may be output to the printer control unit 7.
[0040]
In the above-described example, since the image memory 4 is connected to the outside of the image rotation device 5, a memory having an appropriate capacity can be connected according to the specifications (paper size, resolution) of the facsimile device.
[0041]
(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of another example of a facsimile machine as an image forming apparatus of the present invention. In FIG. 7, the same parts as those in FIG. To do. In the second embodiment, two image rotation devices 5a and 5b are provided.
[0042]
The configuration of these image rotation devices 5a and 5b is the same as the configuration of the image rotation device 5 in the first embodiment described above (see FIG. 2). Corresponding to the image rotation devices 5a and 5b, image memories 4a and 4b similar to the image memory 4 and codec sections 6a and 6b similar to the codec section 6 are provided.
[0043]
In the second embodiment, one image rotation device 5a is used exclusively for rotation processing during reading, and the other image rotation device 5b is used exclusively for rotation processing during recording. That is, when the rotation processing at the time of reading is set by the rotation mode key 9b, the image rotation device 5a is activated, and the rotation processing is performed on the read image data by the rotation unit 51. Is encoded by the codec unit 6a, the encoded rotated image data read from the image memory 10 is decoded by the codec unit 6a, and the decoded rotated image data is output from the image rotating device 5a to the printer control unit 7. . On the other hand, when the rotation process at the time of recording is set by the rotation mode key 9b, the image rotation device 5b is activated, and the read image data is directly encoded by the codec unit 6b and stored in the image memory 10. Then, the encoded image data read from the image memory 10 is decoded by the codec unit 6b, the image data after decoding is rotated by the rotating unit 51, and the rotated image data is controlled by the image rotating device 5b from the printer. Is output to the unit 7.
[0044]
(Third embodiment)
FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the configuration of still another example of a facsimile machine as an image forming apparatus of the present invention. In FIG. 8, the same parts as those in FIGS. The description of is omitted.
[0045]
As in the second embodiment, two image rotation devices 5c and 5d are provided. In the third embodiment, the processing at the time of reading (the processing in the flowcharts of FIGS. 3 and 4 described above) is performed. The image rotation device 5c executes, and the image rotation device 5d executes processing at the time of recording (the processing of the flowcharts of FIGS. 5 and 6 described above). A codec unit 6c dedicated to encoding is connected to the image rotation device 5c, and a codec unit 6d dedicated to decoding is connected to the image rotation device 5d.
[0046]
In the third embodiment, since the processing at the time of reading and the processing at the time of recording can be controlled independently, these processing can be performed in parallel, and the processing speed can be increased.
[0047]
In addition, by providing a plurality of image rotation devices 5 in the first embodiment, a system that performs ultra-high speed reading / recording, multi-tone image data using a plurality of CCDs for high resolution. Even a system that acquires data can be used.
[0048]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, in the image rotation apparatus of the present invention, the rotation unit that rotates the image data, the first input unit that inputs the image data read by the external reader, and the image data that is input from the external image memory A second input unit, a first output unit that selects either the image data input by the first input unit or the image data rotated by the rotation unit and outputs the selected image data to the image memory; and a second input unit The second image forming apparatus includes a second output unit that selects either the image data input in step 1 or the image data rotated by the rotation unit and outputs the selected image data to an external recorder. Even if they are different from each other, they can be used in common, and it is not necessary to design various types of image rotation apparatuses according to the types of image forming apparatuses as in the prior art.
[0049]
In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the rotation processing at the time of reading and the rotation processing at the time of recording can be performed by one image rotating device, so that the size of the device can be reduced.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an example (first embodiment) of a facsimile apparatus of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image rotation device.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of a reading process in the facsimile apparatus of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of a reading process in the facsimile apparatus of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of recording processing in the facsimile apparatus of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of recording processing in the facsimile apparatus of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of another example (second embodiment) of a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a configuration of still another example (third embodiment) of a facsimile apparatus according to the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main control part 2 Scanner 3 Scanner image processing circuit 5, 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d Image rotation apparatus 7 Printer control part 8 Printer 10 Image memory 51 Rotation part 52 Input serial interface (I / F)
53 Input parallel interface (I / F)
54 Output parallel interface (I / F)
55 output serial interface (I / F)

Claims (2)

A rotating unit that rotates image data, a first input unit that inputs image data read by an external reader, a second input unit that inputs image data from an external image memory, and the first input unit A first output unit that selects and outputs to the image memory either the image data input by the image data or the image data rotated by the rotation unit; and the image data input by the second input unit or A second output unit that selects any one of the image data rotated by the rotation unit and outputs the selected image data to an external recorder ;
In the case of rotation processing of image data at the time of reading, the first output unit selects image data rotated by the rotation unit, and the second output unit inputs an image input by the second input unit. In the case of image data rotation processing at the time of recording, the first output unit selects image data input at the first input unit, and the second output unit is connected to the rotation unit. An image rotation apparatus characterized by selecting image data rotated in this manner .   An image forming apparatus comprising: the image rotation device according to claim 1; and the reader, an image memory, and a recorder.

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