JP6161578B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus having an image reading function such as a scanner.

  In recent years, image forming apparatuses such as multifunction peripherals (MFPs) have become multi-functional, and an aggregation function that collects images of a plurality of pages and outputs them as one page, for example, two pages of A4 size originals are A4 size. There is a 2-in-1 function for evenly allocating to one page.

  Further, in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer capable of reading an A3 size original and outputting an A3 size transfer paper, it is based on image data corresponding to one A3 size original or two A4 size originals. There is an image forming apparatus that can output to two sheets of A4 size transfer paper (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Specifically, this image forming apparatus (copier or printer) forms a toner image based on image data for two A4 originals on a photoconductor, and continuously feeds A4 transfer paper close to the transfer position. By forming the paper, the toner images for the two A4 originals are divided into two A4 transfer sheets to form an image.

JP 09-258514 A

  By the way, the conventional A4 size MFP can handle a size that can be read up to a slightly larger size (eg, legal size) depending on the product, but basically it can read a document that exceeds the handleable size. There wasn't. For example, an A4 size two-page spread document could not create a file by reading an A3 size image, which is twice the A4 size, such as transmitting one page of information as one page. Even if the above-described aggregation function is used, this function is a function that aggregates a document having a readable size into a plurality of pages, and is not a technique that considers reading a document that exceeds the readable size. , Another technology was sought. The technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 outputs image data corresponding to two A4 size originals at a time, but does not consider the image reading technique, that is, the technique for acquiring the original as image data. Another technique was required.

  This invention is made | formed in view of such a condition, and it aims at providing the technique which can solve the said subject.

An image forming apparatus according to the present invention is an image forming apparatus having a function of reading a document of A4 paper size. The image reading unit that reads the document, an operation unit, a display unit, and the image reading unit reads and acquires the image. Among the plurality of images, the first image and the second image acquired following the first image are connected after rotating the direction of the second image by 180 degrees to form one image. A platen glass having an A4 paper size reading area, and an editing unit that executes a rotation connection process, and a setting holding unit that is referred to when the editing unit executes the rotation connection process. And the document feeder, and the setting holding unit holds information on how to connect the plurality of images set using the operation unit and the display unit, and Information page of the image to be inverted In the case where the image reading unit reads an A3 paper size original, and the image reading unit reads an A3 paper size original, (1) A4 which is half of the original read using the original feeder. The first image which is a paper size area is acquired, and (2) the A4 paper size area which is the remaining half of the original read by reversing the entry direction of the original with respect to the original feeder. 2), and (3) referring to the information held by the setting holding unit, rotating the second image 180 degrees and connecting it to the first image, thereby connecting the A3 paper size document. When the image reading unit reads a plurality of documents freely arranged in the X and Y directions on the platen glass, the setting holding unit is set using the operation unit and the display unit. Is As the information, at least information regarding the arrangement of the plurality of documents and information regarding a priority order when the plurality of documents are overlapped are stored, and the editing unit refers to the information stored in the setting storage unit. Then, by designating the arrangement of the images of the plurality of documents, one image obtained by connecting the images of the plurality of documents is acquired .
Further, when the image reading unit reads an A2 paper size original, the editing unit (1) is the first page among four pages of the A4 paper size area which is 1/4 of the A2 paper size original. Each of the eye image and the second page image is obtained by reading the A4 paper size landscape area arranged on the platen glass upward, and (2) each of the third page image and the fourth page image is acquired. The A4 paper size landscape area arranged on the platen glass is acquired by reading downward, and (3) the third page image and the fourth page with reference to the information held by the setting holding unit The image of the A2 paper size document is obtained by rotating the eye image 180 degrees and connecting it to the first page image and the second page image.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a technique in consideration of reading a document exceeding a readable size in an image forming apparatus.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an image registration direction when an A3-size document is read using the image reading unit according to the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a communication at the time of reading A4 size for 2 pages based on embodiment, and producing an A3 size original. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an image reading direction when four A4-size originals are read and one image is created according to the embodiment. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a situation when up to the third page of the document is registered using the reading mode of FIG. 4 according to the embodiment. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an image direction when an image is read from a document feeder according to the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the document arrangement | positioning in the case of freely arrange | positioning and connecting in the up-down and left-right direction based on embodiment.

  Hereinafter, modes for carrying out the present invention (hereinafter referred to as “embodiments”) will be described with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, a process that enables creation of a file size of an A3 size or larger image size (hereinafter, “image combining process”) even in an image forming apparatus (multifunction peripheral; MFP) having an A4 size reading / output function. Proposed).

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment, particularly focusing on an image reading function, and omitting a configuration such as a communication interface with an external device such as a PC. .

  The image forming apparatus 10 is, for example, an MFP, and includes a control unit 12, an operation unit 14, a display unit 16, a print execution processing unit 30, and an image reading unit 40.

  The operation unit 12 is a user interface including predetermined function buttons such as an execution key, a numeric keypad, and the like. The display unit 14 is composed of a liquid crystal panel or the like, and displays an operation state or the like. Note that a touch key or the like in which the operation unit 12 and the display unit 14 are integrally configured may be used.

  The print execution processing unit 30 has a general print execution function, and executes a printing operation according to an instruction from the control unit 20.

  The image reading unit 40 has a general configuration capable of reading an A4 size document, and includes a scanner, a platen glass (hereinafter simply referred to as “platen 41”), a document reading slit, a document feeding device 42, and the like. Is provided. The scanner includes a light source using an LED (Light Emitting Diode) and a light receiving unit including a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) line sensor, a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) line sensor, and the like.

  The control unit 12 includes an MPU (Micro-Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and the like, and performs various processes. Here, the control unit 12 includes a JobManager 19 as a function for performing overall processing of the image forming apparatus 10. In addition, the control unit 12 includes an image composition processing unit 20 that executes an image combining process characteristic of the present embodiment. The image composition processing unit 20 executes an image combining process under the instruction of the JobManager 19.

  The image composition processing unit 20 includes ImageJob22, JobInfo23, InputMission24, dvcSCN25, entDocPG26, entBOX27, and EditMission28 as functions for executing image combining processing.

  The ImageJob 22 controls and executes image reading processing using the image reading unit 40.

  The JobInfo 23 holds various setting information regarding image reading processing including image combining processing.

  The Input Mission 24 manages image acquisition. That is, for example, whether InputMission 24 acquires two pages of A4-sized images or three pages, what is the size of the combined image, and how to combine the acquired images (Whether it is allocated to each of the four divided areas or there may be an overlapping part).

  The dvcSCN 25 controls the operation of the scanner of the image reading unit 40 and scans a document placed on the platen 41 or a document supplied from the document feeder 42.

  The entDocPG 26 associates the acquired image data with which region of the combined image data corresponds.

  The entBOX 27 holds the acquired image after the processing by the entDocPG 26.

  The Edit Mission 28 edits the image data acquired by the dvcSCN 25 (print execution processing unit 30) as necessary. For example, inversion processing, trimming processing, centering processing, and the like.

  A process of reading an A3 size document and acquiring image data with the above configuration will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an image registration direction when an A3-size document is read using the image reading unit 40 (platen 41 or the like). FIG. 2A is a diagram showing the reading direction of the first page document (first reading), and FIG. 2B is a diagram showing the reading direction of the second page document (first reading). is there.

  Since the reading area of the image reading unit 40 (platen 41) is only A4 size, when using a document feeder, it is generally necessary for the user to reverse the entry direction of the original image (document) between the first time and the second time. There is. In the first time, the head area P11 is read, but the rear area P12 is not read. Therefore, in the second time, the image to be read is reversed and the rear area P12 is read first. At this time, the top area P11 is not read. Then, the image forming apparatus 10 inverts the image (region P12) read for the second time and connects it to the first read image (region P11).

  FIG. 3 shows an example of communication when an A3 size document is created by reading two pages of A4 size. The image connection process will be described with reference to FIG.

  As preconditions, it is necessary to know from where the user took the image and what original image size he is trying to create the output image from. Setting information necessary for these operations is stored in advance in ImageJob 22, and the behavior is changed by referring to it at the time of execution. Here, for example, information such as a reading source (a platen 41 or a document feeding device 42), a reading document size, a created document size, and the like is stored.

  When the image combination processing function is selected by a user operation on the operation unit 14, the JobManager 19 notifies the ImageJob 22 to that effect and starts the image combination processing (S1).

  The ImageJob 22 refers to the JobInfo 23, acquires various setting information of the image combining process, and starts the image combining process (S2). Here, it is assumed that the ImageJob 22 acquires settings for reading an A4 size placed on the platen 41 of the image reading unit 40 for two pages and creating an A3 size document.

  First, the ImageJob 22 instructs the Input Mission 24 to execute a job for obtaining the original document for the first page (S3).

  The Input Mission 24 causes the image reading unit 40 to read the first page image (S4). The dvcSCN 25 operates the platen 41 or the document feeder 42 to read the first page image, and instructs the entDocPG 26 to register the image (S5).

  The entDocPG 26 acquires the image read by the dvcSCN 25, registers it as an image of the first page of the document in the entBOX 27, and records it (S6).

  When the dvcSCN 25 instructs registration in the entDocPG 26, the dvcSCN 25 notifies the Input Mission 24 that registration of the image of the first page of the document has been completed (S7). Subsequently, the Input Mission 24 notifies the ImageJob 22 that registration of the image of the first page of the document has been completed (S8).

  When the image job 22 receives a notification that the registration of the image of the first page of the document has been completed, the image job 22 instructs the input mission 24 to execute a job for acquiring the second page of the document (S9).

  The Input Mission 24 causes the image reading unit 40 to read the image of the second page of the document (S10). The dvcSCN 25 operates the platen 41 or the document feeder 42 to read the image of the second page of the document, and instructs the entDocPG 26 to register the image (S11).

  The entDocPG 26 acquires the image read by the dvcSCN 25, registers it as an image of the second page of the document in the entBOX 27, and records it (S12).

  When the dvcSCN 25 instructs registration in the entDocPG 26, the dvcSCN 25 notifies the Input Mission 24 that registration of the image of the second page of the document has been completed (S13). Subsequently, the Input Mission 24 notifies the ImageJob 22 that registration of the image of the second page of the document has been completed (S14).

  When ImageJob 22 receives a notification that registration of the image of the second page of the document has been completed, as the next job, EditJob 28 changes the orientation of the image of the second page of the document in a predetermined direction. Here, it is instructed to invert (S15).

  The EditMission 28 acquires the image of the second page of the document from the entBOX 27, executes image reversal processing, and notifies the entDocPG 26 (S16).

  The entDocPG 26 re-registers the image of the second page of the document after the image reversal process in the entBOX 27 (S17), and notifies the Edit Mission 28 that the reversal process is completed (S18). Then, the Edit Mission 28 notifies the ImageJob 22 to that effect (S19).

  Subsequently, the ImageJob 22 instructs the Edit Mission 28 to execute processing for combining the images of the first and second pages of the document as a new job (S20).

  The Edit Mission 28 takes out the images of the first and second pages of the document registered in the entBOX 27 and executes a process for combining them (S21). Thereafter, the entDocPG 26 registers and records a new image in which the first and second page original images are combined in the entBOX 27 (S22), and notifies the Edit Mission 28 of the completion of the combination (S23). Then, the Edit Mission 28 notifies the ImageJob 22 to that effect (S24).

  When the image job 22 is notified of the completion of image combination, the image job 22 notifies the job manager 19 that all jobs have been completed (S25). This notification completes a series of processing.

  With such a configuration and processing, a document having a size larger than the document readable size of the image reading unit 40 can be appropriately read. That is, for example, in the image forming apparatus 10 whose A4 size is the upper limit of reading, a document having an A3 size as an original image size is divided into two parts, and one of them is rotated and combined to thereby substantially convert an A3 size document. An image equivalent to the one read is obtained. Further, since the processing is completed only by the image forming apparatus 10, subsequent printing processing and processing up to FAX processing can be completed in a short time by only one device, that is, the image forming apparatus 10.

  Conventionally, there are limitations on the orientation of the image to be read in order to perform correct aggregation. That is, two pages of originals are acquired in the same direction and are collected into one page. In this case, when the document is A3 size and the image reading size is A4, the reading process is divided into two areas, respectively. However, due to the configuration of the reading device such as the platen cover, when reading one of them. Due to the necessity of reversing the orientation of the manuscript and the need to fold it in half, there were many restrictions and another technique was required. Therefore, conventionally, it has been necessary to edit and combine the read images with image editing software on a PC or the like. However, according to the present embodiment, the image forming apparatus 10 can be realized by a very simple operation.

Figure 4 is a diagram showing an image reading direction for creating one image read separately document A 2 size 4 sheets of document A4 size (4 pages). Here, the direction in which the user reads an image from the platen 41 is shown. The first page P21 and the second page P22 obtain an A4 landscape document upward, and the third page P23 and the fourth page. The eye P24 is set to acquire the A4 landscape document in the downward direction. As for the image reading direction, a plurality of modes are registered in advance in JobInfo23. The user uses the operation unit 14 and the display unit 16 to select how to connect when starting the connection process.

  FIG. 5 shows the situation when the first page P31 to the third page P33 of the original are registered using the reading mode of FIG. The document of the third page P33 is read in an upside down state (rotated 180 degrees) as set in FIG. Thereafter, when the fourth page P34 is read, the third page P33 and the fourth page P34 are inverted as set in FIG. 4, and the first page P31 to the fourth page P34 are combined, One image file.

  This processing can be realized by increasing the number of image read pages and adding the image page number to be inverted and the connection position of the images as information in the communication diagram shown in FIG.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the image direction when an image is read from the document feeder 42. The user places a plurality of documents P41 to P43 on the document feeder 42. Normally, the originals P41 to P43 are arranged in an overlapping manner, but here they are shown side by side for easy understanding. The reading direction is one direction as shown in the figure. In this case, the specified size can be combined by simple connection. However, the user can also make a setting to invert only the second original P42 in advance, for example.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a document arrangement (image arrangement) in the case of freely arranging and connecting in the vertical and horizontal directions (XY directions). As shown in the figure, if the coupling positions are connected so that they can be designated, it is possible to synthesize images connected with a certain degree of freedom in the XY directions. However, information relating to document arrangement, priority order at the time of overlay, and overlay designation is set by the user using the operation unit 14 or the display unit 16, and the setting result is held in the JobInfo 23. Further, the arrangement (including orientation) of the document may be adjustable using the operation unit 14 or the display unit 16 after the image is read. When the image combining process is actually started, the ImageJob 22 performs the process as shown in the communication diagram of FIG. 3 with reference to the setting.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, an A3 size document can be acquired even in an environment having only an A4 size document reading mechanism. Therefore, subsequent printing processing and information transmission (FAX transmission or the like) can be completed only by the image forming apparatus 10.

  The present invention has been described based on the embodiments. This embodiment is an exemplification, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made to combinations of these components, and such modifications are also within the scope of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Image forming apparatus 12 Control part 14 Operation part 16 Display part 19 JobManager
20 Image composition processing unit 22 ImageJob
23 JobInfo
24 Input Mission
25 dvcSCN
26 entDocPG
27 entBOX
28 Edit Mission
30 Print Execution Processing Unit 40 Image Reading Unit 41 Platen (Platen Glass)
42 Document feeder

Claims (2)

An image forming apparatus having a function of reading a document of A4 paper size ,
An image reading unit for reading the original, an operation unit, a display unit,
Of the plurality of images read and acquired by the image reading unit , the first image and the second image acquired following the first image are rotated by 180 degrees in the direction of the second image. An editing unit that executes a rotation connection process to combine the images into one image;
A setting holding unit that is referred to when the editing unit executes the rotation connection process ;
The image reading unit includes a platen glass having a reading area of A4 paper size and a document feeder.
The setting holding unit holds information on how to connect the plurality of images set using the operation unit and the display unit, and the information includes a page number and an image to be inverted. Connecting position,
When the image reading unit reads an A3 paper size document, the editing unit
(1) Acquiring the first image that is an A4 paper size area half of the original read using the original feeding device;
(2) obtaining the second image which is an A4 paper size area of the remaining half of the original read by reversing the approach direction of the original with respect to the original feeding device;
(3) Referring to the information held by the setting holding unit, the image of the A3 paper size document is obtained by rotating the second image 180 degrees and connecting it to the first image;
Further, when the image reading unit reads a plurality of documents freely arranged in the XY direction on the platen glass, the setting holding unit is configured as the information set using the operation unit and the display unit. At least information regarding the arrangement of the plurality of documents and information regarding a priority order when the plurality of documents are overlapped are stored, and the editing unit refers to the information stored in the setting storage unit, and An image forming apparatus that acquires one image obtained by connecting the images of a plurality of originals by designating an arrangement of original images . Further, when the image reading unit reads an A2 paper size document, the editing unit
(1) A4 paper size in which each of the first page image and the second page image is arranged on the platen glass among the four pages of the A4 paper size area which is ¼ of the A2 paper size document. Retrieve the landscape area by loading it upwards,
(2) Acquiring each of the third page image and the fourth page image by reading the A4 paper size horizontal area arranged on the platen glass downward,
(3) Referring to the information held by the setting holding unit, the third page image and the fourth page image are rotated 180 degrees to obtain the first page image and the second page image. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image of the A2 paper size document is acquired by connecting the images.

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