JPH01129660A - Picture synthesizer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To form a synthesized picture on one recording paper without needing a large capacity memory by one read means by allowing the read means to scan plural pictures one by one time and allowing the recording means to scan by a number in response to the number of areas in the same region. CONSTITUTION:The carriage of a printer is moved in a write area corresponding to the l-th line to be copied to clear a buffer memory 110. A pointer Sl representing a sub-line during copying is set to 1. The carriage of a reader is moved to the head of a read area corresponding to the Sl-th sub-line. Then the reader is scanned and a read picture is synthesized with a picture on the memory 110 and the result is fed to the memory 110. Whether or not the final sub-line is synthesized is discriminated and when it is not finished, the Sl is incremented by 1 to synthesize the next sub-line. When all the pictures of all sub-lines are synthesized in the memory, the printer is scanned and the picture on the memory 110 is outputted on the printer to complete the synthesized copying.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field] The present invention relates to an image composition device that obtains a composite image by combining a plurality of images, and in particular, relates to an image composition device that composites images of a plurality of areas on a document table read by one reading means. The present invention relates to an image synthesis device.

[Conventional technology]

In the past, various proposals have been made as image compositing devices for composing images, but when composing multiple images read by a single reading means, there is a method that reads all the first images and stores them in memory. , then it was common to read a second image and combine it with the first image stored in memory.

However, this method requires a large capacity memory to store the first image data, which is disadvantageous in terms of cost.

[Purpose of the invention]

In view of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, the present invention is directed to performing composite copying without requiring a large capacity memory [Embodiments] The present invention will be described in detail below based on embodiments.

(Explanation of External Shape) FIG. 1 shows an external view of a digital color copying machine to which the present invention is applied.

The whole can be divided into two parts.

The upper part of Figure 1 shows the color image scanner section 1 (which reads the original image and outputs digital color image data).
The controller section 2 includes a scanner section 1 (hereinafter abbreviated as a scanner section 1), and a controller section 2, which is built into the scanner section 1 and performs various image processing of digital color image data, and has processing functions such as an interface with external devices.

The scanner section 1 reads a three-dimensional object placed downward under the document presser 11, a sheet document, and also has a built-in mechanism for reading a large-sized sheet document.

Further, the operation section 10 is connected to the controller section 2, and is used to input various information regarding the copying machine. The controller section 2 instructs the scanner section 1 and the printer section 3 regarding operations according to the input information. Further, when it is necessary to perform complicated editing processing, a digitizer or the like is attached in place of the document presser 11, and this is connected to the controller section 2, thereby making it possible to perform sophisticated processing.

The lower part of FIG. 1 is a printer section 3 for recording the color digital image signal output from the controller section 2 on recording paper. In this embodiment, the printer section 3 is a full color ink jet printer using a recording head of the ink jet recording method described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 54-59936.

The two parts described above can be separated, and can be installed at separate locations by extending the connecting cable.

(Printer Section) FIG. 2 is a sectional view from the side of the digital color copying machine shown in FIG. 1.

First, an exposure lamp 14, a lens 15, and an image sensor 16 that can read line images in full color.
(C0D in this embodiment) reads the original image placed on the original platen glass 17, the projected image by the projector, or the sheet original image by the sheet feeding mechanism 12.

Next, various image processing is performed by the scanner section 1 and the controller section 2, and the image is recorded on recording paper by the printer section 3.

In FIG. 2, recording paper is stored in a paper feed cassette 20 that stores cut paper of small standard sizes (A4 to A3 size in this example) and large size (A2 to A1 size in this example). Supplied from two rolls of paper.

Further, paper feeding from outside the apparatus (manual paper feeding) is also possible by inserting recording paper one sheet at a time through the manual feed port 22 shown in FIG. 1 along the paper feeding section cover 21.

The pick-up roller 24 is a roller for feeding cut sheets one by one from the paper feed cassette 20, and the fed cut sheets are conveyed to the 10th feed roller 26 by the cut paper feed roller 25. be done.

The roll paper 29 is sent out by a roll paper feed roller 30, cut into a standard length by a cutter 31, and then transferred to the paper feed number 10.
- It is conveyed to La 26.

Similarly, the recording paper inserted through the manual feed slot 22 is conveyed to the paper feed roller 26 by the manual feed roller 32.

Pick up roller 24, cut paper feed roller 25
, the roll paper feed roller 30, the first paper feed roller 26, and the manual feed roller 32 are connected to a paper feed motor (not shown in the drawings, D
It is driven by a C servo motor (using a C servo motor), and can be turned on and off at any time by electromagnetic clutches attached to each roller.

When the printing operation is started in response to an instruction from the controller unit 2, the recording paper selectively fed from either of the two paper feeding paths is conveyed to the paper feeding path 26. In order to eliminate the skew of the recording paper, after a predetermined amount of paper loops have been made, the 10th paper feeder 26 is turned on and the recording paper is conveyed to the 20th paper feeder 27.

Between the 10th paper feed roller 26 and the 20th paper feed roller 27, a predetermined amount of paper is applied to the recording paper in order to perform an accurate paper feeding operation between the paper feed roller 28 and the 20th paper feed roller 27. Create a buffer. The buffer amount detection sensor 33 is a sensor for detecting the buffer amount. By creating a buffer in the middle of paper transport, it is possible to reduce the load on the paper feed roller 28 and paper feed roller 27, especially when transporting large-sized recording paper, allowing accurate paper feeding operation. become.

When printing with the recording head 37, the recording head 3
A scanning carriage 34 on which a device 7 or the like is attached performs reciprocating scanning on a carriage rail 36 by a scanning motor 35.

Then, in the outward scan, the image is printed on recording paper,
In the backward scan, the paper feed roller 28 performs an operation to feed the recording paper by a predetermined amount. At this time, while the drive system is detected by the buffer amount detection sensor 33 using the paper feed motor, control is performed so that the buffer amount is always a predetermined amount.

The printed recording paper is discharged to the paper discharge tray 23, and the printing operation is completed.

Next, a detailed explanation of the scanning carriage 3 and the invention will be given using FIG.

In FIG. 3, a paper feed motor 40 is a drive source for intermittently feeding recording paper, and a paper feed motor 40 is a driving source for intermittently feeding the recording paper.
The 20th paper feeder 27 is driven via the 0-ra clutch 43.

The scanning motor 35 moves the scanning carriage 34 to the scanning belt 34.
This is a driving source for scanning in the directions of arrows A and B. In this embodiment, since accurate paper feeding control is required, pulse motors are used for the paper feeding motor 40 and the scanning motor 35.

When the recording paper reaches paper feed number 20-27, paper feed number 20
-La clutch 43 and paper feed motor 40 are turned on, and the recording paper is conveyed over the platen 39 to the paper feed roller 28.

The recording paper is detected by a paper detection sensor 44 provided on the platen 39.
The sensor information is used for position control, jam control, etc.

When the recording paper reaches the paper feed roller 28, the paper feed number 20-
The clutch 43 and the paper feed motor 40 are turned off, and a suction operation (not shown) is performed from inside the platen 39 to bring the recording paper into close contact with the platen 39.

Prior to the image recording operation on recording paper, the scanning carriage 34 is moved to the position of the home position sensor 41,
Next, forward scanning is performed in the direction of arrow A, and cyan, C1, magenta, M1, yellow, and Y1 black inks are ejected from the recording head 37 from predetermined positions to record an image. After recording the image for a predetermined length, the scanning carriage 34 is stopped, and reverse scanning is started in the direction of arrow B to return to the home page.
Scanning carriage 34 to the position of position sensor 41
Return. During the backward scan, the paper feed motor 40 feeds the paper by the length recorded by the recording head 37 using the paper feed roller 28.
This is done in the direction of arrow C by driving .

In this embodiment, the recording head 37 is an ink jet nozzle of the above-mentioned type, and 256 nozzles are Y and M.
, C, each assembled into four pieces are used.

Scanning carriage 34 is home position sensor 41
When it stops at the home position detected by , the recording head 37 performs a recovery operation. This is a process for stable printing operation, and in order to prevent unevenness at the start of ejection caused by changes in the viscosity of the ink remaining in the nozzles of the print head 37, paper feeding time, internal temperature of the device, etc. This is a process in which pressure is applied to the recording head 37, ink is idly ejected, etc. according to preprogrammed conditions such as ejection time and the like.

By repeating the operations described above, an image is recorded on the entire surface of the recording paper.

(Scanner Section) Next, the operation of the scanner section 1 will be explained using FIGS. 4 and 5.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the mechanical mechanism inside the scanner section 1. As shown in FIG.

The CCD unit 18 is a unit composed of a CCD 16, a lens 15, etc., and includes a main scanning motor 50 fixed on a rail 54, a pulley 51, a pulley 52, and a wire 53.
It moves on the rail 54 by a drive system in the main scanning direction consisting of the following, and reads the image on the document platen glass 17 in the main scanning direction. The light shielding plate 55 and the home position sensor 56 are used for position control when moving the CCD unit 18 to the main scanning home position in the correction area 68 in the figure.

The rail 54 rests on rails 65 and 69, and includes a sub-scanning motor 60, pulleys 67, 68, 71, and 76, and a shaft 72.
73, is moved by a drive system in the sub-scanning direction consisting of wires 66 and 70. Light shielding plate 57, home position
Sensors 58 and 59 are used to move the rail 54 to the home position for sub-scanning in the book mode, in which a document such as a book placed on the document table glass 17 is read, and in the sheet mode, in which the sheet is read. Used for position control.

Sheet feed motor 61, sheet feed rollers 74 and 75,
The pulleys 62 and 64 and the wire 63 are mechanisms for feeding the sheet original. This mechanism is located on the document table glass 17'' and is a mechanism for feeding a sheet document placed face down by a predetermined amount using sheet feed rollers 74 and 75.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the reading operation in book mode and sheet mode.

In the book mode, the CCD unit 18 is moved to the book mode home position (book mode HP) shown in the correction area 68 in FIG. Start reading the entire surface.

Prior to scanning the original, parameters necessary for processing such as shading correction, black level correction, and color correction are set in the correction area 68. Thereafter, scanning in the main scanning direction is started by the main scanning motor 50 in the direction of the illustrated arrow. ■
When the reading operation for the area indicated by is completed, the main scanning motor 50 is reversed, and the sub-scanning motor 60 is driven to move the correction area 68 of the area 3 in the sub-scanning direction. Subsequently, similarly to the main scanning of the area (2), processing such as shading correction, black level correction, color correction, etc. is performed as necessary, and the reading operation of the area (2) is performed.

By repeating the above scanning, the entire areas ① to ② are read, and after the reading operation in the area ② is completed, the CCD unit 18 is returned to the book mode home position.

In this embodiment, the document platen glass 17 can read a maximum A2 size document, so in reality it must be scanned more times, but in this explanation, the operation is simplified to make it easier to understand. .

When in seat mode, move the CCD unit 18 to the seat mode home position (seat mode H) shown in the figure.
P), and repeatedly reads the sheet document in the area (3) while operating the sheet feed motor 61 intermittently, thereby reading the entire sheet document.

Prior to scanning the document, processing such as shading correction, black level correction, and color correction is performed in the correction area 68, and then scanning in the main scanning direction is started by the main scanning motor 50 in the direction of the arrow shown in the figure. When the forward scanning operation of the area (3) is completed, the main scanning motor 50 is reversed, and during this backward scanning, the sheet feed motor 61 is driven to move the sheet original by a predetermined amount in the sub-scanning direction. Subsequently, the same operation is repeated to read the entire sheet document.

Assuming that the reading operation described above is a reading operation at the same magnification, the area that can be read by the CCD unit 18 is actually a wide area as shown in FIG. this is,
This is because the digital color copying machine of this embodiment has a built-in magnification/reduction function. That is, as explained above, since the area that can be recorded by the recording head 37 is fixed at 256 bits at a time, when performing a 50% reduction operation, for example, image information of an area of at least twice as much as 512 bits is required. This is because it is necessary. Therefore, the scanner section 1 has a built-in function of reading and outputting image information of an arbitrary image area by one main scanning reading.

(Film Projection System) The scanner section 1 of this embodiment can be equipped with a projection exposure means for film projection.

FIG. 6 shows a projector unit 1-81. which is a projection exposure means on the scanner section 1. FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a reflective mirror 80 attached.

The projector unit 81 is a projector for projecting negative film and positive film, and the film is held in a film holder 82 and attached to the projector unit 81. Projector unit 8
The image projected from I is reflected by a reflecting mirror 80 and reaches a Fresnel lens 83. fresnel lens 8
3 converts this image into parallel light and forms the image on the document table glass 17.

In this way, negative film and positive film images are transferred to the projector unit 81. In order to form an image on the document platen glass 17'' by the reflection mirror 80 and the Fresnel lens 83, the CCD unit 1
8, image reading becomes possible.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the film projection system in more detail.

Projector unit 8] is a halogen lamp 90
, reflection plate 89, condensing lens 91, film holder 8
2. Consists of a projection lens 92.

The direct light emitted by the halogen lamp 90 and the light reflected by the reflection plate 89 are condensed by a condenser lens 91 and reach the window of the film holder 82 . The film holder 82 has a window slightly larger than one frame of negative film or positive film, so that the film can be loaded inside with plenty of room.

The projection light reaching the window of the film holder 82 passes through the film mounted therein, thereby obtaining a projected image of the film. The projected image thus obtained is optically magnified by the projection lens 92, changed in direction by the reflecting mirror 80, and then converted into a parallel light image by the Fresnel lens 83.

The CCD unit 18 inside the scanner 1 reads this image in the book mode described above and converts it into a video signal.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the relationship between the film and the projected image formed on the original table glass.

A 22×34 mm film image is shown magnified eight times and focused on the document table glass 17.

(Overall Functional Block Description) Next, the functional blocks of the digital color copying machine of this embodiment will be described using FIG. 9.

The control units 102, 111, and 121 are control circuits that control the scanner unit 1, controller unit 2, and printer unit 3, respectively, and include a microcomputer, a program RO
It consists of M, data memory, communication circuit, etc. The control units 102 to 111 and the control units 111 to 121 are connected by a communication line, and a so-called master-slave control mode is adopted in which the control units 102 and 1.21 operate according to instructions from the control unit 111. are doing.

When operating as a color copying machine, the control section 111 operates according to input instructions from the operation section IO and the digitizer 114.

As shown in FIG. 6, the operation unit IO uses, for example, a liquid crystal (LCD display unit 84) as a display unit, and is equipped with a touch panel 85 made of transparent electrodes on its surface, so that color-related information can be displayed. Selection instructions such as specification and editing operation can be made. In addition, there are keys related to operations, such as a start key 87 for instructing to start a copying operation, a stop key 88 for instructing to stop a copying operation, a reset key 89 for returning the operation mode to the standard state, and a projector key for selecting a projector. Frequently used keys such as 86 are provided independently.

The digitizer 114 is used to input position information indicating a processing area for trimming, masking processing, color conversion, etc., and is connected as an option when complex editing processing is required.

The control unit 111 also controls a control circuit-I/F control unit 112 of a general-purpose parallel interface such as IEEE-488, so-called GP-IB interface, and inputs and outputs image data between external devices. It is now possible to control external devices via this interface.

Furthermore, the control unit 111 includes a multi-value synthesis unit 106, an image processing unit 107, and a binarization processing unit 1, which perform various processes related to images.
08. Also controls the binary synthesis unit 109 and buffer memory 110.

The control unit 102 controls the mechanical drive unit 105 that controls the drive of the mechanism of the scanner unit 1 described above, the exposure control unit that controls the exposure of the lamp when reading reflective documents] 03, and the halogen lamp when using the projector. It controls an exposure control section 104 that controls exposure of the lamp 90. In addition, the control unit 1
02 also controls the analog signal processing section 100 and the input image processing section 101, which perform various processes related to images.

The control unit 121 includes a mechanical drive unit 105 that controls the drive of the mechanism of the printer unit 3 described above, and a mechanism that absorbs time variations in the mechanical operation of the printer unit 3 and compensates for delays due to the mechanical arrangement of the recording heads 117 to 120. Synchronous delay memory 11
5.

Next, the image processing block in FIG. 9 will be explained along the flow of the image. - The image formed on the CCD 16 is converted into an analog electrical signal by the CCD 16. The converted image information is
The signals are serially processed in the order of red → green → blue and input to the analog signal processing section 100. The analog signal processing section 100 performs sample length hold, dark level correction, dynamic range control, etc. for each color of red, green, and blue, and then performs analog-to-digital conversion (A/D conversion) and serial multi-level signal processing. (In this embodiment, each color has a length of 8 bits) and is converted into a digital image signal and output to the input image processing unit 101.

The input image processing unit 101 similarly performs correction processing necessary in the reading system, such as shading correction, color correction, and γ correction, on the serial multivalued digital image signal.

The multi-value synthesis section 106 of the controller section 2 is connected to the scanner section 1.
This is a circuit block that performs selection and compositing processing between a serial multi-value digital image signal sent from a serial multi-value digital image signal and a serial multi-value digital image signal sent via a parallel I/F. The selectively combined image data is sent to the image processing unit 107 as a serial multi-level digital image signal.

The image processing unit 107 performs smoothing processing, edge enhancement,
This circuit performs black extraction, masking processing for color correction of recording ink used in the recording heads 117 to 120, and the like. The serial multilevel digital image signal output is input to the binarization processing unit 108 and the buffer memory 110, respectively.

The binarization processing unit 108 is a circuit for binarizing a serial multilevel digital image signal, and can select simple binary processing using a fixed slice level, pseudo halftone processing using a dither method, etc. Here, the serial multi-value digital image signal is converted into a four-color binary parallel image signal.

Image data of four colors is sent to the binary synthesis unit 109, and image data of three colors is sent to the buffer memory 110.

The binary synthesis section 109 combines the three-color binary parallel image signals sent from the buffer memory 110 and the binarization processing section 1.
This is a circuit for selecting and combining four-color binary parallel image signals sent from 08 to produce four-color binary parallel image signals.

The buffer memory 110 is a buffer memory for inputting and outputting multivalued images and binary images via a parallel I/F, and has memory for three colors.

The synchronization delay memory 115 of the printer section 3
Absorption of time variation in mechanical operation and recording head】17~
This circuit is for correcting the delay due to the mechanical arrangement of the recording heads 117 to 120, and internally also generates the timing necessary for driving the recording heads 117 to 20.

The head driver 116 drives the recording heads 117 to 120.
This is an analog drive circuit for driving the recording heads 117 to 120, and internally generates signals that can directly drive the recording heads 117 to 120.

The recording heads 117 to 120 eject cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink, respectively, to record an image on recording paper.

FIG. 1O is an explanatory diagram of the timing of images between the circuit blocks described in FIG. 9.

Signal BVE is a signal indicating the image effective section for each scan in the main scanning reading operation explained in FIG. Signal B
Full-screen image output is performed by outputting VE multiple times.

The signal VE is a signal indicating the valid section of the image read by the CCD 16 for each line. Only the signal VE is valid when the signal BVE is valid.

Signal VCK is a clock signal for sending out image data VD. Signal BVE and signal VE also change in synchronization with this signal VCK.

The signal H3 is a signal used when the valid and invalid sections are repeated discontinuously while the signal VE outputs one line.
If the signal VE is continuously valid while outputting one line, it is an unnecessary signal. ■This signal indicates the start of line image output.

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining in detail the analog signal processing section 100 described in section 1.

The image passing through the lens 15 is subjected to photoelectric conversion by the CCD 16. The image information becomes a serial analog electric signal such as red→green→blue, and after being amplified by an amplifier 301, it is input to a low-pass filter 302 for removing noise components of the image signal. This image signal is sent to the S/H circuit 30 according to the timing from the timing control section 300.
3, 304, and 305, the signal is separated into red, green, and blue image signals. The variable gain amplifiers 306, 307, 308 are
It is a voltage-controlled amplifier, and is controlled by the output voltage of the 1)/A converter 325. The image signals separated into each color are sent to the D/A converter 3 by a signal from the control section 102.
25 and are amplified by variable gain amplifiers 306-308.

Capacitors 309, 310, 311 and switch 312
313 and 314 constitute a clamp circuit that clamps the dark part of the image signal to a predetermined value, and the timing control unit 30
This is done by timing from 0. The dark clamp level can be set via the D/A converter 325 using a signal from the control unit 102 as described above.

The dark clamped image signal is sent to the buffer amplifier 31.
5,316,317, A, /D converter 318
It is input at ゜319.320. A/D converter 31
8°319.320 performs analog/digital conversion on each color image signal and sets it in latches 322, 323, and 324.

The latches 322, 323, 324 are the timing control unit 3
Serial multi-value by signal from 00 (8 bit length for each color)
The image is output to the input image processing unit 101 as follows.

Next, a detailed explanation of the input image processing section 101 will be explained using FIG. 12.

The multiplexer 150 is a circuit that switches between image data from the analog signal processing section 100 and image data from the pattern generation circuit 151.

The pattern generation circuit 151 is a circuit that generates a pattern, such as a continuous tone pattern, used when adjusting or checking the device. Therefore, during normal copying operations, multiplexer 150 selects the A input.

The black offset circuit 152 is a circuit that corrects the dark level of the image sensor 16. That is, since there are variations in the dark level due to variations in dark current between each pixel of the image sensor 16, this is a circuit for removing this and uniformly reading the dark area image.

The shading correction circuit 153 is a circuit for removing so-called shading unevenness in the optical exposure system.
To enable uniform reading of bright area images.

The input masking processing circuit 154 includes the image sensor 16
Digital calculation processing is performed so that the color sensitivity of the image becomes an ideal red (R), green (G), and blue (B) color sensitivity distribution. The calculation formula is given by the following formula.

R, G, B: Input data R', G', E': Output data bll
~b33: The correction coefficient pixel density conversion circuit 155 is a circuit for converting an image read at high resolution to a predetermined pixel density. In the digital color copying apparatus of this embodiment, the recording heads 117 to 1
20 is 256 dots each)・Discharge time interval is 400μs
It is kept constant. The timing control unit 300 of the analog signal processing unit 100 sets the photoelectric charge accumulation time of the CCD 16 to 40
It is possible to switch between 0 μs and 200 μs. In other words, the timing generation circuit remains the same, and 4
200 μs (double density) is easily achieved by switching to a clock with twice the frequency of 00 μs. When performing this double-density reading, the image data is
Since the amount of data is doubled, the pixel density conversion circuit 155 serves as a circuit to reduce the amount of data to half. When the accumulation time is 400 μS, the image data is passed through and sent to the conversion circuit 156 at the subsequent stage.

The conversion circuit 156 is a circuit for converting red, green, and blue into complementary colors cyan, magenta, and yellow, and also converts γ characteristics, offset, etc. at the same time. The conversion circuit 156 is RO
It is constructed using a look-up table method using M, RAM, etc.

Next, the image processing section 107 will be explained in detail using FIG. 13.

The Y, M, and C color sequential signals obtained from the multi-value synthesis section 106 in FIG. 9 are sent to the conversion section 200a.

The scaling unit 200a uses different pixel ranges between input image data and subsequent image data.
At step a, the magnification is changed according to the magnification control signal sent from the control unit 200, and the image is output. The output image data (hereafter
input image data) is serial/parallel converter 201
After converting into Y (yellow), M (magenta), and C (cyan) parallel signals, the masking unit 202
and is sent to the selector 203.

The masking unit 202 is a circuit for correcting cloudiness in the output ink color, and performs calculations as shown in the following equation.

Y, M, C: Input data Y', M', C': Output data These nine coefficients are determined by the masking control signal from the control unit 200. After correcting the ink cloudiness in the masking unit 202, the serial signal The data is input to the selector section 203 and the UCR section 205 as a.

Input image data and image data output from the masking unit 202 are input to the selector 203 .

The selector 203 normally selects input image data based on the selector control signal 1 sent from the control section 200. If the color correction in the input system is not sufficiently performed, the image data output from the masking unit 202 is selected and output by the control signal l. The serial image data output from the selector 203 is input to the black extraction section 204 . Y, M in one pixel.

In order to use the minimum value of C as black data, the black extraction section 204 uses Y
, M, and C are detected. The detected black data is input to the UCR section 205.

The UCR unit 205 subtracts the extracted black data from each of the Y, M, and C signals. Also, regarding black data,
It is simply multiplied by a coefficient. After correcting the time difference between the black data input to the UCR unit 205 and the image data sent from the masking unit 202, the following calculation is performed.

Y'=Y-a, Bk M'=M-a2Bk C'=C-a3Bk Bk' = a4Bk Y, M, C, Bk ・Extraction unit, input data Y', M', C', Bk' 2 Extraction The output data coefficients (a I + a 2 + a 3. a 4) are controlled by the control unit 2.
It is determined by the UCR control signal sent from 00.

The data output from the UCR unit 205 is then γ.

The signal is input to offset section 206 .

γ, the offset unit 206 performs gradation correction as shown in the following equation.

Y' = b, (Y-C,) M' = b2 (M-02) C' = b 3 (CC3) Bk' = b4 (Bk-C4) Y, M, C, Bk: γ, large offset part Input data', M', C', Bk': γ, Offset output data Also, the coefficients (b+~b4.c,~C4) in the above equation are determined by the γ and offset control signals sent from the control unit 200. be done.

γ, the tone-corrected signal by the offset unit 206 is then sent to the line buffer 20 that stores image data for N lines.
7 is input. This line buffer 207 outputs 5 lines of data necessary for the subsequent smoothing and edge emphasis section 208 in 5 lines in parallel according to a memory control signal sent from the control section 200. These 5 lines worth of signals are input to a spatial filter whose filter size is variable according to a filter control signal from the control unit 200, and smoothed.
Edge enhancement is then performed. In smoothing, image noise is removed by using the average value of the pixel of interest and surrounding pixels as the density value of the pixel of interest. Further, as shown in FIG. 14, edge emphasis is performed by using the difference between the pixel data of interest and the smoothed signal as an edge signal, and adding this to the pixel data of interest. A detailed explanation of the smoothed edge enhancement unit 208 will be given later.

The image data output from the smoothing and edge enhancement unit 208 is input to a color conversion unit 209, and color conversion is performed in response to a color conversion control signal from the control unit 200.

The color to be converted, the color to be converted, and the area in which the signal is valid are input in advance using the operation unit 10 and digitizer device 114 in FIG. 9, and the color conversion unit 209 replaces image data based on the data. It is carried out.

In this embodiment, a detailed explanation of the color conversion unit 209 will be omitted. The image signal output from the smoothing and edge emphasis section 208 and the image signal after color conversion are input to the selector 210, and the selector control signal 2 selects the image data to be output. Which image data to select is determined by specifying a valid area input from the digitizer device or the like. The image signal selected by the selector 210 is input to a buffer memory (not shown) and a dither processing section 211 for binary processing.

A description of the system input to the buffer memory will be omitted here.

The binarization process will be explained. The image data to be binarized is sent to the dither unit 211 in FIG. 13 as Y and M.

C and Bk are input serially in 8 bits.

The dither unit 211 uses 6 bits in the main scanning direction for each color.
.

It has a memory space of 6 bits in the sub-scanning direction or 4 bits in the main scanning direction and 8 bits in the sub-scanning direction.
The dither matrix size and the dither threshold within the matrix are set by the dither control signal from . When the dither circuit is operating, the mechanical main scanning direction is the one-line image reading section signal of the CCD line sensor, and the sub-scanning direction is
The image video clocks are run l-L respectively, and the set dither threshold value in the memory space is read out. Also, serial dither threshold values can be obtained by serially switching this memory space to Y, M, C, and Bk. Then this threshold is
The data is input to a comparator (not shown) and compared in size with the image data input from the selector 210.

The output from the comparator is as follows: image data>threshold: 1 image data≦threshold: 0. This data is then output as parallel 4-bit data to the buffer memory 110 and binary synthesis section 109 in FIG. 9 in the serial/parallel conversion section.

Further, the control signals from the control unit 200 that control the complementary color conversion circuit 120, the scaling unit 200a, the masking unit 202, the UCR unit 205, the γ offset unit 206, the smoothing/edge enhancement unit 208, and the dither unit 211 are The configuration is such that it can be switched for each main scan, making it possible to change parameters in, for example, compositing processing.

Of course, this switching may be performed not only for each main scan but also for each pixel.

Next, the synchronous delay memory 115 will be explained in detail using FIG. 15. It is sent from the binary synthesis section 115. 2
The value image data is a D type flip-flop 25
It is relatched at 0 to adjust the timing.

The timed image data is input and stored in a first iso first out memory 251 (FIFO memory), and read out using the image clock of the printer section 3. FIFO memory 251 is controlled by FIFO control circuit 252. A D-type flip-flop 250 and a FIFO memory 251 are circuits for separating the image clock used in the printer section 3 from an external clock. In addition to making it possible to increase the length, the clock used in the printer section 3 can be completely separated from the input image.

The multiplexer 253 is a circuit that switches between the image data from the FIFO memory 251 and the image data output from the pattern generation circuit 254, and normally the A input is selected.

The pattern generation circuit 254 is a circuit that generates a pattern for confirming operations such as test print operations.

A block 280 surrounded by a frame is a circuit block for delaying image data and synchronizing mechanisms, and is a circuit block for delaying image data and synchronizing mechanisms, and is a circuit block for cyan, magenta, yellow, and black recording heads 117 to 120.
There are a total of four identical circuit blocks, one for each.

The memory 255 is, for example, a dynamic memory (DRAM) having a TMXI bit configuration. This memory 255 is used to delay image data and synchronize mechanisms.

The multiplexer 256 is a circuit that switches memory addresses and control signals given to the memory 255. The counter 258 that generates the address signal WRAD for writing the input data PVD and the counter 261 that generates the address signal RDAD for reading the output data HVD are respectively controlled by latch circuits 257 and 262 for presetting the count start address. Can be preset.

The counters 258 and 261 are, for example, synchronous up counters, and their counting operations are controlled by an input signal from an enable terminal E. The counter 258 is the binary synthesizer 2
The counting operation is controlled by the signal WREB which is the logical product of the signal BVE and the signal VE sent from 50. Further, the counter 261 receives a signal DLEB (signal during data delay clock counting) generated by the J/K flip-flop circuit 265 and a signal HBVE (signal B) generated by the J/K flip-flop circuit 266.
The counting operation is controlled by a signal RDEB which is logically summed (by the OR gate 267) with the signal HVE (corresponding to the signal VE) generated by the HVE generation circuit 268.

Address signal RDAD is input to comparator 260 and compared with latch circuit 259. Comparator 26
0 generates a signal RDED signal when both signals match.

Since the DRAM 255 has 1M bits, the counter 258 can be a 20-bit counter.It starts counting from a preset address and uses the signal WR until it counts from FFFFF (hexadecimal) to 00000 (hexadecimal).
Counting operation continues with the EB signal.

On the other hand, the counter 261 is not only used to control the address of the memory, but also controls the end of the read operation by the comparator 260. Therefore, the counter 261 is a counter with an extra number of pits, for example, 24 bits, and the address signal of the lower 20 bits is used. to control the memory address of DRAM255,
All 24 bits are used for comparator 260.

In this embodiment, the counter 261 has 26
1 has two functions: memory read address control,
The hardware is simplified by providing read end control.

Next, the operation of the circuit shown in FIG. 15 will be explained in more detail.

First, before the memory 255 operates, the latch circuit 257°2
Data from the control unit 121 is set at 62.259. The latch circuit 257 is used to specify the data write address to the memory 255, and is used especially when sequentially writing data to the memory 255 using the pattern generation circuit 254, and is normally set to the value 0. .

The latch circuit 262 sets the number of clocks of the clock signal VCK after the generation of a signal RGST, which will be described later, until the read operation of the memory 255 is started.

For example, setting the value FOOOO (hex) will implement a delay of 216 clocks.

The latch circuit 259 sets the number of clocks of the clock signal VCK at the end of the read operation.

Next, after loading data into the counters 258 and 262, they are brought into a state where they can perform counting operations. Counter 258 writes input data PVD to memory 255 in response to signal WREB.

The operation of reading the output data HVD from the memory 255 is performed as follows.

First, when the readout start signal RGST is inputted commonly to each color block, a pulse signal DLST corresponding to one clock period of the clock signal VCK is generated in the D type flip-flop 263, 264, and a pulse signal DLST corresponding to one clock period of the clock signal VCK is generated. Q output=signal DLEB goes high.

Therefore, since the signal RDEB also becomes high, the counter 261
starts counting operation from a preset count value.

The counter 261 continues to count up and the value FFFF
When it becomes F (hexadecimal), a ripple carry (signal RDST) is output from the RC terminal, making the signal DLEB low and the signal HBVE of the Q output of the J/K flip-flop 266 high.

When the signal HBVE becomes high, the HVE generation circuit 268
Then, the enable signal VE for the recording heads 117 to 120 is
The generation of a signal HVE corresponding to . Signal HV
The E signal is sent to a recording head timing generation circuit 269 to generate driving signals for the recording heads 117 to 120. Then, the signal HVE causes the counter 261 to count up in accordance with the read operation of the output data I (VD), and this read operation continues until the comparator 260 turns on the signal RDEB and turns off the signal HBVE.

The circuit operation described above will be explained as follows using the timing chart shown in FIG.

Signal WREB is connected to signal BVE and signal VE as explained above.
Since it is a logical product signal, the time t corresponding to the signal BVE
Repeats on and off during W. The time tR is the memory 25
After starting to write the input data PVD to 5, the signal RGS
This is the time until T is generated. In the figure, the signal WREB
is generated before the signal RGST, but the output data HVD is actually read out from the memory 255 (signal HVE
It is sufficient that the signal WREE is turned on, that is, a write operation is performed before the occurrence of the write operation.

The signal RGST is transmitted from a sensor (not shown, HP sensor 41) installed in the middle of the scanning path of the scanning carriage 34 in FIG.
This signal is output from the recording head 37 when the scanning carriage scans in the direction of arrow A.
This is used as the ink ejection timing.

The signal DLEB is the signal RDEB shown at the bottom of FIG.
This signal controls the time tl+j2+t3+t4 of -C, RDEB-M, RDEB-Y, and RDEB-Bk, that is, how much delay is required from the signal RGST to read out the output data HVD. It functions to correct mechanical positional deviations of the recording heads 117 to 120. for example,(
When time t2 - time 1+) coincides with the time calculated from the distance between the recording heads 118 and 117 and the scanning speed (arrow A in Figure 3), the ink dots ejected from the image recording heads are synchronized. It's going to happen.

On the other hand, the valid times tC, tM, tY, tB of the signal HVE
K is set to 2 by setting data in the latch circuit 259 so that the input data PVD and the output data HVD operate at the same clock frequency and at the same timing, so that the time tW = tC = tM = TY = tBK. Value synthesis section 1
It is possible to record all the image data sent from 1.5 without excess or deficiency.

FIG. 17 shows the specific control timing and timing of the memory 255.
It is a chart.

In FIG. 17, the signal RAS*, the signal CAS*, and the signal WE* are normal dynamic RAM control signals.

The clock signal VCK-period is divided into three periods: write cycle, read cycle, and refresh cycle as shown in the figure.
Divide into parts and use.

The address signal ADH of the memory 255 is given in a time-division manner by a multiplexer 256, and the upper one of the signal WRAD is
0 bit - signal WH, lower 10 bits - signal WL, middle 10 bits of signal RDAD - signal RM.

Lower 10 bits - Signal RL is provided as shown.

The signal WE* is a signal that becomes valid (low level) when the signal WREB is on, and is used when writing input data PVD (write cycle).

A read cycle is a memory cycle for reading output data HVD, and a read operation is always performed.

The refresh cycle is the so-called CAS before R
This is a memory cycle that is given at the timing of the AS refresh operation and is constantly refreshed so that the written input data PVD does not disappear.

In this way, by dividing one image section and performing memory operations, data input and output to and from the memory 255 can be performed simultaneously.

(Mirror image for back print film) In addition to normal print paper, the printer unit 3 according to this embodiment can use a back print film in which an ink absorbing layer for absorbing ink is coated on a transparent film.

In the back print film, ink is printed on the ink absorbing layer as shown in FIG. 19. The printed image is absorbed by the ink absorption layer and penetrates into the transparent film side.
In order to form an image, it is necessary to read the printed image from the transparent film side as shown in the figure. Therefore, if printing is performed in the same way as with ordinary printing paper, a mirror image will be obtained on the back print film.

Several methods can be considered to return this mirror image to a normal image. One method is to scan either the main scan of the scanner section B1 or the main scan of the printer section 3 in the opposite direction. This method is very easy to implement, but in a copying machine that requires high precision such as 400 dpi, problems such as backlash and vibration in the mechanical scanning system arise. It is difficult to obtain stable performance with reciprocating motion. In addition, in order to eliminate such backflash vibrations, it is possible to install a sensor for image reading and image printing, and use this signal to perform the reading and printing operations, but in this case, in order to obtain a mirror image, main scanning This requires sensors for forward and backward movements at both ends, which is disadvantageous in terms of cost and reliability.

The next possibility is (2) to have a main scanning buffer memory, and after writing data for one main scanning, read data from the last line to obtain a mirror image.

This method is good when the capacity of the buffer memory is small, but when dealing with large-sized images, memory space is required and it is disadvantageous in terms of cost.

This embodiment employs a method that improves the drawbacks of the above two methods, and will be described below with reference to FIG. 18.

Figures 18-a and 18-b are diagrams for explaining how the scanner section 1 reads a document, and Figures 18-c and 18-d are diagrams for explaining how dots are printed in the printer section 3. No. 18-a,
Figure c is a normal image, and figures 18-b and d are mirror images.

In this embodiment, the operation of the printer section 3 is the same for both the normal image and the mirror image, and the operation of the scanner section 1 is different for the normal image and the mirror image.

In the case of mirror image operation, a mirror image as shown in FIG. 18-d is obtained by sequentially scanning in the sub-scanning direction from the opposite side and reversing the direction in which one line of dots is read. Reversing the dot reading direction means that the CCD main scanning direction,
In other words, if there is 256-bit data, the data order in one line of image data sent in synchronization with the VE multiplied signal is O → 2.
This means reversing 55 from 255 to 0. This can be easily achieved by reading out the image data written to the line buffer in the reverse order, and the scanner unit 1
Rather, the controller section 2. The printer unit 3 may also perform the process. For example, this can be done using the synchronous delay memory 115.

The counter 258 in FIG. 15 is separated into parts that count the number of main scanning dots and lines, and the counter that performs main scanning dots (an 8-bit counter if the data is 256 bits) can be used as a counter that can count up and count down. All you have to do is control the ups and downs.

A specific example of the circuit is the circuit shown in FIG.

If the memory 255 in FIG. 15 is a 256-bit memory, 18 address signal lines are required.
58-b is divided into 10 bits. Counter 26 that generates a read address for memory 255
1 is a synchronous up counter, so counter 2
58-a is configured as a synchronous up/down counter, and counter 258-b is configured as a synchronous up/down counter. This counter 258-a.

The counter output of 258-b is used as the write address of memory 255.

The up/down count of the counter 258-a is controlled by the BPFS signal.
When the BPFS signal is 1, the count is up, and when the BPFS signal is 1, the count is down. That is, when the BPFS signal has the value l, the mirror image data for the back print film is stored in the memory 25.
It will be output from 5.

Next, an example of a specific control flowchart of the copying operation will be explained using FIG. 21.

When the start key 87 is pressed, step 5P is first executed.
Proceed to IO and move the CCD unit 18 of the scanner section to the home position. At the same time, in step 5PII, the printer section 3 feeds printing paper.

In step 5P12, it is determined whether the printing operation is to be performed on a back print film, and a branch is made.

Back pudding! If it is not film, the process proceeds to step 5P13, where the above-mentioned BPFS signal is set to the value 0 and printing of normal image data is specified.

For back print film, step S P
Step 1.4 calculates the amount of movement of the CCD unit 18 of the scanner section 1 in the sub-scanning direction, and moves the CCD unit 18 by the amount of movement calculated in step 5P15. In step 5P16, the BPFS signal is set to a value of 1 to designate printing of mirror image data.

In step 5P17, it is determined whether copying is complete for each main scan and branching is performed.

If copying is completed, in step 5P23 the printer section 3
The print paper is ejected with , and the copying operation is completed.

If the copying has not been completed, the process proceeds to step 5P18, where the scanner section 1 and printer section 3 each perform one main scanning image reading and printing.

In step 5P19, the printing paper is moved by a predetermined amount in the sub-scanning direction to prepare for the main scanning.

In step 5P20, it is determined whether or not the film is a back print film. If it is a back print film, the process proceeds to step 5P22 and the CCD unit) 18 is moved in the direction of the home position. If not, the film is moved in the direction opposite to the home position. A predetermined number of CCD units 18 are moved in the sub-scanning direction.

The loop process consisting of steps 5P17 to 5P22 is repeated a plurality of times, and the -th copying operation is completed.

In this way, in this embodiment, the main scanning reading and printing direction, which requires mechanical feed accuracy, are unidirectional, and it is possible to obtain a mirror image for back printing without requiring a buffer memory.

Furthermore, the sub-scanning direction can be handled in both book mode and sheet mode by simply scanning the document in reverse.

(Buffer memory, ■/F control section) Next, using FIG. 22, the buffer memory 110.1
/F control unit 112 will be explained.

The buffer memory 110 is mainly used to convert the order of image data by the image scan (hereinafter abbreviated as BJ scan) described in FIG. 5 and to function as a buffer for image data with an external device.

Normally, image data handled in computer graphics and the like is often a raster scan signal, such as a TV scan signal, and it is necessary to convert the BJ scan signal to the raster scan signal. Also, as explained earlier,
- Since main scanning is continuous scanning, it is essential to incorporate a small amount of memory for main scanning in order to speed up device operation.

In another move, the buffer memory 110 can also be used as a memory for temporary storage of image data for image composition. Image composition will be described later.

Buffer memory 110 has three memory banks 402
~404, with red (R) in each memory bank.

Color component image data such as green (G) and blue (B) is stored. In this embodiment, memory banks 402-404
is a dynamic memory (hereinafter referred to as D) with a 1M bit x 1 configuration.
Abbreviated as RAM. For example, Toshiba TC5 is a DRAM.
1,1000 can be used) 8 pieces each for a total of 24 pieces (=28M
consists of bits). DRAM was used in
This is because a large capacity memory can be realized in a relatively small size and at low cost.

Memory banks 402 to 404 are connected to GPIB control circuit 4
00, data input/output on the CPU bus side of the control unit 111 to which the Centronics I/F control circuit 401 and the like are connected, multivalued image data input/output connected to the conversion daple 413, exclusive OR gate 4.1. It has three types of input/output: binary image data input/output connected to 5 and 414.

Control unit 1.11 CI) On the U bus, a CPU (not shown),
Image data is transferred by a DMA controller using high-speed direct memory access (DMA). G.P.I.
The B control circuit 400 is, for example, μPD721 manufactured by NEC Corporation.
GPI consisting of GPIB controllers such as 0
This is a circuit that controls the B interface. In addition, the Centronics I/F control circuit 401 is a circuit that controls a bidirectional parallel interface compliant with Centronics' standard 1/F, and similarly uses DMA transfer to
Transfers image data at high speed.

In the multi-value image data input/output connected to the conversion table 413, image data is sequentially input/output in each memory bank, and input/output operations are performed as multi-value byte serial image data. Since the frequency of one dot of an image handled by the printer 3 is 750 KHz in this embodiment, the frequency of this multivalued byte serial image data is set to 3 M I-T z, which is four times the frequency. Specifically, image data is input and output in 3 clock cycles to the memory banks 402 to 404 at a cycle of 3 M I-I z 1 clock, and the remaining 1 clock dummy information is added, and the image data is input and output at a cycle of exactly 750 KHz. Data is transferred for each pixel.

In the binary image data input/output connected to the exclusive OR gates 415 and 41.4, image data is input/output in parallel from three banks one bit at a time at a cycle of 750 KHz I clock.

The conversion table 413 is a circuit for performing color conversion of multi-value data such as RGB-→CMY, and is a RAM.

It is composed of a look-up table in a ROM or the like. Similarly, exclusive OR gates 414 and 415 are circuits for performing color conversion (performed by inverting bits) of binary data. In this way, by incorporating a color conversion circuit, it is possible to connect to an external device that handles any of R, G, B, C, M, and Y color data.

Data input/output to memory banks 402 to 404 is 7
One cycle is a 50KHz clock, and this is a read-modify-write cycle, a read cycle,
The refresh cycle is time-divided into three cycles, and this allows image data to be written in the read/modify/write cycle, read/write, etc.
The image data can be read out in cycles seemingly at the same time. Therefore, for example, while writing image data from an external device into the memory banks 402 to 404 using the GPIB control circuit 4.00, it is possible to simultaneously read and transfer the image data to the multi-value synthesis section 106.

Up/down counters 4.06, 407 and up/down counters 4.09, 410 are VE
The counter control circuit 416 can control whether to count the pixels in the signal, count the VE multiplied signal in the BVE signal, or perform up-counting or down-counting.

The reason why the address signal is generated by two counters in this way is to perform the data signal conversion from EJ scan to raster scan as described above.

For example, consider a case where multi-value data (byte data) of 1024 x 1024 sub-colors x 8 bits for each color is handled.

Data is sent via GP B and memory bank 4
Consider an example in which multi-valued data is stored in 02 to 404, subjected to image processing, and printed by the printer section 3.

First, the matrix control circuit 405 is controlled so that the up/down counters 406 and 4.07 are set to use 10 bits each. up/down counter 40
6,407 are both up and down counts, and the value O
The count value is preset to count more, and the up/down counter 406 is counted by VE times the signal.
The up/down counter 407 is set to count pixels.

Up/down counters 4.06 and 407 are counters that generate write addresses for the DRAMs of memory banks 402-404. In this example, the address is
Since 8-bit parallel DRAMs are used in common for each bank, it is sufficient to generate a 20-bit memory write address signal for a capacity of 1 Mbit.

Up/down counters 406 and 407 use 14-bit counters in this embodiment. Therefore, the address signal for 14×2−20−8 bits becomes unnecessary as a memory write address. Therefore, Figure 22A
As shown in FIG. 2, the outputs of address counters 406 and 407 are configured and generated to overlap, and the overlapping portion is selected by matrix control circuit 405 to determine which counter output is to be used.

Similarly, the memory read address is determined by the up/down counters 409, 440 and the matrix control circuit 408.
Generate with .

By making these settings, the write memory addresses are written to the memory bank 402 in the order shown in FIG. 22B.
Data is written to ~404.

When reading data from the memory banks 402 to 404, the matrix control circuit 408 is controlled and the up/down counters 409 and 410 are set to 1 as in the case of writing.
Set so that 0 bits are used. Also, up
Both down counters 409 and 410 are set to up counts, and the value 0 is preset as the initial count value, as in the case of writing. In the case of reading, the up/down counter 4.09 is used to count pixels, and the up/down counter 410 is used to count signals multiplied by VE.

In the case of reading, the number of pixels in the IVE is variable depending on the magnification in the case of multilevel data, so for example, the 25 out of 2 addresses in the IVE change as shown in FIG. 22C.

By changing the order of memory addresses during writing and reading in this way, it is possible to change from raster scan to BJ.
Performs data signal conversion to scan. Depending on the arrangement of signal data, the counter can be up-counted or down-counted, and the preset value of the count value or the configuration of the address matrix can be changed to make it possible to respond flexibly to various image data. .

The DRAM control circuit 411 is a circuit for controlling the DRAMs in the memory banks 402 to 404 by multiplexing and providing memory write addresses and memory read addresses in a time-division manner.

The variable magnification control circuit 412 includes memory banks 402 to 404.
This circuit performs reduction processing by thinning out data when data is written to the memory, and enlargement processing by padding data when reading data. This circuit allows image data to be scaled at any magnification.

Although two up/down counters are used for data read control and data write control, the data arrangement direction can also be converted by configuring only one of the up/down counters with two up/down counters.

(Binary Synthesizing Unit) Next, a specific embodiment of the binary synthesizing unit 1.09 will be described using FIG. 23.

The two-manpower NAN I) gates 450 to 453 receive the cyan (S-C), magenta (S-M), yellow (s-y), and black (S-Y) signals sent from the binarization processing unit 108.
-Bk) is a circuit for controlling binary data of 5
When the ENB signal is logical 1, image output to the subsequent circuit is permitted, and when the ENB signal is logical 0, it is not permitted.

3-man power NAND gate 454~458.2 man-power NAND
A circuit consisting of a gate 1-4.59 and an inverter 455 receives cyan (I-C), magenta (I-M), and yellow (ry) sent from the buffer memory 110.
This circuit controls the binary data of , and generates a black signal when the three colors are logical 1 (dot printing). Since the data sent from the buffer memory 110 is in three colors,
Here, a black signal is generated to improve black reproducibility.

In this embodiment, when I-C, I-M, and I-Y are all logic 1, the outputs of I-C, I-M, and I-Y are set to logic 0, and the black signal (output of the two-man NAND gate 459 ) is printed as a dot (logic O because the logic is inverted).

This is to limit the amount of ink due to simultaneous printing of four color inks, and in order to increase print density, I
The outputs of -C, I-M, and I-Y may also be left at logic 1 to perform simultaneous four-color printing.

When the IENB signal is logic 1, image output to the subsequent stage is allowed.
When the logic is 0, it is not permitted.

The two-manpower NAND gates 460 to 463 are circuits for performing the logical sum (synthesis) of the binary images output from the two circuits described in 1.
P-M), yellow (P-Y), black (P-Bk)
output each signal.

As explained below, by controlling the 5ENB signal and the IENB signal, synthesis (both logic), 2 selection (either logic 1), and inhibition (both logic 0) are realized.

(Multi-value synthesis unit) Next, a specific example of the multi-value synthesis unit 106 will be described using FIG. 24.

Sv multiplied signal which is multivalued image data from scanner unit 1;
T which is multivalued image data from buffer memory 110
It is composed of a multiplexer 480 that switches the output from a look-up table 470 that performs data conversion based on a V times signal, an S■ times signal, and an IV times signal.

The look-up table 470 is a conversion table for performing operations such as addition of Sv times signal and IV times signal, logical sum, etc., and is composed of memories such as ROM and RAM.

The conversion processing not only simply obtains a composite output by addition, but also various effects can be obtained by changing the arithmetic processing for the S■ times signal and the IV times signal.

In this embodiment, a multiplexer 480 is used to switch the signals, but the S■ double signal, the IV double signal selection,
The prohibition may also be performed using the look-up table 470, and the multiplexer 480 may be omitted.

(Operating Mode) Next, possible operating modes in this embodiment will be described using FIG. 25.

FIG. 25-a shows the signal flow in the normal copy mode. Diagonal lines indicate the signal flow.

Since buffer memory 110 is not used in this mode, buffer memory 110 may be omitted if the operating mode described below is not required.

Therefore, it is desirable that the portion related to the buffer memory 110 be constructed so that it can be separated in terms of circuitry as an option.

FIG. 25-b shows an external multi-value output mode in which the image data read by the scanner section is image-processed, temporarily stored in the buffer memory 110, and then output as multi-value data to an external device.

FIG. 25-0 shows an external binary output mode in which the data is further binarized and then output as binary data to an external device.

FIG. 25-d shows an external multi-value input mode in which multi-value image data sent from an external device is image-processed and printed by the printer section 3. Similarly, FIG. 25-e shows an external binary input mode in which the printer unit 3 prints binary image data sent from an external device.

Figures 25-1 to 25-e show operation modes using an interface with an external device. FIG. 25-f shows an operation mode in which the original image read by the scanner unit 1 and image data sent from an external device are combined and printed by combining the modes.

FIG. 25-g.

Fig. 25-f shows a multi-value synthesis mode in which multi-value image data sent from an external device is synthesized by the multi-value synthesis unit 106, and Fig. 25-g shows binary image data sent from an external device. The figure shows a binary synthesis mode in which the images are synthesized by the binary synthesis unit 109. - The image read by the scanner unit 1 is in the book mode,
Of course, it does not matter whether the mode is seat mode or projector mode.

25-h and 25-1 show the buffer memory 11
This is an operation mode that uses O as a temporary storage location for image data read by the scanner unit 1 and synthesizes images without using it as a buffer with an external device.

For example, image data for one main scan scanned in book mode is stored in the buffer memory 110, and then a projector image is projected onto a location other than the document in book mode on document glass 17. This is an operation mode in which the data is read in a projector mode and simultaneously combined with the contents stored in the buffer memory 110 and output. Of course, it may also be used to similarly combine two originals placed on the original platen glass 17 in book mode.

FIG. 25-h shows a memory multi-value synthesis mode in which the data is stored as multi-value image data in the buffer memory 110, is synthesized by the multi-value synthesis unit 106 when read out, and is printed by the printer unit 3. Similarly, FIG. 25-1 shows a memory 2 in which binary image data is stored in the buffer memory 110, and when it is not read, the binary image data is synthesized by the binary synthesis unit 109 and printed by the printing unit 3.
This is value composition mode.

In this composition mode, while the scanner section 1 performs two main scans, the printer section 3 only needs to perform one main scan, and the amount of ink in the image composition section can be controlled by the printer section 3 multiple times. This can be reduced compared to the case of main scanning overprinting, and problems such as ink overflow can be solved.

By changing the magnification of 1 image processing when reading an image, and shifting the compositing position when reading out from the buffer memory 1.10, it is possible to perform more detailed image compositing than ever before.

In this embodiment, only one image is stored in the buffer memory 110;
It is also possible to use the modify write operation to further combine the data with the image data written twice, so that three or more images can be created.

The image composition in Figures 25-h and 25-1 is performed using a buffer.
Although this method uses the memory 110, there is also a method of performing image composition without using the buffer memory 110, which will be explained below.

FIG. 26 is a diagram for explaining a method of performing image composition without using the buffer memory 110.

The two originals placed on the original table glass 17 are placed at 1°1'.
, 2.2' are read alternately, and the printer section 3
In this method, the same main scan on the print paper is performed twice, and the image is synthesized as shown in the figure. When reading an image, the reading magnification 1 position 2 image processing (negative/positive, etc.) may be changed, and while the scanner unit 1 changes the location where multiple documents are read, the printer unit 3 changes the sub-scanning direction of the print paper. This is an image composition that can be easily realized by providing a "pause motion" that does not involve paper feeding.

This method has the advantage that it can be implemented at low cost because it does not use the buffer memory 110.

However, as mentioned earlier, if a large amount of ink is applied to the same location on the print paper, problems such as bending of the print paper and overflow of ink will occur, so when combining images from multiple locations, it is difficult to It is necessary to fully consider the overlap between the two.

Images to be composited can be used not only in book mode but also in sheet mode.
Image synthesis may be performed in combination with mode and projector mode.

(Explanation of control flow) Using the flowcharts in FIGS. 27 to 31, the control unit 1
The flow of control in step 11 will be explained.

FIG. 27 shows the flow at the highest level of control in this embodiment. When the power is turned on, initial settings according to the standard copy mode are performed in step 5 PIOI. In step 5P102, the process waits until any key is pressed on the operation unit 10 shown in FIG.

If there is key power, the copy mode is changed according to the key pressed in step 5P104, and resetting is performed accordingly. For example, if the projector key 86 is pressed, the projector mode is set, and if a key on the touch panel 85 is pressed according to the content displayed on the LCD display section 84,
Accordingly, book mode/sheet mode, magnification of 9 sheets, enlarged continuous shooting mode, composition mode.

etc. Furthermore, depending on the set mode, the 30th
- Change the display on the LCD display section 84 as shown in figure a.

On the other hand, when the start key 87 is pressed, the copying sequence is started. FIGS. 32 and 33 are for explaining the concept of the copy sequence. Document table glass 1
The reading image area and the print image area are shown for a copy mode in which two originals placed on the paper are copied at 2 times enlargement and 2 equal size, and are combined and output on four sheets of print paper. In this copying sequence, the print area where an image is printed from each document is called a subarea. 32nd
In the illustrated example, there is a first subarea and a second subarea.

What an image is actually formed is the total area of each subarea, which is simply called an area. In the example of FIG. 32, the second subarea is included in the first subarea, so the area is equal to the first subarea. Furthermore, the area formed on each sheet of print paper is called a block, and in the example of FIG. 32, the first to fourth blocks are recorded on four sheets of print paper.

Area copying is performed for each block. FIG. 33 is for explaining the concept of the copy sequence for each block, and only the fourth block is shown in bold (redisplayed). Each sub-area cut out by each block is called a sub-block. In the fourth block shown in FIG. 33, the first sub-area.

The first sub-block corresponds to the second sub-area.

There is a second sub-block. On the other hand, the first. In the second block, there is only the first sub-block.

Within a block, the area printed in one scan, as explained in FIG. 5, is called a line. In the example of FIG. 33, there are lines from the first line to the 5th in.

Block copying is done line by line. FIG. 34 is for explaining the concept of the line-by-line copy sequence, and only the third line is redisplayed. Each sub-block cut out by each line is called a sub-line. In the third line shown in FIG. 34, there are a first sub-line and a second sub-line corresponding to the first sub-block and the second sub-block. On the other hand, the first. Fifth
In terms of lines, there is only the first Zab line.

(Area Copy) The copy sequence will be explained based on the concept explained above. In step S P 1.05 of FIG. 27, an area including each sub-area specified in step 5P104 is constructed. In step 5P106, the area is divided by the size of printer paper to create one or more blocks. In step 5P107, a pointer n indicating the block being copied is first set to 1. In step 5P108, a block copy sequence, which will be described later, is performed for the n-th block. In step 5P109, it is determined whether or not the copy sequence for the final block has been completed. If not, n is incremented by 1 in step 5PIIO of S1 and the block copy sequence for the next block is performed. Once all blocks have been processed, the process returns to step 5P102.

(Block Copy) FIG. 28 shows the flow of the block copy sequence. First, in step 5P201, it is checked whether each sub area has a common area with the block to be copied, and if it has a common area, that area is set as a sub block.

In step SI) 202, the block is divided into areas to be written in one scan to create one or more lines.

In step 5P203, the pointer l indicating the line being copied is first set to 1. In step 5P204, a copying sequence to be described later is performed for the first line.

In step 5P205, it is determined whether the copy sequence for the final line has ended, and if it has not ended,
Increment l by 1 and perform the line copy sequence for the next line. When all lines are completed, the copying sequence of this block ends.

(Line Copying) FIG. 29 shows the flow of the line copying sequence. First, in step 5P301, it is checked whether each sub-block has a common area with the line to be copied, and if it has a common area, that area is set as a sub-line. In step 5P302, a check is made to see if there is a sub-line, and if there is no copying, the process proceeds to step 5P306. If there is a sub-line, it is checked in step 5P303 whether the number is 1 or not. If there is one sub line, a simple copy sequence for one sub line, which will be described later, is performed in step 5P304. If there are a plurality of copies, then in step 5P305, a composite copying sequence is performed for the sub lines of copying, which will be described later, and then the process advances to step 5P306.

In step 5P306, the third
Update the display as shown in Figure 6.

This ends the line copy sequence.

(Simple Copying) FIG. 30 shows the flow of a simple copying sequence when there is only one sub-line. First, in step 5P401, each parameter is set according to the copy mode of the sub-line to be copied. The copy mode here includes, for example, the document type (regular document, sheet reading, projector image?), copy magnification, density, etc.
This includes editing such as trimming and masking, and the parameter is a variable magnification unit control signal set for the image processing unit shown in FIG.

These include a masking control signal, a UCR control signal, a γ/offset control signal, a dither control signal, a reading mode set in the reader part, and a writing mode set in the printer part. Next, in step 5P402, the printer carriage is moved to the beginning of the writing area corresponding to the β-th line. Next, in step S P 4.03, the reader carriage is moved to the beginning of the reading area corresponding to the sub line to be copied. Next step S P4
．． At step 04, the reader and printer start scanning, and the image read by the reader is output by the printer.

This ends the simple copy sequence.

(Synthetic Copying) FIG. 31 shows the flow of the synthetic copying sequence when there are a plurality of sub-lines. First step 5P
501 checks whether the buffer memory board is connected, and if it is connected, 5P5021a
After that, synthesis using the buffer memory is performed, and if it is not connected, from 5P51.1 onwards, synthesis without using the buffer memory is performed.

In step 5P502, first, the carriage of the printer is moved to the writing area corresponding to the first line to be copied. In step 5P503, the buffer memory is cleared. In step 5P504, a pointer: Sl indicating the sub-line being copied is first set to 1.

In step 5P505, each parameter is set in accordance with the copy mode of the sub-line to be copied, similar to step S P 4.01 in FIG. 30 for simple copying.

In step 5P506, the reader carriage is moved to the beginning of the reading area corresponding to the SA sub line. Next, in step 5P507, the reader is scanned, the read image is combined with the image on the buffer memory, and the result is left in the buffer memory. Step 5P50
In step 8, it is determined whether or not the final sub-line has been synthesized, and if it has not been completed, in step 5P509, SI! is incremented by 1 and the next sub-line is synthesized. All sub-
Once the lines have been synthesized in memory, step 5
At P510, the printer scans, the image on the buffer memory is output by the printer, and the composite copying sequence ends.

On the other hand, the synthesis sequence that does not use a buffer memory after step 5P511 is slightly different from the above-described sequence. First, step 5P511,512゜5]
, 3 and 514 are steps 5P502 and 50, respectively.
It is the same as 4,505°506. Step 5P515
Now, the reader and printer start scanning, and the image read by the reader is output by the printer. Steps 5P516 and 5P517 are step 5P
508.5P This is the same as in 509, and when the copying of the last sub line is completed, the composite copying sequence ends.

The above control flow is for outputting the image read from the reader to the printer, but by replacing the control of the reader part and printer part in this flow with the control of external equipment, the control flow shown in Fig. 25 can be achieved. Taa~i
This is the flow for executing each operation mode. First, the 25th
- For the normal copy mode in figure a, the number of subareas,
Number of sub blocks.

The number of sub-lines is set to 1, and simple copying is repeated for the number of lines.

Next, regarding the "external multilevel/binary output mode" in Figures 25-b and 25-0, output is performed to an external device instead of controlling the printer in steps 5P402 and 5P404 in Figure 30 in simple copying. This is achieved by controlling the At this time, parameters for the circuit are set in step 5P401 so as to implement the image processing paths shown in FIGS. 25-b and 25-0 depending on whether the image required by the external device is multilevel or binary.

Next, regarding the "external multivalue/binary input mode" shown in Figures 25-d and 25-0, input is made from an external device instead of the reader control in steps 5P403 and 5P404 in Figure 30 in simple copying. This is achieved by controlling the At this time, whether the image given from the external device is multilevel or 2
Depending on the value, parameters for the circuit are set in step 5P401 so as to realize the image processing paths shown in FIG. 25-d and FIG. 25-0, respectively.

Next, the "memory multilevel/binary synthesis mode" shown in FIGS. 25-A and 25-1 can be realized by the above flow by specifying each image area to be synthesized as each subarea. In this case, the memory board is connected, and steps 5P502 to 510 in FIG.
This can also be achieved using the "on-paper compositing mode" performed by . This mode is an expanded version of the "normal copy mode" shown in FIG. 25-a. These "on-memory compositing mode" or "on-paper compositing mode" allows subareas of different copy modes, for example, a normal reflective original image and a projected original image, to be displayed at different magnifications.

Can be synthesized through processing. Furthermore, if the external image is made into a subarea, composition with the external image can be easily realized.

Furthermore, in Figures 25-f and 25-g,
The "binary composition mode" is a one-to-one composition of the image from the reader and the image from the memory, and is different from the flow described above in the composite copying part, so Figure 31-A is used instead of Figure 31. Explain using. The other part of the flow differs only in that the subareas are fixed to two: the leader image and the memory image.

First, step 5P601 is step 5P502, 5P5
It is the same as 11. In step 5P602, each parameter is set according to the copy mode of the printer regarding the memory image, and in step 5P603, the image is imported into the memory. Depending on the copy mode, the image import source may be an external device, a reader, or direct writing by the CPU. In step 5P604, each parameter is set according to the copy mode of the printer regarding the reader image, and in step 5P605, the reader carriage is moved to the scanning start position. Then, in step 5P606, the reader and printer start scanning, and the images in the memory are read out, and the images are synthesized using a binary synthesis circuit or a multi-value synthesis circuit. This switching is done in 5P602 depending on whether the memory image is binary data or multi-value data, in the former case, the binary synthesis mode shown in Figure 25-g, and in the latter case, the binary synthesis mode shown in Figure 25-f. Select mode.

(Long Paper Continuous Copying Mode) In this embodiment, enlargement and large size copying using the roll paper of the printer section 3 are possible, so a description will be given below.

In this embodiment, arbitrary magnification is possible from 50% to 1600%, so for example, A4 size (210mm x 2
If you copy a 97mm original at 600%, it will be 1260.
A printed image with a size of mm x 1782 mm will be obtained. FIG. 35 is a diagram for explaining this.

Figure 35 shows an A4 size manuscript placed horizontally.
Fig. 35-b is a diagram showing the state of the printed paper when Fig. 35-a is enlarged by 600%. In this example, the maximum A
2. Since you can only use print paper up to the width of the longitudinal direction (594 mm), as shown in Figure 35-a, divide the A4 size document into three lengthwise, and divide each part into three parts.
Copies are made in correspondence with the print papers ■', ■', and ■' shown in Figure 5-b.

In this case, roll paper is used as the print paper, and the feed amount in the sub-scanning direction is set to an arbitrary length. In this example 1260
It becomes mm.

Conventionally, cut paper has been used as print paper for this type of enlarged copy, so if, for example, A3 size cut paper is used, in this example, 18 sheets of print paper are required, which are pasted together later. When making one sheet, there is a drawback that the amount of work is large due to the large number of sheets.In this embodiment, by using roll paper and setting the feed amount of the sub-scan to an arbitrary length, The number of sheets of printing paper is reduced (and the above drawbacks are improved).

FIG. 36 shows the operation section 10 when making the above-mentioned large-format copy.
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of an LCD display section 84 of FIG.

Fig. 36-a shows an example of the display before copying, and Fig. 36-b shows an example of the display during copying.

When making an enlarged copy, if two of the three parameters, original size, magnification, and print size, are determined, the remaining one is automatically determined. For example, if the original size is A4
If the size magnification is 600%, it is 1260mmX
A print paper size of 1782 mm is required, and the third
If the A4 size original is placed horizontally as shown in Figure 5-a and the print paper is divided into three parts as shown in Figure 35-b, copies can be made without wasting the print paper.

FIG. 36-a is a diagram showing how the thus determined original size or printing paper is divided and copied in a graphic display on the liquid crystal display. In this way, the operability is improved by displaying to the operator the number of divisions, the length required for one print in the sub-scanning direction of the roll paper, etc.

When making such a large-format copy, it is necessary to show the operator how much copying is progressing, since it takes a very long time to make one copy. Figure 36-b is a diagram showing an example of this, in which the part where copying has been completed is indicated graphically in Figure 36-a as a diagonal line, and the - mark shows how far the copying has progressed. This makes it possible to notify the operator of the

The flowchart for such display and copying is shown in Section 3.
It is shown in Figure 7.

In Fig. 37, input the original size, 4 magnification in the direction in which the original is placed, and the number of prints in 5P701 and 5P702, and in 5P703 to 5P705, enter the number of divided areas N of the roll paper and the number necessary to record one area of the roll paper. Set the recording paper length and the number of main scans M of the reader for the - area. The number n of divided areas for which printing has been completed at the same time and m indicating the number of times main scanning has been completed are initially set to O. Then, set the document size and orientation in 5P706.

The number of prints 9, the magnification, the number of divided areas N, and the number of reader main scans M are output to the display unit, and the display unit displays as shown in FIG. 36-a. And when the start button is pressed, 5P
707 to start printing.

Then, each time the reader finishes one main scan, m is incremented by 1 and the values n and m are output to the display unit (SP708 to 710
). When m = M, n is increased by 1 to determine whether copying of all divided areas has been completed (5P714).

If not, the reader starts reading the next divided area, and the printer cuts the roll paper (SP
713).

Copying is performed in the manner described above until n=N, and during this time n and m are output to the display section every time the reader scans for the life of the reader.

Depending on the values of display parts n and m, a display as shown in FIG. 36-b is possible.

Conventionally, this type of display used multiple segment LEDs, etc. to show what percentage of the total has been completed, but as in this example, multiple pieces of printed paper are used to display the information once. The display is insufficient when copying. At the very least, it is desirable to inform the operator of which sheet of printer paper and which part of the printer paper is being copied.

In this embodiment, only a method using graphic display is shown, but display based on time and display based on the number of scans may be performed simultaneously.

〔effect〕

As described above, the image composition apparatus of the present invention includes a reading unit that sequentially reads a plurality of images in different document reading areas, a recording unit that sequentially records a recording area divided into a plurality of areas,
When forming the plurality of images in the same area, the reading means scans the plurality of images once each, and the recording means scans the same area a number of times depending on the number of areas.

With this configuration, it is possible to form a composite image on one recording sheet using one reading means without requiring a large capacity memory.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is an external view of a digital color copying machine to which the present invention is applied, Fig. 2 is a sectional view from the side of the digital color copying machine of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a detailed view of the scanning carriage 3 and the invention. 4 is a diagram for explaining the mechanical mechanism inside the scanner section 1. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the reading operation in book mode and sheet mode. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the projection exposure on the scanner section 1. FIG. 7 is a detailed explanatory diagram of the film projection system, and FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the relationship between the film and the projected image formed on the platen glass. A diagram showing an example of the relationship; FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of functional blocks of a digital color copying machine to which the present invention is applied; FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of image timing between the circuit blocks in FIG. 9; The figure shows a detailed circuit diagram of the analog signal processing section, FIG. 12 is a block diagram of digital image processing, FIG. 13 shows a detailed circuit diagram of the image processing section 107, and FIG. 14 shows a timing chart of smoothing and edge enhancement processing. Figure 15 is a detailed circuit diagram of the synchronous delay memory 115, and Figure 16 is a detailed circuit diagram of the synchronous delay memory 115.
17 is a diagram showing a control timing chart of the memory 255 in FIG. 15, FIG. 18-a, FIG. 18-b, FIG. 18-c, and FIG. 18-
Figure d is an explanatory diagram for obtaining an erect image and a mirror image, Figure 19 is a cross-sectional view of the hack print film, Figure 20 is a switching circuit diagram for erect image output and mirror image output, Figure 21 is an erect image reading, Flowchart of mirror image reading control. FIG. 22 is a detailed circuit diagram of the buffer memory I/F control section. FIG. 22A, FIG. 22B, and FIG. 22C are explanatory diagrams of buffer memory address control. FIG. 23 is a circuit diagram of the binary synthesis unit 109, FIG. 24 is a circuit diagram of the multi-value synthesis unit 106, the figure is an explanatory diagram of each operation mode, and FIG. 26 is a case where image synthesis is performed without using the buffer memory 110. The explanatory diagrams, FIGS. 27 to 31, and FIG. 31-d are the control unit 1]1
32, 33, and 34 are explanatory diagrams of the copying sequence. Figures 35-a and 35-b are explanatory diagrams of the long paper continuous copying mode. , FIG. 36-b is a diagram showing the display mode of the display unit in the long paper continuous shooting mode, and FIG. 37 is a control flow diagram in the long paper continuous shooting mode.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A reading device that sequentially reads a plurality of images in different document reading areas, a recording device that sequentially records a recording area divided into a plurality of areas, and when forming the plurality of images in the same area, the reading device 1. An image synthesizing device characterized in that the recording means scans the same area a number of times according to the number of areas.