JPH01144857A - Image processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To transmit data to a printer at high speed irrespective of the interval between characters printing ruled line data by providing a character generating means that has font for ruled line in the number of pieces equal to the fonts of the kind of character intervals or less than that by one. CONSTITUTION:The content of a floppy disc(FD) generated by a word processor, personal computer, etc., is stored in a working memory as text code data, converted to raster data by the character generator 230, and developed in a page memory 228. Since the character interval is set at the time of preparing document and since the data have to be printed with the set character interval, the characters are developed in the memory 228 in such coordinates as to generate a character interval. That is, other than an ordinary font ROM 230, a ruled line fonts 231 in the number equal to that of the kind of character intervals are provided. As a result, data can be developed in the page memory 228 with high definition irrespective of the character interval of the printing of the ruled line data in an FD.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field] The present invention relates to an image processing device, and more specifically, it is applied to a multi-media copying machine that is capable of copying between different media in addition to copying from a paper original onto paper. The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus.

[Prior art]

In the multi-media copying machine described above, the data format in the floppy disk varies widely depending on the computer and word processor used. Therefore, copying between paper and floppy disks has to be done using the copy software of the computer, word processor, and image scanner or printer, making it difficult to obtain copies easily. Furthermore, when ruled lines are marked with character codes, there is a problem in that the ruled lines are cut off depending on the spacing between printed characters.

(Objective) The present invention has been made to eliminate the drawbacks of the above-mentioned prior art, and its purpose is to easily copy from a floppy disk to paper, and to copy the ruled line data in the floppy disk. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image processing device that can be applied to a multi-media copying machine and can send images to a printing device at high speed regardless of the spacing between characters to be printed.

〔composition〕

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes an image signal converting means for converting a predetermined image into an electrical image signal, a reading means for reading data from a floppy disk, and a font for ruled lines according to the type of character spacing. or character generating means for the type of character spacing ° minus one, data converting means for converting a text code read from a floppy disk into raster data by the character generating means, and raster data obtained by the image signal converting means. storage means for storing one page of image signals or raster data obtained by the data conversion means; image forming means for forming an image from data stored in the storage means; The apparatus is characterized by comprising a recording means for recording the image signal on a floppy disk.

Hereinafter, a detailed explanation will be given based on one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing the entire digital copying machine embodying the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a system block diagram thereof. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes an image reading device (scanner) which is an input section of a digital copying machine. Image information of a document placed on a document table is transferred to an electrical signal (image signal) by an image sensor such as a COD. ). 2 is a floppy disk memory device for recording/reproducing image signals, which records image signals (raster data) from a scanner and reproduces the recorded signals, or records image signals (raster data, It also has an internal page memory, scanner I/F (interface), printer I/F, and operation display I/F, and controls the entire device. Also performs image signal buffering.
Reference numeral 4 indicates an operation display section, and 3 indicates a printer which is an output section of the digital copying machine, and forms an image on a recording member (paper, etc.) using a laser beam printer or the like based on an image signal.

Hereinafter, the image reading device 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.
I will explain about it. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of the image reading device 1, and FIG. 4 is a block circuit diagram thereof.

In FIG. 3, 111 is a platen glass, and the original 11
2 is placed on this platen glass 111. Manuscript 11
2 is a carriage 11 moving on a slide rail 113;
It is illuminated by light sources (fluorescent lamps) 115 and 116 provided at 4. The movable mirror unit 118 is provided with a mirror 119 and a mirror 119', and moves on the slide rail 113, and in combination with a first mirror 117 provided on the carriage 114, forms an optical image of the original 112 on the platen glass 111. The lens reading unit 1
Bring it to 20.

The carriage 114 and the movable mirror unit 118 are
Pulleys 122, 123, 124 driven by a stepping motor 121 via a wire 126 cause the carriage 114 to move at a speed of V and the movable mirror unit 118 to move at a speed of 1
/2v in the same direction. platen glass 1
A standard white plate 127 is provided on the back side of the home position portion of 11, and is configured so that a standard white signal can be obtained before the start of document reading scanning. Lens reading unit 12
0 is composed of a lens 12B as a reading lens system and a line sensor 129 attached to a reading board. The original light image transmitted by the first mirror 117 and the mirrors 119 and 119' is focused by the lens 128 and formed on the light receiving surface of the line sensor CCD 129. CCD
129 converts the shading of the original image into an electrical signal (image signal).

Image signal processing will be described below with reference to the block diagram of FIG. This image signal is amplified by an amplifier circuit 130, and converted into a multi-value digital image signal for each pixel by an A/D converter 131.

This digital image signal is sent to the shading correction circuit 132.
In this method, shading caused by (1) uneven light emission of the light source, (2) uneven light distribution of the optical system (mirror, lens), (2) uneven sensitivity of the CCD, etc., is removed.

The binarization circuit 133: (1) converts sharp black and white image signals such as characters and drawing manuscripts into a fixed binary level; That is, a method (threshold) in which a value processed by the CPU 134 is binarized at the pattern level of the latch circuit (RAM) 135.

■For things that require gradation, such as photographs, dither patterns (
ROM) 136 binarization method (dither processing).

is selected using the document select switch on the operation display section 4 and switched using the selector 137 to obtain an optimal copy image. The image data binarized for each pixel is equivalent to one line, that is, A4 size (210 x 2'1wm) for an A3 size scanner.
Longitudinal feed resolution of 400 dpi (dots/inch)
Then, 297×16-4752dat (bit
) A serial image signal V0 is outputted to the printer 3 by an output buffer 139 via a line buffer 138 constituted by a RAM.

The oscillation circuit 140 is a CC for driving the CCD 129.
The output of the 0 oscillation circuit 140, which is given to the D drive circuit 141 and the image (element) signal synchronization (G signal generation circuit 142), is counted by a counter 143, and the count value is sent to the decoder 1.
44 and the CCD drive circuit 14 by the decoded output.
1 to generate a pulse to drive the CCD 129.

The other output of the decoder 144 is the synchronization occurrence time til142.
At this point, (1) a clock VCII synchronized with the pixels, (2) a main scanning synchronizing signal LGAE in the line (main scanning) direction, and (2) a sub-scanning synchronizing signal FGATE in the sub-scanning direction are generated. Pixel signal v9, clock ■, main scanning synchronization signal LG
The timing of ATE and sub-scanning synchronization signal FGATE is the fifth
There is a relationship shown in Figure A.

The CPU 134 (for example, Intel 8086) is a ROM
It operates according to the control program written in the working memory RAM 146, l10 (input/output) port 1.
47, 148, and 149, and controls the entire scanner 1. (1) The 10 boat 147 performs ON10FF control of actuators such as the drive pulse motor 121 and the fluorescent lamps 115 and 116 for illuminating the original, and also performs detection of sensors such as the home position switch of the scanner 1 and original detection. The I10 port 149 is an I/F (interface) for communicating with a control circuit within the floppy disk memory device, and performs parallel data transfer using a handshake method.

Figure 5A is a diagram showing the relationship between the paper, the main scanning signal (LGATE), and the sub-scanning signal (FGATE).
ATE).

Figure 5B is a timing diagram, and the LSYNC signal is output from the printer, and is a synchronization signal for laser beam scanning.
That is, it is a laser beam position signal of the printer.

V is read data (image signal) and image clock VC
Clocked at I+. VCK at the bottom of Figure 5B,
vo is an enlarged version of VCK+vD above it.

Next, the configuration and operation of the floppy disk memory device will be explained. FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view showing the configuration of a floppy disk memory device, and FIG. 7 is a block circuit diagram thereof. In FIGS. 6 and 7, 210 represents an 8-inch floppy disk device, 211 represents a 5.25-inch floppy disk device, and 212 represents a 3.5-inch floppy disk device. In this embodiment, one floppy disk device with different media sizes is installed.
Such a configuration is not necessarily essential, and the number of installed devices may be one or more, with only a specific size medium floppy disk device. 213 is a control electronic circuit, which is shown by the broken line in the block diagram of FIG. 7; 214 is an interface connector/cable for connecting with the scanner; 21
5 is an interface connector/cable connected to the printer, and 216 is an interface connector/cable connected to the operation display section.

Next, a control circuit block diagram will be explained.

The control circuit is based on a general microcomputer system, and controls each peripheral via a so-called bus. 221
is a microprocessor that supplies data, address, and control signals to bus 229. Floppy disk device (hereinafter referred to as FDD) 210, 211, 212 is F
Physical control (reading, writing) is performed through the DDI/F 220. RAM222 is R for working
AM and is operated under the MPU 221. ROM223
224 is a scanner I/F consisting of a parallel data I/F; 224 is a part where the program of this system is stored; the program controls the FDD, the scanner, the printer, and the page memory; , which controls the operation of the scanner. Data read from the scanner is processed via the serial-parallel data converter 226 without passing through the scanner I/F. Data from this serial-parallel data converter 226 is developed into page memory 228. The page memory 228 has a data capacity to hold printer output paper as a full dot image. Further, the image data in the page memory is transferred to the printer 3 through the parallel-serial data converter 227. The printer I/F 225 is used to perform printer operations (print start, stake read, etc.) and serves as a parallel data I/F. It is connected to the operation display unit 4 through 228 I10 ports.

After the ruled line data from the FDD is stored in the working RAM 222 together with the text data, one page's worth of data is format-converted and transferred to a ruled line data generator to be described later. This ruled line data is converted into an image signal at high speed within the ruled line data generator, and is sent to the parallel-serial data converter 227, bypassing the page memory 228.

Next, the printer 4 will be explained. FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of the printer, and FIG. 9 is a block circuit diagram thereof. In FIGS. 8 and 9, reference numeral 301 is a photosensitive drum, 302 is an electrostatic charger, 303 is a developing section, 304 is a paper feed cassette, 305 is a paper feed conveyance section, and 306
is a registration controller, 307 is a transfer separation charger, 308
309 is a fixing device, 309 is a paper output tray, 310 is a cleaning device, 311 is a laser, 312 is a collimator lens, 31
3 is a polygon mirror, 314 is an fθ lens, 315 is a mirror, 316 is a beam detect mirror, 317 is a beam position detector, 318 is a beam position detection circuit, 319 is a laser driver circuit, 320A and 320B are toggle line buffers, 321 is an address counter for the line buffer memory, 323 is an input buffer that receives and takes image signals from the floppy disk memory device 2, 324 is a CPU that controls the printer 3, and 325 stores a control program for the printer 3 and the FGATE counter. ROM
, 326 is the working memory of the CPU 324, RA.
M, 327 is connected to the printer 3 drive motor, fixing heater actuator, paper presence/absence, size detection, etc. ■10 (input/output boat), 328 is LGAT
■10 ports, 3 of the reset signal 331 of the counter 321 that inputs E330 and counts the FGATE counter.
29 is a printer I in the floppy disk memory device 2
/F225 is an I10 boat that sends and receives control signals to and from the F225.

Synchronous signal L G from floppy disk memory device
AT E, F G AT E, V c
The input buffer 323 receives the image signal VD synchronized with * (FIG. 5) and writes it into the line memory 320A or 320B.

The line memories 320A and 320B are toggled by a toggle switching signal 331 of the CPU 324, and when the line memory 320A is currently in the write state, the other line memory 320B is in the read state. The line memory counter 321 counts with VCK opened at LGATE, is reset with the toggle switching signal 331, and always reads/writes from address O.

The reading side memory 320B controls the lighting of the laser 311 with a laser driver circuit 319, and the emitted light is shaped into parallel light by a collimator lens 312, and scanned by a polygon mirror 313 to the width of the photoreceptor drum 310. θ
Distortion is corrected by a lens 314, and the light is exposed onto the photosensitive drum 301 via a mirror 315.

On the other hand, the image forming system is transferred and fixed onto paper by the electrophotographic process shown in FIG. That is, the photosensitive drum 30
Reference numeral 1 rotates in the direction of the arrow, and displays an image that is charged by a charging charge 302, exposed to the laser, and visualized by a developing device 303, and the leading edge of the paper conveyed from a paper feed cassette 304 by a paper feed conveyance unit 305. The timing is adjusted using the registration roller 306. And this paper is the photoreceptor drum 30
1, the image is transferred to paper by a transfer separation charge 307, conveyed in the direction of the arrow, and fixed by a fixing device 308. after that,
The paper is ejected to a paper ejection tray 309.

On the other hand, residual toner is collected from the photosensitive drum 301 by cleaning 310. The configuration and operation described above are of a well-known electrophotographic process laser printer. The CPU 3 is controlled by the ROM 325 that stores these control programs.
24 is operated.

It also controls via 110329 in order to notify the floppy disk memory device of start and stop commands from the operation display unit 4 and abnormal conditions such as paper jams in the printer 3.

Next, the operation display section 4 will be explained with reference to the schematic plan view of FIG.

The operation display section 4 includes a standard operation section 460, a dot liquid crystal display LCD465, and a special operation section 461 having soft keys 466 as a copying machine. The standard operation section 460 is for when using the "paper-to-paper copying" function, and includes a numeric keypad 462 for setting the number of copies, a number display section 463, a print start key 464, a key for setting copy conditions, a display section 470, etc. configured. The special operation section 461 is
This is used in copy mode for recording/playing D. Soft keys (for data input) 466, LCD display 4
65.

These are connected to the microcomputer system through the I10 port 232 in the floppy disk memory device 2 (see Figure 6).The meaning of the soft keys 466 and the display data on the liquid crystal display 465 are all stored in the program within this microcomputer system. determined by

The feature that characterizes the present invention is that in addition to the conventional digital copier function of ``paper-to-paper copying function of outputting image signals read from a scanner to a printer,'' it is also capable of ``transferring image signals read from a scanner to a floppy disk.'' A paper-to-FD copying function that records on an rFD (hereinafter referred to as an FD) and an FD that reproduces image signals (handles 3'H1 of raster data, vector data, and text data) recorded on an rFD and outputs them to a printer. "Copy function from to paper"
These three functions are:

Of the above three functions, copying from paper to FD and FD
Copying from to paper will be described below.

In copying from paper to an FD (the flowchart in FIG. 11), first set the original to be recorded on the FD into the scanner and set the copying conditions by operating the operation display section 4. The copying conditions here are as follows: For example, selection of copy mode from paper to FD, setting of copy range, selection of FD type, input of file name or file name for FD file deliberation, etc. Thereafter, the print start key 464 in FIG. 10 is pressed to complete the operation.

To explain the flow and effect of a series of operations at this time, the copying conditions are set using the floppy disk memory device W (hereinafter referred to as
The program stored in the ROM 223 in the FDM (FDM) is interactively executed via the I10 boat 232 using the liquid crystal display 465 and soft keys 466 of the special operation unit 461 in the operation display unit 4. In this case, the display method and operation are as follows: Since the method is not related to the gist of the present invention, detailed explanation will be omitted.

When the setting of copy conditions is completed and the operator presses the print start key 464, the program starts from FDI/F220.
Check the FD through.

The FD check mentioned here includes, for example, whether the FD is set in the FDD, whether it is formatted, and whether the file name or file name is registered twice.

When the FD chain is finished, the program executes the scanner reading operation through the scanner I/F 224. The data read from scanner 1 is serial-
Page memory 22 through parallel data converter 226
Expanded to 8. Since the page memory capacity is reserved for the original paper, development in the memory continues until the original reading operation is completed.

When the reading operation is completed, the contents of the page memory are then recorded on the FD. This recording operation is performed through the FDDI/F 220.

Next, copying from FD to paper (flow chart in FIG. 12) will be explained.

Set the FD on which the file to be copied is recorded to the FDD that matches its size, and operate the operation display section 4 to set the copy conditions.The copy condition settings here include selecting the FD to paper copy mode, Setting the number of copies, FDDO size to copy (8", 5.25'.

3.5') Selection etc.

This copying condition setting is performed interactively by a program stored in the ROM 223 in the FDM via the I10 boat 228 and on the liquid crystal display 465 and soft keys 466 of the special operation section 461 in the operation display section 4.

RO when the operator finishes setting the copy conditions.
The program stored in M223 checks the FD through FD1/F220. Check the FD ■FD
Is it set in the FDD and ready? ■Is there any abnormality in the FDD hardware? ■Is there any problem with the FDD hardware?
The format is 0, etc., if it can be processed by the program in the ROM 223. If a failure occurs during these checks, the operator is notified of the error occurrence through the operation display section 4, and an error handling routine is entered. Since this error processing is not the gist of the present invention, its explanation will be omitted.

Next, the program reads the file directory to be copied, displays a file list on the special display section 461 of the operation display section 4, prompts the operator to select the file to be copied, and presses the soft key 466 on the operation display section 4 as well. to request input of selection information. At this point, the series of condition settings are completed, and the operator presses the print start key 464.

When the print start key 464 is pressed, the program executes the FD reading operation, and if the read data is raster data (data from a scanner or facsimile), it is expanded to the page memory as is, and if the data is text code data ( In the case of data from a personal computer, word processor, etc., it is stored in the working memory and line data is stored in the working memory (and in this case, the ruled line data is converted into the format of the ruled line data buffer of the ruled line data generator and then stored.

The text data stored in the working memory is converted into a rask pattern according to the code using the character generator 230, and then developed in the page memory 228.

When the expansion into the page memory 228 is completed, the contents of the page memory 228 are output to the printer 3. The print format in this case uses the format stored in the FD. If the next page data exists in the file, the process repeats from the execution of the FD read operation. Further, when the number of copies is two or more, the contents of the page memory for the number of copies are repeatedly output.

Copying ends when all data has been output to the printer 3.

As mentioned above, FDs created with word processors, computers, etc.
The contents are stored in the working memory as text code data, converted to raster data using a character generator, and developed in the page memory.

Here, since the character spacing is set when creating the document, it is necessary to print at the set character spacing.

For this reason, it is possible to develop characters at coordinates that create character spacing when expanding to page memory, but the problem is that gaps also occur in ruled lines.

In order to solve this problem, the present invention is characterized by having a ruled line font with different letter spacing, in addition to the normal phono L-ROM.

FIG. 13 shows a block diagram, and FIG. 14 shows an operation flow.

In FIG. 13, the RAM 222 has an FDDI/F22
0, the contents of the FD read by the FDDs 210, 211, and 212 are stored. The contents of the FD include document character spacing information, text codes, and the like. First, character spacing information is read from the RAM 222. From this information, the number of dots to be spaced between characters is set, and the size of the ruled line font to be used is set.

Next, text code data is read from the RAM 222. The MPU 221 determines whether this code is a ruled line. If it is a ruled line, it is a ruled line phono)
A ruled line font of a set size is read out from the ROM 231 and expanded into the page memory 228. If it is not a ruled line font, read the font from the font ROM 230 and use the set character spacing.
Expand to page memory 228. This operation is repeated until the expansion of the text code is completed. Furthermore, these operations are as follows. This is performed by a program written in the ROM 221.

〔effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to develop ruled line data in a floppy disk into a page memory with high quality regardless of the spacing between characters to be printed.

Further, documents created using different types of media can be easily copied at the character spacing set at the time of document creation.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing the entire digital copying machine implementing the present invention, FIG. 2 is a system block diagram thereof, FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of an image reading device, and FIG. 4 is its block diagram. The circuit diagram, Figure 5A, shows the synchronization signal LGATE,
An explanatory diagram showing the relationship between FC and ATE, FIG. 5B is a timing chart of synchronization signals and image data, FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view showing the configuration of a floppy disk memory device, FIG. 7 is a block diagram of its control circuit, and FIG. Figure 8 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of the printer, Figure 9 is its block circuit diagram, Figure 10 is a schematic plan view showing the operation display section, and Figure 11 is a flowchart for copying from paper to a floppy disk (FD). , FIG. 12 is a flowchart of copying from FD to Gion,
FIG. 13 is a block diagram of a ruled line data generation circuit according to a practical example of the present invention, and FIG. 14 is a flowchart thereof. 1. Image reading device (scanner), 2. Floppy disk memory. Device, 3... Printer (image forming device), 4... Operation display unit, 210, 211, 212
... Floppy disk device, 226 ... Serial-parallel data converter, 227 ... Parallel-serial data converter, 228 ... Page memory, 231
... ruled line data generator, 461 ... special operation section. Figure 1 Figure 5 (a) Figure 5 (b)

Claims (1)

[Claims] In an image processing device that can be used in a multi-media copying machine that enables copying between different media in addition to copying from a paper original to paper, an image signal conversion means for converting a predetermined image into an electrical image signal; A reading means for reading data from a floppy disk, a font for ruled lines, and a font for each type of character spacing.
Alternatively, a character generating means corresponding to the type of character spacing minus one, a data converting means for converting a text code read from a floppy disk into raster data by the character generating means, and an image obtained by the image signal converting means. storage means for storing one page of raster data obtained by the signal or the data conversion means; an image forming means for forming an image from the stored data in the storage means; and an image obtained from the image signal conversion means. 1. An image processing device comprising: recording means for recording signals on a floppy disk.