JPH01288071A - Picture input device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the quantity of information to be handled by deciding the start point and end point of a partial picture in the horizontal direction by a count means operated based on a horizontal synchronizing signal and deciding the start point and the end point of the partial picture in the vertical direction by other count means operated based on the vertical synchronizing signal. CONSTITUTION:The device extracts a rectangular partial picture from an object picture, the start point and the end point of the partial picture in the horizontal direction are decided by count means 16, 18 operated based on a horizontal synchronizing signal N and the start point and the end point of the partial picture in the vertical direction are decided by count means 20, 22 operated based on a vertical synchronizing signal V. That is, the position of the partial picture is decided by each count means operated based on the horizontal and the vertical synchronizing signals to extract a rectangular partial picture from an object picture thereby reducing the quantity of handled information. That is, even if the quantity of information of the entire original picture is huge, the memory capacity for the storage of the partial picture is need not be large and its processing time is reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image input device for extracting partial images from images obtained by imaging an object.

[Prior art and inventiveness 1. Problems to be solved 3. Image information has a much larger amount of information than other information, such as audio information. Therefore, conventionally, when handling image information, there have been problems such as an enormous memory capacity for storage and a long processing time, which has been a practical obstacle in various fields of use.

The present invention provides an image input device that reduces the amount of information to be handled by extracting partial images from an image of an object, in view of the fact that it is often sufficient to handle partial images at known positions within the entire image. The purpose is to

[Means for Solving the Problems] An image input device according to the present invention extracts a rectangular partial image from an image of an object, and uses a timer that operates based on a horizontal synchronization signal to determine the horizontal direction of the partial image. The starting point and ending point in the vertical direction are determined, and the starting point and ending point in the vertical direction of the partial image are determined by another clocking means that operates based on a vertical synchronization signal.

In order to handle partial images of arbitrary shapes, a storage means for storing whether or not a partial image is designated in correspondence with the coordinates of pixels in the image, and a designation means for sequentially designating the address of this storage means are provided. The position of the partial image is determined based on the storage contents of the storage means at the address designated by the designation means.

[Operation] In the first image input device according to the present invention, the operation of each timer is activated by a horizontal synchronizing signal and a vertical synchronizing signal, respectively. Timing means activated by the horizontal synchronization signal determine the horizontal start and end points of the partial image. Other timing means activated by the vertical synchronization signal determine the vertical start and end points of the partial images. Therefore, the partial image extracted from the image of the object is rectangular.

In the second image input device according to the present invention, a partial image having an arbitrary shape is extracted in the following manner. The storage means stores in advance whether or not a partial image is specified in correspondence with the coordinates of each pixel in the original image.

The presence or absence of designation of this partial image is sequentially read out according to the address designation of the designation means, and the position of the partial image is determined thereby.

[Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image input device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and shows an example in which this input device is used as a pattern recognition device for determining the quality of printed characters. However, the usage mode of the image input device according to the present invention is not limited to this.

Reference numeral 10 indicates an image input device according to an embodiment of the present invention. This input device IO has a binarization circuit 12. The binarization circuit 12 binarizes an analog video signal A obtained by imaging an object at a predetermined level according to a sampling pulse S, and outputs a digital video signal. In this digital video signal, for example, a "bright" signal goes to H level, "
The "dark" signals correspond to the L level, respectively. The analog video signal A is also input to the synchronization separation circuit 14. The synchronization separation circuit 14 separates a horizontal synchronization vibration H and a vertical synchronization signal V from the analog video signal A, and outputs these signals. The horizontal synchronizing signal H is input to two stages of one-shot circuits 16 and 18 connected in cascade. The vertical synchronizing signal V is input to two other cascaded one-shot circuits 20 and 22. Each one-shot circuit 113.18°20.
22 is provided with CR circuits lea, 18a, 20a, and 22a as time constant circuits that determine the pulse width. A potentiometer is used as the resistance element of each CR circuit. One-shot circuit for each output stage 18.2
The second output signal is input to an AND circuit 24. This AN
The output of the D circuit 24, that is, the area designation signal P, is inputted to another AND circuit 26 together with the sampling pulse S. The output of this AND circuit 2B is outputted as a timing pulse E from the image input device 10. In addition to this timing pulse E, from this image input device flO,
A digital video signal and a vertical synchronization signal V are output.

The pattern recognition device 60 is configured by adding a circuit described below to the image input device 10 described above. That is, the digital video signal and the timing pulse E are input to the AND circuit 40. AND circuit 40
The output signal C is input to a counting circuit 42 which counts the pulses of this signal. The counting output of the counting circuit 42 is input to the comparison circuit 46 together with the setting output of the setting circuit 44.

The comparator circuit 4B outputs a quality determination signal Z according to the comparison result between the count output and the set output. The vertical synchronizing signal V output from the image input device IO further triggers another one-shot circuit 48, and the count of the counter circuit 42 is reset by the output of this one-shot circuit 48.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show the image input device 10 described above.
3 is a timing chart showing signal waveforms at various parts of the FIG.

As shown in FIG.
The one-shot circuit 16 in the first stage among the one-shot circuits 18 and 18 in the stages is triggered at the falling edge of the horizontal synchronizing signal H, and the output H1 becomes H level. The output H1 of this one-shot circuit 16 maintains the H level for a time h1 determined by the CR circuit 16a, and returns to the L level after this time has elapsed. Therefore, one-shot circuit 1
B outputs a signal H1 with a pulse width h 2 every time the horizontal synchronizing signal H is input. The next-stage one-shot circuit 18 is triggered when the output signal H1 of the previous-stage one-shot circuit 16 falls, and the output H2 becomes H level, and the CR circuit 1
After the elapse of the time h determined by 8a, the output H2 goes low and returns to bell. Therefore, the one-shot circuit 18 outputs a signal H2 having a pulse width h2 every time the output H1 of the one-shot circuit 1B at the previous stage falls.

As shown in FIG. 3, the other two-stage one-shot circuits 20 and 22 receiving the vertical synchronizing signal V operate in a similar manner. That is, the first-stage one-shot circuit 20 outputs a signal V1 with a pulse width Vt every time the horizontal synchronization signal V is input. The one-shot circuit 22 at the next stage outputs a signal v2 having a pulse width v2 every time the output v1 of the one-shot circuit 20 at the previous stage falls.

From the above, the output signal H2 of the one-shot circuit 18
becomes H level for time h2 after time h1 has elapsed from each input point of horizontal synchronization signal H, and the output signal v2 of the other one-shot circuit 22 becomes H level after time v1 has elapsed from each input point of vertical synchronization signal V. It becomes H level for time v2. Therefore, AN that receives input of these signals H and V
The output of the D circuit 24, that is, the area designation signal P, determines the window that designates the rectangular partial image R in FIG. Note that the pulse width hl.

h, v and v2 are each CR circuit 18a, 18a,
20a.

Can be set by adjusting potentiometer 22a, all images! The position and size of the partial image R inside can be changed arbitrarily. However, in addition to measuring the time hl in the same manner as above, the one-shot circuit measures the time h corresponding to the sum of h and h2 with reference to the falling point of the horizontal synchronizing signal H, and calculates hl from the time h. The time h2 may be obtained by subtracting the time h2. The same applies to the vertical direction.

When the partial image R is designated by the area designation signal P as described above, the sampling pulse S is output as the timing pulse E only during the scanning period within this partial image R.

The timing pulse E is input to the counting circuit 42 as the area counting signal C only when the digital video signal p is at H level. Therefore, the counting circuit 42 counts the pixels of the "bright" signal in the partial image R after being reset at the start of each field by the one-shot circuit 48 which receives the vertical synchronizing signal (2). This count signal is compared by the comparison circuit 4B with a setting signal related to non-defective products outputted from the setting circuit 44, and a quality determination signal Z of the printed characters in the partial image R is outputted.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an image input device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

The image input device 10 includes a binarization circuit 12 and a synchronization separation circuit 14 similar to those described above. The sampling pulse S input to the binarization circuit 12 is also input to the horizontal counting circuit 32 via the frequency dividing circuit 30. This counting circuit 32
The output X of is reset by the horizontal synchronous vibration H output from the synchronous separation circuit 14. The horizontal synchronizing signal H is also input to the vertical counting circuit 36 via the frequency dividing circuit 34.

The output Y of the counting circuit 3B is reset by the vertical synchronous vibration V output from the synchronous separation circuit 14. The outputs X, Y of these counting circuits 32, 36 specify the address of the window setting memory 38. This memory 38
corresponds to the coordinates of pixels in the image signal A, and stores in advance whether or not a partial image to be extracted is specified in a format to be described later.

However, this stored content can be changed. The readout output of the window setting memory 38, that is, the area designation signal P, is
It is input to the AND circuit 26 together with the sampling pulse S. The output of this AND circuit 26 is output as a timing pulse E from the image input device IO. In addition to the timing pulse E, the image input device 10 outputs a digital video signal from the binarization circuit 12 and a vertical synchronization signal V from the synchronization separation circuit 14.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing the storage contents in the window setting memory 38 of the image input device 10 described in FIG. 5, that is, whether or not a partial image is specified.

In this embodiment, the window setting memory 38 is 128X
It has a 12G bit configuration. In each bit of the hatched part molecule in the figure, a logical value "1" indicating "designation" of the partial image is stored. A logical value rOJ indicating "no designation" of the partial image is stored in each bit of the other parts. The stored contents of the horizontal and vertical bit addresses designated by the outputs X and Y of the counting circuits 32 and 38 are stored in the window setting memory 38 as the area designation signal P.
is output from.

The horizontal counting circuit 32 counts the sampling pulses S frequency-divided by the frequency dividing circuit 30 after being reset by the horizontal synchronizing signal H.

The vertical counting circuit 36 is reset by the vertical synchronizing signal V and then counts the horizontal synchronizing signal 0 H whose frequency is divided by the frequency dividing circuit 34 . The frequency division ratio of each frequency dividing circuit 32, 36 is determined in consideration of the bit configuration of the window setting memory 38. Therefore, the output "X" of the counting circuit 32 changes periodically from 0 to 127 in correspondence with the horizontal addresses 0 to 127 of the window setting memory 38. The same applies to the output Y of the vertical counting circuit 36.

The storage contents in the window setting memory 38 output as the region designation signal P, that is, whether or not a partial image is designated, determines the window for extracting the partial image. In other words,
The stored pattern of "1" and "0" in the window setting memory 38 determines the position, shape, and size of the window, that is, the position, shape, and size of the corresponding partial image. When a partial image is designated by the area designation signal P as described above, the sampling pulse IS is output as the timing pulse E only during the scanning period within this partial image.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the first image input device according to the present invention determines the position of the partial image by each timer operating based on the horizontal synchronization signal and the vertical synchronization signal, and determines the position of the partial image. This method extracts a rectangular partial image from the image. Also,
The second image input device includes a storage means for storing whether or not a partial image is designated in correspondence with the coordinates of a pixel in the image, and a designation means for sequentially designating an address of the storage means. A partial image of an arbitrary shape is extracted according to the storage contents of the storage means stored at the address.

Therefore, in either case, the amount of information to be handled can be reduced. In other words, even if the information amount of the entire original image is enormous, the memory capacity for storing partial images may be small, and the processing time can be shortened.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image input device according to an embodiment of the present invention, showing an example in which this image input device is used in a pattern recognition device, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the image input device shown in the previous figure. FIG. 3 is a timing chart showing the signal waveform of a portion of the image input device of FIG. 1 that handles a vertical synchronization signal; FIG. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an image input device according to another embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 6 is the previous diagram. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the storage contents in the window setting memory of the image input device, ie, whether a partial image is specified or not. Explanation of symbols 10... Image input device, 18.1g, 20.22...
・One-shot circuit, 24.28...AND circuit, 3
2.36... Counting circuit, 38... Window setting memory, 60... Pattern recognition device, A... Analog video signal, D... Digital video signal, E... Timing pulse, H. ...Horizontal synchronizing signal, P...area designation signal, R...partial image, S...sampling pulse, ■...vertical synchronizing signal, X, Y...address. Patent applicant: Sigma Electronics Co., Ltd. Figure 2 Figure 8 h+hz

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An image input device for extracting a rectangular partial image from an image of an object, wherein the horizontal start point and end point of the partial image are determined by a timer operating based on a horizontal synchronization signal. The image input device is characterized in that the start point and end point in the vertical direction of the partial image are determined by another timer that operates based on a vertical synchronization signal. 2. An image input device for extracting a partial image from an image of an object, comprising a storage means for storing whether a partial image is designated in correspondence with the coordinates of a pixel in the image, and an address of this storage means that is sequentially stored. 1. An image input device, comprising: a designating means for designating the partial image; and a position of the partial image is determined by the content stored in the storage means at an address designated by the designating means.