JPH02222363A - Image reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To exactly and easily execute the alignment of a read range or an image processing area and an image on an original by constituting this image reader so that visible information for showing a range of a processing area on a display means of light transmissivity on the original is displayed, and the position of the visible information on the display means is changed by following up a movement of an image read set body. CONSTITUTION:On a display means 121 of light transmissivity superposed and loaded on an original 10, visible information for showing a read range is displayed, so that an operator can look at simultaneously the visible information and an image on the original 10, which transmits through the display means 121 and looked at in an overlapped state from on the display means 121. Also, moving amount detecting means 213X, 213Y for detecting a moving amount of an image read set body 340 being freely movable on the original 10 are provided, and a display position of the visible information is updated in accordance with the moving amount detected by the moving amount detecting means 213X, 213Y. In such a way, the alignment of the image on the original 10 and an image area processed by reading the image can be executed exactly and easily.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an image reading device that reads an image of a document placed on a substantially flat surface as a two-dimensional image and outputs data of the image. In particular, regarding an image reading device that reads an image by placing at least a part of the device on a document,
For example, it can be used in electronic publishing systems, word processing systems, image file systems, copying systems, facsimile systems 11, and the like.

[Prior Art] Conventional examples of this type of image reading device include, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-62658 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-141070.
No. 60-47555, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 60-47555.
A technique disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3-42272 is known.

[Problem to be solved by the invention V1] JP-A-62-62658 and JP-A-60-141
In the device of Publication No. 070, the size of the image that can be read in one image reading is limited to the size of the reading area preset in the device, so images larger than that are
It cannot be read in one go and cannot be treated as one image.

Therefore, if the device is made smaller to improve operability,
The drawback is that the images that can be handled are limited to small ones.

Also, JP-A No. 60-475°55 and JP-A No. 6
In the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-42272, sub-scanning is performed manually, and it is possible to continuously read images of substantially any size in one operation.

However, positioning and sub-scanning of the device for image reading are manual operations, and the image being read needs to face the reading section of the device, so that part is hidden under the reading device, resulting in accurate positioning is not possible.

Therefore, the present invention makes it possible to accurately and easily align the image on the Mu with the image area to be processed by image reading, and also allows the image to be processed as a single image even if it is relatively large for the reading device. The first problem is to enable continuous reading and also to accurately and easily align large images.

Further, the present invention further enables arbitrary image processing to be performed for each specified area on the image to be read, and allows alignment of the specified area and the image on the document even when the image is relatively large. The second challenge is to make it possible to perform the process accurately and easily even if there is a problem.

A third object of the present invention is to prevent misalignment between these areas and the actual image on the document when specifying the range of the image reading area or the image processing area. do.

[Means for solving the problem 1] In order to solve the first problem, in the present invention,
An imaging means for separating and reading an original image into pixel units, and a display means having optical transparency and capable of being placed at any position on the original to be read by the imaging means are actually integrated. an image reading assembly that is movable; a movement amount detection means for detecting the amount of movement of the image reading assembly; and displaying visible information indicating a reading range on the document on the display means, and displaying the visible information. Display control means for updating the position according to the amount of movement detected by the movement amount detection means is provided.

[Operation 1] According to the present invention, visible information indicating the reading range is displayed on the light-transmissive display means placed over the document, so that the operator can read from above the display means. The visible information and the overlapping i8@ on the document transmitted through the display means can be viewed at the same time, and the image on one image and the reading range can be aligned extremely accurately. Moreover, if one image reading assembly is moved, the position of the visible information on the display means changes accordingly, even if the size of the reading range displayed on one display means is larger than the size of one display means. You can also check the positional correspondence between the entire reading range and the image on the document. In other words, even when reading an image larger than the one display means, if you refer to the visible information on the display means while moving the one image reading assembly, you can check the result of alignment between the reading range and the image on the document. can be confirmed accurately.

[Means for solving the problem 2] In order to solve the second problem, in the present invention,
An image pickup device that separates and reads a document image into pixel units, and a display device that is light-transmissive and can be placed at any position on the document read by the image pickup device are substantially integrated. an image reading assembly that is movable; an area specifying means; an image processing means that performs a process determined for each area designated by the area specifying means on the image data output by the imaging means; Movement amount detection means for detecting the amount of movement of the workpiece; and visible information indicating the range of the area specified by the area specifying means are displayed on the display means, and the display position of the visible information is set according to the amount of movement. A display control means is provided that updates the display according to the amount of movement detected by the detection means.

[Function 2] According to the present invention, visible information indicating the range of the processing area to be processed for one image is displayed on the light-transmissive display means placed over the document, so that the operator can Visible information and the overlapping image on the document that is transmitted through the display device can be viewed simultaneously from above the display device, and the image on the document and the range of the image processing area can be aligned extremely accurately. . Furthermore, if the image reading assembly is moved, the position of the visible information on the display means changes accordingly, so even if the size of the reading range displayed on one display means is larger than the size of the display means. Also, for the entire reading range,
You can see the correspondence between the image processing area and the image on the document. That is, even when reading images that are larger than the display means.

By referring to the visible information on the display means while moving the image reading assembly, it is possible to accurately check the result of alignment between the image processing area and the image on the document, no matter where the image processing area is located.

[Means for Solving the Problem 3] In order to solve the above third problem, in the present invention,
An imaging means for separating and reading an original image into pixel units, and a display means having optical transparency and capable of being placed at any position on the original to be read by the imaging means are actually integrated. a movable image reading assembly; detecting the amount of movement of the image reading assembly; S motion amount detection means; and display control means for displaying visible information indicating a reading range on the document on the display means and updating the display position of the visible information in accordance with the amount of movement detected by the movement amount detection means. and coordinate input means for inputting a two-dimensional position, the input surface of which has optical transparency and which inputs a two-dimensional position, is provided in such a manner that the input surface substantially overlaps the display surface of the display means.

[Operation 3] According to the present invention, the coordinate input means and the display means are arranged substantially overlapping the document to be read. Moreover, since the input surface of the coordinate input means is light-transmissive, the operator can input any position on the image while viewing the image on the document through the display means and the coordinate input means. Therefore, if position coordinates are input using this coordinate input means, there is no fear that the input position will deviate from the actual position on the document.

In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, a memory for storing images read by the ys image reading device is provided, and a recording means is provided so that both image reading and recording, that is, copying operation is possible. During recording, the image to be recorded is displayed on the display means, and its display position is updated as the image reading assembly moves.

Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of embodiments with reference to the drawings.

[Embodiment] FIG. 1 shows an image processing system 11-1 implementing the present invention.
This figure shows the appearance in two usage modes.

The system shown in FIG. 1 is composed of a personal computer 90 and an image processing terminal device 340. Referring to FIG. 1, a personal computer 90 has a keyboard 91 . Plasma display92. Floppy disk device 93. It has an external wired interface 94 and an external wireless interface 95. Also inside it is a CPU (microprocessor) and main memory (not shown).

Equipped with hard disk drive etc. The external wireless interface 95 uses ultrasound as a signal carrier to transmit signals to and from external devices.

In this example, five image processing terminals ff! are connected to the external wired interface 94 of the personal computer 90 via the connection cable 244. 340 is connected. This @image processing terminal device 340 implements the present invention.

The image processing terminal device 340 has the following three functions. That is, the first function is.

This is an image reading function that raster scans the image on the surface of the original (10), sequentially reads the information of the image decomposed into pixel positions, and sends the image data to an external device (in this example, the personal computer 90). Output to. The second function is
Image recording function.

External device (personal computer 90 in this example)
Image data of characters and pictures inputted from the computer is received, and the image is recorded as a permanent image on a recording medium (10).

The third function is a copy function, in which the single image processing terminal device 340 reads an arbitrary document image and records the image as a permanent image on an arbitrary recording medium.

In addition, in this specification, the above-mentioned No. 1. The second and third functions are referred to as scanner mode, printer mode, and copy mode, respectively. Also, in copy mode,
Since the reading operation and the recording operation are not performed at the same time, the former operation stage is called the reading stage, and the latter operation stage is called the recording stage.

In addition, scanner mode and printer mode.

In addition to online operation using an external device such as the personal computer 90, offline operation of the image processing terminal device 340 alone is also possible.

In that case, the image data read in the scanner mode is stored on the floppy disk via the floppy disk drive 227, and in the printer mode, the image data read from the floppy disk is output and printed.

Furthermore, if two image processing terminal devices 340 are used and they are connected to each other by wire or wirelessly, and one device is operated in EL scanner mode and the other device is operated in printer mode,
The image can be recorded (printed) at the same time as the image of the original M is read. This operation is called pack-to-back mode.

As shown in FIG. 1, the image processing terminal device 340 can be placed on a document on which an original image to be read is recorded or on a recording medium (10) to be printed. Additionally, in this example, the image to be read is the original (10).
Not limited to the above image, even a three-dimensional object located far away from the image processing terminal device 340 can be imaged as a two-dimensional image and the image data can be read. The image processing terminal device 340 placed on an arbitrary plane (10) can be automatically driven by a drive mechanism or manually moved on the plane.

Next, the specific configuration and operation of the image processing terminal device 340 will be explained. FIG. 2 shows the internal structure of the image processing terminal device 340 shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 shows a schematic configuration of its electric circuit, and FIG. 4 shows the arrangement of an image reading optical system and a recording system.

Referring to FIG. 3, one image processing terminal device 340 includes M
PU (microprocessor) 222° ROM (read only memory) 223. RAM (Random Access Memory) 224. DMAC (DMA controller) 225.
INTC (interrupt controller), external interface unit 240, floppy disk drive 227.
Main drive unit h214. I10 port 230° image reading unit 1801 image processing unit 280, image memory 140. Recording unit 160° display / Input crab unit 1002 display memory) 27° LCD drive 1
26. Font memory 232° timing/area signal generation unit 231. A power supply unit 228 and a battery 229 are provided.

Note that the system bus 221 includes an address bus.

The 6MPU 222, which includes various signal lines and power supply lines for the data bus and controller bus, actually requires additional components such as a bus controller and a Glock generator, but is omitted in Fig. 3. This image processing terminal device is a BIT microprocessor! 340 is entirely controlled by software processing.

A basic operating program necessary for the software processing is stored in the ROM 223 in advance. Also.

1lIiII#s Various necessary data and ROM
Special programs that do not exist on the RAM 223 are read and written on the RAM 224 allocated to the working memory area.

The DMAC 225 performs DMA control in place of the MPU 222 when a device 1 other than the MPU 222, such as the floppy disk drive 227, controls the system 11 bus 221. The INTC 226 processes interrupt request signals generated by various devices and controls the MPU 222. control interrupt behavior. External interface unit 240 connects an external device to image processing terminal device 340 via plug 242 or antenna 243.

The font memory 232 is a ROM that stores data indicating dot patterns of various characters in association with each character code in advance, and when a character code is input as one image information, it develops it into a bit pattern. used for.

An optical sensor 251°, a magnetic sensor 252, and switches 253 to 258 are connected to the I10 boat 230.

The image reading unit 180 includes an imaging module 182. As shown in FIG. 4, this imaging module 182 includes three sets of solid-state imaging units (COD) 182.
a, 182b and 182C. 182a is
It includes a group of 2048 image sensors arranged in a row in the direction of arrow X, and specifically has the configuration shown in FIG. 15. In other words, the solid-state imaging unit 182a is -
It operates as a dimensional image sensor. The spectral sensitivity of this is approximately -1, that is, panchromatic. This unit is particularly used when reading an original image as high-density monochrome data.

182b is 204 arranged in a row like 182a.
It includes eight image pickup element groups, and furthermore, R (red), G (green), and B (blue) band-pass optical filters are provided in the light receiving sections of these element groups.

They are repeatedly arranged in the order of R, G, B, R...

Therefore, the three image sensors can read the color information of one pixel separated into R, G, and B, and the image sensor 182b can read the color information of 682 pixels in the X-axis direction.

182c has a group of 1024×1024 image sensors
and are arranged two-dimensionally in the Y-axis direction.

Furthermore, R, G, and B color band-pass optical filters are provided on each light-receiving surface of the image sensor.

They are repeatedly arranged in the order of R, G, B, R...

Therefore, 182c is 3.41X3 in the X-axis and Y-axis directions.
Color information in a two-dimensional area of 41 pixels can be read.

FIG. 16 shows the structure of this solid-state imaging unit 182C. This unit 182c is used when reading an image from a three-dimensional object or a very large original.

These three imaging units are individually controlled by a drive circuit 185 that is integrated with the imaging module 182. Two imaging units 182a and 182b
The images are read at the same time and the read image data is output simultaneously, but while these are performing the reading operation, the remaining imaging units 182c do not read the images. When performing this, two imaging units 182a and 182
The read operation of b is not performed.

As shown in FIG. 2, a zoom lens 190 is provided at a position facing the imaging module 182. The imaging module 182 is supported in a slidable manner in the YY-axis directions, and as shown in FIG.
The optical axis of the optical system including the imaging unit 182a can be positioned at either a position facing the center of the imaging unit 182a or a position facing the center of the imaging unit 182c. This positioning is switched by the operator moving a slide knob 188 provided above the imaging module 182.

The location of the imaging module 182 is determined by
Identification is performed by a reflective optical sensor 251 detecting a reflective pattern (not shown) provided on the substrate of the drive circuit 185, and the identification result is read by the MPU 222.

As shown in FIG. 4, a zooming motor (ZMOT) capable of forward and reverse rotation is mounted on the outer periphery of the cell of the zoom lens 190.
195 is mounted. This motor 195 is a servo motor, and includes a rotary encoder that generates two-phase signals for identifying the amount and direction of rotation. This motor 195 is connected to the MPU 222 via a controller/driver 196, and drives the zoom lens 190 so that it has a focal length instructed by the MPU 222.

The zoom lens 190 also includes a focusing motor 1.
93 is coupled and is driven to an appropriate position depending on the position of the subject (10°20).

This focus adjustment is a so-called autofocus method, in which the IMPU 222 controls the focusing motor 193 based on the image captured by the imaging module 182, and automatically adjusts the position of the lens 190. The focusing motor 193 is.

It is mounted on the outer periphery of a helicoid 191 fixed to the main body 200. Further, it is a servo motor capable of forward and reverse rotation, and is equipped with a rotary encoder that generates two-phase signals for identifying the amount of rotation and the direction of rotation.

The optical system includes a fluorescent lamp 1 used for illuminating the original (lO) and backlighting the liquid crystal display panel 121, which will be described later.
It is equipped with 94. The light intensity of this is the imaging module 1
The brightness is automatically adjusted by the MPU 222 controlling the light control circuit 195 based on the brightness of the image data captured by the light control circuit 82 .

Referring to FIG. 3, an image processing unit 280 is connected to the output terminal of the image reading unit 180. The image processing unit 280 is a hardware circuit that can perform various types of image processing in real time substantially simultaneously with image reading, and has a configuration as shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 6, the image processing unit 280 includes processing units for shading correction, spatial filtering, gamma correction, two-color correction, scaling, shifting, dither processing, and trimming. Note that 289 is a multiplexer that selects data obtained from either the output of the shading correction unit 285 or the system bus 221 and applies it to the spatial filter unit 281.

Each unit constituting the image processing unit 280 is controlled by the MPU 222 via the system bus 221. Various parameters for image processing are controlled by the MPU 222.

All of them are changeable and configured so that the MPU 222 can set them arbitrarily.

Therefore, in image processing that involves special image processing, parameters are set such that only shading correction is performed on the image processing unit 280 on the image data read by the imaging module 182, and nothing else is done. After storing data in the image memory 140, M
It is also possible to perform special image processing through software processing of the PU 222.

For example, when performing enlargement or reduction processing at a very high magnification, it is necessary to significantly increase or decrease the sub-scanning speed of the imaging section or recording section. In such cases, where problems are likely to occur, it is recommended to use software processing that is unrelated to the scanning speed. Although the processing speed will be slower, high-quality scaling processing will be possible.

Spatial filter unit 28 within image processing unit 280
1. Gamma correction unit 2821 Color correction unit 283
．． The variable magnification unit 284 and the dither processing unit 288 each include a plurality of sets of processing circuits therein. Different parameters can be set simultaneously in these plurality of sets of processing circuits, and a plurality of types of processing can be executed simultaneously. However, each unit has only one processing circuit that actually outputs processing results. The selection circuit 5ELI selects the processing circuit that actually outputs the processing result.
-8EL5. These selection circuits 5E
LI to 5EL5 are connected to a timing/area signal generation unit 231 via a system bus 221, and the selection state is sequentially switched in accordance with the signal outputted by the timing/area signal generation unit 231, that is, in synchronization with the scanning position.

The image memory 140 is a read/write memory with a bitmap configuration for storing one image data, and has a storage capacity sufficient to store one page of images.

In the scanner mode, the image memory 140 operates as a buffer memory that temporarily stores image data read by the imaging module 182. In this case, the image data stored in the memory is then transferred to an external device, such as the personal computer 90, via the data bus 221 and the external interface unit 240.

In the printer mode, the image memory 140 temporarily stores image data transferred from, for example, the personal computer 90 via the external interface unit 240. Note that the single character code and graphic vector data are written after being converted into bit image data by a predetermined conversion program.

In the copy mode, in the reading stage, the imaging module 182 operates as a buffer memory that temporarily stores read image data.

The recording stage operates as a memory that outputs stored image data.

As shown in FIG. 3, a recording unit 160 is connected to the output terminal of the image memory 140. This recording unit 160 includes an on-demand type inkjet recording element. In this example, to enable full color recording.

Y (yellow) 1M (magenta), C (cyan) and K (1
3 colors) four inkjet recording heads 161Y.

1.61M, 161G and 161K are provided.

Referring to FIG. 2, there is a space between the recording head of each color and the partitioned booth of each color of the ink tank 165.

Pipes 162Y, 162M, 162C and 16 respectively
It is connected to 2. Each inkjet recording head includes an ink ejection nozzle and a drive circuit. - Also, each recording head is equipped with 2048 ink ejection nozzles arranged in one row in the X-axis direction.

Referring to FIG. 3, 1 display/entering crab knit 100 has the following:
A liquid crystal display panel 121 is provided.

This display panel 121 is equipped with a group of two-dimensionally arranged liquid crystal display elements having a 512x512i1 element configuration, and is capable of displaying a two-dimensional image. Each display element can be set in a transparent state under the control of a display driver 126. Therefore, when all the display elements are made transparent, the entire surface of the display panel 121 is transparent, and light passes through it. In other words, even a visible image on the back side of the display panel 121 can be seen through the panel 121 from the front surface thereof. Furthermore, if a visible image of some kind is displayed on a portion of the display panel 121, it can be viewed overlappingly with the visible image on the back side. In this example, the display panel 121, as shown in FIG.
It can be placed so as to overlap the surface of O).

Information to be displayed on the display panel 121 is stored in a bitmap format display memory 127, which is comprised of a read/write memory. In this embodiment, the display panel 121 displays visible information indicating the range to be read on the document and the read image in the reading stage in the scanner mode or copy mode, and displays the read image in the recording stage in the printer mode or copy mode. In addition to displaying images to be recorded, the display panel 121 also displays various guidance messages and key switch marks for input operations.

In addition to one display panel 121, the display/input crab knit 100 is integrally provided with a digitizer device that can read two-dimensional coordinates in the X and Y directions. As shown in FIG. 5, two sets of light emitting diode arrays 102° 104 and two sets of photodiode arrays 103° 105 are arranged on each of the four sides of the rectangular display panel 121.

The light emitting diode arrays 102 and 104 each have one
The photodiode arrays 103 and 105 are 28 light emitting diodes arranged in a line at equal intervals in the Y direction and the X direction.

Each has 128 photodiodes arranged in a row at equal intervals in the Y direction and the X direction, and the light emitting diode array 102 and the photodiode array 10
The optical axes of the light emitting diode array 104 and the photodiode array 105 face each other and face in the Y direction. Therefore, the light emitted from the light emitting diode at the nth position of the light emitting diode play 102 is received by the photodiode at the nth position of the photodiode array 103, and the light emitted from the light emitting diode at the mth position of the light emitting diode array 104 is received by the light emitting diode at the nth position of the photodiode array 103. However, if there is a light blocking object such as a finger on the display panel 121 where the light is received by the photodiode at the m-th position of the photodiode array 105, the photodiode at the position that should receive the blocked light cannot detect the light. Since the light disappears, you can know that there is a light blocking object at that position. In this example, the photodiode array 103 can detect the position in the X direction on the display panel 121 with a resolution of 1/128, and the photodiode play 105 can detect the position in the Y direction on the display panel 121 with a resolution of 1/128. It can be detected by Therefore, when a finger or the like is brought close to the display panel 121, the XY
Coordinates can be detected. This allows input operations.

Note that the 128 light emitting diodes are sequentially energized to a light emitting state, and only the photodiodes located at positions facing the energized light emitting diodes are identified as to whether or not they are receiving light.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the display/input unit 100 in which the digitizer device and the display panel 121 are integrated has one end that rotates around the pivot pin 206 of the device body 200. The main body 200 can be opened from the main body 200 and placed horizontally on the document as shown in each case, or it can be closed and folded as shown by the dashed line in FIG. You can too.

Referring to FIG. 2, a light guide 123 and an optical filter 122 are provided at opposing positions on the back side of the unit in a folded state. The light guide 123 uniformly guides the light emitted by the fluorescent lamp 194 to each part of the display panel 121 to achieve clear backlight illumination. The optical filter 122 has the same pitch as the pixel pitch of one display panel 121, and has R, G, B
Bandpass filters of each color are arranged in order in a mosaic pattern. Therefore, when the display/input crab knit 100 is folded, if three consecutive pixels on the display panel 121 are controlled as one set, RlG, 83 color combinations can be displayed for each three pixels. Can display color images.

As shown in FIG. 2, a ball-shaped motor rotor 211 is exposed on the bottom surface of the device body.

Although only one motor rotor 211 is shown in FIG. 2, there is actually another motor rotor 201 (see FIG. 3). The surface of these motor rotors is covered with a rubber material such as chloroprene which has a large coefficient of friction against a document or paper serving as a recording medium, and the inside thereof is made of a magnetic material.

When the center of the ball is the origin of three-dimensional coordinates, this magnetic material rotates around two of the three coordinate axes that are perpendicular to each other (i.e., the X and Y axes) to reach the origin. In a surrounding manner, positions on the circumferential surface of the ball are each magnetized in a pattern in which north poles and south poles appear alternately.

212X and 212Y are field coils provided corresponding to the motor rotor 211, and the motor rotor 211 can be rotated on the same principle as a stepping motor. 212X and 212Y drive the motor rotor 211 to rotate about the Y axis and the X axis, respectively.

However, 212X and 212Y cannot drive the motor rotor at the same time, and one of them selectively drives the motor rotor. Therefore, the image processing terminal device 340
When energizing 12X, it moves in the X-axis direction, and when energizing 212Y, it moves in the Y-axis direction.

As shown in FIG. 3, the other motor rotor 201 is similarly provided with two field coils 202X and 202Y. In addition, field coils 202X, 202Y
, 212X and 212Y are coated with a material having a low coefficient of friction such as tetrafluoroethylene at the portions that come into contact with the motor rotor.

Around the motor rotor 211, the amount of rotation in the X direction (rotation around the Y axis) and the amount of rotation in the Y direction (X
Two-phase magnetic rotary encoders 213x and 213Y that can detect the amount of rotation around the axis are provided. This allows the amount and direction of rotation in each axial direction to be determined. Similarly, two-phase magnetic rotary encoders 203X and 203Y are provided around the motor rotor 201, which can detect the amount of rotation in the X direction and the amount of rotation in the Y direction, respectively.

The signals output by these encoders are used to detect the amount of movement of the image processing terminal M340 relative to the document or recording medium, and to stabilize the drive control when moving it by driving the motor rotor. be done. The driving of the motor rotors 201 and 211 is controlled by the MPU 222 via the main drive unit 214. Note that these two sets of motors are normally driven to rotate in the same direction and direction, so when driving these, the image processing terminal device 340 does not generate any rotational movement and always rotates in the X direction or direction. Move linearly in the Y direction.

The buttons of the switches 253 to 258 shown in FIG. 3 are exposed at the top of the main body of the device, as shown in FIG. The states of these switches are as required.

The MPU 222 reads data from the I10 port 230.

Next, the configuration and operation of the image processing unit 280 will be explained in more detail.

Referring to FIG. 12, the configuration of one set of filters of the spatial filter unit 281 is shown in FIG.

Input data is input to the terminal Din, and processed data is output to the terminal D out. In FIG. 12, π is a multiplier, aij is a coefficient register, Dij is pixel data, and i and j are the x-coordinate and y-coordinate of a pixel, respectively.
It corresponds to the coordinates, and in this example is in the range of 1 to 9.

Therefore, the results of arithmetic processing of a two-dimensional pixel group of 81 pixels are output.The content of the calculation is shown in the first-order equation (1).

Dout = Σ(aij x Dij) ・
(1) Each of the 81 coefficient registers aij is an 8-bit latch, and the coefficients held therein can be arbitrarily set by the MPU 222 via the system bus 221. By changing the coefficients, the characteristics of this filter can be set arbitrarily. In this example, as shown in FIG. 6, the spatial filter unit 281 is provided with a plurality of filters in parallel, so each filter is used for smoothing, edge enhancement (improving blur), etc. It is possible to set suitable characteristics and obtain different processing results simultaneously. However, among those processing results, the gamma correction unit 282 of the next stage actually
What is input to is limited to only one selected by selection circuit 5ELI at that time.

The selection state of the selection circuit 5ELL can be switched in correspondence with the scanning position, and the characteristics of the filter used at a predetermined position can be switched while reading one image. Therefore, when reading an image, part of the same image is smoothed and the other part is sharpened. The timing/area signal generation unit 231 outputs an instruction to the 6 selection circuit 5ELI that enables this operation.

Gamma correction unit 282 also includes multiple sets of correction circuits. As is conventionally known, gamma correction is a method of changing image density, for example, making the background part of an image white or making it high-key. The characteristics of each of the plurality of correction circuits can be arbitrarily set by the MPU 222. One output selected by one selection circuit 5EL2 from among the plurality of sets of correction circuits is output to the color correction unit 283 at the next stage.

The selection state of the selection circuit 5EL2 can be switched in correspondence with the scanning position, similar to the aforementioned 5ELI.

The configuration of one set of correction circuits of the color correction unit 283 is as follows.
Referring to FIG. 13, the input data is R, G.
and B are separated into terminals D 1 * D
2 and D3, and the processing results are separated for each color and applied to four sets of terminals Do1 to Do4. 13th
In the figure, π is a multiplier, Σ is an adder, akij and b
ki is a coefficient register. The contents of the coefficient register akij can be set to any value by the MPU 222 via the bus 221.

In addition, multiple sets of coefficient register matrices are provided, and it is possible to dynamically select which of them will be used for the actual correction calculation. It is possible to perform processing such as converting a part of the document into a monochrome color, converting red to blue in another part, or performing pseudo-color conversion to change a specific density part of a monochrome document to a specific color.

One set of circuits of the variable magnification unit 284 has a configuration in which two circuits shown in FIG. 14 are connected in series. The first circuit performs magnification in the main scanning direction (X direction), and the next circuit performs magnification in the sub-scanning direction (Y direction). Alternatively, unnecessary pixels caused by reduction are thinned out.

In FIG. 14, 鈕 represents a multiplier, and Σ represents an adder.

The input image data follows in chronological order.

Dixl , Dix2 , Dix3 , Dix4 (
x is one of the three types of input), the value of the coefficient register selected is agl, as2. as3. as4 (
s is 16 selection types), the content of the process is as shown in equation (2) below.

Do= Σ agj X D ixj −(2
) The shift unit 186 moves the position of the read image in the X direction or the Y direction.

The dither processing unit 288 is a circuit that converts 8-bit input gradation data into binary data including pseudo halftone information, and in this example, a plurality of circuits are provided in parallel. Conversion parameters can be set independently for each circuit. Any one of the processing results is selected by the selection circuit 5
It is selected at EL5 and applied to the next stage trimming unit 287.

Furthermore, the trimming unit 287 blanks out the input data (converts it into data equivalent to white) for the designated area. A signal indicating the area division is output from the timing/area signal generation unit 231.

In FIG. 10, the timing/area signal generation unit 231
Fig. 7, Fig. 8, and Fig. 9 show the timing of its main signals. First, refer to FIG.

Oscillator O8C generates basic clock CLKO. This basic clock becomes the source for generating other signals.

Signal CLKBR is for monochrome and color imaging unit 1.
82a and 182b are used as signals indicating the timing of each pixel when image data is shifted in the X direction (main scanning direction) pixel by pixel and read out, and four recording heads 161K.

161C, 161M, and 161Y are used as clock pulses indicating the timing of each pixel when performing a recording operation. Furthermore, CLKBR is also used as a clock indicating pixel timing when a monochrome image is processed by the image processing unit 280. CLKCR is used to write output data of the imaging unit 182b that outputs a color image to the image memory 140. This is a clock that indicates the timing of one unit of time, and has a frequency that is 1/3 of CLKBR.

LSYNC is a main scanning synchronization signal that outputs one pulse for each main scanning line. During one cycle of LSYNC, 2048 or more pulses of CLKBR appear. H.G.
ATE is the main scanning gate equal signal, and this signal is Fl
CL indicates the valid period of main scanning.
2048 KBR pulses appear.

RVGATE is a gate signal in the sub-scanning direction of the reading scan of the imaging module 182, and during the period when it is H, it becomes L.
The number of SYNC pulses appears the same as the number of pixels in the sub-scanning direction. This time tay is changed according to the reading scan length in the sub-scanning direction, and this change is performed by the MPU 222 adjusting the value set in the gate signal generator VGG.

V[IVGAT(E, VCVGATE and IINVG
ATE has 161G, 161G, and 161G on the recording head 161, respectively.
This signal regulates the recordable period of 161M and 161Y.

These four signals are mutually tl and tl, as shown in FIG.
t2. The phase is shifted by t3. This is because the four recording heads are arranged at positions shifted from each other in the sub-scanning direction, and the amount of positional shift and phase shift tl, t
2. t3 correspond to each other.

From the image memory 140 to the recording head 161K.

The image data of each color applied to 161C, 161M and 161Y is controlled in synchronization with the respective gate signals. That is, the ink ejection of C, M, and Y inks starts delayed by time tl, t2, and t3, respectively, compared to the K ink. Therefore, on a recording medium on which one image is printed, C, M, and Y inks can be recorded in an overlapping manner at the same position.

The counter XCI counts pulses generated for each pixel to generate scanning position information in the X-axis direction, and the counter Y01
The synchronization signal LSYNC is counted to generate scanning position information in the Y-axis direction.

Area memory AM identifies various areas designated by the operator, and also identifies each selection circuit 5ELI- in one image processing unit 280 when the scanning position is in a predetermined area.
A 1 selection signal is applied to 5EL5 and the trimming unit 287.

Area memory AM is as shown in FIG.

It has addresses AO to An, and is a read/write memory in which the l word located at one address is configured as 64 bits, and its contents can be arbitrarily rewritten by the MPU 222 via the system bus 221. It has become. Each word consists of the upper 12 bits du (duo=du
n) as the middle 12-bit part d m (d m O−
d m n ) and the lower 40-bit portion dQ (d m
O”dan).

The memory du is allocated to position data in the sub-scanning direction, the memory am is allocated to position data in the main scanning direction, and the memory dQ is allocated to selection signal data. Furthermore, 40 bits of dQ are selected by selection circuits 5ELL, 5
6 each for EL2, 5EL3, 5EL4 and 5EL5
The remaining 10 bits are assigned to trimming unit 287.

In other words, 12 bits are assigned to each data indicating the position of the processing area in the X direction and Y direction, so
It is possible to set 4096x4096 types of positions as processing areas, and even when one position is assigned to one pixel, it is twice the reading width (@prime number) of the imaging unit 182a, so it is possible to set a relatively large image. You can also specify any area on it.

Also, 1 selection circuit 5EL1.5EL2, 5EL3゜5EL
Since 6 bits are assigned to each of 4 and 5EL5, each of these can make 32 selections.

Note that the data of each word written to area memory AM is as follows:
They are arranged in order at addresses A O''A n so that the values of the positions of the areas specified by them gradually increase.

Address to read data from area memory AM (AO~
An) is specified by two counters XC2, YO2 which function as address pointers. counter xc
2. After the contents of YO2 are first cleared, the value of XC2 is the comparison result of comparator CP2 between the value read from dm of area memory AM (X-direction area position [) and the scanning position in X-direction. The value of YO2 is counted up when the comparison result of the comparator CPI between the value read from du of the area memory AM (Y-direction area position) and the Y-direction scanning position match. As a result, the address designation of area memory AM is updated.

In other words, the contents of the area memory AM are read out in order from addresses ΔO to An as the image reading scan progresses.Every time the read address of the area memory is switched, the selection circuits 5ELL to 5EL5 and the trimming unit Since the data output to H.287 changes, the content of image processing changes.

Therefore, if the sub-scanning position and main-scanning position of the position where the image processing contents change are written in order in du and dm of the area memory, the pointer will be updated every time the scanning position reaches the image processing change position. data for new image processing is read out, and the content of the processing is automatically changed.

FIG. 17 shows an outline of the operation of the MPU 222.

The operation will be described below with reference to FIG. 17.

Power is constantly supplied to the MPU 222.

The program is in the suspended state (step pH) so that it can be executed at any time.

This means that the MPU 222 is in a halt state.

By manual operation, the operator can display and input crab knit 1.
00 is opened from the closed state shown by the dashed line in FIG. do. In response to this interrupt signal, the interrupt controller 226
generates an interrupt signal. When the MPU 222 receives an interrupt signal in the halt state, the halt state is automatically released and the MPU 222 automatically shifts to the run state.

When the MPU 222 enters a run state, that is, a state in which a program is executed, it first enters standby processing (P2).

In order to shift the MPU 222 in the run state to the stop state, it is sufficient to close the 1 display/input crab unit 100 to the state shown by the dashed line in FIG. 2. In that case, the magnetic sensor 251 issues an interrupt signal to the interrupt controller 226, Interrupt controller 226 responsively applies an interrupt signal to MPU 222 . Thereby, the MPU 222 executes a predetermined interrupt service program, executes a halt command therein, and transitions to a halt state.

Note that if the display/input button lOO is closed while the button of the switch 258 is held down, transition to the halt state is prohibited. In this case, the display/entering crab knit 100 can be used as a color display.

In standby processing (P2), the status of the entire device is monitored,
Performs processing such as transitioning to a canceled state.

In step P3, it is checked whether or not image data exists on the image memory 140. If so, the first step P4 is executed. That is.

The image data on the image memory 140 is displayed on the display panel 12.
Display on 1. Specifically, image data is stored in display memory 1.
However, since the pixel resolution of the display panel 121 and the pixel size of the image to be displayed do not correspond 1 to 1, the data on the image memory 140 is thinned out by a predetermined number of pixels. The image data written on the 0 display memory 127 is automatically displayed on the display panel 121 by the hardware of the LCD drive 126.

Note that the operation of writing the image data on the image memory 140 into the display memory 12γ is actually performed using the DMA controller 225 in order to shorten the processing time.

In step P5, various types of guidance information required in the standby state are displayed on the single display panel 121.

The content of the display screen on the display panel 121 at the time when step P5 is completed is 1 when image data exists on the image memory 140, for example, as shown in FIG. 18, and when no image data exists, for example, The result will be as shown in Figure 19.

In FIGS. 18 and 19, 121d to 121h indicated by square marks each indicate 1 piece of crab knit 10.
For example, by touching each position with a finger, the digitizer device reads that an input has been made at that position. When the MPU 222 detects this input, it executes the function of the key switch assigned to that position.

This type of key switch formed on the display/input unit 100 will be referred to as a soft key in this specification.

In FIG. 19, reference numeral 121b indicates an image displayed on the panel, and reference numeral 121a indicates a rectangular frame indicating a range in which valid image data exists.

Figure 20 shows the display/entering crab knit lO where the image is displayed.
The display/input crab knit 100 is shown viewed from above with O placed on a recording medium (10) on which a pattern 10c is printed. Referring to FIG. 20, the pattern 10c of the recording medium located below the display/entering crab knit 100
can be seen through the display panel 121, overlapping the display on the panel.

Arrow 121 displayed on display panel 121 in FIG.
The ay mark indicates that only a portion of the image data existing on the image memory 140 is actually displayed on the display panel 121, and that the remaining displayable image exists in the direction of the arrow. In the example of FIG. 20, there are still images to be displayed at the bottom of one display screen.

In the state shown in FIG. 20, in order to view the contents of the remaining image information, connect this image processing terminal device to the recording medium or original (10
) and move the device downwards. In that case, the device moves while the motor rotors 201 and 211 are in contact with the surface of the recording medium or document, so the motor rotor 201 211 rotates as the device moves. The rotation of these motor rotors is controlled by rotary encoders 203X, 203Y, 213X, 213"l.
', so the MPU 222 can know the direction and amount of movement of the device.

When the MPU 222 detects the movement of the device, it controls the data in the display memory 127 according to the amount of movement, scrolls the image 121b displayed on the display panel 121 toward the opposite side of the direction of movement of the device, The contents of the remaining undisplayed image data are displayed in the area on the display panel that has become newly capable of displaying images.

FIG. 21 shows the appearance of the display panel after the device is moved a little to the bottom of the screen from the state shown in FIG. 20.

Referring to FIG. 21, since the entire device has moved downward, the pattern 10c that exists below the device and can be seen through the display panel 1 has moved upward relative to the screen, and
The frame 121a and the image 121b displayed on the screen 21 have also all moved toward the top of the screen.

What should be noted here is that the positional relationship between the frame 121a, the image 121b, and the pattern 10c displayed on the 1 display panel 121 has not changed between FIG. 20 and FIG. 21. In other words, even if the image processing terminal device is moved, the positional relationship between the printed image visible through one display panel and the displayed image on the display panel does not change. Therefore, for example, even if the image to be recorded is considerably larger than the size of the display panel 121, only a portion of the actual size image is displayed on the display panel 121, and the image is displayed while moving the device. By updating the area, it is possible to accurately check whether or not the entire large image is aligned with the print image (10c) on the recording medium.6 If the positions are not aligned, one image is displayed. What is necessary is to lift the processing terminal device from the paper surface of the recording medium and move it relative to the paper surface. In this case, even if the apparatus is moved, neither of the two motor rotors 201 and 211 rotate, so the MPU 222 does not scroll the display contents, and the printed image (10c) on the recording medium and the display panel 121 do not rotate. You can change the positional relationship with the image above. Although it is possible to move the image processing terminal device manually,
As mentioned above, since the motor rotor can be driven, the device can also be driven by itself. Note that although we have explained the vertical direction (Y-axis direction) of the display panel here,
The display image is similarly scrolled in the left-right direction (X-axis direction) as the device moves.

This image processing terminal device is broadly classified into a scanner mode, a printer mode, and a copy mode, and these modes can be selectively used.

In the standby state described above, when a switch button (including soft keys) of the apparatus is operated or a predetermined operation request signal is input from the externally connected personal computer 90, the apparatus shifts to the various modes described above. Identification of this mode is performed in step P6 of FIG.

If a print request command is received from the personal computer 90, the process advances to step pH. step pH
Now, receive the print specifications and data of the image to be printed. The received data is stored in image memory 1.
Be written to 40. When the data reception and writing to the memory are completed, the next step P12 is executed.

In step P12, according to the print specifications.

Converting image data into data in a format that can be recorded by the recording head 161 For example, since characters are received as code information, the font memory 232 is used to convert the bit pattern of the character corresponding to the character code. expand,
The results are stored on image memory 140. In addition,
The received data and the image data developed into a bit pattern are stored in mutually different address areas on the image memory 140. Therefore, the code data should also be saved as is.

In step P13, the bit pattern image data existing on the image memory 140 is written into the display memory 127. This writing is performed at high speed using DMA.

At the end of step P13, the display on the display panel 121 becomes, for example, as shown in FIG. 19 or 20 described above. In this case, the screen includes five soft keys 121d,
121e, 121f, 121g and 12th are displayed.

Step P14 shows the operator's operation, in which the operator aligns the image and the recording medium. If the image is too large to fit on the screen, move the image processing terminal device as described above.
Scroll the displayed image and check whether each part of the entire image is aligned with each part of the recording medium 1
The image is displayed on the display panel 121 in its actual size at the time of recording. However, since the pixel density of the display panel is coarser than the pixel density during recording, the quality of the displayed image is slightly inferior to that of the recorded image.

In step P15, soft key 121h on the display screen is pressed.
Waits for an input operation to be performed on .

If there is an input, the process advances to the next step 16.

In step 16, printing is actually performed on the recording medium. What is important here is to accurately record as aligned in step 14, that is, so that the display position of the image on one display panel 121 and the position of the recording medium located below it match.

In step 16, the MPU 222 first controls the main drive unit 214 to drive the motor rotors 201 and 2.
11 to move the entire image processing terminal device along the surface of the recording medium in the Y-axis direction. Then, the recording axis of the black recording head 161 is at the leading edge position of the displayed image before the apparatus moves (in FIG. 20, the upper broken line portion of 121a)
Position it so that it aligns with the Positioning in this case is performed by controlling so that the distance from the position of the recording head 161 to the leading edge position of the display image on the display panel matches the moving distance detected by the rotary encoder.

When positioning is completed, the MPU 222 issues a data output command to the image memory 140, a recording start command to the recording heads 161C, 161M, and 161Y, and a constant speed running command in the Y direction to the main drive unit 214. Each is output via the bus 221.

If the X direction is called the main scanning direction and the Y direction is called the sub-scanning direction, the motor rotors 201 and 211 cause the device to run at a constant speed in the sub-scanning direction. In addition, the recording head 161
, 161C, 161M.

161Y each includes 2048 nozzles arranged in the main scanning direction. Therefore, each print head can print a two-dimensional image with a 2048Xn pixel configuration for each color.

Recording is performed for each main scanning line, and for each line,
Recording for each of the 2048 pixels is performed serially when recording of 1 line is completed.

The image processing terminal device moves by one pixel in the sub-scanning direction and proceeds to recording the next one line.

During this recording operation, the image to be recorded is displayed on the 1 display panel 121, and the displayed content changes as the device moves.
It is displayed in the same way as in step P14. However, in this case, the display position is scrolled according to the currently recorded position on the image.

In step P17, since the print operation has been completed, a completion status is sent to the external personal computer 90.

When a scan request command is received from the personal computer 90, the process first proceeds to step P21.
At 21, data of scan specifications to be applied is received. This data is then written onto image memory 140.

In the next step P22, the received scan specification data is decoded and processing is performed according to the data. Execute content settings, etc.

In step P23, the same process as in step P13 described above is executed.

The simplest scanning specification is when the entire range of the display surface of the display panel 121 is read. In that case, the display on the display panel 121 will be as shown in FIG. Also, trimming a variable circular area (reading only the inside of that area)
In the case of a scan specification including a request, for example, a screen as shown in FIG. 23 is displayed. In the example of FIG. 23, the image of the portion inside the circular broken line mark 121a indicating the range of the area is extracted and read. Note that 121bl and 121b2 are soft keys for instructing to reduce and enlarge the diameter of the mark 121a, respectively.

Step P24 shows the operator's operation, in which the operator aligns the device and the document,
Set the reading area. The entire range of the display surface of the display panel 121 is read. If a simple scan specification is also set for i, it is sufficient to simply align the images on the document so that the image to be read falls within the display surface of the display panel.

If your scan specifications include cropping specific areas or designating special areas that require special image processing, the portion of the image on the document that corresponds to that area may be , it is necessary to perform more fine alignment so that the actual size area display marks indicating the processing area displayed on the display panel match.

Further, the scan specifications may include specifications that request the operator to specify an area. In that case, it is necessary to input the coordinates and specify the area using the digitizer of the image processing terminal device. Further, the scan specifications may include only the basic shape of the area as information about the area. In that case, since the basic shape is displayed on the display panel 121, it is necessary to transform it using soft keys and specify the area.

1 if the scan specification is variable circular trimming
For example, it becomes as shown in FIG. In this example, sentence 10a
The apparatus is shown placed on a document (10) on which an elliptical pattern Job is printed. Here, for example, if you want to enlarge the size of the trimming, you may perform an input operation (touch) on the soft key 121b associated with the enlargement operation. As a result, as shown in FIG. 25, the size of the circular broken line indicating the area is enlarged.

The alignment between the document and the image processing terminal device can be performed by moving the device over the document, as in step P14 described above.

The reading range specified in the scan specifications is displayed on the display panel 121.
If the reading area is larger than the display range, that is, if the entire reading area does not fit within the display panel 121, a display as shown in FIG. 26, for example, appears. Here, the arrow display 121a indicates the reading range, 121ax indicates that the reading range is expanding further to the right (X direction) than the display range, and 121ay indicates that the display range is further below the display range ( This indicates that the reading range is expanding in the Y direction). Further, 121s is a mark indicating the range of a designated area within the reading range (121a) where more special image processing is to be performed. 121syl and 121sy2 indicate that the range of the area does not fit on the display. Here, special image processing means, for example, changing sharpness, two tone tone of WA degree gradation, image displacement, dither pattern, etc. for other areas. These image processes are performed in real time by the image processing unit 280 at the time of image reading.

Scan specifications may be set in which the reading range is arbitrarily specified. In that case, the MPU 222 stores the ROM in advance.
223 as fixed area shape data and a pattern existing as user defined area shape data on RAM 224.

It is displayed on the display panel 121. In that case, for example, the second
A screen like the one shown in Figure 7 will be displayed.

In FIG. 27, 121i, 121j, 121k and 121Q are fixed area-shaped patterns, and 12In
shows the pattern of the user-defined area shape. These display patterns indicate the range of the target area when performing trimming or special image processing.

Furthermore, soft keys are formed at the positions of each display pattern.

When one input operation is performed on these soft keys, an area pattern at that position is picked up, and when the second input operation is performed, the area is fixed in a similar shape to that position. 121m shows the result after picking up one area pattern of 12 inches and setting the position and shape. In addition.

When specifying an area such as 121m, an input mode for directly specifying the area may be used instead of using the basic area shape displayed on the screen as a menu. That is, for example, by moving the fingertip so as to draw a locus of a required area pattern while keeping the fingertip within the reading area of the digitizer, the area is set on the part of the locus. The shape of the area set in this way can be registered in the RAM 224 as a user-defined area shape and used again later.

Regarding the area shape pattern soft key, if another key 121e is inputted before performing the second input operation, the picked up area pattern is rotated by 15 degrees.

For example, the area shape pattern 121b is the pattern 121
After picking up Q, input operation is performed on the soft key 121e six times, and the result is obtained by rotating the soft key 121e by 90 degrees.

In addition, when inputting two points without picking up any area shape pattern, set the two points as diagonals.
Set a rectangular area. 1218 in Figure 27 is 12
It shows the range of the area set when two points 1apl and 12.1ap2 are input.

When predetermined inputs are made for these areas, the results are immediately calculated by the MPU 222. And MPU22
2 sets various image processing parameters for the image processing unit 280;

The contents of the area memory in the timing/area signal generation unit 231 are set. Once all these settings are completed, you can start reading images at any time.

Even if the area is larger than the inputtable range of the display/input unit 100, the image can be read by specifying the area with the image processing terminal device.

The operation in that case will be explained.

First, one point pt is input in the state shown in FIG. 19a.

That is, the user touches the position of Pl with, for example, a fingertip.

In that case, MPU222. identifies whether point p1 belongs to the left or right or above or below with respect to the center of the display panel,
A line segment mark 121ax indicating the range of the area from the point p1 toward the unrotted half area.

Draw 121ay.

After that, when the operator moves the image processing terminal while keeping it in contact with the original, a screen such as that shown in FIG. 29b is displayed. Note that 10a in Fig. 29b is the printed pattern on the original document. When point p2 shown in Fig. 29c is inputted, the display on one screen changes as shown in Fig. 29d, and the range of the determined rectangular reading area is displayed. Line segments 121ax and 121a of the frame showing
y appears.

If you wish to perform special image processing on a specific area within the reading area set in this way, perform the following operations. First, set the image processing terminal device to its initial position. Return to display the screen shown in Figure 29a, and in that state enter two points P3+P4.8 Next, move the device again.

On the screen shown in FIG. 29c, point P5 is input. As a result, as shown in FIG. 29d, a rectangular frame 1218 indicating the range of the set area is displayed.

The content of the image processing within the area indicated by this frame 121S is as follows:
The operator can make any selection by operating the soft key 121g. In other words, by inputting 121g, the previous display is erased, and a "partial image processing content selection screen" (not shown) is displayed on the display panel 121. ) will be displayed. When this screen is displayed, you can interactively select the image processing content within the specified area. After this operation, enter the soft key displayed on that screen to return to the screen. You can return to the original screen state. If the soft key for starting reading is input, the reading operation can immediately proceed to the next step P26.

Note that it is also possible to set a special area for image processing inside the area to be trimmed.

In step P25, the software waits for an input operation on the soft key 121h, and if there is an input, the process proceeds to step P26.

In step P26, the image is actually read according to the scan specifications set in the previous processes.What is important here is that there is no positional deviation between the specified reading position and the position of the image that is actually read. should not occur.

Specifically, when no special reading area is specified, the image of the area on the document that is facing the inner part of the display/input range of the display/input unit 100 at the time of alignment is read. is important, and when a reading area is specified, it is important to read the image of the area on the document that is opposite to the rectangular frame indicating the reading area displayed on the screen during 1st alignment. , if there is a special area designated for further cropping or image processing in the scanning area, a positional shift may occur with respect to the image of the area on the document that was facing the frame indicating the range of that area. This means performing cropping and image processing without the need for image processing.

In this embodiment, when aligning, the printed image on the document and the display such as a frame indicating the area on the display panel 121 appear to overlap, so the alignment is accurate and the image is actually read from that point on. Until then, there is no risk that a one-position deviation will occur unless a slip occurs between the device and the document.

When the size of the set reading area is equal to or smaller than the size of the display panel 12I, the MPU 222 determines that the conjugate point between the imaging unit 182a and the lens 190 is 1.
The fineness of the display panel 121 in the sub-scanning direction (121 in FIG.
A movement amount is given to the main drive unit 214 to move it to the position (above).

Also, the size of the set reading area is 1 display panel 12
If the magnitude is greater than 1, the MPU 222 t
Rf &: L nit l 82 a The amount of movement is such that the conjugate point with Lt 190 moves to the position of the edge of the frame (12fax in FIG. 26) indicating the range displayed on the display panel 121. to the main drive unit 214.

The main drive unit 214 includes the motor rotor 201
, 211 and is controlled so that the amount of rotation detected by the rotary encoder matches the specified amount of movement, thereby positioning the device at a predetermined position.

After this alignment is completed, the main drive unit 214
applies a completion signal to the MPU 222, the MPU 222
Inputs an imaging start command to the imaging drive circuit 185, a processing start command to the image processing unit 280, and an image memory 1.
Data input command to 40.

A constant speed running command in the Y direction is applied to the main drive unit 214 via the system bus 221, respectively.

If the X direction is called the main scanning direction and the Y direction is called the sub-scanning direction, the motor rotors 201 and 211 cause the device to run at a constant speed in the sub-scanning direction. Also, the imaging unit 182
The element groups at each pixel position of a and 182b are arranged in 2048 pixels in the main scanning direction. Therefore, by moving the device by n pixels by sub-scanning, a two-dimensional image of 2048Xn pixels can be read during that time.

Image reading is performed for each main scanning line in synchronization with the signal LSYNC, and in each line, the pixel synchronization signal CLKBR is
2048 pixels are sequentially read in synchronization with . The read data is subjected to image processing by the image processing unit 280, and then transferred to and written into the image memory 140.

The image memory 140 has a variable bit configuration of words in units of access, and for monochrome image data, one word is 8 bits, R, G.

For B color image data, 1 word is 24 bits,
For C, M, and Y color image data, one word has a structure of 32 bits.

The process of step P26 is continued until the sub-scanning end position is reached and images in all the reading areas are read. Furthermore, during this reading operation, the various areas displayed on one display panel 121 are scrolled in accordance with the sub-scanning of the device. Further, the contents of the read image are sequentially displayed in real time on the display panel 121 starting from the line for which image processing and writing to the image memory have been completed. Therefore, the operator can immediately view and confirm the reading result of a portion of the image for which the reading has been completed, without having to wait for the scanning of the entire reading range to be completed. If the desired result is not obtained, the reading can be stopped by operating a switch.

Next, some examples of operations related to image reading will be described.

In the example of FIG. 27, the frame 12 indicating the range of each processing area
The trimming range is set by 1a, 121b, and 121m. In this state, soft key 121h
When an input operation is performed, image reading starts. As a result, the screen shown in FIG. 28 is displayed. Comparing FIG. 27 and FIG. 28, frames 121a, 121b, 121
It can be seen that only the range specified by each of m was extracted as valid image data. Note that the frame 121a.

The information of 12lb and 121m is stored in the RAM 224 and is separated from the image data on the image memory 140.

In the example of FIG. 30a, a frame 121a indicating the range of the processing area
The processing content is specified to perform a predetermined color conversion in the section. In addition, in FIG. 30a, 10b, 10c,
10d and 10x are images printed on the original (10), and are visible through one display panel. Chapter 30a
In the state shown.

When an input operation is performed on the soft key 121h, image reading is started, and as a result, the screen shown in FIG. 30b is displayed. Read image 121b shown in Figure 30b
1 has a different color from the image 10b on the original.

In the example of FIG. 31a, an arbitrary designation command is received from the personal computer 90, and the operator makes settings to perform different image processing on a plurality of arbitrary regions.

Specifically, in the frame 121a indicating the area, the gamma correction unit 282 is set to low key, in the frame 121b, the color correction unit 183 is set to perform color conversion, and in the frame 121m, the spatial filter unit 281 is set to perform line thinning processing, and other parts are set to perform standard image processing. When an input operation is performed on the soft key 121h in the state shown in FIG. 31a, image reading is started, and as a result, the
The screen shown in the figure will be displayed.

In the explanation so far, the movement of the image processing terminal device during the single image reading and printing operations is performed by magnetically driving the motor rotors 201 and 211.

We have explained the case where the device is self-propelled, but since such self-propulsion consumes a lot of power, it is recommended that the image processing terminal device uses a battery as a power source and cannot obtain power from the host computer. In some situations, the available time of the device is severely limited.

Therefore, if it is desired to reduce power consumption, the device is configured so that it can stop moving by itself and can be moved manually by the operator. In that case, information indicating the position and direction of movement is displayed on the display panel 121.

In step P27, since one image reading operation has been completed, a completion status is sent to the external personal computer (host computer) 90.

When the operator presses the button of the switch 255, the process enters the file mode and proceeds to step P31. In this step, menu 1lffi is displayed on the display panel 121 in order to wait for the operator's instructions regarding file operations. This menu screen includes information for selecting whether to transfer image data from the disk 80 to the image memory 140 or from the image memory 140 to the disk 80.

In step P32, the operator inputs the file name and the like.

In step P33, the presence or absence of an input operation is checked for the two soft keys (save and load) displayed on the display panel 121, and if there is an input to save, the process advances to step P34, and the input to load is input. If there is, the process advances to step P35.

In step P34, the image data on the image memory 140 is transferred to the disk 80 and stored therein. This step also includes processing to compress the data.

In step P35, the image data stored on the disk 80 is transferred onto the image memory 140. The compressed data is written to the image memory 140 after data decompression processing is performed.

Next, the case of copy mode will be explained. There are two types of copy modes. One is a mode that uses one image processing terminal device, and the other is a back-to-back mode that uses two image processing terminal devices. When the wired interfaces 242 of two image processing terminal devices are connected by cable, this is identified by the program in the ROM 223, and the back-to-back mode is automatically activated.

The copy mode can be roughly divided into three steps: setting the reading mode, executing the reading operation, and - executing the recording (print) operation. However, in the back-to-back mode, one side performs a reading operation and the other side performs a printing operation at the same time, and the pack-to-back mode is almost the same as one in the scanner mode and the other in the printer mode, so a description thereof will be omitted. The normal copy mode will be explained below.

When the button of the switch 254 is pressed, the process proceeds to step P41. In this step, a menu screen for setting the copy mode is displayed on the 1 display panel 121. This screen is shown in Figure 11a.

In FIG. 11a, 121d is sharpness adjustment, 1
21a is gradation adjustment, 121c is color adjustment, 121 g L
t m rate 1 [! ! -1213C position m'1llc shift) -121 indicates soft keys respectively assigned to area processing settings.

For example, by performing an input operation on the soft key 121k, operations such as trimming as shown in FIG. 27, specifying a processing area, and setting the contents of image processing can be performed.

Regarding the input of a specific area, referring to FIG. 31, if you input the soft key 121e after inputting the area, selectable processing for each image processing step 1, for example, in the gamma correction processing step, high contrast, low contrast, high key , a selection menu appears in the form of a low key, allowing input in association with the area.

Further, for example, when the soft key 121e is input, the gradation setting screen shown in FIG.
By touching a, any characteristic 121adj can be set from the standard characteristic 121st. 12ti is a soft key for returning to the original screen (FIG. 11a), and 121b is a soft key for starting image reading.

Step P42 represents an input operation by the operator using the menu screen.

In step P43, the copy specifications set in P42 are computed and developed, processing parameters are set in the 1 image processing unit 280, and when there is trimming or area processing, the timing and area (data is stored in the area memory of the number a generation unit 231) Write.

Step P51 is performed by pressing the soft key 12 on the screen shown in FIG. 31a.
This step is executed when 1h is touched, and a reading operation is executed in the same manner as step P26 described above. The image data read for each main scan is stored in one image processing unit 28.
0, the image is processed, converted into recording data, and stored in the image memory 140. At the same time, the MPU 222 also calculates data suitable for display, and the display memory 127
written to.

Step P61 is a process of executing a print operation. Here, for example, the screen shown in FIG. 22 is cursed. This screen has been read and image processed according to the specifications set in step P41, and a read image 121a corresponding to the image data existing on the image memory 140 and a plurality of soft keys are displayed on the display panel 121. be.

One of these softkeys is Key 1 to start recording.
21h, and if this is touched, image data is immediately sent from the image memory 140 to the recording head 160 and a printing operation is executed. That is, substantially the same image as the image displayed on the display panel 121 is recorded on the recording medium directly below the display position. Again, what is important is that what is seen by the operator on the display means is recorded as a permanently visible image on the recording medium.

Therefore, for example, if the recording medium has a preprint such as ruled lines in advance, the recording position can be appropriately aligned. The position can be adjusted by lifting, separating and moving the table device li from the recording medium.

In addition, even if the recording range is larger than the display panel 12+, by moving the recording medium and device without separating them, the screen will scroll, allowing you to check for protrusion of the recorded image or deviation of the recording position before recording. .

The remaining soft keys on the menu screen are keys for re-image processing, and when these keys are touched, a menu screen for re-image processing appears. Re-image processing is
- The image data in the image memory 140 that has been read is subjected to image processing again. For example, if the image as intended by the operator does not appear on the display panel 121, or if a single image read from a document is subjected to slightly different transformations (image processing), multiple recorded images may be displayed. When desired, there is no need to repeatedly read the original image, so the image data on the image memory 140 is reused, processed again by the image processing unit, and the processing result is output as a recorded image.

The menu screen for re-image processing is the same as the menu screen in step P41. That is, sharpness vI adjustment 2
Gradation adjustment, density adjustment, two-color adjustment, magnification adjustment, trimming,
settings etc. can be set by the operator. The re-image processing specifications set here are arithmetic processed by the MPU 222, and then processing parameters are set in the image processing unit 280, and when there is a trimming area setting, it is stored in the area memory of the timing/area signal generation unit 231. After writing the data, to the DMA controller 225,
The image processing unit 28 uses a predetermined address in the image memory 140 as the transfer source address and a predetermined address in the image memory 140 as the transfer destination address.
The addresses of the 0 multiplexers 289 are set respectively to execute DMA data transfer. As a result, the image data is subjected to image processing again and displayed on the display panel 121 again.

In the above embodiments, a liquid crystal display was used as the display means, but any other display means, such as an electrochromic display device, may be used instead as long as it has the property of transmitting light. In addition, although a non-contact optical reading device was used as a device for reading the coordinates on one display means in the embodiment, another coordinate input device may be used as long as it does not interfere with the transmission of light on one display means. Good too. For example, it is possible to use an input device that detects the coordinates of a pressed position by disposing pressure-sensitive electrodes between transparent sheets.

[Effects] As described above, according to the present invention, visible information indicating the range of the processing area to be image processed (for example, 121 a in FIG. ) is displayed, so the operator can simultaneously view the visible information and the image on the document that is visible through the display and overlap, from above the display, and the image on the document and the reading range or The alignment of the image processing area can be performed extremely accurately.

Furthermore, if the image reading assembly is moved, the position of the visible information on the display means changes accordingly, so even if the size of the reading range displayed on one display means is larger than the size of the display means. You can also see the positional correspondence between it and the image on the document for the entire reading range.

In other words, even when reading an image larger than the display means, by referring to the visible information on the display means while moving the image reading assembly, the position of the reading range or image processing area III and the image on the document can be adjusted. You can check the matching results accurately.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a system in use that utilizes a device 340 implementing the present invention. 2 and 3 are a front view and a block diagram, respectively, showing the configuration of the device 340 of FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the arrangement of the reading optical system and recording system of the apparatus 340. FIG. 5 is a plan view showing the display/entering crab knit 100. FIG. 6 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of the image processing unit 280. FIG. 7, FIG. 8, and FIG. 9 are time charts showing the operation timing of the device 340. FIG. 10 shows the timing/area signal generation unit 231.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of FIG. FIGS. 11a and 11b are plan views showing display contents on the display panel 121. FIG. 12, 13, and 14 are block diagrams showing a portion of the configuration of a spatial filter unit 281, a color correction unit 283, and a variable magnification unit 284, respectively, in the image processing unit 280. Figures 15 and 16
The figures are block diagrams showing the configurations of imaging units 182a and 182c, respectively. FIG. 17 is a flowchart outlining the operation of device 340. Fig. 18, Fig. 19, Fig. 20, Fig. 21, Fig. 22,
Figure 23@, Figure 24, Figure 25, Figure 26, Figure 27,
Figure 28. Figures 29a, 29b, 29c, 29d, and 30a. 30b, 31a, and 31b are plan views showing the appearance of the display/entering knit 100 including visible information displayed on the display panel 121. FIG. 10: Original (or recording medium) 90: Personal computer 100: Display/input unit 102.104: Light emitting diode array 103.105
: Photodiode array 121: Liquid crystal display panel (display means) 123 Light guide 126: LCD drive 127: Display memory 140: Image memory 160: Recording unit 180: Image reading unit 182: Imaging module (imaging means) 190: Zoom lens 194: Fluorescent lamp 201.
211: Motor rotor 202X, 202Y, 212X, 212Y: Field coil 203X, 203Y, 213X, 213Y:
0-ta IJ-work:/:I-da (movement amount detection means) 21
4: Main drive unit 221 system bus 222: MPU (display control means) 223: ROM 224: RA
M225: DMA controller 226: Interrupt controller 227: Floppy disk drive. 230: I10 port 231: Timing/area signal generation unit 232: Font memory 251: Optical sensor 252: Magnetic sensor 25
3-258: Switch 280: Image processing unit 2
81: Spatial filter unit 2B2: i-ma correction unit 283: Color correction unit 284: Variable magnification unit 288: Dither processing unit 340: Image processing terminal device (image reading assembly) SEL
L ~ 5EL5: Selection circuit diagram back 6 Figure 14 (J to summer 7 diagram CL 0 1111111111111111111 + 111: 2 = 2: II II 1111111111111111
111111111111 III II 11111
1111Figure 8 LSYNCIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
III -11111111111111 Kawakawa River +1
111111111111111111111 Voice 9 Diagram LSYNC11111111111111111111
1+1:2=II 11111+11 II 1111
11+11111 III III II 11111
III III III Engraving of the drawings No. 23 103-m- East Theft 21h Engraving of the drawings Amendment to the engraving procedure of the drawings (method) 1. Indication of the case 1999 Patent Application No. 43883 2
, Title of the invention Image reading device 3, Relationship to the case of the person making the amendment Patent applicant address 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Name
(674) Ricoh Co., Ltd. Representative Hama 1)
Hiro 4, Proxy address: 2-27-6-5, Higashi Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103 Te1.03 864-6052 Date of amendment order 6, Subject of amendment 7, Details of amendment May 150, 1999 (shipped Date: May 30th of the same year) Submit engravings with attached drawings. 8. Inventory drawings of attached documents (Fig. 20, Fig. 21, Fig. 24, Fig. 25, Fig. 2)
Figure 7. Figure 28, Figure 29a, Figure 29b, Figure 29c, Figure 2
Figure 9d.

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) Imaging means that reads the original image by decomposing it into pixel units;
and a display means that is light-transmissive and can be placed at any position on the document read by the image pickup means; an image reading assembly that is movable over the document; Movement amount detection means for detecting the movement amount of the body; and displaying visible information indicating a reading range on the document on the display means, and displaying the display position of the visible information by the movement amount detected by the movement amount detection means. An image reading device comprising: a display control means for updating in accordance with the above. (2) an imaging means that reads the original image by decomposing it into pixel units;
and a display means that is light-transmissive and can be placed at any position on the document read by the image pickup means; an image reading assembly that is movable over the document; an image reading assembly that is movable over the document; Image processing means that performs processing determined for each area designated by the area designation means on the image data output by the imaging means; Movement amount detection means that detects the amount of movement of the image reading assembly. and displaying visible information indicating the range of the area specified by the area specifying means on the display means, and updating the display position of the visible information in accordance with the amount of movement detected by the movement amount detection means. An image reading device comprising: a control means; (3) The image according to claim 1, wherein the coordinate input means for inputting a two-dimensional position, the input surface of which has optical transparency, is provided such that the input surface substantially overlaps the display surface of the display means. reading device.