JPH02280459A - Picture edit system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain efficient and high speed picture edit processing by providing a means displaying the processing result based on a prescribed control instruction given to a picture corresponding to the input picture without processing the input picture and a means processing the input picture. CONSTITUTION:The system is provided with a means 200 storing an input picture, a means 300 displaying the result of processing applied to a picture corresponding to the input picture based on a given prescribed control instruction without processing the input picture stored in the storage means 200 and a means 400 processing the input picture stored in the storage means 200 according to the control instruction. That is, the display means 300 displays the result of processing to the picture corresponding to the input picture based on the given prescribed control instruction, while the processing means 400 processes the input picture stored in the storage means 200 according to the control instruction. Thus, the picture editer is made efficient.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an image editing system for laying out and editing image information.

[Prior Art] A conventional image editing system transfers original image data from an image input device to an editing device such as a computer, and
Then, processing such as editing and layout was added to the original actual image data, and the processed image data itself was transferred to an output device to obtain a printout.

[The problem that the invention is trying to solve] However,
The above-mentioned conventional example has the following drawbacks when the amount of image data increases due to improvements in the reading resolution of input devices, colorization, and other quality improvements.

First of all, it takes a very long time to transfer data between an input device and an image editing device such as a computer, which slows down the processing speed of the entire system. Further, a similar problem occurs when data is transferred between an image editing device and an output device.

Secondly, the resolution of computers and other image collections is generally low, whereas the resolution of input/output devices is increasingly high. Therefore, images actually input on a computer must be subjected to processing such as reduction in order to match the resolution to the display on the computer.

Therefore, the present invention provides an image input/output device for an image editing system having an image input/output device, a control computer for image editing, etc.
The purpose is to improve the efficiency of I collection equipment.

[Means and effects for solving the problem] In order to solve the above problem, the image editing system of the present invention includes a means for storing an input image, and a method for storing an input image without processing the input image stored in the storage means. means for displaying a result of processing performed on an image corresponding to the input image based on a given predetermined control command; and means for processing the input image stored in the storage means in accordance with the control command. It is characterized by having.

In the above configuration, the display means displays a processing result performed on an image corresponding to the input image based on a given predetermined control command, and the processing means stores the processing result in the storage means according to the control command. Processing the stored input image.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image editing system according to a first practical example of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, this system includes a digital color image reading device (hereinafter referred to as "color scanner j") 100 that reads digital color images, and a digital color image printing device (hereinafter referred to as "color scanner j") that prints out digital color images. (referred to as "color printer")3
00, an image recording and synthesizing device 200, and a control computer 400.

The color scanner 100 uses color separation means and a photoelectric conversion element composed of a CCD or the like to read color image information of a read document for each color and convert it into electrical digital image signals.

The color printer 300 is, for example, an electrophotographic laser beam color printer that limits color images by color according to each output digital image signal, and records the images by transferring a plurality of them onto recording paper in the form of digital dots. It is.

The image recording and synthesizing device 200 is capable of recording a plurality of digital images read from the color scanner 100,
The recorded image data is subjected to multiple layouts and synthesized according to instructions from the control computer 400.
The image is output to a color printer 300 to obtain a color print image.

The image data and instructions of the control computer 400 and the image recording/synthesizing device 200 are based on a specific control format.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the image recording and synthesizing apparatus 200.

This device includes an image controller 210 that controls image data from an input device such as a scanner, a memory management controller 220 that efficiently arranges input image data in a registration memory 230, and a layout of the registered image data. It is mainly configured with a layout controller 270 that performs editing.

In addition, there is an image compositing unit 280 that combines laid out images into one page format, and an image memory 28 thereof.
11 There is also an interface controller 250 for exchanging image data and instructions with the control computer 400.

Layout controllers 230 are equipped with the number of images that can be laid out in an l page, and each layout controller 230 is equipped with the image controller 210.
It is possible to operate in parallel according to instructions.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the structure of the control computer 400.

The control computer 400 is the image recording and synthesizing device 200
an interface controller 420 for exchanging image data and commands with the CPt for central control;
J405, disk controller 450 for temporary registration of image data and storage of various data, hard disk 45
1. A main memory 460, a mouse 431 as a means for inputting instructions from the operator, a keyboard 441, and a color display 412 for layout, editing, and menu display of a mouse/keyboard controller 44 that controls the mouse/keyboard controller 44; A memory 411, a display controller 410, and an image editing controller 413 that performs processing such as editing on the display memory 411.
It roars.

Next, image recording synthesis according to the present invention will be explained using FIGS. 4(a) and 5(b) and FIG. (FIGS. 4(a), (b), FIG. 5) FIGS. 4(a) and 5(b) are flowcharts of image recording area composition, in which the control computer 400 controls the image controller 210 of the image recording composition apparatus 200. First, instruct the initialization command (Sl).

Based on this initialization command, the image controller 210 causes the memory management controller 220 to initialize the memory management data 221 and clear the image registration memory 230.

The control computer 400 specifies the image layout and the image size of image data required for editing (hereinafter referred to as dummy image data) on the computer to the image recording and synthesizing apparatus 200 (S2).

This dummy image data is data that serves as a guide for the layout of the image and for various editing operations on the image, and is not used for actual print output. In other words, a command that combines various layout and editing procedures on the computer is given to the image recording/synthesizing device 200, and the procedure is executed on the actual color image to create the image as laid out on the computer. I am trying to get the output of

Next, instructions are given as to how many memory blocks, which are the constituent elements of the registration memory 230 in the image recording and synthesizing apparatus 200, to allocate the digital color image data input by the color scanner 100 (S3). The image registered at this time becomes the original image data.

Furthermore, the range in which the image of the color scanner 100 is read is
The reading range is specified using the coordinate specifying unit 101 of a digitizer or the like on the scanner 100, or the reading range is specified on the computer 400 (S4).

As described above, the image size required for layout/editing is specified on the computer 400, the image input range of the scanner 100 is specified, and the memory area for storing the input image data is specified.

Next, the control computer 400 instructs the color scanner lOO to input an image, and the image in the specified range is registered as original image data in one or more memory blocks at any time according to instructions from the memory management controller 220. and recorded ((S5, S6). All information such as the memory block position of the original image data at that time is registered in the memory management data 221, so multiple image data are registered in the image recording and synthesizing device 200. However, it can be managed efficiently.

An identification key is attached to the registered original image data by the computer 400 so that it can be distinguished when specifying an image for layout output later.

Further, the image controller 210 reads an image in the specified input range from the color scanner 100, reduces the original image data in the image reduction unit 260 so that the image size is required on the computer 400 side, and then sends the interface controller 250. Then, it is transferred to the computer 400 as dummy image data (S7.
S8. S9).

The dummy image transferred to the computer 400 is then recorded on a recording device such as a hard disk drive 451 within the computer (SIO).

Each designation is made by these computers 400,
An image is input, and the image is stored in the image recording device 20 on the one hand.
0. On the other hand, by repeating the procedure of registering to the computer 400 for the number of images necessary to layout one page output, it is possible to register a plurality of necessary images to the image recording device and the computer. can.

If all of the above image input/registration is completed, proceed to the following procedure; if not completed, return to S2 (stB).

Next, the dummy image data registered in the computer 400 is expanded into the display memory 411 via the display controller 410. Regarding the expanded dummy image data, the image editing controller, in response to instructions from the keyboard 441 and mouse 431, edits the paper layout, cutting, rotation, etc. of the image wA collection on the display memory 411 as shown in FIG. I do.

The operator registers this editing layout instruction on the display 412 of the computer, and repeats it for the amount of dummy image data necessary for the layout of one page.

Each dummy image is created by the image editing controller 413 according to instructions from the operator's mouse 413 and keyboard 441.
The image is subjected to image editing and layout processing such as rotation, enlargement/reduction, cutting out of an arbitrary area, and fitting into an arbitrary sheet (S12). At that time, the procedure of what kind of image editing was performed for the identification key of the specified dummy image is stored in the main memory 460, and the procedure is combined with basic editing commands such as rotation and movement, and summarized. (S+3). Hereinafter, this will be referred to as editing procedure packing.

The packed instructions have a structure as shown in FIGS. 6(a) and 6(b). Roughly speaking, it is composed of a header section indicating that the instruction is a packed instruction, and a basic instruction section (basic instructions 1 to basic instructions n) according to the basic instruction format (FIG. 6(b)). The header section is composed of a Herada code, an identification key of the corresponding original image in the image recording and synthesizing device 200, a section indicating the total number of packed basic instructions, and a section indicating original image data and dummy image data.

Furthermore, the basic commands include rotation basic commands, enlargement/reduction commands,
There are inset position designation commands, cropping commands, etc.

In this way, the instructions packed with image editing/layout processing are transferred from the computer 400 to the image recording and synthesizing apparatus 200 (S14).

The packed instructions are analyzed by the image controller 210 in the image recording and synthesizing device 200 (315),
One image layout controller 270 is assigned to one layout.

Next, the process of optimizing the analyzed command and setting it in the layout controller 270 is repeated for the number of images to be laid out (S16).

The control computer 400 finally instructs the image recording and synthesizing apparatus 200 to start printing (S17), and the image controller 210
205, the layout controller 270 is operated in conjunction with the layout controller 270 (Sta).

First, the layout controller 270 edits the original image data that is the target of the assigned command according to the command of the editing procedure (S19, 520), and lays out and develops it in the image memory 281 of the image composition section 280. (S21). The image controller 210 monitors this development, and the layout controller 270 performs each layout edit on each allocated original image data.

When each layout is completed, the combined image data is transferred to the color printer 300 and printed out (S22).

As explained above, according to this embodiment, the image recording and synthesizing device, which has a means for recording and synthesizing image quality, divides image data from an input device into an original image and a low-resolution image on the computer side. The computer side, which is the first control means, adds layout and editing to the low-resolution image data and creates a set of instructions, that is, a packing instruction, consisting of procedures to create the final output image, and according to the set of instructions, the second The control means layouts and edits the original image according to the procedure performed on the computer, and prints out the result, thereby making it possible to improve the efficiency of the image processing procedure.

Further, by reducing original data such as a large-capacity color image to a small-capacity dummy image and transmitting it to a computer, data transfer time can be shortened.

In addition, image editing and layout are not performed by actually exchanging the edited image data, but by collectively issuing commands for editing procedures as a pack of basic commands, data transfer between the computer and the image input/output device is facilitated. Efficiency can be improved.

The contents of the packing command include image rotation, enlargement, reduction,
It is possible to include various image processing commands such as color change, color/monochrome conversion, etc., in addition to inset and cutout.

A second embodiment of the image editing system of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 7 and 8.

In this embodiment, in addition to a registration memory 230 for image registration, the image recording and synthesizing apparatus 200 includes a disk controller 222 and a hard disk 223 as its recording medium.
It is characterized by being equipped with.

This example differs from Example 1 in the following points.

In the case of this embodiment, the input image data of the color scanner 100 is not registered and stored in the registration memory 230, but the disk controller 222 stores the image data together with the identification key in the hard disk. . Therefore, a higher-density disk drive, which has a much larger capacity than the registration memory 230, is used.
It becomes possible to store original data with a large image size.

Further, the layout controller 270, which performs layout/editing processing based on the pack command, once develops the image data on the hard disk 223 onto the registration memory 230, and thereafter, two prints are output as in the first embodiment.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to improve the efficiency and speed of 11 image editing processing in an image editing system.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an image recording and synthesizing apparatus of the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the procedure for image recording and synthesis in the first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the control computer in the first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the structure of a packed instruction; FIG. 7 is a system diagram of the second embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 8 is a diagram of the second embodiment of the present invention. Block diagram of an image recording and synthesizing device, 100...Color scanner 200...Image recording and synthesizing device 300...Color printer 400...Computer 210...Image controller 220...Memory management controller 221... Memory management data 230...Memory program 270...Layout controller 2 diagrams υ) lε...7 Quiz "Zashi 4 and 4 works 42 Imaichi l series...//
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Claims (5)

[Claims] (1) means for storing an input image, and processing performed on an image corresponding to the input image based on a given predetermined control command without processing the input image stored in the storage means; An image editing system comprising: means for displaying a result; and means for processing the input image stored in the storage means in accordance with the control command. (2) The image editing system according to claim 1, wherein the control commands include commands for rotating, enlarging, reducing, fitting, and cropping the image. (3) Claims (1) and (3) characterized in that the control command is a packed command of a processing procedure for an input image.
2) Image editing system described. (4) The image according to any one of claims (1), (2), and (3), wherein the control command is a command for a processing procedure inputted interactively by an operator while viewing the display on the display means. Editing system. (5) The image editing system according to claim 1, wherein the image corresponding to the input image is an image obtained by performing data thinning on the input image.