JPH0310570A - Picture processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To synthesize a picture with high accuracy and simple constitution by providing a means adding synthesis area information for serial synthesis to an effective picture part of 1st picture information and sending the resulting information with respect to an equipment obtaining a 3rd picture resulting from the synthesis of 1st and 2nd pictures. CONSTITUTION:A scanner 1 reads a color original (A) based on a synchronizing signal 102 and sends a synchronizing signal 102 or a synchronizing signal 103 synchronously with the synchronizing signal 102 to the scanner 2. The scanner 2 reads a color original (B) synchronously with the synchronizing signal 103 and sends a picture data 101 to the scanner 1, then the picture signal resulting from the synthesized pictures (A), (B) in the scanner 1 is sent to a color printer 3 to obtain a synthesized copy (C). In this embodiment, the picture is inputted from the scanner 2 to the scanner 1 and the picture is synthesized with the picture generated or read in the scanner 1 and the resulting picture is outputted to the printer 3, and it is possible to input the picture from the scanner 1 to the scanner 2, synthesize it in the scanner 2 and output the result to the printer 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, and particularly relates to image synthesis, in which two or more images are synthesized to obtain a composite image.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, image input/output devices that digitally read images, digitally process and output the images have become widespread.

Since the data handled by this type of image input/output device is digital, it has the advantage of being relatively easy to process and edit. On the other hand, as various types of image input/output devices become widespread, there is an increasing demand for connecting two or more types of devices and composing different images.

For example, as shown in Figure 2, the color image (A) and the color image (B
) to obtain a composite copy such as (C). In this case, for example, as shown in Figure 4-1, the image (A) is input from the scanner S, and the memory 1 (Ml)
After storing the image (B) in the scanner S, it is stored in the memory 2 (M2). Afterwards,
By appropriately reading out Ml and M2 and storing the result of combining in the combining memory M3, a combined image as shown in (C) is formed on M3 and output to the output device O. M3 and Ml
Or it may also serve as M2.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Since these systems are configured as described above, the scanner S scans the document for each color component at high density, for example.
When reading an A4 size document at a density of 400dpi,
The memory capacity required for compositing is huge at 48 megabytes, and when scanning an A3 size document in 4 colors, 1
This requires 28 megabytes, which is an enormous amount of 1024 1 megabit DRAMs (=128xB), and the hardware scale is also enormous, resulting in the problem of high system costs due to memory costs.

Furthermore, such a method not only requires a large capacity memory, but also requires access to a large amount of image data for compositing, making it difficult to perform high-speed compositing.

Moreover, in the conventional method, the above-mentioned 1. Composition was achieved by appropriately switching the second two inputs, so the operator inputs in advance to the processing device the image area from the scanner to be composited, or inputs it from the scanner. This data had to be sent to a processing device, which required communication means and software procedures.

You can also, among other things, crop the image information from the scanner (
When combining images with images in memory, the trimming area and size vary depending on the operator, so it is cumbersome to go through the above procedure each time.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an image processing system that can solve each or all of the above problems.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an image processing system that allows multiple images to be easily and simply synthesized.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a first image and a second image.
an image processing apparatus which obtains a third image by combining images of said first image information, the apparatus comprising means for serially adding combination area information for combination with an effective image part of said first image information and transmitting the resultant image. have

[Effect]

In the above configuration, the transmitting means serially transmits the effective image portion of the first image information with addition of composition area information for composition.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 3 and subsequent figures.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing device connections in an embodiment of the present invention, in which 1 and 2 are both color scanners;
is a color printer such as a color laser beam printer, for example, and sends a synchronization signal 102 for image output to the scanner 1. Scanner 1 has a synchronization signal of 1.0
2, the color original (A) is read, and the synchronization signal 10 is the same as or synchronized with the synchronization signal 102.
3 to scanner 2. When the scanner 2 reads the color original (B) in synchronization with the synchronization signal 103 and sends the image data 101 to the scanner 1, the scanner 1 generates an image signal that is a composite of images (A) and (B). is sent to the color printer 3, and a composite copy (C
) is obtained. In this embodiment, an image is input from the scanner 2 to the scanner 1, and after being combined with the image generated or read in the scanner 1, the image is output to the printer 3. As shown below, printer 3 is connected to scanner 2, images are input from scanner 1 to scanner 2, and scanner 2
It is also possible to synthesize the images and output them to the printer 3.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing details of internal blocks of a color image processing apparatus according to the present invention. In Figure 1, 10 is
A color reading element that separates and reads a color document placed on a document table as shown in Figure 3, A, A', into each color component.For example, it is a color CCD equipped with a color filter. be. The color reading element is in the form of a line, and the apparatus is a so-called flatbed type original reading apparatus that scans the original by moving the color reading element relative to the original. Along with such document scanning,
The color image read line by line is, for example, R, G.

B color component electric signal 110. 111. 112 and amplified to a predetermined level in the amplifier circuit 11,
A/D conversion circuit 12. 13. 1.4, each color is converted to a digital value. Thereafter, shading correction is performed to correct unevenness of a light source (not shown), distortion of a lens system, sensitivity variation of a CCD sensor, etc. when reading a document, and to correct image data to be uniform over the entire area of the line. Shading-corrected digital image data 119 for each color. 120. 1.21 is gamma conversion circuit 1
6, the R, G, and B signals are converted into subtractive colors of Y, M, and C (yellow, magenta, and cyan). In this embodiment, as this gamma characteristic, LOG conversion, that is, R, G,
It has the characteristics of converting B to Y, M, and C. In this way, color image data to be sent to a color printer, which is an output device, is generated, but it is known that the color separation filter applied to the color COD sensor does not have ideal color separation characteristics. Also, light source characteristics, COD
Due to various factors such as variations in sensor sensitivity, it is necessary to perform color correction between hue tiles. Further, color toner and color ink for printing (printing) have an ideal color absorption characteristic but absorb unnecessary components, so color correction is performed in step 17. This is usually called color masking, and is correction using a linear or quadratic function between each color component, but since it is well known, detailed explanation will be omitted. Furthermore, the above Y, M,
A black component signal for black toner is calculated from C (yellow magenta, cyan). This is also a well-known method, so its explanation will be omitted. The yellow, magenta, cyan, and black (125, 126, 127, 128) signals obtained after performing the above color correction and black extraction processing are used by the selector 18 to select the desired color for each color to be printed in sequence. Only the color signal is selected. From the color printer 3, for sending color images to the color printer,
Horizontal synchronization signal (main scanning direction synchronization signal) H3YNCI
137 is sent out once every time one line of image is formed on the printer side, selected by the selector 23, and sent to the synchronous control circuit 21.
is input. The color image reading operation of this apparatus is controlled in all main scanning directions in synchronization with this H3YMCI. For example, as shown in the timing diagram of FIG. Then, the timing is corrected to synchronize with the internal clock (CLK) 147 generated by the internal clock (CLK) generation circuit 27, and I(SYNC3132) is generated.

H3YNC3, internal CLK147, and scanner-1
The internal image clock 139 and furthermore the color COD sensor drive pulse 140 are completely synchronized with the image reading operation, internal processing operation, and H3YMCI.

H3YNC3 is in sync. Also color printer 3
Sub-scanning direction synchronization signal iT'0P113 sent from
8 is sent out four times as shown in FIG. A drive signal 141 indicating a reading start command is sent to the drive circuit 20 in synchronization with 1TOP 1138.

Similarly, the second 1TOP signal scans for magenta (G), the third scan for cyan (R), and the fourth scan for black, so the drive signal 141 synchronized with 1TOP1 138 is Sent out. Selector 22.
23, as already mentioned, the scanner connected to the color printer 3 does not necessarily have to be the scanner 1.

That is, since the scanner 2 also has the internal structure shown in FIG. 1 like the scanner 1, when the printer 3 is connected to the scanner 2, the B input is selected by the selectors 22 and 23 in the scanner 1, and A synchronizing signal for image reading is supplied from the scanner 2. In this case, in the scanner 2, the selector 22 (since the block diagram is the same as in Fig. 4, the same functions are given the same numbers)
．． 23, the A input is selected, a synchronization signal is supplied from the color printer 3, and the synchronization control circuit 21 in the scanner 2 inputs a synchronization signal H3YNC3132, 1TOP21 for inputting the image from the scanner 1.
31 to the scanner 1, the same function as described above can be achieved. Selector 22.
The switching signal 5EL149 of 23 may be set directly from the control circuit 200 or by a manually operated SW or the like.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when driving a plurality of image reading devices, that is, scanners 1 and 2 in synchronization with a single printer 3, the synchronization signal from the printer 3 is once sent to the scanner 1, and The scanner 1 sends a synchronization signal to the scanner 1.

Therefore, compared to the case where synchronization signals are sent from the printer 3 to each of the scanners 1 and 2 separately, the following effects are achieved.

(1) There is no need to independently output synchronization signals from the printer 3 to multiple scanners, and the printer 3 only needs to output synchronization signals to the scanner 1, which simplifies the configuration of the printer 3. I can do it.

(2) Since the synchronization signal output from the printer 3 is used in common by the two scanners, the accuracy can be improved, for example, when images from the two scanners are combined.

FIG. 7 shows the configuration of the synthesis circuit 19 shown in FIG. 1, in which (a) is an example realized by a switching circuit, and (b) is an example realized by an adder circuit. In (a), a 1-bit tag indicating that the image data is a valid image for synthesis is added to the switching signal as shown in FIG. 7(C), and the selector is switched according to the added tag pit. The tag pit TG is installed, for example, in the synchronous control circuit 21 as shown in FIG.
It is generated as shown in FIG. 8(C) by the circuit shown in b). For example, as shown in (a) of the same figure, when scanning the shaded area B of the entire area A with scanner 2 and combining it with the image read with scanner 1, area B is the n1th pixel to the n2th pixel in the main scanning direction. , l in the sub-scanning direction, 1 from the line
Assuming that it is the second line, in the same figure (b), counters 3 and 4 shown as 28.29 count the pixel clock 139, and counters 1. 2, the signal TG 1 becomes "1" in real time only in the desired B area.
54. That is, the count value 11r12 is loaded into the counter 1.2 by 1TOP142, which is also a starting pulse in the sub-scanning direction. Counters 1 to 4 output 152, 153, 149, 1 when the count value reaches 0''.
It is a down counter that outputs 50, HSYNC14
Start counting at 3 and count 11 lines, J/
The flip-flop 31 is set to "l", and the signal 151 is
”. 151 is the count value 20 of count 2, so it keeps “1” until the 1!2 line. 151 is the clear terminal C of the flip-flop 30 to J/ for generating TG.
is input, l, ~I! The values other than 2 are controlled to be TG-“0”. The above operation is shown in FIG. 8(C). In other words, 151="BI" shown in FIG. 8(b) and FIG. 8(c) Therefore, between 11 and 12, the interval signal keeps "l" from the n1th pixel to the n2th pixel in every main scan. is formed,
A signal such as TG154 in FIG. 8(C) is generated.

Note that the operations of counters 28 and 29 are exactly the same as those of counters 32 and 33, so their explanation will be omitted.
is added to the image data and sent out as a tag pit for switching shown in FIG. 7(a). Signals TGL and TG2 in FIG. 5 are TGI tag pits added by scanner 1, as described above.

The tag pit added in TG2 is shown in TG2.

These tag pits TG2 added by the scanner 2 are input to the selector 19-1 in the synthesis circuit 19 in the scanner 1, and furthermore, the tag pit TGI is input to the synthesis circuit 19 as a signal 146 in synchronization with the image data output from the selector 18. Output. If the synthesis circuit 19 is provided with another selector or gate between the selector 19-1 and the selector 18 shown in FIG. 7(a), and the tag pit TGI is inputted to this selector or gate, the result as shown in FIG. The synthesis shown in the timing chart can be easily performed.

In the above-mentioned Fig. 7(a), the images were synthesized by switching between the image inputs 1 and 2, but if the compositing circuit is configured with an adding circuit as shown in Fig. 7(b), the result as shown in Fig. 2 is obtained. Suitable for compositing images and design text.

[Example 2] Fig. 9 shows another example. For example, memory 135
As shown in the figure, an image of the mountain is stored in memory 2.
36 stores an image of a house in the same way. Memory 1 is, for example, an 8-bit memory brain with 256 bits.
Images with gradations can be stored.

On the other hand, memory 2 is a memory with a depth of 8 bits + 1 bit, that is, 9 bits, and the image therein is 8 bits = 2 bits deep.
There are 56 gradations, and the remaining 1 bit 157 is used as a tag for synthesis. That is, in the 1-bit memory plane for the tag of the memory 2, for example, the CPU 201 writes "1" into the desired synthesis area (that is, the shaded area in the figure in this embodiment) via the selector 40. The CPU 201 reads the area specified by the digitizer 300, shown as a dotted line, and writes “” to the area on the 1-bit memory brain for the tag of the memory 2 corresponding to the area.
Printer 37
When outputting an image signal to the memory 1, the selector 40 selects the control signal 159 from the memory control circuit 39, and simultaneous reading from memory 1 and memory 2 is performed. The image of the diagram is read from the memory 1, and the image of the house is read from the memory 2. The selector 38 inputs 15 when the selection force S is "l".
6 is a switching circuit that selects the input 155 when it is "0", and in this embodiment, the selector 38 selects the input 156 only in the shaded area in the figure. As a result, printer 37
The input 158 enables non-rectangular and precise image synthesis as shown in FIG. 1O.

[Example 3] Still another example is shown in FIG. 11 and FIG. 12. The basic configuration is the same as that shown in FIG. 9, but the memory 341 is for images with 8 bits=256 gradations, and the memory 442 is a 1-bit memory for characters. The selector 44 inputs 163 when the switching force S is 11'' and inputs 162 when it is 0.
This is a switching circuit configured to select. memory 4
"1" is written in the position corresponding to the character via the CPU bus 167, and the memory 3 stores an image as shown in the figure in advance. From printer 43 to memory 3
When obtaining the image-synthesized output (FIG. 12) of the memory 4 and the memory 4, the control signal 166 from the memory control circuit 45 is selected by the selector 46, and the contents of the memory 3.4 are simultaneously and synchronously read out. “l” is read out from memory 4 corresponding to the character position, and “0” is read out in areas where there is no character.
” is read out, the selector 44 selects the character signal 163 at the character position and the halftone image signal 162 at other positions, making it possible to synthesize characters as shown in FIG.

[Embodiment 4] In the above embodiment, a tag bitmap was provided together with a memory 2 having a depth of 8 bits as shown in FIG. This will be explained using figures.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 13, a specific value in the data representing the image written to the memory 2, for example, if the depth of each pixel in the memory 2 is 8 bits, the maximum value "FF" is set. Use the data as a tag for image synthesis.

For this reason, the configuration shown in FIG. 13 is provided with a subtraction circuit 303 that subtracts "1" from data written into the memory 2, for example, data from an input device such as the scanner 1 whose configuration is shown in FIG. As a result, even if the data from the input device is "FF", 1" is subtracted and becomes "FE", which is set so that it is not the same value as the data "FF" used for the tag. Therefore, the input image data has 255 gradations expressed in 8 bits, but there is practically no problem.

The CPU 201 writes the tag or "FF" data into the memory 2 in a portion of the memory 2 corresponding to the outline of the area specified by the digitizer 300 (the portion indicated by the solid line in FIG. 14). In this case, selector 40
is switched to the CPU 160 side.

305 in FIG. 13 compares the image data read from the memory 2 with the set "FF", and sets the output to "H" level if they match. 308 is D-FF,
The output Q is inverted in response to the output of the comparison circuit 305 rising from the "L" level to the "H" level. Nao D-FF30
8 is reset when reading from the memory 2 is started.

Therefore, for the image in which "FF" is written in the solid line portion shown in FIG. 14, the period in which the output of the D-FF 308 is at the "H" level corresponds to the period shown as the diagonal line in FIG. The period is set in memory 2 by selector 38.
The image output from is selected.

In this embodiment, by adopting such a configuration, there is no need to prepare a special 1-bit memory brain for the tag, and the configuration can be simplified.

In addition, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 13, "FF" is used as the bit indicating the tag, but the invention is not limited to this, and when using other data such as "00", the subtraction circuit 303 is used as an addition circuit, and the input "01" is added to the image data, the data written by the CPU 201 to the memory 2 is set to "00", and one input of the comparison circuit 305 is set to "00".
And it is sufficient.

The appearance of the digitizer shown in Figs. 13 and 9 is shown in Fig. 17.
As shown in the figure. The digitizer shown in FIG.
0, a point pen 421, an inset compositing instruction key 427 for instructing the compositing of two images, and an instruction key 424 for instructing area designation.

In the above embodiment, two images are read from two image reading devices.
When combining two image signals or two image signals read from two image memories, data corresponding to the tag pit or tag described above is output together with the image data. The invention is not limited to this example, but can also be applied to the combination of an image signal read from a memory and an image signal from an image reading device.

Such an application example will be explained using FIG. 16.

The example shown in FIG. 16 is an example in which a character image created by an information processing device such as a host computer 435 and a high-definition image from a color scanner 437 are combined.

A predetermined character code image is stored in the image storage memory 440 from the host computer 435 via the general-purpose interface bus 561, and at the time of composite output, it is sent to the printer 43.
In response to the synchronization signal 558 from 8, the synchronization control circuit 444 generates a synchronization signal 564 for reading from the memory 440 and a synchronization signal 557 for reading the color image. Address control circuit 44 activated by synchronization signal 564
The character code information 560 is read from the memory 440 by the read address generated by 3, and the character generator 442 generates the signal 56 expanded into dot information.
2 is input to the synthesis circuit 441. On the other hand, the synchronization signal 557 for color image reading is transmitted to the color scanner 43.
7 and read out from the memory 440, the color image 555 is input to the synthesis circuit 441 in synchronization with the generated synchronization signal 557, and is combined with the previous dot-developed character image. is synthesized.

Note that the synthesis circuit 441 includes a selector 4 as shown in FIG.
4, and by supplying a signal from the character generator 42 to the selector 44, two images can be synthesized.

Furthermore, this embodiment is not limited to compositing a multivalued image of an intruded image and a binary image such as a character as shown in FIG. 11, but also a combination of a multivalued image and a multivalued image as shown in FIG. It can be applied even if

Further, a part of the scanner may be provided exclusively for each memory.

As explained above, according to this embodiment, intricately shaped images and characters can be realized precisely and with a simple hardware configuration. It has become possible to provide a wide range of composite image information.

Furthermore, especially according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, image signals from two image reading devices can be combined with a simple configuration. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, a signal that becomes "FF" is sent serially with the effective image signal as a means for serially sending out the composite area information with the effective image part of the first image information of the present invention. It was used as a means.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to combine two images with a simple configuration and with high accuracy.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the main parts of the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of image composition, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the entire structure of the first embodiment of the present invention. Figure 4 is a block diagram showing the conventional configuration; Figures 5 and 6 are time charts showing the operation of Figure 1; Figures 7 (a), (b), and (c) are 8(a), (b), and (c) are diagrams showing the configuration of the synthesis circuit 19 shown in the figure and the bit allocation of the image data of the image input 2148. FIGS. 9 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the second embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an image synthesized by the apparatus shown in FIG. 9, and FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the second embodiment of the present invention. A block diagram showing the configuration of a third embodiment; FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an image synthesized by the apparatus shown in FIG. 11; FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing the configuration of another embodiment of the present invention. Figure 14 shows the CPU 20 for memory 2 shown in Figure 13.
Figure 15 shows the area in which 1 writes “FF” with a solid line.
16 is a block diagram showing the configuration of yet another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a period in which the output of the D-FF 308 shown in FIG. 3 is a plan view of the illustrated digitizer 300. FIG. 35...Memory 1 36...Memory 2 38...Selector 201...CPU 300...Digitizer 305...Comparison circuit 308...D-FF Co) Memory 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] An image processing device that obtains a third image composed of a first image and a second image, the device adding composition area information for serial composition to an effective image portion of the first image information. An image processing device characterized by comprising means for transmitting the image.