JPH03188758A - Handy scanner - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain effective utilization of picture information read once by a scanner by providing a 1st picture memory storing sequentially a picture data read by the scanner in interlocking with the read of the scanner and a 2nd picture memory storing the picture data stored in the 1st picture memory with a command from an operation switch. CONSTITUTION:An output of an image line sensor 106 is latched by a latch and shift register 105 in a prescribed timing and while an output of a shift pulse generator 103 is counted by a shift counter 104, the content of the latch and shift register 105 is outputted sequentially to a picture memory 108. When a prescribed number of data is stored in the picture memory 108 or a copy switch is detached on its way, the picture data in the picture memory 108 is read sequentially in the timing of an oscillator 109, D/A-converted by a D/A converter 111 and the picture signal is recorded on a track on a magnetic disk D by a magnetic head H via a video signal recording processing circuit 114 and an FM modulation circuit 115.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field 1] The present invention relates to a handy scanner, and particularly to a handy scanner that can effectively utilize image information read by the scanner.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, there is a handy copy that integrates a scanner and a printer.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a conventional handy copy. In the figure, when the handy copy is moved over a document (not shown), a sensor (low encoder, etc.) 602 sends a pulse corresponding to the amount of movement to the system controller 6.
01, and the system controller 601 uses this to detect the amount of movement of the handy copy. Furthermore, the system controller 601 has a copy switch (copySW).
) is pressed, the image reading signal from the image line sensor 608 is latched in the latch & shift register 605, and the shift counter 604 is further driven to transfer the latched image line data via the buffer memory 606. and sends it to the head driver 607. On the other hand, recording paper (not shown) is stored in the system controller 601.
The paper is fed at a predetermined speed by a motor drive circuit 610 and a recording paper feed motor 611 operating under the control of the recording paper, and a head driver 607 drives a thermal head 609 according to the received image data to record an image on the recording paper.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, since the information recording material of the conventional handy copy is paper, there are inconveniences in terms of the use and organization of recorded products. Furthermore, when it is desired to import image information into a personal computer or the like for use, it is necessary to separately scan the recorded material and read it.

The present invention eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, and its purpose is to provide a new handy scanner that can effectively utilize image information once read by the scanner.

[Means and effects for solving the problem] In order to achieve the above object, the handy scanner of the present invention includes a scanner that reads an image, and sequentially reads image data read by the scanner in conjunction with the reading operation of the scanner. The outline thereof is that the image forming apparatus includes a first image memory for storing image data, and a second image memory for holding image data stored in the image memory according to commands from an operation switch.

This allows images of desired locations to be stored in the second image memory, and this stored information is much superior in terms of use and handling compared to conventional paper.

Preferably, the apparatus further comprises an output means for reading out the information stored in the second image memory, forming a corresponding video signal, and outputting the video signal to the outside.

Preferably, the apparatus further comprises an output means for reading out the information stored in the second image memory, forming a corresponding digital signal, and outputting the digital signal to the outside.

[Description of Embodiments] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the handy scanner of the embodiment. The reflected image of the document 2 illuminated by the xenon cold cathode tube 1, which emits white light and whose light intensity hardly changes depending on the temperature, is reflected by the cold mirror 3.4, and is imaged on the COD color image sensor 6 via the lens 5. do.

The cold mirror 3.4 transmits infrared light and reflects light within the visibility range, and by using two cold mirrors, the original 2
By cutting out unnecessary infrared light from the reflected light, and by folding the optical path into a figure-four shape, it also contributes to space savings.

The CCD color image sensor 6 has a linear one-dimensional structure in which a plurality of light receiving elements are arranged in a line, and red (R), green (G), and blue (B) filters are repeatedly provided for each pixel in the line direction. Consists of a CCD sensor. A rubber roller 7 is rotatably attached to a position in contact with the document surface, and rotates in response to manual movement of the color scanner main body 12. A photo sensor 8 is shielded from light by an encoder plate 9 that rotates as the rubber roller 7 rotates, and emits a pulse signal as it passes through a plurality of slits provided in the encoder plate 9. Therefore, a pulse signal is generated from the photo sensor 8 at an interval corresponding to the moving speed of the color scanner main body.

10 is a circuit board in which the image processing section shown in FIG. 1 is incorporated, and 11 is a signal cable for transmitting image signals to an external device such as a word processor or a personal computer.

Moreover, M, H, and D are motors shown in FIG. 1, respectively.

Head and disk. Further, m is a drive source for driving the head H via a known head moving mechanism HD, and is constituted by, for example, a stepping motor. Further, T is a lid of a storage chamber in which the disc D is stored, and is fixed by a shaft J so that the disc D can be replaced by opening the lid.

Further, the manual scanning color scanner main body 12 is made in a shape suitable for manual scanning, weighs 500 g, and can be easily moved by hand.

With the above configuration, the CCD color image sensor 6 is repeatedly driven in main scanning, and the color scanner main body 12
By manually moving the CCD color image sensor 6 in a direction substantially perpendicular to the main scanning direction,
A color image is separated into colors and read out over a desired length with a width of about 600 mm.

Note that the above configuration is common to each of the following embodiments.

[First Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a handy scanner according to a first embodiment. In the figure, the mode switch (MODE S
W) selects the recording mode (REC) to the magnetic disk D and the reproduction mode (PB) from the magnetic disk D. The forward switch (FWD SW) is a switch for moving the track position on the magnetic disk D toward the inner circumference.
The reverse switch (REV SW) is a switch that moves to the outer circumferential side.

First, when the recording mode (REC) is selected, the output pulses of the sensor (low reencoder) 102 are sent to the system controller 101 by moving the apparatus of this embodiment over a document (not shown).
01 can know the amount of movement of the device (especially the scanner) of this embodiment. Furthermore, system controller 1
01 is a mode in which the state of the copy switch (copy sw) is checked and if the switch is pressed, a read image is recorded, so the spindle motor M is rotated via the spindle motor drive circuit 121. On the other hand, the output of the image line sensor 106 is latched in the latch & shift register 105 at a predetermined timing, and the contents of the latch & shift register 105 are sequentially transferred to the image memory 108 while the output of the shift pulse generator 103 is counted by the shift counter 104. Output to. Image memory 108 stores the image data from shift register 105 at the address pointed to by address counter 107-1.

In this way, when a predetermined number of data is stored in the image memory 108, or when the copy switch is released midway,
Image data in the image memory 1o8 is sequentially read out at the timing of the oscillator 109, D/A converted by the D/A converter 111, and then transferred to the magnetic disk D by the magnetic head H via the video signal recording processing circuit 114 and the FM modulation circuit 115. Record the image signal on the upper track. The timing for this recording is determined by detecting the rotation of the magnetic disk D by the sensor 119, and based on the detection signal, the timing signal generating circuit 11
8 generates various timing signals, which are supplied to the recording video signal processing circuit 114 and the address counter 107-2.

Further, when the playback mode (PB) is selected, the system controller 101 detects that the magnetic disk D is set, and the spindle motor drive circuit 121
The spindle motor M is rotated via the . On the other hand, the timing signal generation circuit 118 outputs a signal synchronized with the rotation of the spindle motor M to the system controller 101 based on the detection output of the sensor 119. The system controller 101 first uses this signal to confirm that the spindle motor M has reached a predetermined rotation speed, then reads the recorded signal on the magnetic disk D using the magnetic head H, and then uses the FM demodulation circuit 113 to reproduce the video signal. Processing circuit 11
The signal processed through the oscillator 2 is A/D converted at the timing of the oscillator 109, and is stored in the image memory 108.

On the other hand, a switch 116 connects the video output terminal to the output signal of the video signal recording processing circuit 114 in the recording mode, and to the video signal reproducing processing circuit 1 in the playback mode.
12 output signals are output, and a video signal can be taken out to the outside.

FIGS. 2(A) and 2(B) are flowcharts showing the control procedure of the system controller 101 of the first embodiment. When the power of the apparatus is turned on, the process goes to step 5201, where the drive section such as the spindle motor, the data input section, the video signal processing section, etc. are initialized. Step 5202 waits for the magnetic disk D for image data recording/reproduction to be inserted, and when the magnetic disk D is inserted, the recorded contents of the magnetic disk D are searched for in step 3203. For example, the magnetic head H is sequentially moved from the innermost track toward the outer track while checking whether data is being recorded. If a data recording signal is detected on the way, the magnetic head H is moved to one track on the inner circumferential side. Furthermore, if the outermost track is unrecorded, the magnetic head H is stopped at the outermost track. If data is recorded on the innermost track, the magnetic head is moved to the outermost track (H), and an LE (not shown) is sent to indicate that data has been recorded on this disk.
Display on D display section.

In step 5204, the rotation of the -H spindle motor M is stopped, and in step 5205, the presence or absence of the magnetic disk D is checked. If the magnetic disk D has been removed, the process returns to step 5202 and waits for the magnetic disk D to be inserted. If the magnetic disk D has not been removed, a check is made in step 5206 to see if there is a request for head movement by the operator. When there is a request for head movement, step 52
Step 07 moves the magnetic head H toward the inner circumference if the forward switch is pressed, and toward the outer circumference if the reverse switch is pressed. Step 5208
Then, the recording mode selection switch is checked, and if the recording mode is selected, the process advances to step 5209, and it is checked whether or not there is a scan pulse input from the rotary encoder 102. If there is a scan pulse input, step 52
In step 10, it is further checked whether the copy switch is pressed, and if the copy switch is pressed, the rotation of the spindle motor M is started in step 5211, and the image data read by the scanner is ready to be recorded on the magnetic disk D. do.

Furthermore, in step 5212, the image line sensor 106
The input data is stored in the image memory 108 at predetermined time intervals, and the presence or absence of the magnetic disk D is checked in step 5213. If there is a magnetic disk D, further step 52
In step 14, it is checked whether the copy switch is pressed. If it is pressed, the presence or absence of a scan pulse is checked in step 5215, and if there is, the image memory 10 is checked in step 8216.
8 is full (for example, the number of recordable data has been stored on the I track of the magnetic disk D).

In this way, if the copy switch is released at or before the image memory 108 is full, the process advances to step 5217;
The contents of the image memory 108 are transferred to the video signal recording processing circuit 114.
, FM modulation circuit 115, and records on the track that the magnetic head H is accessing. In step 5218, it is determined whether or not it is the innermost track. If it is not the innermost track, in step 5219, the magnetic head H is moved one track toward the inner circumference in preparation for the next recording. Step S2.
In step 20, check whether the copy switch is pressed or not.
If pressed, image input continues. If the copy switch is not pressed or if the recording track is the innermost track, the process advances to step 5204 after recording to the track is completed, the spindle motor M is stopped, and a display device such as an LED indicates that the Let me know.

Further, if it is determined in step 5208 that the mode is playback mode, the presence or absence of rotation of the spindle motor M is checked in step S22.
If it is not rotating, the spindle motor M is rotated in step 5222.

Further, while the spindle motor M is rotating, the signal read out by the magnetic head H is sent to the FM demodulation circuit 113,
Image memory 108 via video signal reproduction processing circuit 112
is stored in Additionally, the output of the video signal recording processing circuit 114 is outputted to the video output terminal in the case of recording mode, and the output of the video signal reproduction processing circuit 112 is outputted to the video output terminal via the switch 116 in the case of playback mode.

[Second Embodiment] In the first embodiment, analog signals were recorded on the disk device, but in the second embodiment, digital signals were recorded.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the handy scanner of the second embodiment. Components that are equivalent to those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals and their explanations will be omitted.

In FIG. 3, in the case of recording mode, the data compression circuit 312 performs data compression based on, for example, the run length method of image data. The compressed image data is further subjected to, for example, DPSK modulation in the modulation circuit 315. Thereafter, the signal is FM modulated and recorded on a track on a magnetic disc via a magnetic head H.

In the case of playback mode, the signal recorded on the magnetic disk D is read out via the magnetic head H, the demodulation circuit 314 performs FM demodulation and DPSK demodulation, and the data decompression circuit 311 performs run-length demodulation. Decompresses image data that has been compressed. The image data reproduced in this manner is stored in the image memory 108.

Furthermore, regardless of the recording mode/playback mode, the image data stored in the image memory 108 is transmitted to the oscillator 310.
Address counter 107- at the timing of the output pulse of
The image data pointed to by 2 is sequentially converted to D/A by the D/A conversion circuit 313.
The signal is A-converted, further converted into a video signal by the video signal processing circuit 316, and taken out from the video output terminal.

[Third Embodiment] The third embodiment relates to an apparatus that can directly exchange digital image data with an external device such as a personal computer.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the handy scanner of the third embodiment. In the figure, the image memory 108 is capable of transmitting/receiving image data to/from an external device such as a personal computer (not shown) connected via a communication interface 421 under the control of a data communication controller 420. be.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are flowcharts of communication control procedures in the third embodiment.

In FIG. 5(A), when the power is turned on to this apparatus, input is made to step S501, the operating state of the communication interface 421, flags used for communication control, etc. are initialized, and image data is transmitted/transmitted from equipment such as a personal computer.
Waiting for reception control command. Furthermore, step 55
During recording operation to the magnetic disk D in step 02, or in step 5
If it is detected in step 503 that the reproduction operation from the magnetic disk D is in progress, the process advances to step 5505, and access to the image memory 108 is prohibited. Otherwise, access to the image memory 108 is permitted in step 5504.

In step 5506, it is determined whether or not the image memory 108 can be accessed. If it is accessible, it is checked in step 5507 whether or not there is a request to send image data. If there is a transmission request, the image data in the image memory 108 is transmitted to the outside via the communication interface 421 in step 5510. If there is no transmission request, it is checked in step 5508 whether there is received image data, and if there is received image data, step 55
In step 09, the received image data is written into the image memory 108.

Data received from the outside is processed by the reception interrupt process shown in FIG. 5(B). When the communication interface 421 receives, for example, 1-byte data, it is input to this reception interrupt process. Data communication controller 420 checks in step 5511 whether image memory 108 can be accessed.

If it is accessible, the process advances to step 5512 to check whether the received data is a command. If it is a command, command analysis is performed in step 5513. If it is not a command, it is checked in step 5514 whether it is image data. If it is image data, it is checked in step 5516 whether or not the image data is permitted to be received, and if reception is permitted, the received data is stored in a reception buffer memory (not shown) in step 5517. If the received data is not image data, or if the reception of image data is not permitted, the process proceeds to step 5518, where it is determined that the received data cannot be analyzed and an error is sent to the outside.In step 5518, the received data buffer and flag are Reset.

Furthermore, if access to the image memory is prohibited in step 5511, a busy message is output in step 5519 (
or send) and proceeds to step 5520.

In the above embodiment, the semiconductor memory 108 is used as the first image memory, and the magnetic disk memory D is used as the second image memory, but the present invention is not limited to this. Various types of memory can be used, such as tape-like or optical disc memory, or magnetic bubble memory.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, image information input by a scanner can be efficiently used for various purposes.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram of the handy scanner of the first embodiment, FIGS. 2(A) and (B) are flowcharts showing the control procedure of the system controller 101 of the first embodiment, and FIG. 3 is the second embodiment. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the handy scanner of the third embodiment, FIG. 5 (A) and (B) are flowcharts of the communication control procedure in the third embodiment, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the handy scanner of the embodiment, and is a block configuration diagram of a conventional handy copy. In the figure, 1... xenon cold cathode tube, 2... manuscript, 3° 4... cold mirror 3.4.5... lens, 6...
... CCD color image sensor, 7... Rubber roller, 8... Photo sensor, 9... Encoder plate, 10
...Circuit board, 11...Signal cable, 101...
- System controller, 102...sensor (low reencoder), 106...image line sensor,
108... Image memory, 118... Timing signal generation circuit, 119... Sensor, 120... Magnetic head moving circuit, 121... Spindle motor drive circuit. 1i: 1-1-yo-, yo Figure 2 CB) Figure 5 (A)

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A scanner that reads an image; a first image memory that sequentially stores image data read by the scanner in conjunction with the reading operation of the scanner; and image data that is stored in the image memory according to a command from an operation switch. A handy scanner characterized by comprising a second image memory that stores. 2. The handy scanner according to claim 1, further comprising output means for reading out the information stored in the second image memory, forming a corresponding video signal, and outputting the video signal to the outside. 3. The handy scanner according to claim 1, further comprising output means for reading out the information stored in the second image memory, forming a corresponding digital signal, and outputting the digital signal to the outside.