JPH03210673A - Picture processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the capacity of a picture memory for a picture processing system as a whole and to improve the system throughput by providing a picture forming device between a host computer and a picture input device and then providing a picture memory which stores picture data or a picture processing function to the picture forming device. CONSTITUTION:The picture processing system is comprised of a host computer 10, a printer 11 and an image scanner 12. A main CPU 13 of the printer 11 carries out the interface control between the computer 10 and the scanner 12, the control of a digital signal processor (DSP) 14 which performs the fast arithmetic processing, the control of a memory 15 which stores the picture data, and a series of action sequence controls of the printer 11 respectively. A CRT display 17 connected to the computer 10 displays and outputs the picture data received from the printer 11. In such configuration, the capacity of the picture memory is reduced and the system throughput is improved.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an image processing system that includes an image input device such as an image scanner, an image forming device such as a printer, and a host computer. .

[Prior Art] The configuration of a conventional image processing system is shown in FIG. Here, an image input device 107 such as an image scanner and an image forming device 102 such as a printer are respectively connected to a host computer 101 via physically separate interfaces.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of editing processing of manuscript A and manuscript B in the above-mentioned image processing system. Part (a) of manuscript A is enlarged, and part (b) of manuscript B is kept at the same magnification. A case where a document image C is created by combining them is shown. When performing such processing, the host computer 101 inputs image data obtained by reading the front side of the document A at a predetermined density from the image scanner 107, and displays the image data on a CRT display or the like.

Therefore, the operator specifies the area (a) and the magnification.

This commands the image scanner 107 to read the area (a) at a predetermined density and magnification, reads the image data again, and stores the image in the image memory of the host computer 101 in order to output the image data to the printer 102. Then, for the original B, image data is read by the image scanner 107 in the same manner as described above, and the image data is stored in a hard disk or the like and reconstructed so as to have the layout of the original C. Thereafter, the image data of the document C is sent to the printer 102 to create a hard copy.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the conventional image processing system described above, when performing image editing as shown in FIG.
The image scanner 10 has a reading density that can be displayed on a CRT display connected to the host computer 101.
7, the original image data must be read, and then the original image data must be read at a desired reading density. For this reason, there was a drawback that the processing throughput was reduced. Furthermore, the image scanner 107 also requires hardware for converting the reading density. Furthermore, when the amount of data of the original image increases, the host computer 101 needs to temporarily store the original image data in a large-capacity storage device (for example, a hard disk) (not shown). Further, the image scanner 107 also has a problem in that it requires a buffer memory to store several lines of image data.

The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional example, and includes an image forming device interposed between the host computer and the image input device, and the image forming device is equipped with an image memory for storing image data or various image processing functions. An object of the present invention is to provide an image processing system that reduces the image memory capacity of the entire system and improves the throughput of the system.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the image processing system of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, the image processing system includes an image forming section interposed between a host computer and an image input device, and the image forming device includes an image memory for storing image data, and an editing means for editing the image data. The host computer includes a control means for controlling input of image data from the image input device via the image forming device.

[Operation] In the above configuration, the image forming apparatus includes an image memory for storing image data and an editing means for editing the image data, and the host computer inputs and processes images via this image forming apparatus. Image data can be input from the device, and the image memory of the image input device can also be omitted.

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

[Description of the image processing system (Figures 1 and 2)] Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image processing system of this embodiment, and Figure 2 is an image adopted in the image processing system of this embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a scanner.

In FIG. 1, 10 is a host computer, 11 is a printer, and 12 is an image scanner. 13 is the main CPU of the printer 11, and the host computer lO
, interface control with the image scanner 12, control of the digital signal processor (DSP) 14 that executes arithmetic processing at high speed, management of the memory 15 that stores image data, and further control of a series of operation sequences in the printer 11. Running. Reference numeral 16 denotes a sub-CPU that executes control of the mechanical section of the printer 11. 17
is a CRT display connected to the host computer 1o, which displays and outputs image data sent from the printer 11.

In FIG. 1, when an image scanner 12 reads and inputs a document image, a host computer 10 issues a document reading command to a printer 11. This results in
The main cPU 13 of the printer 11 receives the original reading command, prepares to receive the original image data, and issues the original reading command to the image scanner 12.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image scanner 12 of this embodiment. As is clear from a comparison with FIG. The configuration has been removed.

That is, the printer 11 has functions such as density/magnification conversion, binarization, backing, and buffer memory.

In FIG. 1, when the printer 11 receives multivalued image data transmitted from the image scanner 12 and is given a command to read binary data from the host computer 10, the main CPU 13 and DSP 14 convert the multivalued image data into binary data. Execute processing. Furthermore, when a command to read multivalued image data is input, the image data input from the image scanner 12 is sequentially stored in the memory 15 as is. At this time, the entire surface of the document A is read at the maximum reading density of the image scanner 12, and when several lines of image data have been read, the image data is transmitted to the host computer 10.

When the host computer 10 inputs the image data of the entire surface of the original A, the host computer 10 instructs the printer 11 to transmit the area (A) of the original A at a predetermined density and magnification. As a result, the main CPU 13 of the printer 11 accesses only the part (a) of the image data of the entire document A previously stored in the memory 15 and transmits it to the host computer IO. Note that the image scanner 12 is not activated at this time.

Next, using the same procedure as above, all the image data of document B is input from the image scanner 12 to the host computer 10 via the printer 11, and when the area (D) is specified on the host computer 10, the printer 11 memory 1
5, the image data of the leaning castle (D) portion is transferred to the host computer IO. In this way, the document is reconfigured by the host computer IO into the document (C) in FIG.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show these processes.

[Explanation of Processing of Host Computer (FIG. 3)] FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing of the host computer 10. This processing is started when an instruction to input image data is input from the image scanner 12.

First, in step S1, it is checked whether the printer 11 is printing. If not, the process advances to step S2, and the printer 11 is instructed to read an image. As a result, the printer 11 instructs the image scanner 12 to input an image. In this way, in step S3, it waits for the image data to be returned from the printer 11, and then the image data is sent (then the process proceeds to step S4, where the image data is displayed on the CRT display 17).

In this way, the process proceeds to step S5, and when the area of the image data is specified, the area is specified to the printer 11 in step S6. On the other hand, if the area is not specified in step S5, the process proceeds to step S7, and the image data to be combined (for example, the area of the original image (a) and the area of the original image (b) in FIG. 6)
Check to see if is input from the printer 11. When these image data to be synthesized are input, the process advances to step S8, and the sixth
As shown in the figure, the area (A) of the original image A and the area (B) of the original image B are combined.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing image input processing in the printer 11, and the control program that executes this processing is R
It is stored in OM13a.

In step Sll, an image reading instruction is input from the host computer 10 (corresponding to step S2 in FIG. 3).
If an image reading instruction is input, step S1
Step 2 instructs the image scanner 12 to read the image. As a result, the image scanner 12 starts reading the image and outputs the image data to the printer 11. Here, as described above, the document image is read at the maximum reading density of the image scanner 12, and the printer 11
is input.

In step 313, the input image data is stored in the memory 15, and in step S14, the image data input from the image scanner 12 is stored in the host computer 15.
Output to.

Next, the process advances to step S15, and waits for area designation information of the image data to be input from the host computer 10 (corresponding to step S6 in FIG. 3). When the area designation information is input, the process advances to step S16, and Then, image data corresponding to the designated area is read out. Then, it is checked by the host computer 10 whether the image data is instructed to be input in binary or multivalued form.
When the value is specified, the multi-value image data from the image scanner 12 is converted into binary image data in step S18, and backing is performed as necessary.

On the other hand, if multi-value image data is specified, the process proceeds to step S19, where the multi-value image data from the image scanner 12 is backed up, and the process proceeds to step S20. and,
In step S20, these image data are output to the host computer IO. Thereby, the host computer 10 synthesizes the image data as necessary.

Note that in the embodiment described above, the image scanner 1
2, the host computer 10 edits and synthesizes the original image data read by the image scanner 12. However, for example, it is also possible to synthesize the fixed format data stored in the host computer 10 in advance and the image data read by the image scanner 12. You may also do so.

Furthermore, although the printer 11 has been described as having a memory capacity for one page, if the printer 11 has a memory capacity for multiple pages, the printer 11 and the host computer
The number of data transmissions with 0 is also reduced (this means that throughput can be further improved).

As described above, according to this embodiment, the throughput of the system can be improved by effectively utilizing the hardware configuration of the printer. Furthermore, the hardware resources of the image scanner can be reduced compared to the conventional configuration example, so that an increase in the cost of the hardware as a system can also be suppressed.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, an image forming device is interposed between a host computer and an image input device, and the image forming device has an image memory for storing image data, or various image processing functions, etc. This has the effect of reducing the image memory capacity of the entire system and improving the throughput of the system.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of an image processing system according to this embodiment, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of an image scanner according to this embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing control of the host computer according to the embodiment. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the control processing of the printer of the embodiment, FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional image processing system, and FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of document editing of a document image. In the figure, 10...Host computer, 12...Printer, 12...Image scanner, 13...Main CPU, 13a=ROM, 14-DSP, l5.
...Memory, 16...Sub CPU, 17...CRT
It is a display. 3rd wA +01 +07 Figure 5/#, giA Insertion B II6! i! 11

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim] An image processing system comprising an image forming section interposed between a host computer and an image input device, the image forming device comprising an image memory for storing image data, and an image of the image data. An image processing system comprising: editing means for editing; and control means for controlling the host computer to input image data from the image input device via the image forming device.