JPH03210873A - Picture forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a large original picture finally without joint by storing a picture sequentially based on an overlapped part between a picture read already and a picture of an area obtained by a succeeding read scanning. CONSTITUTION:When a picture forming device 1 is placed on a read region A1 on an original G, all picture information read by a line sensor 12 is stored in a read picture storage area M1. When the reading is finished, the picture forming device is reversed and the recording face 4 is placed on recording paper P to apply recording processing. Then the picture forming device is reversed and the picture forming device is placed so that a read scanning face 3 comes to a read area A2 part of which is overlapped onto the read area A1. A content A2 of a read picture storage area M1 written newly and picture information A1 of a pre-scan picture storage area M1 read and transferred preceding are collated and the picture information except the overlapped part is outputted to a recording means 14 from the picture information stored in the pre-scan picture storage area M2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that includes a reading means for reading an image of a document as image information, and a recording means for recording the image information on recording paper.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, league printer devices (image forming devices) that have both reading and recording functions print information read by a reader section onto print paper that is loaded into the device. However, it is not possible to print on special printing paper, so in order to record the information read from the object in a notebook, etc., it is necessary to cut out the printing paper and paste it into a notebook, etc. It had its drawbacks.

Therefore, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a league section that reads the recorded information of the object to be read and a printer section that prints the print information are provided, and the information read by the league section is stored and the stored contents are The printer section is provided with a control section that reads out the print information, and the control section performs one of the reading operations by the league section.
It has a plurality of memory areas capable of storing reading information for each batch, and each time the league section performs a reading operation, the reading information can be sequentially stored in the plurality of memory areas, and the printer section A league printer device has been proposed which is capable of sequentially printing out the contents of the plurality of memory areas in the order in which they were stored during the reading operation by the league unit each time a printing operation is performed (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 154961/1983). Publication No.).

According to this device, it is possible not only to read information from thick reading objects such as books, but also to freely print reading information on notebooks and other arbitrary printed materials. What is also noteworthy is that it is possible to read an original document, which has a fairly wide reading range, continuously in several batches, thereby making it possible to continuously record the read image information later.

Further, according to this device, the printer section can perform printing every time the league section reads, and it also has a sequential printing function.

[Problems that the invention attempts to solve]

However, when considering the sequential printing function of the reader/printer described above, the seams of images are misaligned during reading and printing.
The seams overlap or are interrupted, making it impossible to record and play back images that are faithful to the original image.

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to perform reading processing while shifting the reading means little by little during reading, and perform recording processing while shifting the recording means little by little during recording, so that the seams of images are perfectly aligned. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that enables recording and reproduction that is faithful to original images.

[Means for solving problems]

The main means employed by the present invention to achieve the above object are: a reading means for reading an image of a document as image information; a recording means for recording image information; and image information that can be read by one scan of the reading means. a read image storage means for storing image information read by the reading means; a prescan means for reading the image on the recording paper prior to recording the image information; and the prescan means. a prescan image storage means having a storage capacity approximately equal to the amount of image information that can be read in one scan, and storing image information read by the prescanning means; and an image newly read by the reading means. reading superposition determination means for determining whether there is a portion where information overlaps with previously read image information; image information stored in the read image storage means; and images stored in the prescan image storage means. recording superposition determining means for comparing information with the information and determining the presence or absence of an overlapping portion of both image information; An image forming apparatus comprising: image cutting means for cutting out image information of an overlapping area with image information stored in a pre-scan image storage means and outputting it to a recording means.

[Effect]

During the reading process, the operator places the image forming apparatus on the original with the scanning surface of the image forming apparatus facing the original surface. At this time, the image forming apparatus is placed on the original document so that a part of the image forming apparatus overlaps with a part of the previously read original image on the scanning surface of the image forming apparatus.

The document is then scanned by the reading means, and a predetermined portion of the large image is stored in the read image storage means. This stored image information is compared with the image information previously read by the reading means, and the reading polymerization determination means determines whether there is a part that overlaps.If there is no part to overlap, a notification to that effect is issued. In response, the operator shifts the reading surface of the image forming device on the document so that it overlaps a part of the previously read image, and scans the document again. When there is a portion to be overlapped, the operator receives a notification to that effect and places the recording surface of the image forming apparatus on the recording paper.

At this time, the image forming apparatus is placed on the recording paper so that a part of the recording surface of the image forming apparatus overlaps with a part of the previously recorded recorded image. Then, the recording paper is scanned by the prescan means, and the read image information is stored in the prescan image storage means. Then, the recording overlapping determination means compares the image information stored in the read image storage means with the image information stored in the prescan image storage means, and determines whether there is an overlapping portion of both image information.

When it is determined that there is an overlapping portion, the image cutting means cuts out the image information of the overlapping area with the image information stored in the prescan image storage means from the read image storage means and outputs it to the recording means.

On the other hand, when it is determined by the recording overlapping determination means that there is no overlapping portion of the image information, the operator who receives the notification shifts the image forming device on the recording paper so that a portion of the image information overlaps with the previously recorded image. , and thereafter, the reading process by the pre-scanning means is sequentially performed again.

By repeating the sequential reading and recording process described above,
In the document image reading process, images are sequentially stored based on the overlap between the already read image and the image of the area obtained by the next scanning scan, so that the final large document image can be created seamlessly. Obtainable. Furthermore, in the recording process, by sequentially recording images based on the overlap between the already recorded image and the image of the area obtained by pre-scanning, it is possible to finally obtain a large recorded image seamlessly. I can do it.

〔Example〕

Next, embodiments embodying the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings to provide an understanding of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing the image forming apparatus, FIG. 2 is a plan sectional view of the main part of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an image processing control part in the image forming apparatus, FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the image forming apparatus, FIG. 6 is a plan view showing an example of a document, and FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram. is a conceptual diagram showing the procedure for reading the original shown in FIG. 6, and FIGS. 8 and 9 are conceptual diagrams showing the procedure for recording the original image shown in FIG. 6.

In addition, the following example is only an example of embodying the present invention,
It is not intended to limit the technical scope of the present invention.

First, the structure of an image forming apparatus according to this embodiment will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

This image forming apparatus 1 has a generally flat box shape, and one side constitutes a reading scanning surface 3 on which a contact plate (hereinafter referred to as a glass plate) 2 made of glass is attached, and the other side constitutes a recording surface 4. ing.

This image forming apparatus 1 includes a scanning chamber 5 with a partition wall 5.
a and a control section storage chamber 5b.

Inside the scanning chamber 5a, there are a bearing 6 provided on the partition wall 5 and a bearing 8 provided on the partition wall 7 provided opposite to the partition wall 5.
A threaded rod 9 rotatably supported is housed in the housing.

A threaded portion 10 is screwed onto the threaded rod 9, and a mounting base 11 is fixed to this threaded portion 10.

An optical line sensor 12 such as a CCD, which faces the glass plate 2, is mounted on one end of the mounting base 11 on the threaded rod 9.
are arranged in a line perpendicular to. 13 is an LED for providing reflected light from the original to the line sensor 12;
It is a light emitting part consisting of a group, etc. The light emitting section 13 and the optical line sensor 12 constitute a reading means.

Further, a recording means 14 is provided on the side of the mounting base 11 opposite to the mounting portion of the line sensor 12.

The details of the recording means 14 are as shown in FIG. The running roller 15 constituting a part of the recording means 14 is a rotatable roller that projects slightly outward from an opening formed in the recording surface 4. A small gear 16 provided on this running roller 15 is connected to a winding gear 18 via an idle gear 17. The take-up gear 18 is connected to a take-up roll 19, and the take-up roll 19 takes up the transfer ribbon 21 unwound from the ribbon roll 20. The ribbon roll 20 is rotatably supported by the casing 22 of the recording means 14 with some resistance.

23 is a thermal head that contacts the transfer ribbon 21 and performs thermal transfer onto the recording paper P.

Further, one end of the casing 22 is provided with a pre-scanning line sensor 24 parallel to the line sensor 12 and a pre-scanning light emitting section 25 for applying reflected light from the recording paper to the line sensor 24. The light emitting section 25 and the line sensor 24 constitute a prescan means.

On the other hand, the control unit storage chamber 5b includes a control device such as a microcomputer (not shown), a motor M connected to the screw rod 9, and a motor M for rotationally driving the screw rod 9, and a motor M that protrudes from the control unit storage chamber 5b. 2 pistons 2
6a and 26b, the pistons 26a, 26b
It houses switches SWI and SW2 which are operated by the switch SWI and SW2.

Further, on the outside of the control section storage chamber 5b, a display section D shown in FIG. 4, a reading key 1 and a recording key 2 are provided.

As shown in FIG. 4, the control section housed in the control section storage chamber 5b is equipped with a CPU that performs various arithmetic operations according to programs written in the ROM. The reading polymerization determination means, the recording polymerization determination means, and the image cutting means, which will be described later, are realized by a program written in the ROM. A RAM for storage is connected to this CPU.

This RAM has a storage capacity approximately equal to the amount of image information that can be read in one scan of the reading means, and includes a storage area M1 as a read image storage means for storing image information read by the reading means, and a pre-scan area. It has a storage capacity approximately equal to the amount of image information that can be read in one scan by means B, and is provided with a storage area M2 as a prescan image storage means for storing image information read by the prescan means. .

Next, with reference to the drawings from FIG. The procedure for sequential recording processing will be explained. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating such a procedure.

Hereinafter, a case will be described in which reading and recording processing is performed on a document G as shown in FIG. In this case, for the sake of simplicity, the area of the glass plate 2 provided on the reading scanning surface 3, that is, the effective area of the scanning area (reading area) by the line sensor 12
A case will be explained in which the image is somewhat larger than the document G shown in FIG. 6 divided into four equal parts.

FIG. 7 shows the procedure for reading the original G shown in FIG.
1. -A dot-dashed line area A2, a dot-dashed line area A3, and a two-dot chain line area A4 each represent a reading area by the line sensor 12 of the image forming apparatus 1.

Here, Sl, S2, . . . indicate procedure (step) numbers.

The operator first presses the main switch MS of the image forming apparatus 1.
Turn on the ONL power (Fig. 4). Then memory M1,
M2 is initialized and a flag F, which will be described later, is reset to O (Sl). Then, the scanning surface 3 of the image forming apparatus 1 is placed on the original G with the reading scanning surface 3 facing the original G. In order to make the explanation easier to understand, here, the scanning surface 3 of the image forming apparatus 1 is the reading area shown by the solid line on the original G shown in FIG. Assume that it is placed on AI.

Where such an image forming apparatus 1 is first placed on the document G is at the discretion of the operator.

When the image forming apparatus 1 is placed on the reading area Al on the original G with the reading scanning surface 3 facing the original G as described above, the switch SWI on the scanning surface 3 side comes into contact with the original G, so S2 The CPU determines that the switch SW1 is on, and the process proceeds to S3.

In this state, when the operator presses the reading key (S3), the process advances to S4, where the motor M is started and
The light emitting section 13 is turned on.

When the motor M starts rotating as shown in FIG.
scanning starts. The motor M is rotationally driven in the forward direction until the line sensor 12 reaches the rightmost position of the scanning surface 3 shown in FIG. 1, and stops at the time when the line sensor 12 reaches the rightmost position. All the image information of the reading area AI read by the line sensor 12 in this way is stored in the reading image storage area M1.
). S4 and S5 are repeated until reading is completed (S6).

In this way, when the reading scan of the image information in the reading area A1 is completed, it is determined whether the flag F is currently 0 (
S7). The flag F becomes 0 only when the read image is the first image, and is set to 1 from the second section onwards. Regarding the image of the first section, F=0 is set at the initialization stage of Sl, so processing is performed using S1.
The process advances to step 8, where reading completion is displayed on the display section.

This notification informs the operator that reading of the image information from the first reading area A1 has been completed.

When the reading of the image information in the area A1 is completed in this way, the image forming apparatus 1 is reversed, the recording surface 4 is placed on the recording paper P, and recording processing is performed.

This processing state is shown in FIG.

In this way, when the recording surface 4 is placed on the recording area Bl of the recording paper P and the switch SW2 of the recording surface 4 is turned on, S2
The process jumps from S9 to S9.

Here, switch SW2 is in the ON state, so when the operator presses the record key 2, the CP at 310 is
The judgment by U is turned on, and the process shifts to Sll.

In Sll, it is determined whether the flag F is 0 or not.

Since flag F is set to O in initialization step 31, the determination here is YES, and the process of S12 is executed.

That is, the image information in the read image storage area M1 is read out and written in the prescan image storage area M2, and the image is recorded and output on the recording paper P as described below (313).
), at this time, the image cutting means does not operate because the flag F is O.

Referring to FIG. 1, when the motor M is driven to rotate and the threaded rod 9 rotates, the threaded portion 10 and the recording means 14 integrated therewith move in the direction of the arrow X. At this time, as shown in FIG. 3, the running roller 15 is pressed against the recording paper P, so as the recording means 14 moves in the direction of the arrow X, the running roller 15 rotates due to friction with the recording paper P. Driven. As a result, the take-up roll 19 connected to the running roller 15 through the small gear 16, idle gear 17, and take-up gear 18 is rotated in the direction of arrow Y, and the recording ribbon taken up from the ribbon roll 20 is rotated. 21 is taken up by the take-up roll 19. At the same time, the thermal head 23 is driven according to the stored content in the prescan image storage area M2, and the image shown in FIG. 8(b) is placed on the recording paper P. The image is recorded as follows (S13)
.

This continues until the recording is completed (S14), and when the recording is completed, a notification to that effect is sent via the display (S15).
.

Thereafter, all image information in the read image storage area M1 is transferred to the prescan image storage area M2 (S16), and
Flag F is set to 1 (S17). This image information transfer is performed for image information verification in S23, which will be described later.

In this way, when the image recording of a little more than 1/4 of the total images is completed as described above, the process returns to S2 again.

When the operator receives notification of the completion of recording (S15), the operator then reverses the image forming apparatus 1 and places the reading scanning surface on the reading area A2 that partially overlaps the previous reading area A1, as shown in FIG. 7(b). Place the image forming apparatus 1 so that 3 is facing. At this time, the above-mentioned reading areas A1 and A2 have an overlapping area A as shown by diagonal lines.
It is important to partially overlap by I2.

The operator moves the reading scanning surface 3 to the reading area A2 as described above.
When you press the reading key Kl, the process goes to S2, S3,
The process proceeds to S4, S5, and s6, and the reading process for the reading area A2 is performed. At this time, the read data is written to the read image storage area M1.

In the next step 37, the flag F is 1, so the process is 3
Proceed to 1B. Here, the newly written content A2 of the read image storage area M1 is compared with the image information A1 of the pre-scanned image storage area M2 that was previously read and transferred. Such matching is performed according to pattern matching processing, but since such processing is well known to those skilled in the art, its explanation will be omitted.

As mentioned above, the previous reading area A1 and the current reading area A2
Since there is an overlapping portion AI2 between them, the determination as to whether or not there is an overlapping portion in step 818 is YES, and a reading completion indication is notified via the display unit in S8.

After receiving the notification of the completion of recording in S15, the image forming apparatus is reversed, and the reading scanning surface 3 is placed on the original G with the current reading area not partially overlapping with the previous reading area A1, and the image forming apparatus is read. When scanning (S3, S4, S5) is performed, it is determined in the comparison of the image information of 31B that part of the image information is not overlapped. In this case, since the connection with the image information of the previous reading area A1 cannot be established, a placement error is notified via the display unit (S19), and the recorded output of the scanned image information is SW2 on recording surface 4 to prevent
The ON signal will not be accepted. When this placement error occurs, the operator shifts the image forming device 1 so that it partially overlaps with the previous reading area A1, and prints the next image while maintaining continuity with the image information of the previous reading area A1. is read and scanned (repeat S3 and subsequent steps).

When the completion of reading of the reading area A2 is notified in S8, the operator turns the image forming apparatus 1 over again and places the image forming apparatus 1 with the recording surface 4 facing the recording paper P (FIG. 8(C)).

At this time, as shown by the dashed line in FIG. 8(C), the image information of the previously recorded area B1 and the image information A2 of the read image storage area Ml to be recorded and output are partially overlapped so that they are connected. The image forming apparatus 1 is placed in the recording area B2. Then, the switch SW2 of the four recording surfaces is turned on (
s9).

When 2 is pressed on the record key in this state (SIO), the CPU determines flag F. At this time, since it is already the second reading and recording process, the flag F is set to 1 in 317, and a negative determination is made in this Sll, and the process moves to S21.

In S21, a pre-scan is performed for the new recording area B2. That is, when the light emitting section 25 is turned on,
The motor M is driven, the prescan means moves, and the line sensor 24 performs optical scanning. The image information B2 read by this prescan is stored in the prescan image storage area M2 (S22). At this time,
In order to prevent the recording ribbon from being damaged or worn out, the recording means 14 is
It is desirable to lift it using an actuator (not shown).

Subsequently, in step 323, pattern matching is performed between the stored information B2 in the prescanned image storage area M2 and the stored information A2 in the read image storage area M1.

In 324, if there is no overlap between the image information on the recording paper P read by the pre-scanning means and the image information on the document G read by the reading means (pattern matching is not established), the process moves to 325, and there is no overlap. Display, that is, a placement error display is notified via the display unit, and the ON signal of the switch SW1 of the reading scanning surface 3 is not received (S2
6).

The operator who received the notification of the placement error display is shown in Figure 8(c).
As shown in , the image forming apparatus 1 is shifted to the position of the recording area B2 so as to partially overlap the recording area Bl that was previously recorded and output, and the processing from S10 is repeated.

If pattern matching is established in S24 and it is determined that there is an overlap (there is an overlap between area AI2 and area B12), the image information stored in the read image storage area M1 corresponding to the prescan area B2 is read out. It is stored in the prescan image storage area M2 (S27). Then, image information excluding the overlapping portion (area B12 indicated by diagonal lines in FIG. 8(C)) from the image information stored in the prescan image storage area M2 is output to the recording means 14 (52B).

When the recording process is completed in this manner (S29), a recorded image as shown in FIG. 8(d) is obtained.

Then, after setting flag F to 1 (S30), S3
In step 1, it is determined whether or not image information that has not been recorded and output remains in the read image storage area M1, that is, whether all the image information A2 has been read out from the read image storage area M1. If no image information remains, transfer the image information in the read image storage area M1 to the prescan image storage area M2 (S32)
L. Notify the display of recording completion (333).

The reading and recording processes are performed in this manner, and steps 32 to 331 are repeated for the reading areas A3 and A4 shown in FIG. 7 in the same manner as for the reading area A2 and the recording area B2.

By doing so, through the processing steps shown in FIGS. 8(e) to 8(h), the recorded image shown in FIG. 8(h), which is the same as the image of the document G shown in FIG. 6, is finally obtained.

In step 329 described above, if there is unread image information from the read image storage area M1, in step S34, the ON signal of the switch SWI of the reading scanning surface 3 is not accepted, and a display indicating that the recording process is to be continued is displayed. Notification is made via the display section (S35). When the continuation of the recording process is notified, the operator shifts the recording surface 4 on the recording paper and repeats the process from S10 again until there is no unread image information in the read image storage area M1.

Here, steps 39 to 331 will be explained in detail again based on FIG. 9 in the case where there is unread image information from the read image storage area M1 in S29.

After reading the image information in the reading area A2 in FIG. 7(b), when recording this image information, the image forming apparatus 1
When the recording surface 4 is placed on the area B21 of the recording paper P as shown in FIG. 9 (C1), the image information of this area B21 is stored in the prescan image storage area M2.

Then, by the verification process in S23, this storage area M
Image information B21 stored in 2 and read image storage area M1
The overlapping part (pattern matching part) with the image information A2 stored in is the area Z1 shown by hunting in FIG. 9 (C1).
It is determined that

Then, in step 324, it is determined that there is an overlapping part, and in step S27, image information corresponding to the prescan area, that is, area A1, is cut out from the read image storage area M1, and this image information is stored in the prescan image storage area M2. Ru. The image information is then read out from the prescan image storage area M2, outputted to the recording means 14, and recorded on the recording paper P as shown in FIG. 9 (C2).

When the recording process is completed in this way (S29), S3
1, it is determined whether all image information in the read image storage area M1 has been read out.

Here, the image information in the read image storage area M1 is stored in the area Z1.
Since reading has not been completed except for
35, the image forming apparatus 1 is placed on the area B22 on the recording paper P shown in FIG. 9 (C3),
Press the record key again (SIO), then 311, S21
After that, the image information of the read and scanned area z2 is stored in the prescan image storage area M2 (322), and in S23, comparison with both storage areas M1 and M2 is performed. Through this matching process, the area Z shown by hatching in FIG. 9 (C3)
In step 2, it is determined that there is an overlapping part (pattern matching part) (324), and in step S27, image information corresponding to the prescan area, that is, area A1, is cut out from the read image storage area M1, and this image information is It is stored in the prescan image storage area M2. The image information is then read out from the prescan image storage area M2, output to the recording means 14, and recorded on the recording paper P as shown in FIG. 9 (C4).

When the recording process is completed in this way (S29), S3
1, it is determined whether all image information in the read image storage area M1 has been read out. When reading of all images is completed (331), the process returns to S2 via S32 and 333.

As explained above, prescan areas B21 and B22
The image cutting means realizes the function of reading out the stored image information in the read image storage area M1 corresponding to the part that overlaps with the reading area A2, storing it in the prescan image storage area M2, and outputting it to the recording means 14. This is an example.

In the embodiment described above, image information is recorded and outputted to the recording means 14 from the prescanned image storage area M2, but it may be performed from the read image storage area M1 instead. Further, when recording and outputting image information to the recording means 14, the image information of the overlapping portion is cut off, but it may be recorded and outputted without being cut off.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the present invention is to divide and read a document image larger than the area that can be read in one scan by an image forming apparatus in a plurality of scans, and sequentially record and output it on recording paper. At this time, the read and recorded images can be completely seamless and faithful to the original image. Furthermore, according to the present invention, the storage capacity of the storage means is small, and costs can be reduced.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing an image forming apparatus as an example of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of essential parts of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a section taken in the direction of arrow A in FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the image processing control section in the image forming apparatus, FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the image forming apparatus, and FIG. 6 shows an example of a read document. 7 is a conceptual diagram showing the reading procedure for the original shown in FIG. 6, and FIGS. 8 and 9 are conceptual diagrams showing the recording procedure for the original shown in FIG. 6. 1... Image forming device 3... Scanning surface 4... Recording surface 9... Threaded rod 10... Screw 1
2... Line sensor 13... Light emitting part 14...
- Recording means 15... Running roller 19... Winding roller... Ribbon roll 21... Recording ribbon... Thermal head... Line sensor 25... Light emitting section/Display section Kl... Reading key...・Record key...Storage area as read image storage means...Record as pre-scan image storage means 20, 23, 24, D, ・K2, Ml, M2, Storage area M...Motor

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A reading means for reading an image of a document as image information, a recording means for recording image information, and a storage capacity approximately equal to the amount of image information that can be read in one scan of the reading means, A read image storage means for storing image information read by the reading means; a prescan means for reading an image on recording paper prior to recording processing of the image information; and image information that can be read by one scan of the prescan means. a pre-scan image storage means having a storage capacity approximately equal to the amount of image information read by the pre-scan means, and a pre-scan image storage means for storing image information read by the above-mentioned pre-scan means; A reading polymerization determination means that determines whether there is a portion to be polymerized or not compares the image information stored in the read image storage means with the image information stored in the prescan image storage means, and compares both image information. recording polymerization determining means for determining the presence or absence of a portion to be overlapped; and an image stored in the prescan image storing means from the read image storage means when the recording polymerization determining means determines that the two pieces of image information are overlapping; An image forming apparatus comprising: image cutting means for cutting out image information in an overlapping region with information and outputting it to a recording means.