JPH0375824A - Image scanner device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To permit anyone to easily and arbitrarily designate a read area matched to the effective printing area of a printer by previously registering a print size fitted to the possessed printer and an output format fitted to various purposes. CONSTITUTION:At the time of introducing an image scanner device 1, the print size of the processed printer 14 and the output size fitted to the purpose are previously registered. An operator operates the ten key of an operation part 4, and designates the size of a paper which is set from a host computer 12 to the printer 14. When the paper size is decided, the operator interactively selects a desired output form among various registered output forms on CRT of the host computer 12 or selects it by the function key of the operation part 4. Thus, anyone can easily and arbitrarily designate the read area matched to the effective printing area.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION "Industrial Applications" The present invention relates to an image scanner device that scans an image information surface of a document or the like and reads image information such as characters or figures written on this image information surface. .

``Prior Art'' FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an image scanner device fixed to a document table using a conventional contact type image sensor. In this figure, 1 is an image scanner device, 2
Reference numeral 3 indicates a CPU (central processing unit) which controls each part of the apparatus, 3 a memory in which a control programmer, etc. is stored, and 4 an operation section, which is comprised of preset keys, numeric keys, function keys, and the like.

Further, 5 is an image sensor that picks up image information such as characters or figures written on the image information surface of a manuscript or the like and converts it into an electric name. Note that the length of this image sensor 5 is
The A/I of the original is less than the Noyce crosspiece width (210 mrn). Reference numeral 6 denotes an A/D converter that converts the output signal of the image sensor 5 into digital data, and reference numeral 7 denotes an A/D converter that performs processing such as aging correction, MTF correction, γ correction, and binarization/multi-value conversion on the digital data. / Tal processing section,
8 is an output interface such as 5C8I.

Next, FIG. 7 shows a schematic perspective view of the image information reading section of the image scanner device I. In this figure, parts corresponding to those in FIG. 6 are given the same reference numerals, and their explanations will be omitted. In FIG. 7, 9 is a lot lens array;
10 is a light source such as a fluorescent lamp, 11 is text or graphic information, etc. 1. A4 size (2) 0x297m
This is the manuscript of m).

Further, FIG. 8 shows a block diagram of a computer system using the image scanner device 1 as an image information input device. In this figure, parts corresponding to those in FIG. 6 are designated by the same reference numerals, and their explanations will be omitted. In FIG. 8, 12 is a host computer, 13 is a hard disk for storing various data, and 14 is a printer. These components 1 and 12 to 14 are connected by a 5C3I lotus 15.

In such a configuration, in order to read out the image information of the characters or graphic boxes written on the document 11, the A4 size document 11 is first fixed on a document table (not shown) with the image information side facing down. Next, the function key for reading on the operation unit 4 is pressed. Alternatively, the host computer 12 outputs a reading start signal. As a result, the light source 10 is turned on, and the image sensor 5 scans from the origin (0, O) of the original 11 in FIGS. The entire reading group is moved in the Y direction in FIG. It is read by the image sensor 5. Furthermore, Figure 9 shows
3 is a view of the original 11 viewed from the opposite side of the image information surface. FIG. Also,
In FIG. 9, P I 11 P + 21 ・
...Pn1ll is a pixel.

Next, the image information read by the image sensor 5 is converted from an analog signal to digital data by the A/D converter 6, and transferred to the titer/tal processing section 7.

The data processing unit 7 performs various types of processing on the data, and outputs the processed data to the host computer via the output interface 8 and the 5C3I node 15. - Store it on the hard disk 13 or transfer it to the printer 14 and print it on paper.

Also, post computer 1. 2 Ha, -B bar +
Data related to image information stored in the optical disk 13 may be read out, transferred to the printer 14, and printed on paper.

The reading density when reading image information from the image scanner device 1 or the original 11 is determined by the function key of the operation unit 4 or the reading start signal from the host computer 12, which is 50, 100 + 50.2.
You can select from 00, 300, and 400 DPI (dots per inch). The number of pixels is also determined by the reading density. Therefore, when image information is read with a higher resolution, the number of pixels increases proportionally.

However, in a series of conventional image scanner devices 1, for example, A4 size (2).OX2 9 7
When the image information written on the document 11 (mm) is read, the image information of the entire surface of the document 11 is read as 1. O 0% is read and converted into digital data.

Furthermore, when data read by the image scanner device 1 is printed out by the printer 14, it is generally said that better printing results can be obtained depending on the resolution of the image scanner device 1 and the printer 14 or one-to-one printing. It is being said.

- On the other hand, the paper set in the printer 14 always has invalid printing areas that cannot be printed due to so-called paper handling, etc. The area indicated by is the effective printing area.In other words, A4 size 1.00%
I can't print it out.

Therefore, if the data read one-to-one by the image scanner device 1 is printed as is on the paper, the data exceeds the effective printing area of the paper, so the part beyond the effective printing area is printed incorrectly on the paper. There is a problem that the printer 14 may not be printed, or may be printed on parts of the printer 14 other than the paper, damaging the inside of the printer 14.

Therefore, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the image scanner device 1 has a funk/yonk or original
A reading area designation command 1 is prepared, and by using this function key or command, the reading area of the document 11 can be designated by the following two methods.

■Size of original 11 (for example, A4, A5, B5, B6
, A size) to specify the preset reading enoa by pressing the funkunyong key.

That is, by setting the coordinates of the reading area as shown in FIG. 11 and pressing the function key corresponding to the size of the document 11, for example, A4, the coordinates of the reading area will be set to (x, y). ) = (210, 297)
In the case of A"J size, if you press the Funkyon key in the same way, the coordinates of the reading area will be (x, y
) = (2 1 6, 2 7 9), and manuscript 11
100% of the size is specified.

■Specify any reading area using the reading area specification command.

That is, the coordinates (Xy) of the starting point of reading and the coordinates (x+m, y+n) of the end point of reading shown in FIG. .

ESC A. Since the area is fixed, there was a drawback that one reading area could not be changed.

Furthermore, the method of specifying the reading range using the reading area specification command from the host computer 12 is as follows.
Because it requires converting coordinates and programming using commands, it can only be used by people who have a good understanding of computers, and many people cannot easily use it.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an image scanner device that allows anyone to easily specify a reading area that matches the effective printing area of a printer. .

Means for Solving the Problems -1 The first invention comprises an image sensor that reads image information written on the image information surface of a manuscript or the like and converts it into electrical signals, and converts the output signal of the image sensor into digital data. Convert A to
In an image scanner device equipped with a /D converter and a digital/tal processing unit that performs processing such as correction and binarization/multi-value processing on the digital/tal data, a plurality of data in a predetermined format are a memory for storing an output form, a selection means for selecting one output form from the plurality of output forms, and processing the output data of the titer/tal processing unit to output data matching the selected output form. The present invention is characterized by comprising an output form processing section that performs the following steps.

Further, a second invention is characterized in that in the first invention, the selection means selects the output form by programming.

Furthermore, a third invention is characterized in that in the first invention, the selection means sets the output form by key input.

In addition, a fourth invention is characterized in that in the first invention, the output form setting value is specified as an invalid printing area.

Further, a fifth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the first aspect, the designation of the output form setting is an effective printing area.

[Operation] According to the present invention, a plurality of output forms in a predetermined format are stored in memory in advance, so that the operator can view the menu displayed on the CRT J2 by the host computer and One output form is selected from a plurality of output forms stored in memory. on the other hand,
Data read from the original by the image sensor and passed through the A/D converter and the data processing section is input to the output form processing section. As a result, the output form processing section performs 1. The raw data of 0% is edited and outputted into data corresponding to the selected output form.

"Embodiment" Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an image scanner device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this [21], parts corresponding to those in FIG. .

The image scanner device shown in this figure is different from the one shown in FIG. 6 in that it has a new output form processing unit 16 that processes the raw data output from the Tinotal processing unit 7 and edits and outputs data that matches the output form. This is the point that is provided for.

In such a configuration, the user can
When the scanner device 1 is installed, paper is invalidated in the printer 14 owned by the user by operating the numeric keypad or function key on the operation unit 4 or by a setting signal from the host computer 12. A print area is registered in advance in the memory 3 of the image scanner device 1. Alternatively, the image scanner device 1 can be registered in the drive software 2 running on the host computer 12, and the output form of the image scanner device 1 can be selected in response to this command. For example, if the area is an invalid print area as shown in the shaded area in FIG. 2, (XX2.y+, y2) is registered in the memory 3.

Incidentally, it is possible to register many types of such invalid print areas, that is, output forms. And these are the first
The output form, the second output form, . . . are registered as the n-th output form. In addition, invalid printing areas (xl,
It is also possible to arbitrarily set and register χ, + y++ y2) as free→noise.

Specifically, register in advance using the method shown below.

1st output cuff t -1- (J2 lower left and right margins each 5mm)
ESC 5, 5, 5.5 2nd output cuff (upper and lower) Qmm, left and right 5mm) ESCF 5 5 1.0. 1.0 3rd output cuff (upper and lower 15mm, lower 2 non-30mm, right Margin] Qmm, left margin 2Qr
nm) ESCF, 1.0. 20. 1.5. 30 In this way, when the image scanner device 1 is installed, by registering in advance the print size of the printer 14 owned and the output size suitable for the purpose, the operator can use the numeric keypad or funk key of the operation section 4 The size of the paper to be set in the printer 14 from the host computer 12 by operating the dial keys or using the drive software, that is, A4. A5. B5. Specify one of B6, A size, etc.

Once the paper size has been determined, the operator selects the desired output form from among the two consecutive first to third output forms by driving software on the CRT of the host computer 12 or pressing the function key on the operation unit 4. Select by.

First, in the case of selecting a desired output form using the former method, for example, if the command name is "ESCF", the selection is made using method n: as shown below.

ESCF, l - 1st output form selection ESCF, 2 2nd output form selection ESCF, 3 - 3rd output form selection ESCF, n
First Output Form Selection Next, the case where a desired output form is selected by the function +- of the operation unit 4 will be described based on flowchart 1 in FIG. When the operator specifies the size of the paper to be set in the printer 14 by operating the numeric keypad or the fun key on the operation unit 4, Cl) U2 proceeds to the process of step S1, and is one of the funky numbers. Determine whether the form key has been pressed.

If the result of this judgment is "rN○", the same judgment is repeated until rYEsj is reached. Then, when the determination result in step S1 becomes rY E S J, the process proceeds to step S2.

In step S2, 1 is assigned to a variable k regarding the output cuff t-me, and then the process proceeds to step S3. In step S3,
After reading the setting data of the first output form from the memory 3 and displaying it on the LED display (not shown), step S4
Proceed to.

In step S4, it is determined whether or not the resident identification key, which is one of the function keys, has been pressed. Is this the result of this judgment?
If YES, the process advances to step S5. In step S5, after determining the output form, the series of operations ends.

On the other hand, if the determination result in step S4 is rNOJ, the process advances to step S6. In step S6, it is determined whether the increment key, which is one of the funky keys, has been pressed (4111). If the result of this judgment is "NO", the same judgment is repeated until rY E S J is reached. If the determination result in step S6 is YES, the process advances to step S7.

In step S7, after assigning +1 to the variable k, the process returns to step S3.

When an output form is selected by one of the two methods described above, a selection signal is output. Thereby, the CPU 2 reads the data of the output form corresponding to this select signal from the memory 3 and transfers it to the output form processing section 16.

On the other hand, the output form processing unit 16 includes an A/D converter 6 that reads the original 11 from the image sensor 5.
Also, data that has passed through the digital processing section 7 is input. Thereby, the output form processing section 16 processes the data into data corresponding to the output form and transfers the data to the host computer I2 via the output interface 8 and the 5C3I bus 15.

Therefore, if the operator selects the output format shown in (1)-1) of the figure 4(a), the image information shown in the shaded area of Figure 4(a) will be displayed on the paper as shown in the shaded area Only the image information shown in that part is printed by the printer 14, and the image information in other parts is cut and not printed. Also,
When the operator selects another output form, the printouts are similarly printed as shown in FIGS. 4(c-2) to (C64).

Note that in the above description, the selection of the output format functions regardless of the paper size. For example, when the operator selects the third output form described above, as shown in the shaded area in FIG. Image information is not printed.

In addition, in the explanation of ``2 series'', an example was shown in which the invalid printing area shown in the shaded area in Fig. 2 was registered as the output form, or an example was shown in which the valid printing area shown in the shaded area in Fig. 12 was registered as the output form. Good too. In this case, the operator operates the numeric keys or function keys of the operation unit 4 to set the invalid printing area of the paper set in the printer 14 in advance in the memory 3 of the image scanner device 1.
Register. Alternatively, the image scanner device 1 or the output form can be selected in response to this command by registering it in the drive 'noft' operating on the host computer 12'. For example, if the effective printing area is as shown in the shaded area in Figure 12, (X+Y
+m+n) is registered in memory 3.

Incidentally, it is possible to register many types of such effective printing areas, ie, output forms. Then, these are registered as a first output form, a second output form, . . . , an n-th output form.

Specifically, registration is performed using the method shown below.

1st output form (for paper A, 4) ESCF, 9
．． +5.1.80.272 2nd output form (for A size paper) ESCF, 9.15 186.25/1
As explained above, since the image information is printed within the effective print area of the paper set in the printer /I, the image information may be printed on parts of the printer 14 other than the paper, causing damage to the inside of the printer 14. It is possible to prevent problems from occurring.

Furthermore, when specifying the output form using a command, the output form is registered in advance, which simplifies the program.

Furthermore, when specifying the output form as Funk/Yonkey, it is easy to specify, so 3H can be used.

``Effects of the Invention'' - As explained above, according to the present invention, anyone can easily print out print sizes and output formats suitable for various purposes because they are registered in advance. This has the effect of allowing you to interactively select and arbitrarily specify a reading area that matches the printer's effective printing area.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an image scanner device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an invalid printing area of paper set in the printer 14, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an image scanner device according to an embodiment of the invention. Flowchart 1 showing the operation of the CPU 2 when setting the output format, FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the image scanner device 1 shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a conventional image scanner device 1, and FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view of the image information reading section of the image scanner device 1 shown in FIG. 6. , FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a computer system using the image scanner device 1 as an image information input device, FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining the operation of reading image information from the image scanner device 1 or the document 11, and FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of the effective printing area of paper set in the printer 14, and FIGS. be. 1... Image scanner device, 2... CPU. 3. Memory, 4. Operation unit, 5. - Image sensor,
6. A/D converter, 7. Data/tal processing section, 14. Printer, 16.. Output format processing section. 0

Claims (5)

[Claims] (1) An image sensor that reads image information written on the image information surface of a document etc. and converts it into an electrical signal, an A/D converter that converts the output signal of the image sensor into digital data, and an A/D converter that converts the output signal of the image sensor into digital data. In an image scanner device, the image scanner device is equipped with a digital processing unit that performs processing such as correction and binarization/multi-value conversion, and a memory that stores a plurality of output form setting values in a predetermined format; An image scanner apparatus comprising: a selection means for selecting one output form; and an output form processing section for processing the output data of the digital processing section and outputting data matching the selected output form. . (2) The image scanner device according to claim 1, wherein the selection means selects the output form by a program. (3) The image scanner device according to claim 1, wherein the selection means selects the output form by key input. (4) The image scanner device according to claim 1, wherein the output form setting value designates an invalid printing area. (5) The image scanner device according to claim 1, wherein the output form setting value is specified as a valid printing area.