JPH0394382A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To input character information to be used for image formation processing by easy operation by using hand-written characters to execute prescribed image formation processing by an image forming means. CONSTITUTION:A coordinate input device is provided with an input pen 6, an input face 7, an operation part 8, a recessed part 9, an input key 81, an LED 82, and a liquid crystal display panel 185. A handwritten character is recognized by the coordinate input device and the recognized character is inputted to the image forming means. The inputted character is used for executing the prescribed image formation processing by the image forming means. Consequently, a required character can easily be inputted by the coordinate input device and used for the image formation processing.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and particularly to an image forming apparatus that performs image forming processing by a predetermined image forming means using image information inputted by a coordinate input device. It is.

[Prior Art] Coordinate input devices using various methods have been used in the past. Typically, this type of device has a dedicated input pen, a regular writing instrument, an input tablet operated with a fingertip, etc., and detects the coordinates of the user's input point using various detection methods.

In particular, as one detection method, resistor sheets are placed facing each other to form a tablet, the resistor sheets are brought into contact with each other by pressing force during input, and the coordinates of the input point are determined based on the resistance value information obtained from the resistor sheet. What it detects is known.

Such coordinate input devices are used for inputting handwritten characters, images, etc. into a personal computer or the like, or as an editor for specifying a copy range in image formation in a copying machine or the like.

In particular, this type of coordinate input device is used in copying machines, etc.
It is normally used only for so-called area designation, which is simply to specify an area to be copied or not copied, or an area where the copy color is to be changed.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] On the other hand, in image forming apparatuses such as copying machines, especially when using a laser beam recording method, characters (or images) other than the original image are recorded simultaneously with the original image.
So-called add-on functions are known. Copying machines use text information indicating the date and time, page number, or text information indicating the type of image such as "circulation" as add-on information.

However, since the above add-on characters are configured to use only characters prepared in advance, there is a problem that the user cannot use the character he or she wants to use unless it is prepared.

Furthermore, when there are a large number of ad character characters to be selected, there is a problem that the selection process is troublesome. In particular, in a device having a coordinate input device as described above as an area specifying device,
A method has been proposed in which an add-on character is printed on the add-on coordinate input screen in advance and input is made on this character to select the add-on character, but in such a method, the more character types there are to select, the more the add-on character is selected. Work becomes tedious.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to make it possible to input character information used in image forming processing with easy operation.

[1,000 steps to solve the problem] In order to solve the problem, the present invention provides an image forming apparatus that performs image forming processing by a predetermined image forming means using image information input by a coordinate input device. A means for recognizing characters handwritten into the coordinate input device and a means for inputting the characters recognized by the recognition means into an image forming means are provided, and the image forming means reads the characters input from the input means. A configuration was adopted in which a predetermined image forming process is performed using the image forming apparatus.

[Function] According to the above configuration, desired characters can be input by hand using the coordinate input device and used for image forming processing.

[Example 1] Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail based on an example shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an editor for a copying machine according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, the main body of the apparatus is a flat plate, and is configured as a document holder for a copying machine.

Since the configuration of the copying machine side is well known, detailed explanation will be omitted here.

Almost the entire center of the device is an input surface 7, and an operation section 8 is provided on the front side of this input surface 7.

The operation unit 8 is provided with input keys 81 for specifying various operations, such as sampling a designated image range or copying only that part. Important input keys 8l are shown in FIG. 9, which will be described later.

Among the input keys 81, those necessary to display the operation mode are provided with an LED 82 as an indicator.

In addition, the operation unit 8 is used to monitor characters recognized by character recognition, which will be described later, and to display time and actions on a monitor.
A liquid crystal display panel 185 is provided, and a character input key 186 is provided for setting a character input mode to be described later.
Also provided.

Further, on the other side of the input surface 7, a recess 9 is provided for placing the input pen 6. A switch (not shown) is provided at the bottom of the recess 9 to detect whether the input pen is placed at that position. If this switch is not operated, it is determined that the user has started inputting.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of the coordinate input section provided at the bottom of the input surface 7. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a protection sheet for protecting the input mechanism, and as shown in the figure, ruled lines are printed to designate the range of the document. At the bottom of the protective sheet 1, members indicated by reference numerals 2 to 5 are laminated. An X resistor sheet 2 is provided at the bottom of the safety sheet 1.

Furthermore, a y resistor sheet 3 is provided below this via a dot spacer 4. As shown in the cross section on the right side of FIG. 2, the X resistor sheet 2 and the Y resistor sheet 3 are placed facing each other at a predetermined distance apart by a dot spacer 4.

A resistor is uniformly coated on the opposing surfaces of both resistor sheets, and electrodes 2x and 2y are provided in parallel for extracting a detection signal and for averaging the voltage distribution on the resistor. The electrodes 2x and 2y of each resistor sheet 2 and 3 are provided parallel to the X and y coordinates shown at the bottom of the figure.
x is arranged parallel to the y-axis, and the electrode 2y is arranged parallel to the x-axis.

The arrangement pitch of the electrodes 2x, 2y is set according to the desired input resolution. These electrodes are connected to the kick-up bins PI-PIO, respectively, as shown in the equivalent circuit of FIG. The electrode taken out by the big-up bin Pi-PIO is used as a correction voltage during coordinate calculation as described later. A metal plate 5 is disposed below the y-resistance sheet 3 to ensure rigidity.

Next, the basic principle of coordinate input processing with the above configuration will be explained with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

When one point on the input surface 7 is pressed with an input pen (or other protrusion), the X resistor sheet 2 and the Y resistor sheet 3 are connected via the contact resistance Re, as shown in FIG. be done.

First, to find the X coordinate, the X resistor side transistor T
XI{. Turn on TXL, y resistor side transistor TY
When H and TYL are turned off, the voltage at the contact point of the X resistor appears at the kick-up electrode of the Y resistor.

At this time, this voltage is VX, and the big-up electrode voltages that sandwich the contact portion on the x resistor side (bins N+1 and N+2) are VN. VN+1. Assuming that the distance between adjacent kick-up electrodes is 1, the X coordinate is expressed as shown in FIG.

This causes the transistor switch TXH. Turn on TXL, TYH. After turning off TYL, connect Vx from the Y resistor's big-up bin to VN. The X coordinate can be read by taking VN+l from the N+1 and N+2 bins of the X resistor.

Furthermore, the Y coordinate can also be read in a similar manner to determine the coordinates of the pressed point on the tablet.

FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of the editor control circuit. As shown, the CPU 71 is a one-chip microprocessor with a serial communication function. This CPU 71 inputs the voltage of the big-up bin of the x, y resistor as a digital value through the 8-channel multiplexers 85 to 88 for electrode selection and the A/D converter 72.

The CPU 71 calculates coordinate values from the voltage values and transmits the results to the copying machine via the serial communication interface 74. Further, the CPU 71 inputs and outputs data to and from the operating section 8 via the input port 8l for the editor operating section switch and the output port 82 for the editor operating section LED. Furthermore, the CPU 7l also includes a comparator 71a for detecting press on the editor input surface.

When specifying an area, the user uses the input ben 6 to continuously input coordinates on the input surface 7 of the tablet.

CPU7 1 has each multiplexer 85 to 88 and A
The /D converter 72 detects the input coordinate information based on the above-mentioned principle from the momentary input as digital values, and uses this as data regarding the area to be copied (or not to be copied) and the area to change the copy color based on the known procedure. Transfer to the host copier.

Further, the user inputs ad words into the input screen 7 using the input bezel 6. The CPU 71 recognizes the input character under control described later, and transfers the character (C) code to the copying machine as advertisement character information.

Here, FIG. 6 shows the serial communication timing between the editor and the copying device.

As shown in FIG. 6, a copying machine (not shown) periodically turns on a REQ (request) signal to the editor. The editor immediately turns on the AC after confirming that the REQ signal is on.
Turn on the K (acknowledge) signal.

After the copying machine confirms that the ACK signal is on, it prints 8 bytes of data B.
Send O-B7 to editor. Also, the editor is also
After turning on the K signal, send 8 bytes of data to the copying machine.

The copying machine outputs the REQ signal after receiving 8 bytes of data from the editor. The editor also outputs an ACK signal after receiving 8-byte data from the copying machine and confirming that the REQ signal is turned off.

FIGS. 7(A) and 7(B) show the serial communication data format between the editor and the copying device. As shown in the figure, both data are in the form of packets, and byte B is sent and received.
O-B7 is composed of 8 bits b7 to bO, and the following information is assigned to each bit.

In the editor transmission data in FIG. 7(A), byte B
Bits bl and bo of O are control flags, and EDO
N. It is EDPICK.

The flag EDON is a flag that determines whether or not it is a coordinate input state based on the detection state of the switch 58 in FIG.

The flag EDP I CK is a flag indicating whether fixed coordinate data has been input.

Each bit of the next byte B1 indicates the operating state of each input key of the operating section 8. Part-time job B2,
B3 expresses the distance using each nibble (half byte) as a BCD code, and each expresses the X coordinate by a straight line distance. Bytes B4 and B5 similarly represent the y coordinate. Byte 6 is assigned to identification information of various errors occurring in the editor.

Byte 7 is assigned to the ad character. This byte is used to transfer the advertisement character inputted by the CPU 71 in a procedure described later to the host device.

On the other hand, in FIG. 7(B), bit b of byte BO
0 is the flag PKCATCH, which indicates that the main body side has received data normally. The bytes Bl are lighting control information for controlling the LEDs 82 of the operation unit 8, respectively.

In Figure 8, C. An overview of handwritten character recognition processing performed by the PU 71 is shown.

The character input surface arranged on the input surface 7 is divided into NXN points (for example, 16X1B points as shown). By limiting the size and dot configuration of the character input surface in this way, characters can be input using a simple recognition process as described below.

When the character input surface is traced in character input mode, input pattern 1 is created in response to pressing down of the divided positions.

In the coordinate input device, reference patterns, which are the standard forms of each character, are stored in memory in advance, and the number of matching dots between the input pattern and each reference pattern is counted, and the character with the largest number of matching dots is input as the character. It is determined that the character is

For example, when the number rlJ is input as shown on the left side of Figure 8, this dot information is converted into the pre-stored reference pattern shown on the right side of the figure (letter rlJ, "2"...
・) is compared with The reference pattern "1" and the input pattern match in 20 dots, but do not match in 8 dots with the other reference pattern "2". In this way, the input pattern is recognized as the number "I".

Also, by displaying the characters recognized by handwritten input on the liquid crystal display panel 185 of the operation unit 8 as shown in FIG. 9, the user can clear the characters and try again if they are different from the desired characters. It is possible to enter the desired characters by handwriting.

FIG. 9 shows a state in which eight digit characters are input to the liquid crystal display panel 185 through recognition processing and the ninth digit is being selected. The ninth digit in the figure is the character "I" (unconfirmed) recognized by the above process. Selectable characters are identified by cursor 185a. User presses enter key 1
87 to confirm, and also press the clear key 1 to delete undesired characters.
You can delete it with 89. Incidentally, reference numeral 9o is a conversion key for starting recognition of a desired character pattern after inputting it. Input control of these keys will be described later.

FIG. 10 shows the control procedure of the CPU 71 including character recognition.

First, in step Sl, the character input key 18 on the operation section
Check whether 6 is pressed. This key 1
If 86 is not pressed, general coordinate input processing for specifying an image area is performed in step S2. In this general coordinate input mode, the following coordinate input operation is performed.

First, on the editor side, when it detects that the input surface is pressed, it calculates the coordinates, and when it is confirmed, the coordinate confirmation flag is set to EDPIC.
Set the coordinate value as K=1 and wait for the REQ signal from the copying machine to turn on. The copying machine sends the REQ signal on to the editor at regular intervals.6 After the editor confirms that the REQ signal is on, it sends the ACK signal on.

After receiving the ACK signal, the copying device starts transmitting the transmission data. The editor also starts transmitting data to the copying machine. The copying device turns off the REQ signal after transmitting a predetermined number of bytes of data, and the editor turns off the ACK signal and waits for the next REQ signal to be turned off after transmitting the predetermined number of bytes of data and confirming that the REQ signal is turned off. (Steps S1-S2
) When character person Kaki-186 is pressed in step S1,
The character input mode starts from step S2.

If it is in the character input mode, first, in step S3, a counter for counting the number of input characters is reset, and in step S4, it is checked whether the character input section on the input surface is pressed down, and if a character is input, the process is performed in step S5. Create the input pattern shown on the left side of Figure 8.

Next, in step S6, it is determined whether or not the conversion key 90 has been pressed, and if the conversion key 90 has been pressed, step S6
In step 7, find the degree of matching between the input pattern and each reference Bakun,
In step S8, the character with the highest degree of matching is determined as the input character and displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 185.

The user confirms the character on the liquid crystal display panel 185, and if it is the desired character, presses the enter key 187 to transmit the character code to the copying machine and moves on to input the next character. If the character is not the desired one, press the clear key 189 to clear the input pattern and enter the character again.

Detection of the enter key 187 and clear key 189 is performed in steps S9 and S10, and code transmission and input pattern clearing are performed in step S13.

Note that in the character code transmission in step Sll, the data transmission format shown in FIG. 7 is used. Further, when a character is transmitted in step Sll, an input character counter is incremented in step 512.

The copying device side outputs a character string composed of the received characters as ad talent information as a copied image, etc.
Since the details of its functions are well known, a detailed explanation will be omitted here.

In the above embodiment, handwritten characters are recognized from the coordinate input device side using handwritten character input means and character recognition means, and the character code is transmitted to the copying machine. may be sent to the copy machine.

In this case, as shown in Figure 11, the editor transmission data packet is expanded to 40 bytes, and bytes 8 to 8 are
39 to transmit the character pattern of the add-on character.

With this structure, the copying machine can handle undefined characters, so the number of characters that can be handled can be easily expanded. It is also conceivable to send the character pattern to a copying machine and perform recognition processing on the copying machine side.

Although a copying machine has been exemplified above, the image formation itself may be performed by any method.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above, according to the present invention, in an image forming apparatus that performs image forming processing by a predetermined image forming means using image information input by a coordinate input device,
A means for recognizing characters handwritten into the coordinate input device and a means for inputting the characters recognized by the recognition means into an image forming means are provided, and the image forming means uses the characters input from the input means. Since a configuration for performing predetermined image forming processing is adopted, there is an excellent effect that desired characters can be easily input by hand using a coordinate input device and used for image forming processing.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a tablet of an image forming apparatus using the present invention, Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 shows the coordinate input principle of the apparatus shown in Fig. Circuit diagram shown,
Fig. 4 is a diagram showing the input principle, Fig. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control circuit of the coordinate input device according to the present invention, and Fig. 6 is a diagram showing the input principle.
The figure is a timing chart of serial communication in this device, FIGS. 7(A) and (B) are explanatory diagrams showing the data format of serial communication in this device, and FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing character recognition processing. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the operating section in detail, FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the control procedure of the device according to the present invention, and FIG. 11 is a communication data format of another practical example according to the present invention. It is an explanatory diagram. L・Ichiho Shit 2-・-X Resistor Sheet 3・-
y Resistor sheet 4--Dot spacer 5-Metal plate
6...People 7...Input surface 8
...One operation part 9...Concave part 7l・-C P
U8l...Enter key 82...-LED185
---Liquid crystal display panel 186...Character input keys 187--Enter key 189--Clear key B

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) In an image forming apparatus that performs image forming processing by a predetermined image forming means using image information input by a coordinate input device, means for recognizing characters handwritten into the coordinate input device. and means for inputting the characters recognized by the recognition means to the image forming means, and the image forming means performs a predetermined image forming process using the characters input from the input means. Device.