JPH04103766U - image input device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To enable high-speed image input using a relatively inexpensive one-dimensional image sensor. [Structure] A plurality of one-dimensional image sensors 11 and 12 are arranged along the main scanning direction of the original and at a predetermined interval D from each other in the sub-scanning direction. These image sensors 11 and 12 are integrated and relatively sub-scanned by a plurality of lines.
The reading outputs of the respective scanning lines by these one-dimensional image sensors 11 and 12 are organized by an image organizing means such as a multiplexer 19, so that the same image as if the document were sequentially scanned one scanning line at a time is obtained.

Description

[Detailed explanation of the idea]

0001

[Industrial application field]

This invention is a one-dimensional image sensor like an image scanner or facsimile machine. It is related to image processing devices that use a The present invention relates to an image input device capable of

0002

[Conventional technology]

For example, an image scanner, a facsimile machine, or a complex that performs digital recording. Many devices such as photo cameras use one-dimensional image sensors such as CCDs to capture images. Reading the image. Recently, the input target of such image input devices is As documents become larger and images become more precise, there is a strong demand for faster image input. There is. For this reason, the use of high-speed contact sensors has become widespread. ing.

0003

[Effect of the idea]

However, such high-speed close-contact sensors are expensive, and the image processing device itself There was a problem in that it led to an increase in costs.

0004 Therefore, the purpose of this invention is to improve image quality using a relatively inexpensive one-dimensional image sensor. An object of the present invention is to provide an image input device that enables quick input.

[0005]

[Means to solve the problem]

In the device according to claim 1, the documents are arranged along the main scanning direction of the document and mutually in the sub-scanning direction. A plurality of one-dimensional image sensors arranged at predetermined intervals and a pair of reading Each of these image sensors is used as a unit to scan the target document for multiple lines. A sub-scanning means for relatively sub-scanning and a plurality of one-dimensional image sensors It is the same as scanning the document one scan line at a time by organizing the readout of each scan line. The image input device is provided with an image organizing means for obtaining one image.

[0006] That is, in the invention according to claim 1, for example, even lines and odd lines are Two independently selected one-dimensional image sensors are arranged in parallel with a predetermined interval. I'll keep it. Then, these one-dimensional image sensors are sub-scanned relatively, and each Obtain the scan line read output. Delay one or both of these read outputs accordingly. By reorganizing the read output for each scanning line, one 1D image sensor is created. A reading result similar to that obtained by reading each scan line in turn with a sensor can be obtained.

[0007]

【Example】

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to examples.

[0008] Figure 1 shows an overview of the configuration of an image input device in an embodiment of the present invention. be. This image input device includes a first one-dimensional image sensor (sensor) 11 and a second one-dimensional image sensor (sensor) 11. It is equipped with two image sensors, a one-dimensional image sensor 12. These are mutually It is composed of a medium-speed contact type one-dimensional image sensor, and an original image sensor (not shown) is used. It is designed to read the image by coming into close contact with the manuscript.

[0009] The first or second one-dimensional image sensor 11, 12 has a A second drive circuit 14 is connected. Read from the first image sensor 11 The image information is temporarily stored in the first RAM (random access memory) 16. The image information stored and read out from the second one-dimensional image sensor 12 is It is temporarily stored in the second RAM 17. On the output side of these RAM16 and 17 A decoder 18 is arranged to decode image information.

0010 A multiplexer (MPX) 19 is arranged on the output side of the decoder 18. The output results of these RAMs 16 and 17 are selected. Decoder 1 8 and multiplexer 19 are similarly controlled by the drive circuit 14. is now being carried out. One line of original is output from the output side of multiplexer 19. Image information is output in the form of scanned images one by one, and is sent via the interface circuit 21. The signal is then input to a subsequent image processing circuit (not shown).

[0011] This image input device also includes first and second one-dimensional image sensors 11, 1 2 in a direction perpendicular to their longitudinal direction (sub-scanning direction). A second sub-scanning mechanism 22 is provided. The sub-scanning mechanism 22 is, for example, a stepping motor. The first and second one-dimensional image sensors 11 and 12 can be scanned twice. It is designed to move line by line. However, depending on the device, the original may be transferred It may be made to move.

0012 Figure 2 shows the principle of the configuration of the image sensor used in this example. It is. However, in this figure, the number of reading elements has been greatly reduced to simplify the explanation. It expresses itself very well.

[0013] The first or second one-dimensional image sensor 11, 12 (FIG. 1) has each pixel "1" A photosensor unit 3 that accumulates an amount of charge according to the incident light for each “11” 1 and the charges of each pixel of this photosensor section 31 are input in parallel and output serially. The CCD section 32 is equipped with a CCD section 32 that performs. The first clock 33 is connected to the photosensor section 31. The timing for moving the charge of each pixel to the corresponding location of the CCD section 32 is determined. It's a clock. The second clock 34 drives the CCD section 32 to acquire image information. This is the clock that determines the cycle for starting the data.

[0014] FIG. 3 is for explaining the arrangement relationship of the two image sensors in this example. be. The first one-dimensional image sensor 11 is arranged to read odd-numbered lines of a document. The second one-dimensional image sensor 12 is arranged in parallel with this at a predetermined distance. It is arranged to read even-numbered lines of a document. First one-dimensional image The image sensor 11 and the second one-dimensional image sensor 12 are arranged in the main scanning direction of the document 41. and they are arranged strictly parallel to each other. For example, this picture Assuming that the image input device reads image information at an image density of 10 lines/mm. , the distance D between the two image sensors 11 and 12 is determined by setting “n” to zero or a positive integer. (0, 1, 2, ...), the interval L is strictly set to satisfy the following equation (1). ing.

[0015]

[Math 1] D (mm) = (2n+1)/10 ... (1)

[0016] In other words, the two image sensors 11 and 12 do not necessarily have to be placed adjacent to each other. This is not necessary, as long as the distance between the two is an odd number of lines apart. Such adjustments are It can be easily performed mechanically while reading the image.

FIG. 4 is for explaining the timing of reading by the two image sensors. FIG. 4A shows the generation cycle of the first clock 33 ₁ in the first one-dimensional image sensor 11. FIG. During these periods T ₁ , at least as many clocks 34 as the number of pixels are generated, as shown in FIG. 3(b).

[0018] FIG. 4(c) shows the second clock 33 in the second one-dimensional image sensor 12. ₂ The period of occurrence T₂It represents. However, the period T₂is the period T₁becomes equal to There is. In this example, the clock 33₂The timing of the falling edge of The first clock 33 in the one-dimensional image sensor 11 of₁each fall of It deviates by half a period from the beginning. Is image information for one line originally an image sensor? By reading two lines of image information at the output cycle, the image The speed of reading will be increased. Figure (d) corresponds to figure (b). This shows how the clock 35 is generated in the second one-dimensional image sensor 12. It represents.

Note that the generation timings of the first and second clocks 33 ₁ and 33 ₂ do not need to be shifted by half a cycle as shown in FIG. This is because, irrespective of the timing at which data is written to the first and second RAMs 16 and 17, it is sufficient that the reading is performed alternately one line at a time.

[0020] By the way, in the image input device of this embodiment, the first one-dimensional image sensor 11 is The document 41 is integrated with the second one-dimensional image sensor 12 while being placed at the top. shall be sub-scanned. At this time, the sub-scanning is performed by a stepping motor (not shown). The scanning is performed in units of two lines using a sub-scanning mechanism consisting of a drive system such as the following. mentioned above This image input device reads images at a resolution of 10 lines per mm. In this case, the first and second one-dimensional image sensors 11 and 12 cover one line. After reading the image information of , before reading the image information of the next line. The amount of movement in the sub-scanning direction is 0.2 mm.

[0021] The two image sensors 11 and 12 read the image information of the original 41 in this way. However, the longer the distance D shown in Figure 3, the longer the first one-dimensional image becomes. The image information read by the image sensor 11 is held in the first RAM 16 for a long time. The data is then read out and supplied to the decoder 18. For this reason, the distance The longer the distance D, the larger the memory capacity required of the first RAM 16.

[0022] Therefore, to simplify the explanation, the two image sensors 11 and 12 are literally shall be placed adjacent to each other.

[0023] Figure 5 shows the main part of the circuit configuration of the image input device in this case. Ru. Image information 51-1 read the first time by the first one-dimensional image sensor 11 , the second read image information 51-2, . . . are stored in the first RAM 16, respectively. is stored in the corresponding storage area. The second one-dimensional image sensor 12 It is arranged one line apart from the dimensional image sensor 11. And the second 1 Image information 52-1 read by the dimensional image sensor 12 the first time, image information 52-1 read the second time The read image information 52-2, . . . are stored in the corresponding records in the second RAM 17, respectively. stored in the storage area.

[0024] This image input device has image information 51 stored in these RAMs 16 and 17. , 52 on a line-by-line basis. output memory) 53 is provided. In the FIFO memory 53, the first RA Image information 51-1 read the first time from M16 is read and stored, Next, the image information 52-1 that was also read the first time is read from the second RAM 17. Extracted and stored. Subsequently, the data was read a second time from the first RAM 16. The image information 51-2 is read out and stored, and then the same image information is read out from the second RAM 17. Image information 52-2 read a second time is read and stored. Same as below be.

[0025] In this way, it is as if one image sensor is stored in the FIFO memory 53. Image information is stored as the manuscript is read line by line. FIF The O memory 53 outputs the image information in the order in which it is stored. That is, In the example shown in FIG. 5, the FIFO memory 53 is connected to the multiplexer 19 shown in FIG. It is fulfilling its role. In this example, the output from the first and second RAMs 16 and 17 is The image information 51 and 52 that is displayed is not particularly decoded and is treated as the image information as it is. and is supplied to a subsequent image processing circuit (not shown) via the interface circuit 21. It turns out.

[0026] (First modification) FIG. 6 shows how image information is processed in the image input device according to the first modification of the present invention. It represents. This modified image input device uses two image sensors. The pixel overlap caused by using .

[0027] That is, as is clear from the timing control shown in FIG. The one-dimensional image sensors 11 and 12 have an image reading area that is half the size in the sub-scanning direction. Each is duplicated. If this adversely affects image reproduction or image analysis, The image information of these overlapping parts may be removed.

In this first modification, integration enable terminals are arranged in each of the first and second one-dimensional image sensors 11 and 12 in the previous embodiment. As for the first one-dimensional image sensor 11, as shown in FIG. 6(a), there is a read period in which charge is accumulated for the image, and an OFF period in which this integration is stopped. Each clock is set to have a half period of the first clock 33 ₁ (b in the figure). Here, during the read period, charge accumulation is enabled, and during the off period, it is disabled and new charge accumulation is prohibited. 4(c) corresponds to FIG. 4(b).

Regarding the second one-dimensional image sensor 12, as shown in FIG. 6(d), the lead period and the off period are each set to half the period of the second clock 33 ₂ (FIG. 6(e)). do. 4f corresponds to FIG. 4d.

[0030] By controlling the integration enable terminal in this way, the first one-dimensional image can be The charge accumulation periods of the image sensor 11 and the second one-dimensional image sensor 12 overlap with each other. It will prevent duplication.

[0031] (Second modification) Figure 7 shows the arrangement of the image sensor in the second modification of the present invention. be. In this modification, image sensors 61 to 64 are arranged in four rows at predetermined intervals. It is location. As a result, these image sensors 61 to 64 are entirely connected to the original 65. It is only necessary to perform sub-scanning in units of 4 lines relative to the image input speed. You will be able to do this.

[0032]

[Effect of the idea]

In this way, according to the present invention, the images are scanned along the main scanning direction of the document and mutually in the sub-scanning direction. A plurality of one-dimensional image sensors are placed at predetermined intervals on the These image sensors are read as one unit and by relatively sub-scanning multiple lines at a time. Since we decided to take a picture of the image, even when reading an image at high resolution, image processing is required. This has the advantage of being faster. In addition, all of the multiple one-dimensional image sensors or You can easily change the density of pixels to be read by selecting a part of them. It also has the advantage of being able to.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of the configuration of an image input device in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the principle of the configuration of an image sensor used in this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the arrangement relationship of two image sensors in this embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart showing the timing of reading by two image sensors in this embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a main part of the circuit configuration of an image input device when two image sensors are placed adjacent to each other.

FIG. 6 is a timing diagram showing how image information is processed in an image input device according to a first modification of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing the arrangement of image sensors in a second modified example of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 First one-dimensional image sensor 12 Second one-dimensional image sensor 16 First RAM 17 Second RAM 19 Multiplexer 22 Sub-scanning mechanism 41, 65 Manuscript 53 FIFO memory 61-64 Image sensor D distance

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A plurality of one-dimensional image sensors arranged along the main scanning direction of a document and at predetermined intervals from each other in the sub-scanning direction; sub-scanning means for integrally and relatively sub-scanning each plurality of lines;
An image input device comprising: image organizing means for organizing the read output of each scanning line by a dimensional image sensor to obtain an image that is the same as that obtained by sequentially scanning the document one scanning line at a time.