JPH04152457A - Image data processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To change the reading conditions in response to the capacity of a storage by recognizing previously the capacity of the storage and deciding the combination value of the size of a reading area and the image resolution in response to the storage capacity. CONSTITUTION:A main body 11 detects the capacity values of a connected external storage 14 and an internal storage and stores temporarily these capacity values in a main memory. Then, an original image read out of an image input device 3 is shown on a display 15. The combination value of the size of a reading area and the image resolution is decided from the capacities of the storages 14 and 35 which store the detected image data. As a result, the degrees of freedom can be secured for the size of the reading area and the image resolution in response to the capacity of the storage which holds the image data. In addition, the reading conditions are changed in response to the capacity of the storage. Thus, the highly precise image data can be read in a wide area when the storage has a large capacity.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an image data processing method using a document creation device such as a Japanese word processor or a personal computer, and particularly relates to an image data processing method that reads the entire image from an image input device and processes the image data. The present invention relates to an image data processing method for extracting a necessary part from the inside, importing the image data to an arbitrary location in a created document, completing the final document, and printing it.

[Conventional technology]

Document creation devices using personal computers or special-purpose machines were initially intended to input and edit characters, and to create and print text-only documents page by page. Since then, it has become possible to create complex documents, and it has become possible to mix figures, graphs, images, etc. onto a single page that is primarily text.

There are two ways to input images into a document: a portable image input device called a handy scanner that manually moves over the printed material to read the image, and a stationary image input device that reads the image. There is a method in which the entire page of the image to be printed is placed on the document table of the image input device, and the image input device reads the entire page at once. When trying to read an image, either method reads a certain range of the image, displays the entire image on the display device of the document processing device, extracts the necessary part of the entire image, and then displays it. By inserting images into the document you are creating, you can mix images into the document.

When reading an image from a stationary image input device, it is usually possible to read an image of about A4 size, so the image input device reads the entire image at a coarse resolution in the first reading, and then The entire image is displayed on the display device, the operator specifies the frame of the desired image part on the screen, and the second time reading from the image input device reads only the area of the specified part at the final resolution. A method is being adopted. In this case, the size and resolution of the reading area can generally be set to various values, but the amount of image data is determined from the area size and resolution, and since the value is large, the data The area size and reading resolution are limited by the storage capacity of the storage device. As an example of this method, the operating instructions for the Hitachi Japanese language word processor "WordPal TH900J" published in 1999 describe specific operating methods.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In the above-mentioned prior art, a floppy disk device with a maximum storage capacity of about IM bytes is generally used as the storage device. The upper limit of the amount of read image data is determined by the maximum capacity of the storage device that stores it.

For example, if an A4 size image document is scanned at 8 dots/dot, the amount of data is 210 (mm).
x3 (dots/mm) x 298 (field) x 8 (dots/wr) = approximately 500 bytes, which means that only about 2 screens can be saved on one floppy disk. In this way, when considering storage in a floppy disk device, both the reading size and resolution are limited.

On the other hand, the capacity of storage devices is increasing rapidly, and even floppy disk devices are being put into practical use with capacities ranging from several megabytes to IOM bytes, while fixed disk devices, where media cannot be replaced, are in the tens of megabytes. It is now becoming possible to achieve data storage sizes of several hundred megabytes. These storage devices are becoming more and more common to be incorporated into document creation devices as their prices become lower. Further, the resolution of image input devices and printing devices is becoming increasingly high-definition, and resolutions of about 16 dots/square are becoming common.

As described above, as image input devices are becoming increasingly high-resolution, reading images with the area size and resolution limited to conventional low-capacity files will result in high-definition image data that fully utilizes the performance of the image input device. There was a problem that it couldn't be loaded.

Specifically, even if you try to read a high-definition image with a wide reading area, the capacity of the storage device will be exceeded.
There will be cases where reading is impossible. moreover,
If you try to input an image without distinguishing the capacity of the storage device, even if the device can connect multiple storage devices,
There is a problem in that images can only be input under reading conditions determined from a storage device with a low capacity, and high-definition images cannot be read over a wide area.

An object of the present invention is to provide a degree of freedom in the area size and resolution when reading images in accordance with the capacity of a storage device that stores image data. Furthermore, by making it possible to change reading conditions according to the capacity of the storage device, the purpose is to make it possible to read high-definition image data over a wide area when the storage device has a high capacity. .

[Means to solve the problem]

The above purpose is to have the document creation device have a function to identify the type and capacity of the connected storage device before inputting image data from the image input device, and also to identify the combination of dimensions and resolution of the portion to be extracted from the image document. The operator prepares multiple combinations according to the capacity of the storage device, and specifies the optimal combination of extraction dimensions and resolution that matches the maximum capacity of the storage device according to the type of storage device that stores the image data specified by the operator. This is then achieved by reading image data from an image input device.

[Effect]

The document creation device can detect the type and capacity of the storage device at the initial stage of document creation before reading the image through connection signal lines with external and internal storage devices, and the capacity value of each device is Temporarily stored in the document creation device.

The dimensions and resolution of the reading area required from the image original are detected in advance, and several combinations are prepared according to the capacity value of the storage device within a range that does not exceed that value. Specifically, the reading area When the resolution is large, the resolution is set low, and when the resolution is set high, the reading area is set small.The combination is determined so that the image data can be stored within the capacity of the storage device. The capacity of the image data to be read corresponds to the capacity of the storage device by displaying the combinations of permissible reading dimensions and resolutions and allowing the operator to select them according to the capacity of the storage device in which the image data should be saved. It becomes possible to make it variable.

The image manuscript to be inserted into the created document is input in two steps. At the first time, by inputting the entire image of the image document and displaying it on the display device, the operator specifies the position of the image area necessary for the created document on this display screen. At this time, the optimum size and reading resolution of the required image area are selected from among the above combinations.

In the second reading from the image input device, only the necessary portion specified in the first reading is read at the specified resolution. The read image data is stored in a storage device as necessary. If it is necessary to paste an image into the final created document, the final document is completed by extracting the saved image data and integrating it with the created document.

From the above, it is possible to arbitrarily select the size and resolution of image data depending on the capacity of the storage device to be saved.If the capacity of the storage device is large, high-definition images can be created over a wide area. It becomes possible to read the data.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the general configuration of a document creation system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In Figure 2, 1 is a document creation device such as a Japanese word processor or a personal computer, 2 is a printing device for printing a document created by the document creation device, and 3 is a document created by the document creation device. This is an image input device for reading images of photos and drawings when inserting images such as handwritten drawings or handwritten drawings.

The document creation device 1 includes a main body 11 that performs processing for document creation such as kana-kanji conversion, a keyboard 12 for inputting characters, and a display device i1 that is a display section.
3. An external storage device to save the created documents on a floppy disk, etc. It consists of 14. The operator uses the document creation device to create a target document while checking it on the display device 13. If it is necessary to input an image depending on the content of the document, the image is input from the image input device 3, this image is displayed on the display device 13, and the necessary parts are extracted.
When the created document is to be saved, it is registered as encoded data in an external storage device 14 such as a floppy disk, and when it is desired to be printed, it is printed as an image document using the printing device [2]. Here, the external storage device 14 is not limited to one type of capacity, but has various sizes,
Capacity can be connected. Further, the main body 11 can exchange control commands with the external storage device 14 via the connection signal line 15, and the type and capacity of the external storage device can be detected in advance.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the internal structure of the main body 11 shown in FIG. 2. FIG. The main body 11 includes a CPU 31 consisting of a program storage type computer unit. A main memory consists of a boot ROM 32 consisting of a non-volatile memory ROM and having a program executed when the power is turned on, and a random access memory (RAM) for storing programs for executing functions as a word processor, created document data, etc. 37. A CRT display circuit 38 creates a screen display pattern according to instructions from the CPU 81 and sends video signals to the display 13.A flexible disk control circuit (FD) controls a floppy disk drive, which is an external storage device 14, according to instructions from the CPU 31.
C)33. An internal storage device 35 consisting of a fixed magnetic disk device or the like, and a fixed magnetic disk controller (HDC) 34 for controlling the internal storage device. keyboard 12
a key controller 362 that controls the keyboard and sends input signals from the keyboard to the CPU 31; a peripheral device control circuit 39 that sends and receives data to and from the image input device 3; It includes a printer control circuit 40 for transmitting and receiving data to and from the printing device 2, and the like. By adopting these configurations,
It is possible to detect the types and capacity values of the external storage device 14 and internal storage device 35 via the CPU 31, FDC 33, and HDC 34, and temporarily store the values in the main memory 37.
It is possible to save it in . Also, image input device 3
It is possible to instruct the image input device 3 via the peripheral device control circuit 87 about the setting value of the required image data reading resolution.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing details of the configuration of the image input device 3 shown in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. The overall control of the image input device 3 is carried out by a CPU 41 consisting of a program storage type computer unit.
is executed. A program for operating the CPU 41 is stored in the program ROM 42, and the apparatus operates according to the contents of the program. The buffer memory 43 is composed of a random access memory (RAM), and is used for temporarily storing image data read from an image original. To explain the flow of reading data from an image original, first, the image original is optically read at a constant resolution by the image original reading section 44, and the optical signal is converted into an electrical signal. is converted to Next, since the electrical signal at this stage is an analog signal, the A/D converter 45
41 is converted into a binary digital signal that can be handled.

The dot density of the image read from the image input device can be set to an arbitrary value from the main body 11, and the image data read at a constant resolution by the image document reading section 44 is converted to the set reading resolution. Density conversion is performed in circuit 46. The image data subjected to density conversion is sent to the main body 1 via the input/output control circuit 47.
1.

FIG. 5 shows a specific example of movement of an image area when an original image is read from an image input device and the image is inserted into a created document. A document 51 is an example of an original image read from an image input device. An operator usually extracts only the parts necessary for a created document from an original image such as a printed matter on which a photograph or picture is drawn.

The original image for printed matter is generally a photograph or picture drawn on a sheet of paper of a certain size, such as A4 size. In such a case, the image input device is capable of reading an image of the entire sheet, and the read image 51 is displayed in its entirety on the display device 13 shown in FIG. The user specifies the required rectangular portion of the image area 51A in an interactive manner. The image input device has a function that allows reading only a portion of the image area 51A at a specified arbitrary position at an arbitrary resolution. On the other hand, the read data of section 51A will be inserted into the document 52 being created. Document 52 is an example of a document being created that will eventually be printed, and -
For boat fishing, the image part of 52A, the figure part of 52C, the graph part of 52B, etc. are assigned in the letters.
A document as a whole will be created.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing an overview of the processing when creating a document including the image shown in FIG. First, in process 61, the main body stores the external storage device 114 connected to the main body.
The type and capacity value of each internal storage device 35 are detected. The capacity value detected in process 62 is temporarily stored in the main memory 37 in the main body 11, and is used as the value when presenting the specified combination of dimensions and resolution to the operator when reading image data from the image input device. Use it to make decisions. Next, in process 63, the operator reads the entire image of the original image 51 using the image input device 3.

In this case, since the resolution of the display device that displays the read original image is generally coarser than the resolution of the printing device, an image input device that can read at any resolution value reads the original image 51 at a lower resolution. . The read data is displayed on the display device 13 in process 64. Next, in process 65, the main body displays on the display device a combination of the size of the extraction area and the reading resolution from the image input device that can be set when reading a necessary portion from the entire original image so that the operator can select it. Here, the combination of the size and resolution of the reading area is determined from the capacity of the storage device in which the image data already detected in process 61 is to be stored. In steps 66 and 67, the operator specifies the read position, size, and resolution of a necessary portion of the entire original image displayed in step 64 from among the combined values in step 65. In process 68, only the portion of the EIA designated as necessary for sampling in the original image 51 is read at the designated resolution from the image input device. In process 69, the read data is stored in the external storage device 14 or internal storage device 35 designated by the operator. When finishing the final created document 52 using the read image, in step 70 the image data already stored in the storage device in step 69 is called and becomes the data in the image area 52A of the created document.

As described above, in this process, before reading the image data, the capacity of the storage device in which the image is to be stored is detected in advance, and a combination of image area dimensions and resolution that matches the capacity is calculated in advance. The feature is that the settings are presented to the operator, and the operator can select values suitable for loading the desired image from among the combinations of set values presented and load the image.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the combination value of the reading area size and resolution shown in process 65 in the image processing flow of FIG. 1. Figure 6A is an example where the capacity of the storage device is small, and Figure 6B is an example where the capacity is large. In either case, as the size of the reading area becomes smaller, the reading resolution becomes finer, and the amount of image data when reading with a specified combination remains constant even if the reading area size differs. It is set. In addition, when the capacity of the storage device is large as shown in Figure 6B, the combination value is set so that the amount of image data that can be read is large.
If the capacity of the storage device is small as shown in Figure A, the amount of image data can be reduced in proportion to the capacity. At the stage of reading an image, the operator determines the capacity of the storage device that will store the image data, the dimensions 51A of the necessary part of the original image required for the created document, and the image area when the image is inserted into the final document. Taking into consideration the balance of each element with the resolution of the portion 52A, an optimal combination can be specified from a combination table as shown in FIG. 6. As a result, if, for example, it is absolutely necessary to have image data with a large area size and high resolution, the data will be stored in a large capacity storage device by specifying Ion 1 in Figure 6B. In addition, 6A.

Figure 6B shows an example of the combination values discretely, and it is clear that in reality it is possible to specify arbitrary values for the dimensions and resolution.

7 and 8 are diagrams showing the state of image dot data when a portion 51A of the original image 51 shown in FIG. 5 is read.

Of these, Figure 7 is an example when trying to read an image with a constant reading resolution, Figure 7A is an example when the capacity of the storage device at that time is small, and Figure 7B is an example when the capacity is large. As is clear from Figure 0, which shows an example, when the reading resolution is held constant, it is possible to read images over a wide dimension if the capacity of the storage device is large, but if the capacity is small, it is possible to read an image over a wide dimension. This means that the dimensions can only be read within a narrow range. Furthermore, when the example in Fig. 7 is made to correspond to the reading area size and resolution combination table shown in Fig. 6, Fig. 7A is read under the condition &2 in Fig. 6A, Fig. 7B is read under the condition N11l in Fig. 6B, Both resolution R
This shows an example in which the size of the read area differs depending on the case.

FIG. 8 shows an example in which the size of the read area is the same, but the reading resolution is different, and FIG. 8A shows an example in which the capacity of the storage device is small.

Figure 8B is an example of a case where the capacity is large. When Fig. 8 is made to correspond to the combination table shown in Fig. 6, Fig. 8A is N of Fig. 6A.
Under the o1 condition, the 8B diagram is read under the 1st condition of the 6B diagram, and the dimensions of the reading area are the same for both, but the resolution of the 7B diagram is double that of the 7A diagram, and the amount of data is The example in Figure 7B is also four times as large as in Figure 7A. As is clear from FIG. 8, if the capacity of the storage device in which the image is to be stored is large, it is possible to read the image at high resolution even if the reading area has the same size. As shown in the examples in Figures 7 and 8, when the size of the required image area differs, the operator must decide on the type of storage device to store it after considering its capacity. also occurs. Conversely, if the type of storage device in which image data is to be stored is specified in advance, the image data must be read at a resolution and size limited to the capacity of the storage device.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the document creation device recognizes the capacity of the connected storage device in advance, and then determines the combined value of the reading area size and resolution from the original image according to the capacity of the storage device. This allows the operator to select the type of storage device based on the size and resolution of the image area required, or conversely, the type of storage device specified for storing image data. , it is also possible to select the dimensions and resolution of the reading area that satisfy the capacity conditions.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a flowchart showing the steps of image reading processing in the present invention, Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the general configuration of the document creation system, and Figure 3 explains the internal configuration of the main body in Figure 2. Block diagram: Figure 4 is a block diagram explaining the configuration of the image input device in Figure 2; Figure 5 is a diagram explaining the relationship between the original image and the image area of the created document; Figure 6 is the size of the reading area. Figure 7 is a diagram comparing the state of dot data when the resolution is set to a constant value and the area size is varied. Figure 8 is a diagram showing an example of the combination of reading area size and resolution. FIG. 4 is a diagram comparing the states of dot data when the values are different. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Document creation device, 2... Printing device, 3... Image input device, 51... Original image, 52... Created document, 51A... Sampling area of original image, 52A...
Created city map car S decoy map ward map 8 map (8A) Passenger ¥ hinAy stand (8B) Contents t Fukume 1 horse match

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a document creation system in which an image input device and multiple external or internal storage devices of different capacities can be connected to a document creation device, the image input device can read at any resolution and can read the entire image. The device is capable of reading any part of the document in any size, and the document creation device is capable of storing image data obtained from the image input device in the storage device;
Furthermore, in an image data processing method of a document creation system that can create and print a document in which the image data is mixed at a specified location in a created document when necessary, the document creation device can store the image data in advance. The capacity of the storage device to be saved is identified, and the operator can specify the size and resolution of the reading area from the image original to arbitrary values according to the capacity of the storage device specified to save the image data. An image data processing method characterized in that the capacity of image data determined from a combination of the size and resolution of an image reading area can be made variable in accordance with the capacity of a storage device to be stored.