JPH0456475A - Picture input/output system, picture processor, printer and picture input/output method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the time for a print processing by deciding reading resolution according to the dimension of a set read area, the dimension of an output picture and the resolution of the recognized output picture. CONSTITUTION:Based on the printing resolution stored in a main memory 14 of a document preparing device 10, the dimension of the image read are of an image original and the dimension of the image insert area of a document, the reading resolution is decided by a reading resolution deciding means composed of the main memory 14 and a CPU 12. When an image is read with this decided resolution, the number of read dots is made the same as the number of dots to be printed and even when a density conversion processing is not executed for matching the number of read dots with the number of dots to be printed, the image can be immediately printed. Therefore, the time for print processing can be shortened.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an image input/output system that reads an image from an original image and outputs it, and an image processing device and a printing device constituting the system.

[Prior Art] Generally, an image input/output system includes an image input device called an image scanner, an image processing device such as a personal computer, and a printing device. The resolution of an image input device and a printing device are often different, and when an image read by one image input device is printed by a printing device, an image processing device performs density conversion processing on the resolution of the read image. The image data is output to the printing device after adjusting the resolution to match the resolution of the printing device.

The density conversion process will be explained using FIG. 10.

Here, it is assumed that the reading resolution of the image output from the image input device to the image processing device is Q/n (+m/dot), and that the resolution of the printing device is Q/m (+m/dot). It is assumed that the dimensions of the image reading area 1 and the printing area 2 are both vertical and horizontal (Q) without scaling.

When an image input device reads an image at a resolution of fi/n (am/dot), in order to print it, it is necessary to perform density conversion processing to match the resolution to that of the printing device.

Density conversion processing involves performing calculations on all the dots that make up the read image, and if scaling is involved, even more complex calculations must be performed.

For operating procedures of such image input/output systems, please refer to the Hitachi Japanese Word Processor published in 1999.
It is specifically described in the operating manual of Word Pal TH900J.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As described above, in the conventional image input/output system, when outputting an image, density conversion processing is involved, and as described above, this processing involves converting the read image into Since the calculation is performed on all the dots, it is very time consuming.
Another problem is that it takes time to output one image.

The present invention has been made in view of these conventional problems, and provides an image input/output system, an image processing device, a printing device, an image input method, and an image processing device that eliminates density conversion processing and takes less time to output one image. The purpose is to provide an input/output method.

[Means for Solving the Problems] An image input/output system for achieving the above object is an image input/output system that reads an image from an original image and outputs the image, the size of the reading area of the original image is adjusted. output image size setting means for setting the dimensions of the output image of the image; output image resolution recognition means for recognizing the resolution of the output image; reading resolution determining means that sets the reading resolution to a value obtained by multiplying the value divided by the size by the resolution of the output image;
The apparatus is characterized by comprising an image reading means for reading the reading area of the original image at the reading resolution, and an image output means for outputting the read image at the resolution of the output image.

Here, the image output means may be configured by a printing device that prints the image, or a display device that displays the image.

An image processing device for achieving the above object includes the reading area size setting means, the output image size setting means, the output image resolution recognition means, and the reading resolution, which are the constituent elements of the image input/output system. The invention is characterized by comprising a determining means.

A printing apparatus for achieving the above object includes the reading area size setting means, the output image size setting means, the output image resolution recognition means, and the reading resolution determining means, which are components of the image input/output system. and printing means for printing the reading area at a predetermined output resolution.

[Operation] First, the size of the reading area of the image document is set by the reading area size setting means.

Next, the output image size setting means sets the size of the output image. By changing this dimension, reduction or enlargement can be achieved.

On the other hand, the output image resolution recognition means recognizes the resolution of the output image.

The reading resolution determining means determines the reading resolution from the set reading area size, the output image size, and the recognized resolution of the output image.

The reading resolution is obtained by multiplying the value obtained by dividing the size of the reading area by the size of the output image by the resolution of the output image.

The image reading means reads at the determined reading resolution.
Read the reading area.

The image output means outputs the read image at the resolution of the output image.

In this way, when an image is read at the resolution determined by the reading resolution determining means, the number of read dots will be the same as the number of dots in the output image even when the magnification is the same, reduction or enlargement, and the number of read dots will be the same as the number of dots in the output image. Printing can be performed immediately without performing density conversion processing to match the number of dots, and printing processing time can be shortened.

(The following is a blank space) [Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described based on FIGS. 1 to 9.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a document creation system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The document creation system includes a document creation device 10 called a Japanese word processor, a printing unit [40] that prints documents created by the document creation device 10, and a document creation device 10 that prints documents created by the document creation device 10.
The image scanner 3o reads images such as photographs and pictures to be inserted into documents created by the scanner 3o. Document creation device 1o, printing device 40, and image scanner 30
are connected to each other by cables.

The document creation device 1o includes a document creation device main body 11 that performs processing for document creation such as kana-kanji conversion, a display device 21 that performs one display, and a floppy disk device for saving the created document on a floppy disk. 2
2, and a keyboard 23 for inputting characters.

The main body 10 of the document creation device is composed of a CPU 12 consisting of a program storage type computer unit, a boot ROM 13 consisting of a non-volatile memory storing a program to be executed when the power is turned on, and a random access memory for executing the function as a word processor. A main memory 14 in which programs and data etc. 1 are stored;
Create an image display pattern according to instructions from the CPU 12 and create a display! A CRT (
Cathode ray tube) controller 15
And a floppy disk device! 22, the floppy disk controller 16, and the keyboard 23! I.J.
The image scanner controller 18 controls transmission and reception to the image scanner 30, and the printer controller 19 controls transmission and reception to the printing device i40.

In the main memory 14, for image input processing,
A reading area size setting program for setting the size of the reading area of an image original, a printing area size setting program for setting the size of an output image, and a printing device 40
Also stored are an output image resolution recognition program for recognizing the resolution of the image, a reading resolution determination program for determining the reading resolution, and the like.

The image scanner 30 is composed of a program storage type computer unit and controls the entire image scanner 30.
A PU 31, a program ROM 32 consisting of a non-volatile memory and storing programs for operating the CPU 51, a buffer memory 33 consisting of a random access memory and temporarily storing image data read from an image document, An image document reading section 35 optically reads the image of the document and converts it into an electrical signal, an A/D converter 36 converts this electrical signal from an analog signal to a digital signal, and converts the reading resolution in the image document reading section 35. 1, and an input/output controller 34 that controls transmission and reception to and from the document creation device main body 11.

The printing device 40 includes a CPU 41 which is made up of a program storage type computer unit and controls the entire printing device 40, a program ROM 42 which is made up of a non-volatile memory and stores programs for operating the CPU 41, and a document creation device main body 11. The device is configured to include a bitmap memory 43 for temporarily storing document data from the document creation device, a printing section 45 for printing the document data, and an input/output controller 44 for controlling transmission and reception to and from the document creation device main body 11. .

Note that both the reading area size setting means for setting the size of the reading area of the image original and the output image size setting means for setting the size of the output image are used.

It is composed of a keyboard 23, a keyboard controller 17 which is a component of the document creation device main body 10, a main memory 14, and a CPU 12. Output image resolution recognition means for recognizing the resolution of the printing device 40 is provided in the main memory 1.
4, a CPU 12, and a printer controller 19. Further, the resolution determining means is the main memory 14.
and a CPU 14.

Next, the operation of the document creation system will be explained.

Here, the document 5o to be created includes the following as shown in FIG.
It is assumed that a text 51, a figure 52 input by the figure input process, a graph 53 input by the graph input process, and an image 54 input by the image input process coexist. Also, an image 54 to be inserted into the document.
As shown in FIG. 4, it is assumed that "house" 61 is drawn on the image original 60.

The operator first selects the document creation mode, operates the keyboard 23, and selects the display device! ! 21, create a sentence 51 that captures the purpose while checking it. Next, a graphic input mode is selected to create a graphic 52, and a graph input mode is selected to create a graph 53.

If it is desired to input an image into the document 50, the image input mode is selected.

The image input process will be explained according to the flowchart in FIG.

When the image input mode is selected, the reading resolution recognition means recognizes the resolution of the printing device 4o (step 1).
U12 is executed by acquiring the resolution of the printing device 40 from the printing device 40. The obtained resolution is written to the main memory 14.

In step 2, the image scanner 30 reads the entire image original 6o. The loaded image data is displayed in step 3! 21.

Next, in step 4, the operator
While looking at the image document displayed on the screen, an image reading area 62 in which a house 61 is depicted in the image document 60 is specified using the keyboard 23. The dimensions of image reading area 62 are temporarily written into main memory 14 .

When the dimensions of the image reading area 62 are memorized, the screen of the display device W21 changes from the image original screen to the document creation screen (the step operator performs step 6
Then, while looking at the document creation screen, use the image insertion area 55 to insert an image into the document 50 using the keyboard 23.
Specify.

The dimensions of the image insertion area 55 at the time of printing are written into the main memory 14.

In step 7, the reading resolution is determined by the reading resolution determining means based on the output image resolution stored in the main memory 14, the dimensions of the image reading area 62, and the dimensions of the image insertion area 55.
The determination of the reading resolution will be described later.

The determined reading resolution is sent to the image scanner 30 via the image scanner controller 18. Inside the image scanner 30.

The reading resolution conversion section 37 converts the reading resolution of the image document reading section 35.

Then, in step 8, the image reading area 62 of the image original 6o is read at the determined reading resolution.

Read the image data in step 9.

The data is acquired in the document creation device main body 11 as data of the image insertion area s5.

The image data acquired by the document creation device main body 11 is
In the print mode, the data of the document 51, the data of the figure 52, and the data of the graph 53 are outputted to the printing device 40 and printed as shown in FIG.

Next, the determination of the reading resolution will be explained in detail according to the flowchart of FIG.

First, in step 11, the resolution base/m(
am/dot).

When the image reading area 62 is designated by the operator, in step 12.13, the image reading area 62 is designated.
The dimension in the X direction and the dimension in the y direction are stored.

Further, when the image insertion area 55 is designated by the operator, in step 14.15, the image insertion area 55
The dimension in the X direction and the dimension in the X direction at the time of printing are stored. Here, the dimension in the X direction and the dimension in the X direction of the image reading area 62 are Dlx and Dly, respectively, as shown in FIG. The dimensions are D2x and D2y, respectively, as shown in FIG.

In step 16.17, the output image resolution Q/m, the dimension Dlx in the X direction and the dimension Dly in the The reading resolution is determined based on the dimension D2x and the dimension D2y in the X direction.

The X-direction reading resolution Rx is the value obtained by dividing the X-direction dimension Dlx of the image reading area 62 by the X-direction dimension D2x of the image insertion area 55 when printing, multiplied by the output image resolution Q/m, that is. , is determined to be the value shown by the following equation.

Rx= (R/m)X (Dlx/D2x) Also, X
Similarly, the reading resolution Ry in the direction is determined by dividing the dimension D1y in the X direction of the image reading area 62 into the image insertion area 5.
5 divided by the dimension D2y in the X direction during printing, multiplied by the output image resolution 12/m, that is, the value is determined by the following formula.

Ry= (Q/m) In some cases, according to the above formula, the resolution in the X direction and the X direction Rx,
Both Ry is Q/m.

Further, as shown in FIG. 9, when the dimension D2xXD2y of the image insertion area 55 at the time of printing is 172 of the dimension D1xXD1y of the image reading area 62, the resolution Rx in the X direction and the
Both Ry is 2Q/m.

When reading the image at the resolution determined in this way,
The number of read dots is the same as the number of printed dots, and printing can be performed immediately without the need for density conversion processing to match the number of read dots to the number of printed dots.
Print processing time can be shortened.

Note that although the same magnification printing and 172 reduction printing have been described here, it goes without saying that reduction or enlargement printing can be similarly performed at other magnifications. Further, when the ratio between the X-direction dimension DIX and the X-direction dimension Dly of the image reading area 62 is different from the ratio between the X-direction dimension D2x and the X-direction dimension D2y when printing the image insertion region 55, However, it goes without saying that it is possible to print without performing density conversion processing. Further, in this embodiment, the output image resolution is obtained by exchanging signals between the document processing device main body 11 and the printing device 40.
It may be stored in the main memory 14 of.

In this embodiment, the document creation device 10 sets the dimensions of the image reading area 62 and the dimensions of the image insertion area 55 during printing, and determines the reading resolution. installed in the image scanner, printing device or image scanner,
The reading resolution may also be determined.

Further, although this embodiment shortens the printing processing time, according to the present invention, the display processing time of the display device 21 can also be shortened.

For example, the display resolution of the display device 21 is stored in the main memory 14 of the document creation device main body 11, the reading resolution is determined as described above, and this is sent to the image scanner 30, and the determined reading resolution is This can be achieved by configuring the image document so that it can be read with

The above embodiment is one in which the present invention is applied to a document creation system, but if it is a system that reads an image with an image input device such as an image scanner and outputs it, regardless of whether it is a heart copy or a soft copy, It can be applied to anything.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, when a reading resolution determining means is provided and an image is read at the resolution determined by this means, the number of read dots is equal to the dots of the output image even when the magnification is the same and the image is reduced or enlarged. Since the number is the same as the number of dots, it is possible to immediately output the image without performing density conversion processing to match the number of read dots to the number of dots in the output image, and the image output time can be shortened.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 9 show embodiments of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a document creation system, FIG. 2 is a flowchart regarding determination of reading resolution, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart of image input mode. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an image original, FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a created document, FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram to explain the dimensions of the image reading area, and FIG.
The figure is an explanatory diagram for explaining the dimensions of the image insertion area when printing, and Figure 8 shows the reading resolution and output image resolution when the dimensions of the image reading area and the dimensions of the image insertion area when printing are the same. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the reading resolution and output image resolution when the size of the image insertion area at the time of printing is 172 of the size of the image reading area, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the reading resolution and output image resolution of the prior art. 6 10...Document creation device W (image processing device W) 11...Document creation device main body, 21...Display device , 23・
... Keyboard, 3o... Image scanner (image input device), 35... Image original reading section, 37.
. . . Reading resolution conversion unit, 40 . . . Printing device, 45
...Printing Department. Applicant Hitachi, Ltd. Representative Patent Attorney Tomi 1) Kazuko Figure 62' Image reading area Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure (a) (b) Figure (a) (b) Figure 10 (a) (b)

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An image input/output system that reads an image from an image original and outputs it, comprising: reading area size setting means for setting the size of a reading area of the image original; and an output image of the image. output image size setting means for setting dimensions; output image resolution recognition means for recognizing the resolution of the output image; and a value obtained by multiplying the value obtained by dividing the size of the reading area by the size of the output image by the resolution of the output image. The apparatus further comprises: reading resolution determining means for setting the reading resolution to be reading resolution; image reading means for reading the reading area of the image original at the reading resolution; and image outputting means for outputting the read image at the resolution of the output image. An image input/output system featuring: 2. The image input/output system according to claim 1, wherein the image output means is constituted by a printing device that prints the image. 3. The image input/output system according to claim 1, wherein the image output means is constituted by a display device that displays the image. 4. reading area size setting means for setting the size of the reading area of the original image; output image size setting means for setting the size of the output image of the image; output image resolution recognition means for recognizing the resolution of the output image; An image processing apparatus comprising: reading resolution determining means that determines a reading resolution to be a value obtained by dividing the size of the reading area by the size of the output image multiplied by the resolution of the output image. 5. Reading area size setting means for setting the dimensions of the reading area of the original image; Printing image size setting means for setting the dimensions of the print image of the image; Printing resolution recognition means for recognizing the printing resolution; The image forming apparatus includes reading resolution determining means for determining the reading resolution by multiplying the printing resolution by the value obtained by dividing the dimensions by the dimensions of the printed image, and printing means for printing the read image at the printing resolution. Characteristic printing device. 6. In an image input method of reading an image from an image original, the reading resolution is determined so that the number of read dots of the image is the same as the number of dots of the output image of the image, and the image of the image original is read at the reading resolution. An image input method characterized by reading. 7. In an image input/output method that reads an image from an image original and outputs it, determining the dimensions of the reading area of the image original and the dimensions of the output image, recognizing the resolution of the output image, and determining the dimensions of the reading area of the image original. A value obtained by dividing the dimensions by the dimensions of the output image multiplied by the resolution of the output image is set as the reading resolution, and reading the reading area of the image original at the reading resolution, and converting the read image into the resolution of the output image. An image input/output method characterized by outputting.