JPH05122420A - Picture processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a picture processing device capable of shortening the communication time of picture data. CONSTITUTION:When the original picture read by an image reader 300 is transmitted by facsimile, a CPU 200 on the transmission side transmits a picture processing command without picture processing. A picture signal control part 40 on the reception side processes reception picture data in accordance with the picture processing command and outputs the result to a printer 500 when receiving this picture processing command together with picture data.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus such as a facsimile machine having an image transfer function and a copy function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, facsimile machines and copiers have become widely used as OA (office automation) equipment in offices. Since the facsimile machine and the copying machine can share the printer and a part of the image processing circuit, an image processing apparatus having a facsimile image transfer function and a copying function like a copying machine with a facsimile function has been developed. ing.

[0003]

However, in such an image processing apparatus, there is almost no copy machine section capable of performing high-level image processing, and most of them perform simple image processing, and the processed image is processed by the facsimile section. Is configured to send. Since the amount of image data increases when advanced image processing is performed by the copying machine unit, there is a problem that communication time becomes long if this image data is transferred via the facsimile unit.

In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an image processing apparatus capable of shortening the communication time of image data.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a means for generating an image processing command indicating the contents of image processing instructions for image data read from an image original, and the image data and the image processing. And a means for performing image processing on the received image data by the image processing command when the image data and the image processing command are received from the outside. ..

[0006]

According to the present invention, since the image processing apparatus on the transmitting side does not perform the image processing but the image processing apparatus on the receiving side performs the image processing, the transmission data amount does not increase, and therefore the image data Communication time can be shortened.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of an image processing apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a detailed configuration of the image reader and printer of FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of the image signal control unit, and FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of the communication control unit of FIG.

In FIG. 1, an operation unit 100 is used to input various operation settings and image processing contents in this image processing apparatus. The image reader 300 is configured to read an image of a document, and the read data and the received image data of the facsimile are processed by the image signal control unit 400. When the image signal control unit 400 receives an image processing command from the other party together with the image data, the image signal control unit 400 processes the received image data by this image processing command.

The printer 500 includes an image reader 300.
The image processed by the image signal control unit 400 is recorded on the recording paper in order to record the original image read by the and the image received by the facsimile on the recording paper. The operation unit 100, the image reader 300, the image signal control unit 400, and the printer 500 are controlled by a CPU (central processing unit) 200, and the CPU 200 uses a ROM (Read Only Memory) storing a program and a work. Memory 210 (see FIG. 3) such as a RAM (random access memory).

The CPU 200 also has an image reader 30.
When a document image read by 0 is image-processed and transmitted by facsimile, the CPU 200 operates when the destination of the document and the image processing mode applied to the document are designated through the operation unit 100 shown in FIG. Generates a command code according to its contents and stores it in the RAM. Then, the image processing command is transmitted to the other party without performing the image processing. The CPU 200 on the receiving side controls the image signal control unit 400 to process the image data received from the other party by this image processing command. The communication control unit 600 is
The image data processed by the image signal control unit 400 is transmitted to the other party via the telephone line or the image from the other party is received via the telephone line, and the image data processed by the communication control unit 600 is It is stored in the storage unit 700.

FIG. 2 shows the detailed configurations of the image reader 300 and the printer 500. First, the document feeder 3
Documents placed on 01 are sequentially placed one by one on the platen glass 3
02, and the lamp 3 of the scanner unit 304.
03 lights up to illuminate the document, and the scanner unit 304 moves in the sub-scanning direction. The reflected light of the original is sequentially reflected by the mirrors 305, 306, and 307 to be reflected by the lens 3
08, the image is input to the image sensor 309. The image signal input to the image sensor 309,
That is, the input signal from the image reader 300 shown in FIG. 1 is output to the image signal controller 400 shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 which is controlled by the CPU 200.

The image data processed by the image signal control unit 400 is scanned by a laser writing unit 501 to form an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor 502, and the electrostatic latent image is developed with toner by developing units 503 and 503a. The image is transferred onto a sheet by the transfer device 506. The paper is conveyed from the paper feed cassettes 504 and 505 to the position of the transfer device 506, and after the toner image is transferred, the paper is fixed by the fixing device 507 and ejected by the paper ejection roller 508. That is, in this printer 500, the developing units 503 and 503a are
Thus, an image can be formed with two colors.

Next, referring to FIG. 3, the image signal controller 40
0 will be described in detail. First, in the image reader 300, the original image is read by the image sensor 309 and converted into R, G, and B color signals, and the respective color signals are respectively obtained.
A / D converters 410 to 4 in the image signal control unit 400
Amplifiers 3091 to 309 to match 12 input levels
Amplified by 3. Then, the Y (luminance) signal generation circuit 420 generates the luminance signal Y by using, for example, 8-bit digital signals of R, G, and B converted by the A / D converters 410 to 412 and Expression 1.

[0014]

[Formula 1] Y = 0.30R + 0.59G + 0.11B

Next, the binarization circuit 430 converts the multivalued luminance information Y into binary luminance information and synthesizes the circuit 490.
When the normal mode is set by the CPU 200, the synthesizing circuit 490 outputs the binary luminance information as it is to the density conversion unit 495. Density conversion unit 495
Inverts this luminance information and outputs it to the printer 500 in the copy mode, and outputs it to the communication control unit 600 via the memory circuit 450 in the facsimile transmission mode.

The R, G, and B digital signals converted by the A / D converters 410 to 412 are also input to the color detection circuit 440, and input by the color detection circuit 440 in the color recognition mode of the facsimile transmission mode. The color of the image is detected. The color detection circuit 440 detects the color region of the input image by comparing each digital signal of R, G, and B with a color recognition table in which the level ratio of each signal is preset, and the color region is detected. Characteristic parameters such as the color, coordinates, and contour of the image are extracted from a normal image such as black characters, and the characteristic parameters are stored in the memory circuit 45 as color area information.
Stored in 0. As a storage method in the memory circuit 450, a method having a small amount of information is selected from among a method of storing the pixel itself and a method of storing only the outline of the color region. The color area information thus obtained is supplied to the communication control unit 600 as described above, and is transmitted to the external device via the telephone line together with the luminance information, that is, the normal image information.

On the other hand, in the facsimile reception, first, in phase B of the facsimile sequence, a signal of "color signal present" or "color signal not present" is input to the CPU 200. In the case of “with color signal”, the image information and the color region information are stored in the memory circuit 450 via the communication control unit 600.

When the single color mode is set by the CPU 200, the pattern generator 480 generates an image pattern corresponding to the color information area described by the color area information, and the image pattern is stored in the memory circuit in the synthesizing circuit 490. It is combined with normal image information from 450 and output to the density conversion unit 495. By the density conversion unit 495,
This composite data is inverted and output to the printer 500, and a monochrome image is printed out.

On the other hand, when the two-color mode is set by the CPU 200, the image information from the communication control unit 600,
The color image reproduced (restored) by the color region information (feature parameter) is stored in different areas of the memory circuit 450. The normal image information and the color image from the memory circuit 450 pass through the combining circuit 490 as they are, that is, are output to the density converting section 495 without being combined, and the density converting section 495.
Outputs these two image data to the printer 500. In the printer 500, the developing devices 503 and 503a form two-color images from normal image information and color images.
The character generator 470 generates a character and overlays it on the image and outputs it to the synthesizing circuit 490, and the discriminating circuit 460 discriminates the image for pattern matching or the like.

Next, the detailed configuration of the communication control unit 600 will be described with reference to FIG. In case of facsimile transmission,
The image information processed by the image signal control unit 400 is stored in the image memory 601 and then compressed / expanded by the compression / expansion circuit 602.
Are compressed and coded by, and the compressed code is stored in the coding memory 603. CPU 60 in communication control unit 600
Reference numeral 4 reads the encoded image information stored in the encoding memory 603 and outputs it to the hard disk interface 605 via the CPU bus. The hard disk interface 605 stores this encoded image information in the storage unit 700.

The CPU 604 also sends a pulse or the like corresponding to the destination telephone number set via the operation unit 100 to the telephone line via the modem 606 and NCU (network control unit) 607. And when the line is connected, CP
U604 is a signal indicating that “image processing is present” in phase B of the facsimile sequence and the CPU 20 shown in FIG.
The image processing command stored in the RAM of 0 and the modem 6
06, to the destination via NCU 607, then
The encoded image information in the storage unit 700 is read via the hard disk interface 605 and output to the modem 606. Therefore, this encoded image information is transmitted to the modem 606.
And is transmitted to the destination via the NCU 607.

On the other hand, in the case of facsimile reception, first, in phase B of the facsimile sequence, the signal "image processing present" and the image processing command are interpreted by the CPU 200 shown in FIG. Next, the image data (compressed code) from the other party is received via the NCU 607, demodulated by the modem 606, and stored in the storage unit 700 via the hard disk interface 605.
Next, the compressed code is stored in the encoding memory 603, expanded by the compression / expansion circuit 602, and the original image data is stored in the image memory 601 and then output to the image signal control unit 400.

Therefore, according to the above-described embodiment, the transmitting side transmits the image data and the image processing command without performing the image processing, and the receiving side performs the image processing by the image processing command. It can be shortened. In addition, the transmitting side extracts and transmits characteristic parameters such as color, coordinates, and outline of the color area of the transmitted original, and the receiving side performs color processing on the received image data using these characteristic parameters. Can be sent at.

In the above embodiment, the transmission image data is stored in the storage unit 700 and then transmitted, or the reception image data is stored in the storage unit 700, but the storage unit 700 is omitted. Transmission / reception data may be directly input / output between the encoding memory 603 and the modem 606. Further, instead of visualizing the received image by the printer 500, only the display may be used. Further, instead of transmitting the image read by the image reader 200, a disk driver of an image file or a VTR (video tape recorder) may be used. An image memory may be used.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, a means for generating an image processing command indicating the content of an image processing instruction for image data read from an image original, and the image data and the image processing command are externally provided. Since a means for transmitting and a means for performing image processing on the received image data by the image processing command when the image data and the image processing command are received from the outside are provided, even when performing advanced image processing. The amount of transmitted data does not increase,
Therefore, the communication time of image data can be shortened.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of an image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a detailed configuration diagram of the image reader and printer of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of an image signal control unit in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of a communication control unit in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100 Operation Unit 200 CPU (Central Processing Unit) 300 Image Reader 400 Image Signal Control Unit 500 Printer 600 Communication Control Unit

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Hideto Kotani 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A means for generating an image processing command indicating instruction content of image processing for image data read from an image original, a means for transmitting the image data and the image processing command to the outside, and the image data from the outside. And an image processing command received by the image processing command when the image processing command is received. 2. A means for extracting color region information from image information read from an image original, a unit for transmitting the image information for which the color information is extracted and the extracted color region information, and the image for externally And a means for generating an image pattern corresponding to the received color area information when the information and the color area information are received, and a means for synthesizing and outputting the received image information and the generated image pattern. Characteristic image processing device. 3. A means for extracting color area information from image information read from an image original, a means for transmitting the image information for which the color information is extracted and the extracted color area information to the outside, and the image from the outside. An image processing apparatus comprising: a unit that, when receiving information and the color region information, restores a color image from the received color region information and outputs the color image together with the image information.