JPH056238A - Signal processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To transmit data such as image data or the like at high speed by controlling a second device excepting for a first device as well while using a connector for the first device. CONSTITUTION:As the second device differing a control form, an image scanner 10 is connected to a connector 12 for first device, signals are inputted from this second device, and the second device is controlled by supplying signals to the second device 10 to an output terminal. For example, the image scanner 10 is connected to the connector 12 in the centronics (parallel interface) specification of a personal computer 11. In this case, on the side of the personal computer 11, a standard printer control means is not used but an exclusive read control means prepared for reading the image scanner 10 is used. Thus, the data can be transmitted without providing any special exclusive interface or providing a parallel/serial converting function at the second device.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a signal processing device for performing signal processing using an input device such as an image scanner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, with the improvement of performance and downsizing of image scanners, the image scanners have come to be widely used as image input terminals of word processors and personal computers.

In this case, the word processor and the personal computer are provided with a RS-232C serial interface and a Centronics printer interface (parallel interface) as standard input / output interfaces. Since it is usually used only for output, the image scanner is used by being connected to the RS-232C interface.

[0004]

However, RS-232
The C interface inputs and outputs data and signals in serial format, and its transmission speed is several Kbits / sec.
Data cannot be input / output at high speed. Therefore, it is not possible to input image data from the image scanner to a personal computer or a word processor at high speed for image processing. Therefore, in order to perform image processing at high speed, a special interface is specially provided, but it is expensive, and high-speed image input is not possible in an existing personal computer or the like that does not have this special dedicated interface or cannot be added. There is a problem that it cannot be realized.

When the RS-232C interface is used, it is necessary to have a function of converting parallel data into serial data. Therefore, the image scanner must have a parallel-serial conversion function. There is a problem that the structure of the image scanner is complicated and it is inevitably expensive.

It is an object of the present invention to allow a second device other than the first device to be controlled using the connector for the first device, and to provide a parallel interface without providing a special dedicated interface. -To provide a signal processing device capable of transmitting data such as image data at high speed without providing a serial conversion function.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has a signal input terminal and a signal output terminal,
In a signal processing device including a first device connector to which a first device is connected, first device control means for controlling the first device connected to the first device connector; When a second device having a control mode different from that of the first device is connected to the first device connector, a signal from the second device is input from the input terminal and the second device is input. And a second device control means for controlling the second device by supplying a signal to the device to the output terminal.

In a signal processing device having a parallel interface connector having a signal input terminal and a signal output terminal and to which the first device is connected, a first device for controlling the first device connected to the connector is provided. When the first device control means and a second device having a control mode different from that of the first device are connected to the connector, a signal from the second device is input from the input terminal, A second device control means for controlling the second device by supplying a signal to the second device to the output terminal is provided.

[0009]

In the above structure, for example, the second device such as an image scanner is connected to the connector for the first device which is used only for output, and the first device is operated by inputting / outputting data and transmitting / receiving signals. The second connector other than the first device can also be controlled using the connector for use. Further, by using the parallel interface connector as the first device connector, data such as image data can be transmitted at high speed without providing a special dedicated interface or parallel-serial conversion function. I can do things.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below based on an embodiment in which it is applied to an apparatus using an image scanner as a second apparatus. <Structure> FIG. 1 shows an image scanner 10 which is a second device.
It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the principal part of this. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a carriage composed of a light source, an optical system, a sensor, etc., and is supported so as to be movable in the directions of arrows A and B on shafts 2 and 3 provided in parallel on both sides of the scanner body. Reference numeral 4 denotes a stepping motor. By rotating a wire 8 stretched between a pulley 6 attached to a rotation shaft of the stepping motor 4 and a pulley 7 provided so as to sandwich the carriage 1, the carriage 1 is rotated by an arrow A, It is designed to move in the B direction. A home sensor 9 detects that the carriage 1 is at the home position.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram when the image scanner 10 of FIG. 1 is connected to a personal computer 11. The image scanner 10 is a Centronics (parallel interface) of the personal computer 11.
It is connected to the connector 12 of the specification.

The connector 12 has 8-bit data output terminals D0 to D7 and a control timing signal output terminal ST.
B, control signal input terminals BUSY, PE, ACK, SE
L and ERROR are connected to the connector 13 of the image scanner 10.

Here, in the Centronics specification,
The data output terminals D0 to D7 are output terminals for print data, and the control signal input terminals BUSY are for PE operation.
Indicates that there is no paper, ACK indicates that printer data can be received, and SEL indicates a signal input terminal for the printer online. However, in this embodiment, of the data output terminals D0 to D7, D0 to D3 are used for driving signals of the stepping motor 4, D4 is used for turning on / off the light source, and D5 is used.
Is used for a read start trigger signal, D6 is used for switching input signals, BUSY, ACK, PE, and SEL are used for image data transmission, and STB is used for a read control signal DCK of image data read.

Then, by D6, the image scanner 1
When the data selector 14 in 0 is switched and D6 = H level, BUSY is the 1-line reading end signal RDY,
PE is configured to be input to the personal computer 11 as a home position detection signal, and when D6 = L level, BUSY is input to the personal computer 11 as image data SD0 and PE is input to the personal computer 11 as image data SD1. .

In this case, the personal computer 10 does not use the standard printer control means (first device control means), but a dedicated read control means (second control means) created for reading the image scanner 10. Device control means) is used. In the Centronics specification, this switching is such that the data output terminals D0 to D7 are print data output terminals, the control signal input terminal BUSY is operating the printer, PE is no paper, ACK is printer data receivable, and SEL is printer online. In the application software of the image scanner 10, D0 to D3 are used for driving signals of the stepping motor 4, D4 is used for turning on / off the light source, and D5 is used as a signal input terminal of D5.
Is set to be used as a trigger signal for reading start, D6 is used for switching input signals, BUSY, ACK, PE, and SEL are used for image data transmission, and STB is used for reading control signal DCK of image data read. The above software is installed in advance, and the printer control means is automatically switched to the reading control means by activating the application software. The two may be manually switched.

The image scanner 10 includes, in addition to the stepping motor 4, a light source 15 provided in the carriage 1,
Image sensor 16, amplifier 17, AD converter 1
8. RAM1 storing data for shading correction
9, scanner control circuit 20, motor driver 2
1 is provided. <Operation> The operation of the above configuration will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 3 and the time chart of FIG.

First, the terminal D6 is set to H level to switch the data selector 14 so that the home position detection signal can be read from the terminal PE to the personal computer 11 side, and the terminal D4 is set to L level to turn off the light source 15. Further, the terminal D is set to the L level to set the trigger signal for starting the image data reading to the standby state (step S1). Next, it is checked whether or not the home position detection signal is at the H level. Since it is not located at the home position, the drive signal of the stepping motor 4 is output to the terminals D0 to D3 to return to the home position, and the carriage 1 is moved to the home position side (steps S2 and S3). When the carriage 1 returns to the home position by driving the stepping motor 4, the drive signal of the stepping motor 4 is output again to the terminals D0 to D3, the moving direction of the carriage 1 is reversed, and the carriage 1 is moved to the reading start position ( Step S4). Then, after that, the terminal D4 is switched to the H level, and the light source 15 is turned on (step S5).

Further, a pulse signal is output to the terminal D5,
The scanner control circuit 20 is requested to read an image for one line (step S6).

Then, on the image scanner 10 side, the image reading is started by the sensor 16, and the image reading signal is converted into digital data by the AD converter 18 and temporarily stored in the RAM 19. When the reading of the image for one line is completed, the scanner control circuit 20 outputs a one-line reading end signal RDY. This signal RDY is input to the input terminal BUSY of the connector 12 of the personal computer 11 via the data selector 14 and the connector 13.

Therefore, the personal computer 11 checks whether or not the signal input from the terminal BUSY becomes H level and reading of one line is completed (step S
7) If it has ended, set terminal D6 to L level,
Image read data SD0 to SD3 are respectively at terminal B
The data selector 14 is switched so that the data can be read from each of the USY, PE, ACK, and SEL input terminals (step S8). Then, in order to read the image read data from these terminals, the image read control signal DCK is output from the terminal STB (step S10).

As a result, the image data is read into the personal computer 11 through the data selector 14, the connector 13 and the connector 12 in a 4-bit parallel manner.

When the image data for one line is read by repeating the processing of steps S9 to S11, the drive signal of the stepping motor 4 is output to the terminals D0 to D3 and the carriage 1 is set to 1 in the sub-scanning direction. The line is moved (step S12).

After that, the terminal D0 is switched to the H level,
It is checked whether or not the carriage 1 has reached the home position (step S13). If not, the above operation is repeated until the home position is reached, and an image for one screen is read. As a result, when the home position is reached, the reading is ended, the terminal D4 is set to the L level, the light source 15 is turned off (step S15), and the image reading operation is ended. FIG. 4 shows input / output signals of each terminal when such a reading operation is performed.

<Effects of Embodiment> As described above, in addition to the printer control means for connecting the image scanner 10 to the connector 12 dedicated to the printer and controlling the printer connected to the connector 12, the image scanner 10 is connected to the connector 12. When connected, a reading control means for controlling the image scanner 10 by inputting the signal from the image scanner 10 from the input terminal and supplying the signal to the image scanner 10 to the output terminal is provided. The connector 12 can be used to control the image scanner 10 other than the printer.

Further, by using the terminal of the connector 12 for Harareru interface, which is usually used only for output to the printer, for controlling the image scanner 10 and transmitting image data, the RS-232C serial interface can be obtained. Image scanner 1 without using
0 can be connected to the personal computer 11 to input image data at high speed. Moreover, since it is not necessary to provide a special dedicated interface, the personal computer or word processor having a standard configuration can be easily connected and used, and the image scanner 10 side also needs to be provided with a parallel-serial conversion function. Since it is not provided, the configuration can be simplified and the cost can be reduced. <Modification> Some personal computers and word processors are provided with input / output terminals to / from the external floppy disk device, so that these input / output terminals can be used as a connector for the first device. Further, instead of the image scanner, an input device such as a digitizer or an output device such as a plotter may be connected.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, in the signal processing device having the first device connector having the signal input terminal and the signal output terminal and to which the first device is connected, First device control means for controlling the first device connected to the device connector, and a second device having a control mode different from that of the first device connected to the first device connector. A second device for controlling the second device by inputting a signal from the second device from the input terminal and supplying a signal to the second device to the output terminal while Since the control means is provided, the second device other than the first device can be controlled by using the first device connector.

In a signal processing device having a parallel interface connector to which a first device is connected, the signal processing device having a signal input terminal and a signal output terminal, the first device controlling the first device connected to the connector. When the first device control means and a second device having a control mode different from that of the first device are connected to the connector, a signal from the second device is input from the input terminal, Since the second device control means for controlling the second device by supplying the signal to the second device to the output terminal is provided,
It is possible to obtain a signal processing device capable of transmitting data such as image data at high speed without providing a special dedicated interface and without providing a second device such as an image scanner with a parallel-serial conversion function. it can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a main part of an image scanner used in an apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is an overall configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a time chart for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 carriage 2-3 axes 4 stepping motor 9 Home sensor 10 image scanner 11 personal computer 12 connectors 13 connectors 20 Scanner control circuit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A signal input terminal and a signal output terminal,
In a signal processing device including a first device connector to which a first device is connected, first device control means for controlling the first device connected to the first device connector; When a second device having a control mode different from that of the first device is connected to the first device connector, a signal from the second device is input from the input terminal and the second device is input. A signal processing device, comprising: second device control means for controlling the second device by supplying a signal to the device to the output terminal. 2. A signal input terminal and a signal output terminal,
In a signal processing device having a parallel interface connector to which a first device is connected, first device control means for controlling the first device connected to the connector, and the first device to the connector. When a second device having a different control form is connected, a signal from the second device is input from the input terminal, and a signal to the second device is supplied to the output terminal. A signal processing device, comprising: a second device control means for controlling the second device. 3. The signal processing device according to claim 1, wherein the first device is an output device for outputting image information, and the second device is an input device for inputting image information.