JPH0581397A - Page scroll method and image processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily and fast perform the image confirmation by displaying with the scroll which part of an original the original image displayed during the editing work is and changing and displaying the image density before and after the scroll and the density of a superimposed part. CONSTITUTION:An operation object area is displayed in black and white (S1) and a present area is inverted, for example, by the 40% network pattern and displayed in red (S2). When a page scroller is instructed, the displaying area during the movement is inverted, for example, by the 60% network pattern and displayed in red (S4). Further, the area is inverted by the 60% network pattern, returned to the original condition and a moving destination is also inverted by the 60% network pattern (S5). Further, the step of S5 is repeated only during the page scroller (S6), and when the page scroller is discharged and the area is inverted by using the 60% network pattern at the S5, it is returned to the original condition, the displaying area of the S2 is inverted by the 40% network pattern, returned to the original condition, and at the time of determination finally, the area is inverted and displayed by the 40% network pattern.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing system for reading a manuscript (a character image and an image of a design of a layout mount (printing mount, rough designation paper, etc.), laying it out and outputting it. Whether the part is displayed is scrolled and the image density (brightness) before and after scrolling
The present invention relates to a page scrolling method and an image processing apparatus, in which the density (luminance) is further changed and displayed when there is a superposed portion before and after scrolling so that the displayed image can be confirmed easily and at high speed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an image processing system for a printing company requiring high quality, there is no system for comprehensively integrating and editing images of characters, patterns, etc. It was not the target. In particular, the desktop publishing field is becoming possible by the page description language such as Postscript.
Performance is low. There are systems for printers, but they are not enough to handle large amounts of data at high speed. The reason for this is that there is too much data to be processed in order to support processing by a descriptive language for collectively processing characters and images, and processing by a CPU (software), resulting in lack of performance. is there.
When only code data is output to create a block for printing, it must be converted into a bitmap for each character and must be expanded into a bitmap for every few rasters in advance, and only the bitmap is output. Stores all or part of the output image in a temporary buffer and sends it to the output device, and waits while the output device accumulates in the output image buffer to reduce the memory capacity of the buffer. It is supposed to do.

[0003]

However, in the above-described device, characters and pictures cannot be laid out and output at the same time, and even if the character bitmap is laid out in advance on the buffer for outputting the bitmap, the error will occur. It has a drawback that it takes a lot of time to realize. Alternatively, characters and pictures are output on different papers or films, and the operator cuts the papers or films. For this reason, repeated operations such as exposure and printing take a lot of time, and intermediately generated photosensitive materials are wasted.

Further, conventionally, in order to show which part of the entire target area of the document is currently displayed, that part is simply displayed in black and white. FIG. 16 shows such a state. If (A) is a display screen, (B)
The area AR is highlighted so that the display area can be confirmed. However, in this display method, when the size of the currently displayed portion is smaller than the size of the entire target area, it is difficult to determine what is inverted. In addition, during the editing operation, it was difficult to confirm which area was instructed before the operation.

The present invention has been made under the circumstances as described above, and an object of the present invention is to scroll an image processing system for interactively editing a large amount of character and picture image data electronically at high speed. You can easily determine what is currently displayed,
An object of the present invention is to provide a page scrolling method and an image processing device capable of easily confirming what is displayed before and after a scroll operation.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is an input controller adapted to compress density data of an image read by an input device and temporarily store the compressed image data in a buffer. A work station adapted to edit the screen of the code information and the image data edited by an edit input device by using an input operation and display means, and a work station having a storage unit, connected to the input controller and work station A file server for storing the image data, the code information, and the edit data screen-edited by the workstation in the storage means, and the edit data stored in the storage means is read out and subjected to necessary data processing to obtain an image. An image processing system equipped with an imagesetter adapted to output images to an output device. The above object of the present invention relates to a page scroll method in which the brightness of the portion of the original document displayed on the display means is different during the editing operation by the workstation. This is achieved by automatically displaying the image density of the area before and after moving the area and the density of the overlapping portion.

Further, in the image processing apparatus which is the object of the present invention, during the editing work by the workstation, the area where the original image displayed on the display means is different in luminance from which portion of the original is changed. It is achieved by providing a function of automatically changing the image density of the area before and after the area is moved and the density of the overlapped area.

[0008]

The image processing system of the present invention comprises an input controller, a file server, an imagesetter and a workstation, each of which is an independent CPU.
Since it is equipped with (microprocessor, microcomputer, etc.), each part can be operated independently and in parallel, and high-speed and efficient image processing can be realized. Interactively edit etc. to minimize the memory capacity,
A high quality image can be obtained as a hard copy or a printing block from the image output device. Further, the display colors of all the target areas and the display color indicating which part is currently displayed by scrolling are made different colors to facilitate understanding. Furthermore, different densities (luminances) are displayed in both the display area before the scroll operation and the area moved during the scroll operation so that the positional relationship between the areas before and after the operation becomes clear and the above control is performed. I try to get to high speed.

[0009]

1 to 3 are block diagrams of an image processing system which is a premise of the present invention, in which an input device 1 such as a scanner is used for a document such as a picture, a character, a figure, and a layout mount.
The density data DD of the image obtained by reading the input density data DD is input to the input controller 100, and the input controller 100 inputs the density data DD via the built-in CPU 101.
Is converted into a halftone dot by the halftoning circuit 102, and the compression circuit 103
After it is compressed in the buffer 104, it is temporarily stored in the buffer 104, and then transferred via the SCSI bus to the magnetic tape 210 of the file server 200 or the hard disks 220, 221, ...
Store in ... The input controller 100 has a local disk (hard disk) 105 for temporarily storing data. The file server 200 has a CPU 201, and is connected to other devices via interfaces 202 to 205. The code information CD such as characters obtained by the edit input device 2 such as a word processor or a typesetting machine is once stored in the floppy disk 3 and then read out and input to the workstation 300. The workstation 300 includes a CRT 301 as a display unit, a keyboard 302, a mouse 306 and a digitizer 303 as an input operation unit, and a hard disk 3 as a storage unit.
04, a floppy disk 305 and a plurality of terminal devices, each workstation 300 is an ET.
It is mutually connected to the file server 200 via HERNET. CR obtained by the input controller 100
The image data thinned out for T display, the frame data and the image data for contour display are stored in the magnetic tape 210 or the hard disks 220, 221, ... Together with the unthinned high density data for image output. The written data is read out via the SCSI bus to interface 204.
And 202 to the workstation 300, and control commands and the like with the input controller 100 are transferred via the auxiliary data line 4 via the interface 200 of the file server 200.
Further, an imagesetter 400 is connected to the. The image setter 400 is provided with a CPU 401, and the file server 20 is connected via an interface 402.
0 connected to auxiliary data line 5 and interface 4
It is connected to the SCSI bus via 03. The imagesetter 400 further has a sequencer 410 and a buffer 411 for storing necessary data, and the imagesetter 400 outputs a high-quality image to the high-quality output device 1
A laser beam printer 11 that outputs 0 and a relatively low image quality is connected. In addition, hard disk 2
20, 221 ... Prestores fixed data (bitmap data) such as logos, coats of arms, meshes, etc. and vector font data for character output.

In the input device 1, a pattern (halftone image), a line drawing, and a character image (binary image) are digitized by density data (8 bits / pixel). The signal input at 8 bits / pixel is converted into a dot pattern by the input controller 100,
Information of 4 bits / pixel is generated. The binary image is converted into 1-bit / pixel information. Further, although characters are input as codes from the workstation 300, they may be input as images from the input device 1. Therefore, when input as an image, even a character is treated as an image (bitmap data). Although all images are output by the imagesetter 400, since all the code and vector information are converted to bitmap data in the imagesetter 400, use it in the sense of outputting bitmap data when speaking of image output. become.

Now, the details of the input controller 100 will be described with reference to FIG. 4, in which the input controller 100 converts the density data DD input from the input device 1 into high density data for the high image quality output machine 10 and a laser beam printer. 11
For CRT3 on workstation 300
Two sets of data for displaying 01 and five sets of rough image data sufficient to show the contour are simultaneously generated. Overall parallel processing speed can be achieved by hardware
This is because the calculation load of 101 data generation can be reduced. That is, the high-density data for the high-quality image output device 10 is halftone-dotted by the halftone-dot conversion circuit 1021 and compressed by the compression circuit 1031.
The data is compressed in the buffer 1041
Will be temporarily stored in. Further, the data for outputting an image with the laser beam printer 11 having a relatively low image quality is the density data DD.
Is thinned out at a predetermined interval (for example, 1/3) (110),
The rough data is converted into a halftone dot by a halftone dot conversion circuit 1022, compressed by a compression circuit 1032, and then each buffer 104
It is temporarily stored in 2. Further, two types of coarser data to be displayed on the CRT 301 are respectively subjected to the dot data generation circuit 1023 after thinning out the density data DD at predetermined intervals.
And 1024 to halftone, and buffers 1043 and 104
In the case of a line drawing in which a clipping mask is created from a halftone image, the image data after Laplacian processing or unsharp mask processing showing the contour data is thinned out (113), and then binarized. Circuit 10
It is adapted to be binarized at 25 and temporarily stored in the buffer 1045.

In such a configuration, the CPU 101 communicates with the input device 1 via a data line (not shown), and also the auxiliary data line 4 and the dual port RA.
It communicates with the file server 200 via M (not shown). Then, when there is a data transmission request from the input device 1, the CPU 101 sets necessary data in each circuit shown in FIG. 4, stores the setting data in the local disk 105, and further sets the setting value related to the sub-scanning. set. The density data DD from the input device 1 is input line by line, and the circuits shown in FIG.
It is stored in (1041 to 1045). CPU1 during this period
01 checks the SCSI bus switching, the data compression output buffer 1041 switching, and the presence or absence of error information from various circuits. The data once stored in the buffer 104 and the local disk 105 is sorted by a command from the CPU 101 and output to an external SCSI bus.

The configuration of the file server 200 is as shown in FIG. 2. The file server 200 has a common file management function such as file management and file sharing, and a communication control function for network communication and unit communication. is doing. That is, the file server 200
Via the SCSI bus to the hard disk (220, 2,
21 ...), manages files on the magnetic tape 210, and connects to the workstation 3 via ETHERNET.
00 and a software interface function, and further includes an input controller 100 and an image setter 400.
File management information service to the PC and utility function for file management via the SCSI bus. For example, font registration and SCSI disk garbage collection (dust removal processing). There are two types of font registration. One is registration of fonts possessed by the system. This registration stores vector fonts created by another font creation system in the form of magnetic tape in the hard disk of the image processing system. The other is the registration of external character fonts. Gaiji font is a character that does not exist in the system. In this case, the font created in another system is registered in this system from a floppy or magnetic tape.

The file server 200 provides services and data storage for data transfer between the workstation 300, the input controller 100 and the imagesetter 400, and the input controller 100 stores the auxiliary data line 4 and the dual port RAM. Then, necessary information is obtained from the file server 200 for securing and deleting areas of various files. Input controller 100
In order to register the data once stored in the internal buffer 104 as a file of the image processing system, information such as the file name and file capacity is transferred to the file server 200, and S
Access the hard disks 220, 221, ... On the CSI bus. As a result, the file server 200 manages directory communication and disk area management. Further, the file server 200 transfers file data to the workstation 300 via ETHERNET,
Receive data from workstations. At this time, according to the instruction from the workstation 300, the file server 200 causes the hard disk (2
20, ...) and the magnetic tape 210 are managed, and necessary information such as a directory is updated. Also, imagesetter 4
The command for 00 and the command for the magnetic tape 210 are obtained, and the service according to the command is performed. Furthermore, a predetermined command is sent to the imagesetter 400 via the auxiliary data line 5 and the dual port RAM, file management information is sent in response to a request from the imagesetter 400, and disk data on the SCSI bus is sent. As a result, the imagesetter 400 is directly accessed. Furthermore, the utility information related to the entire image processing system is managed by the hard disks 220, 221, ... On the SCSI bus, and the font information,
Common files on the system correspond to such information.

Next, the operation of the workstation 300 will be described with reference to the flow chart of FIG. 5. The document data edited by the edit input device 2 and stored is read from the floppy disk 3 (step S310).
The code information CD of the document data is converted in data format (step S311). And CRT
One page of document content is displayed on 301 (step S3
12) The image data output position of the image read from the layout mount or the like is designated by the mouse 306, keyboard 302, and digitizer 303 (step S313), and page description data for each page is created together with the frame of the layout mount (step S314). ). Such data creation is performed for all pages (step S315), and then an imposition instruction for creating a printing block is issued using the keyboard 302 (step S316), and impositioned page description data is created (step S317). ). Then, the file server 20
The created data is transferred to 0 (step S318).
, The image setter 400 is instructed to output an image, and the operation ends (step S319).

Next, with reference to FIG. 6, an operation example at the time of imposition will be described. The workstation 300 reads the image data thinned out from the hard disks 220, 221, ... Of the file server 200 (step S33).
0), read the document data from the floppy disk 3 (step S331), C of the workstation 300
Display necessary information on RT301 and mouse 30
6, the keyboard 302 and the digitizer 303 are operated to lay out images, documents and frames page by page (step S332). Then, the type of imposition registered in advance is designated by the keyboard 302 (step S33).
3) Each page is laid out and displayed together with the number of pages on the CRT 301 in the instructed imposition state (for example, A to D in the figure) (step S334). Here, the imposition registration is stored with the number of pages pre-assigned in consideration of folding during binding of a plurality of pages, for example, A4 version 4 pages or A5 version 8 pages. 6A to 6D, the imposition state is determined by the number of pages (“1”, “8”, “5” in B,
It is displayed together with "4". As described above, the contents such as images and characters are not displayed, and the image setter 400 generates and outputs a bitmap according to the page description data (step S335).

FIG. 7 shows an example of the configuration of the imagesetter 400. The sequencer 410 is connected to a CPU bus 412 and an image data bus 413, and is also connected to a logical operation circuit 420 and a first memory 421. Further, the main memory 430 for the CPU 401 is connected to the CPU bus 412, the common memory 424 is connected between the image data bus 413, and the interface 4
The outputs of 02 and 403 are input to the CPU bus 412. CPU bus 412 and image data bus 413
A buffer 433, a decompressor 440, and a third memory 423 are connected between the two, and a buffer 434, a raster image converter 431, and a second memory 422 are connected.
The buffer 435 and the output control circuit 436 are connected. The CPU bus 412 has a vector font memory 43.
2 is connected to the output control circuit 436 and the output buffer 4
The high image quality output device 10 and the laser beam printer 11 are connected via 36A. Vector font memory 4
In 32, a vector font necessary for the raster image converter 431 to generate a character bitmap is stored. Usually vector font is disk (22
0,221, ...), but since it is inefficient to read the vector font via the SCSI bus every time the character bitmap is generated, all the necessary vector fonts are stored in the vector font memory 432 in advance. By reading it in, the speed of character bitmap generation is improved.

In such a structure, the operation is as shown in FIG.
As shown by, first, an output instruction request is output from the file server 200 to the imagesetter 400 via the auxiliary data line 5 with the file name in the hard disks 220, 221, ... As a parameter. Specifications to be output from that file are written in the file, and the specifications are sequentially decoded to calculate the address of the code data and the compressed data for each unit image, and the overlapping process by the logical operation is repeated for the address, The processing result is stored in the first memory 421. The imagesetter 400 calls the parameter file via the SCSI bus and repeats this operation. For the code data, for example, character code and instruction information such as position, typeface, size, etc. are input via the SCSI interface 403 (step S400), and converted into a raster image by the raster image converter 431 via the buffer 434 (step S401). ), The raster image data is stored in the second memory 422 (step S402). The data-compressed image data is input via the interface 403 via the SCSI bus (step S403), decompressed by the decompressor 440 via the buffer 433 and restored (step S40).
4), the restored image data is stored in the third memory 423 (step S405). Further, the bitmap data such as logos stored in the hard disks 220, 221, ... Is input via the interface 403 (step S406) and stored in the common memory 424 (step S407). The data stored in the second memory 422 to the common memory 424 are all bitmap data, and these stored data are logically operated by the logical operation circuit 420 via the CPU 401 (step S41).
0), data which is logically operated so as to synthesize, edit or image-process a picture or a document is stored in the first memory 421 (step S411). After the data is stored in the first memory 421, it is judged whether or not it is finished, that is, whether there is no correction or addition (step S412), and the above operation is continued until the logical operation such as correction is finished. This logical operation circuit 420 performs logical operations such as sum, product, difference, exclusive OR of bit map data generated from code data such as characters, bit map data obtained by expanding compressed image data, and bit map data with the CPU 401. Work together,
The image information to be output to the high image quality output device 10 or the laser beam printer 11 is generated.

Here, in the present invention, an area for displaying the entire image of the original is provided on the CRT 301, as shown in FIG.
The reverse color of the black line (black) 10 of the entire image shown in (A) is set to red, and the reverse color of the white part (white) 11 is also set to red. Then, when a partial image (image area displayed on the display unit of the CRT 301) 12 as shown in FIG. 10B is designated, this area 12 is displayed with a 40% halftone pattern as shown in FIG. Invert with. Since the reverse color of both black and white is set to red, the area 12 has 40
It is displayed with a red net of%. Therefore, the operator can recognize at a glance that the image of this portion is currently displayed by the red display of the area 12.

Details of the area 12 in FIG. 9B are shown in FIG.
If the pixel state is as shown in FIG.
When the image is inverted using the 40% halftone pattern shown in (A), the inverted image shown by the diagonal line in (B) of FIG. 11 is obtained.
When scrolling is applied in this state, that is, when the area 12 in FIG. 12 is moved to the area 13, the area 13 in FIG.
The image is inverted using a 60% halftone pattern indicated by 0 (B). For this reason, the regions 12 and 13 have different densities (luminance), and it is easy to identify the images before and after scrolling. Here, when the overlapping portion 14 is formed before and after scrolling as shown in FIG. 12, 40% as shown in FIG.
Exclusive OR of the halftone pattern and the halftone pattern of 60% (E
(X-OR) forms a 25% halftone pattern, so a 25% halftone pattern is used for the superimposing portion 14. FIG. 13 shows the relationship between 40% and 60% halftone patterns and the 25% halftone patterns formed thereby.

FIG. 15 shows an operation example of the present invention.
First, the operation target area is displayed in black and white as shown in FIG. 9A (step S1), and the current display area is inverted and displayed in a 40% halftone pattern as shown in FIG. 9B (step S2). ). The reverse image is red. Then, when the page scroller is instructed (step S3), the moving display area is inverted in a 60% halftone pattern and displayed in red (step S4). Invert the portion that was inverted in step S4 with a mesh pattern of 60% to return it to the original,
The destination is reversed with a 60% halftone pattern as in step S4 (step S5). The above step S5 is repeated only during the page scroller (step S6), and when the page scroller is released, the position reversed using the 60% halftone pattern in the above step S5 is returned to the original position,
The display area in step S2 is reversed by the 40% halftone pattern and returned to the original state, and the final confirmed area is reversed by the 40% halftone pattern and displayed. In the above description, the reverse color is described as red, but it can be applied to any color. Also, various changes can be made to the% of the net pattern.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, a large amount of character and picture image data can be edited at high speed, and a high-quality printing image with a layout-designated appearance can be output. In an image processing system that can easily perform bitmap processing of vector information and image processing, processing, and editing by hardware, and can output by laying out characters and pictures, Since the display area is displayed at a high speed by halftone dot%, the visibility during operation is improved. Further, when the display area is moved, the overlapping portion is clearly displayed, the relationship with the display area up to the previous time can be easily understood, and the operability is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram (workstation, input controller) showing a configuration example of an image processing system.

FIG. 2 is a block configuration diagram (file server) showing an example configuration of an image processing system.

FIG. 3 is a block configuration diagram (image setter) showing an example configuration of an image processing system.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an input controller.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation example of a workstation.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining an imposition operation.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of an imagesetter.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation example thereof.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining image display.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a mesh pattern.

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining an operation of pixels and halftone dot meshing.

FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining page scrolling.

FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining a mesh pattern.

FIG. 14 is a diagram for explaining a mesh pattern of a superposition unit.

FIG. 15 is a diagram for explaining an operation example of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a diagram for explaining conventional image display.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Input Device 2 Editing Input Device 3 Floppy Disk 10 High Quality Output Device 100 Input Controller 200 File Server 300 Workstation 301 CRT 302 Keyboard 303 Digitizer 306 Mouse 400 Imagesetter 101 CPU 201 CPU 401 CPU

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image processing system comprising a workstation having a storage unit for screen-editing the density data of a document read by an input device using a display means, and editing work by the workstation. In which part of the original image the original image displayed on the display means is displayed in an area having different brightness, and the image density of the area before and after the area is moved and the density of the superposed part are automatically displayed. A page scrolling method characterized in that it is displayed differently. 2. An image processing system comprising a workstation having a storage unit for screen-editing the density data of a document read by an input device by using a display means, and editing work by the workstation. Inside, which part of the document is the document image displayed on the front means is displayed in areas of different brightness,
An image processing apparatus having a function of automatically changing and displaying the image density of a region before and after moving the region and the density of a superposed portion.