JPH0662157A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To efficiently form an image by eliminating a need to read a document again even in the case of the change of setting on the way of document read. CONSTITUTION:When documents are left unread (step 1), the picture processing based on input of setting is performed for each document (step 4), and obtained picture data is stored in a second storage device (step 5), and this operation is repeated up to the last document, and thereafter, data is imprinted. If input of setting is changed (step 3), data before the change stored in the second storage device is subjected to the changed picture processing (step 7), and the result is stored in the second storage device. This operation is repeated up to the end of data before the change of setting, and this data and data of documents stored after the change are imprinted.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus,
More specifically, the present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that can perform image processing on a document image according to setting conditions.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In image formation in a conventional digital copying machine, first, an image is read from an original by scanning the reflected light obtained by scanning the rear surface of the original while irradiating the slit exposure with light. Then, the photoelectric conversion element (CCD) in the image data input section converts the optical signal corresponding to the image into an analog voltage, which is converted into a digital signal.
Image data is processed by the error diffusion method while being binarized and a histogram is obtained as a binary digital amount, and is temporarily stored in the memory. The image data is input to the image processing unit, and finally processed into image data desired by the operator, which is input to the setting input unit, and stored in another area of the memory. The stored digital image data of the image processing unit is transmitted from the laser output unit, converted into a laser on / off signal, and exposed on a uniformly charged photoconductor, according to the original image on the photoconductor. Forming an electrostatic latent image,
After that, the electrostatic latent image formed on the photoconductor is developed with toner (developer), the toner image on the photoconductor is transferred onto the paper by electricity of opposite polarity, and the toner image transferred onto the paper is heated. It was pressed and fixed to form an image.

However, in the above-mentioned conventional digital copying machine, the image information stored in the memory as the binary image data of the original image input to the image input section is processed by the image processing section according to the input of the setting input section. Since the image is formed on the basis of the processed and stored stored value, it is possible to change the setting condition to the setting input unit during the operation of reading the original image based on the setting input to the setting input unit. When such a setting is made, the image processing unit performs the image processing on the changed read original image only under the changed setting conditions.

[0004]

As described above, in the conventional image forming apparatus, even if the setting is changed for the image already read, the setting is changed in the image processing section. According to the setting contents, image processing is performed and the processed image data is stored in one memory to form an image. Therefore, the image data before the setting change cannot be read as the image data after the setting change.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention comprises a document reading unit for reading a document image,
First storage means for storing image data of a document read by the document reading means; image forming means for forming an image on a sheet based on the image data stored in the first storage means; Image processing means for processing the image data read by the document reading means based on the setting conditions, second storage means for storing the image data processed by the image processing means, and image processing for the image processing means. And a setting condition inputting means for giving the condition, and when the setting change request is issued by the setting condition inputting means during one or more original image reading operations, the original image reading operation in which the image processing is performed under the condition before the setting change And image processing means for performing image processing after changing the setting condition on the image data of and the image data to be processed after changing the setting.

[0006]

Function: The image data binarized according to the original image is
Once the original images are read, they are printed out on paper after being processed by the image processing unit based on the setting conditions stored in the first storage unit and set in the setting input unit and sequentially stored in the second storage unit. To be done. If the setting input is changed in the middle of the image processing, the image data stored in the second storage unit until now is read out, and the image processing according to the changed setting input is performed to perform the image processing. When completed, printed output.

[0007]

1 is a sectional view showing the overall construction of an embodiment of a digital copying machine according to the present invention. The digital copying machine 10 includes a scanner 11, a laser printer section 12, and a multi-stage paper feeding unit 13. And a sorter 14 are provided. The scanner unit 11 includes a document placing table 15 made of transparent glass and a double-sided automatic document feeder (RDF) 16
And a scanner unit 20. The multi-stage paper feeding unit 13 includes a first cassette 31 and a second cassette 3.
It has the second and third cassettes 33 and the fifth cassette 35 which can be added by selection. In the multi-stage paper feeding unit 13,
The sheets are fed out one by one from the sheets stored in the cassettes of the respective stages, and are conveyed toward the laser printer unit 12. The RDF 16 sets a plurality of originals at once and automatically feeds the originals one by one to the scanner unit 20 to read one side or both sides of the original according to the operator's selection. . The scanner unit 20 includes a lamp reflector assembly 21 that exposes a document, and a photoelectric conversion element (CCD) 2 that reflects a reflected light image from the document.
It includes a plurality of reflecting mirrors 23 for guiding the reflected light to the image forming apparatus 2 and a lens 24 for forming a reflected light image from the document on the CCD 22.

The scanner unit 11 is configured to read an original image while the scanner unit 20 moves along the lower surface of the original placing table 15 when scanning the original placed on the original placing table 15. When the RDF 16 is used, the original image is read while the original is conveyed while the scanner unit 20 is stopped at a predetermined position below the RDF 16. The image data obtained by reading the original image with the scanner unit 20 is sent to the image processing unit and subjected to various kinds of processing, and then temporarily stored in the memory of the image processing unit. Data is supplied to the laser printer unit 12 to form an image on a sheet.

The laser printer unit 12 includes a manual document tray 25, a laser writing unit 26, and an electrophotographic process unit 27 for forming an image. The laser writing unit 26 is a semiconductor laser that emits a laser beam according to the image data from the above-mentioned memory, a polygon mirror that deflects the laser beam at an equal angular velocity, and a laser beam that is deflected at an equal angular velocity is exposed to the electrophotographic process section 27. Body drum 28
It has an f-θ lens and the like for performing correction so as to have a uniform velocity tendency. The electrophotographic process section 27 comprises a charging device, a developing device, a transfer device, a peeling device, a cleaning device, a static eliminator, and a fixing device 29 around the photoconductor drum 28 according to a well-known mode. A transport path 30 is provided on the downstream side of the fixing device 29 in the transport direction of the sheet on which the image is to be formed, and the transport path 30 communicates with the sorter 14.
And a conveyance path 38 leading to the multi-stage sheet feeding unit 13.

The conveying path 38 is branched in the multi-stage sheet feeding unit 13, and the reversing conveying path 30 is formed as a conveying path after branching.
a and a double-sided / composite transport path 30b are provided. The reverse conveyance path 30a is a conveyance path for reversing the front and back sides of a sheet in a double-sided copy mode for copying both sides of a document. The double-sided / composite conveyance path 30b conveys a sheet from the reverse conveyance path 30a to the image forming position of the photosensitive drum 28 in the double-sided copy mode, or forms an image of a different original or a toner of different colors on one side of the sheet. This is a conveyance path for conveying the sheet to the image forming position of the photosensitive drum 28 without reversing the sheet in the single-sided composite copying mode for copying.

The multi-stage sheet feeding unit 13 includes a common conveyance path 36, and the common conveyance path 36 includes the first cassette 31 and the second cassette 31.
The sheets from the cassette 32 and the third cassette 33 are conveyed toward the electrophotographic process unit 27. The common transport path 36 joins the transport path 39 from the fifth cassette 35 on the way to the electrophotographic process section 27 and communicates with the transport path 40. The conveyance path 40 merges with the conveyance path 41 from the double-sided / composite conveyance path 40b and the manual feed document tray 25 at a confluence point 42 to reach an image forming position between the photoconductor drum 28 of the electrostatic photography process unit 27 and the transfer device. The confluence point 42 of these three conveyance paths is provided at a position close to the image forming position. Therefore, in the laser writing unit 26 and the electrophotographic process unit 27, the image data read from the above memory is
The toner image formed as an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photoconductor drum 28 by scanning the laser beam by the laser writing unit 26 and visualized by the toner is the toner image of the sheet conveyed from the multi-stage sheet feeding unit 13. It is electrostatically transferred and fixed on the surface. The sheet on which the image is formed in this manner is sent from the fixing device 29 to the sorter 13 via the transport paths 30 and 37, or is transported to the reverse transport path 30a via the transport paths 30 and 38.

FIG. 2 shows the digital copying machine 1 shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a block configuration diagram of an image processing unit and each control system included in 0. The image processing unit included in the digital copying machine 10 includes an image data input unit 51, an image processing unit 52, an image data output unit 53, a memory 54 including a RAM (random access memory), and an image processing central processing operation. A device (CPU) 55 and a second storage device 56 are provided.

The image data input section 51 is a CCD section 51a,
The histogram processing unit 51b and the error diffusion processing unit 51c are included. The image data input unit 51 is the CCD 22 of FIG.
Binary conversion of the image data of the original read from
While taking a histogram as a binary digital amount, the image data is processed by the error diffusion method and temporarily stored in the memory 54. That is, the CCD unit 51
In a, the analog electrical signal corresponding to each image density of the image data is A / D converted, and then MTF (Modulation Trans
fer function) correction, black-and-white correction or gamma correction, and output to the histogram processing section 51b as a digital signal of 256 gradations (8 bits). In the histogram processing unit 51b, the digital signal output from the CCD unit 51a is added for each pixel density of 256 gradations to obtain density information (histogram data), and if necessary, the obtained histogram data is subjected to image processing. It is sent to the CPU 55 or as pixel data to the error diffusion processing section 51c. The error diffusion processing unit 51c outputs the 8-bit data output from the CCD unit 51a by an error diffusion method which is a kind of pseudo-halftone processing unit, that is, a method of reflecting a binarization error in the binarization determination of an adjacent pixel. The digital signal of the pixel is converted into 1 bit (binary), and the redistribution operation for faithfully reproducing the local area density in the original is performed.

The image processing unit 52 includes multi-valued processing units 52a and 52b, a density conversion processing unit 52c, and a 1/8 scaling processing unit 52.
d, an image processing unit 52e, a scaling processing unit 52f, a density conversion processing unit 52g, an error diffusion processing unit 52h, and a compression processing unit 52i. The image processing unit 52 is a processing unit that finally converts the input image data into image data desired by an operator, and a memory (first storage device) 54.
Is processed by this processing unit until it is finally stored as converted output image data. However, each of the above-mentioned processing units included in the image processing unit 52 functions as necessary and may not function.

That is, in the multi-valued processing units 52a and 52b, the data binarized by the error diffusion processing unit 51c is re-created.
Converted to 256 gradations. In the image processing unit 52e, various image processing is performed on the input pixel data,
Further, information collection such as feature extraction can be performed on the data string. In the scaling processing unit 52f, the pixel data (density value) for the target pixel after scaling is obtained by performing interpolation processing with the known data that is input according to the instructed scaling ratio, and the sub-scan varies. After being multiplied, the main scanning is subjected to a scaling process. The density conversion processing unit 52g arbitrarily sets the relationship between the input density and the output density for a digital signal of 256 gradations based on a predetermined gradation conversion table. In the error diffusion processing unit 52h, the image data input unit 51
Processing similar to that of the error diffusion processing unit 51c is performed. In the compression processing unit 52i, 2 is encoded by run length encoding.
Value data is compressed. Regarding the compression of image data, the compression functions in the final processing loop when the final output image data is completed. Image data output unit 5
3 includes a restoration unit 53a and a laser output unit 53b.

The image data output unit 53 restores the image data stored in the memory 54 in a compressed state and restores the original 25
The laser output unit 5 converts the data into 6 gradations again and performs error diffusion of the 4-value data, which is a smoother halftone expression than the 2-value data.
It is configured to transfer data to 3b. That is,
The restoration unit 53a restores the image data compressed by the compression processing unit 52i. In the multi-value quantization processing unit 52b,
The same processing as the multi-value quantization processing section 52a of the image processing section 52 is performed. The error diffusion processing unit 52h performs the same processing as the error diffusion processing unit 51c of the image data input unit 51.
In the laser output unit 53b, the digital image data is converted into a laser on / off signal based on a control signal from a print unit control CPU (not shown), and the laser is turned on / off.
It is turned off. The data handled by the image data input unit 51 and the image data output unit 53 is the memory 54.
In order to reduce the capacity of the data, it is basically stored in the memory 54 in the form of binary data, but it is also possible to process in the form of four-valued data in consideration of deterioration of image data.

The second storage device 56 is a storage means for storing the image data once stored in the memory 54 which is the first storage means, and is composed of a hard disk or the like.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the flow of data in the image forming apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, the arrow indicates the direction of signal flow, and the parts having the same functions as those in FIGS. 1 and 2 are shown. Have the same reference numbers as in FIGS. Is from the setting input unit 55 to the image processing unit 52, is from the scanner 1
1 to the memory (first storage means) 54, the memory 54
From the image processing unit 52 to the memory 54, from the memory 54 to the second storage means (hard disk: HD) 56, from the hard disk 56 to the memory 54, and from the memory 54 to the printer 53. Is shown.

In the digital copying machine 10, the original image is read by the scanner 11 and input to the image data input section 51. In the image data input unit 51, as described above, the binary signal corresponding to the image density is subjected to various kinds of correction and processing to obtain image data, which is temporarily stored in the memory (first storage device) 54 in the arrow direction. It Memory (first storage device) 5
The image data stored in No. 4 is processed by the image processing unit 52 based on a setting command (arrow) to the setting input unit 55 for making the image data required by the operator.
The image data processed by the image processing unit advances in the arrow direction via the memory (first storage device) 54 in the arrow direction,
It is stored in the second storage device 56. This operation is repeated until all the originals have been read, and when the originals have been read and stored in the second storage device 56,
All the image data stored in the second storage device 56 is
From the arrow, the memory (first storage device) 54 is input to the laser output unit 53 through the direction of the arrow and printed on a sheet by the printer.

When a change in the image processing setting is input to the setting input section 55 during the operation from the scanner 11 to the second storage device 56, the second storage device 56 has already converted the image processing setting based on the setting command before the setting change. Is read, and conversion is performed again with the arrow, according to the setting condition after the setting change, and the converted image data is stored in the arrow → first storage device 54 → second storage means 56 according to the arrow direction.
Memorized in. When all the originals are completed, the changed image data stored in the second storage unit 56 is read from the second storage device 56 in the arrow direction, and is read from the laser output unit 53 via the first storage device 54 in the arrow direction. It is printed on paper through a printer.

Next, a method different from the above-mentioned image forming method will be described. If the image data is scanned →→ first storage device →→ image processing unit →→ memory →→ second storage device →→ first storage device →→ printer repeat operation, and the setting input is changed. , The image data output to the printer when the setting change input of the setting input section (in the arrow direction before the time of inputting in the arrow direction) is wasted, but the image data conversion based on the setting change input is performed. Second storage device →→ First storage device →→
The image conversion unit →→ the first storage device is performed, the image data is stored in the second storage unit 56 in the arrow direction, and the stored changed image data can be output to the printer (via the arrow direction). By this, although a little wasteful, valuable documents can be prevented from being damaged even a little.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention. The flow will be described below in the order of steps. step 1 : When a reading start signal is input, it is determined whether or not there is a document in the scanner section. step2 : When there is a document, one document is scanned. step3 : It is judged whether or not there is a setting change. step4 : When the setting is not changed, image processing is performed on the scanned and output image data. step5 : The image-processed image data is stored (HD write) in the second storage device. As described above, the operations of step 2 to step 5 are continued until there are no more originals, and the process returns to the step before step 1.

Step 6 : When the setting is changed in Step 3, the image data stored in the second storage device is read (HD read). step7 : Image processing after setting change is performed on the image data read from the second storage device. step8 : The image data subjected to the image processing due to the setting change is stored (HD write) in the second storage device. step9 : It is determined whether or not there is image data before the setting change for performing the processing from step6 to step8 . The operations from step 6 to step 8 are continued until there is no image data to be reprocessed in the second storage device.
Go back before step 1.

Step 10 : Determine whether or not there is image data for final printing in the second storage device. step11 : When there is image data for final printing in step10, the image data stored in the second storage device is read (HD read). step12 : Printing is performed based on the read image data. The operations of steps 11 and 12 are continuously completed until there is no final print data in the second storage device.

[0025]

As is apparent from the above description, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the second storage device is provided in addition to the conventional first storage device for storing the image data. The read original is stored and retained in the second storage device, and even if the setting is changed during the reading, it is not necessary to read the original again. The original is read from the second storage device and image processing is performed after the setting is changed. The image can be obtained efficiently, so that the image is efficiently formed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an overall configuration of an embodiment of a digital copying machine according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block configuration diagram of an image processing unit and each control system included in the digital copying machine 10 shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a data flow of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Copier, 11 ... Scanner, 12 ... Laser printer section, 13 ... Multi-stage paper feeding unit, 14 ... Sorter, 15 ... Original placement table, 16 ... Double-sided automatic document feeder (RD)
F), 20 ... Scanner unit, 21 ... Lamp reflector assembly, 22 ... Photoelectric conversion element (CCD), 23 ...
Reflecting mirror, 24 ... Lens, 51 ... Image data input section,
52 ... Image processing unit, 53 ... Image data output unit, 54 ... Memory, 55 ... Image processing central processing unit (CPU), 5
6 ... Second storage device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A document reading unit for reading a document image,
First storage means for storing image data of a document read by the document reading means; image forming means for forming an image on a sheet based on the image data stored in the first storage means; Image processing means for processing the image data read by the document reading means based on the setting conditions, second storage means for storing the image data processed by the image processing means, and image processing for the image processing means. And a setting condition inputting means for giving the condition, and when the setting change request is issued by the setting condition inputting means during one or more original image reading operations, the original image reading operation in which the image processing is performed under the condition before the setting change Image forming device for performing the image processing after changing the setting conditions on the image data of the above and the image data to be processed after changing the setting. .