JPH07125390A - Image recognition processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simply simultaneously set various parameters for processing a peripheral unit by providing setting means for setting the parameters for processing the unit by reading an output content altered by output means by image reading means. CONSTITUTION:When updating process of a parameter is started, an image reading range of a scanner 103 is set by a scanner interface 114 to match a printing range of a parameter group, and image data is read. The read data is converted to a dot pattern from a video signal by the interface 114, stored in an input buffer 115, and a dot pattern of a set pattern is selected from the dot pattern in the buffer 115. The selected dot pattern is compared with a printing pattern of a candidate character row, a flag corresponding to the set parameter is read from a ROM 110, and an updated flag is cataloged to the NVRAM 111.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image recognition processing device.

More specifically, the present invention provides image reading means for reading an image, selecting means for selecting an arbitrary position of the read image, and converting means for converting image data at the selected position into control data. The present invention relates to an image recognition processing device provided with.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art As is known in the art, in a printing apparatus such as a laser beam printer, by setting control parameters such as character codes and communication procedures, and layout information such as paper size to be printed and paper orientation, It is possible to perform various printing processes.

Parameter setting is performed by operating a button on a panel device prepared on the printing apparatus or preparing a menu program for parameter setting in the host computer and transmitting a control command from the host computer. I am doing it.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, when it is desired to make fine settings, the number of parameters to be selected becomes large, and the panel operation becomes complicated. In addition, it was difficult to prepare a menu program for various host computers.

Therefore, in view of the above points, an object of the present invention is to provide an image recognition processing apparatus capable of easily and collectively setting various parameters for processing of peripheral devices.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises an image reading means for reading an image,
An image recognition processing device comprising: a selection unit for selecting an arbitrary position of the read image; and a conversion unit for converting image data at the position selected by the selection unit into predetermined control data, which is a peripheral device. Information reading means for reading the present setting value, output means for visualizing the read setting value, output contents by the output means, and the changed output contents are read by the image reading means, And a setting means for setting various parameters for the processing of the apparatus.

[0008]

According to the above configuration of the present invention, the current setting value of the peripheral device is read by the information reading means, and the print content output from the means (for example, a printing device) for visualizing and outputting the read setting value is changed. Since the changed print contents are read by the image reading means and various parameters for the processing of the peripheral device are set, various parameters for the processing of the peripheral device can be easily and collectively set. it can.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

Embodiment 1 (1) Description of Configuration FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of an image recognition processing apparatus in this embodiment. In the figure, reference numeral 101 is an image recognition processing apparatus in this embodiment. A host computer 102 is a source of print information. A scanner 103 reads image information such as handwritten characters and printed characters and converts the image information into an electric signal.

A printer engine 104 is a printing mechanism that inputs a video signal and prints image information based on the video signal. Reference numeral 105 denotes a host interface unit that receives print data including character codes and external character fonts and control data including form information and macro registration information transmitted from the host computer 102.

Reference numeral 106 denotes the host interface unit 10.
5 is a reception buffer for temporarily storing print data and control data received via the control unit 5.

Reference numeral 107 is a character pattern generator, which stores pattern information corresponding to, for example, a character code compressed by run length or a normal character code.
It also includes M and its read control circuit and the like, and has a code conversion function for calculating the address of the character pattern corresponding to the character code when the character code is input.

Reference numeral 108 denotes a RAM, which includes a font cache area for storing the character patterns output from the character pattern generator 107 and a storage area for storing external character fonts, form information, etc. sent from the host computer 102. I'm out. In this way, by storing the pattern information once expanded to a character pattern as a font and a cache, there is no need to expand the same character again when printing the same character, so the expansion to the character pattern is performed quickly. be able to.

Reference numeral 109 is the image recognition processing apparatus 1 in this embodiment.
01 is a CPU that controls the overall control, and controls the entire image recognition processing device by a control program (see FIGS. 3, 6, and 7) stored in the ROM 110.

Reference numeral 111 denotes a non-volatile RAM composed of a general EEPROM or the like, which is code information of character codes transmitted from the host computer 102, communication parameters in the host interface unit 105, paper size to be printed, number of copies, It stores various parameters such as the memory size assigned to the receive buffer and cache. It also stores print form data for printing the current setting values of these various parameters. Or later,
This non-volatile RAM is called NVRAM (Non Volat).
abbreviated as “ile RAM”.

Reference numeral 112 is a bit map memory for storing character patterns and form information developed into bit map patterns.

Reference numeral 113 denotes an engine interface, which reads a bitmap pattern from the bitmap memory 112, generates a video signal corresponding to the pattern data, and actually prints the printer engine section 104.
Interface control is performed between and.

Reference numeral 114 is a scanner interface section for converting a video signal input from the scanner 103 into a dot pattern.

Reference numeral 115 denotes the scanner interface unit 1.
It is an input buffer for temporarily storing the dot pattern input from 14.

Reference numeral 116 is a character code generator, which is a ROM storing a character code corresponding to a dot pattern.
And a read control circuit and the like, and also has a conversion function of calculating a character code corresponding to a dot pattern when the dot pattern is input.

(2) Status Paper FIG. 2 shows a print format of various setting parameters of the print environment in this embodiment. The print contents are: -version number 201 of control program stored in ROM 110-counted number of print sheets up to now 202 in printer engine section-assigned to installed RAM 108 capacity and cache area Capacity of unused part excluding allocated capacity 2
03: ・ Information on fonts such as character code and character size 20
4: Information about layout such as page orientation, number of print lines, number of digits, registered macro number 205: Information about selection of host computer type, print position correction value, special function 206: Host interface unit 105 Information 2 regarding communication parameters when communicating with the host computer 102
07: -Information regarding the number of print copies and overlay 208: -Memory size 209 allocated to the reception buffer 106 and font cache area: -Information regarding control commands, paper feeding method, paper size 2
10: etc. are classified into several groups. Hereinafter, this print format is referred to as a status sheet.

(3) Printing process of setting parameters Information concerning the printing environment is stored in the ROM 110 and NVRAM 1.
The procedure of reading from 11 and printing on the status sheet will be described with reference to the flowchart (stored in the ROM 110) shown in FIG.

When the printing process of the status paper is started, the current printing environment such as font information and form information is temporarily saved in step S301. Then, in step S302, the size of the paper set in the paper cassette, tray, etc. of the printer engine unit, the conveyance direction, etc. are read out, and the optimum layout is selected from the status paper layout information stored in the ROM 110. Read out.

In step S303, font information, unit of parameters for layout, etc. are set in accordance with the resolution of the status sheet. Then, page data for one page of the status sheet is created in the page data area inside the RAM 108.

In step S304, the parameter group is selected, the size of the frame to be printed and the line type are set according to the number of setting parameter items in the group, and the frame of the parameter group selected in step S305 is drawn. Of the data is written in the RAM 108.

Next, a character printing process starts, and step S3
The character string to be printed in 06 is the item name of the setting parameter, but it is determined whether it is the setting value. In the case of the item name, the process proceeds to step S307, the character code of the item name is sequentially read from the ROM 110, and the data is written in the RAM 108 in step S312 together with the font information set in step S303. If the character string is the setting parameter, the process proceeds to step S309 to read the setting parameter.

Here, the arrangement of each set value inside the NVRAM is as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, an area inside the NVRAM is allocated for each set value, and a bit string is written in that area. Here, there are two cases in the written bit string.

The setting item is the font information 20 shown in FIG.
Like the "Kanji code" in 4, the setting parameter (N
The flag representing the set value is stored inside the VRAM 111), and all flags of candidate character strings that can be set for the setting parameter item are read from the ROM 110,
In step S309, the flag inside the NVRAM 111 and the flag of the character string read from the ROM 110 are compared.

If the flag matches the flag set in the NVRAM 111, the flow advances to step S310 to add the data for reverse printing of the character to the character string. In step S311, it is determined whether there are any candidate character strings, and the process is repeated for the number of character strings.

The interface information 207 shown in FIG.
For the setting parameter such as “transfer speed” in which the numerical value of the setting value is directly stored in the NVRAM 111, the numerical value is converted into a character string in step S312.

The character string subjected to the inversion process, the conversion from the numerical value and the like is written in the RAM 111 in step S313 together with the font information set in step S303.

In step S314, it is determined whether or not the processing of all the setting parameter candidates in the parameter group is completed, and the same processing is repeated from step S306 for the number of candidates.

In step S315, it is determined whether or not all the parameter groups to be printed have been completed, and if they remain, the processing from step S304 is repeated.

(4) Setting parameter registration processing The status sheet corrected by handwriting is read by the scanner 1
The procedure of updating the set values of the parameters read and modified in 03 is described in the flowchart (ROM 11 in FIG. 6).
(Stored in 0).

When the parameter updating process is started, in step S601, the scanner interface 114 sets the image reading range for the scanner 103 in accordance with the printing range of the parameter group.
In step S602, the image data reading process is performed.

The read image data is converted from a video signal into a dot pattern by the scanner interface 114 and stored in the input buffer 115. In step S603, the dot pattern portion of the setting parameter is selected from the dot patterns in the input buffer 115.

An example of correction entry on the status sheet is shown in FIG. NV like “interface” 501
The item to be changed is selected from the items printed for the setting items in which the flag is stored in the RAM, and a check mark is written in the item. "Transfer speed" 502
For the setting items whose numerical values are stored in NVRAM as described above, the numerical values to be corrected are entered in the entry fields.

In step S604, it is determined whether the setting parameter is an item for entering a check mark like 501 or an item for entering a numerical value like 502. If the result of determination is 502, step S
Proceed to 605.

In step S605, step S603 is performed.
The character code generator 116 converts the dot pattern of the setting parameter selected in step 1 into a character code.

The converted character code is processed in step S606.
At, the value is converted into a numerical value, and it is determined whether the converted numerical value is within a range that can be set as a setting parameter.
If the numerical value is outside the settable range, error processing is performed in step S607 and a message is displayed on the panel or the like.
If the numerical value can be set, the process proceeds to step S608, N
The current set value is read from the VRAM 111. And
In step S609, the read numerical value and the current setting value are compared to determine whether the setting parameter has been updated. If updated, step S610
Then, the read numerical value is registered in the NVRAM 111.

In step S604, if the setting parameter is selected from the candidates as in 501, the process proceeds to step S611, and the dot pattern selected in step S603 is compared with the print pattern of the candidate character string. As a result of the comparison, when it is determined that the check mark is written on the sheet, the setting parameter selected from the check mark writing position is determined, the flag corresponding to the setting parameter is read from the ROM 110, and step S610 is performed. At, the updated flag is registered in the NVRAM 111.

In step S612, it is determined whether or not the processing of all the setting parameters in the parameter group is completed, and if the parameters still remain, the same processing is repeated from step S603.

In step S613, it is determined whether or not all the parameter groups for which the reading process is to be completed are completed, and if there are remaining parameter groups, the processes from step S601 are repeated.

Embodiment 2 In the above embodiment (Embodiment 1), image data is read for each parameter group on the status paper on which various parameters of the printing environment are printed, and parameter setting is performed for all groups. The process was repeated.

In the present embodiment (embodiment 2), a process of selecting and reading image data will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 7 (stored in the ROM 110).
In the second embodiment, when a correction is manually written on the status sheet, a check mark is written in the group name portion of the parameter group in which the correction has been made.

In step S701, the flag table indicating whether or not the reading process of the parameter groups is performed is set to R for all the parameter groups.
It is created in AM 108 and all the flags are turned off.

In step S702, the image of only the parameter group name portion of the parameter group on the status sheet is captured. The captured image data is the scanner interface 11 as in the first embodiment.
In 4, the video signal is converted to a dot pattern,
It is stored in the input buffer 115.

In step S703, the stored dot pattern is compared with the print pattern of the parameter group name. If it is determined that the check mark is written on the sheet as a result of the comparison, the RAM1
Turn on the flag of the parameter group in the flag table on 08.

Similarly, from step S702, it is checked whether or not the image is read for all the parameter groups, and the flag table is set.

Thereafter, as in the first embodiment, the image of the entire parameter group is taken in, and the parameter updating process in the group is performed. When the processing within the group is completed, in step S704, the flag table is checked to determine the parameter group in which the next image should be captured.

In this way, only the image data of the parameter group that has been modified is fetched.

Third Embodiment In the second embodiment described above, a check mark is written in the name of the parameter group. However, an area for designating each parameter group is provided on the status sheet, and the parameter group is modified in that area. By writing the name, it is possible to perform the image reading process only for the area of the designated group.

[0054]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Image recognition including image reading means for reading an image, selecting means for selecting an arbitrary position of the read image, and converting means for converting image data at the position selected by the selecting means into predetermined control data An information reading unit that is a processing device and that reads the current setting value of the peripheral device; and an output unit that visualizes the read setting value.
By changing the output content of the output means, causing the image reading means to read the changed output content, and setting various parameters for processing of the peripheral device, the peripheral device Various parameters for processing can be set easily and collectively.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an image recognition processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a status sheet for printing various parameters of a printing environment in this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a processing procedure for printing information regarding a printing environment on a status sheet in the present exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an arrangement example of various parameters in the NVRAM in the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of correction of a status sheet by handwriting in the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a processing procedure for reading a set value from the status sheet corrected in this embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 Image Recognition Processing Device 102 Host Computer 103 Scanner 104 Printer Engine 105 Host Interface Unit 106 Reception Buffer 107 Character Pattern Generator 108 RAM 109 CPU 110 ROM 111 NVRAM 112 Bitmap Memory 113 Engine Interface Unit 114 Scanner Interface Unit 115 Input Buffer 116 Character code generator

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An image reading means for reading an image, and a selecting means for selecting an arbitrary position of the read image,
An image recognition processing apparatus comprising: a conversion unit that converts image data at a position selected by the selection unit into predetermined control data, the information reading unit reading out a current setting value of a peripheral device; Output means for visualizing the set value; setting means for changing the output content by the output means, causing the image reading means to read the changed output content, and setting various parameters for processing of peripheral devices; An image recognition processing device comprising: