JPH08149278A - Image processing unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide an image processing unit in which a sort function with high productivity is realized inexpensively and which has a function possible for rotation processing of a succeeding image even in the case of image output of 2nd and succeeding times. CONSTITUTION: The image processing unit is provided with an image reader 5 receiving an image, a rotation device 108 rotating an inputted image, a page memory 112 storing one or both the received image and the rotated image, an image recording device 1 providing the output of a stored image, and a CPU 101 controlling each means. The CPU 101 makes discrimination as to whether or not a rotated processing image is outputted, and when the rotated processing image is outputted, the received image is subjected to rotation processing and when the image subjected to rotation processing is outputted, after the received image is rotated, the resulting image is stored in the page memory 112 and the stored rotating image is outputted to the image recording device 1.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus such as a digital copying machine or a facsimile equipped with an image storing means such as a semiconductor memory or a hard disk and an image rotating means for electrically rotating an image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional digital copying machine equipped with an image storing means and an image rotating means is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-460.
64 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-79541. In Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2-46064, the address reading direction from the storage means is changed according to the combination of the setting direction of the recording medium and the setting direction of the original so that an image is formed on the selected recording medium and recording is performed. The media can be easily set and the set space can be reduced.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a part of the configuration of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-79541. When expanding from the storage device 201 storing a plurality of pages to the page memory 202 for one page, the expansion processing unit 203 which can be selected from two directions of normal rotation and 90 ° rotation is provided, and this can be switched to a unit. Has realized a small and inexpensive sort function.

[0004]

However, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2-46064, in order to realize the sorting function by using the rotation function, storage means for a plurality of pages having the rotation function for each page is required. become. Further, a semiconductor memory capable of address operation is required as the storage means. When the resolution is 16 pixels / mm for 1 pixel 1 bit, the memory capacity required for A4 size is about 2 MByt.
e, 100 MB for a 50-page image
However, there is a problem that the device becomes expensive and complicated because the semiconductor memory of the yte is used.

Further, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-79541, the problem that the device becomes expensive if a hard disk or the like is used as the storage device 201 is solved, but there are the following problems. This problem will be described with reference to FIGS. 8, 9 and 10.

FIG. 9 shows a normal expansion in the page memory 202, that is, a state of being rotated by 0 ° and expanded and output.
FIG. 10 shows a case where the image is rotated by 90 °, expanded, and output. In the case of expanding by rotating 90 °, as shown in FIG. 10, the expanding directions (1), (2), (3), ... (N)
Since the output directions (1), (2), (3), ... (M) do not match, the output cannot be performed until the expansion up to (N) is completed. That is, image recording cannot be started. In the case of unfolding by 0 °, as shown in FIG. 9, the unfolding directions (1), (2), (3)
... (N) and output direction (1) (2) (3) ...
(N) is in the same direction, and if the storage device 201 is faster than the speed of forming an image on the image recording medium, it is possible to output without expanding all the images. Since the transfer rate is not constant, the image cannot be output until after the image expansion. Further, since the image must be stored in the storage device 101 in advance before the determination of the sort setting is started, the image output cannot be performed during the image input, and the output start of the first copy is delayed. As described above, there is a problem that productivity during sorting is significantly reduced.

In a digital copying machine equipped with an image storage means, the next image can be input and stored when the second and subsequent images are output. However, the configuration shown in FIG. 8 of JP-A-3-79541 is disclosed. However, there is a problem that the functions are limited because the rotation processing of the next image cannot be performed when outputting the images of the second and subsequent copies.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, realizes an inexpensive and highly productive sort function and enables the rotation processing of the next image even when outputting the second and subsequent images. An object of the present invention is to provide an image processing device with high functions.

[0009]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a first aspect of the present invention is directed to an image input means for inputting an image, an image rotating means for rotating the input image, and an image for rotating the input image. An image storage unit that stores one or both of the stored images, and an image output unit that outputs the stored images,
In an image processing apparatus including a control unit that controls each unit, the control unit determines whether to output a rotation-processed image, and when the rotation-processed image is output, an input is made. After performing the image rotation process, the image is stored in the storage unit, and the stored rotated image is output to the output unit.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, image input means for inputting an image, image rotating means for rotating the input image, and image storing means for storing one or both of the input image and the rotated image. In an image processing apparatus provided with an image output means for outputting an accumulated image and a control means for controlling each of the means, the control means determines whether to output a plurality of copies, When performing the output of the part, perform the accumulation process and rotation process in parallel for the input image,
Further, the rotation-processed image is accumulated, and the accumulated image not subjected to the rotation process and the accumulated image subjected to the rotation process are switched for each part and outputted.

[0011]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the control means determines whether or not to output the rotation processed image, and when outputting the rotation processed image, performs the rotation processing of the input image. After that, the image is stored in the storage unit, and the stored rotated image is output to the output unit.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the control means determines whether or not to output a plurality of copies, and when the outputs of a plurality of copies are to be performed, a storage process and a rotation process are performed on the input image. Images that have been processed in parallel and that have undergone rotation processing are accumulated, and the accumulated image that has not undergone rotation processing and the accumulated image that has undergone rotation processing are switched for each part and output.

As a result, a large-capacity, inexpensive device such as a hard disk can be used as the storage means, and it becomes possible to realize a highly productive sort function, and at the same time, when the second and subsequent images are output, It is possible to rotate the image of.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an image processing apparatus according to the present invention. In this embodiment, a copying machine will be described as an example of the image processing apparatus.

In FIG. 1, a CPU 101 controls the entire operation according to a program, a ROM 102 stores the program and predetermined data, and a RAM 103,
It stores data and provides a work area. The communication controller 104 includes the image reading device 5 and the image recording device 1.
And the control device 105 performs input / output processing of control information.
The automatic document feeder 2 is controlled by the image reading device 5. The operation device 105 includes a ten-key pad, various operation keys, a display, and the like, and is a device for detecting an operator's instruction and displaying the state of the machine. The interrupt controller 106 includes a compressor 107, a rotator 108, and an S.
Interrupts from the CSI controller 109, the decompressor 110, the three-channel communication controller 104, etc. are accepted in a predetermined priority order, and processing is requested to the CPU.

[0016]

[Table 1] The DMA controller 111 performs DMA transfer between devices that issue a data transfer request to the page memory 112. As shown in Table 1, there are eight channels for DMA transfer. Of these, Ch3 DMA transfer is performed by the rotator 10.
The rotator 108 has an address generation function in order to generate an address of the page memory 112 according to the rotation angle.

The bus arbiter 113 is an 8-channel D
MA transfer request, DRAM refresh, CPU 101
Access and the like are arbitrated by a predetermined priority and a predetermined data unit.

The compressor 107 compresses the image data from the image reading device 5 or the image data from the page memory 112 and transfers it to the page memory 112. The compressor 107 increases the number of originals that can store the image data in the page memory 112 and the hard disk 114, and at the same time,
It is used to reduce the data transfer rate to the H.4, and is compressed by, for example, the adaptive predictive coding method. The adaptive predictive coding method is, for example, a method in which image data is simultaneously predicted by a plurality of predictors for every eight pixels, and the predictor with the highest hit rate is used for the next prediction. The hit pixel signal is replaced with "0", the missed pixel signal is replaced with "1", and the replaced prediction result data is run-length encoded and compressed. Further, the main scanning line whose compression rate exceeds 1 is replaced with the original image data, and the compression rate of the entire page does not exceed 1. Expander 110
Decompresses the run length code, which is compressed data, to decompress it into prediction data, decompresses the decompressed prediction data, and restores it to the original image data.

The rotator 108 converts the image data from the image reading device or the image data from the page memory 112 into a page memory 112 corresponding to a rotation angle of 90 °.
Data is expanded to the page memory 112.

The page memory 112 is composed of, for example, a DRAM. The page memory 112 is used by the compressor 10
The data output of No. 7 is not a constant speed, and since it takes time to start the data transfer of the hard disk 114 described later and the transfer speed is also not constant, it operates as a temporary buffer. Further, the page memory 112 is used to develop the image data rotated by the rotator 108.

The hard disk has a SCSI interface (I / F) and stores image information.
The SCSI controller 109 is a hard disk 114
Controls reading and writing of image alerts for. MUX11
5, MUX116 and MUX117 are multiplexers,
Information SE of the register 118 controlled by the CPU 101
The transfer direction of image information is switched based on L1, SEL2, and SEL3. The MUX 115 is the image reading device 5
Image data output from the compressor 107 and the rotator 1
It operates so as to input to either one or both of 08. The external interface (I / F) 119 is connected to, for example, a data processing device such as a personal computer or a workstation or a facsimile device, and inputs / outputs image data to / from the outside.

The above components are separately connected to the image data bus and the CPU bus in order to operate the image processing at a higher speed.

With the above-mentioned configuration, the input image can be simultaneously processed for compression processing and rotation processing.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a schematic structure of a digital copying machine to which the present invention is applied. The digital copying machine is roughly divided into a digital copying machine main body 1 for forming a copy by forming a toner image corresponding to a document image on a recording paper, and an original document is automatically placed on a document mounting surface of the digital copying machine main body 1. And an automatic document feeder 2 for automatically feeding.

Inside the main body 1 of the digital copying machine, an image reading device 5 for reading an original image by scanning an original placed on a platen glass 4, which is an original placement device, from above, and this image reading device. An image forming apparatus 6 for forming a toner image corresponding to an original image on a recording sheet based on the image information obtained by the step 5, and a sheet feeding apparatus 7 for supplying the recording sheet to the image forming apparatus 6 are provided. Has been done.

The automatic document feeder 2 is provided so as to openably and closably cover the platen glass 4 provided on the upper portion of the main body 1 of the digital copying machine, and the document loaded on the document tray 8 is fed by the feed rollers. The original image is read by sequentially sending the originals one by one onto the platen glass 4 (not shown) and the conveying belt 9 and thereafter, the original is discharged by the conveying belt 9 and a discharge roller (not shown). The paper is discharged to the paper tray 10.

The image reading device 5 is provided with an exposure lamp 11, a plurality of reflection mirrors 12, a lens 13, an image sensor 14 and the like as an optical system. The exposure lamp 11 and the reflection mirror 12 are moved along the platen glass 4. Then, the reflected light from the document is converged on the image sensor 14 and the density of the image of the document is converted into an electric image signal. The image signal is converted into digital image data by an A / D conversion circuit or the like provided as an electric system inside the image reading device 5. This image data is supplied to the processing unit described later, and after being subjected to predetermined signal processing, is supplied to the image forming apparatus 6.

The image forming apparatus 6 forms a toner image on a recording sheet by a well-known electrophotographic method according to the digital image data from the processing section, and the photosensitive drum 16 uniformly charged by the charging device 15. The surface of is exposed by laser light from the laser exposure device 17 to form an electrostatic latent image.

The laser exposure device 17 is a laser element (not shown) such as a semiconductor laser whose drive current is modulated based on the image data from the image reading device 5, and a laser beam from the laser element to the photosensitive drum 16. A rotating polygon mirror 1 that periodically deflects in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the surface.
8, a reflection mirror 19 and the like.

The electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 16 is developed by the developing device 20 or 21 to form a toner image of a desired color on the photosensitive drum 16, and the toner image is fed by the transfer device 22. It is transferred onto the recording paper sent along the path A from any one of the plurality of trays 7a to 7e of the apparatus 7. It should be noted that the trays 7a to 7c are sheet feed trays for storing sheets of different sizes, the tray 7d is an intermediate tray for temporarily storing recording sheets for double-sided copying, and 7
e is a large-capacity tray that accommodates several hundred recording sheets. The residual toner remaining on the surface of the photosensitive drum 16 after the transfer is
It is removed by the cleaning device 23.

The recording paper after transfer is peeled from the photoconductor drum 16 by the peeling device 24, conveyed to the fixing device 26 by the conveyor 25, and subjected to the fixing process. The path of the sheet after fixing is switched by the switching gate 27 to either the path B which goes to the discharge tray 29 or the path c which goes to the intermediate tray 7d through the reversing device 28 for double-sided copying. In the case of double-sided copying, the reverse side of the recording paper is reversed by the reversing device 28, and the recording paper is supplied again to the image forming device 6 along the path A via the intermediate tray 7d, and a toner image is formed on the back surface of the recording paper this time. After that, it is sent to the discharge tray 29.

Next, the operation of the machine will be described.

FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 are flow charts for explaining the operation flow of the digital copying machine of the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

In FIG. 3, first, after the copy mode and the number of copies are specified by the operation device 105, when the start button is pressed by the operator, the job is accepted and the parameters are set in the job management area (S1). The job management area is set in the RAM 103, job parameters of a plurality of jobs can be set, and new jobs can be accepted even while previous jobs are operating.

From the job parameters, the control means determines whether to rotate the image (S2). Image rotation is performed in the following cases.

If the size and direction of the image to be output to the image recording device does not match the size and direction of the sheets set in the trays 7a to 7e, or if there is a matching tray and the sheet is out, the sub When rotating an image whose longitudinal direction is 90 ° for high-speed continuous copying, when changing the top and bottom in double-sided copying, and when printing multiple copies with the same size in each unit and changing the horizontal and vertical directions And so on.

When it is judged that the job is to be rotated, the control means further judges whether or not a plurality of originals are copied (S).
3). When it is determined that a plurality of originals are to be copied, the control means reserves an area for storing the rotated image data and the compressed image data in the page memory 112 (S4).
During the processing of the preceding job, there is a case where it cannot be secured, and in that case, the WAIT state is set. When the storage area is secured in the page memory 112 by dividing the image area into the rotated image area and the compressed image area (S5), the image data is input from the reading device (S6). The image data read by the reading device 5 is A4 size and the main scanning direction is A4 longitudinal direction.

The input image data is simultaneously input to the compressor 107 and the rotator 108. The input image is compressed by the compressor 107 and stored in the page memory 112 (S
7). The compressed image started to be stored in the page memory 112 is immediately expanded by the expander 110 (S8), and the recording device 1
To record on A4L (long edge fed) paper (S9). S if the first copy has not been recorded
Returning to step 4, this flow is repeated until the recording of the first copy is completed (S10).

In parallel with the above processing from S8 to S10,
The compressed image stored in the page memory 112 in (S7) is stored in the hard disk (S11). When the storage of the compressed image for one page in the hard disk 114 is completed, the page memory storage area of the image is released for the next compressed image or job, and the storage area management table is updated (S
12). The storage area management table is the page memory 112.
Alternatively, it is provided in the RAM 103. The update permits overwriting, but does not erase the image data or page memory management information. The deletion of the image data and page memory management information is performed after the job is completed.

On the other hand, the rotator 108 generates the address of the page memory 112 corresponding to the rotation of 90 °, and the image is stored in the page memory 112 (S13). The rotated image stored in the page memory 112 is input to the compressor 107 via the image bus and stored again in the rotated image area of the page memory 112 as compressed rotated image data (S14). In this embodiment, since the compression ratio is such that the compression ratio does not exceed 1, even if the rotation image area of the page memory 112 is overwritten, the rotation image data of the portion that has not been compressed does not disappear. The compressed and rotated image stored in the page memory 112 is stored in the hard disk 114 (S1).
5). When the storage of the compressed and rotated image for one page is completed in the hard disk 114, the page memory storage area of the image is released for the next rotated image processing or job, and the storage area management table is updated (S12).

In S12, the storage area management table is updated,
If it is in the WAIT state, the update is notified (S16).

FIG. 4 shows the flow of the even-numbered copy after the second copy. When the recording of the first copy is completed in S10, the processing of the second copy is started. Since the second copy outputs a rotated image, the processing of the even-numbered copy after that is the same flow, and will be described as the processing of the even-numbered copy. First, it is checked in the storage area management table whether or not the compressed and rotated image exists in the page memory 112 (S17), and if there is, the process proceeds to S22. If the compressed and rotated image of the page is not in the page memory 112, The storage area is secured in the page memory 112 (S18). During the processing of the preceding job, there is a case where it cannot be secured, and in that case, the WAIT state is set. When the compressed and rotated image area is secured (S19), the hard disk 1
The compressed and rotated image is read from 14 and stored in the page memory 112 (S20). Further, this process is repeated until the final page (S21). Since reading from the hard disk 114 does not need to be synchronized with image output, it is continuously performed on condition that the storage area is secured.

The compressed and rotated image stored in the page memory 112 is expanded by the expander 110 (S22),
A4S (Short edge feed) with recording device
Record on a sheet (S23). If the recording of the second copy has not ended, the process returns to S17, and this flow is repeated until the recording of the second copy ends (S24). Each time one page is recorded, the page memory storage area of the image is released for the next compressed image or job, and the storage area management table is updated (S25). The update permits overwriting, but does not erase the image data or page memory management information. The page memory management information is deleted after the job is completed.

In S25, the storage area management table is updated,
If it is in the WAIT state, the update is notified (S26).

FIG. 5 shows the flow of odd-numbered copies after the third copy. In S24, if the recording of the even-numbered copies is completed and the total number is completed, the job is completed, and if the total number is not completed, the process proceeds to the processing of the odd-numbered parts of the third and subsequent copies in S28 (S27). ). First, it is checked whether or not the compressed image exists in the page memory in the storage area management table (S28),
If so, the process proceeds to S33. If the compressed image of the page is not in the page memory 112, the page memory 1
The storage area is secured in 12 (S29). In some cases, the WA cannot be secured during the processing of the preceding job.
IT state. When the rotated image area is secured (S3
0), the compressed and rotated image is read from the hard disk 114 and stored in the page memory 112 (S31). Further, this process is repeated until the final page (S32). Since reading from the hard disk 114 does not need to be synchronized with image output, it is continuously performed on condition that the storage area is secured.

The compressed and rotated image stored in the page memory 112 is decompressed by the decompressor 110 (S33),
The recording device 1 records on A4L paper (S34). If the recording of the odd numbered copy has not been completed, the process returns to S17, and this flow is repeated until the recording of the odd numbered copy is completed (S
35). Each time recording of one page is completed, the page memory storage area of the image is released for the next compressed image or job, and the storage area management table is updated (S36). The update permits overwriting, but does not erase the image data or page memory management information. The page memory management information is deleted after the job is completed.

In S36, the storage area management table is updated,
If it is in the WAIT state, the update is notified (S37).

In S35, if the printing of the odd-numbered copies is completed and the total number is completed, the job is completed, and if the total number is not completed, the process proceeds to the even-numbered part of S17 (S).
38). The above processing is repeated until all the numbers are finished.

6 and 7 are time charts showing the above processing. From t ₀ to t ₁ , the image reading and the accumulation of the second and subsequent copies are performed. The image output of the first copy, that is, copying, and the storage of the compressed image and the compressed rotated image in the hard disk 114 are performed in parallel.

The processing of the second copy is started from the time of t ₁ . A storage area is secured in the page memory 112, and compressed and rotated images are continuously read from the hard disk 114. If the storage area is secured, the compressed image of the third copy can be read from the hard disk 114 and stored in the page memory 112 even if the copying of the second copy is not completed as shown in FIG. The copying of the second copy is completed at time t ₂ , but the image of the first page of the third copy has already been copied to page memory 1.
Since it is stored in 12, the copying of the third copy is started immediately. Further, as shown in FIG. 7, when the compressed image for the odd number portion and the compressed rotated image for the even number portion can all be stored in the page memory, it is not necessary to read the image from the hard disk 114 thereafter, and the third copy at the time of t _3. When the copying is completed, the image is read from the page memory 112 in synchronization with the recording, expanded and recorded.

[0051]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the invention, it is determined whether or not the rotation processed image is output, and when the rotation processed image is output, the input image is input. Since the image is stored in the storage unit after the rotation processing of (1), the rotation processing of the next image can be performed at the time of outputting the second and subsequent images. According to the invention of claim 2,
When electronic sorting is performed, the storage process and the rotation process are performed in parallel on the input images, the rotation-processed images are stored, and the storage image not subjected to the rotation process and the storage image subjected to the rotation process are combined. Since the output is switched for each copy, a highly productive sort function can be realized.
Further, since the page memory and the hard disk for two A4 size pages for rotation can be used as the storage means, it is possible to provide an inexpensive image processing apparatus.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a multifunction machine to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a control flowchart of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a control flowchart of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a control flowchart of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a time chart of an example of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a time chart of an example of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a conventional technique.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a rotation process of a conventional technique.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a rotation process of a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: Copying device, 2: Automatic document feeding device, 3: Post-processing device, 4: Platen glass, 5: Image reading device, 6:
Image forming apparatus, 7: paper feeding device, 7a to 7e: tray,
8: Document placing tray, 9: Conveying belt, 10: Document discharging tray, 11: Exposure lamp, 12: Reflecting mirror, 13:
Lens, 14: image sensor, 15: charging device, 1
6: photoconductor drum, 17: laser exposure device, 18: rotary polygon mirror, 19: reflection mirror, 20, 21: developing device, 2
2: Transfer device, 23: Cleaning device, 24: Peeling device, 25: Conveyor, 26: Fixing device, 27: Switching gate, 28: Inversion device, 29: Switching gate, 10
1: CPU, 102: ROM, 103: RAM, 10
4: communication controller, 105: operating device, 106: interrupt controller, 107: compressor, 108: rotator, 109: SCSI controller, 110: expander,
111: DMA controller, 112: page memory,
113: bus arbiter, 114: hard disk, 11
5: Multiplexer, 116: Multiplexer, 11
7: multiplexer, 118: register, 119: external interface

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical display location G06T 1/60 3/60 H04N 1/21 G06F 15/66 350 B

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image input means for inputting an image, an image rotating means for rotating the input image, an image storing means for storing one or both of the input image and the rotated image, and In an image processing apparatus including an image output unit that outputs an image and a control unit that controls each unit, the control unit determines whether to output a rotation-processed image, and outputs the rotation-processed image. An image processing apparatus characterized in that, when outputting, an image is stored in a storage unit after the input image is rotated, and the stored rotated image is output to an output unit. 2. An image input means for inputting an image, an image rotating means for rotating the input image, an image storing means for storing one or both of the input image and the rotated image, and In an image processing apparatus including an image output unit that outputs an image and a control unit that controls each unit, the control unit determines whether to output a plurality of copies, and outputs the plurality of copies. When doing so, the input image is stored and rotated in parallel, the rotated image is stored, and the stored image without rotation and the stored image with rotation An image processing device that switches and outputs.