JPH09127607A - Method for controlling microfilm image reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To accurately read the image of a target frame from film exposed by a duo method by using a line sensor and to transmit it to a host computer. SOLUTION: A retrieval device 22 retrieves the target frame at an address transmitted by the host computer 10, and informs a scanner control means 20 of the channel of the target frame. The control means 20 combines the channel informed from the device 22 with a reading condition designated from the host computer 10. The image of the target frame is read by a specified read mode based on the combination, and the image data is transferred to the host computer 10 together with attribute information concerning the scanning direction of the line sensor, and the host computer 10 performs specified image processing including image inversion and image rotation based on the attribute information.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention uses a micro film photographed by a duo system, and based on a command instructed by a host computer, scans and reads a frame designated by this command to a host computer. The present invention relates to a control method of a microfilm image reading device for transferring.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A microfilm image reading apparatus comprises a host computer and a scanner, and after searching for a target frame based on a command based on the SCSI standard (hereinafter referred to as SCSI command) sent from the host computer to the scanner. , The image of the target frame is read and sent to the host computer.

In the conventional method, the host computer first sets a range of frames including an image, that is, a reading range to the scanner as a window parameter before instructing the scanner to read an image. The range of this frame is set, for example, as the range of the number of pixels of m × n in the XY coordinate system. The scanner reads the image in the m × n range and transfers it to the host computer. This transfer is sent together with the attribute information of the image data.

This attribute information is created in the form of a table in accordance with a predetermined format including an image search key, image data format and the like. This attribute information is managed by the header method or the directory method. The header method is a method in which the attribute information is regarded as a part of image data and both are stored in the same location and transferred at once. The directory method is a method in which attribute information is separately filed and stored and managed separately from image data.

On the other hand, there are various photographing methods for microfilm, and a simplex method (standard photographing method), a duplex method (simultaneous front and back photographing method), and a duo method (reciprocating photographing method) are known. The simplex method is the most general method of photographing in a line in the film length direction. The duplex method is a method in which the front and back of a subject are simultaneously photographed in two rows in the length direction of the film. In the duo method, the film width is 1/2 the width of the roll film, and one frame at a time is taken in sequence along the length direction of the film. When one channel is taken, the film is fed backwards and the other channel is taken. It is a method to shoot in order.

When a film photographed by the simplex method is searched, the range of frames, that is, the reading range of the scanner is constant, so that this range can be uniformly set as the window parameter as described above. That is, the range of this frame can be uniformly set as a range of the number of pixels of m × n in the XY coordinate system, for example.

[0007]

However, when searching for a film by the duo method, it is necessary to change the reading range depending on which of the two channels of the film the frame is in. For this reason, there is a problem that the film adapted to the duo method cannot be read by an apparatus adapted to the simplex method.

In the case of microfilm, the frame includes an image of the original document and a black frame surrounding the image. That is, in the case of a negative film, there is a portion (hereinafter referred to as a black frame) in which the periphery of the document is output as a black frame when it is positively printed. This black frame does not require reading of an image. Therefore, conventionally, the entire image range (reading range) of frames
Is prescanned to detect this black frame, and then only the true image area excluding this black frame is main-scanned and read, and transferred to the host computer.

However, when the film by the duo method is read in the reading range set in the simplex method, the frames for two channels are included in one reading range. Therefore, there is a problem that it is not possible to determine which of the two image areas is to be the image of the target frame.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a control method of a microfilm image reading apparatus capable of correctly reading an image of a target frame from a film taken by a duo method. To aim.

[0011]

According to the present invention, an object of the present invention is to search for a target frame from a micro roll film photographed by a duo system having two channels divided in the film width direction, and to search this frame for a scanner. In a method of controlling a microfilm image reading apparatus for reading with a line sensor and sending it to a host computer, the searching device searches for a target frame of an address sent by the host computer, notifies the channel of this target frame to scanner control means, and The scanner control means reads the image of the target frame in a predetermined reading mode based on the combination of the channel notified from the retrieval device and the reading condition instructed from the host computer, and the image data is attributed to the scanning direction of the line sensor. Transfer the information to the host computer and The computer controlled method of microfilm image reading apparatus characterized by performing a predetermined image processing including image inversion and image rotation based on the attribute information, is accomplished by.

After deciding a predetermined reading mode here,
Prior to reading the image, a preliminary scan is performed to detect the image area or the black frame area, the size of the detected image area is included in the attribute information, and the image data of the image area excluding the black frame is sent to the host computer. The transfer is preferable because the black frame can be accurately removed and the transfer data can be reduced.

The reading condition instructed by the host computer can include reading by multi-value density gradation and reading by binary density gradation. The former can be used for a display device such as a CRT, and the latter can be used for outputting to a printer.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is an external view of an embodiment to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a view showing the overall structure of this apparatus, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a scanner, FIG. 4 is an operation flow chart, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a plan view of a microfilm showing a duo-type frame array used in FIG. 6, FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram showing a transfer system of the present invention, FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an operation procedure, FIG. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a header structure of image data, FIG.
Reference numeral 0 is an explanatory diagram of image processing contents.

[0015]

[Overall Configuration] In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 10 is a host computer (HOST), which is composed of a personal computer (personal computer) or a workstation. 10A is a CRT display device connected here. Reference numeral 12 is a keyboard, and 14 is a printer.
Connected to 0. Reference numeral 16 is a scanner, which searches the microfilm and reads (scans) the image. The scanner 16 is housed in the MIS 24 described later.

The scanner 16 is provided with a host computer 1 by a bus (BUS) 18 based on the SCSI standard.
Connected to 0. That is, they are connected by the SCSI interface. The scanner 16 has a microfilm control unit (abbreviated as MCU) 20 that serves as scanner control means in the present invention, and a roll film retrieval unit (abbreviated as RRU) 22 that serves as a search device in the present invention. .

The MCU 20 has a microcomputer, controls the search operation of the RRU 22, and
The image of the searched frame is read by moving the line sensor and stored in the memory 20A such as a DRAM. The RRU 22 sends a roll microfilm and searches for a desired frame.

24 is a microfilm installation
The system (abbreviated as MIS) accommodates a large number of microfilm cartridges, selects a desired cartridge, and loads it into the RRU 22 of the scanner 16. Here, the MIS 24 operates when the cartridge including the frame to be searched is designated by the MCU 20, and when the corresponding cartridge is not loaded in the RRU 22, the MIS 24 replaces the corresponding cartridge.

In the rectangular case 50 of the MIS 24, a cartridge storage shelf 52 is stored. The cartridge storage shelf 52 accommodates a large number of cartridges 54 so that they can be taken in and out from the front surface. The guide rails 56 (56a to 56d) are fixed along the four sides of the case 50, and the horizontal rail 58 is guided by the two opposing guide rails 56a and 56c to move up and down. In addition, the vertical rail 60 is provided on the other two facing guide rails 56b and 56d.
Is guided and moves to the left and right.

The horizontal rail 58 and the vertical rail 60 move up and down and left and right while being orthogonal to each other, and a cartridge carrying section 62 is slidably attached to both rails 58 and 60 at the intersection thereof. The horizontal rail 58 is fixed to a belt 64 stretched around a pair of pulleys located near both ends of the guide rail 56a. Vertical rail 6
0 is fixed to a belt 66 stretched around a pair of pulleys located near both ends of the guide rail 56d. Belt 6
4, 66 are motors 68, 7 connected to one pulley
It runs and is positioned by 0.

As a result, by independently moving the horizontal / vertical rails 58, 60 by the motors 68, 70, the cartridge carrying section 62 can be moved to an appropriate position. The cartridge storage shelf 52 and the scanner 16 are located within the movable range of the cartridge transport unit 62.
That is, the scanner 16 is located at the lower right corner of this movable range.

The cartridge carrying section 62 takes in a predetermined cartridge 54 from the cartridge storage shelf 52 and carries it to the scanner 16, and also takes in the searched cartridge from the scanner 16 and returns it to a predetermined position of the cartridge storage shelf 52.

[0023]

[Scanner] Next, the structure of the scanner 16 will be described with reference to FIG. The scanner 16 has the MCU 20 and the RRU 22 as described above. The scanner 16 has a vertically long housing 72, and the MCU 20 and the RRC 22 are housed in the housing 72. The MCU 20 is composed of a microcomputer and is housed in the bottom of the housing 72. Below RR
C20 will be described.

A supply-side reel drive section 74 is arranged above the front part of the housing 72, and a take-up reel drive section 76 is arranged below the front part. When the cartridge 54 is inserted into the cartridge insertion port 78, the supply-side reel driving unit 74 automatically moves the cartridge 34 to engage the reel with the rotation shaft. Further, the leading end of the film 80 is pulled out and sent downward, and is guided to the take-up reel 82 of the take-up reel drive unit 76.

Here, the film 80 is used for each reel driving section 7
It passes through the back side of the gap of 4, 76, that is, the back side when viewed from the front of the housing 72. Therefore, a space is formed between this gap and the front panel of the housing 72, and the light source lamp 84 and the condenser lens 86 are housed therein.

A line sensor drive unit 88 for reading a projected image of a frame with a line sensor is accommodated in the housing 72. The line sensor driving unit 88 is integrated with the projection lens 90. That is, the line sensor driving unit 88
A cylindrical portion 92 that holds the projection lens 90 is integrally formed in the case. The projection lens 90 held by the tube portion 92 has a fixed focus and a magnification of about 2 times.

A movable base 94 is attached to the case so as to face the cylindrical portion 92. That is, the movable base 94 is
It is slidably held by a pair of guide rods fixed to the case, and can reciprocate near the opening of the cylindrical portion 92 in a direction orthogonal to the optical axis 96.

A belt 102 wound around pulleys 98 and 100 is provided in the case parallel to the reciprocating direction of the movable base 94, and one side of the movable base 94 is fixed to the belt 102. Further, one pulley 100 is driven by a stepping motor 104. As a result, the movable table 94 can be reciprocated on a plane orthogonal to the optical axis 96 by rotating the stepping motor 104 forward and backward.

A CCD line sensor 106 is fixed to the movable table 94 in a direction orthogonal to the reciprocating direction of the movable table 94. Of course, the light receiving surface of the CCD line sensor 106 is made to coincide with the image forming surface of the projection image of the projection lens 90.

The RRC 22 is provided with a blip detecting means (not shown) for detecting a search blip previously attached to the film 80. The micro film 80 used here has a large number of frames photographed by the duo method as shown in FIG. That is, the frames are sequentially photographed rightward along the A channel (Ach), and when this Ach ends, the frames are sequentially photographed in the reverse direction (leftward) on the B channel (Bch). And film 80
Blips 80A, 80 corresponding to each frame along both edges of
B are provided respectively.

The blip detecting means counts these blips. That is, the blip is counted by the two sets of the light emitting element and the light receiving element which are arranged on both sides of the film 80 so as to sandwich the traveling locus of the blip along both edges of the film 80. The MCU 20 counts the blips to obtain a target frame.

[0032]

[Operation] The host computer 10 sends a search command to the MCU 20 via the bus 18 to perform a search.
(Step 200 in FIGS. 4 and 7). The search command includes the frame shooting method of the film 80 and the address of the target frame.

Upon receiving this search command, the MCU 20 immediately executes the search (step 202). That is, the RRU 22 is operated to feed the film, and the target frame is selected. When there is no target frame in the microfilm cartridge loaded in the RRU 22, a signal is sent to the MIS 24 to replace it with a cartridge containing this (step 204 in FIG. 7). That is, the film is rewound into a cartridge and then replaced with a new cartridge.

When the search for the target frame is completed, the RRU 22 sends a command complete signal to the host computer 10 to inform that the processing of the search command is completed (step 206 in FIG. 7). Also, a signal (channel signal) indicating which channel A or B the target frame was in is sent to the MCU 20 (step 208).

When the host computer 10 receives the command complete signal, it sends a scan command to the MCU 20 (step 210). This scan command includes a reading condition by the scanner, for example, whether the reading density gradation is multi-value or binary, reading density, resolution, and the like. The reading of multi-value density gradation is for obtaining data (display data) to be displayed on the image display device 10A such as a CRT, and the reading of binary density gradation is for outputting to a printer. It is for obtaining data (print data).

The MCU 20 determines the reading mode based on the channel signal sent from the RRU 22 and the reading condition included in this scan command (step 212). For example, for A and B channels, four types of reading modes are set by combining reading conditions of multi-value gradation and binary gradation.

In this case, multi-value (for display) reading is set to mode A on Ach, binary (printing) reading is set to mode B on Ach, multi-value reading is set to mode C on Bch, and binary reading is set to mode D on Bch. . In modes A and B, the range (window) to be read by Ach is set as shown by 80C in FIG. 5, and in modes C and D, the range that is read by Bch is set as shown by 80D in FIG.

This mode is decided as shown in FIG. That is, it is determined whether or not Ach and Bch are switched by the channel signal from the RRU 22 (step 212A in FIG. 8). If there is no switching, it is determined whether the current channel is Ach or Bch (step 212).
B) For Ach, mode A or mode B is selected according to whether the reading is multi-valued (for display) or binary (for printing) (step 212C). For Bch, mode C or mode D is selected according to whether the reading is multi-valued or binary (step 212D).

If there is channel switching (step 2
12A), if the channel after switching is Ach, go to step 212C, and if Bch, go to step 212D to select one of the modes (step 212E).

When the reading mode is determined in this way (step 212), the MCU 20 reads the entire reading range 1 (FIG. 6) of the frame corresponding to the reading range 80C or 80D determined by the set mode, and detects the black frame 3. (Preliminary scan, step 214). The coordinates of the black frame 3 are input to the memory 20A (FIG. 2). This content is written as attribute information in the header HD or footer FT shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 9, the header HD also includes a header identifier, X and Y axis image widths m and n, and other attribute information. In this embodiment, a footer FT is provided after the image data, and the data indicating the black frame 3, that is, the size (M × N) of the true image area 2 is put therein. Of course, this size (M × N) may be included in the header HD.

After that, the MCU 20 returns to the line sensor 10 again.
While moving (scanning) 6 to read the true image range 2, the image signals are sequentially stored in the memory 20A (main scan, step 216). That is, the black frame 3 is masked and the image 2 is read. When the scanning operation is completed and the image reading is completed, the MCU 20 sends a command complete signal to the host computer 10 via the bus 18 (step 218).

The reading of the image 2 by this main scan is
It goes without saying that the reading is performed according to the reading conditions designated by the modes A, B, C and D, that is, either the multi-value density reading or the binary density reading. At the time of this reading, information about the scanning direction by the line sensor 106 is also stored in the memory 20A.
To memorize. That is, the line sensor 106 can change the sub-scanning direction to both directions with respect to the reading range 1. In this embodiment, the main scanning direction of the line sensor 106 is constant.

Therefore, when the sub-scanning direction is reversed, the read image is mirror-inverted. The images of Ach and Bch are upside down. Therefore, the image data read by the main scan is in the sub-scanning direction of the line sensor 106 and A, Bc.
It is necessary to perform mirror reversal or rotation according to the change of h.

FIG. 10 shows the contents of processing to be performed by the changes in A and Bch and the change in the sub-scanning direction. For example, in the case of Ach, if the sub-scanning direction is positive (to the right), the data of the image “A” is stored as a normal image in the memory 20A. Therefore, in this case, mirror inversion is not necessary, and the image may be rotated by -90 ° when it is output to the CRT display device 10A or the printer 14 (see FIG. 1).

If the sub-scanning direction is positive (to the right) on Bch,
Mirror image data is stored in the memory 20A. Therefore, in this case, the image is mirror-inverted and further rotated by -90 ° for image output. If the sub-scanning direction is reverse (leftward) on Ach, a mirror image is stored in the memory 20A, so the mirror image is inverted and +90.
Image is rotated by ° and output. Further, if the sub-scanning direction is reversed for Bch, the image may be rotated by + 90 ° without mirror reflection and output. Information about such mirror reversal and image rotation, in other words, information about the scanning direction by the line sensor 106 is stored in the memory 20A together with the image data.

When the host computer 10 receives the command complete signal, it sends a "READ" command (step 220). MCU20 is this "REA
In response to the "D" command, the header HD stored in the memory 20A, the image data of the image area 2 and the footer FT are transferred to the bus 1
8 to the host computer 10 (step 222). When this data transfer is completed, a command complete signal is sent to the host computer 10, and the host computer 10 enters the next frame search (step 2).
24).

After outputting the next retrieval command, the host computer 10 performs mirror-inversion and image rotation of the image data transferred from the MCU 20 immediately before (step 224). That is, the image processing as described with reference to FIG. 10 is performed based on the attribute information regarding the scanning direction included in the header HD or the footer FT. Needless to say, the host computer may perform not only these image processes but also other processes at the same time.

The result is C according to modes A to D.
It is displayed on the RT display device 10A or is printed out on the printer 14. That is, if mode A or C is CR
T is displayed, and if mode B or D, printer output (step 226). The image data may be transferred to another computer or a storage medium such as a magneto-optical disk.

In this embodiment, the image data of the true image area 2 has a data size of M × N, and a header HD and a footer FT are added before and after this image data and transferred as one data. Therefore, it is not necessary to rewrite the black frame 3 (see FIG. 6) to white or transfer the data. For this reason, the transfer data is reduced, and the occupation time of the bus 18 due to the transfer is shortened.

In the case of the header method, the image data size of M × N can be put in the header HD or the footer FT in this way, but in the case of the directory method, it is included in the attribute information file sent separately from the image data. Just transfer it. The present invention includes such ones.

According to the present invention, the attribute information indicating the data size (M × N) of the true image area 2 is transferred to the host computer 10 together with the image data of this area 2. Instead of this, other attribute information may be set. Various types of attribute information can be set here.

For example, in the first example, when the print output is performed in the mode B or D, the information indicating the print position of the image 2 (image output position information) is set. By setting this information, it becomes possible to print an image at an appropriate position on the print paper. In the second example, when the unsharp mask method is used for edge enhancement, the intensity parameter of the mask used here is set as this attribute information.

The third example is to set a curve parameter of a look-up table for controlling gradation expression of an image as this attribute information when reading an image with multi-value gradation in mode A or C. is there. Here, the lookup table sets the density (output) obtained by converting the pixel density (input) to the vertical axis on the horizontal axis and determines the conversion characteristics between the two densities. The curve parameter is the conversion characteristic curve. Is what determines. The fourth example sets the mask size parameter when reading in binary gradation in modes B and D. This mask size determines a judgment area when performing image processing by spatial filtering.

The fifth example is a region designation parameter for fixing the densities of the constant density regions on the high density side and the low density side of an image to a constant value when reading in multi-value gradation in modes A and C. Is set as this attribute information. In the sixth example, when dithering is performed as binary gradation image data read in modes B and D, a dither pattern parameter used here is set as attribute information here.

In the embodiment described above, the duo type microfilm is searched, but it is possible to search the film of another type. In this case, the scan command (step 21
The information indicating the reading condition included in 0) includes the information indicating the discrimination of the film photographing method (simplex, duplex, etc.) in addition to the discrimination of the reading by the multi-value / binary gradation. Then, in the mode determination process (step 212) by the MCU 20, in addition to the modes A to D, a mode in which the reading range (window) according to another photographing method is changed may be selected.

In the above embodiment, the line sensor 1
Although the main scanning direction of 06 is always constant (upward in FIG. 10), line sensors capable of main scanning in both directions are used, or two line sensors capable of scanning in opposite directions are arranged side by side. It is possible. In this case, the required combination of mirror reversal and image rotation changes depending on the combination of the main scanning direction and the sub scanning direction.

[0058]

As described above, the scanner control means determines the reading mode based on the combination of the channel of the target frame searched by the search device and the reading condition instructed by the host computer. The image reading (main scanning) is performed in this mode, and the attribute information regarding the scanning direction by the line sensor at this time is transferred to the host computer together with the image data. Since the reading mode determined by the scanner control means includes information indicating the reading range (window) corresponding to A and B channels, the range including only the target frame can be read. Therefore, it is not necessary to change the reading range every time the channel is changed, and it becomes possible to easily search and read the film by the duo method even for a device adapted to the simplex method.

In the scanner control means, preliminary scanning is performed prior to image reading (main scanning) to detect a black frame, and attribute information including the data size of the true image area and the image data of the true image area are hosted. Transferring to a computer reduces the amount of data to transfer and shortens the transfer time. Therefore, the occupied time of the bus in the transfer is shortened, which is convenient for transferring other data by this bus (claim 2).

The reading condition instructed by the host computer can include information for distinguishing whether to read in multi-valued gradation for display on a CRT or the like or in binary gradation for printer output. (Claim 3)

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of an embodiment to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of this device.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a scanner.

[Fig. 4] Operation flow chart

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a film showing a duo type frame array used in the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram showing a transfer system of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an operation procedure.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a procedure for determining a reading mode.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a header structure of image data.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of image processing contents.

[Explanation of symbols]

Full reading range of 1 frame 2 True image area 3 Black frame 10 Host computer 10A CRT display device 16 Scanner 18 SCSI bus (SCSI interface) 20 MCU (microfilm control unit) as scanner control means 20A Memory 22 As search device RRU (Roll film retrieval unit) 24 MIS (Micro film installation system) 54 Cartridge 80 Micro film

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A target frame is searched from a micro roll film photographed by a duo method having two channels divided in the film width direction, the searched frame is read by a line sensor of a scanner and sent to a host computer. In the method for controlling a microfilm image reading apparatus according to the present invention, the search device searches for a target frame at an address sent by the host computer, and informs the scanner control means of the channel of the target frame, and the scanner control means notifies from the search device. The image of the target frame is read in a predetermined reading mode based on the combination of the read channel specified by the host computer and the reading condition indicated by the host computer, and the image data is transferred to the host computer together with the attribute information regarding the scanning direction of the line sensor. Computer has this attribute information A method for controlling a microfilm image reading apparatus, which is characterized in that predetermined image processing including image inversion and image rotation is performed based on the above. 2. The scanner control means performs a preliminary scan for detecting an image area of a target frame prior to image reading,
2. The method of controlling a microfilm image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the attribute information includes the size of the image area and the image data of the image area is transferred to a host computer. 3. The reading condition instructed by the host computer includes either reading with multi-value density gradation used in the image display device or reading with binary density gradation used for printer output. Item 3. A control method for a microfilm image reading device according to item 2.