JPS6134676A - Image processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To utilize an operator's delicate sense of a correcting work by providing a generating mechanism of additional information related to a designated state, when correcting the gradation of a picture element indicated by a picture element indicating means, and its peripheral picture element. CONSTITUTION:Various processing modes selected and inputted from a processing mode command means 34 can be used. In a gradation correcting mode, first of all, the position of a picture element to be corrected is inputted by the indicating pen of a picture element indicating means 31, and address information ouputted from address generating circuits 32, 33 by following said input is supplied to a correcting pattern generating part 4. An additional information generating means 35 detects additional information related to the indicting state of the indicating pen, supplies it to the correcting pattern generating part 4, and in accordance with them, a correcting pattern is generated. The output of the correcting pattern generating part 4 is accumulated in a correcting gradation memory 51, therefore, by executing a trace with the indicating pen on the picture element indicating means 31, a correcting data can be inputted continuously, as if a correction is executed by using a pen, etc.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an image processing method that electronically corrects gradation based on correction data while monitoring an image to be corrected, and particularly relates to an image processing method that electronically corrects gradation based on correction data. The present invention relates to an improvement of an image processing method in which the gradation of a pixel designated by a pixel designation means and its surrounding pixels is corrected for image data read by a pixel designation means.

[Problems to be solved by the invention] For example, when creating a block copy of an image for printing, images such as photographs are rarely used as they are, and physical or chemical correction work such as airbrushing is generally performed. It is. However, this correction work not only consumes a lot of time and photosensitive materials and other materials, but also requires many years of experience and skill.

On the other hand, with recent advances in electronic technology, it has become possible to handle the above-mentioned image gradation correction work as part of data processing. The technique disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 58-211154 also follows the flow of the data processing described above.

In the prior art as shown in this publicly known document, gradation correction is performed on the image data read by the image input means for the pixel specified by the pixel instruction means and its surrounding pixels. Setting a set of correction gradation amounts (correction patterns) regarding the pixel and its surrounding pixels, and
Since changes are made manually each time, it is difficult to make full use of the operator's senses when inputting correction instructions.

[Means for Solving the Problems 1] In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an image processing system in which the gradation of a pixel designated by a pixel designating device and its surrounding pixels is corrected with respect to image data read by an image input device. In the correction method, a mechanism for generating additional information regarding the instruction state of the pixel instruction means is provided, and a set of gradation correction patterns instructing respective correction gradation amounts regarding the instruction pixel and its surrounding pixels is included in the additional information. By changing the gradation of each pixel according to the modified correction pattern, it looks as if
It is designed to make use of the feeling of making corrections with a brush or eraser.

The present invention will be explained below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the method of the present invention, which includes an image input section 1, an image memory 2, a modified data input section 3, a modified pattern generation section 4, a modified memory 5, an adder 6, and an arithmetic section 7.
, a display section 8, a comparator 9.10, an X counter 11, a Y counter 12, an operation mode 13, and the like constitute the main parts.

The image input section 1 is composed of an imaging means such as an imaging camera and a scanner, and the gradation data of the image read by the input section 1 is processed by MPX (multiplexer...the same applies hereinafter) (1) The image data is sent to the image memory 2 via the image memory 2 and stored in either the first image memory 21 or the second image memory 22.

These first image memory 21 and second image memory 22 have storage addresses corresponding to each display pixel in the display section 8, and store the display gradation of each pixel at a predetermined address.

The modified data input section 3 includes a pixel instruction means 31 and address generation circuits 32 and 33 for pixels specified by the pixel instruction means 31.
, processing mode command means 34, and additional information generation means 3
It consists of 5 etc.

Among these, the pixel instruction means 31 is a means for instructing the position of each pixel of the image displayed on the display section 8, and is an X , Y address (coordinate) input device.

Further, the processing mode command means 34 is means for the operator to select and command various processing modes, for example,
Direction gradation correction mode, ■X direction gradation correction characteristic display mode, ■Y direction gradation correction mode, ■Y direction gradation correction characteristic display mode, ■γ correction mode, ■γ characteristic display mode, ■gradation correction mode , etc. are prepared in advance.

The processing mode selected and inputted by the operator from the processing mode command means 34 is changed to the calculation mode 13 as necessary.
and selects the processing content in the arithmetic unit 7.

Furthermore, the additional information generating means 35 includes the type of pointing pen used when the position of each pixel is designated by the pixel pointing means 31, and
It has a mechanism that can detect suppression of the pointing pen, and generates the signal as additional information for position input by the pointing pen.

The correction pattern generating section 4 outputs the address information of the pixel specified by the pixel specifying means 31 to the address generating circuits 32 and 33.
Then, the gradation amount to be corrected for the designated pixel and each of its surrounding pixels is output.

At this time, a set of correction gradation amounts (hereinafter referred to as a correction pattern) output for each pixel is changed according to the additional information, as will be explained later based on the figure, and it is as if the correction pattern is The same effect can be obtained as intuitively adjusting the size of the area added/subtracted by a pencil or eraser and the amount of correction gradation according to the movement of the hand.

The correction memory 5 includes a correction gradation memory 51 having a storage address corresponding to each display pixel in the display section 8, a Y value memory 52, and an X value memory 53.

Of these, the modified gradation memory 51 stores the modified gradation 111m for each pixel supplied from the adder 6.

Further, since one input of the adder 6 is supplied with the corrected gradation amount for each pixel from the correction pattern generating section 4, and the output of the corrected gradation memory 51 is supplied to the usage input, Correction information instructed by the pixel instruction means 31 is accumulated in the gradation memory 51.

Y value memory 52, X value memory 53, and comparator 9.1
0 will be explained separately in the section on effects.

The arithmetic unit 7 operates according to instructions from the arithmetic mode 13, and appropriately performs predetermined arithmetic processing on the information supplied from the image memory 2 and the MPX (2>).

The contents of instructions from the calculation mode 13 include, in addition to the processing mode selected and instructed by the processing mode instruction means 34, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division instructions that are separately instructed.

The calculation result in the calculation unit 7 is supplied to the display unit 8 and displayed on the monitor, and is also returned to the image memory 2 via the M P , 22.

The X counter 11 and the Y counter 12 are counters for managing the input/output of each component described above, and the diagonally shaded lines in the figure are the paths of these address information.

[Function] Next, the present invention will be described in detail in relation to the various processing modes selected and inputted from the processing mode command means 34.

(2) X-direction gradation correction mode This X-direction gradation correction mode is a mode in which the gradation of the image stored in the image memory 2 is uniformly corrected using the X-direction as a variable.

In this case, first, the pointing pen of the pixel pointing means 31 is operated to input the characteristic curve to be corrected, for example, as shown in FIG. 2. This FIG. 2 shows an example in which the amount of correction is increased as one moves to the right.

Among the address information obtained through this input operation, the Y address information corresponds to the desired correction amount and is stored at a predetermined x address in the Y value memory 52.

Next, in accordance with the increment of the counters 11 and 12, the image memory 2
The stored contents of , and the stored contents of the Y value memory 52 are supplied to the calculation section 7, and are appropriately added, subtracted, multiplied, and divided according to the setting of the calculation mode 13.

As a result, according to the characteristics input from the pixel instruction means 31, gradation correction is performed on the input image using the X direction as a variable.

The image after this correction processing is displayed on the display unit 8 and stored in the image memory 2 as described above.

At this point, if the image input from the image input unit 1 is stored in the first image memory 21 and the result of the correction process is stored in the second image memory 22, it is possible to avoid problems that may occur in the correction process. Even if the error occurs, the correction work can be re-executed immediately.

(2) X-direction gradation correction characteristic display mode In this X-direction gradation correction characteristic display mode, the shape of the correction characteristic curve inputted from the pixel instruction means 31 in the X-direction gradation correction mode described above is displayed on the display section 8. This mode is for checking.

In this case, the contents of the Y value memory 52 storing the correction amount are supplied to the comparator 9 in accordance with the increment of the X counter 11 and compared with the value of the Y counter 12.

When the contents of the supplied Y value memory 52 and the value of the Y counter 12 match, the matching signal output from the comparator 9 is sent as a display signal via M P The signal is supplied to the display section 8.

Since the display unit 8 performs display scanning in synchronization with the increments of the X counter 11 and the Y counter 12, the display signal supplied from the comparator 9 is based on the contents of the Y value memory 52, that is, the pixel indicating means. This corresponds to the display signal of the corrected characteristic curve set from 31, and the characteristic curve is thereby displayed on the display section 8.

■；■, Y-direction gradation correction mode, and Y-direction gradation correction characteristic display mode These two modes are related to uniform gradation correction using the Y direction as a variable. Compared to the case of the X direction explained in , only the direction is different,
Since the other functions are the same, their explanation will be omitted.

■, γ correction mode This γ correction mode is a mode that corrects the input/output gradation characteristics (γ characteristics) and corrects the output gradation to the desired gradation according to the input gradation, and the image contrast It has the function of emphasizing or weakening.

In this case, first, the pointing pen of the pixel pointing means 31 is operated to input the characteristic curve to be corrected, for example, as shown in FIG. Note that FIG. 3 shows an example in which the X-axis corresponds to the gradation of the input image, and the Y-axis corresponds to the gradation of the output image.

The value outputted from the Y address generation circuit 33 by this input operation is stored at a predetermined X address in the Y value memory 52, as in the case of the X-direction gradation correction mode described above.

Next, the gradation information read from the image memory 2 in accordance with the increment of the counters 11 and 12 is supplied to the Y value memory 2 via the arithmetic unit 7 and MPX (3).

The Y value memory 52 uses the information supplied from the M P X (3) as a read address, stores it in the corresponding X address, and outputs the Y value.

As mentioned above, this output Y value is the X address,
That is, it indicates a desired output gradation corresponding to the gradation of the input image, and is supplied to the display unit 8 via the calculation unit 7 and M P X (2).

At this time, the reading operation from the image memory 2, the access operation of the Y value memory 52, and the display operation of the display section 8 are as follows.
Since both are processed in synchronization with the increments of the X counter 11 and Y counter 12, an image obtained by performing γ correction on the image stored in the image memory 2 is displayed on the display section 8. At the same time, the image memory 2 on the non-reading side
1 or 22.

(2) γ characteristic display mode In this γ characteristic display mode, the shape of the γ characteristic curve inputted from the pixel instruction means 31 in the above-mentioned γ correction mode is
This is a mode for displaying and checking on the display unit 8.

In this case, as in the case of the X-direction gradation correction characteristic display mode described above, the contents of the Y value memory 52 are supplied to the comparator 9 in accordance with the increment of the X counter 11, and are compared with the value of the Y counter 12. Ru.

Then, the coincidence signal of these hooked comparison values is MPX(2),
The signal is supplied to the display unit 8 via the calculation unit 7 and the like.

In this way, the contents of the Y value memory 52, that is, the γ characteristics set by the pixel instruction means 31, are displayed on the display section 8.

■0 gradation correction mode This gradation correction mode adjusts the gradation of a desired pixel and its surrounding pixels to the original image stored in the image memory 2.
In this mode, corrections are made according to the operator's instructions.

In this case, first, the pointing pen of the pixel pointing means 31 is operated to input the position (address) of the pixel to be corrected.

Address information output from the address generation circuits 32 and 33 in response to this input operation is supplied to the modified pattern generation section 4.

When the position of the corrected pixel is input with the pointing pen as described above, the additional information generating means 35 detects additional information regarding the pointing state, such as the type of pointing pen used, the instructed suppression, or the moving speed, and generates the additional information. is supplied to the modified pattern generating section 4.

An example of a modification pattern outputted from the modification pattern generation section 4 based on the address information and additional information is schematically shown in FIGS. 4(a) and 4(b).

In the correction pattern shown in FIG. 4(a), the central square corresponds to the specified pixel, and the other squares correspond to the surrounding pixels, respectively.
The numbers in the squares indicate the amount of gradation you want to correct. or,
FIG. 5B shows the distribution of gradation amounts across the correction pattern.

Furthermore, the width W of the correction pattern shown in FIG. 4 indicates the range of correction by one pixel instruction, and H
indicates the maximum value of the gradation amount to be corrected.

The correction pattern generating section 4 generates various shapes having different widths W1 and maximum correction amounts H, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, according to the additional information supplied from the additional information generating means 35. A modified pattern is now output.

For example, the width W may be varied depending on the type of indicator pen or the inclination during use, and the maximum correction amount 1'' may be increased or decreased depending on the indicated pressing force or movement speed.

Of course, in this case, the width W1 and the maximum correction amount 1'' and the type of additional information do not need to be particularly limited as described above, and the operator's feeling is reflected in the shape of the correction pattern through the indication state of the indicator pen. It would be good if it turned out like that.

As mentioned above, the output of the correction pattern generating section 4]
is accumulated in the corrected gradation memory 51, so by tracing the pixel indicating means 31 with the indicating pen, correction data can be continuously inputted as if correcting with a brush or the like. Is possible.

The correction data accumulated in the correction gradation memory 51 in this way is supplied to the calculation unit 7 via the MPX (2>), and is calculated in pixel correspondence with the gradation information from the image memory 2, thereby obtaining the desired gradation. Adjustments will be made.

[Other Embodiments] In the embodiments described above, correction patterns are generated.

The corrected gradation data from the unit 4 is temporarily stored in the corrected gradation memory 5.
It is designed to accumulate to 1. However, in this embodiment, the corrected gradation data obtained each time one pixel is designated is directly supplied to the calculation unit 7, and the gradation data from the image memory 2 is calculated in correspondence with the pixel. Desired gradation correction can also be carried out by returning the results to the image memory 2 and reusing them.

[Effects of the Present Invention] As described above in detail, the present invention provides an image correction method that corrects the gradation of the pixel specified by the pixel instruction means and its surrounding pixels with respect to image data read by the image input means. In: providing a mechanism for generating additional information regarding the instruction state of the pixel instruction means; changing a set of correction gradation amounts (correction patterns) regarding the instruction pixel and its surrounding pixels in accordance with the additional information; The gradation of each pixel is corrected using the corrected correction pattern.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the method of the present invention, FIG.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the pixel indicating means 31, and FIGS.
The figure is a diagram schematically showing an example of a correction pattern.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] In an image modification method that corrects the gradation of a pixel designated by a pixel designation device and its surrounding pixels with respect to image data read by an image input device, providing a mechanism for generating additional information, changing a set of correction gradation amounts (correction patterns) regarding the designated pixel and its surrounding pixels according to the additional information, and changing the gradation of each pixel using the changed correction pattern. An image processing method that allows for correction.