JPS63214070A - Image processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a satisfactory synthesized output by designating the output area of a pattern to be synthesized with an original image, on an original and controlling the output of the pattern in accordance with the original image processing. CONSTITUTION:An original platen pressing plate 142 retains the original on an original platen and is provided with an operation part to enable an operator to set various modes such as the copy mode and input characters, numerals, etc. A digitizer 139 fetches coordinate data on a panel surface indicated with a touch pen 138 into a microcomputer. This coordinate data is combined with the operation mode and is recognized as a bit of position information on the original and a bit of magnification information from a coordinate magnification input panel 141 and character information from a character input panel 143. A zoom key 129 is used to designate magnifications, and an area designating key 130 is used to designate the area of image processing. The area designating key 130 is depressed and positions on the original set on the coordinate magnification input panel 141 are pointed with the touch pen 138, thereafter designating an arbitrary area.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to an image processing device that processes image information.

[Prior art]

A digital copying machine has been proposed that photoelectrically reads an original image and records the image on a recording material based on the image information obtained by reading.

Since such a digital copying machine handles images electrically, various types of image processing are possible. For example, processing such as extracting a necessary image portion from a document image or erasing an unnecessary image portion is performed.

Additionally, there have been proposals to print out a composite of letters, numbers, etc. on a document image; However, these systems synthesize characters, numbers, etc. set at fixed positions, and it has been difficult to create a simple configuration for synthesizing arbitrary characters, etc. at arbitrary positions.

In addition, processing such as moving or changing the size of the original image is performed, but in this case, the image position on the original is different from the image position on the output paper, so characters are printed on the original.

When the output position of symbols, etc. is determined and the composition process is performed, the composition position on the original document and the composition position on the output paper may be misaligned.

〔the purpose〕

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image processing device that can satisfactorily synthesize document information and pattern information.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be explained below based on preferred embodiments.

FIG. 1 is an overview diagram of a copying apparatus to which the present invention is applied;
Reference numeral 1 denotes an editor 32 used for point input and mode setting, a touch pen for inputting points on the editor 31, 33 an operation unit for making various mode settings, 34 a league for reading the manuscript, and 35 a reader 34. This is a printer that outputs the scanned image.

Figure 2 shows a structural diagram of the reader and printer. The document is placed face down on document table glass 3, and is pressed onto the glass by document cover 4. The document is illuminated by a fluorescent lamp 2, and the reflected light is focused onto the surface of the CCDI via a mirror 5.7 and a lens 6.

Mirror 7 and mirror 5 move at a relative speed of 2:l. These optical systems are moved forward (from left to right) at a speed corresponding to the reading magnification while applying PLL by a DC servo motor 26.

The backward movement (from right to left) is performed at a constant speed regardless of the magnification. The maximum document size that can be processed is A3, and the resolution is 4.
00dots/1nch, so CCDI is about 5
000 bits is used.

In this manner, while moving the mirror 5.7 to move the document reading position, the document image is sequentially line-scanned by the CCDI to obtain an image signal indicating the density of the image.

The image signal processed bit-serially by the league is input to the laser scanning optical system unit 25 of the printer. This unit 25 consists of a semiconductor laser collimator lens, a rotating polygon mirror, an Fθ lens, and a tilt correction optical system.

The image signal from the league is applied to a semiconductor laser for electro-optic conversion, and is irradiated via a collimator lens to a polyhedral mirror rotating at high speed, and the reflected light is incident on a photoreceptor 8 and scanned. A pre-static eliminator 9 and a pre-static eliminator lamp 10 are used as process components that enable image formation on the photoreceptor 8.
-Charger 11. Secondary charger 12) Front exposure lamp 13
, developing device 14, paper feed cassette 15, paper feed roller 16, paper feed guide 17, registration roller 18, transfer charger 19,
Separation roller 20, conveyance guide 21. A fixing device 22) tray 23 is arranged. The speed of the photoconductor 8 and the conveyance system is 1
80 mm/see. Printer B is a so-called laser printer. Note that a photosensor is provided near the photoreceptor 8, and by detecting the laser beam being scanned by this photosensor, the tip reference signal BD for each scan is obtained.

The copying device in this example has intelligence such as image editing, and its functions include variable magnification in 1% increments in the range of 0.35x to 4.0x, cropping to extract only a specified area of the image, and cropping. There is a moving function that moves the image to any position on the paper.

FIG. 3 shows the appearance of the reader.

The document reading device includes an operation section 143 and a document table pressure plate 142 having an editor.

This will be explained in order below. The operation section 143 is connected to the document reading device and also displays information about a printer section (not shown) that forms an image based on image information.

A start key 101 instructs to start document reading.

The asterisk key 102 is used for setting the service mode and the like.

A recall key 103 is used to specify a recall mode in which the previous copy mode can be recalled. A reset key 104 is used to return various settings to standard mode. The numeric keypad 105 is used to set the number of copies.

A clear stop key 106 is used to clear the number of sheets specified by the numeric keypad and to stop the copying operation. Density key 107. 108. 109 specifies manual density adjustment and automatic density adjustment (AE) for copying, and the instructions are displayed on the indicator 110.

The photo key l11 is designated when a user wants to make a copy of a photo original. The high contrast key 112 is designated when it is desired to make the contrast (black and white) of the image clear. negative/
The positive inversion key 113 inverts the white level and black level of the image.

The number of sheets display section 114 displays the set number of sheets and the number of remaining sheets during the copying operation. An indicator 115 displays the orientation of the document based on the copy magnification and paper size. Indicator 116 displays the paper size. A cassette selection key 117 specifies the paper feed stage of the printer. Same size key 118. The standard size changing key 119 and the auto size changing key 121 instruct the magnification of the variable size copy, and the indicator 122 displays the magnification at the time of standard size changing.

The auto paper selection key 120 is used to automatically select a paper size based on the original size or the like.

The liquid crystal display section 123 is composed of a 240 dot x 64 dot liquid crystal, and is displayed under the control of a microcomputer, which will be described later.

Note that the surface of the liquid crystal display section 123 is covered with a transparent touch panel. This touch panel has a built-in 4×10 matrix of transparent electrode switches, and is configured so that the coordinate values when specified with a finger or the like are taken into a microcomputer so that the specified position can be determined. A duplex/multiplex key 124 is used to specify duplex/multiplex operation of the printer. Sort/collate key 125 is used to specify the operation of a sorter connected to the printer. The center movement key 126 is used to move image information to the center of the paper. The document recognition key 127 is used to select whether or not to recognize the document size.

The memory key 128 memorizes various operation modes,
This is a key that can be called all at once.

The document table pressure plate 142 presses the document on a document table (not shown) and has an operation section, which allows various settings of the copy mode and input of characters, numbers, symbols, etc.

The digitizer 139 can import coordinate data on the board indicated by the touch pen 138 into the microcomputer. The coordinate data is recognized as position information and magnification information on the document from the coordinate magnification input surface 141 and character information from the character input surface 143 in combination with the operation mode. In addition, since the magnification information is converted from coordinate values to magnification information by the program of the microcomputer, it is possible to display the necessary magnification range in bold (in this example), as shown in the figure. , 35% to 100% thick (displayed).

The zoom key 129 is a key for specifying a magnification, and after pressing this key, the magnification is specified by pointing the coordinate magnification input surface 141 with the touch pen 138.

The area specification key 130 is a key for specifying an area for image processing. After pressing this key, by specifying a position on the document placed on the coordinate magnification input surface 141 with the touch pen 138, an arbitrary area can be selected. can be specified.

The movement key 131 is a key for moving the image, and after pressing this key, the desired position to be moved is specified on the coordinate magnification input surface 141 with the touch pen 138 or with the touch panel 123.

The page continuous copying key 132 is used when it is desired to output a document in multiple sheets.

The enlarged continuous copying key 133 is used when it is desired to output an enlarged image of a document on multiple sheets of paper.

The mirror image key 136 is used when it is desired to copy an original image by inverting it in the main scanning direction.

The image create key 137 is used when performing various image processing (such as italicized characters).

The character input key 134 is used to combine and record characters such as letters, numbers, and symbols on the original image.
After pressing this key, characters can be input by pointing the character input surface 143 with the touch pen 138.

Specify characters such as numbers and symbols.

The image repeat key 135 is used to repeatedly record the entire document or a trimmed image on the same recording material multiple times.

The character input surface 143 is shown in FIG. As shown in the diagram (“A.

Uppercase letters of the alphabet (such as B, C...Z), lowercase letters of the alphabet such as ra, b, c...2, rl, 2.3...・・・
・Number keys like ``0'', ``A''.

Katakana capital letter key for "I, Tsu...wo", "A, I.

Katakana lowercase letters keys like ``tsu...tsu'', ``日January''.

Kanji keys like ``year'', r (,), %, ? ,/...
The touch pen 1 has various symbol keys such as "..." and external character keys corresponding to three arbitrarily registered external characters.
A desired character can be selected by pressing a desired key.

Further, each character corresponding to these keys is given a unique code, namely, "A" on the first line.

B, C...J" has code 0. 1. 2
．． ...9 is given respectively, rK in the second line,
"L, M...T" has code 10. 11.
Codes from 0 to 147 are sequentially assigned to each character, such that 12, . . . , 19 are assigned to each character. In Fig. 9, the numbers in parentheses indicate codes, and (
0), (1), (2)...(9) corresponds to the last digit of the code, (00), (Of), (02)
...(14) corresponds to the first two digits of the code.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of the control section of the copying apparatus shown in FIG. 201 corresponds to COD in Figure 2,
The original image set on the original platen 3 is converted into an electrical signal and output as an image signal. An image processing circuit 202 performs image processing on the image signal from the CCD 201, such as shading correction for correcting non-uniformity of output and γ correction for correcting density characteristics. 207 is an add-on display RAM for storing codes of characters to be added on;
8 is an add-on font ROM that outputs dot data representing a character corresponding to the code data, 205 is an add-on RAM that stores dot data from the add-on font ROM 208, and 206 is a sub-ram that controls the output of the tod data stored in the add-on RAM. An add-on image generation circuit 203 generates add-on image data to be inserted into the original image in response to the scanning interval ADST and the add-on start signal ADST; 203 is the original image data from the image processing circuit 202 and the add-on image from the add-on image generation circuit 206; A synthesis circuit for synthesizing data, 204 is a synthesis circuit 203
This is a printer that performs printing operations based on image data from.

Further, 210 is a control unit CPU that controls the operation of each block of the reader, and according to the program stored in the ROM 214, the RAM 215. Control operation is performed using l10216 etc.

Reference numeral 213 denotes an editor provided on the document platen pressure plate 142;
Reference numeral 12 corresponds to the operation unit shown in the third figure, reference numeral 211 is a buzzer that emits a buzzer sound to the operator, and reference numeral 209 is a sub-scanning counter that counts the number of recording lines of the printer.

FIG. 5 shows the liquid crystal display section 12 in various processing mode settings.
3 shows the display state.

When the zoom key 129 is pressed, the screen shown in FIG. Figure (B) is displayed, and the displayed X down key 702. X auto key 703.
X up key 704. Y down key 705, Y auto key 706. Y up key 707. XY down key 708. XY auto key 709. Set the magnification using the XY up key 710. Also, Figure 5 (A)
In the display state of , the coordinate input surface 141 on the editor
When specified with the touch pen 138, the CPU 210 converts the coordinate data into a magnification corresponding to the zoom scale, changes the screen to that shown in FIG. 5(B), and is controlled to display the input magnification.

Next, the area specification mode will be explained. Up to three rectangular areas can be entered on the same document, and when the area designation key 130 is pressed, the area number (1
.

In Fig. 5(C), 712 is a clear key to clear the currently displayed area, 713 is an area up key to increase the area number, 714 is an area down key, and 715 displays the current area number. This is the area number display.

When the area up key 713 is pressed in the same figure, if an area is registered, area number 7 is displayed in FIG. 5(C).
15 becomes "2" and is also displayed on the left side of the area corresponding to the mode and setting value of either trimming or masking. Further, if the area is not registered, the area number 715 of FIG. 5(D) is displayed as "2".

In addition, if you press the touch panel input key 716 in Figure 5 (C) or (D), Figure 5 (F) will be displayed, allowing you to correct the point position of the input area in mm units or register a new area. It is controlled so that it can be done.

In Figure 5 (D), when you input one point on the diagonal input of the area, the screen changes to the one shown in Figure 5 (E), and when you press the OK key 717 after inputting the remaining one point, a new The area is registered and the screen is displayed as shown in FIG. 5(C).

Next, the movement mode will be explained. When the movement key 131 is pressed, the screen shown in FIG. 5(G) appears on the liquid crystal display section 1.23.
will be displayed. The operator presses the center movement key 718,
Select one of the corner movement key 719, specified movement key 720, or binding margin key 721 and press the key. When the selected key corresponds to corner movement, designated movement, and binding margin, the keys shown in Fig. 5 (H), Fig. 5 (I), and Fig. 5 (K) are displayed, respectively.
) is displayed.

In Figure 5 (H), the type of corner movement can be specified;
In Figure (I), by specifying the destination of the specified movement on the editor or pressing the touch panel input key 716, the display in Figure 5 (J) will be shifted, and the point already specified on the editor can be corrected or New input is possible.

Further, in FIG. 5(K), it is possible to set the binding position in the binding margin mode, that is, the amount of movement of the image.

Next, the page snapshot mode will be explained. When the page continuous copying key 132 is pressed, the display shown in FIG. 5(L) is displayed. In the figure, for example, the left and right page continuous copying mode and the top and bottom page continuous copying mode are modes in which the left and right halves or the upper and lower halves of a read document are output on separate sheets, and the left page continuous copying mode is a left page continuous copying mode.

Right page continuous shooting mode, top page continuous shooting mode, and bottom continuous shooting mode each scan the left half of the original.

This mode outputs only the right half, upper half, and lower half. These modes are available for each continuous shooting mode key 722 to 727.
It can be set by pressing .

Next, the enlarged continuous shooting mode will be explained. The enlarged continuous copying mode is a mode in which when copying at a set magnification does not fit on the output paper, it is output on multiple sheets separately, and a single output result is obtained by combining the multiple output sheets. To set this mode, press the enlarged continuous shooting key 133, and the screen shown in FIG. 5(M) will be displayed, and the mode will be set.

Next, the character input mode will be explained. The character manual mode has two modes (thick), and the output of each mode is shown in Figure 16. In Figure 1O, (1) is the original, (2)
, (3) shows the printout. In the first mode, the input character string [X] is placed at any position on the output paper.

This is a character mode that outputs Y, ZJ and overlays it with the scanned original image information (1) to obtain a printout (2). part) is repeatedly output, overlaid with the scanned original image information (1), and printed out (3).
This is the shading mode that obtains .

When the character input key 134 on the editor is pressed, the screen shown in FIG. 5(N) for selecting one of these two modes is displayed. Since these two modes are realized using the same circuit, it is not possible to set the character mode and the hatching mode at the same time, and the control is such that one of them is selected and used. In the figure, 728 is a character key for setting a character mode, 729 is a shading key for setting a shading mode, and 730 is an all clear key for canceling the character mode and shading mode.

The details of the character mode will be explained below.

After the character input key 134 is pressed, the liquid crystal display section 123
On the screen shown in Figure 5 (N) displayed, press character key 7.
When 28 is pressed, the screen shown in FIG. 6(A) is displayed on the liquid crystal display section 123. In the same figure, 800 is a character editing key that changes to the screen for inputting a large character string to be overlaid, 801 is an output position key that displays a screen for determining where on the output paper the input character string is to be output, and 802
803 is an external character key that displays a screen for the operator to freely register a character pattern, and 803 is a character size key that displays a screen for selecting an output character size.

When the character edit key 800 is pressed, the screen changes to that shown in FIG. 6(B). On this screen, there are 6 characters vertically and 1 horizontally.
Six characters can be displayed in a character area 804 indicated by dotted lines in the figure.

The operator moves the cursor 805 to the desired input position using the cursor movement keys 806, and inputs a character at the cursor position by pointing the desired character or pattern on the character input surface 143 on the editor with the touch ben 138. is possible.

In addition, the operator should move the cursor 8 to the character that was entered incorrectly.
You can correct the error by moving 05 onto the incorrectly inputted character and inputting the character again. Further, when the clear key 807 is pressed, all characters are cleared and the cursor 805 is controlled to be returned to the beginning position.

Now, the procedure of the CPU 210 when inputting characters using the character input surface 143 of the editor will be explained in detail using the flowchart shown in FIG.

The editor 213 and the CPU 210 perform serial communication, and it is possible to tell the CPU 210 which position on the editor 213 the touch ben 138 has pointed to.

When the character input mode is set (sit) by the above-mentioned operation, the display shown in FIG. 6(B) is made (S13).
. When the operator points at a certain position on the editor 213 with the touch pen 138, the CPU 210 determines whether the point coordinate information from the editor 213 is inside the character input surface 143 (S14). When the point position is inside the character input screen, the buzzer 39 beeps to notify the operator that a character has been input (515), and the code corresponding to each pointed character is displayed. “A”→0. “B”→l, external character 1→
144. This will be reflected on the two-screen display of external characters, and the cursor will normally be moved one step to the right. If the current cursor position is on the right side, move the cursor one line down to the left side.

In addition, the font of the character string displayed on the liquid crystal display section 123 and the font of the character string actually overlaid in FIG. Just display the font as is.

Next, the case where the output position key 801 is pressed in FIG. 6(A) will be explained. When the output position 801 is pressed, Fig. 6 (
C) is displayed on the liquid crystal display section 123, and the touch pen 138
The first character displayed in Figure 6(C) (i.e. “
When you point the upper left corner of ``1'' to the coordinate input screen 141 corresponding to the point on the recording material to be output, the screen will appear as shown in Figure 6 (
D), the approximate output position is displayed by a bar 809. If you press the OK key 810 here, assuming that the position pointed with the touch pen 138 is the KP point in FIG. 8, the output reference position Xout, You
t is stored in the RAM 215, the screen is controlled to change to that shown in FIG. 6(A).

Next, the operation when the external character key 802 is pressed in FIG. 6(A) will be explained. When the external character key 802 is pressed, the screen shown in FIG. 6(E) is displayed, and the external characters l, 2, . The operator can arbitrarily set the font corresponding to external character 3 in 8 x 8 dots. External character l key 811, external character 2 key 812. Select one of the three external characters using the external character 3 key 813. In the figure, for example, when the user presses the external character key 812, the font information registered for the external character 2 is displayed in 8x8 dots in the external character registration area 819 indicated by the dotted line.

The operator presses the external character key (external character l key, external character 2 key, external character 3 key) to be registered on the display shown in FIG. By pressing the white dot key 820, the desired pattern/character is registered in the external character registration area 819.
to express. Note that when the clear key 144 is pressed, all dots in the external character registration area 819 are controlled to become white dots. Further, the current cursor position is displayed on a cursor position display section 821, and the cursor position can be recognized when the black dot and the cursor overlap.

The pattern displayed in the custom character registration area 819 uses 8 bytes of characters and is written to the backed up custom character font area (total of 24 bytes for 3 characters) of the RAM 215, and is stored in the add-on RAM 205 in the same way as the display and add-on font RAM 208. used as expansion data. Next, when you press the font size key 803 in Figure 6 (A), Figure 6 (F) is displayed, and the 2 mm m key 822.4 mm is displayed.
When one of the keys 823 is selected and the OK key 824 is pressed, one of the font sizes is set, and then control returns to the screen shown in FIG. 6(A).

Next, details of the shading mode will be explained.

When the shading key 729 in FIG. 5(N) is pressed, the screen shown in FIG. 6(G) is displayed if the shading mode has not been set previously, and the screen shown in FIG. 6(K) is displayed if the shading mode has been set. is the liquid crystal display section 1
It is displayed on 23. Here, we will explain how to set a new shading mode.

In FIG. 6(G), the operator is the editor 213
Place the original against the original reference position of the coordinate entry canine 141 in the lower left corner above, and point with the touch pen 138 at one of the two diagonal points of the rectangular rear that you want to shade on the original, or use the touch panel entry holder. - Press 825.

When the touch panel input key 825 is pressed, the sixth
The screen shown in Figure (I) is displayed, and the area to be shaded can be set using the X and Y coordinates (in mm) from the desired reference point of the document. On the other hand, if one diagonal point of the area in FIG. 6(G) is input with the touch pen 138, the screen shown in FIG. 6(H) is displayed, and after inputting the other diagonal point with the touch pen 138, the OK key is pressed. Pressing 826 determines the area to be shaded. In the figure, the approximate position of the input point is displayed on the left side of the liquid crystal display section 123, and control is such that pressing the clear key 827 cancels the input point and resets the area.

In this shading mode, it is possible to register external characters in the shading pattern in the same way as in the character input mode, and in Figure 6 (H) or (1
) After determining the area to be shaded, if the OK key 826 or 828 is pressed, the screen shown in FIG. 6 (J) is displayed, and it is possible to select shading by the registered pattern or shading by the operator-set pattern.

If you press the external character pattern key 829 in Figure 6 U),
The screen shown in K) will be displayed and the operator can freely
It is now possible to set a shading pattern of 8 dots. This setting is almost the same as registering external characters in character mode, so the explanation will be omitted.

If you press the OK key 831 in the figure or the registered pattern key 830 in Figure 6 (J), the screen shown in Figure 6 (L) will be displayed, and the set area will be set in the area display section 832 on the left. The pattern is displayed on the pattern display section 833 in the center.

Here, 834 is a pattern select key, in which several types of shading patterns are registered, and by pressing this key 834, registered pattern l - registered pattern 2 →...
...→Registered pattern N→External character pattern→Registered pattern 1→Registered pattern 2 Each pattern is displayed in 32×32 dots in the central halftone pattern display area. Also, if you press the touch panel input key 835, the 6th
The screen shown in Figure (1) is displayed, and the shaded area can be reset. If you press the OK key 836 in Figure 6 (L), the screen shown in Figure 6 (M) will appear, and you can specify the size of the pattern to be shaded or use the size keys 838 and 839, and press the OK key 837. When pressed, the screen shown in FIG. 6(N) appears, and the density of the pattern to be shaded can be selected using density keys 840 and 841.

Next, image processing operations using the character mode and halftone mode set in this manner will be described. CP in Figure 10
The processing procedure of U210 is shown. Further, the configuration of the add-on image generation circuit 206 is shown in FIGS. 12 and 13.

First, let us consider the case of outputting the character string shown in FIG. 6(B) in character mode.

Copy start key after manual power (SIOI), CPU210
expands the font data corresponding to the character code information stored in the add-on display RAM 207 to the add-on RAM 205, which is a bitmap memory. At this time, since there are no external characters in the example shown in FIG. 6(B), all font data is read from the add-on font ROM 208 (S106). On the other hand, if characters registered as external characters are used, the backup RAM 215
5105)
, is expanded to the add-on RAM 205 (5107). still,
In this embodiment, in order to read out an 8×8 dot font, the add-on RAM 205 has a capacity of 8×maximum main scanning character number bytes, and has sufficient capacity for the maximum number of characters that can be displayed in the character area 804 in FIG. 6(B). FIG. 11(1) shows how the character string in FIG. 6(B) is developed in the add-on RAM 205. Also, in the same figure, 12 following “1234”
There is no need to output spaces for characters, so 2 vertical characters ×
It is developed as character input information of 4 characters horizontally.

For this add-on RAM 205, the add-on image generation circuit 206 has addresses a, a in FIG. 11(1).
+8. a+16. When the font data stored in the order of a+24 is read, it becomes 1 main scanning line, and then 1 is added to each address to read a+1. a+9. a+17゜a+
When the font data is read out as shown in 25, the font data for the next main scanning line is output, and by refocusing this operation, binarized image data corresponding to FIG. 8 can be obtained.

Furthermore, by controlling the clock when reading the add-on RAM 205, it is possible to change the character size.
．． It can output at a resolution of 400dpi, so 8X8do
If the font of t is output at 50 dpi resolution, it will be approximately 4 m.
m, similarly 8 x 8 dot font 100dp
By outputting at a resolution of i, characters can be output with a size of approximately 2 mm, and this character size is selected in FIG. 6(F). Furthermore, by adding means for outputting the image information corresponding to "0" corresponding to "l" of the binary data read from the add-on RAM 205 at a specified density, it becomes possible to realize character density. However, the character input mode does not allow the operator to make this setting and forces the output to be black.

The CPU 210 calculates the main scanning character number "4" from the input string shown in FIG. 6(B) as described above, and sets the main scanning character number latch 42
8 (S114). This allows add-on RA
The reading order of M205 is determined. Next, the resolution corresponding to the character size mentioned above is set in the resolution latch 429 (5115), and the density of the image information corresponding to "1" read out from the add-on RAM 205 is set in the add-on density latch 422 (specifically, black 256), which corresponds to
0 is set so that the original image information is output in response to 0'' read from 05 (Sl 16).
It is possible to set the density of the image information corresponding to 0", and the selector 436 can selectively output the above-mentioned original image information. However, in this embodiment, the selector 436 selects the A input and outputs the original image information. I will always choose.

Next, the main scanning start position of the image information to be added on, specifically data corresponding to Yout in FIG. 8, is set in the main scanning start latch 437 (S117).

Specifically, the CPU 210 calculates the ripple carry output timing of the main scanning counter 435 and sets it in the main scanning start key latch 437 as the card value of the counter 435. Here, the main scanning counter 435 loads an initial value from the latch 437 using the BD double signal (main scanning reference signal) and starts counting. The RC signal output from the counter 435 becomes the add-on main scanning start signal corresponding to Yont in FIG. In addition, the sub-scanning start position Add-on sub-scanning section signal ADST
(Sl 18).
If other editing modes such as scaling shift, trimming, etc. are selected (S119), parameters corresponding to those editing modes are set in the image processing circuit 202 (5120), and then necessary for the copying operation. Execute reading scan of the original as many times as the number of sheets (S121, 5)
123).

With the above, as shown in Figure 8, it is possible to obtain a printout in which characters of a desired size and density are synthesized at a desired position on an output sheet.

The operation of the add-on image generation circuit 206 during this copying operation will be explained.

One pulse of the signal PSNC indicating the beginning of the main scanning l line generated from the BD multiplied signal is input from the input section 401 . Then, the main scanning character number counter 403 is initialized by setting the flip-flop 402, and the flip-flop 408 is reset, and the enable signals of the main scanning character number counter 403 and the resolution counter 414 become L. When the image information reaches the position where the main scanning counter 435 starts outputting the font data to be added in one line, it becomes the input section 404. When the signal LST is input for one block, the main scanning character number counter 403 is set to 1 by setting the flip-flop 405. Also, the resolution counter 414 is initialized and the shift register 4 is counted up.
19, one byte of add-on information (in the example of FIG. 11 (1), information at address a) is loaded from the add-on RAM 205.

The resolution counter 414 counts down sequentially from the initial value, and the decoder 416 determines that the lower 36A are all O's, and every time they become 0's, the shift register 4190H is counted down.
Binarized add-on information is output bit by bit.

Here, the data Q read from the add-on RAM 205
When H is "L", A is selected from the selector 426, and the add-on density set from the add-on density latch 422 is output to the printer 204 from the signal line 427. Conversely, data QH read from the add-on RAM 205 is "
O'', the selector 426 selects B, and if the mode latch 436 is set to O, the original density input from the input line 435 is selected by the selector 436 and output from the latch 425.

When 1 byte worth of add-on information is output from the shift register 419 in this way, the resolution counter 414 is
, C, the main scanning character number counter 403 counts up by one, and the resolution counter 414 is initialized again. The next 1 byte of add-on information (information at address a+8 in the example of FIG. 11(1)) is loaded into the shift register 419.

In this way, the number of characters in one main scanning line is counted by the main scanning character number counter 403, and when the set value of the main scanning character number latch 428 (4 in FIG. 8) is reached, H is output from the comparator 409, and the resolution counter 414 stops. Also, at this time, even if designated density information is selected by the mode latch 436, the document density from the input line 435 is selected by closing the gate 433. The same process is repeated for the next main scanning line.

Further, the switching of the resolution is executed by controlling the output value from the counter 414 to the O data 416. For example, the output value from the resolution counter 414 is gated, and in order to lower the resolution, it is shifted 1 bit higher. In addition, in this case, the resolution counter 41
It is necessary to apply similar control to R and C of No. 4.

A circuit for accessing add-on information developed on the RAM 205 shown in FIG. 13 will be described. First, latch 52
The add-on start address (a in FIG. 11) is set to 0 by the signal line 509, and the jump value of the address (4×8=32 in the example of FIG. 8) is set to the latch 521 by the signal line 510.

Further, the input section 502 receives the same signal PSNC at the beginning of one main scanning line as the input section 401 described above, and the number of main scanning characters from the main scanning character number counter 403 is inputted from the signal line 512. However, addon address 51
5, the signal line 514 has the lower 3 bits.

The lower 4 bits or more are output from the signal line 512. Further, a sub-scanning direction address interval signal ADST set by the CPU 210 is input to the input section 501 . - To explain the address flow here, first input L to the input section 501.
is input, the start address a is loaded from the latch 520 to the counter 511, and the add-on address 5
It is output as 15. Next, each time the number of main scanning characters is sequentially counted, the number of characters increases from the lower 4 bits of the input line 512, so the add-on address 5151 is a+8. a+16. a+24... is output. When one main scanning line of data stored in the add-on RAM 205 is accessed in this manner, one block is input from the input section 502, and the address counter 505 counts up by one. Then, 1 is added to the output of add-on address 515, and the address becomes a+1. a+9. a+
17 and is accessed.

Repeat this sequentially to obtain a + 7, a +15,
..., R and C are output from the address counter 505, and an additional value 32 is added to the counter 511 from the latch 521, resulting in a+32. a+40. a+48・
...is accessed.

Next, the copying operation in the shaded mode will be explained.

Note that the explanation will focus on the differences from the character mode.

The output position in character mode is the position relative to the paper to be output, whereas in shading mode it is the position shown in Figure 6 (G).
, (H), and (1) are the areas for the original document, and are different from the areas for the output paper due to scaling and movement processing. The add-on image information outputted as described above is synthesized by the synthesis circuit 203 with the document image information that has been subjected to scaling and movement processing by the image processing circuit 202.

Accordingly, the add-on image information specifies the output position on the recording material without being influenced by data on scaling and movement of the document.

However, although this is convenient in text mode, in shaded mode the specified area is different from the output area, so
Adding this conversion is very different from character mode. Also, having add-on image data corresponding to the entire shaded area in the add-on RAM 205 is the same as holding add-on image data in a bitmap, so 8x8
Write all the pattern information consisting of dots into the add-on RAM 205 of (maximum number of main scanning characters x 8) bytes, and write this to the add-on RAM 205 in the character mode described above.
Readout is performed using the same procedure as the readout operation of M205. still,
The shading mode differs from the character mode in that in order to output pattern information to the entire designated output area, reading from the add-on RAM 205 is repeated a plurality of times and that the reading is gated using the readout output sub-scanning section signal ADST.

Below, using FIG. 14, the X-direction magnification Z according to FIG. 5 (B)
o o m
I will explain when. Figure 14 (1) is the manuscript (2)
indicates the printed output paper.

As mentioned above, the image processing circuit 202
X.

It is necessary to generate a shading pattern in the area 901 indicated by the downward diagonal line (X3.Y3) in FIG. 14(2), which has undergone the scaling process using Z o o m Y and the movement process using Xs and Ys. This area coordinate is X2=Xs+
XoXZoomX, Y 2 =Ys+Y OXZoo
mY.

X 3 =Xs+X HXZoomX, Y 3 =X
Calculate by s+Y 1XZoomY (S108). still,
(X or Y o )+(X 1+Y1) are the coordinates of the shaded area set in FIGS. 6(G), (H), and (I).

Next, the number of patterns in the main scanning direction (number of characters in the main scanning direction) is (X
-x2) and the mesh pattern size (solution 3) (S109). The main scanning start position is Y2) and the sub-scanning section signal is x2. Generate to X3 5
117, 8118), and the same pattern of 8×8 dots selected on the screen of FIG. 6(L) is written in the add-on RAM 205 as shown in FIG. 11(2). And the 13th
In the circuit shown in the figure, the row (
By controlling the readout of the add-on RAM 205 so as to return to the initial value, all 8×8 dot patterns are written in the add-on RAM 205, so the same pattern is repeatedly output in the sub-scanning direction. However, since it is ultimately gated by the sub-scanning direction section signal ADST, the output sheet can be overlaid with a halftone pattern at the position desired by the operator.

In this way, by automatically correcting the appearance of the shading pattern specified on the document on the output paper according to processing such as scaling or moving the document image, even if the document image is processed. , it becomes possible to shade a desired document image area.

Also, the size of the shaded pattern is an enlargement of the manuscript.

This can be specified independently of reduction, and desired shading processing can be performed.

In this example, the pattern size was realized by controlling the read clock from the font storage means, but due to the circuit configuration, the pattern size is made thicker (which increases the resolution (specifically, the pattern size at a resolution of 1/2). size area 4
times). Furthermore, instead of controlling the clock in this embodiment, a method may be considered in which the CPU 210 calculates an address in accordance with the output of the printer and expands it to the add-on RAM 205. However, in this case, a burden is placed on the CPU 210, and it also takes time and effort to create software for operating the CPU 210.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, a pattern is formed by repeatedly outputting an 8 x 8 dot font in the main and sub-scans, but in this case, at least one line of main-scan font is developed in the add-on RAM 205, By repeating this in the sub-scanning direction, a pattern is output on the entire paper. However, in reality, only one type of 8 x 8 dot font is used, and if one type of font can be read and output repeatedly, for example, the add-on RAM 205 can be saved.

Therefore, as an example of Ike's implementation, we have developed a circuit configuration of an add-on image generation circuit 206 that can output a large pattern size without reducing the resolution by repeatedly outputting data read from the add-on RAM for a specified number of characters in the main scanning direction. It is shown in FIG.

Here, since FIG. 15 partially changes the circuit of FIG. 12, only the changed portions are rewritten, and detailed explanations of the similar portions will be omitted.

Regarding the operation of the modified portion, the operator selects whether to use a normal add-on or a repeating pattern, and sets the flip-flop 602 according to the selection. That is, in the case of an add-on, if the Q output is an 11 repetition pattern, the Q output is set to O. In the case of an add-on, the added gates 601, 603, and 604 remain in the same state as before the change, and perform the same operation as in FIG. 12 described above. On the other hand, in the case of a repeating pattern, the gate 603 is closed and the output of the AND circuit 410 is directly input to the OR gate 601. Therefore, each time the comparator 409 outputs a match signal, the main scanning character counter 40
3 is the initial state, and the same value will be output repeatedly as RCP.

At this time, if the number of characters to be repeated (for example, 4 characters or 4 patterns) is set in the main scanning character number latch 428, 4 characters will be repeatedly output in the main scanning direction. Normally, a pattern of 8 x 8 dots is formed using a lever, but when making a pattern of 16 x 16 dots, two patterns of 8 x 8 dots are repeated, and if this pattern is repeated in the main scanning direction, the next pattern is formed. This can be achieved by repeatedly outputting two patterns.

〔effect〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to specify on the document the output area of the pattern to be combined with the original image, and since the output of the pattern is controlled according to the original image processing, a good combined output can be obtained. becomes possible.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an external view of a copying apparatus to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the copying apparatus shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is an external view of a reader, and FIG. 4 is a configuration of a control circuit of the copying apparatus. 5 and 6 are diagrams showing the display state of the liquid crystal display section, and FIG. 7 is a flowchart diagram showing the procedure for inputting characters.
Figures 8, 14, and 16 are diagrams showing output examples;
The figure shows the character input screen, FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the copying operation, FIG. TI is a diagram showing the contents of the add-on RAM, and FIGS. 123 is a liquid crystal display section, 134 is a character input key, 1138 is a touch pen, 141 is a coordinate input surface, 143 is a character input surface, 205 is an add-on RAM, 206 is an add-on image generation circuit, and 210 is a It is a CPU.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A reading device that reads a document image, an output device that outputs pattern information representing a pattern to be combined with the document image, a designation device that specifies the output position of the pattern on the document, and image information from the reading device. processing means for processing the image information processed by the processing means and pattern information from the output means, and combining means for combining and outputting the image information processed by the processing means and the pattern information from the output means; An image processing apparatus comprising: a control means for controlling output of pattern information. (2) The image processing apparatus according to claim (1), wherein the control means controls an output area of pattern information by the output means.