JPS63251861A - Electronic file device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To display an entire image at one time by combining the component dots of plural image data of small capacity having the same generating source and restoring a single piece of image data of large capacity. CONSTITUTION:Four types of data, i.e., the small capacity image data A consisting of only those dots bearing marks 'O', the small capacity data B consisting of only those dots bearing marks 'X', the small image data C consisting of only those dots bearing marks ' ', and the small capacity image data D consisting of only those dots bearing marks 'square' are produced from a single piece of large capacity data without breaking the original 2-dimensional array. These four data A-D are stored in four areas of a memory respectively. Thus each of these data A-D has 1/4 data quantity compared with the original large capacity data and can be stored within the standard of a single page although said original image data cannot be stored in a single page. As a result, an entire image of the large capacity data can be shown at one time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention This invention relates to an electronic file device that records and reproduces a large amount of image data such as documents and drawings.

A typical system configuration of a conventional electronic file device is shown in FIG. 17 is a scanner that reads image data such as documents and drawings from a manuscript; 21 is an optical disk device that records and reproduces image data on an optical disk as a recording medium; 21 is a scanner that reads search keywords assigned to each image data from a magnetic disk, etc. 18 is a printer for printing image data, etc. on paper, and 18 is a printer for man-machine interface including a CRT display device, keyboard, etc. It is a workstation.

The above devices except the search device 21 are connected by the image bus 16 via controllers 14, 19, and 22, respectively. Further, each of the above-mentioned devices is connected to a central control section 15 that controls the entire system, thereby performing unified processing.

The original document or drawing to be registered as a file is scanned through the scanner 17. Then, the image data read by the scanner 17 is transferred from the controller 14 to the controller n.
and recorded on an optical disk device. at the same time,
Search information input from the workstation is also recorded in the optical disk device n and the search device 21.

Of course, image data is recorded in the optical disk device B in accordance with a standardized format. One piece of image data is managed in units called pages. The size of one page is finite, and this determines the upper limit of the data amount of one image data. The concept of a page is also a unit of processing when displaying or printing. That is, internal processing of image data in the electronic file device is performed in units of pages.

In the case of display, one page of image data reproduced from the optical disk device is transferred from the controller n to the controller 19, where it is temporarily stored. The controller 19 reduces the resolution of the received image data for display and supplies it to a display device. This will display one page of images. (Note that the resolution of the display device is usually considerably lower than that of the scanner 17.) In the case of printing, no resolution reduction processing is performed, and the image of one page reproduced from the optical disk device n is used. The data is transferred from the controller η to the controller 14, where it is temporarily stored, and sequentially output from there to the printer 18.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention The present invention deals with the problem of how to deal with the generation of image data that exceeds the standard for one page, which is a unit of processing.

(2) For example, according to the existing scanner 17, image data will fit within one page for a document up to A3 size. In this case, when an A2 size original is sent to the scanner 17, the amount of image data read is 1
It goes beyond the page.

■ Furthermore, if a new scanner with a higher resolution than the existing one is installed, the amount of image data will exceed one page even for an A3-sized document.

Since large-capacity image data that exceeds the standard for one page cannot be accepted as is, the following measures have been taken in the past.

■ Cut the original, divide it into multiple originals that meet the standards, and send each one to the scanner.

@ Image data read by a scanner is pre-processed to reduce its resolution and reduce the amount of data to fit on one page.

However, when processing as in ■, it is not possible to display the entire image of the original document at once, and when printing out on paper, the entire image cannot be obtained unless several sheets are stitched together, making it impractical for practical use. This is extremely inconvenient.

In addition, when processing as in @, image data with reduced resolution is registered, so the high-resolution scanner described in ■ becomes meaningless, and high-resolution print output (
hard copy) is not available.

The present invention was made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems.
The purpose is to pre-process and standardize large-capacity image data with high resolution and large size that exceeds the standard for one page.
In addition to being able to display the entire image at once,
An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic file device capable of obtaining high-resolution note copies.

As a means to solve the problem, the present invention provides a high-resolution image read by a scanner.
For large-sized large-capacity image data, by dividing a group of adjacent dots in a predetermined unit into multiple parts and reconstructing the image data using each divided dot, multiple small-capacity pieces with the same image range but reduced resolution can be created. A means for obtaining image data, a means for recording, reproducing, and displaying each small-capacity image data as one processing unit, and a unit for combining each constituent dot of the plurality of small-capacity image data from the same source into one large-capacity image data. A means for restoring the image data is provided.

Even if the above-mentioned large-capacity image data exceeds the standard for one page, the plurality of small-capacity image data created by distributing the constituent dots will fit within the standard for one page.

What should be noted here is that each small amount of image data is
The difference is that it is not created by dividing the image range of the original large-capacity image data into several parts, but by reducing the resolution of each large-capacity image data. The image ranges of each small-capacity image data and the original large-capacity image data are all equal.

Embodiment The system configuration example shown in FIG. 3 already described is also suitable as an embodiment of the present invention. The features of the present invention are embodied in the configuration of the controller 14 that controls the scanner 17 and printer 18 in FIG.

An example of the configuration of the controller 14 according to the present invention is shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, inside the controller 14 there are a bus 9 for image data and a bus 10 for control signals. Data bus 9 is connected via port 5 to image bus 16 of the system and via ports 7.8 to scanner 17 and printer 18, respectively. The control bus 10 is also connected to a central control unit 15 via a port 6, as well as to a scanner 17 and a printer 18.

The controller 14 also includes a CPU 3 that performs overall sequence control of internal processing, an image memory 2 that serves as a temporary storage location for image data, and a DM that serves as a DM for transferring image data between the image memory 2 and external devices.
It includes an A circuit 4 and a data converter 1 for converting large capacity image data into a plurality of small capacity image data and inversely converting the same.

When registering a document or drawing, the operator operates the keyboard of the workstation to input the information. Then, a predetermined command is issued from the central control unit 19 to the controller 14, and in response to this, the CPU 3 controls the scanner 17.
Start. As a result, the original set on the scanner 17 is read, and its image data is written into the memory 2. The image data in the memory 2 is transferred to the controller 19 and displayed in response to instructions from the workstation controller 19, or is transferred to the controller 2 and displayed on the optical display.
Written to the disk device B.

Furthermore, when a predetermined instruction is input from the workstation, the specified image data is played back from the optical disk device n, and is transferred to the controller 19 for display, or transferred to the controller 14 (temporarily stored in the memory 2). stored) and printed out by the printer 18.

The above operations are the same as in the conventional system, and these processes are performed on a page-by-page basis.When registering a dog-sized document with an amount of data exceeding one page using the scanner 17, the workstation must be added in advance to indicate this. Enter the instructions.

Then, the data read by the scanner 17 is stored in the memory 2.
In accumulating , the data converter 1 operates as follows.

The data converter 1 receives a large amount of image data serially input one dot at a time, and distributes the dots making up the data into four even-numbered and odd-numbered rows in the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction, respectively. While memory 2
It is stored in four different areas. As a result, small-capacity image data obtained by reducing the original large-capacity image data to 1/2 in the main scanning direction and sub-scanning direction (reducing the resolution to 1/2) is stored in each of the four areas of memory 2. is accumulated.

This situation is schematically shown in FIG. The symbols ○XΔ attached to each dot of the original large capacity image data have the following meanings.

From this large-capacity image data, without destroying the original two-dimensional array, we can create small-capacity image data consisting only of dots marked with ○, small-capacity image data consisting only of dots marked X), and Δ Four types of data are created: image data 0 consisting only of dots marked 0, and small-capacity image data p) consisting only dots marked 0. This 4
Types are stored in four areas of memory 2.

Here, the original large-capacity image data does not fit into one page, but each of the four small-capacity image data
/4 data amount, which fits within the standard for one page.

Therefore, the above-mentioned large-capacity image data will be recorded in the optical disk device B as four pages of small-capacity image data. In this way, no changes are required in each of the recording, playback, transfer, and display processes.

Furthermore, as is clear from FIG. 2, the image ranges of the four small-capacity image data are all the same and are equal to the original large-capacity image data. Therefore, by transferring any one of the small-capacity image data ()00 to the controller 19 and displaying it on the CRT display device attached to the workstation, the entire image of the document can be displayed at once. Note that the controller 219 performs resolution reduction processing for display as in the conventional case.

The process of printing out the small capacity image data (6) (0 (c)) recorded on the optical disc device B is performed as follows.

First, a small amount of image data (A
)CB)(C)(I)) is transferred to the controller 14 and stored in the memory 2. Next, when serially outputting data from the memory 2 to the printer 18, the data converter 1 performs rearrangement in the opposite manner to that described above to restore the large volume image data. In other words, data (A)CB)(C5(
Each constituent dot of [)) is extracted in a predetermined order and serially outputted in the constituent order of the original large-capacity image data.

In this way, large amounts of image data that cannot fit on one page can be printed out without reducing its resolution or size.

Effects of the Invention As explained in detail above, the electronic file device according to the present invention can handle high-resolution, large-capacity dog-sized files without changing the specifications of pages, which are processing units for recording, playback, and display. Can handle image data,
Furthermore, it is possible to display the entire image of a large amount of image data at once, and it is also possible to print it out without reducing resolution or size.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a controller 14 which is the main part of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of image data conversion processing in the controller 14, and FIG. 3 is an electronic file file. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a typical system configuration of an apparatus. 1...Data converter, 2...Image memory, addition/
...Workstation, 21... Search device, n...
- Optical disk, 15... Central control unit, 16... Image bus. Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao and 1 other person No. 1
Figure rt 7 Figure 2 Large capacity Δmeter'/''-y-ri (C) (D) Figure 3 υ

Claims (1)

[Claims] For high-resolution, large-size, large-capacity image data read by a scanner, by dividing a predetermined unit of adjacent dot groups into multiple parts and reconstructing the image data with each divided dot, the image range is the same and the resolution is means for obtaining a plurality of pieces of small-capacity image data with a reduced amount of image data; a means for recording, reproducing, and displaying each small-capacity image data as one processing unit; and each configuration of the plurality of pieces of small-capacity image data having the same generation source. An electronic file device comprising means for restoring one large capacity image data by combining dots.