NL8102606A - DOCUMENT PROCESSING SYSTEM. - Google Patents

Description

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Document processing system.

The invention relates to a document processing system for editing image information in addition to word processing.

As is well known, a word processing apparatus can be used for editing typed characters and words by means of a display, whereby the relevant characters and words can be typed out by control by a microprocessor using an electric typewriter.

A corresponding word processing system is equipped with a display device, a microprocessor, an operating keyboard, a flexible memory disk (floppy disk) and an electric typewriter. The typed text is displayed sequentially on the screen, whereby the operator can add or remove one or more characters from the text by means of the control keys. Upon completion of such an editing operation, the operator can store the corrected text in the flexible memory disk so that the corrected text can be typed out or printed at any convenient time.

For some time there has been a need for the possibility of a more complete document processing, in which text information and image information can be combined with one another by editing. However, such a more complete document processing system is not yet known.

The present invention aims to change this and to provide a new type of document processing system.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new type of text and image information processing system, which enables combined image information and text information processing.

Another object of the invention is to provide a document processing system with the ability to edit both image information and text information and 8102606 ir. "Hi ♦ t * - - 2 - delivery of copies on carrier.

According to the invention, in the editorial processes when printing a. Document the character code information or text information converted into dot information for common further processing with the image information. The information content of a document to be printed from. certain dimensions are first compiled by editorial and stored in a memory for printing, whereby this information content can be visually observed on the screen of a display device. The actual editing also takes place during observation of the information content made visible on the screen; any area of the document may be selected by means of a special editor runner by means of a control lever (joy stick).

On the screen of the display device, both the character information or text information and the image information are made visible simultaneously. Before or after the actual editing, the image information can be merged into a dot image memory with the character information brought into the dot information form. If desired, this combining can take place after further processing or editing of the image information.

The invention will be elucidated in the following description with reference to the accompanying drawing of an exemplary embodiment, to which the invention is not concerned, however. limited, In the drawing shows; FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a dock processing system 1 according to the invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are schematic representations for clarifying the recording or formation of image information and for the storage thereof in an image buffer memory, FIG. 4 is a schematic representation for clarifying the information processing in an exemplary embodiment of the invention, figure 5 shows a schematic representation for the purpose of clarifying an enlarged image, figure 6-11, some schematic representations for clarifying different operating modes used during editing in an exemplary embodiment according to the invention, FIG. 12 shows a fond pattern of the display screen of the display device in an exemplary embodiment of the invention, and FIGS. 13A-13D show some schematic explanations for explaining document processing by means of the invention.

The block diagram of a document processing system according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention shown in figure 1 focuses on a central processing unit 1, which, via an image information distribution line with a memory 2 of the ROM type, a memory 3 of the RAM type, system control unit 4, a keyboard control unit 5, etc. is coupled. The keyboard control unit 5 is coupled to a keyboard 6 with an operating handle (joy stick) 20 and function control keys not shown in Figure 1. An image converter 7 is also connected to the distribution line.

The image converter 7 comprises an image sensor 8 and an image printer 9, such as a laser beam printer; the image sensor 8 and the image printer 9 are res-. 25 coupled to the manifold via an image pickup control unit 10 and an image print control unit 11, respectively. In the exemplary embodiment described here, the image converter 7 is suitable for processing A4-sized document paper.

3C As shown in Figure 2, if a margin is applied to a sheet of paper 28 of 297 mm in length and 210 mm in width, an effective area of 270 mm in length and 184 mm in width remains. The sheet of paper 28 of such dimensions is moved in the direction 35 of the arrow A in Figure 2, with image information contained on such a sheet being recorded by a line image sensor 29 of the image sensor 8. This line image sensor 29 contains a number according to line mounted sensors, 8102606

S * 'M

- 4 "which detect black or white information in sampling points associated with the sensors and output 1-bit dot information or pix cell per pixel, such as" 1 "for black and" O "for white. The output signals 5 of. the various sensors are taken in signal series priority and stored in a buffer memory 12. For the vertical resolution, which is determined by the transport speed of the sheet of paper 28, a value of 7 lines per mm is chosen, so that the entire effective area of such a sheet or other support consists of 1890 such lines. The horizontal resolution is determined by the density of the individual sensors of the line image sensor 29; A density of 8 pixels per mm has been chosen, so that with an effective paper width of 184 mm, a number of 15 1472 pixels remains. The effective area of an A4 sheet of paper will therefore comprise 1472 x 180 = 2,782,080 pixels.

As described above, the image 20 information (dot information) collected by the image pickup 8 from the image converter 7 is supplied via * the image pickup controller 10 to the buffer memory 12 for storage therein. The buffer memory 12 is of the RAM type, in which all image information collected in the manner described in the previous paragraph is stored once in the memory.

Since one pixcel constitutes one bit, the effective image area of a sheet of A4 paper is necessary for storing all the image information is equal to 347.76 Kb. In practice, a RAM type memory with a capacity of 512 Kb is used.

The display device shown in Figure] is, for example, equipped with a cathode-ray tube serving as a display tube with a screen diameter of approximately 30 cam.

This picture tube has a horizontal scan frequency of 50 KHz and a vertical scan frequency of 60 Hz to obtain interlace scan (interlace scan); the screen has a greater length than the width. The horizontal resolution is 4 pixels / mm, while the vertical resolution is 2.6 lines / mm. An image buffer memory 14, a runner controller 15, an image image controller 16 and a character image controller 17 are added to 81 02 6 0 6 * - * - 5 - the imaging device 13. The buffer memory 14 is adapted to the display tube used in the display device 13 and has such a capacity that it can store the image information of 630 lines and 736 pixels, as shown in Figure 3. This image information, which is stored in the image buffer memory 14, comprises an area comprising one third of the length 10 and half the width of the original area. When the image information stored in the buffer memory 12 about the entire area is to be made visible by means of the display device 13, the relevant information is sampled in such a way that it (size) 15 1/3 of the original length and half of the ear. width, after which the thus sampled information is transferred to the image buffer memory 14. The control unit 15 with cursor serves to indicate certain lines in the horizontal direction (X) 20 and the vertical direction (Y) in desired points and furthermore to select a position at the intersection of the two lines during information editing.

The system furthermore comprises a word processing device 18 shown in its entirety within a block drawn by a broken line (see figure 1), in which the aforementioned display device 13 and the character display control unit 17 are included. The word processing device 18 further comprises a central processing unit 19, a memory 20, a magnetic disk device 21, a magnetic disk controller unit 22, an operating keyboard 23, a keyboard controller unit 24, a character printer 25 and a printer controller unit 26, while a character information distribution line via a distribution line control unit 27 is coupled to the aforementioned image information distribution line.

The memory 20 serves to store character code information in the form of an 8-bit ASCII code and consists of 8102606-6 - a RAM type memory with a capacity of, for example, 64 Kb. The magnetic disk device 21 serves to drive two magnetic disks of the type referred to as "floppy disk" or "flexible memory disk" (floppy disk); the reading of information, and the reading of information from the magnetic disks is under the control of the disk control unit 22. One magnetic disk forms the system disk and carries a word processing program, which at the beginning of the operation of the word processing device 18 is entered into the RAM 20 memory 20. The other magnetic disk forms a working disk and serves to store information. Such a disc may contain, for example, character information about approximately 120 pages of text in A4 format.

The operation keyboard 23 is equipped with 10 operation keys and main keys, similar to a normal typewriter or an English text. The information entered by the operation keyboard 23 is supplied to the RAM type memory 20 and the 2Q character display controller 17. At the same time, this information can be read into the magnetic disk and, if desired, by the character print 25 as a copy are printed on a carrier (for example, a text on paper) or typed out. When a document thus formed is to be corrected by deletion of certain text elements and addition to other text elements and the like, the document text is displayed on the display of the display device 13, such that the correction work thereon by key operation 30 Therefore, the word processing device 18 can only and, as is generally the case with such devices, process character information.

In an exemplary embodiment of the invention composed in the manner described above, different operating modes can be used, which will be elucidated with reference to figure 4. Of the image sensor 8 81 0 2 6 0 6 - 1 - * i Image information from the image converter 7 is supplied to the buffer memory 12 for storage. From the buffer memory 12, the image information is transferred to the image buffer memory 14; a respective image is rendered visible based on the image information stored in the image buffer memory 14. This display or visualization takes place within an information area which has been reduced to a third in the longitudinal direction and to half its original dimensions in the width direction. In addition to this "normal" image or visualization, so-called "magnifying" image is also possible. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 5, image present in buffer memory 12 is information about an area with a length of 630 lines and a width of 736 bits, i.e. an area having the same area as the image buffer memory 14 area, transferred to the image buffer memory 14 in unaltered form and then displayed on the display of the display device 13. In order to determine the relevant area to be "enlarged", an area determined by all image information stored in the buffer memory 12 is first made visible by "normal" image on the screen of the display device 13. Then, within that region, the point P located in the upper left corner of the region 25 to be enlarged is selected by means of the runner control unit 15. Then, when the command "enlarge" is given, the image information about an area extending from the point P 630 lines in the Y direction and 736 bits in the X direction is transferred to the image buffer memory 14 and read into it, so that the memory 14 is subjected to information re-reading. Thereafter, an image determined by the newly read-in image information appears on the screen of the display device 13, but now without the essentially image-reducing sampling of the image-35 elements characteristic of normal image. to such a normal image, where both the length and the width of the original area are reduced, the enlarging image is effected by visualizing a partial area of the 8102606 ** * t - 8 - original image in unaltered form, i.e. without the normal size reduction of the area under consideration, with such magnification The image does not change the image information stored in the buffer memory 12, as is the case with "normal" image. The magnifying image provides the ability to better display an originally unclear image or to compensate for insufficient resolution of the display device 13.

The mode "coordinate processing" provides the possibility to display a line in the X direction or in the Y direction on the screen and to read the information corresponding to a corresponding line into the buffer memory 12. This coordinate processing is used in encoding an original image or image portion. This is done by sequential reading of dot information into the two buffer memories 12 and 14 by key operation added to the runner control unit 15.

A position or point can also be chosen from which these lines run; with this selected point as starting point, the lines are then extended in the X direction and the Y direction, respectively. . This processing is controlled by the central processing unit 1, the dot information being read into the buffer memories 12 and 14 at the addresses associated with the respective positions or points. In addition, the reading in the image buffer memory 14 takes place on the basis of one bit of dot information, while the reading in the buffer memory 12 takes place on the basis of (3x2) bit dot information. When only the aforementioned position or point selection * is carried out by the runner control unit 15, the control unit 15 supplies the display device 13 with runner signals, which depend on the movements of an operating lever (joy stick) belonging to the operating keyboard 6.

In a further operating mode, "1/2 image", an image from the image converter 7 is displayed, for example, on the top half of the screen of the display device 13. For example, when a draft 81 02 6 0 6 - 9 - • of a text to be entered by means of the word processing device 18 is so resolved, typing on the lower half of the screen can be observed without the direction of view or The operator's sense of perception must always be changed, as has hitherto been the case when such a concept is not displayed on the screen itself.

Various forms of editing 10 are possible by processing the information stored in the buffer memory 12. Figures 6-10 show some such forms of editing, such as erasure, cutout, displacement, copying and reduction.

In the erasure of FIG. 6, the entire information content of the buffer memory 12 is visualized by the display device 13? then, on the basis of the visualized image, the point P and the point Q are selected by means of the runner control unit 15. The position information signals or runner signals output therein are subjected by the central processing unit 1 to a calculation 20 for determining an address corresponding to a rectangular area (shown in hatched in Figure 6) which follows from the Kartesian coordinates of points P and Q . Then, when the command clearing is given, the information from the buffer memory 12 corresponding to the hatched area is cleared (replaced by reading "0") according to a preset program. Simultaneously with or after this erasure, the information content of the buffer memory 12 is transferred to the image buffer memory 14 such that the hatched area 30 appears on the display of the imaging device 13 as an erased area to confirm the erasure. The cut-out shown in Figure 7 corresponds to the described cut-out. The cut-out takes place by exchanging this information of the buffer memory 12, 35 which relates to the region shown in Figure 7 outside the region determined by the Kartesian coordinates of points P and Q.

The displacement according to Figure 8 serves to displace the image portion within the hatched area, which is itself determined by the Kartesian coordinates of points P and Q, to a position determined by the coordinates of the image 8102606. point R, and for erasing the image information about the original area portion. First, an image based on the image information stored in the buffer memory 12 is made visible; then the point P and the point 0 are selected by means of the runner control unit 15, with addresses corresponding to these 10 points respectively being applied to the central processing unit 1. Furthermore, by means of the runner control unit 15, the point R is selected, to which the point P is to be moved during the displacement. The address associated with point R is calculated by the central processing unit 1 according to a program for determining the address of an area corresponding to the area of the image portion to be moved. At the same time, the information pertaining to the region shown in Figure 8 is read out and the new address obtained by calculation is read in bit by bit. The hatched area is then erased. The copy according to figure 9 largely corresponds to the displacement according to figure 8., but differs from this in that the information about the original area is not erased.

In the reduction according to Figure 10, a rectangular region to be reduced and in its original shape determined by the coordinates of two points P and Q is moved to a position determined by the coordinates of another point R, where the area is reduced both in length and in width direction. After relocation, the information related to the original area is not erased. In the example described here, the length and width of the original region are reduced by a factor n / 8, where 1, = n - 7. When the original region is to be erased, the erasure described above is performed . The information processing necessary for this reduction naturally takes place in both the Y and X directions. As an example, such a reduction of an original area of 8 lines by 8 bits will now be described with reference to Figure 11A. First, 8 lines - £ g are divided into n groups. For example, when n = * 3 is chosen, the 5 lines are divided into the groups -f ^ - Cg and ~ ^ 8 "

By OR circuit switching of the lines of each group, three lines ^ 1, il2 and ^ 2 are formed from the three groups, respectively, as shown in Figure 11B. Subsequently, the reduction in the X direction is performed such that a line is divided into the desired reduction ratio n, the bits resulting from this distribution are subjected to AND-gating circuit according to a mask pattern and the resulting bits by means of an OR gate scaling are converted to one bit. When n = 3.15, the 8 bits of one line are divided into a group of 3 bits, a group of 2 bits and a group of 3 bits, using, for example, 101, 01 and 101 as mask patterns, respectively. The area of 8 lines by 8 bits is then reduced to a area of 3 lines by 3 bits, that is, reduced to 3/8 as shown in Figure 11C. The reason that the aforementioned mask patterns are used is that it is desirable to obtain image information which, even after reduction, is as close as possible to the original image information.

The whole, which is finally made visible on the screen of the display device 13, is composed of one or more image parts which are formed by the image information, 30 or text parts supplied from the image buffer control unit 16 and supplied via the image display control unit 16. character signals which are formed according to character code information read from the RAM-type memory 20 of the word processing device 18 and supplied to the character display control unit 17, and optionally from one or more lines which are formed by selection of a certain position or point runner signals output from the runner controller 15. Starting from this whole shown on the screen of the display device 8102606 'v' V, - '- - 12' device 13, then redaction (editing) can take place; this is done for the image. portions in the manner described above and for. the text parts in the manner customary for the word processing device 18. As a result, a composite document with a desired distribution of one or more image parts and. one or more text parts visible on the screen of the display device 13. In addition, the character code information is stored in the memory 20 of the RAM type 10 of the word processing device 18 and not in the buffer memory 12. It is therefore impossible to read the total information directly from the memory 20 and to supply it to the image printing controller 11 to obtain a supported copy of the composite document by means of the image printer 9 of the image converter 7. Before this can be done, the character code information (ASCII code) must first be read out from the RAM type memory 20 and into the buffer memory. 12 to be read in; this information processing is aimed at aggregation of information elements and is controlled by the central processing unit 1.

As shown in Figure 12, on the screen of the display device 13, there exists a collection of 8 bits by 14 lines. If every character ..

25 code information with the code format ASCII would be unchanged ·; converted into information of 8 x 14 pixels and read in that form in memory 12 of the RAM type, the background gets too small dimensions, for example 1x2 mm.

The character code information read from the RAM-type memory 20 is therefore transferred via the distribution line control unit 27 to the RAM-type memory 3 of the central processing unit 1. This processing unit 1 is able to distinguish between characters according to different character code information, by supplying the ROM 2 memory 2 character dot information for a 16 x 28 base and this new character dot information to the original position 81 02 6 0 6 «- 13 - read the corresponding address in the memory 12 of the RAM type. As a result of this aggregation of information elements, the memory 12 contains information about the document composed of image parts and text parts in the form of dot-5 information, so that dSn can be a supported copy of the composite document.

As described above, the storage of character code information in the form of dot information in the memory 12 allows for simultaneous editing (editing) of character dot information or text dot information and image dot information, without any distinction. described aggregation of information elements results in that a character entered by means of the operating keyboard 23 is converted into a character of certain dimensions and position, which can be mixed with the image information supplied by the image sensor 8. Furthermore, if desired, the information stored in memory 12 can be supplied via a control unit 34 to a "digital mass storage system" (DMS) 35 for memory storage and retention therein.

For the sake of an understanding of the invention, for the embodiment described above, the formation or editing of a document will be described with reference to Figures 13A-13D. This is based on two drawings (respectively shown on Figures 13A and 13B) shown on two separate pages and respectively on text parts according to Figure 13C relating to these drawings; From these drawings and parts of text, a composite document according to Figure 13D must be formed by editing. Figures 13A and 13B show a floppy disk and a drive unit thereof, respectively. During the editing, places for the two drawings and / or their desired dimensions relative to the respective associated text parts are first selected for the final document, for example, the division according to Figure 13D is reached. It is also possible to first 81 02 6 0 6 -14-.

"put the drawings in place" as if to start with the text parts. For example, first, the main operation keys of the keyboard 23 of the word processing device 18 are operated to enter the necessary or desired text portion surrounded by a broken line in Figure 13C. For this text input, for example, "1/2 image" can be used. The relevant information, after interpretation by the central processing unit 19, is read into the memory 20 of the RAM type and is further made visible on the screen of the display device 13 via the character display control unit 17. The capabilities of the word processing device 18 are normally used for correction, erasure, and the like, such that a text concept results, leaving the desired spaces for both drawings. If necessary or desired, the information regarding this text concept can be stored in the magnetic disc device 21.

Then, the page with figure 1 shown in figure 13A is entered into the image sensor 8 of the image converter 20 7 and a read command is given by means of the operating keyboard 6. This read command is supplied via the keyboard control unit 5 to the central processing unit 1 for interpretation according to a predetermined program, after which the drawing is read out. The image information about the drawing read out under control by the central processing unit 1 and the image recording control unit 10 (figure 1) is stored in the memory 12 of the RAM type. .

The drawing display command subsequently issued by means of the keyboard 6 has the result that the relevant information content (figure 1) becomes visible on the screen of the display device 13 in the same manner as is indicated in figure 13A. Observing the drawing thus made visible on the screen (Figure 1) 35, an editorial area (point © point Q ^) and a desired point (R ^) are selected by means of the runner control unit, while also framing by means of - 81 0 2 6 0 6 - 15 - ordinate processing takes place. Subsequently, a reduction factor is selected by means of the keyboard 6 and a reduction command is issued. This has the result that the image information about the area determined by the dots and determined area is read from the memory 12 for processing by the central processing unit 1 and is subsequently read in the RAM 12 of the RAM type at an address chosen for this purpose. Furthermore, erasure takes place for erasure of the information regarding the points originally determined by the points and area. At that time, on the screen of the display device 13, the text previously entered by means of the keyboard 23 of the word processing device 18 appears with the drawing in the space reserved for this purpose. 1.

15 For the drawing with fig. 2 (see figure 13B) proceeds in the same way: image recording of the drawing, graph processing, reduction, etc., so that finally on the screen of the display device 13 the composite document shown in figure 13D with the two drawings is shown. 1 and FIG. 2 and the corresponding text appears. However, the display of this editorial document on the screen is obtained by mixing the signal from the character generator of the character display control unit 17 with the signal as described above via the image display control unit 16. is supplied, so that a copy of the document appearing on the screen cannot be directly made. When a corresponding command is given by means of the keyboard 6, the character code information stored in the memory 20 30 'of the FAM type is transferred in the ASCII code via the distribution line controller 27 for temporary storage to the memory 3 of the RAM type supplied. This information is then brought on the basis of a stock previously stored in the ROM-type memory 2, that is to say enlarged, and regrouped such that the information is stored in the correct location in the memory 12. When thereafter a display command is given, 8102606 5 ** V '- 16 - a document image based solely on dot information stored in the memory 12 appears on the display of the display device 13, then the corresponding information content is transferred from the memory 12 to the image printing control unit 11 and on a carrier, for example a sheet of paper, printed by the image printer 9, from which a document according to figure 13D results.

As appears from the foregoing description of an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the invention provides the possibility of editing one or more original image parts such that they end up in the respective desired location, display the desired dimensions, etc. This means that the invention provides the possibility of further, more complete document processing than the hitherto usual word processing, and this in a simple and effective manner. By applying the invention it is possible to produce a hard copy of documents, which may be any. desired combination of image portions and text portions. The word processing device used therein is believed to be of a conventional type per se and has the ability to input information characters of the desired type, such as Greek character symbols, Chinese character symbols, Kyrilic character symbols, etc.

It should also be noted that in the exemplary embodiment according to Figure 1, two separate central processing units and two separate operating keyboards are used; it will be understood, however, that a document processing system according to the invention can be implemented with a single operating keyboard and a single, central processing unit.

81 0 2 6 0 6

Claims (5)

Document processing system for editing and printing document information, comprising: a) image recording means for generating dot image signals from an image, 5 b) a first memory coupled to the image recording means for storing dot image signals, and c) image means with a picture tube for visible - making such dot image signals, characterized by editor and system control means with a central processing unit for editing the dot image signal information stored in the first memory, and image printing means coupled to the first memory for printing the edited and in the first memory stores dot image signal information 15 under the control of the editorial and system control means. Document processing system according to claim 1, characterized in that the editing and system control means comprises a keyboard with function operating means, as well as runner control means necessary for controlling certain editing operations. Document processing system according to claim 2, characterized in that the keyboard is provided with character keys for the output of character codes, which, after storage in the second memory, are converted into dot information and are supplied in that form to the display means. Document processing system according to claim 3, characterized by aggregation control means for supplying character information in the form of dot information to the first memory. 30s Document processing system according to claim 4, characterized in that the editorial and system control means comprise means for editing and resizing the character codes stored in the second memory. 35 81 0 2 6 0 6