JP6009012B2 - Image processing apparatus, image processing apparatus control method, program, and storage medium - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, a control method for the image processing apparatus, a program, and a storage medium.

In a digital copying machine, a CCD image sensor or a CMOS image sensor is used for a document reading device. A reading apparatus that reads image data using a CCD, a CMOS, or the like has the following configuration in order to realize a scaling function for enlarging / reducing a read image.
Specifically, for the main scanning direction, a method for changing the magnification by computing digital signals is used, and for the sub-scanning direction, a method for changing the magnification by changing the reading speed and changing the number of lines to be read is used. ing.

In addition, a method of changing magnification by performing arithmetic processing (image processing) on image data in a reading device or a control unit of the main body is also used.
In addition, in a reading device of a digital copying machine, an automatic document feeder (ADF) having a mechanism for automatically feeding a document placed on a document stacking table to the reading device one by one is widely used. .
There are two methods for reading a document using an automatic document feeder: a fixed document reading method, in which a document is fed onto a contact glass, and a document image placed on the contact glass is read by moving a scanner unit. . Here, other methods include an original document reading method in which an original image is read while an original is being conveyed by an automatic document feeder.
Compared with the original fixed reading method, the original image reading method based on the original document reading method does not require scanner movement time between the originals, so the reading time of the entire original bundle can be shortened, and the automatic original It is also possible to reduce the size of the feeding device.

As a function of the digital copying machine, there is an automatic scaling function that forms an image by calculating a scaling ratio based on the document size and the output paper size. This automatic scaling function calculates the optimum scaling factor for the scanned image from the document size automatically detected by the document size detection function provided in the reader device and the output paper size selected by the user, and the image is output at that scaling factor. This is realized by performing the forming process.
In order to realize the automatic scaling function, it is necessary to detect the document size and determine the scaling factor before starting the document reading. As a document size detection method, there is a method of determining a document size by a sensor provided on a document stacking table. The size detection in the direction perpendicular to the document conveyance direction is detected by a method in which the width of the guide member that regulates the vertical width of the document on the document stacking table is read by a sensor, or by a plurality of sensors arranged in the document conveyance direction. There is a method to do. Also, regarding the detection of the length in the transport direction, a method of detecting the sensor arranged on the document stacking base by a combination of the documents being blocked, the position of the document by the detection sensor provided in the document transport path, and the document from the leading edge of the document There is a method of detecting by the passing time until the rear end passes.

  As a problem of the former method, in the mixed document size mode in which images of different sizes are set at one time and image reading is performed, the size detection in the transport direction is shorter than the maximum length of the set documents. There is a problem that the document size cannot be detected on the document table. For this reason, a digital copying machine that supports the mixed document size mode performs document size detection in combination with the latter method.

However, in order to detect the document size in the document size mixed loading mode in the latter method, the document on the document stacking table is conveyed, one document is separated from the document bundle on the document stacking table, and the document itself is independent. The document size is determined for the first time when the state is reached.
Therefore, it is necessary to secure a document transport path (path) that enables this, and the document is fixed on the contact glass by feeding the document on the contact glass and reading the image of the document placed there by moving the scanner. In some cases it is feasible. However, if the same thing is to be realized in the case of the document flow scanning method, there is a problem that the size of the automatic document feeder (ADF) increases in order to secure a document transport path.

Therefore, a document reversing mechanism for reading a double-sided document is used to provide a process for detecting the document size without scanning the document, ensuring a document transport path length, and after determining the document size in this process, There is a method in which an original is read by conveying the original to a reading position.
However, in this method, it is necessary to convey the document a plurality of times in the double-sided document conveyance path, and productivity in the copying process is extremely reduced. In addition, this method cannot be adopted in a reading apparatus having a double-sided simultaneous reading mechanism that can read a double-sided document on both the front and back sides by a single document conveyance.

  Therefore, as a conventional technique, when the document size is not fixed before image reading, the read image data is stored in a memory, and after the document size is determined by detecting the document size, scaling is performed by image processing (calculation processing). There is a method to execute (see Patent Document 1).

JP 2004-104187 A

  In the technique of Patent Document 1, since it is necessary to store read image data in a memory until the document size is determined, it is necessary to mount a lot of memory in the reading device. In particular, in a reading apparatus having a double-sided simultaneous reading mechanism, a rear surface scaling process is performed after the front surface scaling process is completed, and thus a memory capable of storing both the front and back surfaces is required. For this reason, there is a problem in that the reading device requires a memory capacity corresponding to the maximum two document sizes corresponding to reading, and the memory cost increases.

Further, in a digital copying machine, image data read by a reading device is transferred to a control device of the main body, image processing is performed, and then the image data is transferred to a printer device. Make a copy.
At this time, the image data transferred from the reading device to the control device is subjected to image processing by the control device and then stored in the memory of the control device.

In particular, there are copiers that share the scaling process between the reader unit and the control unit in order to achieve the desired scaling process in digital copiers that can perform scaling process even in image processing in the control unit. To do.
In these digital copiers, to perform scaling processing and other image processing, obtain the image size of the scanned image and the output image size determined according to the image size, and use those values. It is necessary to set the image processing settings in advance.

However, these image size values cannot be obtained unless the document size is determined. In the mixed document size mode, image processing cannot be set before the document reading is started.
In addition, a certain amount of time is required to execute the image processing setting in the control device. For this reason, when the read image data is stored in the memory of the reading device until the document size is determined, the image that is read after the document size is determined and until the control device is ready to start processing the image data. It is necessary to store data in the memory of the reader device.

In particular, when the time for setting the image processing in the control device is not constant, it is necessary to prepare a memory capacity capable of storing the entire original image in the memory of the reading device, assuming the worst case, and this also increases the memory cost. There is a problem of becoming.
The present invention has been made to solve the above problems. An object of the present invention is that even when a situation where the size of a detected document does not match a predetermined size occurs, the document is transmitted from the reading unit based on a setting value based on the size of the document notified from the reading unit. An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and a method for performing image processing on image data.

The reading control apparatus of the present invention that achieves the above object has the following configuration.
An image processing apparatus having a reading unit and a control unit, wherein the reading unit includes a conveying unit that conveys a document, a reading unit that reads an image of a document conveyed by the conveying unit, and generates image data; A storage unit that stores image data generated by the reading unit, a detection unit that detects the size of the document conveyed by the conveyance unit, and a notification that notifies the control unit of the size of the document detected by the detection unit And a transmission unit that transmits the image data stored in the storage unit to the control unit, and the control unit sets based on a predetermined size before the detection unit detects the size of the document. A setting unit configured to set a value; a receiving unit configured to receive image data transmitted by the transmitting unit; and the reception based on a setting value set by the setting unit. Execution means for performing image processing on the image data received by the stage, and when the size of the document detected by the detection means does not match the predetermined size, the transmission means is In accordance with the setting value based on the notified document size being set by the setting unit, the image data stored in the storage unit is transmitted to the control unit.

  According to the present invention, even when a situation occurs in which the detected document size does not match the predetermined size, the document is transmitted from the reading unit based on the setting value based on the document size notified from the reading unit. Image processing can be performed on the image data.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a copying apparatus including a reading control device. It is a block diagram explaining the structure of a controller control apparatus. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of an automatic document feeder. FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a document conveyance path of an automatic document feeder. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a document size conveyed from an automatic document feeder. It is a flowchart which shows the control procedure of a reader. It is a flowchart which shows the control procedure of a reader. It is a figure which shows the original conveyance state of a reader apparatus, and the area | region use state of a memory. It is a figure which shows the original conveyance state of a reader apparatus, and the area | region use state of a memory. 3 is a flowchart showing a control procedure of a control device of a copying apparatus. 3 is a flowchart showing a control procedure of a control device of a copying apparatus. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a reading sequence when a copying apparatus is in a mixed document mode. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a reading sequence when a copying apparatus is in a mixed document mode.

Next, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[First Embodiment]
First, the configuration of a copying apparatus (digital copying machine) that is an object of an embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the reader control apparatus includes an image sensor IS1 as a first reading unit for reading an image on the surface of a document conveyed on the conveyance path. Further, an image sensor IS2 is provided as a second reading unit that reads an image on the back side of the conveyed document on the downstream side of the image sensor IS1.
Further, a document detection sensor S1 is provided as a first detection unit that detects the leading edge or the trailing edge of the document conveyed on the conveyance path. Furthermore, a document detection sensor S2 is provided as a second detection unit that is upstream of the document detection sensor S1 and detects the leading edge or the trailing edge of the conveyed document. Furthermore, a memory 114 capable of storing one page at a maximum document size that can convey image data read by the first reading unit and the second reading unit is provided. Here, the document detection sensors S1 and S2 detect the passage state of the document conveyed on the conveyance path, and notify the reader control device 111 described later of the passage state of the leading or trailing edge of the document.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a copying apparatus (digital copying machine) to which the reading apparatus of this embodiment can be applied.
In FIG. 1, the copying apparatus includes a control apparatus 101 that controls the entire copying apparatus, a reader apparatus 102 that reads a document and creates image data, and a printer apparatus 103 that prints image data on printing paper. The control device 101 and the reader device 102 are connected by reader I / Fs 108 and 115, and commands related to document reading and image data read by the reader device 102 are transferred.

Similarly, the control device 101 and the printer device 103 are also connected by printer I / Fs 109 and 120.
The reader device 102 includes a reader control device 111, an automatic document feeder 112, a reading device 113, a memory (DRAM) 114, and a reader I / F 115. The reading device 113 is an image reading unit that reads a document placed on a document table. An optical scanning system including an exposure lamp, a mirror, and a lens, and an image such as a CCD or CMOS that reads a document image and converts it into an electrical signal. It consists of sensors.

An automatic document feeder (DF unit) 112 is a document conveying unit that conveys documents one by one from a bundle of documents installed on a document stacking table, and includes a feed roller, a discharge roller, a document detection sensor, and the like. . Further, in the reader device 102 corresponding to the document double-sided simultaneous reading function, an image sensor for reading each image on the front surface and the back surface of the document is installed on the document transport path of the automatic document feeder 112.
The reader control device 111 is a control unit that controls the reader device 102, and is connected to the automatic document feeder 112, the reader 113, the memory 114, and the reader I / F 115.
In response to a request from the control device 101, the reader control device 111 controls the automatic document feeder 112 and the reading device 113. At that time, the reader control device 111 performs image processing such as color misregistration correction and luminance correction on the image data read by them, and then transfers the image data to the control device 101 through the reader I / F 115. Note that the reader control device 111 is configured to be able to perform image processing, for example, image scaling processing, on image data stored in the memory 114.

  Further, the reader control device 111 stores the image data read by the reading device 113 or the automatic document feeder 112 in the memory 114 as necessary, reads the image data from the memory 114 after a request from the control device 101, The image data is transferred to the control device 101. Further, the reader control device 111 can also perform a scaling process as an image process after reading image data from the memory 114.

The printer device 103 includes a printer control device 116, a paper feeding device 117, a printing device 118, a paper discharge device 119, and a printer I / F 120.
The paper feeding device 117 conveys a paper feeding cassette or paper on which printing paper is stacked from the paper feeding cassette to the printing device 118. The printing device 118 includes a photosensitive member on which a latent image is formed, a laser device that forms a latent image on the photosensitive member, an optical system such as a lens and a mirror, a developing device that forms a toner image on the photosensitive member, and toner on the photosensitive member. The image forming apparatus includes a fixing device that transfers and fixes an image onto printing paper.
The paper discharge device 119 performs a finishing process such as a paper discharge tray for stacking printed paper, a paper discharge roller for conveying the paper printed by the printing device 118 to the paper discharge tray, and stapling and punching on the printed paper. It consists of a post-processing device.

The printer control device 116 is connected to a paper feeding device 117, a printing device 118, a paper discharge device 119, and a printer I / F 120. In response to a request from the control apparatus 101, the printer control apparatus 116 sends the image data transferred from the control apparatus 101 through the printer I / F 120 to the printing apparatus 118, and forms an image on the printing paper.
The control device 101 includes a controller control device 104, an operation unit 105, a memory (DRAM) 107, an HDD 106, a reader I / F 108, a printer I / F 109, and a network I / F 110.

The operation unit 105 includes various keys such as a liquid crystal touch panel display, a numeric keypad, a start key, a stop key, and a clear key, and requests the control device 101 to execute processing such as copying in accordance with a user operation.
The reader I / F 108 is connected to the reader I / F 115 of the reader apparatus 102, and is used for command transmission / reception such as an original reading request to the reader apparatus 102 and image data transfer from the reader apparatus 102.

A printer I / F 109 is connected to the printer I / F 120 of the printer apparatus 103 and is used for command transmission / reception such as a print request to the printer apparatus 103 and transfer of a print image to the printer apparatus 103.
The controller control device 104 is connected to the operation unit 105, the memory 107, the HDD 106, the network I / F 110, the reader I / F 108, and the printer I / F 109.
Then, when a copy job is input from the operation unit 105 by the user, a document reading request is issued to the reader apparatus 102, the read image transferred from the reader apparatus 102 is received, and image processing is performed on the received image data. Then, the controller control device 104 executes a document copy process by making a print request to the printer device 103 and transferring the image data subjected to the image processing.
In the present embodiment, an automatic document feeder 112 is provided as a conveying unit that conveys documents having different document sizes. In addition, the reading device 113 includes image sensors IS1 and IS2 that can simultaneously read images on one side and / or both sides of a document conveyed by the automatic document feeder 112. Here, the image sensor IS1 reads the front image of the conveyed document, and the image sensor IS2 reads the back image of the conveyed document. The memory 114 can secure a first area and a second area in which image data on the front surface and image data on the back surface read by the image sensors IS1 and IS2 can be stored as shown in FIGS. It is configured. The memory 114 is configured to store two pages of color image data with a document size smaller than the maximum document size.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the controller control device 104 illustrated in FIG.
In FIG. 2, the controller control device 104 includes a scan image processing unit 202, a print image processing unit 203, an image compression processing unit 204, an image expansion processing unit 205, an image conversion processing unit 206, a memory controller 207, and a data bus 208. Connected. The memory controller 207 is connected to an external memory (DRAM) 107, and each image processing unit of the controller control device 104 can access the memory 107 via the memory controller 207. The scan image processing unit 202 is connected to the reader I / F 108, and the print image processing unit 203 is connected to the printer I / F 109.

The scan image processing unit 202 receives the image data processed by the reader device 102 transferred from the reader I / F 108, performs image processing on the image data, and then stores the image data in the memory 107.
Image processing performed by the scan image processing unit 202 includes color misregistration correction between image sensors, filter processing, image enlargement / reduction scaling processing, gamma correction processing, automatic color / monochrome determination processing, and the like.

The print image processing unit 203 reads the image data stored in the memory 107, performs image processing on the read image data, and then transfers the image data from the printer I / F 109 to the printer device 103. Image processing performed by the print image processing unit 203 includes density conversion processing, frame erasing processing, image composition processing, and fine line correction processing.
The image compression processing unit 204 reads the raw image data stored in the memory 107, performs image compression processing in an image format such as JPEG or JBIG, and stores the compressed image data in the memory 107.
The image decompression processing unit 205 reads image data in JPEG or JBIG format stored in the memory 107, performs image decompression processing to decompress the raw image data, and stores the raw image data in the memory 107.
The image conversion processing unit 206 reads the image data stored in the memory 107, performs image conversion processing, and stores the image data in the memory 107 again. Image processing performed by the image conversion processing unit 206 includes color conversion processing, background removal processing, density correction processing, filter processing, and the like.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view for explaining the configuration of the automatic document feeder 112 shown in FIG.
In FIG. 3, an automatic document feeder 112 used in the present embodiment is an automatic document feeder that can read both the front and back images of a document with a single document conveyance, and that supports double-sided simultaneous reading.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a document conveyance path of the automatic document feeder 112 shown in FIG. In particular, this example is an example schematically showing a part related to the reading apparatus shown in the present embodiment. An arrow in the figure indicates the document conveyance direction.
In FIG. 4, reference numeral 901 denotes the position of the image sensor IS1 that reads an image on the surface of the document. Similarly, reference numeral 902 denotes the position of the image sensor IS2 that reads an image on the back side of the document. Reference numerals 903 and 904 denote positions of the document detection sensors S1 and S2 that detect the passage of the document on the document transport path. 905 represents a document conveying path document in the automatic document feeder 112 is transported by the paper feed or al paper discharge (document conveyance path).
Next, document size detection in the document size mixed loading mode in the automatic document feeder 112 will be described.
In the document reading process of the copying apparatus, there is a document size mixed mode in which documents of different sizes are stacked and stacked on the automatic document feeder 112, the document size is automatically detected when the document is read, and the image reading process is performed. .

In such a mixed document size mode, the same width original size mixed document width in the main scanning direction (direction perpendicular to the original conveying direction) and the different width original size mixed load in which the original width in the main scanning direction is different are two. There are two modes.
The document size when the document size is mixed is determined by the document width in the main scanning direction detected when the document feeding is started, and the document detection sensors S1 and S2 on the transport path shown in FIG. Is detected by the time it passes.
Here, consider the case of mixed document sizes using STMT, LTR-R, and LGL (FIG. 5) having different document sizes.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a document size conveyed from the automatic document feeder 112 shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, each STMT, LTR-R, and LGL have the same document width in the main scanning direction and are examples in which the same width document size is mixed.
Further, in the automatic document feeder 112 of the present embodiment, the maximum interval MAXL between the document detection sensors S1 and S2 on the document transport path is longer than the document length of the STMT in the sub-scanning direction as shown in FIG. The document size is shorter than the LTR-R document length. Here, the maximum interval MAXL is the length between the position 903 and the position 904 shown in FIG.

Therefore, whether or not the fed document is STMT even when the leading edge of the document is conveyed to the position of the document detection sensor S1 (904 in FIG. 9) when STMT, LTR-R, and LGL are mixed in the same width document size. The reader control device 111 can determine whether or not.
However, the reader control device 111 cannot determine whether the fed document is LTR-R or LGL.
For example, in the automatic document feeder 112 of the present embodiment, it is assumed that the maximum distance MAXL between the document detection sensors S1 and S2 on the document conveyance path is 230 mm (<279.4 mm). In this case, when the leading edge of the document is conveyed to the position of the document detection sensor S1 (position 904 in FIG. 4), it can be determined that the document has a document length of 230 mm or more. However, it cannot be determined whether the document size is LTR-R or LGL. To determine this, it is necessary to further transport a 50 mm document.

However, in the automatic document feeder 112 of this embodiment, the image sensor IS1 that reads an image on the surface of the document exists at a position (position 901 in FIG. 4) within 280 mm from the conveyance path start point on the document conveyance path.
For this reason, when the original is conveyed to a position where the LTR-R and LGL original sizes can be discriminated, image reading on the original surface has already been started by the image sensor IS1. Therefore, when the LTR-R and LGL document sizes are mixed, the document size cannot be determined for any document before the image reading starts.

Next, the relationship between the original double-sided simultaneous reading function of the automatic document feeder 112 and the capacity of the memory 114 mounted on the reader device 102 will be described.
The automatic document feeder 112 according to the present embodiment is compatible with a document double-sided simultaneous reading function.
The double-sided simultaneous reading function is realized by arranging an image sensor IS2 for reading the image on the back side of the document on the downstream side of the image sensor IS1 for reading the image on the surface of the document on the document transport path of the automatic document feeder 112.
For this reason, the reading of the document back surface image by the image sensor IS2 is started after a certain time delay from the timing of starting the reading of the document surface image.
On the other hand, image data read from the reader control device 111 is transferred to the control device 101 for each page, and a document reading request from the control device 101 to the reader control device 111 is also made for each page separately.

  That is, when a document reading request is issued from the control device 101 to the reader control device 111, the automatic document feeder 112 starts conveying the document, and first starts image reading on the surface of the document using the image sensor IS1. Subsequently, image reading on the back side of the document is started using the image sensor IS2, and image reading on the front side and the back side is advanced simultaneously in parallel.

However, the image data read from the reader control device 111 is transferred to the control device 101 only by transferring the image data on the front side of the document, and the image data on the back side of the document read by the image sensor IS2 is stored in the memory 114 of the reader device 102. Temporarily store in.
When the transfer of the image data on the front side of the document read by the reader control device 111 is completed, the control device 101 makes an image reading request for the back side of the document to the reader control device 111. On the other hand, the reader device 102 reads the back side image data that has already been read and stored in the memory 114, and transfers it to the control device 101, thereby completing the reading of the back side image of the document.
From the above, the capacity of the memory 114 mounted on the reader device 102 is required to be at least a capacity capable of storing image data for one page of the maximum document size corresponding to image reading.

The reader device 102 of this embodiment is equipped with a 256 MB memory 114. This is a memory capacity that can store one page of color image data of 24 bits per pixel for image data of document size A3 or LGL, and two pages of image data of A4 or LTR. In the case of grayscale image data of 8 bits per pixel, image data for two pages can be stored for A3 and LGL documents.
Next, the relationship between document size detection in the reader apparatus 102 and image processing in the control apparatus 101 will be described.

In the copying apparatus of this embodiment, when reading a document image, it is necessary that the document size of the image data to be read is determined before the image data read from the reader device 102 to the control device 101 is transferred. ing.
This is because, in the image processing by the controller control device 104, there is processing that needs to set the image size of the processing target image when executing the image processing.
For this reason, when document reading processing is performed with settings such as document size automatic detection and document size mixed loading mode, the following is required. That is, it is necessary that the document size is determined before the read image data is transferred from the reader device 102, and information related to the document size is notified from the reader device 102 to the control device 101.
In the copying apparatus of the present embodiment, enlargement / reduction scaling processing can be performed on the read image data by both the reader apparatus 102 and the control apparatus 101.
For this reason, the scaling process by image processing in the control apparatus 101 is based on the premise that the scaling process is also performed on the reader apparatus 102 side. In this way, by reducing the range of scaling factors that can be handled by the control device 101 by the amount that scaling processing can be performed by the reader device 102, the capacity of the memory (SRAM) required for scaling processing is reduced, Cost reduction is planned.

Therefore, before the image data read from the reader apparatus 102 to the control apparatus 101 is transferred, the processing contents of the scaling process (the scaling ratios of the reader apparatus 102 and the control apparatus 101) are determined, and the reader apparatus 102 It is necessary to perform scaling processing on the side.
In particular, in the automatic scaling function that automatically determines the scaling factor of the scanned image data from the document size and the output paper size, if the document size of the scanned image data is not fixed, the scaling factor to be processed Can not be determined.
For this reason, also from the viewpoint of executing the scaling process, the document size needs to be determined before the image data read from the reader apparatus 102 to the control apparatus 101 is transferred.

Next, a configuration for solving the problems to be solved by the present invention will be described by taking this embodiment as an example.
In the automatic document feeder 112 of the present embodiment, when operating in the same width document size mixed mode, the document sizes of the document LTR-R and the document LGL can be determined while the image reading is started as described above. Can not.
Further, when image reading is performed in the original double-sided simultaneous reading mode and in the color mode, the image data of the original LTR-R can be stored in the memory 114 of the reader device 102 for two pages of the front and back pages. Is possible. However, only one page of image can be stored for the original LGL.

Further, there is a gap between the timing when the original LTR-R or the original LGL is determined after the front side image reading for the original is started and the timing when the back side original reading is started. .
For this reason, at the start of reading the image on the front side of the document, the image data to be read is stored in the memory 114 of the reader device 102, and the size of the document is controlled after the document size is determined and before the reading of the back side image is started. 101 is notified. Then, after necessary processing such as image processing setting is completed in the control device 101, the front surface image data stored in the memory 114 of the reader device 102 is transferred to the control device 101. Further, it can be considered that the image data on the back side of the document is stored in the memory 114 of the reader apparatus 102.

However, the time required to perform image processing setting processing after the document size of the image to be read is notified from the reader device 102 to the control device 101 is always longer than the time from the determination of the document size to the start of reading the back image. It is difficult to guarantee that it will be shortened. For this reason, it is thought that the solution by the above processes is difficult.
As another solution, when the original LTR-R and the original LGL cannot be distinguished in the same width original mixed mode, the original size is regarded as a larger original LGL and the image reading process and the control apparatus 101 are processed. Transfer image data.
Then, after the read image data is stored in the memory 107 of the control device 101, after the document size is determined, the reader device 102 waits for notification of the actual document size. Then, in accordance with the actual document size notified from the reader device 102, a process of creating image data corresponding to the document size from the image data stored in the memory 107 on the control device 101 side can be considered.

However, in the present embodiment, image data scaling processing is performed by the scan image processing unit 202 of the controller control device 104 shown in FIG. 2, while the image data transferred from the reader device 102 as shown in FIG. The scanned image processing unit 202 performs image processing. Thereafter, the image processed image data is stored in the memory 107.
For this reason, in the state where the document size is not yet determined, the scaling process in the scan image processing unit 202 required by the automatic scaling function or the like cannot be performed. Further, after the image data is stored in the memory 107 of the controller control device 104, the image processing function existing in the scanned image processing unit 202 cannot be used.

For this reason, the image processing necessary for realizing the automatic scaling function or the like cannot be performed, so that the above processing cannot be solved.
As another solution, the capacity of the memory 114 mounted on the reader apparatus 102 is set to a capacity capable of storing two pages of 24-bit color images even for image data whose document size is LGL. As a result, it is conceivable to store image data read from the front and back sides of the document once in the memory 114, read the image data from the memory 114 and transfer the image data to the control device 101 after the document size is determined.
However, in this method, it is necessary to mount the memory 114 having a double capacity in the reader device 102 by simple calculation, which greatly affects the cost of the reader device 102. Therefore, it is also costly to adopt this method. It is difficult.
The details of the method for solving the above-described problems according to the present invention will be described by taking this embodiment as an example.

  6 and 7 are flowcharts showing the control procedure of the reading apparatus according to the present embodiment. This example corresponds to the reading control of the reader device 102. Each step is realized by the reader control device 111 loading a control program from the ROM or the like onto the RAM and executing it.

8 and 9 are diagrams for explaining the relationship between the document conveyance state and the memory usage of the reader device according to the present embodiment. This example is an example showing a document conveyance state in the automatic document feeder and a state of the memory 114 of the reader device 102 and the memory 107 of the control device 101 at that time in the document reading process.
In FIGS. 8 and 9, the document conveyance state is shown in FIG. 4 in order to identify the positions 1007 and 1107 of the document being conveyed to the automatic document feeder 112 having the structure shown in FIG. Above, the transport state of the document is indicated by a thick solid line.

As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the storage states 1008, 1009, 1108, and 1109 of the memory 114 of the reader device 102 are represented by the front image storage areas 1008 and 1108 and the back image storage area 1009 for explanation. 1109 is divided into two. However, the memory 114 is actually a continuous memory area.
Further, the memory area is assumed to be an area having a capacity capable of storing image data of document sizes LTR and LTR-R. Memory states 1010 and 1110 of the memory 107 of the control apparatus 101 indicate portions of the memory 107 installed in the control apparatus 101 that are prepared as areas for storing read images.
In addition, the capacity is sufficient to store one page of the read image whose document size is the document LGL.

10 and 11 are flowcharts showing the control procedure of the control device of the copying apparatus according to the present embodiment. This example corresponds to reading control for image data received from the reader device 102 by the control device 101. Each step is realized by the controller control device 104 of the control device 101 loading a control program from the ROM or the like onto the RAM and executing it.
The document image reading process is started when a job is input from the operation unit 105 of the control apparatus 101.
When a job is input, the controller control device 104 starts an image forming process in accordance with the job setting, and a document image reading process is started.
In the document image reading process, first, the controller control device 104 issues a document feed request to the reader control device 111 (S601, S701). The document feed request indicates the reading mode, such as whether the image is scanned in color or grayscale mode, whether only one side of the document is scanned, whether the document is scanned on both sides, or in mixed document size mode. The parameter is delivered to the reader control device 111.

  When the reader apparatus 102 receives a document feed request from the controller control apparatus 104 (S401), the reader control apparatus 111 determines what image reading mode is designated. Here, it is determined whether or not the image reading on both sides of the document is in the color mode and the document size mixed loading mode is set (S402). If the reader control device 111 determines that the image reading is performed on both sides of the document in the color mode and the document size mixed mode is selected, the process advances to step S403. The process of S403 shifts to a reading process unique to the present invention that solves the problem described above as a problem.

On the other hand, if the reader controller 111 determines in S402 that the image is read on both sides of the original in the color mode and the mixed size mode is not in the original size, the process proceeds to a normal reading process after S501 shown in FIG.
In the following, a description will be given of processing realized in order to solve the problem in the present invention, assuming that color reading, double-sided original reading, and mixed-size original mode are designated.
Further, at this time, it is assumed that the document size is the same-width document size mixed loading mode using documents of STMT, LTR-R, and LGL.

  When an image reading request is made in color reading, double-sided original reading, and mixed document size mode, the reader control device 111 first starts a process of feeding one original loaded on the automatic document feeder 112 (S403). ). The fed document moves on the document transport path 905 of the automatic document feeder 112, and the document size is determined from the outputs of the document detection sensors S2 and S1 installed on the document transport path. Before the leading edge of the document reaches the document detection sensor S1 closest to the image sensor IS1 that reads the front image on the document transport path, the reader control device 111 starts a document size provisional determination of the fed document (S404). ). Next, in step S405, the reader control device 111 determines whether the fed document is STMT among STMT, LTR-R, and LGL (at this stage, LTR-R and LGL cannot be determined). . If the reader control apparatus 111 determines that the fed document is STMT, the process proceeds to S439. If the reader control apparatus 111 determines that the fed document is not STMT, the process proceeds to S406.

[Processing when document size is determined to be STMT]
First, processing when the document size is determined to be STMT in the document size provisional determination will be described.
In this case, the reader control device 111 executes a normal document reading process because the document size is determined before the reading of the document image is started.
That is, the reader control device 111 notifies the controller control device 104 that the feeding of the document has started and that the document size is STMT (S439).
In response to this, the controller control device 104 receives a document feed start notification from the reader control device 111 (S602), and sets scan image processing (S603). When the setting of the scan image processing is completed, the controller control device 104 notifies the reader control device 111 of the original image reading execution request together with the original image size (STMT) for reading (S604).
Upon receiving a read execution request from the controller control device 104 (S440), the reader control device 111 advances the conveyance of the document. When the leading edge of the document reaches the image sensor IS1 that reads the surface image, the reader control device 111 reads the surface image of the document. Start (S441).
The reader control device 111 performs necessary image processing on the read image data on the surface of the document, and transfers the read image data to the controller control device 104 without storing the read image data in the memory 114 of the reader device 102. (S442). At this time, the controller control device 104 starts receiving the image data of the front surface transferred from the reader control device 111 in S605 (S605).
When the conveyance of the document further proceeds and the leading edge of the document reaches the image sensor IS2 that reads the back side of the document, the reader control device 111 starts reading the back side image of the document (S443).
The reader control device 111 stores the image data in the memory 114 of the reader device 102 after performing necessary image processing on the image data on the back side of the original to be read.
When the document conveying and reading process further proceeds in the reader device 102, the reading of the document surface by the reader control device 111 ends (S444). Subsequently, the transfer of the image data on the surface of the original read from the reader control device 111 to the controller control device 104 ends (S445). Then, when the transfer of the image data on the document surface to the controller control device 104 is completed, the reader control device 111 sends a document reading end notification to the controller control device 104 (S446).

Next, the reader control device 111 finishes reading the back side of the document and storing the read back side image data in the memory 114 (S447).
Next, the controller control device 104 finishes receiving the image data of the document surface from the reader control device 111 (S606), and receives a document reading end notification from the reader device 102 (S607). Then, in order to read the back side of the document, a document feed request for reading the back side of the document is sent to the reader controller 111 (S608).
When the reader control device 111 receives a document feed request for reading the back side image of the document (S448), the reader control device 111 notifies the controller control device 104 of the document feed start and notifies the document size ( S449).
Here, since the actual document feeding and image reading processing have been completed, the document feeding start notification for the document back side image is merely a sequence exchange between the reader control device 111 and the controller control device 104. At this time, the document is not actually fed.
In step S <b> 609, the controller control device 104 that has received the document feed start notification from the reader control device 111 sets scan image processing in the same manner as when reading the front image (S <b> 610). Thereafter, the controller control device 104 notifies the reader control device 111 of a request to execute reading of the back side image (S611).
Upon receiving a back side image reading execution request from the controller control device 104 (S450), the reader control device 111 reads the back side image data stored in the memory 114, and transfers the image data to the controller control device 104 (see FIG. S451). At this time, the controller control device 104 starts receiving the back side image data transferred from the reader control device 111 in step S612.

  Then, the reader control device 111 ends the transfer of the image data to the controller control device 104 (S452). At this time, the controller control device 104 ends the reception of the image data on the back side of the document from the reader control device 111 (S613). Then, the reader control device 111 notifies the controller control device 104 of the document reading end of the image data on the back side of the document (S453), and the image reading process for one document is ended. At this time, in step S614, the controller control device 104 receives a document reading end notification of the image data on the back side of the document from the reader control device 111, and ends the processing shown in FIG.

The above is the process flow in the normal image reading process in which the document size is determined before starting the document image reading.
[Processing 1 when the document size is determined to be other than STMT]
On the other hand, when the document size is LTR-R or LGL in the same width document mixed mode, the document size is not fixed before the image reading is started. Processing in this case will be described below. This process is a process performed when YES is determined in S405 illustrated in FIG.
First, when image reading processing is performed in the document mixed mode in which the document size is the document LTR-R and LGL, a document feed request is notified from the controller control device 104 (S701). Here, the reader control device 111 cannot determine which original document LTR-R or LGL is being fed before the image reading is started.
For this reason, the reader control device 111 notifies the controller control device 104 of the start of document feeding, assuming that the document LGL having the maximum document size that can be fed is being fed (S406).
When the controller control device 104 receives a document feed start notification of the document LGL from the reader control device 111 (S702), the controller control device 104 proceeds to S703.
Then, the controller control device 104 performs scan image processing setting for the original LGL, and performs reading image size setting necessary for image processing and calculation / setting of the scaling factor in the automatic scaling function (S703). When the image processing setting is completed, the controller control device 104 notifies the reader control device 111 of an image reading request for the original LGL (S704).
When the reader control device 111 receives a read execution request from the controller control device 104 (S407), the reader control device 111 proceeds to S408. In step S408, the reader control device 111 advances the conveyance of the document. When the leading edge of the document reaches the image sensor IS1 that reads the surface image, the document surface image reading process is started (S408).

The reader control device 111 performs necessary image processing on the read surface image data, and then stores the image data in the memory 114 of the reader device 102. At this time, the state of the memory 114 becomes a state 1002 shown in FIG. 8 and a state 1102 shown in FIG. In the state 1002 shown in FIG. 8 and the state 1102 shown in FIG. 9, the memory 114 of the reader apparatus 102 stores the image data read from the document surface in the memory area 1011 shown in FIG. Is done. Note that common steps in the processing of the reader control device 111 will be described using the steps in FIG.
Further, when the reader device 102 advances the document, the reader control device 111 calculates the length of the document when the trailing edge of the document passes the document detection sensor S2 on the document transport path of the automatic document feeder 112. Here, the reader control device 111 calculates the length of the document from the document conveyance speed and the time from the document leading edge to the document trailing edge.
In step S409, the reader control device 111 determines whether the document size is the document LTR-R or the document LGL. Here, the subsequent image reading process differs depending on the document size determined by the reader control device 111.
First, in S410, the reader control device 111 determines whether or not the determined document size is the document LGL. Here, when the reader control device 111 determines that the determined document size is the document LGL, the document size assumed at the start of the front document reading process is correct, and the setting of the read image processing set in the controller control device 104 is performed. The value is also correct.

Therefore, the reader control device 111 reads the image data of the document surface stored in the memory 114, and starts transfer to the controller control device 104 (S411).
At this time, if scaling processing in the reader control device 111 is designated by the controller control device 104, the scaling control processing is performed on the image data read from the memory 114, and then the image data is sent to the controller control device 104. Forward.
When the reader control device 111 continues to convey the original while reading the original surface image, the leading edge of the original reaches the position of the image sensor IS2 that reads the reverse image, and reading of the original back image is started (S412). .
A memory state of the reader device 102 and the control device 101 when the leading edge of the document reaches the position of the image sensor IS2 for reading the back image is shown in a state 1003 of FIG.
Here, the memory area 1012 indicates an area of the image data stored in the memory 114 that has been transferred to the controller control device 104.
A memory area 1013 indicates an area where image data of the document surface received from the reader control device 111 on the memory 107 of the control device 101 is stored. As shown in a state 1004 in FIG. 8, the reader control device 111 temporarily stores the read image data on the back side of the document in the memory 114 of the reader device 102 in the same manner as in a normal double-sided image reading process. A state 1004 shown in FIG. 8 is a memory state after the reader apparatus 102 starts reading an image on the back side of the document.

Here, the read image data on the front side of the document has been written to the area on the memory 114 where the read image on the back side is stored.
This is because when the document size is LGL, all image data cannot be stored only in the storage area of the surface image where the document size is only LTR.
However, since the storage area of the front image and the back image of the memory 114 is a continuous memory area, image data can be saved without any problem. A memory area 1014 indicates image data on the back side of the document stored on the memory 114.
Since the image data on the back side of the document whose document size is the document LGL does not fit in the memory area for storing the back image as described above, the image data is stored from the top of the storage area for the front image.
That is, the image data on the back side is overwritten and stored in the area where the image data on the front side of the document is stored, but the image data on the surface of the document in the area where the image data on the back side of the document is stored is transferred to the controller control device 104. It is done. Also, since the speed at which image data is transferred to the controller 104 is not slower than the speed at which image data on the back side of the document is read and stored, the image data on the front side of the document is It cannot be destroyed by overwriting.
Subsequently, when the reader controller 111 continues to read the image data on the front surface and the back surface of the document and continues to transport the document, the rear end of the document reaches the position of the image sensor IS1 that reads the surface image, and the document surface Image reading ends (S413).

When the image reading on the document surface is completed, the storage of the image data on the surface in the memory 114 of the reader device 102 is also terminated, and the transfer of the image data on the document surface to the controller control device 104 is also terminated (S414).
When the transfer of the image data on the document surface is completed in this way, the reader control device 111 notifies the controller control device 104 of the document reading end (S415). The controller control device 104 receives from the reader control device 111 a notification of completion of reception of the image data on the document surface (S606), and further receives a notification of completion of document reading (S607). Thus, the reading process of the image data on the front side of the document is finished, and then the reading process of the image data on the back side of the document is started.
The document back side reading process on the controller control device 104 side is performed in the same manner as the image reading process on the front side of the document.
First, the controller control device 104 notifies the reader control device 111 of a document feed request (S608). Upon receiving the document feed request from the controller control device 104 (S417), the reader control device 111 notifies the controller control device 104 of a document feed start notification together with the document size (document LGL) (S418).
At this time, since the document feed request is a document feed request for reading an image on the back side of the document, the reader apparatus 102 does not actually feed the document. That is, the document feed request and the document feed start notification are only exchanged in the sequence between the reader control device 111 and the controller control device 104.

Upon receiving a document feed start notification from the reader control device 111 (S609), the controller control device 104 performs scan image processing settings according to the notified document size (S610), and then reads the image to the reader control device 111. An execution request is made (S611).
Upon receiving the image reading execution request from the controller control device 104 (S418), the reader control device 111 reads the image data on the back side of the document stored in the memory 114, and transfers the image data to the controller control device 104 ( S419).

At this time, similarly to the transfer of the image data on the surface of the document, when the scaling process in the reader control apparatus 111 is designated by the controller control apparatus 104, the scaling process is performed on the image data read from the memory 114. . Then, the reader control device 111 transfers the image data subjected to the scaling process to the controller control device 104.
Further, during the above processing, the reader control device 111 performs document conveyance and document back side reading processing. For this reason, when the trailing edge of the document reaches the image sensor IS2 for reading the image on the back side of the document, the reading process for the back side of the document is finished (S420), and the processing for storing the image data on the back side of the document in the memory 114 of the reader device 102 finish.
Thereafter, when the transfer of the image data on the back side of the document to the controller control device 104 is completed (S421), the reader control device 111 notifies the controller control device 104 of the completion of image reading (S422) and ends the image reading process.
The controller control device 104 receives a reception end notification of the image back side of the document from the reader control device 111 (S613), and further receives a document reading end notification from the reader control device 111 (S614), reads the back side of the document. Exit. The above is the image reading process when the document size is determined to be LGL.

[Processing 2 when it is determined that the document size is other than STMT]
Next, the processing when the document size fed by the reader control device 111 is determined to be the document LTR-R in S410 will be described.
When the document size determined by the reader control device 111 is LTR-R (S410), the document size assumed by the reader control device 111 in S404 at the start of the document surface reading process is incorrect. Further, the setting value of the read image processing set in the controller control device 104 is not correct.
Therefore, the reader control device 111 requests the controller control device 104 to cancel / redo the document reading process (S423). On the other hand, when the controller control apparatus 104 receives a request for canceling the original reading process (S705), the controller control apparatus 104 interrupts the image reading process and starts the reading process again from the beginning (S706).
For this reason, the controller control device 104 makes a document feed request again to the reader control device 111 (S707).
When the reader control device 111 receives a document feed request from the controller control device 104 (S425), the reader control device 111 notifies the controller control device 104 of a document feed start notification together with the document size (S426).

Here, the document feed start notification is an exchange in the image reading sequence, and the reader apparatus 102 does not actually feed the document again.
Also during this time, the reader control device 111 performs processing of conveying the original document, reading the surface image, and storing the image data in the memory 114 of the reader device 102 in S424. Here, when the leading edge of the document reaches the image sensor IS2 that reads the image on the back side of the document, the reader control device 111 starts reading the image on the back side of the document.
The read image data of the back side of the document is stored in a second area for storing the back side image on the memory 114.
When the controller control device 104 receives a document feed start notification from the reader control device 111 (S708), the controller control device 104 performs the read image processing setting again according to the notified document size (LTR-R) (S709).
Next, the controller control device 104 makes an image reading execution request to the reader control device 111 (S710). The reader control device 111 receives an image reading execution request for the document surface from the controller control device 104 (S427). Next, the reader control device 111 reads the image data of the document surface stored on the memory 114 of the reader device 102 and transfers it to the controller control device 104 (S428).
When the scaling process in the reader controller 111 is designated by the controller controller 104, the scaling process is performed on the image data read from the memory 114, and then the image data is transferred to the controller controller 104. To do.
The memory states of the reader device 102 and the control device 101 at this time are shown in a data processing state 1104 in FIG.
An area transferred to the controller control unit 104 in the image data on the document surface is shown in a memory area 1113. Similarly, an area in which image data on the back side of the document is stored is shown in a memory area 1114. Similarly, a memory area 1115 indicates an area where image data of the document surface received from the reader control apparatus 111 on the memory 107 of the control apparatus 101 is stored.

When the document size is LTR-R, the memory 114 of the reader apparatus 102 can store image data for two pages of the front side and the back side, so that each memory area (first area) as in the data processing state 1104 Alternatively, the image data is stored in the second area.
Furthermore, the reader control device 111 advances the conveyance of the document and the image reading on the document surface and the document back surface, and the trailing edge of the document reaches the image sensor IS1 that reads the image on the document surface. Then, the reading of the surface image is finished (S429), and the storage of the surface image data in the memory 114 of the reader device 102 is also finished.

When the reader control device 111 also finishes transferring the image data on the front surface to the controller control device 104 (S430), the reader control device 111 notifies the controller control device 104 of the document reading end (S431).
The controller control device 104 receives the document surface reading image transfer end notification from the reader control device 111 (S712), and further receives the document reading end notification (S713), ends the document surface image reading process.
Subsequently, reading processing of the document back side image is started.
Similar to the reading of the front image, the controller control device 104 issues a document feed request to the reader control device 111 (S714). When the reader control device 111 receives a document feed request from the controller control device 104 (S433), it sends a document feed start notification to the controller control device 104 together with the document size (document LTR-R) (S434).

The document feed start notification here is also an exchange in the image reading sequence, and the reader apparatus 102 does not actually feed the document.
Also during this period, the reader apparatus 102 advances the conveyance of the original and reading the back side image of the original. When the trailing end of the original reaches the image sensor IS2 that reads the image on the back side of the original, the reading of the back side image of the original and the reader apparatus 102 are performed. Is stored in the memory 114 (S432).
The controller control device 104 receives a document feed start notification from the reader device 102 (S715). Then, a read image processing setting corresponding to the notified document size (LTR-R) is made (S716), and an image reading execution request is made to the reader control device 111 (S717).
When the reader control device 111 receives an image reading execution request on the front side of the document from the controller control device 104 (S435), the reader control device 111 reads the image data on the back side of the document stored on the memory 114 of the reader device 102 and transfers it to the controller control device 104. Start (S436).
At this time, if scaling processing in the reader control device 111 is designated by the controller control device 104, scaling processing is performed on the read image data read from the memory 114. Thereafter, the reader control device 111 transfers the image data to the controller control device 104.

Thereafter, when the transfer of the image data on the back side of the document is completed to the controller control device 104 (S437), the reader control device 111 notifies the controller control device 104 of the completion of image reading (S438), and ends the image reading process.
The controller control device 104 starts receiving image data on the back side of the document from the reader control device 111 (S718), and ends receiving image data on the back side of the document from the reader control device 111 (S719). When the document reading end notification is received from the reader control device 111 (S720), the image reading process on the back side of the document is ended.
Up to here is the image reading process when the document size is determined to be LTR-R.
By performing the image reading process as described above, in the image reading process in the document size mixed loading mode, even when the document size is not fixed before the image reading process starts, the memory capacity mounted on the reader device is increased. There is no need. At the same time, it is possible to perform image processing necessary for image reading, and it is possible to achieve both cost reduction and functions in image reading processing.

Hereinafter, a normal document reading process corresponding to the case where NO is determined in S402 will be described with reference to FIG.
In step S <b> 501, the reader control device 111 determines whether or not the document conveyance mode is the document mixed mode. If it is determined that the document transport mode is the document mixed mode, the process proceeds to S511. If the reader control device 111 determines that the document transport mode is not the document mixed mode, S502 corresponding to the single-sided document reading process is performed. Proceed to
In step S <b> 502, the reader control device 111 starts feeding a document from the automatic document feeder 112. In step S503, the reader control device 111 determines the document size of the document to be read based on the time from when the document detection sensor S1 detects the leading edge of the document until the trailing edge of the document is detected and the document conveyance speed. In step S504, the reader control device 111 notifies the controller control device 104 of the determined document size. When the reader control device 111 receives a document reading execution request from the controller control device 104, reading of a document image conveyed using the image sensor IS1 is started (S506).
Then, the reader control device 111 transfers the image data of the original read by the image sensor IS1 to the controller control device 104 (S507). When the reading of the document image by the image sensor IS1 is completed (S508), the reader control device 111 ends the transfer of image data to the controller control device 104 (S509).

Then, the reader control device 111 notifies the controller control device 104 of the end of document reading (S510), and ends the reading process.
On the other hand, if it is determined in S501 that the document size mixed mode is set, the process proceeds to S511. In this case, the reader control device 111 starts the mixed loading mode process in which the original is not a color original.
In step S <b> 511, the reader control device 111 determines whether it is the double-sided reading mode from the reading mode information notified from the controller control device 104. If the reader control device 111 determines that double-sided reading is designated, the process proceeds to S521. If the reader control device 111 determines that double-sided reading is not designated, the process proceeds to S512.

In step S <b> 512, the reader control device 111 starts document feeding from the automatic document feeder 112. Then, reading of the document by the image sensor IS1 is started, and at the timing when the trailing edge of the document is detected by the document detection sensor S2, the reader control device 111 determines the document size based on the above-described processing. In step S515, the reader control device 111 notifies the controller control device 104 of the determined document size.
Next, when the reader control device 111 receives a read execution request from the controller control device 104 in S516, transfer of the image data read in S517 to the controller control device 104 is started.
In step S518, when the reader controller 111 finishes reading the original image of the single-sided document by the image sensor IS1, the transfer of the read image data to the controller controller 104 is ended. In step S519, the reader control device 111 notifies the controller control device 104 of the completion of reading the document, and the process ends.
On the other hand, if the reader control device 111 determines in S511 that the original is double-sided, the process proceeds to S521.
In step S <b> 521, the reader control device 111 starts document feeding from the automatic document feeder 112. Then, reading of the document surface by the image sensor IS1 is started, and at the timing when the document trailing edge is detected by the document detection sensor S2, the reader control device 111 determines the document size based on the above-described processing (S523). . In step S524, the reader control device 111 notifies the controller control device 104 of the determined document size.

Next, when the reader control device 111 receives a read execution request from the controller control device 104 in S525, transfer of the surface image data read in S526 to the controller control device 104 is started.
Next, in S527, when the leading edge of the conveyed document reaches the image sensor IS2, the reader control device 111 starts reading the back surface of the document by the image sensor IS2, and the reading of the document surface by the image sensor IS1 is completed (S528). ).
Next, the reader control device 111 ends the transfer of the image data on the document surface to the controller control device 104 (S529), and notifies the controller control device 104 of the completion of the document surface reading (S530). In step S531, the reader control device 111 ends the image reading on the back side of the document using the image sensor IS2.
Next, the reader control device 111 ends the transfer of the image data on the back side of the document to the controller control device 104 (S532), notifies the controller control device 104 of the completion of reading the back side of the document (S533), and ends this processing. .
According to the present embodiment, the first or second reading control can be switched according to the reading instruction received from the controller control device 104 according to the document size notified to the controller control device 104 by the reader control device 111.
Specifically, the image data on the front surface and the image data on the back surface read simultaneously by the image sensors IS1 and IS2 are stored using the first region and the second region secured in the memory 114, respectively. In parallel with this processing, the first reading control is a control for reading the image data on the front surface and the image data on the back surface stored in the memory 114 and transferring them to the controller control device. Here, the first reading control is executed when the document size temporarily set before the document conveyance (maximum document size) matches the determined document size.
Further, the image data on the front surface and the image data on the back surface read simultaneously by the image sensors IS1 and IS2 are stored using the first region or the second region secured in the memory 114. In parallel with this, the second reading control is a control for reading the image data on the front surface and the image data on the back surface stored in the memory 114 and transferring them to the control device. In this embodiment, since the first reading control and the second reading control can be switched during document conveyance, the capacity of the memory 114 is equal to or less than the capacity capable of reading a color image of the maximum document size. Simultaneous double-sided scanning control of the document size is possible.

  12 and 13 are diagrams illustrating an example of a document reading sequence in the document mixed mode of the copying apparatus according to the present embodiment. In particular, FIG. 12 corresponds to a sequence example when the document size is determined to be LGL in S410 illustrated in FIG. 6, and FIG. 13 illustrates that the document size is determined not to be LGL in S411 illustrated in FIG. Corresponds to a sequence example.

  The present invention can also be realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (program) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various storage media, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, or the like) of the system or apparatus reads the program. It is a process to be executed.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications (including organic combinations of the embodiments) are possible based on the spirit of the present invention, and these are excluded from the scope of the present invention. is not.
Although various examples and embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, those skilled in the art will not limit the spirit and scope of the present invention to the specific description in the present specification.
Note that the present invention can include a process in which a part of the steps shown in each flowchart is combined and a process in which a part of the steps shown in each flowchart is deleted.

101 Control Device 102 Reader Device 103 Printer Device

Claims (13)

An image processing apparatus having a reading unit and a control unit,
The reading unit is
Conveying means for conveying an original;
Reading means for reading an image of a document conveyed by the conveying means and generating image data;
Storage means for storing image data generated by the reading means;
Detecting means for detecting the size of the document conveyed by the conveying means;
Notification means for notifying the control section of the size of the document detected by the detection means; transmission means for transmitting image data stored in the storage means to the control section;
Have
The controller is
Setting means for setting a setting value based on a predetermined size before the detection means detects the size of the document;
Receiving means for receiving the image data transmitted by the transmitting means;
Execution means for executing image processing on the image data received by the receiving means based on the setting value set by the setting means;
Have
When the size of the document detected by the detection unit does not match the predetermined size, the transmission unit is configured according to the setting value based on the size of the document notified by the notification unit being set by the setting unit. An image processing apparatus that transmits image data stored in the storage unit to the control unit.   2. The notification unit does not notify the control unit of the size of the document detected by the detection unit when the size of the document detected by the detection unit matches the predetermined size. An image processing apparatus according to 1. If the size of the document detected by the detection unit does not match the predetermined size, the transmission unit does not read the image of the document again, and the transmission unit sets the document size notified by the notification unit. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image data stored in the storage unit is transmitted to the control unit in accordance with the setting value based on the setting unit being set by the setting unit. 4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined size is a maximum size of document sizes that can be conveyed by the conveying unit. 5. 5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the size of the image data that can be stored in the storage unit is less than two pages of the image data of the predetermined size. The setting means sets a scaling factor of the image data,
The said execution means performs the process which changes the size of the image data received by the said receiving means based on the scaling factor of the image data set by the said setting means. The image processing apparatus according to any one of the above. The image processing apparatus further includes a printing unit,
The control unit further includes storage means for storing image data on which the image processing has been executed by the execution means.
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing unit prints an image on a sheet based on the image data stored by the storage unit. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reading unit reads images on both sides of a document conveyed by the conveying unit. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transport unit transports a plurality of documents having different sizes. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined size is an LGL document size. A reading unit having a conveying unit that conveys an original, a reading unit that reads an image of the original conveyed by the conveying unit to generate image data, and a storage unit that stores the image data generated by the reading unit; A control unit, and a control method for an image processing apparatus,
A detecting step in which the reading unit detects the size of the document conveyed by the conveying unit;
A first setting step in which the control unit sets a setting value based on a predetermined size before detecting the size of the document in the detection step;
A notification step in which the reading unit notifies the control unit of the size of the document detected in the detection step;
A second setting step in which the control unit sets a setting value based on the size of the document notified in the notification step when the size of the document detected in the detection step does not match the predetermined size ;
The reading unit transmits the image data stored in the storage unit to the control unit in accordance with the setting value based on the document size notified in the notification step being set in the second setting step. Process,
A receiving step in which the control unit receives the image data transmitted in the transmitting step;
An execution step in which the control unit performs image processing on the image data received in the reception step based on the setting value set in the second setting step;
A control method for an image processing apparatus, comprising:   A program for causing a computer to execute the control method of the image processing apparatus according to claim 11.   A computer-readable storage medium storing the program according to claim 12.

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