JPS63202175A - Image processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a processing operation combining effectively various image processing functions of the titled equipment with easy operation by operating the combinations of several kinds of function settings and plural originals most suited to its combination to select and execute the functions easily. CONSTITUTION:When a demonstration key of a key input section 223 is depressed, a display shown in a figure (a) is applied on a liquid crystal 227 to await the input by a key (called a touch key) displayed on the liquid crystal 227. In this embodiment, 8 kinds of image processings are set in advance as a demonstration mode and when the operator selects one of them by operating the touch key, an explanation pattern corresponding to the selected mode is displayed. The operator applies the operation according to the display. Data required for the selected demonstration mode is written on a copy data table on a main body RAM 211, a CPU 209 refers to it in case of the output to execute various controls. That is, the state of a copy data table corresponding to each demonstration setting is given to the ROM 210 in advance and the data corresponding to the selected demonstration is transferred to the RAM 211 and set.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus such as an intelligent copying machine having a large number of complex functions, for example, various editing functions.

[Conventional technology]

Intelligent copiers in recent years are equipped with various editing functions such as scaling, trimming, masking, and movement, and it is difficult for operators to become fully familiar with the many complex functions, especially when multiple functions are combined. It is particularly difficult to understand the output results and specific purposes of use, and to make full use of them.

In the past, there were devices that had a guidance function that explained each individual function one by one, but in order to confirm the result of the combination of functions as described above, the operator had to explain each function one by one. You need to input it from the operation panel, make settings, and then try outputting it on a trial basis.

Therefore, even if a device has a rich variety of editing functions, operators who are not familiar with the device are unlikely to be able to fully utilize its functions.

[Means to solve the problem]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned circumstances, the present invention aims to enable an operator to easily visually confirm the operation results obtained by combining a plurality of functions, thereby allowing the operator to understand the results more quickly.

Specifically, it provides a function that allows several types of combinations of function settings and a plurality of manuscripts that are optimal for the combinations to be prepared in advance, and which can be easily selected and executed.

On the other hand, the present invention provides a learning function that explains the operating procedure of the operation panel for the operator to actually set the selected combination of functions.

〔Example〕

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

FIG. 1-1 shows an external appearance of a copying apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

This apparatus is composed of two units: a document reading device A that reads a document image, and a printer B that reproduces the image on a recording material. The document reading device A is provided with an operation section A-1 and a document table pressure plate A-2. Figure 1-2 shows document reading device A,
A structural sectional view of printer B is shown. Place the original on document glass 3
The document is placed facing downward and is pressed onto the glass by the document table pressure plate 4. The original is illuminated by a fluorescent lamp 2, and the reflected light is transmitted to the CCD via mirrors 5, 7 and lens 6.
The light is focused on the surface of I.

Mirror 7 and mirror 5 move at a relative speed of 2:1. These optical systems are reciprocated at a constant speed by a DC servo motor 26 while applying PLL. 26 is a home position sensor that detects that the unit consisting of the fluorescent lamp 2 and mirror 7 is at the dotted line position 27. In addition, the outward path of the unit (from left to right) at the same magnification is 180m.
m/sec, and the return path (from right to left) is 800 mm/sec regardless of the magnification. The maximum document size that can be processed is A3, and the resolution is 400 dots/1 nch, which is the number of bits for the CCD1. Therefore, C.C.
A 5000-bit COD is used for DI.

The original image is scanned by this CCDI to obtain an image signal indicating the density of the image.

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

The image signal from the document reading device A is applied to a semiconductor laser for electro-optic conversion, and is irradiated via a collimator lens to a polyhedral mirror that rotates at high speed.The reflected light is incident on the photoreceptor 8 and scanned, thereby , an electrostatic latent image represented by the input image signal is formed on the photoreceptor 8. A pre-static eliminator 9 for uniformly charging the photoreceptor 8 as a process component that enables image formation on the photoreceptor 8. Total static elimination lamp 10. -Next charger 11. Secondary charger for assisting latent image formation by laser light 12. Front exposure lamp 13. A developing device 14 for visualizing and developing the latent image with toner. Paper feed kit that stores cut sheets 15. Paper feed roller 16 that pulls out sheets from the paper feed cassette. Paper feed guide 17. Registration rollers 18 that feed the sheet in accordance with the image on the photoreceptor 8
Transfer charger 19 degrees that transfers the toner image onto the sheet Separation roller 20 degrees that separates the sheet from the photoreceptor Conveyance guide 21 degrees that conveys the separated sheet Fixer 22 that fixes the toner image on the sheet by heat or pressure A tray 23 from which sheets with images recorded thereon are discharged is arranged. The speed of the photoreceptor 8 and the sheet conveyance system was 180 mm/sec.

The copying apparatus of this example has various types of intelligence such as image editing, and its functions include 1x in the range of 0.35 → 4.0x.
Variable magnification in % increments, trimming to extract only a specified area of the image, movement function to move the trimmed image to any position on the paper, function to detect the position coordinates of the document placed on the document table 3, etc. These functions operate individually or as a combination of multiple functions.

FIG. 2 shows the appearance of the document reading device A viewed from above.

An operation section 143 and a document table pressure plate 142 are provided on the top surface of the document reading device.

This is explained below. The operation unit 143 also displays information about a printer B (not shown) that is connected to the document reading device and performs image formation based on image information.

A start key 101 instructs to start document reading.

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

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

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

The photo key 111 is designated when a user wants to make a copy of a photo original. The high contrast key 112 is specified when the user wants to make the contrast (black and white) of the image clear. A negative/positive inversion key 113 inverts the white level and black level of the image.

The number of sheets display section 114 displays the set number of sheets and the remaining number of sheets during the copying operation. An indicator 115 displays the orientation of the document based on the copy magnification and paper size. Indicator 116 displays the paper size. The cassette selection key 117 specifies the paper feed stage of the printer. Equal magnification key 118, standard magnification key 119, auto magnification key 12
1 indicates the magnification of the variable size copy, and the indicator 122
displays the magnification during standard magnification.

The auto paper selection key 120 is used to automatically select a paper size based on the document size or the like. The liquid crystal display section 123 is composed of a 240 dot x 64 dot liquid crystal, and is displayed under the control of a microcomputer, which will be described later.

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

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

The document table pressure plate 142 presses the document on a document table (not shown) and has an operation section so that various settings can be made.

The digitizer 139 can import coordinate data on the board indicated by the touch pen 138 into the microcomputer. The coordinate data is recognized as position information on the document or magnification information shown at 141 in combination with the operation mode. Note that the magnification information can be displayed in bold (in this example, 35% 100% is displayed in a large size).

The zoom key 129 is a key for specifying the magnification. After pressing this key, the zoom coordinate area 141 is displayed using the touch pen 138 to specify the magnification.

The area designation key 130 is a key for designating an area for image processing. After pressing this key, any area can be designated by using a touch pen to designate a position on the document to be processed.

The movement key 131 is a key for moving the image, and after pressing this key, the desired position to be moved is specified using the touch pen and touch panel.

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

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

The demo key 134 is used when copying a document image according to a combination of a plurality of predetermined functions in a demonstration mode and monitoring the output image resulting from the combination of functions.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the internal circuit configuration of the document reading device A.

The CCD reading section 201 has a built-in CCD, a clock driver for the CCD, a signal amplifier, and an A/D converter. Image data converted into an 8-bit digital signal is output from the CCD reading section 201 and input to the shading correction section 202 .

After the shading correction unit 202 detects and corrects the shading amount of the light source, lens, etc., the image signal is temporarily stored in the shift memory unit 203. In addition to the shift memory, the shift memory section 203 includes a write address counter for writing image data into the memory, a read address counter for reading it, and the like.

The scaling/movement processing unit 204 shifts the image signal according to instructions from the CPU unit 209 by changing the clock for writing the image signal into the shift memory of the shift memory unit 203, the clock for reading the image signal from the shift memory, and the reading timing. It performs magnification and movement in the main scanning direction according to the mode set by the operator.

The image signal output from the shift memory section 203 is input to the density processing section 205, where it is converted to a desired density,
It is output to the trimming processing section 206. The trimming processing section 206 forcibly processes an arbitrary section of the image data of the main scanning line into white or black according to instructions from the CPU section 209, thereby making it possible to edit the image according to the mode set by the operator. The image signal output from the density processing section 205 is also input to the document position detection section 207 . Here, the position coordinates of the document placed on the document table glass 3 are detected.

A clock generation unit 208 generates a COD signal transfer lock, a shift memory read/write clock, etc. in synchronization with a horizontal synchronization signal BD that is synchronized with image recording of each line of the printer.

The CPU unit 209 is composed of a CPU, a timer circuit, and an I10 interface, and is connected to a ROM 210° RAM 211, each of the image processing blocks 201 to 208 mentioned above, a digitizer 222 of the operation unit, a key power unit 223, a liquid crystal controller 224, and a font ROM 225. , a liquid crystal driver 226, a liquid crystal 227 and a fluorescent lamp driver 213, a DC servo motor driver 214 for moving the optical system, and the like. Coordinate data is taken in from the digitizer 222.

The key input unit 223 is used for specifying the number of sheets and inputting selection signals for various functions using various keys provided on the operation unit 134 described above. The liquid crystal controller 224 is a font RO.
Using the information of M225, the liquid crystal driver 226 and liquid crystal 227 are driven to cause the liquid crystal display section 123 to perform a display operation.

The fluorescent lamp driver 213 performs 0N10FF control of the fluorescent lamp and the light amount control when the fluorescent lamp is turned on. The motor driver 214 controls the motor 212 based on speed data preset by the CPU according to the magnification.

219 is a position sensor for detecting the home position of the optical unit (home position sensor 2 in Figure 1-2).
6).

A copy data table is provided in the RAM 211,
The data necessary to execute the image processing mode (variable magnification, density, movement, cropping, etc.) set by the operator is set in this copy data table, and the CPU
The unit 209 enables image processing by controlling the operations of the aforementioned scaling/movement processing unit 204, density processing unit 205, and trimming processing unit 206 according to the data set in the RAM 211.

220 is a printer, and each connector JPSJR is connected to the document reading device by a cable 221. The CPU unit 209 controls the printer 220 through serial communication,
The image signal output from the trimming processing unit 206 is printed on paper. In addition, the manuscript reading device is Connector JP,
Printer 220 via cable 221 and connector JR
A horizontal synchronizing signal BD (Beam Detect) is obtained from the horizontal synchronizing signal BD (Beam Detect). This BD double signal signal is a signal indicating the timing at which the laser beam starts scanning the photoreceptor 8, and is generated by a BD sensor that detects the laser beam.

In addition to serial communication information and image signals, the CPU unit 209 outputs a sub-scanning synchronization signal VSYNC to the printer via connector JR. The printer starts registering the print paper in synchronization with the VSYNC signal. That is, the VSYNC signal corresponds to the leading edge of the print paper. The CPU unit 209 controls the movement of the image in the sub-scanning direction by controlling this VSYNC signal and the drive timing of the optical unit.

The demonstration mode when the operator operates the demo key 134 provided on the document table pressure plate 142 will be described below.

Furthermore, Fig. 4 shows the display state of the liquid crystal display section 123 in the demonstration mode, Fig. 5 shows an example of image processing in the demonstration mode, Fig. 6 shows the operating procedure of the CPU in the demonstration mode, and Fig. 7 shows the mode settings in the demonstration mode. The memory operations are shown respectively.

To move to demonstration mode, press demo key 13
Use 4.

After powering on, perform various initial settings (step S1),
Thereafter, the system is in a standby state for key input by the operator (step S2). If there is key input at this time, the process corresponding to the input key is executed (step S3).

On the other hand, when the demo key 134 is pressed, a display as shown in FIG. 4(a) is displayed on the liquid crystal display section 123 (step S4), and the state waits for input using the keys (referred to as touch keys) displayed on the liquid crystal display section 123 (step S4). Step 35). In this embodiment, eight types of image processing are set in advance as demonstration modes. In the display state shown in FIG. 4(a), the operator selects any one by operating the touch keys. Selection and input are performed by directly pressing the display position of the corresponding key on the display section with a finger.

Thereafter, an explanation screen corresponding to the selected mode is displayed (step S6). If the operator now selects demo 1 and presses the touch key 300, the liquid crystal display section 123 will display the fourth
The display will be as shown in figure (b). In this case, a mode is set according to the procedure described later to demonstrate 300% enlarged continuous shooting (step S7). The operator displays the demo chart prepared for demo 1 (Figure 5 (a)
)) on the original platen glass 3 according to the instructions on the display.

Thereafter, when the operator presses the start key 101 (step S8), copying is executed (step S8).
9), an output as shown in FIG. 5(b) is obtained.

11th whistle A M/a) Small Motoko Small
Layer
Using the demo chart shown in FIG. 5(C), an output as shown in FIG. 5(d) is obtained.

In this way, each demo setting has its own dedicated demo chart as shown in FIGS. 5(a) and 5(C), so that the introduced functions can be effectively expressed.

Furthermore, when the learning key 302 shown in FIG. 4(b) or (C) is pressed, the learning mode is entered (step S9).
. In this learning mode, a procedure will be explained in which the operator makes the same mode settings as the selected demonstration mode by inputting from the operation unit. The explanation is shown in Figures 4(f) to (h), which are screens that explain the operating method in text, and Figure 4(d), which is the screen that is displayed when actually making settings.
This is done in combination with (e).

For example, when selecting the learning mode for demo 1, in Figure 4 (f
) → Figure 4 (d) → Figure 4 (G) → Figure 4 (e) → Figure 4
They are displayed sequentially in the order shown in Figure (h).

Data necessary for the selected demonstration mode, such as enlargement ratio, density, cropping area, etc., is stored in the main body RAM 21.
The data is written to the copy data table on i, and upon output, the CPU refers to this and executes various controls. That is,
As shown in FIG. 7, the state of the copy data table corresponding to each demo setting is stored in the ROM 210 in advance, and the data corresponding to the selected demo is transferred to the RAM 210 for setting.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, processing operations that effectively combine various image processing functions possessed by the apparatus can be obtained with easy operation, and the understanding of the functions can be facilitated.

Furthermore, by explaining the actual operating procedures to obtain similar results, it becomes possible to understand the functions and learn how to operate them.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1-1 and 1-2 show a copying apparatus to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is an external view of the document reading device, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the internal circuit configuration of the document reading device. , FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the display state of the liquid crystal display section, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of image processing, FIG. 6 is a flowchart diagram showing the operating procedure of the CPU, and FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the memory operation. , 101 is a start key, 134 is a demo key, 139 is a digitizer,
142 is the document table pressure plate, 209 is the CPU section, 210 is the RO
M, 2111;! RAM-? 't6゜70th

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In an image processing apparatus equipped with a plurality of image processing functions, a storage means for storing in advance a plurality of mode information sets that enable processing operations by combining a plurality of functions; a selection means for selecting an item, a display means for displaying execution details of a processing operation that can be executed by the selected mode information set, and mode information selected by the selection means and displaying execution details of the processing operation. An image processing apparatus comprising: a control means for executing an image processing operation based on a set. (2) The image processing apparatus according to claim (1), characterized in that an input procedure for data necessary for image processing using the mode information set selected by the selection means is displayed.