JPS63245564A - Picture processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the operational efficiency of picture processing by displaying an variable/constant for instructing the succeeding processing on a display device together with picture information when the variable/constant is inputted by a user from an input device during the execution of an input. CONSTITUTION:Picture information transmitted from a facsimile or the like through a communication cable 115 is received by a communication input part 105 and stored in a picture display/storage part 102. At that time, the picture information is written on a drum 301 in accordance with a request from a CPU 101 and successively displayed on a CRT 110 by a display control device 109. When a character code corresponding to a required input variable/constant is inputted from a keyboard input part 106, the character code is transferred to a character drawing circuit 116 and a character is drawn. Character pattern signals are written in the storage part 102 in each character and read characters are displayed on the lower part of the display screen of the CRT 110.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to image processing I@ that electronically handles image information for recording, reproduction, transmission, etc. of image information.

(Prior art) In recent years, the number of devices that handle image information, such as copying machines, facsimiles, word processors, and electronic file devices, has increased, improving the efficiency of document handling in offices and making it easier to obtain high-quality information. The environment is getting better. however,
On the other hand, with the increase in the number of 0AII devices, handling of various 0.1m devices in offices has become complicated. Therefore, there is a desire for an OA system that can perform document processing in an integrated manner. As such an integrated OA system, a patent application was made in 1986.
There is an apparatus disclosed in No. 0-14211512.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) Although several types of image information have been provided by the above-mentioned conventional devices, they are not necessarily satisfactory in terms of operational performance. For example, when inputting image information from a scanner, outputting image information to a printer, or exchanging images via an external communication system, the user may continue executing the next process. Even if you try to give instructions, you cannot give instructions for the process, and furthermore, you cannot respond to the user. In particular, there is a problem in which when a user attempts to input parameters for the next process using the keyboard, the device does not accept the input (or even if it does, the parameters cannot be displayed. This is an umbrella flaw, especially in @places that perform advanced processing, where various parameters that require confirmation from the user are set in advance, and the user ends up waiting to input the next instruction until the previous processing is completed. Otherwise, the operational performance will be seriously degraded.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an image processing 1iW1 that allows instructions and confirmation of the next process even when a certain process is being executed.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) According to the present invention, a reading means for reading image information, a controlling means for controlling the reading means, an input means for inputting desired parameters, and processing means for converting the parameters input by the input means into character signals; means for displaying the image information input by the input means and the character signals converted by the processing means; and the control means and the processing means. An image processing apparatus is provided, which includes a management means having a function of processing each image in parallel.

[Operation] During execution of the first instructed process, for example, inputting image information from the input means, parameters for instructing the next process are input by the user from the input means. These instruction parameters are displayed on the display means together with the image information input from the input means, and even while one process is being executed, instructions for the next process can be given, improving the operability of the image processing apparatus.

[Embodiment] According to the circuit of the image processing apparatus shown in the first factor, a central control unit 101 constituted by a CPU is coupled to a system bus 113. This system bus 113 includes an image display storage section 102, an image input section 103, and an optical disk reading section 10.
4. A communication input section 105 and a keyboard input section 106 are connected. The image input unit 103 is connected to the scanner 107 and has a function of controlling the scanner 107 according to instructions from the central control unit 101 and transferring image data of image information read by the scanner 107 to the image bus 114 . The optical disc reading unit 104 is connected to the optical disc device 10B, controls the optical disc device 108 according to instructions from the central control unit 101, and reads the optical disc device IH.
It has a function of transferring image data transferred from the image bus 114 to the image bus 114. The communication input unit 105 is connected to an external communication cable 115 and inputs image data transferred from the outside to the image bus 11 according to instructions from the central control unit 101.
It has the function of transferring to 4. The keyboard input unit 106 inputs the data entered through the keyboard 1 to the central control unit 1.
It has a function to notify 01.

The character drawing circuit 116 has a character pattern generation circuit that generates a character pattern, selects a character pattern under the control of the central control unit 101, and outputs the character pattern to the image display storage unit f02 according to the sequence of drawing one character. The image display storage unit 102 is composed of a dual port memory that can access two types of data simultaneously. In this access, two two-dimensional address generation circuits (2D
-AG C).

accessed by addresses from 111 and 112,
The read image data is CR by the display control circuit 109.
Displayed on Tllo. The image display storage section 102 is coupled to an image input section 103, an optical disk reading section 104, and a communication input section 105 via an image bus 114.

FIG. 2 shows a systematic configuration of the device shown in FIG. 1 from the viewpoint of software. According to this diagram, the management circuit section 201 is shown corresponding to the central control section 101,
Similarly, a keyboard input control processing circuit 202, a character drawing control processing circuit 203, and a two-way input control processing circuit 204
, the optical disk reading control processing circuit 205, and the communication input control processing circuit 206 correspond to the keyboard input section 106, character drawing circuit 116, image input section 103, optical disk reading section 104, and communication input section 105, respectively. The control processing circuit 299 corresponds to other input/output circuit devices.

Next, the operation of the embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 1, 2, and 3. Management circuit section 201
When the start of operation, the management circuit section 201 first activates the control processing circuits (202 to 299) necessary for the processing.

Specifically, the management circuit unit 201 sets flags of necessary processing control circuits in the table shown in FIG. 7 to ON. Thereafter, the management circuit unit 201 sequentially searches the table according to the flow shown in FIG. 3, and calls the control processing circuit whose flag is ON. When it turns, image input control processing circuit 2
04 is called, this image input control processing circuit 20
4 operates according to the flow shown in FIG. That is, when the image input control processing circuit 204 receives a call, it first checks whether there is an execution request from another party. If there is an execution request, it is checked whether the previously requested process is currently being executed. If it is being executed, the image input control processing circuit 204 enters a return flow to enter a standby state until the next call is made from the management circuit unit 201. If it is not being executed, the image input control processing circuit 2
04 sets necessary parameters in the image input unit 103, instructs to start execution, and notifies the management circuit unit 201 of processing execution.

When the management circuit unit 201 recognizes the execution of the image input unit 103, it calls the keyboard input control processing circuit 202, for example. When the keyboard input control processing circuit 202 receives the call, it operates according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

That is, the keyboard input control processing circuit 202 checks whether data has been keyed in by the user. If keyed in, the input character code is read, this code is transferred to the character drawing circuit 116, and the management circuit unit 1
Returns to 01 to notify execution of character input.

When the management circuit unit 201 recognizes the key-in, it calls the character drawing control processing circuit 116. When the character drawing control processing circuit 116 receives the call, it operates according to the flowchart shown in FIG. That is, first, the character drawing control processing circuit 1
16 checks whether a character code has been transferred from the keyboard input tlJill processing circuit 202 or not. If a character code is transferred, it is checked whether the previously requested process is being executed. If it is being executed, return 70- is entered to wait for the next call from the management circuit unit 201. If it's not running,
Necessary parameters such as character codes are set in the character drawing circuit 116, and execution of character drawing is started. If no character code is transferred, the flow returns to the management circuit section 201.

As mentioned above, the management circuit unit 201 always manages each control processing circuit, and when the called control processing circuit executes the requested process, the execution is 0! It is called to request processing from other control processing circuits.

That is, even if a certain process is being executed, it is possible to instruct another process. Therefore, it is possible to execute another process during the processing time required for one process, and two or more processes can be executed simultaneously and in parallel.

A dual port memory is used in the image display storage unit 102 to simultaneously execute the two processes described above in parallel. This dual port memory is shown in FIG. 8, where a memory 301 having a capacity larger than that required for display
(e.g., DRAM) and a marpitter that receives access signals for writing and reading from both via signal lines 306 and 307 and assigning write and read timing to both the character drawing circuit and the control processing circuit. Marviter 302 is coupled to boats 303 and 304 via signal lines 311 and 312, respectively. The boats 303 and 304 are data and address boats, and are turned on and off by control signals input from the marviter via signal lines 311 and 312.

data/address buses 1 and 2 are ports 303 and 30
4 to the read modified write logic circuit 305, respectively. The read modified write logic circuit 305 once reads the contents of the memory 301, changes part of the subsequent contents, and rewrites the contents of the memory 301. Data obtained via the port 303 or 304 selected by the marviter 302 is used as the rewriting data and address.

Next, the operation of parallel processing of image data using the dual port memory will be specifically explained.

A scanner 107 reads image information on the document by line scanning. Image data is written to dual port memory 102 via image bus 114 for each line. In this case, in response to REQ2 from central control unit 101, ACK2 is returned and boat 2 is turned on. Image data transferred from the boat 2 via the image bus 114 and the data/address bus 309 is sequentially written to the DRAM 301 line by line via the read modified write logic circuit 305. DRAM3
The image data written in 01 is sequentially read line by line by the display control circuit 109 and input to the CRT 110. The CRT 110 displays image data line by line as shown in FIG.

The central 11J 111 section 101 issues a CALL to each section upon receiving ACK2. At this time, if a character code corresponding to a desired parameter is input from the keyboard input unit 106, the character code is transferred to the character drawing circuit 116 via the system bus 113.

The character drawing circuit 116 uses an internally provided character pattern generation circuit to draw a character corresponding to the input code according to a sequence of drawing one character. In addition, the central control unit 101
transmits REQl to marvita 302, and marvita 302
turns on boat 1 in response to REQI. Therefore, characters are written into the dual port memory 102 one by one by the character pattern signal sent from the character drawing circuit 116. The characters in the dual port memory 102 are read out,
When input to the CRTllo, for example, characters representing a command are displayed as shown at the bottom of the display screen in FIG. At this time, the image information of the document read by the scan 107 continues to be drawn line by line. Such parallel processing of image data and character drawing is performed by a two-dimensional address circuit 11 that can be accessed independently.
1 and 112 by addressing memory 102.

Next, the operation of parallel processing of image data of the optical disc device [108] will be explained.

Optical disc installation W! The image information stored in 108 is read line by line by optical disk reading section 104.

Image data for each line is written to dual port memory 102 via image bus 114. in this case,
In response to REQ2 from central control unit 101, ACK2 is returned and boat 2 is turned on. The image data transferred from the boat 2 via the image bus 114 and the data/address bus 309 is sent to the DR sequentially line by line via the read modified write logic circuit 305.
Written to AM301. Image data written to the DRAM 301 is sequentially read line by line by the display control circuit 109 and input to the CRT 110.

The CRT 110 displays image data line by line as shown in FIG.

Upon receiving ACK2, the central control unit 101 issues CALL to each unit. At this time, if a character code corresponding to a desired parameter is input from the keyboard input unit 106, the character code is transferred to the character drawing circuit 116 via the system bus 113.

The character drawing circuit 116 uses an internally provided character pattern generation circuit to draw a character corresponding to the input code according to a sequence of drawing one character. In addition, the central control unit 101
transmits REQl to the marvita 302, and the marvita 302
turns on boat 1 in response to REQl. Therefore,
Characters are written into the dual port memory 102 one by one by a character pattern signal sent from the character drawing circuit 11G. The characters in the dual port memory 102 are read out and input to the CRTllo, so that they are displayed as characters representing commands, for example, as shown at the bottom of the display screen in FIG. At this time, image data read from the optical disk 108 is continuously drawn line by line. Such parallel processing of image data and character drawing can be achieved by addressing the memory 102 using two-dimensional address circuits 111 and 112 that can be accessed independently.

Next, the operation when image information transmitted via the communication cable 115 is processed in parallel with input parameters will be described.

For example, image information transmitted from a facsimile or the like via the communication cable 115 is received by the communication input unit 105 . The communication input unit 105 transfers the received image information to the image bus 114 line by line. Image data for each line is written to dual port memory 102 via image bus 114. In this case, the central control unit 1
In response to REQ2 from 01, ACK2 is returned and boat 2 is turned on. Image bus 1 from boat 2
14 and the data/address bus 309 are sequentially written to the DRAM 301 line by line via the read modified write logic circuit 305. The image data written in the DRAM 301 is sequentially read line by line by the display υ1wJ circuit 109 and input to the CRT 110.

CRTllo displays image data line by line as shown in FIG.

Upon receiving ACK2, the central control unit 101 issues a CALL to each unit. At this time, the keyboard input section 10
When the character code corresponding to the desired input parameter is input from 6, the character code is transferred to the character drawing circuit 116 via the system bus 113. Character drawing circuit 11
Reference numeral 6 draws a character corresponding to the input code according to the sequence of drawing one character by a character pattern generation circuit provided inside.

In addition, the central control unit 101 transmits REQI to the marvita 302, and the marvita 302 responds to the REQI by sending the boat 1
Turn on. Therefore, characters are written into the dual port memory 102 one by one by the character pattern signal sent from the character drawing circuit 11G.

The characters in the dual port memory 102 are read out and transferred to the CRT.
By inputting the command to 110, the command is displayed as a character representing a command, for example, as shown at the bottom of the display screen in FIG. At this time, image data is continuously drawn for each line sent from the facsimile via the communication cable 115. Such parallel processing of data and character drawing is performed using the memory 10 by two-dimensional address circuits 111 and 112 that can be accessed independently.
This can be done by addressing 2.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, the user can input instructions or parameters for executing the next process even while the image information read by the input means is displayed, and the user can input instructions or parameters for executing the next process. It is possible to draw and display characters,
Various processes can be executed appropriately and efficiently while checking key human resources.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block circuit diagram of a document image processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram shown for explaining the operation of the document image processing device of the present invention in terms of software, and FIG. The figures are a flowchart for explaining the operation of the block diagram in Fig. 2, Fig. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the image input circuit, Fig. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of keyboard input, and Fig. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the image input circuit. FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a dual port memory, and FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a CRT display screen. 101... Central control unit, 102... Image display storage unit, 103... Image input unit, 104... Optical disk reading unit, 105... Communication input unit, 106... Keyboard input unit , 107...Scanner, l0JI...Optical disk device, 110...CRT, 111.112
... Two-dimensional address circuit, 113 ... System bus, 114 ... Image bus, 115 ... Communication cable, 116 ... Character drawing circuit, 117 ... Keyboard. Applicant's agent, patent attorney Takehiko Suzue, Figure 4, Figure 5, Figure 9, Procedural Amendments, Bo Gen Showa, 72. i14th Patent Office Commissioner Kunio Ogawa 1, Indication of the case Patent Application No. 1986-78665 2, Name of the invention Image processing device 3, Person making the amendment Relationship with the case Patent applicant (307) Toshiba Corporation 4 , Agent 5, Date of amendment order 7, Contents of amendment (1) In the third line of page 18 of the specification, the phrase "flowchart" is corrected to "flowchart, FIG. 7."

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) a reading means for reading image information, a control means for controlling the reading means, an input means for inputting desired parameters, a processing means for converting the parameters inputted by the input means into character signals, and the above-mentioned The method further comprises: means for displaying the image information input by the input means and the character signal converted by the processing means; and a management means having a function of processing each of the control means and the processing means in parallel. Characteristic image processing device. (2) The display means includes a dual port memory and a display control mechanism, and display of image information by the input means to the dual port memory and character drawing by the processing means are simultaneously processed. The image processing device according to scope 1. (3) The image processing device according to claim 1, wherein the reading means is constituted by a two-dimensional scanning device.