JP2005169798A - Image printing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate image selection from an index print at the time of direct printing of a digital camera.
A recording medium of a printer and a digital camera, and an annot pen (a writing instrument that reads a background pattern to detect an absolute position on a sheet and transfers it by Bluetooth), and directly indicates the number of prints with an annot pen on an index print. Write.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for selectively printing an image.

Conventionally, when a still image recording apparatus such as a digital camera prints the still image, the operation of selecting an image to be printed from a recording medium and issuing a print instruction has been very complicated. Therefore, various proposals have recently been made to solve this problem. For example, as in Patent Document 1, a photographed image is printed once on an index sheet having a good list property from a recording medium, and the selected index image and designation of the number of sheets are preliminarily displayed on the index sheet by looking at the printed index image. There has been proposed a method in which writing is performed in a check box provided, this is read by a reading device, and a main printing operation is performed in accordance with an instruction of the index sheet.
JP 2002-273973 A

  However, the conventional method requires an index sheet reading device additionally written in the system, and the size and cost of the device cannot be avoided. Also, even when specifying the number of sheets to be printed, settings other than a predetermined number cannot be set, and there is a problem that flexibility is lacking.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an image printing system that solves the above-described problems and can easily select a print image.

  As means for achieving such an object, the present invention has means having the following configuration.

  The image printing system of the present invention is configured to detect the absolute position on the paper by tracing on the paper on which a predetermined background pattern is printed, and to transmit the position information to other devices by wireless communication. A pen capable of writing a handwriting on the paper, a printer having a function of printing the background pattern detectable by the pen and capable of printing an image, and image information for printing by the printer An image printing system comprising: a recording medium for recording the image information; and a controller that controls the printer to print the image information read from the recording medium in a predetermined format. When printing the image information by controlling the image, the printer prints the image information and the background pattern on the paper, and further prints the paper on the printed paper. In receiving the information writing was carried out, characterized in that it is capable of executing the further printing operation.

  According to the present invention, a background pattern is printed on a sheet together with an index image, and the designation necessary for the actual printing is performed using a dedicated pen capable of detecting the absolute position on the sheet by reading the background pattern. Thus, it is possible to give a print instruction simply and easily.

(Example 1)
FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an image printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. A printer 101 is capable of printing such as index printing and normal printing. A recording medium read / write device 102 performs a read / write operation from a medium storing image data. Reference numeral 103 denotes a digital camera for taking a still image. A recording medium 104 records an image recorded by the digital camera 103. Reference numeral 105 denotes a pen, which can perform normal writing on the index sheet and can transmit position information of the pen on the index sheet. Reference numeral 106 denotes an index sheet that is printed by the printer apparatus 101 and additionally written by the pen 105.

  The recording medium read / write device 102 may be built in the printer device 101. Alternatively, the recording medium read / write device 102 may be included in the digital camera 103.

  Connections for data transfer of the recording medium read / write device 102, printer device 101, and digital camera 103 are wirelessly connected, but any or all of them may be wired. Further, the position information of the pen 105 is transferred wirelessly.

  FIG. 2 shows the configuration of each apparatus constituting the image printing system of FIG. For the sake of convenience, the data transfer-like connection between the devices in FIG.

  FIG. 2A shows the structure of the printer apparatus 101. The printer controller 101 communicates with another apparatus via a weak radio wave communication interface, and the controller prints an image or a character graphic on paper based on the received data. Is.

  b) is a structure of the recording medium read / write device 102, which reads image data from the recording medium and transfers it to another device via the weak radio communication interface, or according to a command sent via the weak radio communication interface. The image data in the recording medium is deleted and the file name is changed.

  c) is a structure of the digital camera 103, which records and saves an image photographed by the photographing mechanism in a recording medium, transfers the image data to another device via the weak radio communication interface, or via the weak radio communication interface. The image data in the recording medium is deleted and the file name is changed in accordance with the command sent.

  d) is the structure of the pen 105, which reads a predetermined background pattern with a two-dimensional image sensor built in the pattern reading mechanism, thereby detecting the absolute position on the paper to be written, and using the weak radio communication interface To the other device.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, the control subject of the entire system is located in any one of the control controllers in the printer device 101, the recording medium read / write device 102, the digital camera 103, and the pen 105. .

  In the embodiment of the present invention, when the recording medium interface 102 is built in the printer device 101 or included in the digital camera 103, a structure in which the control controller is shared is also possible.

  The operation mode of the image printing system of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the description of this example, it is assumed that the control subject of all the control systems described above is built in the control controller of the printer 101, and all the data transfer between the devices uses close proximity wireless communication using weak radio waves. It will be explained as a thing.

  FIG. 3 a) shows the image data of the recording medium 104 in FIG. 1 output from the printer apparatus 101 as an index print by superimposing a background pattern that can be read by the pen 105.

  Here, an example of a background pattern is shown using FIG. As shown in the figure, the dot pattern printed on the background is composed of finer dots, and each dot has a different pattern, which is read by the pattern reading mechanism built in the pen, The absolute position is detected. The background point in each figure schematically shows a fine dot pattern that can be read. Actually, the two-dimensional image built into the pen is small enough to be difficult to recognize with general vision including FIG. The sensor may have a size that can be sufficiently discriminated, or may be printed with a specific color or printed with a color outside visible light.

  Returning to FIG. 3, the index print in FIG. 3 a) is a printer 101 in which image data is read from the recording medium 104 from the medium reading device 102 and the image data is arranged in a list based on the data, and its surroundings. A portion that explicitly indicates the accompanying writing position of the image is printed.

  Next, b) in the figure is an example in which “designation of the number of sheets for printing a plurality of images” is performed in a). As shown in the figure, the number of sheets is directly written on the image or around the image with the pen 105. Then, the pen 105 transfers the position information on the index print to the printer 101 as the control subject at any time, and the printer 101 reads from the information that “the written characters are numbers” and “ It is judged and memorized whether it was written above (or around).

  The operation c) is an example of “deleting an image”. As shown in the figure, a symbol indicating direct deletion with the pen 105, in this case, an X mark is described on or around the image. Then, the pen 105 transfers the position information on the index print to the printer 101 as the control subject at any time, and the printer 101 reads from the information that “the written one is an X mark” and “what image the mark is. It is judged and memorized whether it was written on (or around).

  The operation d) is an example in the case of performing “collective number designation for printing a plurality of images”. As shown in the figure, a line is drawn with the pen 105 so as to surround a plurality of images, and the number of sheets is directly written with the pen 105 in the closed space. Then, the position information on the index print is transferred from time to time to the printer 101 which is the main control body, and the printer 101 determines from the information that “a line indicating a certain range has been drawn” and the inside thereof. Determine what the image is in, and then determine if the written letter is a number and whether the number is written on (or around) the image inside the enclosed space To do.

  The operation e) is an example in the case of “changing the file name of the image data”. As shown in the figure, the changed file name is written directly on or around a certain image with the pen 105. Then, the pen 105 transfers the position information on the index print to the printer 101 as the control subject at any time, and the printer 101 determines from the information that “the written character is a character” “ It is judged and memorized whether it was written above (or around).

  The index print after performing all the writing operations b) to e) is as shown in f). In the figure, “image a is 2 sheets, image b is 3 sheets, image c is 1 sheet, images f, g, i, and k are each printed 4 sheets, image d and image j are deleted from the recording medium, image h Will change the file name to image Z ". Thereafter, when the main printing is performed from the printer, the number of printed sheets, the deletion of the image data, and the change of the file name are performed as previously described in g).

  FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of another operation mode of this embodiment.

  FIG. 6A shows an index print from the printer. Unlike FIG. 3, a background pattern that can be read by the pen 105 is printed on a portion to be printed using the image data of the recording medium 104 as an index. Instead, it is output from the printer device 101 so as to print only on other portions.

  In FIG. 5B, as in the first embodiment, “two images a, three images b, one image c, four images d are printed, and images e and f are recording media. Delete from ". However, since the pen 105 cannot acquire position information in a portion where there is no readable background pattern, the printer 101 cannot actually determine the instruction for the number of images to the image d and the instruction to delete the image data for the image f.

  As a result, as shown in c), printing of 2 images a, 3 images b, and 1 image c with recognized instructions and deletion of image data of the image e from the recording medium is completed. Will be.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an image printing system of the present invention. (A)-(d) is the figure which showed the structure of each apparatus of an image printing system. (A)-(g) is a figure for demonstrating the operation | movement form of the image printing system of this invention. (A)-(c) is a figure for demonstrating another operation | movement form of the image printing system of this invention. 3 illustrates a background pattern output from the printer apparatus of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

101 Printer device
102 Recording medium read / write device
103 Digital camera
104 Recording media
105 Pen with built-in position information reading function
106 Index sheet

Claims (6)

The absolute position on the paper can be detected by tracing on the paper on which a predetermined background pattern is printed, and the position information can be transmitted to other devices by wireless communication. A writable pen,
A printer having a function of printing the background pattern detectable by the pen and capable of printing an image;
A recording medium for recording image information to be printed by the printer;
A controller for controlling the image information read from the recording medium to be printed in a predetermined format by the printer;
When printing the image information under the control of the controller, the printer prints the image information and the background pattern on the paper, and further receives information written on the printed paper with the pen. Further, an image printing system capable of executing a printing operation.   2. The pen according to claim 1, wherein the pen can select a desired image by performing a predetermined writing operation on the paper, and the printer selects the image selected by the pen based on the selection operation. An image printing system characterized by enabling printing.   3. The image printing system according to claim 1, wherein the printer and the pen are connected by close proximity wireless communication using minute output, infrared rays, or wired.   2. The image printing system according to claim 1, wherein the controller is built in a printer.   3. The image printing system according to claim 2, wherein the writing operation is written on an image printed on the paper.   3. The image printing system according to claim 2, wherein the writing operation writes in a predetermined writing position around the image printed on the paper.

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