JP2014131193A - Image processor, control method of image processor and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image processor capable of dividing an image according to a specification by a user and specifying a different output result with respect to each division data.SOLUTION: An image processor is characterized in comprising: division acceptance means for accepting a specification of division with respect to a print object image displayed on a touch panel; image division means for dividing the print object image according to the specification accepted by the division acceptance means; division image print setting means for accepting a print setting with respect to the division image divided by the image division means; and printout means for printing the image out according to the print setting set by the division image print setting means.

Description

  The present invention relates to an image output control apparatus, an image output control method, and a program for outputting an output image with an arbitrary setting when outputting a document and an image.

  A page division function for dividing and outputting a single image into a plurality of images is realized by a copying machine or the like. In this case, the division range is equally divided by the number designated by the user.

  For example, when one image is divided into two images, the original image is divided up and down or left and right and outputted.

  Patent Document 1 proposes a division method in which image data is divided into predetermined areas and unnecessary divided areas are deleted and printed.

JP 2002-51207 A

  However, the page division according to the prior art is such that the division unit is equally divided into four divisions and two divisions. Therefore, information in the vicinity of the center of the document is divided and output. Also, the output designation (magnification, number of copies, etc.) for the divided images is a common setting.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus that can divide an image according to a user's designation and can designate different output results for each divided data.

  A division accepting unit that accepts a designation of division for the print target image displayed on the touch panel, an image dividing unit that divides the print target image in accordance with the designation accepted by the accepting unit, and a print for the divided image divided by the image dividing unit A divided image print setting unit that accepts the setting, and the image is printed out according to the print setting set by the divided image print setting unit.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to divide an image according to a user's specification, and to specify different output results for each divided data.

It is a hardware block diagram which shows an example of the hardware configuration of the image processing apparatus in this invention. It is a functional block diagram which shows an example of a function structure of the image processing apparatus in this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the touch panel of the image processing apparatus in this invention. It is an image figure of division designation in existing technology. It is an image figure which shows an example of the page division | segmentation designation | designated process of the image processing apparatus in this invention. It is an image figure which shows an example of the synthetic | combination designation | designated process of the image processing apparatus in this invention. It is an image figure which shows an example of the printing range designation | designated process of the image processing apparatus in this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the print range setting screen of the image processing apparatus in this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the operation screen of the print designation | designated process of the image processing apparatus in this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the output image edit screen of the image processing apparatus of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the whole process of the image processing apparatus of this invention. 3 is a divided image management table for managing divided data of the image processing apparatus of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a hardware configuration diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of an image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

  In the figure, 100 is a controller unit that controls each part in the image processing apparatus, 112 is an operation unit, 123 is a scanner unit, and 125 is a printer unit.

The operation unit 112 is configured to be able to input a command with a hard key such as a numeric keypad for inputting numbers and a start key for executing processing, and a liquid crystal touch panel.
The operation unit 112 provides a user interface for the user to operate the image processing apparatus.

  The operation unit 112 is configured to input settings and information to the image processing apparatus by touching (pressing down) icons and buttons (or hard keys) representing setting items displayed on the touch panel. .

  The scanner unit 123 reads an image such as a document as image data. The printer unit 125 conveys the recording paper and prints the image data as a visible image on the recording paper.

  The controller unit 100 is connected to the scanner unit 123 via the bus 122 and connected to the printer unit 125 via the bus 124. Further, the controller unit 100 is connected to another device via the LAN 113, the public line (WAN) 114, or the wireless 115, and performs input / output control of image information and device information.

  A CPU 101 installed in the controller unit 100 is a controller that controls the entire system. A RAM 102 is a system work memory for the CPU 101 to operate, and is also an image memory for temporarily storing image data. The ROM 103 is a boot ROM. The ROM 103 stores a system boot program.

The HDD 104 is a hard disk drive, and stores system software, image data, and all wireless communication information (wireless communication specifications) of the communication unit 111 described later.

  In this image processing apparatus, the number of functions can be increased by installing an application (hereinafter referred to as “application”) in which a function desired to be used is installed. When the application is installed, application programs for operating various functions are stored in the RAM 102 and the HDD 104 on the image processing apparatus.

  The operation unit I / F 106 installed in the controller unit 100 is an interface unit with the operation unit 112 that is a user interface (UI), and outputs data to be displayed on the operation unit 112 to the operation unit 112. To do. At the same time, the operation unit I / F 106 plays a role of transmitting the information input and instructed by the user from the operation unit 112 to the CPU 101.

  A network unit 109 installed in the controller unit 100 is connected to the LAN 113 and inputs / outputs information. The MODEM 110 is connected to the public line 114 and inputs / outputs information.

  A communication unit 111 installed in the controller unit 100 is connected to a wireless (WIRELESS) 115 via an antenna (not shown), and inputs and outputs information. The communication unit 111 can perform a plurality of types of wireless communication. Each device described above is arranged on the system bus 107.

  An image bus (ImageBus) I / F 105 in the controller unit 100 is a bus bridge that connects a system bus 107 and an image bus 108 that transfers image data at high speed and converts a data structure.

  In each device arranged on the image bus 108, a raster image processor (RIP) 116 expands the PDL code into a bitmap image. The device I / F unit 117 connects the scanner unit 123 or the printer unit 125 to the controller unit 100.

A scanner image processing unit 118 disposed on the image bus 108 corrects, processes, or edits input image data. The printer image processing unit 119 performs correction, resolution conversion, and the like suitable for the printer unit 125 on the print output image data. The image rotation unit 120 rotates image data. The image processing unit 121 performs compression / decompression processing such as JPEG, JBIG, MMR, and MH, format conversion processing to PDF and TIFF, OCR processing, and encryption / decryption processing on image data.
FIG. 2 is a functional configuration diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of the image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

  The image processing apparatus includes functions of a display unit 201, a division receiving unit 202, a divided image print setting unit 203, a number / size setting unit, a divided image composition processing unit 205, and a print output unit 206.

  The display unit 201 displays an image (original image) to be printed. This image may be displayed and used by a user who performs a copy operation, or may be displayed by selecting an image stored in the HDD of the image processing apparatus.

  The divided image receiving unit 202 receives a designation for dividing the print target image displayed on the display unit 201. The divided area can be designated by the user tracing (contacting) the screen with a finger, or the designation can be received using an input device such as a touch pen.

  A print setting unit 203 for divided images sets print items for an image obtained by dividing an image into part images (divided images) as specified by the division receiving unit 202. The print items are settings such as the composition of the divided images, the number of copies to be printed, and the output size, and can be individually set for each of the divided images. Accordingly, for example, it is possible to divide the images into three images A to C, and print out the images in different sizes and different numbers.

  The display unit 201, the division receiving unit 202, and the divided image print setting unit 203 are displayed on the touch panel of the image processing apparatus, specify a divided image from the display screen, and accept print settings for the image. .

  The number of copies / size processing unit 204 sets the number of copies / size designated by the print setting unit 203 for the divided image. The divided image composition processing unit 205 performs a process of combining divided images set by the print setting unit 203 for divided images.

The print output unit 206 prints out the divided image with the contents set by the number of copies / size processing unit 204 and the divided image composition processing unit 205.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a touch panel of the image processing apparatus according to the present invention.
This corresponds to the operation unit 112 in FIG. 1, and includes a display unit 201, an input unit 202, and a determination button 203.

  The image data read by the scanner unit 123 is displayed on the display unit 201, and settings such as division, composition, and range designation related to print settings are performed by the input unit 202. When the setting is performed and the determination button 203 is pressed, the printer unit 125 performs print output.

The determination button 203 functions as a determination button when the application according to the present invention is being executed, and functions as a start button otherwise.
FIG. 4 is an image diagram of division designation in the existing technology.

  In the case of page division printing, a page is divided into A402 and B403 with a dotted line image with respect to the original image 401, and is output one by one.

The division method (2in1, 4in1, etc.) can be specified by the user. Although the number of output sheets can be specified, A and B cannot be specified separately, and each is output by the specified number. (Same number)
FIG. 5 is an image diagram showing an example of page division designation processing of the image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

Three patterns from pattern 1 to pattern 3 will be described. Note that the page division is not limited to this pattern, and various combinations are possible.
<Pattern 1>

  An original image 501 is an image diagram of the original image read by the scanner unit. It is displayed on the touch panel of the image processing apparatus.

  When the user designates a dotted line, it is divided into part A and part BC. By designating the paper size and the number of copies of the divided data on the touch panel, the data is printed out as images such as the print image A502 and the print image B503.

  Here, it is specified that one part is output at A4 size for part A and two parts are output at A4R for part BC.

The print image A502 is enlarged to A4 size (or reduced. Depending on the size of the original document. If the original document is A4, it is enlarged) and one copy is output.
The print image BC503 is enlarged / reduced to A4R size and output in two copies.
<Pattern 2>

  Similar to Pattern 1, when the original document 511 is divided by a dotted line, the original document 511 is divided into three parts: a part A, a part BCDE, and other parts.

  It is specified to output 2 parts at 200% enlargement for part A, 3 parts at 100% (no enlargement / reduction) for part BCDE, and 0 parts (no output) for other parts.

The print image A 512 is enlarged 200% and printed in two copies. The print image BCDE 513 is printed in three copies with the original size unchanged, and the other parts are not printed out.
<Pattern C>

As with Pattern 1 and Pattern 2, when the original document 521 is designated with a dotted line and printing is set for each part, part AE522 is enlarged by 1 part for A4R, and part DH523 is enlarged by 150%, and 1 part is printed. Is output.
A hatched portion 524 surrounded by a dotted line is designated as 0 and is not printed out.

Thus, in the division designation process, it is possible to divide the original document at the portion designated by the user and print the required number of copies of each part at a desired size. It is also possible not to print unnecessary parts.
FIG. 6 is an image diagram illustrating an example of the composition specifying process of the image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

  Similar to the page division designation process, when the document is scanned by the scanner unit, the original document 601 is displayed on the touch panel of the image processing apparatus.

When the user designates a dotted line, it is divided into three parts: a part AE, a part BCFG, and a part DH. By accepting designation to synthesize part AE and part DH, part AEDH 602 and part BCFD 603 are created.
Settings relating to the print size and the number of copies can be made in the same way as the page division designation shown in FIG.

In this way, in the composition designation process, the original document is divided at the part designated by the user, and each part is synthesized, whereby a new part combining desired parts can be created and printed out.
FIG. 7 is an image diagram illustrating an example of a print range designation process of the image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

  Similar to the page division designation process and the composition designation process, when the document is scanned by the scanner unit, the original document 701 is displayed on the touch panel of the image processing apparatus.

  When the user designates a dotted line, it is divided into a part AE, a part BF, and a part CDGH. When the user sets the part BF to “OFF”, the part AECCDGH 702 is created. The part AE and the part CDGH may be combined and printed out, or the part BF may be deleted from the original image 701 and printed out.

As described above, in the print range designation process, it is possible to perform flexible print output by dividing the original document into parts designated by the user and designating parts that are not to be printed.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a print range setting screen of the image processing apparatus according to the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a screen for performing detailed settings relating to printing when specifying the printing process of FIGS.

The main screen 801 is displayed after the original document is scanned or by selecting an image stored in the HDD of the image processing apparatus. By pressing a print detail setting screen button 811 on the main screen 801, a print detail setting screen 802 is displayed. When the setting is completed on the print detail setting screen, the screen returns to this screen and print output is started by pressing the print start button.

The print detail setting screen 802 is provided with an image division screen 821 and a print setting screen 822. The original image is displayed on the image division screen 821, and the original image is divided into parts by the above-described dotted image by designating the image with a finger or a touch pen.
Print settings for the divided parts are performed using the print setting screen 822.

When the cancel button 812 is pressed, the set content is discarded and the screen returns to the main screen 801. When the setting end 813 is pressed, the set contents are saved and the screen returns to the main screen 801.
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of an operation screen for print designation processing of the image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

  The original image is displayed in the image division area 911, and the user can draw a division line at an arbitrary position. When the dividing line is drawn by the user, the original image is divided into parts according to the dividing line and displayed in the print setting area 912. The dividing line is a line that is virtually drawn as an image, not actually drawn in the image.

By performing print settings for the parts in the print setting area 912, the print settings are reflected and displayed in a state 913. According to this example, part 1 is printed by A4, 1 part, part 2 is printed by 0, and part 3 is printed by A4R.
FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of an output image editing screen of the image processing apparatus of the present invention.
The original image is displayed on the image division area 1011 on the print detail setting screen 1001.

  When the user draws the division lines L1 and L2 at arbitrary positions, the divided part images are displayed in the print setting area 1012.

  When combining the divided images, the reference image (reference image) on the print setting area 1012 is selected. For example, the operation for joining the part 3 to the right side of the part 1 will be described below.

  When the part 1 is selected on the print setting area 1012, a pop-up screen 1003 for selecting setting contents is displayed. On the pop-up screen 1003, a menu for specifying the number of copies 1021, size specification 1022, and combination specification 1023 is displayed. In this case, when a join designation 1023 is pressed, a join position designation screen 1004 is displayed.

  Buttons for designating the positions (up / down / left / right) of the images to be combined are displayed from 1024 to 1027. When the right 1027 is pressed, the combined position specifying screen 1004 is closed and the print range setting screen is displayed again.

  Thereafter, when the image 3 to be combined is selected in the print setting area 1012, a new part 4 in which the divided images are combined is created and displayed on the print setting area 1014 (print detailed setting screen 1002). .

  When specifying the number of copies to be printed for a divided part, select the divided part on the print setting area 1014, press the number of copies designation button 1021 from the displayed pop-up screen 1003, and input the number of copies from the hard key. When the input of the number of copies is completed, the set value is displayed under the parts on the print setting area 1014.

  When designating an output size for a divided part, a divided part on the print setting area 1014 is selected, and a size designation button 1022 is pressed from a pop-up screen 1003 displayed.

  When the size designation button 1022 is pressed, a pop-up on the screen 1005 is displayed to select standard / variable. In the print detail setting screen 1006, the image division area 1015 displays the selected divided parts, paper size, and print range on the divided parts.

  Here, by selecting the paper size and changing the size, the print range on the divided data changes to the selected paper size.

  The printing range on the paper size can be moved and the size can be changed, and the user can specify an arbitrary size at an arbitrary position. When the size is changed, the magnification is automatically calculated and reflected under the part image in the print setting area 1016.

When the setting is to be ended, the setting end button 1028 on the print detail setting screen 1006 is pressed to return to the print screen and start printing to output the information set in the divided parts.
FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the overall processing of the image processing apparatus of the present invention.

  It is a flowchart which shows the output image creation process of the image processing apparatus in this embodiment, and S1101-S1117 shows a processing step.

  First, in step S1101, an image as an output source is read into the image forming apparatus by a user operation.

  In step S1102, the user presses a print detail setting screen button 811 from the main screen 801 to determine that the user starts setting page division designation, and displays the target image on the touch panel on the image forming apparatus.

The division designation is repeated until the user presses the setting end button 813 that is a page division designation completion operation.
In step S1103, it is determined whether or not to split the image read by the user.

  When the user designates page division, an input operation is permitted to receive a division designation operation for the original image output to the image division area.

  In step S1104, for the image output to the original image output to the image division area, the division line arbitrarily designated by the user is output on the output image.

  In step S1105, the coordinates of the division line designated by the user are analyzed, a part image obtained by separating the image displayed in the image division area by the division line is created, and the part image is output to the print setting area. A plurality of division lines can be set.

  In step S1106, it is determined whether or not the combination setting has been selected for the image data divided by the user. If the join setting has been made, the process proceeds to step S1107. If the join setting has not been selected, the process proceeds to step S1111.

  In step S1107, when the user designates a part image in the print setting area, a pop-up screen for selecting setting contents is displayed.

  When the join designation button is pressed, a screen 1004 for designating a join position for the selected part image is displayed.

  In step S1108, a combination position is designated by selecting buttons B1024 to B1027. For example, when the image is to be combined on the right side, the right button 1027 is pressed.

  When any one of the buttons B1024 to B1027 is pressed, the combination position designation screen 1004 is closed and the print detail setting screen 1001 is returned.

  In step S1109, a part image to be combined is selected from the images displayed in the print setting area.

  In step S1110, an image is created by combining the image specified in step S1109 with the image specified in step S1107 on the side specified in step S1108. The created image is additionally displayed in the print setting area.

  In step S <b> 1111, it is determined whether print settings for the print size and the number of copies have been selected for the divided image. If it is selected, the process proceeds to step S1112, and if it is not selected, a loop is determined.

  Note that the processing from step S1112 to step S1116 designates the output size and the number of output copies, and the designation order is not particular. Further, a default value can be set in order to omit input by the user.

  In step S1112, when the user presses the size designation button, a pop-up on the screen 1005 is displayed, and fixed / variable is selected.

  If the standard designation has been made, the process advances to step S1113 to accept designation of a standard size that can be set on the corresponding image forming apparatus.

  On the other hand, if variable is selected, in step S1114, the magnification and print area are specified by changing the print range displayed on the print setting area.

  In step S1115, the divided part image displayed on the print setting area is selected, and the user inputs a numerical value from the hard key to the copy number designation button, whereby the number of output copies is determined.

  In step S1116, the number of copies input in step S1115 is displayed on the divided part image displayed on the print setting area.

In step S1117, the divided part image displayed in the print setting area is printed in the number of copies designated in step S1115 with the scaling designation designated in step S1113 or step S1114.
The divided part image not designated in step S1115 is not output and is not printed.
FIG. 12 is a divided image management table for managing divided data of the image processing apparatus of the present invention.

  The divided image management table 1200 stores the following items. It is created when print settings for divided images are made on the touch panel.

  NO 1201 is a unique number for specifying a part-divided image, and the name (part name) of the divided image is stored in the image 1202. The name is assumed to be named by the image processing apparatus when the divided image is created.

  The size / magnification 1203 stores the size / magnification set for each divided image, and the number of copies 1204 stores the number of copies set for each divided image.

  The reference image 1205 is stored when the setting for combining the divided images in FIG. 10 is performed. The reference image is stored, and the combination position 1206 is the position specified on the combination position designation screen. The combined image 1207 is stored as an image to be combined with the reference image.

  For example, part 4 is a divided image that is output with a part of output size A4 and is synthesized by combining part 3 on the right side of part 1 as a reference.

  Although one embodiment has been described above, the present invention can take an embodiment as, for example, a system, apparatus, method, program, or recording medium, and specifically includes a plurality of devices. The present invention may be applied to a system including a single device.

  The program according to the present invention is a program that can be executed by a computer according to the processing method of the flowchart shown in the present invention. The storage medium according to the present invention stores a program that can be executed by a computer. The program in the present invention may be a program for each processing method of each device.

  As described above, a recording medium that records a program that implements the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus, and a computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus stores the program stored in the recording medium. It goes without saying that the object of the present invention can also be achieved by executing the reading.

  In this case, the program itself read from the recording medium realizes the novel function of the present invention, and the recording medium storing the program constitutes the present invention.

  As a recording medium for supplying the program, for example, a flexible disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD-R, DVD-ROM, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, EEPROM, silicon A disk, solid state drive, or the like can be used.

  Further, by executing the program read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS (operating system) operating on the computer based on an instruction of the program is actually It goes without saying that a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by performing part or all of the processing and the processing is included.

  Furthermore, after the program read from the recording medium is written to the memory provided in the function expansion board inserted into the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion board is based on the instructions of the program code. It goes without saying that the case where the CPU or the like provided in the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

  Further, the present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single device. Needless to say, the present invention can be applied to a case where the present invention is achieved by supplying a program to a system or apparatus. In this case, by reading a recording medium storing a program for achieving the present invention into the system or apparatus, the system or apparatus can enjoy the effects of the present invention.

Furthermore, by downloading and reading a program for achieving the present invention from a server, database, etc. on a network using a communication program, the system or apparatus can enjoy the effects of the present invention.
In addition, all the structures which combined each embodiment mentioned above and its modification are also included in this invention.

100 Controller unit 101 CPU
102 RAM
103 ROM
104 HDD
105 Image bus I / F
106 Operation unit I / F
109 Network Department

Claims (7)

Division accepting means for accepting designation of division for the print target image displayed on the touch panel;
Image dividing means for dividing the image to be printed in accordance with the designation received by the receiving means;
Divided image print setting means for accepting print settings for the divided images divided by the image dividing means;
An image processing apparatus, wherein the image is printed out in accordance with a print setting set by the divided image print setting means.   The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the division receiving unit receives a designation related to the division of the divided image by a user touching the print target image displayed on the touch panel.   The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print setting for the divided image is at least the number of copies of the divided image or the output size. Divided image designation means for accepting designation of a plurality of the divided images;
Divided image combining means for combining the images specified by the divided image specifying means to generate a new divided image;
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:   5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the divided image synthesizing unit generates a new divided image by removing the divided image designated by the divided image designating unit from the print target image. A division acceptance step for accepting a division designation for the print target image displayed on the touch panel;
An image dividing step of dividing the print target image in accordance with the designation received in the receiving step;
A divided image print setting step for accepting print settings for the divided image divided by the image dividing step;
A control method for an image processing apparatus, wherein the image is printed out according to a print setting set in the divided image print setting step. The image processing device
Division accepting means for accepting designation of division for the print target image displayed on the touch panel;
Image dividing means for dividing the image to be printed in accordance with the designation received by the receiving means;
Divided image print setting means for accepting print settings for the divided images divided by the image dividing means;
A program that functions as an image processing apparatus that prints out the image according to print settings set by the divided image print setting means.

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