GB2066610A - Process for recording optical information - Google Patents

Abstract

Selection areas of a document 1 are marked with a colour 2, which may be placed coincident with the selected area or may be placed in a margin. The coloured areas are detected by scanning the document and comparing the strength of the scanning beam 6 at different optical wavelengths at 9 and 10. Only the marked areas of the documents are read by a copying apparatus 13, either as the areas are identified, or by storing the coordinates of the area and scanning them on the return scan. Information from the marked area may be copied immediately or transmitted as a facsimile signal or may be fed with other such information to an intermediate store for further processing such as rearrangement before a copy is produced. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Process for recording optical information The invention relates to a process for recording optical information located on an original wherein the original is scanned point by point and an electrical signal is produced that corresponds to the brightness and/or colour of each of the scanning points.

The problem underlying the invention is to provide a process with which it is possible to copy freely selected areas of an original in simple manner.

The invention provides a process for recording optical information located on an original, wherein selected areas of the original are marked with a colour, and the original is scanned point by point and an electrical signal is produced that corresponds to the brightness and/or colour of each of the scanning points, wherein the local coordinates of the areas marked with a colour are stored and only the information within the areas defined by the stored local coordinates is read.

Thus the operator needs only to mark on the surface of the original the areas that interest him, for example, using a yellow felt-tipped pen, and to insert the original into a copying apparatus in the customary manner. When the copying operation has started, the scanning device of the copying apparatus can identify these marked areas, for example, by means of an optical filter arrangement, the coordinates being stored and only the information contained in the marked areas being recorded and stored. This stored information can, if required, be rearranged in any desired manner, for example, arranged in order and can then be transferred onto a copy support in the apparatus or, for example, can be further processed to give a series of signals for a facsimile transmission.

The information to be copied on the original often extends over one or more entire lines of the original, for example, this is always so where whole paragraphs of a text, certain lines of a list, or drawings within a text are to be copied. In these cases the expenditure incurred in marking the areas to be copied and in detecting and storing these areas in the apparatus can be reduced by using a process in accordance with the invention, wherein the coloured markings are placed on an edge portion of the original and the information in areas adjacent to the coloured areas is read.

Two processes in accordance with the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are in diagrammatic form, and in which: Figure 1 shows an original with marked areas for the first process; Figure 2 shows a copying apparatus for processing originals with marked areas; Figure 3 is a biock diagram for the device shown in Figure 2; Figure 4 is a flow diagram illustrating the manner of operation of the device shown in Figure 2; Figure 5 shows an original with edge markings for the second process; Figure 6 shows a section through a copying apparatus for processing originals with edge markings; and Figure 7 is a block diagram of an evaluating circuit for the apparatus shown in Figure 6.

Referring to Figures 1 to 4 of the accompanying drawings, in the first process, original 1 carries textual information 1 a in the form of black script on white paper. The operator marks portions 2 and 3 of the text that interest him using, for example, a yellow felt-tipped pen. He then feeds the original into a copying apparatus in the customary manner.

Inside this copying apparatus the original 1 is scanned point by point, and line by line, in a manner known per se, by a scanning device 4, in which the original 1 is transported in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing by drive means in the apparatus and the scanning device 4 scans each line of the original, point by point, moving in the direction of the arrow A-B. The scanning of the original is controlled by a control device 5. Two partly-reflecting mirrors 7 and 8 are arranged, one behind the other, in the scanning ray path, each of these mirrors throwing a portion of the light from the scanning beam onto one of the detectors 9 and 10 respectively. A colour filter 11 is arranged in the ray path between the mirror 7 and the detector 9, and a colour filter 12 is arranged between the mirror 8 and the detector 10.A detector 13 receives the part of the scanning beam passing through the two partlyreflecting mirrors 7 and 8.

If the surface of the areas chosen has been marked with a yellow colour, for example, the colour filter 11 should be a yellow filter and the colour filter 12 a blue filter. In the case where the original 1 had black script or black pictures on a white background, both detectors 9 and 10 receive a small amount of light from black points on the original being scanned and therefore register "dark", and receive a large amount of iight from white points and therefore register "light".

When scanning the unmarked areas of the original accordingly either light signals or dark signals are always produced simultaneously at the detectors 9 and 10.

If an area 2, marked with a yellow colour, is now scanned, in the case of black points, which of course remain black despite the colour, uniformly dark signals are produced at the two detectors 9 and 1 0. However, this is not the case when scanning the points that were originally white but have now been coloured yellow: in this case a light signal occurs in the detector 9 behind the yellow filter 11 while a dark signal is produced in the detector 10 behind the blue filter 12. On the basis of these different output signals from the two detectors 9 and 10 where there are yellow points on the image, the position of the areas of the original that are marked with the colour can be located by means of an evaluating circuit 14 in the apparatus.

As soon as the beginning of a marked area has been determined by the apparatus, the corresponding initial coordinates are stored as first coordinates in the coordinate storage device 15 of the apparatus. As soon as the end of the surface marking has been reached the final coordinates are stored as second coordinates in the coordinate storage device.

The original is scanned for a first time during a forward movement to locate the marked areas, and then for a second time during a return movement to record the information contained in the marked areas. During the return movement the scanning device 4 is actuated by the control device to run only while a stored areas 2 or 3 is in the scanning ray path. Each line of the original may be scanned for the second time before the next line is scanned for the first time, in which case only an initial and a final coordinate of any marked area along the line need be stored, or an entire page may be scanned line by line for the first time, with the initial and final coordinates of the marked areas on each line being stored, and the page only then being scanned for the second time.In this latter case the amount of storage capacity needed may be considerably reduced if the marked areas are assumed to be rectangular with sides parallel to the edges of the page, because it is then necessary to store only one pair of initial ccordinates and one pair of final coordinates for each marked area. The brightness values of the areas scanned during the return movement are registered by the detector 13 and, with the intermediate connection of a data transcoding device 16, are stored in a data storage device 17. The stored data is further processed, by known methods, in a microprocessor 1 9 or a further data processing unit 20 to form a monitor display, a copy, a facsimile signal or the like.

The detectors 9, 10 and 13 can be formed, for example, by CCDs (charge coupled devices) in conjunction with an appropriate image-forming system, wherein a resolution of one point per mm is sufficient for the detectors 9 and 10 while a resolution of 8 points per mm is suitable for .he reading detector 13.

The identification of the areas marked with a colour and the reading and storing of the corresponding information can, alternatively, take place simultaneously, for example, in the forward movement of a scanning device in the apparatus, so that during the return movement of the scanning device the stored information can, if required, to rearranged and processed, for example, transferred onto a copy support or teletransmitted.

Referring now to Figures 5 to 7 of the accompanying drawings, in the second process an original 101 shows textual information in the form of black script on white paper. If the operator requires a copy of only, for example, the first three lines of the text and the paragraph that is indented towards the right in Figure 5, he makes edge markings, indicated by the reference numerals 102 and 103, at the left-hand edge of the original using, for example, a yellow felt-tipped pen. He then inserts the original into the copying apparatus shown in Figure 6.

In a known manner, this copying apparatus includes a document carrier 104, onto which the original 101 is placed onto a transparent plate with the side to be copied facing downward. For scanning the original 101 the original stage 104 is moved past a scanning station 106 arranged inside the housing 105 of the apparatus, the original 101 being scanned point by point.

As is shown in Figure 2, an identification device 107 is arranged alongside the scanning device 106. The identification device 107 scans the lefthand edge of the original 101 that is conveyed past it, identifies the coloured edge markings and stores their location on the original. The identification device 107 includes a lens system 108 through which the edge region of the original is projected onto colour-filtered photoreceptors 109 and 110. A partly-reflecting mirror 111 is arranged between the lens system 108 and the photoreceptors 109 and 110 to divide the light.

Alternatively, a dichroic mirror may be used which simultaneously effects division of the beam and colour separation of the measuring light. The mode of operatin of the identification device 107 is described below with reference to Figure 7.

The information recorded by means of the scanning device 106 is transferred by means of a recording device 112, point by point, onto the surface of a photosensitive copying drum 113. In the case of electrophotographic copying apparatus the resulting electrostatic charge image is developed in a developing station 114 in known manner and then transferred to an individual copy support 11 6 by the transfer corona 11 5. The individual copy supports 116 are removed from a sheet supply stack 11 8 by a feed roller 11 7 and transported by means of two pairs of transport rollers 119 and 120 and a transport belt 121 along the copy support transport path 122 through the apparatus past a fixing station 124 for fusing the pulverulent image on the copy support to a delivery station 123.The reference numeral 125 indicates a cleaning station for cleaning the surface of the drum, the reference numeral 126 indicates a removing corona for removing the copy support from the surface of the drum and the reference numeral 1 27 indicates a charging corona for uniformly charging the surface of the drum.

When the starting button 1 28 in Figure 7 is pressed, the original stage 104 is moved past the identification device 107 in the direction of the arrow C in Figure 6. The measuring light is divided by the partly reflecting mirror 111 into two rays 129 and 130 which, after filtering by a blue filter 131 and a yellow filter 132 respectively, fall onto photoreceptors 133 and 134, respectively. The measuring signal of each of the photoreceptors 133 and 134 is amplified in a post-amplifier 135 or 136, respectively, and is supplied to an AND logic element 137. The output signal of the AND logic element and the output signals of the postamplifiers 135 and 136 are then supplied to a micro-processor control means 138 and evaluated in the manner described above with reference to Figures 1 to 4.

When the starting button 128 is pressed, a quartz generator 139 is started at the same time as the original transport is set in motion. This quartz generator 1 39 controls a line counter 140 which counts the lines of an original conveyed past the identification device 107. As soon as the identification device 107 identifies the beginning of an edge marking 102 or 103 (see Figure 5) the counter position at that time is read into a random access memory (RAM) 141. The counter position associated with the end of an edge marking 102 or 103 is read into the RAM 141 in a similar manner. The gate 142 ensures the transfer of a stable counter position.

During the forward movement of the original stage 104, in the direction of the arrow C, the edge region is scanned for the presence and location of edge markings 102 or 103 and the location of these edge markings is stored. During the return movement of the original stage 104, in the direction of arrow D in Figure 6, the lines of the original associated with the edge marking are read by the scanning device 106 and stored.

Instead of edge scanning taking place in the forward movement and the reading operation taking place in the return movement of the original stage, it is possible for both the edge scanning and the reading of the lines marked to take place in one single movement of the original, that is to say, in the forward movement or in the return movement.

The information read can be either processed immediately after scanning to form a copy, or read into an intermediate storage device and then, together with information from other originals, further processed by the operator in suitable manner, for example, rearranged and transferred, in a suitable combination, onto a copy support.

Furthermore, the recording portion of the copying apparatus shown in Figure 6 can, of course, be mounted in a different location.

Claims (6)

1. A process for recording optical information located on an original, wherein selected areas of the original are marked with a colour, and the original is scanned point by point and an electrical signal is produced that corresponds to the brightsness and/or colour of each of the scanning points ,wherein the local coordinates of the areas marked with a colour are stored and only the information within the areas defined by the stored local coordinates is read.

2. A process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the original is scanned a first time, during a movement of a scanning device in one direction, for storing the local coordinates and a second time, during a return movement of the scanning device, for reading the information.

3. A process as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein for identifying the local coordinates of the areas marked with a colour either the scanning beam is divided into at least two part beams at least two of which contain different frequencies of the colour spectrum or the scanning beam is divided into at least two part beams and different frequencies of the colour spectrum are filtered out of at least two of the part beams, and electrical signals produced from differently filtered part beams are compared with one another.

4. A process as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the coloured markings are placed in coincidence with the selected areas of the original, and the information within the coloured areas is read.

5. A process as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the coloured markings are placed on an edge portion of the original and the information in areas subject to the coloured areas is read.

6. A process for recording optical information located on an original, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 to 4, or Figures 5 to 7, of the accompanying drawings.