JP2002271614A - Image processing device and image exposure device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To perform high-speed and inexpensive processing for reducing image data of a previously processed image from adversely affecting an image to be processed later. An image processing apparatus provided with an input image memory for receiving image data of an image to be processed from the outside and storing the image data, an image processing circuit, and an image processing control unit for setting processing conditions. , Image processing control unit 3
2 for executing the image processing on the image data of the image received from the outside, and before processing the image data of the image to be processed next, the intermediate image forming image stored in the input image memory 30; Based on the image data, the image processing circuit 31 forms a set intermediate image for reducing the influence of the image data of the processed image on the next image to be processed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an input image memory for receiving and storing image data of an image to be processed from the outside, and an image processing for changing the image data stored in the input image memory. , An image processing apparatus provided with an image processing control unit that sets processing conditions of the image processing for the image processing circuit, and an image exposure apparatus including the image processing apparatus. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Such an image processing apparatus performs various types of image processing on various types of image data such as a digital image captured by a digital camera and outputs the processed data to various output devices such as a photographic printer. . In the image processing apparatus as described above, the image data of the image to be processed is always fixed to the same image size, and the number of images that can exist in the output image memory in which the image data after image processing is stored Is constant, the existing area of each image in the output image memory can be fixed, and even if the image data is sequentially rewritten, the data around the existing area remains unchanged.

However, in many cases, the size of an image to be processed is not constant. In such a case, a part of the previously processed image exists around the written image in the output image memory. Would be. For example, when the image processing apparatus is used in an image exposure apparatus that exposes a photographic image or the like, when the exposure head is exposed to the image data of the output image memory having the above-described data configuration, the original image is output in the output image memory. In the case where the exposure intensity of the image data of the previously processed image around the image to be exposed is large, the strong light generated by the image data of the previously processed image causes the exposure of the original exposure object adjacent to the image to be exposed. The image may be adversely affected. In a more specific case, when the exposure head is a device driven by a high voltage such as a PLZT optical shutter, the exposure of an original image to be exposed is performed by crosstalk of a voltage from an adjacent peripheral portion. May be executed in a state deviated from the normal image data.
In addition, it is not limited to the above-described image exposure apparatus that the image data of the previously processed image affects the next image to be processed. Even when the image data is displayed on a monitor, if the image data of the previously processed image is present around the later processed image, the image to be observed can be properly recognized due to the presence of the old image. It will not be possible. Therefore, conventionally, an image processing control unit generally including a microprocessor accesses an output image memory and deletes old image data before image data of the next image is written. .

[0004]

However, in the case of the above-mentioned conventional configuration, if the capacity of the output image memory is small, the problem is not so great, but the data amount of one image increases in order to meet the demand for improvement in image quality. However, as the capacity of the output image memory increases, the time required for erasing the output image memory increases. In particular,
When an image processing apparatus is applied to an image exposure apparatus such as a photographic image, the capacity of an output image memory reaches several hundreds of megabytes, and erasing time is a minute unit using a general microprocessor and memory. There were cases. On the other hand, it is conceivable to shorten the erasing time by increasing the speed of a microprocessor, a memory, or the like. However, as the cost of the device increases, there is a natural limit to the speed. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to prevent image data of a previously processed image from adversely affecting an image to be processed later while suppressing an increase in apparatus cost. The point is that the processing for reduction can be performed at high speed.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided an input image memory for receiving image data of an image to be processed from the outside and storing the image data therein, and storing the image data in the input image memory. An image processing apparatus comprising: an image processing circuit that performs image processing for changing image data; and an image processing control unit that sets processing conditions of the image processing for the image processing circuit. After executing the image processing on the image data of the image received from the outside, the processing control unit performs an intermediate image processing condition on the image processing circuit before processing the image data of the image to be processed next. Is stored in the output image memory where the image data after image processing is stored based on the intermediate image forming image data stored in the input image memory. The image data are is configured to execute image processing for forming the set intermediate image to reduce the effect on the image of the next object to be processed to the output image memory.

In general, the processing route of image processing from an input image memory to an output image memory via an image processing circuit is extremely speeded up by a dedicated circuit of each processing circuit or a pipeline process. The image processing performed by the image processing circuit generally includes various functions such as color correction, sharpness processing, image size enlargement / reduction processing, and the like, depending on the application. In these image processes, by setting processing parameters to appropriate conditions, the density data of the image is largely changed, and as a result, the image data in the output image memory is replaced with another image data. There are various types that can perform various processes.

Therefore, by writing the intermediate image processing conditions into the output image memory, the intermediate image obtained as a result of the processing based on the intermediate image processing conditions, the image data existing up to that point is processed by the next processing target. Is set so as to reduce the effect on the image. In this way, by using the image processing circuit that operates at high speed and using it for rewriting old image data existing in the output image memory, it is not necessary to add a special circuit configuration, and while suppressing the increase in cost, The processing for reducing the adverse effect of the image data of the previously processed image on the image to be processed later can be performed at high speed.

[0010] With the above-described configuration, the image processing circuit is provided with an image size enlargement processing circuit that enlarges an image size of input image data.
The image processing control unit writes the intermediate image forming image data having an image size smaller than the maximum image size that can be stored in the output image memory to the input image memory, and stores the intermediate image processing condition as the intermediate image processing condition. The image forming apparatus is configured to set an enlargement factor for enlarging the image size of the image data for image formation to at least an image size larger than the image size when the image data of the image to be processed next is subjected to image processing.

That is, as the image data for forming the intermediate image for forming the intermediate image, the image data of the image received from the outside as the previous image data to be processed can be used as it is. By preparing in advance image data suitable for reducing an adverse effect on an image to be processed later as dedicated image data for forming an image, the generated intermediate image is more stable. Thus, it is possible to reduce the adverse effect of the image data of the previously processed image on the image to be processed later.

However, in this case, it is necessary to separately write the intermediate image forming image data to the input image memory, so that as it is, the same time as accessing the output image memory and erasing the data is required. However, as described above, the image processing circuit is provided with an image size enlargement processing circuit to reduce the amount of intermediate image forming image data to be written to the input image memory, thereby increasing the writing time. It can be suppressed sufficiently. This enlargement processing of image size is a general image processing, and is often provided in an image processing circuit. Therefore, it is not necessary to add a new circuit. Thus, processing for reducing the adverse effect of image data of a processed image on an image to be processed later can be performed quickly and stably.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when the intermediate image forming image data is subjected to image processing under the intermediate image processing conditions and written to the output image memory, the image data is Is set to the density data which is the data corresponding to the state where is erased. That is, in order to reduce the adverse effect of the image data of the previously processed image on the image to be processed later, the image data constituting the intermediate image may be data indicating a certain density value. In many cases, the intermediate image data is changed to data corresponding to a state in which the image data is deleted, so that the image data of the previously processed image does not adversely affect the image to be processed later. be able to. The image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising an image processing apparatus configured to store image data processed by the image processing apparatus. An image exposure apparatus is provided with an image memory and an exposure head that exposes an image based on image data stored in the output image memory. Therefore, as described above, the process of reducing the adverse effect of the image data of the previously processed image on the image to be processed later can be performed at high speed while suppressing the increase in the apparatus cost. The apparatus configuration of the apparatus itself can be simplified and the exposure processing speed can be improved.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which an image processing apparatus of the present invention and an image exposure apparatus having the same are provided in a photographic printing apparatus will be described below with reference to the drawings. The photographic printing apparatus DP exemplified in the present embodiment is known as a so-called digital mini-lab machine, and its appearance is shown in FIG.
Shown in

As shown in FIG. 2 and a block diagram of FIG. 3, a photographic printing apparatus DP has a film for reading a frame image of a developed photographic film 1 (hereinafter simply referred to as "film 1"). A scanner section FS and a PLZT optical shutter type image exposure apparatus EX for exposing a frame image read by the film scanner section FS onto the photographic paper 2
And a development processing unit PU for developing the photographic paper 2 exposed by the image exposure apparatus EX, and a photographic paper 2 selectively drawn out from one of the two photographic paper magazines 5 to the development processing unit PU. The photographic paper transport system PT to transport and the development processing unit PU
A sorter 3 for classifying the photographic paper 2 developed in the above for each order, a conveyor 4 for transporting the photographic paper 2 discharged from the development processing unit PU to the sorter 3, and a controller CO for controlling these components. Is provided.

As shown schematically in FIG. 3, the film scanner section FS includes a halogen lamp 10, a dimming filter 11 for adjusting the color balance of light emitted from the halogen lamp 10, and a dimming filter 11. A mirror tunnel 12 for uniformly mixing colors of light passing through the film 1, a film mask unit 13 provided with a transport mechanism 13a and a film mask (not shown) for positioning the film 1 at a predetermined reading position, and a frame image of the film 1 Line sensor unit 14 for photoelectrically converting the image, a lens 15 for forming an image of the film 1 on the CCD line sensor unit 14, a mirror 16 for bending the optical path by 90 degrees, a CCD line sensor unit A processing circuit 17 for processing the 14 output signals is provided.

The CCD line sensor unit 14 has about 5
CCD line sensors in which 000 CCD elements are arranged in the width direction of the film 1 are arranged in three rows.
Red, green, and blue color filters are formed on the light receiving surface of the D line sensor, respectively, and the frame image of the film 1 is color-separated and detected. The processing circuit 17 amplifies the analog signal output from the CCD line sensor unit 14, performs A / D conversion, cuts out the frame image of each frame from the entire image of the film 1, and outputs it. In the film scanner unit FS, when the film 1 is set in the film mask unit 13, the transport of the film 1 is started by the transport mechanism 13a, the frame images are sequentially read, and digital image data of each of red, green, and blue is read. Is output to the controller CO.

The image exposure apparatus EX employs a PLZT optical shutter system, and as shown in FIG.
An infrared absorption filter 21 that cuts an infrared component from light emitted from the light source, a dimming filter 22 that adjusts light passing through the infrared absorption filter 21 to a desired color balance,
A condensing lens 23, a rotary filter 24 in which red, green, and blue color filters are arranged in a circumferential direction and driven to rotate by a motor (not shown), and an optical fiber that transmits light condensed by the condensing lens 23 Bundle 25 and optical fiber bundle 2
5 as an exposure head EH connected to the tip of
A print head 26 and a shutter control circuit 27 are provided.

Although a detailed description is omitted for the PLZT print head 26, a large number of PLZTs are arranged in a line.
A T element, polarizers disposed on both sides of the optical path of the PLZT element, and a microlens group for condensing the transmitted light of the PLZT element on the printing paper 2 are provided. An electrode to which a pulse voltage is applied by the control circuit 27 is formed. Shutter control circuit 27
Although not shown, the voltage supply is turned on / off for each of the PLZT elements arranged in a large number to switch between opening and shutting of the shutter.

From the controller CO to the shutter control circuit 2
The print digital image data sent to 7 is generated as, for example, 8-bit data as exposure time data for each color of each pixel. Hereinafter, the process of generating the print digital image data will be schematically described. explain.
The photoprinting apparatus DP also has a function of reading an image photographed by a digital camera from a memory card and printing the image. Here, a case based on image data read by the film scanner unit FS will be described.

As shown in FIG. 3, the controller CO is provided with an image processing apparatus IP which generates digital image data for printing and functions as a part of the image exposure apparatus EX. The image processing device IP executes predetermined image processing on the image data of the frame image of the film 1 input from the film scanner unit FS, that is, when viewed from the image processing device IP, and converts the image data into the image data. Making changes to generate the digital image data for printing. As schematically shown in FIG. 1, the image processing apparatus IP includes an input image memory 30 that receives and stores image data of an image to be processed input from the processing circuit 17 of the film scanner unit FS, An image processing circuit 31 for executing image processing on the image data stored in the image memory 30 for use, and a small computer system having a microprocessor. An image processing control unit 32 to be set and an output image memory 33 for storing image data processed by the image processing circuit 31 are provided.

The image processing circuit 31 includes various processing circuits such as a density correction circuit 31a for executing color correction on input image data, a sharpness circuit 31b for adjusting the outline of an image, and the like. The stage is provided with an enlargement / reduction circuit 31c for performing enlargement or reduction of the image size. Each of these processing circuits is, for example, a programmable D
It is composed of SP. The image data input to the image processing circuit 31 is processed at high speed in a pipeline manner by each of the above processing circuits, and is stored in the output image memory 33. As described above, the processing conditions of each processing circuit are set so that the image data written in the output image memory 33 becomes exposure time data by the PLZT element.

As described above, since the data at each address of the output image memory 33 and each PLZT element directly correspond to each other, in FIG.
Are shown in an expanded manner in correspondence with the arrangement of the PLZT elements by taking the number of data corresponding to the exposure width of the PLZT print head 26 as the horizontal width. In the developed state, the stored data is sequentially sent to the shutter control circuit 27 line by line from the top. Therefore, the image data of each image is represented by image data A1 indicated by a solid line.
And the image data A2 or the image data B indicated by the dashed line.

As described above, a plurality of patterns exist in the arrangement of image data because the photographic printing paper transport system PT of the photographic printing apparatus DP determines the exposure position of the PLZT print head 26 by
This is because the state is switched between a state in which the photographic paper 2 is transported in one row and a state in which the photographic paper 2 is transported in two rows according to the print size (that is, the size of the photographic paper 2). Incidentally, even when the state in which the print size of the photographic paper 2 to be processed is constant continues, there is a case where switching between single-row and double-row conveyance is performed. As described above, when the print size is changed, as shown in FIG. 1, the data of the previous image exists around the newly written image. There is a problem that such old image data adversely affects the print result of the new image data.

Therefore, the image processing control unit 32 sets the state as shown in FIG. 1 due to switching of the print size or the like, that is, in the output image memory 33,
The next processing of the image data to be processed is detected when it is detected that the image data to be processed next is located around the image data to be processed. Before, the effect of reducing the effect of the old image data stored in the output image memory on the image data to be processed next (more specifically, to completely eliminate such an effect) ) An erasing process for forming the set intermediate image in the output image memory 33 is executed.

In this erasing process, intermediate image forming image data having an image size sufficiently smaller than the maximum image size that can be stored in the image storage area of the output image memory 33 is created in advance, and the above-described print size switching is performed. When such an occurrence occurs, the intermediate image forming image data is written into the input image memory 30, and intermediate image processing conditions for processing the intermediate image forming image data are set in the image processing circuit 31. . This intermediate image processing condition is:
This is for setting the enlargement of the image to the enlargement / reduction circuit 31c.

That is, image data for forming an intermediate image having a data amount indicated by a broken line C is written into an input image memory 30 in which storage areas are expanded in the same manner as the output image memory 33 in FIG. When the image data for forming an intermediate image is enlarged by the enlargement / reduction circuit 31c, the enlargement ratio at which the image data of at least the next image to be processed is enlarged to an image size larger than the image size when the image processing is performed. More specifically, the enlargement ratio of the enlargement / reduction circuit 31c is set such that the enlargement / reduction circuit 31c is enlarged to an image size covering the entire storage area of the output image memory 33. And as the value of the image data for intermediate image formation,
As a result of passing through another processing circuit in the image processing circuit 31, when the image data is written to the output image memory 33, the density data is set to data (for example, “0”) corresponding to a state where the image data is erased. I will keep it. By executing the erasing process in this manner, the image data on the output image memory 33 which has been subjected to the image processing previously becomes equivalent to the state where the image data has been completely erased. Also has no effect.

Further, the other components of the photoprinting apparatus DP will be described. The photographic paper transport system PT includes a drawer transporter 4 for pulling out and transporting the photographic paper 2 from the photographic paper magazine 5 in a single row.
0, an exposure transport unit 41 that transports the exposure positions of the image exposure apparatus EX in two rows, and a post transport unit 42 that sends the photographic paper 2 that has been exposed to the development processing unit PU. The drawer transport unit 40 is provided with a cutter 50 for cutting the long photographic paper 2 pulled out from the photographic paper magazine 5 into a predetermined print size.
A sorting device 51 that receives the photographic paper 2 conveyed in a single line from the pull-out conveyance unit 40 and alternately distributes the photographic paper 2 to the two conveyance lines of the exposure conveyance unit 41 is disposed between the exposure conveyance unit 41 and the exposure conveyance unit 41. Have been. Although a detailed description is omitted in the development processing unit PU, processing tanks filled with a plurality of types of processing stations for development processing are arranged in series, and transport rollers that transport the photographic paper 2 across the processing tanks are arranged. 52 and the like are provided.

The overall operation of the photographic printing apparatus DP having the above configuration under the control of the controller CO will be described briefly. When the film 1 is inserted into the film mask unit 13 of the film scanner section FS, the transport movement of the film 1 is performed in parallel. Then, the frame image of each frame is read by the CCD line sensor unit 14, subjected to A / D conversion and the like by the processing circuit 17, output to the controller CO, and output to the controller CO.
Generates digital image data for printing and outputs it to the shutter control circuit 27 as described above. In parallel with this processing, the operator inputs information such as the print size and the number of prints from the console 6 provided in the controller CO, and observes the simulated image displayed on the monitor 7 to appropriately input the information. Color correction information and the like are input from the console 6. The simulated image is a film 1
Is a simulation of the completed print image based on the read information of the frame image.

The controller CO instructs the start of the drawing and transport of the photographic paper 2 from the photographic paper magazine 5, and
The long photographic paper 2 drawn from the photographic paper magazine 5 is cut into the specified size based on the input information such as the print size. When the photographic paper 2 cut to a predetermined print size is conveyed to the exposure position via the sorting device 51, the shutter control circuit 27 performs image processing in conjunction with the conveyance movement of the photographic paper 2 at the exposure position. Each PLZ of the PLZT print head 26 is based on the digital image data for printing one line at a time inputted from the device IP.
The T element is actuated to expose the photographic paper 2 at the desired exposure for each pixel. The photographic paper 2 after the exposure processing is conveyed to the development processing unit PU, and after the development processing and the drying processing,
It is discharged onto a conveyor 4 arranged at the top of the housing of the photoprinting apparatus DP. The conveyor 4 conveys the received photographic paper 2 onto the tray 3a of the sorter 3. When the sorter 3 receives the photographic paper 2 for one order, the sorter 3 rotates the receiving tray 3a by one stage, and positions the next receiving tray 3a at the position for receiving the photographic paper from the conveyor 4.

[Other Embodiments] Hereinafter, other embodiments of the present invention will be listed. In the above embodiment, the density data of the image data for forming an intermediate image is data corresponding to a state where the image data is erased when the image data is processed according to the intermediate image processing condition and written into the output image memory. Although the setting is made as an example, the density may have a certain density as long as the image data that has been subjected to the previous image processing has a sufficiently small effect on the image data to be subjected to the next image processing. In the above embodiment, the image size of the intermediate image formed in the output image memory 33 is stored in the output image memory 3.
3 is set to an image size that covers the entire image storage area, but is slightly larger than the image size when the processed image data for the next image data to be processed is formed in the output image memory 33. The enlargement ratio may be set so as to enlarge the size. When the PLZT print head 26 as in the above embodiment is employed, the most problematic part is the peripheral part of the next image, so that only the old image data in this peripheral part may be deleted. It is.

In the above embodiment, the case where the image processing control unit 32 writes the intermediate image forming image data created in advance in the input image memory 30 is described. The image data of the previous image that has been input from the film scanner unit FS and has already undergone image processing, ie, the input image memory 30
May be used as it is. In this case, as the intermediate image processing condition, for example, the density correction amount is set to be sufficiently large in the density correction circuit 31a, and the influence of the image data that has been subjected to the previous image processing on the image data of the next image processed May be corrected to sufficiently small density data.

In the above embodiment, the image processing circuit 3
Although the output image memory 33 for storing the image data processed in step 1 is described as a part of the image processing device IP, the output image memory 33 is provided to various output devices that use the processed data of the image processing device IP. An image memory may be provided to write the image data processed by the image processing circuit 31 into the output image memory on the output device side. In the above-described embodiment, the case where the erasing process is executed when a change in the print size is detected is exemplified.However, the erasing process is executed each time the image processing for a group of a plurality of frames of images that are simultaneously exposed is completed. Is also good.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of the photographic printing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of a photographic printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image exposure apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 30 input image memory 31 image processing circuit 32 image processing control unit 33 output image memory EH exposure head IE image size enlargement processing circuit IP image processing device

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2H106 AA22 AA26 AA33 AB99 BA47 5B057 CA07 CB07 CD05 CE13 5C073 BB01 5C076 AA03 AA21 AA27 BA03 BA04 BA06 CB05

Claims (4)

[Claims] An input image memory for receiving image data of an image to be processed from the outside and storing the image data, and an image processing circuit for executing image processing for changing image data stored in the input image memory And an image processing control unit that sets processing conditions of the image processing for the image processing circuit, wherein the image processing control unit is configured to output image data of the image received from the outside. After executing the image processing for, before processing the image data of the image to be processed next, intermediate image processing conditions are set for the image processing circuit, and stored in the input image memory. Based on the intermediate image forming image data, the image data stored in the output image memory in which the image data after the image processing is stored is reduced in the influence on the next image to be processed. The image processing apparatus is configured to execute image processing of the setting intermediate image to form the output image memory for. 2. The image processing circuit according to claim 1, wherein said image processing circuit further comprises an image size enlargement processing circuit for enlarging an image size of the input image data, wherein said image processing control unit is configured to execute an image size enlargement process that is larger than a maximum image size that can be stored in said output image memory. The intermediate image forming image data of a small image size is written to the input image memory, and the image size of the intermediate image forming image data is set as at least the image data of the next processing target image as the intermediate image processing condition. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image processing apparatus is configured to set an enlargement factor for enlarging the image size to an image size larger than the image size when the image processing is performed. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image data for forming an intermediate image is density data which is data corresponding to a state where the image data is erased when the image data is subjected to image processing according to the intermediate image processing condition and written to the output image memory. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein 4. An image processing apparatus according to claim 1, an output image memory for storing image data processed by the image processing apparatus, and an output image memory. And an exposure head for exposing an image based on image data stored in the image exposure apparatus.