JPH05183683A - Picture reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the picture reader able to fetch only picture data by the said original and to store the data to a picture memory even when an original of a size smaller than a read width is read by a hand scanner. CONSTITUTION:When an original read range is designated from a touch panel 7, a main control section 3 sets a designated read range to a system memory 8. The picture data read by a hand scanner 1 are binarized by a picture processing circuit 2 and inputted to a gate circuit 5. A main control section 3 switches the said gate circuit 5 corresponding to the said original read range to fetch only the picture data corresponding to the said original read range and the data are stored in the picture memory 4. Furthermore, the main control section 3 adds white data to the picture data read from the picture memory 4 to form picture data of a routine size and the result is sent from a communication control section (not shown) by a facsimile equipment.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus equipped with a hand scanner, and more particularly to a reading method for small size originals.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a hand scanner of an image reading apparatus of this type has a reading width of, for example, A4 size. Therefore, when reading a document smaller than A4 size, the outside portion of the document is also scanned. It will be read by the scanner. As a result, for example, the storage area of the image memory for temporarily storing the image data obtained by scanning an A5 size document needs to be A5 size or more. There is a drawback in that the amount of effective image data (original portion) that can be stored in the memory is reduced and the capacity of the image memory cannot be effectively used. Further, as described above, since the unnecessary image data other than the effective image data (the portion outside the original) is also read, when the original is transmitted by facsimile, the extra image data is also transmitted. At the time of this transmission, if there is a change point in the extra image data, there is a disadvantage that the communication time becomes long due to this change point, and accordingly, there is a drawback that a communication charge is extra.

[0003]

When an original having a size smaller than the reading width is read by the hand scanner having the reading width determined as described above, an extra external image other than the valid image data in the original is read. It also reads the data. Therefore, the extra image data is also accumulated in the accumulation area of the image memory for accumulating the read image data, and there is a drawback that the memory capacity of the image memory cannot be effectively used. Further, when the image data stored in the image memory is transmitted by facsimile, extra image data other than the valid image data is also transmitted. At this time, if there is a change point in the extra image data, As a result, there is a drawback in that the communication time is long, and accordingly, there is a drawback in that the line fee is additionally charged.

In view of the above, the present invention eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks, and even when an original having a size smaller than the reading width is read by a hand scanner, only the image data of the original can be captured and stored in the image memory. It is intended to provide a reading device.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus for storing in a memory the image data obtained by reading the contents of an object to be read by a hand scanner, and the range of reading the image data obtained from the hand scanner. It is provided with a designating means for designating the image data and an extracting means for extracting the image data in the range designated by the designating means, and the image data extracted by the extracting means is stored in the memory.

As a configuration added to the above configuration, an editing means is provided for generating white data and adding the white data in the line direction of the image data read from the memory to create image data of a predetermined size. It has a different configuration.

[0007]

In the image reading apparatus of the present invention, the designating means designates the range to be read of the image data obtained from the hand scanner. The extraction means extracts the image data in the range designated by the designation means. The image data extracted by this extracting means is stored in the memory.

As an operation added to the above operation, the editing means generates white data and adds the white data in the line direction of the image data read from the memory to create image data of a predetermined size. The image data of this predetermined size is transmitted by facsimile.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the image reading apparatus of the present invention. Reference numeral 1 is a hand scanner provided with a contact type sensor unit (see FIG. 2), 2 is an image processing circuit for performing image processing such as shading processing on input image data, or digitizing by digitizing.
Reference numeral 3 is a main control circuit for performing overall control relating to image reading and control for extracting image data in a predetermined range from the read image data, 4 is an image memory for accumulating image data, 5 is input image data , A gate circuit for passing and outputting only a predetermined range, 6 is a display unit (LCD) for displaying various data, 7 is a touch panel which is integrally molded on the LCD 6 and inputs various data, and 8 is a main control circuit 3 operated. This is a system memory in which various data necessary for reading and writing are read and written.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the external appearance of the hand scanner 1 shown in FIG. A contact sensor unit 12 is built in the housing 11 of the hand scanner. The housing 1
A scale 13 indicating the reading position of the contact sensor unit 12 in the main scanning direction is provided on the side surface of 1. The 0.00 mm position of the scale 13 corresponds to the reading start point of the contact sensor unit 12, and the 216 mm position corresponds to the maximum reading end position of the sensor unit 12.
Reference numeral 14 is a reading start button for informing the main control circuit 3 of FIG. 1 of the start of reading.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. When the document is read by the image reading apparatus shown in FIG.
On the CD 6, an initial screen for setting the reading width of the document by the hand scanner 1 as shown in FIG. 3 is displayed. In this initial screen, the reading start position of the image data of the contact sensor unit 12 shown in FIG.
mm is indicated, and a full-size (for example, A4 width) reading width that can be read by the sensor unit 12 is set. Here, in the case of reading a document of a size smaller than the full size reading width of the hand scanner 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the operator sets the reading width of the hand scanner 1 that matches the reading width of the document to Input from the touch panel 7 to the main control circuit 3 with reference to the second scale 13. For example, the reading start position is set to 136 mm of the scale 13,
When the reading end position is set to 180 mm, these data are input to the main control circuit 3 from the touch panel 7,
The main control circuit 3 sets these data in a predetermined area of the system memory 8 and displays them on the LCD 6 as shown in FIG.

Next, the operator presses the reading start button 14 shown in FIG. 2 to start reading a document (not shown) using the hand scanner 1 shown in FIGS. As a result, analog image data 100 as shown in FIG. 5A read by the hand scanner 1 is input to the image processing circuit 2. The image processing circuit 2 is obtained by performing shading correction on the input image data 100, digitizing the image data, and further binarizing the image data (FIG. 5B).
The image data 200 as shown in is output to the gate circuit 5. At this time, the main control circuit 3 outputs a control signal 60 to the image processing circuit 2 to specify the gray level and the linear density of the image and to control the operation timing of each image processing.

Further, the main control circuit 3 generates a gate signal 50 as shown in FIG. 5C based on the read width data set in the system memory 8 and outputs it to the gate circuit 5.
Output to. The gate circuit 5 passes the input image data 200 to the main control circuit 3 while the gate signal 50 is at the high level, and outputs the image data 200 to the main control circuit 3, but blocks the input image data 200 while the gate signal 50 is at the low level. The main control circuit 3 is prevented from outputting. Therefore, only the image data 201 corresponding to the reading width set as shown in FIG. 5D is input to the main control circuit 3 from the gate circuit 5. The main control circuit 3 encodes the input image data 201 and stores it in the image memory 4. At this time, the number of transfer of the image data to the image memory 4 is counted, and this value is stored in the system memory 8 at a predetermined value. Save it in the area. Here, since the gate signal 50 is at a high level for a period corresponding to the reading width of the hand scanner initially set by the operator, the image data extracted by the gate circuit 5 is in the range corresponding to the setting reading width. Only image data.

Next, when reading the image data stored in the image memory 4, the main control circuit 3 causes the system memory 8 to read.
The image data read from the image memory 4 is decoded and restored line by line according to the number of transfer of the image data stored therein. Moreover, when the read image data is sent by facsimile from the communication control unit (not shown), the main control circuit 3 adds white data to the restored image data.
The image data to be transmitted is edited into image data of a standard size by adding it in the line direction, as shown in, and the image data of the standard size is facsimile-transmitted from the communication control unit.

According to this embodiment, it is possible to set the required range of image data from the image data read by the hand scanner 1. Thereby, the main control circuit 3 can control the gate circuit 5 to extract only the image data in the set range and store it in the image memory 4. Therefore, if the reading range is set according to the size of the document to be read, only the image data on this document can be stored in the image memory 4, and the memory capacity of the image memory 4 can be used effectively. Therefore, the number of documents that can be stored can be increased according to the size. When a small size original stored in the image memory 4 is to be transmitted by facsimile, white data is added to make it a standard size and then transmitted, but since the white data does not include a change point, it is finally read. Since only the image data of the original document is transmitted, the communication time can be set in accordance with the size of the original document to be transmitted, and it is possible to avoid paying a useless line usage fee.

[0016]

As described above, according to the image reading apparatus of the present invention, even when an original having a size smaller than the reading width is read by the hand scanner, only the image data of the original is captured and stored in the image memory. can do.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an image reading apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an external appearance example of the hand scanner shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of original reading width setting data displayed on the LCD shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a view showing another example of original reading width setting data displayed on the LCD shown in FIG.

5 is a time chart showing an image data extracting operation of the gate circuit shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a document in which white data is added to image data by the main control circuit shown in FIG. 1 to have a standard size.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Hand scanner 2 ... Image processing circuit 3 ... Main control circuit 4 ... Image memory 5 ... Gate circuit 6 ... LCD 7 ... Touch panel 8 ... System memory

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image reading apparatus for accumulating image data obtained by reading the content of an object to be read by a hand scanner in a memory, and specifying means for designating a range in which the image data obtained from the hand scanner should be read. An image reading apparatus comprising: an extracting unit that extracts image data in the range specified by the specifying unit, and stores the image data extracted by the extracting unit in the memory. 2. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a scale indicating a position of a reading sensor of the hand scanner in the main scanning direction is attached to a housing portion of the hand scanner. 3. An edit means is provided for generating white data and adding the white data in the line direction of the image data read from the memory to create image data of a predetermined size. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1.