JP2003283713A - Image forming system and program thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming system for effectively reusing a document that has been stored before without the need for scanning again the document. <P>SOLUTION: In scanning a copy (copy reading 35), an image of the copy is read in a multi-value (31), an original image not through a filter or the like is stored, an image processing condition of the filter or the like is stored together with the image (image condition storage/image storage 32), the image subjected to image conversion for the copy is also produced at the same time (copy image conversion 36), and the copy is outputted (print 37). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming system capable of reading an image in a copying machine, a scanner, a facsimile, etc. and storing the read image inside or outside the device, and a program therefor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional image forming apparatus accumulates an image obtained by copying a document, reading it with a facsimile, a scanner, or the like.
After that, when the same original document is needed again, the user can take the image of the required original document accumulated in the apparatus to his / her client PC (workstation or the like).

[0003]

However, the above image forming apparatus needs to read and store the same document again when it is desired to read under another condition.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming system and a program thereof for effectively reusing a previously accumulated document without scanning again.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 has an image forming apparatus for forming an image and a transmitting apparatus for transmitting the image to the image forming apparatus via a communication means. In an image forming system, input means for inputting a multi-valued image, and input information which is a condition when a multi-valued image input by the input means is stored in a storage medium without image processing and input Storing means for storing the image in a storage medium, an image processing means for processing the image input by the input means, and an image processing under the condition specified by the user by the image processing means when the image stored by the storing means is received by the transmitting device. And a transfer means for performing the transfer.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image forming system according to the first aspect, the multi-valued image input by the input means is stored without performing image processing, and the image input by the input means is stored. It is characterized by having a selecting means for selecting the second accumulating means for accumulating the image as it is.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program for an image forming system in which an image forming apparatus for forming an image and a transmitting apparatus for transmitting the image are connected via a communication means, and the image forming apparatus is provided with a program. An input process of inputting an image with a value and an accumulation process of accumulating a multi-valued image input by the input process in a storage medium without performing image processing and accumulating the input information, which is the condition when inputting, in the storage medium And the image processing for processing the image input by the input processing are executed, and when the communication means receives the image stored in the storage processing to the transmission device, the image processing is performed on the condition specified by the user in the image processing. It is characterized in that a transfer process for transferring is executed.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, in the program of the image forming system according to the third aspect, the image forming apparatus further comprises:
A selection process for selecting a first accumulation process for accumulating a multi-valued image input by the input process without performing image processing and a second accumulation process for accumulating the image input by the input process as an image is executed. It is characterized by

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the system configuration of this embodiment. In this system, an MFP 1 and a plurality of client PCs 2 are connected to each other via a network 3. The MFP 1 includes an image reading device 11 and an image storage device 1.
2 and the image processing device 13 and the network I / F 14, and the client PC 2 is configured to have the driver / application 21.

Next, the storage operation processing in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Normally, the image read by each function is directly stored in the image storage device 12.

In the case of storing a copy image, a multi-valued image is output by obtaining a copy image through a filter or the like on a multi-valued image. In the present invention, when scanned (copy reading) 35, a multi-valued image is obtained. Read 31 and store the original image that does not pass through the filter, and store the image processing conditions such as the filter at the same time as the image (image condition storage / image storage) 32, and at the same time perform image conversion for copying An image is also created (image conversion for copying) 36, and a copy is output (printing) 37.

In the case of a facsimile, the black-and-white binary image is not read, and the reading is performed by the facsimile 30, as in the case of copying, and similarly, the multi-valued image is read 31 without filtering or the like. The original image and the reading conditions (black and white binary, filter, etc.) for facsimile are stored (image condition storage / image storage) 32.
After that, image conversion is performed for facsimile (black and white multi-value →
(Black and white binary, filter, etc.) 33, and facsimile transmission 34.

In the case of a scanner, like these functions,
The reading condition is set / scanned 38, and regardless of the reading condition, the multivalued image is read 31, and the reading condition and the original image are stored (image condition storage / image storage) 32. After that, the image conversion 39 is performed according to the reading conditions, the image is transferred, and the scanner output is performed (image transfer) 40.

At the time of outputting the accumulated image, two kinds of methods can be selected: a method of reprocessing under the condition used when each function is used and a method of newly setting an image condition. it can.

Next, referring to FIG. 3, the processing operation at the time of take-back according to this embodiment will be described. First, when taking an image, it is first determined whether or not the image condition is set (step S1). If it is determined that the condition is set (step S1 / YES), the image condition is set (step S2),
The image is converted (step S3) and the image is taken (step S4). When it is determined that the condition is not set (step S1 / NO), the reading condition is read (step S5), the image is converted (step S6), and the image is taken (step S4).

The contents of the image processing are black and white multi-valued → black and white binary or full color → color reduction processing of 256 colors or full color →
Not only conversions such as black-and-white multi-value or full-color → black-and-white binary conversion, but also smoothing, edge enhancement, MTF correction, etc. can be implemented in hardware to use all the functions.

By the above processing, when an image used in each function is to be retrieved, the reading conditions of the image stored simultaneously with the image are read, and the image processing is performed under the same condition and output. When setting the conditions again, when the user tries to retrieve the accumulated images from his or her PC by newly setting the conditions of the image, performing the image processing with the conditions and outputting the image, the printing or distribution is performed again. When it is desired to execute, the image processing can be performed from the stored image in the same manner as the reading condition, or the image processing can be performed under another condition.

In the above-described embodiment, the image size is increased because the image is always read in multivalue. This not only takes a long time for image processing and reading, but also increases the size of data to be stored, which increases the load on the storage device.

In order to solve this problem, when the user takes in an image when it is used in each function at the time of reading, the reading condition of the image stored at the same time as the image is read, and the image processing is performed and output under the same condition. .

When the conditions are to be set again, the conditions of the image are newly set, the image processing is performed under the condition, and the image is output to accumulate the image. Alternatively, an image obtained by reading a document is stored, and when the same document is needed again, the same image stored in the apparatus is stored as it is. The two storage methods can be selected.

By the above processing, when the user obviously judges that it is not necessary to read multi-valued data, the images used by the scanner, copy, and facsimile functions which do not store multi-valued data as in the conventional case are used as they are. The capacity can be reduced by adding the function of storing.

Next, the second embodiment will be described in detail. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a system configuration of this embodiment. This system includes an MFP 1 and a plurality of client PCs.
2 and 2 are connected to each other via a network 3.
The MFP 1 includes an image reading device 11, an image storage device 12, and a network I / F 14, and the client PC 2 includes a driver / application 21 and an image processing unit 22.

The PC (WS) side takes in the images accumulated by the scanner, copy, and facsimile functions, sets the conditions for the images, and performs image processing on the PC. However, in this case, since the re-image processing function is not provided on the storage device side, the stored image is the image used for the scanner, copy, and facsimile functions as it is. Therefore, when the original image is a binary image, there is a limitation such that image processing cannot be performed. Hereinafter, the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

First, image conditions are set for the accumulated image (step S10). It is determined whether the set conditions are the same as the reading conditions (step S11). If it is determined that the reading conditions are the same (step S11 / YES), the image is displayed (step S13). When it is determined that the set conditions are not the same as the reading conditions (step S11 /
NO), the image is converted (step S12), and the converted image is displayed (step S13).

With the above processing, in a device that cannot perform re-image processing of the stored image, when it is desired to add the re-image processing to the stored image, the client PC that receives the image has the function of the image processing. With the addition, the re-image processing of the accumulated image can be performed.

It is also possible to store the above-described operation flows shown in FIGS. 3 and 5 as a program in a storage medium and use the program on a PC. For an apparatus that cannot perform re-image processing on a stored image, It is also possible to have the above-mentioned function as software in a driver or application dedicated to the image reception of the client PC that receives the image.

The above-described embodiment is a preferred embodiment of the present invention. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0029]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, since the image used for each function of the scanner, the facsimile and the copy is always read in multi-values, it is easy to perform the image processing at the time of reuse, so There is no need to reread.
Further, by always accumulating as a full-color image, the processing range of the image when the user later retrieves the image is greatly expanded, and the reusability of the accumulated document can be improved.

Further, by adding a function that does not store multi-valued data when the user determines that it is not necessary to read multi-valued data, the time required for image processing and reading processing can be reduced. In addition, the storage capacity can be reduced.

Further, by performing the image processing on the PC (WS) side of the image receiving side, it is possible to perform the re-image processing of the accumulated image in an apparatus which cannot perform the re-image processing of the accumulated image. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a first system configuration according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a storage processing operation according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing operation at the time of taking over according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a second system configuration according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing operation of image processing according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 MFP 2 Client PC 3 network 11 Image reading device 12 Image storage device 13 Image processing device 14 Network I / F 21 Driver / App 22 Image processing

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An image forming system having an image forming apparatus for forming an image and a transmitting apparatus for transmitting the image to the image forming apparatus via a communication means, the input means for inputting the image in multi-valued manner. A multi-valued image input by the input means is stored in a storage medium without being subjected to image processing, and storage means for storing in the storage medium the input information that is a condition when the input is performed, and input by the input means. And an image processing unit for processing the image, and a transfer unit for transferring the image accumulated by the accumulating unit to the transmitting device by performing the image processing on the condition specified by the user by the image processing unit. Image forming system. 2. A first storage means for storing a multi-valued image input by the input means without performing image processing, and a second storage means for storing the image input by the input means as an image as it is. The image forming system according to claim 1, further comprising selection means for selecting. 3. A program for an image forming system in which an image forming apparatus for forming an image and a transmitting apparatus for transmitting an image are connected via a communication means, wherein multi-valued image is input to the image forming apparatus. Input processing for storing the multi-valued image input by the input processing without storing the image processing in the storage medium, and storing the input information that is the condition when the input is performed in the storage medium; Image processing for processing the image input by the processing, and when the communication means receives the image stored in the storage processing to the transmission device, the image processing is performed according to the condition specified by the user in the image processing. A program for an image forming system, which executes a transfer process of performing and transferring. 4. A first storage for storing the multi-valued image input by the input processing in the image forming apparatus without performing image processing.
4. The program of the image forming system according to claim 3, further comprising: executing a selection process for selecting the storage process of 1) and the second storage process of storing the image input by the input process as an image as it is.