JP2878477B2 - Image processing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus for processing an image, such as an electronic filing apparatus, and more particularly, to a technique for modifying and outputting a specific area of the image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional techniques relating to a technique for modifying and outputting a specific area of an image in an image processing apparatus are disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 64-57382 and 2-1.
The technology described in US Pat. No. 5,888,782 is known.

[0003] These techniques will be described below.

First, a technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 64-57382 will be described with reference to FIG.

According to this technique, a flag indicating a specific area is stored in the overlay memory 62 in correspondence with the specific area of the image data stored in the image memory 61.

Then, the image data stored in the image memory 61 is selected by the selecting means 63 in accordance with the output signal of the overlay memory 62, and the image data outside the specific area is selected by the first look-up table. -Bull (hereinafter, LUT) 6
4 and the image data in the specific area is stored in the second LUT 65
To enter. Then, the output data of the two LUTs are combined and displayed on the CRT 67.

Here, the first LUT 64 stores color data for a normal image, and the second LUT 65 stores color data for masking an image translucently.

For this reason, on the display screen, the specific area is displayed with a translucent mask applied.

Next, the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-158878 will be described with reference to FIG.

According to this technique, first, the editing memory 72
Then, based on this information, the selection means 73 switches the input video data and the predetermined density data set by the CPU 71 and outputs them.

That is, in a specific area set in the editing memory 72, the selecting means 73 selects and outputs video data, and in other areas, the selecting means 73 outputs predetermined density data.

As a result, a certain density is output only outside the specific area.

[0013]

The above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 64-57
According to the technology described in Japanese Patent No. 382, there is a problem that it is necessary to provide a dedicated LUT for modifying a specific area.

In addition, according to this technique, there is also a problem that a plurality of specific regions are differently modified and cannot be individually identifiably output.

According to the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-158878, an image outside a specific area is expressed by a specific density, and an image outside the specific area is made invisible.
There is a problem in that the operator cannot recognize the area outside the specific area, which imposes a heavy burden on editing such as image correction.

Accordingly, it is a first object of the present invention to provide an image processing apparatus capable of modifying and outputting a specific area of an image or an area outside the specific area without providing a special LUT or the like. And

It is a second object of the present invention to provide an image processing apparatus which can apply different modifications to a plurality of specific regions of an image and output the images individually and identifiably.

[0018]

In order to achieve the first object, the present invention provides an image memory for separating and storing an image into respective component data of red component data, green component data, and blue component data; Replacing means for replacing the red component data and the blue component data stored in the image memory corresponding to the area outside the designated area within the area with the green component data stored corresponding to the same area; An output device for reading each component data of the image from the memory and outputting the read data as an image.

Further, the present invention provides an image memory for storing image data, a specific area storage means for storing information about a specified area in an image, and an output device for outputting an image according to given image data. The image data is read out from the designated area image memory, the value is converted for the image data of the area outside the designated area by referring to the specific area storage means, and the image data of the designated area is Image data conversion means for providing the output data to the output device without converting the value.

In order to achieve the second object, the present invention provides an image memory for storing an image, and an image memory which is stored in the image memory corresponding to a plurality of outer frame areas specified in the image. Replacing the image data with the image data indicating a different color for each image data corresponding to each of the outer frame areas, and an output device that reads out the image data from the image memory and outputs it as an image. There is provided an image processing apparatus characterized by having the above.

In addition, according to the present invention, in the image processing apparatus, a plurality of windows are opened, and information displayed in an n-th (n is an integer) window is further displayed in the m-th window.
When displaying in the (m is an integer) th window, the nth
A modified display method of an image is provided, in which an area other than the area displaying the information displayed in the m-th window in the m-th window is displayed in a color or luminance different from that of the original image. By this modified display method of the image, the operator of the image processing apparatus can recognize the relevance of the information displayed in different windows.

[0022]

According to the image processing apparatus of the present invention, when a specific area is designated in an image, the replacement means stores the red component data stored in the image memory corresponding to an area outside the designated area. And the blue component data are replaced with green component data stored corresponding to the same area. Then, the output device reads each component data after the replacement of the image from the image memory and outputs it as an image.

As a result, the designated area is displayed in black and white because the values of the red, green and blue components are equal. Further, in a general image, since the intensity distribution of the green component is similar to the luminance distribution of the image, an output close to a black-and-white output based on the original luminance distribution of the image can be performed.

According to the image processing apparatus of the present invention, when a specific area is designated in the image, the image data value conversion means reads the image data of the designated area from the image memory, and With reference to the specific area storage means, values are converted for image data of an area outside the specified area, for example, by compressing the value, and the value is not converted for image data of the specified area. To the output device. The output device outputs an image according to the provided image data.

As a result, the specified area is displayed in a different color tone from the original image. When the value is compressed, the area other than the designated area is output dark.

According to the image processing apparatus of the present invention, when a plurality of specific areas are specified in an image,
Replacement means, the image data stored in the image memory corresponding to the outer frame region of a plurality of regions specified in the image, for each image data corresponding to each outer frame region,
Replace with image data showing different colors. The output device reads the image data from the image memory and outputs it as an image.

Therefore, each designated area is output with an outer frame of a different color.

[0028]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the image processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below.

First, an image processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the image processing apparatus according to the first embodiment.

In the figure, a scanner 13 outputs a color image,
Red, green, and blue components are read separately, and dither processing is performed for each color component. Image storage means 15, 16,
Reference numeral 17 stores a color image read by the scanner 13 and subjected to dither processing for each of red, green, and blue color components.

The keyboard / mouse 14 acquires the coordinates of the specific area from the coordinate value input from the keyboard or the position of the mouse cursor at the time when the coordinate acquisition instruction is issued.

The transfer means 11 receives the transfer command and the coordinates of the area to be transferred from the CPU 10 and performs a transfer operation to the image storage means 15, 16 and 17 which store the color image data.

The display means 18 comprises image storage means 15, 1
The image data stored in the CRT 19 and the CRT 19 are read out.
To be displayed. The area determination unit 12 is configured to execute the image storage
The character area and the image area in the color image stored in 5, 16, and 17 are separated.

The operation of the image processing apparatus according to the first embodiment will be described below.

The color image data read by the scanner 13 is stored in the image storage means 15, 16, 17 for each color component.

Thereafter, the operator selects a method of designating a specific area, and operates the keyboard or mouse to specify the coordinates of the specific area. The keyboard / mouse 14 acquires the designated coordinates.

The acquired coordinates are sent by the CPU 10 to the transfer means 11 together with a transfer command.

The transfer means 11 transfers the image data outside the specific area in the image storage means 16 storing the green data to the other image storage means 15 and 17 based on the received coordinates. Forward.

As a result, when the display means 18 reads out and displays the data of the image storage means 15, 16 and 17, the same color image as the original image is displayed only in the specific area, and the intensity of the green component outside the specific area is displayed. , A monochrome image displayed in black and white is displayed.

The display means reads out the red, green and blue image data stored in the image storage means and displays them on the CRT. Outside the specific area in the display screen, red, blue and green are displayed at the same position by the transferred green data, so that a monochrome image is displayed, and within the specific area, a color image is displayed.

That is, the intensity distribution of the green component of the image is
There is a feature closer to the luminance distribution of the color image as compared to the red and blue components. Therefore, by utilizing this feature, by making the red and blue data of the image outside the specific area equal to the green data,
Thus, a monochrome display close to the monochrome image of the input image can be performed.

Also, instead of obtaining the coordinates of the specific area by operating the keyboard or the mouse, either the character area or the image area determined by the area determining means 12 may be processed as the specific area. Good. In this case, the operator
Is to display only the specific area in color by simply specifying which of the character area and the image area is the specific area, and a monochrome image can be displayed outside the specific area.

The division between the character area and the image area by the area determining means 12 can be obtained, for example, from a power spectrum with respect to a spatial frequency.

FIG. 4 shows an example of an image displayed as a result of the above operation.

As shown in FIG. 4, when the operator designates an image near the peak of the mountain as the specific area 41, the image of the specific area 41 including the peak is displayed as the original image, and the image outside the other specific area is displayed. The image 42 is displayed in monochrome. Therefore, the outline of the mountain can be easily recognized, and the specific area 41 and the outside of the specific area 42 can be easily identified.

According to the first embodiment, by transferring the green data outside the specific area by the transfer means 11, the area outside the specific area of the image can be modified and output. In addition, as the single-phase means 11, a transfer function that the CPU 10 has conventionally provided can be used. Further, once the transfer is completed, the coordinate information of the specific area is not required, and therefore, a memory for holding the information is not required.

Therefore, unlike a conventional image processing apparatus according to the prior art, a specific area of an image is modified and output without providing dedicated hardware such as an LUT, an overlay memory and an editing memory. An image processing apparatus capable of performing the above can be provided.

Next, a description will be given of a second embodiment of the image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of an image processing apparatus according to the second embodiment.

As shown in the figure, the image processing apparatus according to the second embodiment replaces the transfer means 11 of the image processing apparatus according to the first embodiment (see FIG. 1) with a density restoring means 28,
It comprises a brightness reduction means 29 and a brightness reduction area storage means 27.

The brightness reduction area storage means 27 holds a brightness reduction flag in an area where brightness is reduced corresponding to an area outside the specific area. The brightness reduction area storage means 27 outputs a brightness reduction signal described later according to this flag.

The density restoring means 28 includes the image storage means 15,
Density restoration processing is performed on the color image data stored in 16 and 17 to convert it into multi-bit image data of 6 bits each for red, green and blue.

The multi-valued image data and the brightness reduction signal from the brightness reduction area storage means 27 are input to the brightness reduction means 29. The brightness reduction signal becomes valid in synchronization with the input of multi-valued image data in an area outside the specific area.

The luminance lowering means 29 outputs the luminance level at about 1/2 by shifting the multi-valued image data one bit lower if the luminance lowering signal is valid, and outputs the luminance level if the luminance lowering signal is invalid. Output as is.

The operation of the image processing apparatus according to the second embodiment will be described below.

As in the first embodiment, the scanner 13
The read color image is subjected to dither processing for each of the red, green, and blue color components, and is stored in the image storage units 15, 16, and 17. Next, the operator sets a specific area on the keyboard / keyboard.
The mouse 14 is designated. Alternatively, it specifies that any one of the character area or the image area divided by the area determination means 12 is to be the specific area.

The coordinates of the specific area are passed to the CPU 10.
The CPU 10 writes a brightness reduction flag in the brightness reduction area storage means 27 corresponding to an area other than the closed area indicated by the coordinates. On the other hand, from the image storage means 15, 16, 17, red,
The image data of one bit each of green and blue is sequentially read out, and converted by the density restoring means 28 into multi-valued image data of six bits each of red, green and blue. In the second embodiment, CR
At T9, for each color component, multi-stage display according to 6-bit image data is performed.

The converted multi-valued image data is sent to the brightness lowering means 29 from the brightness lowering area storage means 27.
In accordance with the luminance reduction signal output in synchronization with the data, if the luminance reduction signal is invalid, the luminance reduction processing is not performed, and if the luminance reduction signal is valid, the value of the multi-valued image data is reduced to about 1/2. That is, the value of the multi-valued image data in the specific area is not converted and the value of the multi-valued image data outside the specific area is reduced to １ ／ according to the flag stored in the basic lowered area storage unit 27.

The multi-valued image data that has been subjected to the brightness reduction processing is
The information is displayed on the CRT 19 by the display means 18.

As a result, the image in the specific area in the display image is displayed at a prescribed luminance level, and the image outside the specific area is displayed at about 1/2 the luminance level as compared with the image in the specific area. Is done.

Here, FIG. 4 shows a display example according to the second embodiment.

According to the second embodiment, the specific area 41
Is displayed as the original image, and the image outside the specific area 42 is displayed in a state where the luminance is reduced. Accordingly, the specific area 41
Can be easily identified, and the outline of the image can be recognized even outside the specific area 42.

Since the luminance reduction means 29 can be realized by a simple shifter, a display in which an area outside a specific area is modified is realized with a simpler configuration than an image processing apparatus according to the related art in which a dedicated LUT or the like is provided. be able to.

Next, a description will be given of a third embodiment of the image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows the configuration of an image processing apparatus according to the third embodiment.

As shown in the figure, the image processing apparatus according to the third embodiment differs from the image processing apparatus according to the first embodiment in that the luminance reduction means adds a specific area and the color information / coordinate management means. 31. The color information / coordinate management means 31 calculates the coordinates of N (N is an integer) specific areas,
It manages arbitrary color data assigned to each specific area.

In the third embodiment, the transfer means 32 has a function of transferring the color data managed by the color information / coordinate management means 31 to the image storage means 15, 16 and 17.

Hereinafter, the operation of the image processing apparatus according to the third embodiment will be described.

As in the first embodiment, the scanner 13
The read color image is subjected to dither processing for each of the red, green, and blue color components, and is stored in the image storage units 15, 16, and 17.

Next, the operator sets the specific area by keyboard.
Specify from the mouse / mouse 14. Or, the area determining means 1
It is designated that any one of the divided character area or image area is set as the specific area.

Here, in the third embodiment, since the color information / coordinate management means 31 manages N (N is an integer) specific area specifying areas, a plurality of specific areas can be designated.

Therefore, the specific area by the keyboard / mouse 14 and the area determining means 12 can be set together.

Next, the transfer unit 32 refers to the color information and the coordinates of the color information / coordinate management unit 31 and refers to the image storage unit 1.
For each of the N specific regions in 5, 16, and 17, a frame of a different color is attached to each specific region.

For example, when creating a red frame, the frame data is written in the image storage means 15 storing the red data, and the image storage means storing the green and blue data. 1
Black data is written in frames 6 and 17 in the form of a frame. When a blue frame is to be created, the frame data is written into the image storage unit 17 storing blue data, and the image storage units 15 and 16 storing red and green data. Has a black frame in the shape of a frame.
Write data.

For an area not included in any specific area, the data of the image storage means 16 for storing green data is transferred to the image storage means 15 and 17, as in the first embodiment. I do. In the display means 18, the image storage means 15, 16, 1
7, the image data is read out and displayed on the CRT 19.

FIG. 5 shows a display example of the image processing apparatus according to the third embodiment.

In FIG. 5, the specific area 51 is a keyboard
The mouse is designated by the mouse 14 and the color information of red is added to the frame.

At the same time, the character / image of the specific area 52 is determined by the area determining means 12, the character area is extracted, and blue color information is added to the frame.

Then, outside the specific area 53, the color image is converted into a monochrome image as in the first embodiment. Thereby, the two specific areas 51 and 52 and the outside of the specific area 53
Indicates that the image is color or monochrome, and the two specific areas are identified by the color of the frame of the specific area.

According to the third embodiment, it is possible to apply different modifications to a plurality of specific areas of an image and to display them individually and identifiably.

In the above embodiment, the display of the image on the CRT has been described as an example of the output of the image. However, the present invention can be applied to, for example, the output to a printing apparatus.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to easily output a specific area and the outside of the specific area so that the specific area can be identified. As a result, it is possible to output individually identifiable. Further, the specific area designated by the operator can be displayed as it is as the input original image, thereby facilitating editing such as correction.

[0084]

As described above, according to this embodiment, an image processing apparatus capable of modifying and outputting a specific area or a non-specific area of an image without providing a special LUT or the like. Can be provided.

Further, it is possible to provide an image processing apparatus which can apply different modifications to a plurality of specific regions of an image and output the images individually and identifiably.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of an image in the image processing apparatus according to the first and second embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of an image in an image processing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a first image processing apparatus according to the related art.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a second image processing apparatus according to the related art.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 CPU 11 Transfer means 12 Area determination means 13 Scanner 14 Keyboard / mouse 15, 16, 17 Image storage means 18 Display means 19 CRT 27 Brightness reduction area storage means 28 Density restoration means 29 Brightness reduction means 31 Color information / Coordinate management means 32 Transfer means 41 Specific area 42 Outside specific area 51, 52 Specific area 53 Outside specific area 61 Image memory 62 Overlay memory 63 Select means 64 First LUT 65 Second LUT 66 Display control 67 CRT 71 CPU 72 Editing Memory 73 Selection means 74 Color printer

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Yoshihiro Yokoyama 292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Hitachi, Ltd.Microelectronics Equipment Development Laboratory (72) Inventor Hidefumi Masuzaki 2880 Kozu, Kozu, Odawara City, Kanagawa Prefecture Hitachi, Ltd. In the Odawara Factory (56) References JP-A-64-81152 (JP, A) JP-A-2-296294 (JP, A) JP-A-1-94387 (JP, A) JP-A-1-270173 (JP) , A) Hikaru Hei 3-45596 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G06T 1/00 G06T 5/00 G09G 5/02 G09G 5/36 H04N 1/387

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] An image memory for separating and storing an image into respective component data of red component data, green component data, and blue component data, and storing the image data in an image memory corresponding to a region outside a designated region in the image. Replacing means for replacing the red component data and the blue component data which have been stored with the green component data stored corresponding to the same area, and an output device which reads out each component data of the image from the image memory and outputs it as an image An image processing apparatus comprising: 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said replacement means further stores image data stored in an image memory corresponding to outer frame portions of a plurality of designated regions in the image. For each image data corresponding to each of the outer frame areas.