Facsimile and static presentation processing – Facsimile – Picture signal generator
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-09
2004-06-01
Grant, II, Jerome (Department: 2626)
Facsimile and static presentation processing
Facsimile
Picture signal generator
C358S451000, C358S404000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06744537
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an image reader which can advantageously be used for reading an image on a medium by means of manual operations.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
An image reader is used as a device for optically reading an image on a medium. The image readers can largely be classified into three types of a flat bed type, a sheet feed type, and a handy type. The flat bed and the sheet feed type of image readers are stand-alone devices on which a document is set and read. On the other hand, the handy type of image reader has a smaller size as compared to the other two types described above, so that this type of image reader can easily be connected to a laptop computer or a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). In the handy type of image reader, because a document is manually scanned, it is necessary to specify a position for start of reading (read start position) and give instructions for start and end of reading to the device. Conventionally it is necessary to set the image reader at the read start position and press operation switch provided on a housing thereof.
FIG. 110
is a perspective view showing appearance of an image reader
1
based on the conventional technology as described above. The image reader shown in this figure comprises a slender box-shaped housing
2
, an operation switch
3
provided on a top surface of the housing
2
, and a cable
4
. In this image reader
1
, when an image on a document P placed under an image reading surface
2
a
is to be read, the housing
2
is set at the read start position and the operation switch
3
is pressed to indicate a read start position. While pressing down the operation switch start of reading (read start) is instructed by manually moving the image reader in the direction V (the scanning direction) indicated by an arrow, and the image is read. When the image reader is moved to an end of reading position (read end position) and the operation switch
3
is pressed again the reading is stopped.
FIG. 111
is a perspective view showing appearance of another image reader
10
based on the conventional technology. The image reader
10
comprises a housing
11
having an image reading surface
11
a
, an interface card
12
connected to an insertion port
15
a
of a main system of the device
15
, and an image reading section
13
for reading an image. In the image reader
10
having the configuration as described above, by connecting the image reader via the interface card
12
to the main system
15
, image data read by the image reading section
13
can be sent to the main system. Also in the conventional technology, in addition to the configuration as described above in which the image reader
10
is connected to the main system
15
via the interface card
12
as shown in
FIG. 111
, there is known an image reader as shown in
FIG. 112
having a configuration in which a connector
21
attached to an end of a cable
22
is connected to the interface card
12
.
In the image reader based on the conventional technology as described above, image is read based on the flow chart shown in FIG.
113
. In step TA
1
shown in this figure, a user gives an instruction for read start by contacting the image reader to a document and then pressing an operation key (for instance, the operation switch
3
shown in FIG.
110
). In step TA
2
, image data for several lines is read from one line on the document, and a threshold value for digitizing (conditions for reading) used for digitizing image data is decided based on the color of characters and the color of the background.
In step TA
3
, an operation for reading an image on the document is started, image data read as described above is compared with the threshold value, and monochrome image data is generated. The threshold value for digitizing is decided each time the document is read. The operation sequence as described above is employed because it is necessary to generate sharp monochrome image data by deciding a threshold value corresponding to a quality of the paper used.
Further in the image readers based on the conventional technology as described above, in order to downsize the device and reduce power consumption various types of measures are taken such as use of a compact and low power consumption microprocessor having a high processing speed or the like. In such image readers, after the image data is read, a sequence of operations for post-processing comprising correction of an inclination of an image, contraction of corrected image data, recording and storage of the contracted image data is executed. When the sequence of operations for post-processing is finished, the next image read processing is performed.
FIG. 114
is a block diagram showing configuration of the image reader based on the conventional technology. A read instructing section
30
issues an instruction for reading an image on a document to a read control section
31
. The read control section
31
gives an instruction for reading an image on the document to an image reading section
32
upon input of the instruction for read start from the read instructing section
30
as a trigger, and also gives an instruction for starting an operation for writing (storing) image data as a result of reading by the image reading section
32
to a buffer memory
33
. Further, the read control section
31
gives an instruction for starting an operation of reading image data from the buffer memory
33
to a data processing section
34
when image data write in the buffer memory
33
is finished. The data processing section
34
reads out image data from the buffer memory
33
upon an instruction from the read control section
31
described above, and executes the sequence of operations for post-processing as described above to the image data. The image data having been subjected to the post-processing by the data processing section
34
is stored in the data storing section
35
.
Operations of the image reader is explained with reference to FIG.
115
and FIG.
116
. In step TB
1
shown in
FIG. 115
, the read control section
31
determines whether an instruction for read start has been issued from the read instructing section
30
or not, and when it is determined that the instruction has not been issued (“No”), the read control section
31
repeats the same operation for determination. When an instruction for read start is issued at the point of time t
1
shown in
FIG. 116
, the read control section
31
determines in step TB
1
that start of reading has been instructed (“Yes”), and shifts the processing to step TB
2
.
In step TB
2
, the read control section
31
outputs a reading start signal shown in
FIG. 116
to the image reading section
32
as well as to the buffer memory
33
. With this operation, an image on a document is read by the image reading section
32
, and the data obtained as a result of reading is written as shown in
FIG. 116
in the buffer memory
33
. When the operation for writing the image data for a specified number of lines is finished at a time point ta, the read control section
31
reports completion of the operation for writing image data to the data processing section
34
. With this operation, the data processing section
34
reads out the image data stored in the buffer memory
33
as shown in
FIG. 116
in step TB
3
.
The data processing section
34
executes the sequence of operations for post-processing described above with respect to the data. Then the data processing section
34
reports to the read control section
31
that the sequence of operations for post-processing has been executed. Then in step TB
1
, the read control section
31
determines whether an instruction for read start has been issued from the read instructing section
30
or not. As described above, in the image reader based on the conventional technology it is clearly understood from
FIG. 116
that, after image data is written in the buffer memory
33
the image data is read out from the buffer memory
33
. Namely, in the image reader based on the conventional technology, write processing a
Chiba Hirotaka
Ishikawa Yoshiro
Noda Tsugio
Sakai Kenichiro
Armstrong Kratz Quintos Hanson & Brooks, LLP
Fujitsu Limited
Grant II Jerome
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