Facsimile and static presentation processing – Facsimile – Specific signal processing circuitry
Reexamination Certificate
1998-06-05
2001-05-01
Lee, Cheukfan (Department: 2722)
Facsimile and static presentation processing
Facsimile
Specific signal processing circuitry
C358S450000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06226105
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing system, and more particularly to an image processing system for producing user-desired composite photographs from pictures such as printed photographs by his or her manipulating the system installed at a storefront.
2. Description of the Background Art
Recently, a photographic system, which takes portraits and produces original composite photographs by adding to their background novel or brilliant designs, enlivens an amusement arcade. The photo-graphic system includes, for example, in a box-like housing an image pickup device such as an electronic camera for taking portraits in a fixed focus, a combining processor for combining through digital processing the picked-up images with background images prepared in advance, and a printer for printing combined images, and produces composite photographs of a subject through the user operation like coin insertion. It usually takes only certain photographs from a fixed angle of view, such as upper half portraits.
On the other hand, it is known that a photo-finishing laboratory, a so-called photo lab offers a service which creates original documents by printing on postcards or calendars pictures obtained from negatives taken by a user. The service can further enhance its originality because it can select expressive portraits in various conditions or environments, or favorite pictures of the user.
The latter case, however, takes a greater time and labor than the photographic system because it is necessary for users to make a request to a specialty store. In view of this, the inventor or the assignee of the present invention plans to propose an image processing system or photomontage system which can be easily operated by a user like a copy machine, and generate in a short time original pictures the user desires by selecting images from printed photographs or the like on which desired images are printed.
In particular, when reading images from printed photographs with such a system, it must be taken into account that there are various service sizes in printed photographs such as economy (EC) size, L size, high-definition television (HV) size, king (KG) size and 2L size. Without considering this, user-desired pictures may not be obtained.
Conventionally, such apparatuses that detect sizes of the processed document are disclosed, for example, in Japanese patent laid-open publication Nos. 92318/1979 and 578/1989, which are applied to copy machines or the like. The former publication discloses an apparatus that comprises a size sensor like a photodetector, and carries out processing such as scaling or magnifying/reducing after detecting the size of a document placed on a scanner while moving the size sensor which is mounted on a paper depressor of a copy machine slidably in the longitudinal and lateral directions for detecting edges of the document.
The latter publication discloses a system that carries out processing by sensing a pattern like a bar code which is put on a document in advance to indicate a control mode such as a copy size, scaling size or factor, and the number of copies.
The conventional techniques, however, have some problems. First, the former apparatus requires a mechanism for detecting or determining the document size and a controller for controlling it, which presents a problem of complicating the apparatus and increasing its cost.
The latter apparatus has a problem of imposing a burden on users because they must put the bar code or the like on the document in advance. In particular, a problem can arise from the facts that common users are rather unconscious of the document size like the above-mentioned service sizes of printed photographs, or that even if they know it, they cannot distinguish small size differences on the spot.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is implemented to solve the foregoing drawbacks of the conventional techniques. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an image processing system capable of processing images by selecting a correct document size without adding any mechanism for detecting or determining the document size, or without any knowledge of the document size, and to provide a photomontage system capable of producing desired composite photographs by selecting desired images from printed photographs through simple operation.
According to the present invention, there is provided an image processing system for processing an image provided from an outside source, the image processing system comprising: an image reader for sensing an image from a document on which a picture to be processed is printed, the document being of one of a plurality of document sizes; a display unit for displaying images based on the image sensed by the image reader, the images being displayed in a plurality of forms in accordance with the respective document sizes; a selection operation unit for selecting, from among the images displayed on the display unit, an image of a desired document size to be processed; and an image processor for processing the image selected by the selection operation unit, in accordance with its document size.
Here, the image reader may advantageously comprise a flat-bed type image scanner with a flat scanner surface on which a document is placed, and the image scanner scans the document in a scanning field defined by a maximum one of the document sizes independently of the actual document size of the document placed on the image scanner.
The image reader may advantageously comprise a paper depressor for pressing the document placed thereon against the scanner surface, the paper depressor being provided, on a surface opposite to the scanner surface, with border indications indicative of scanning fields associated with the document sizes, and with marks added outside the boarder indications each to represent the document sizes, the border indications and marks being sensible by the image reader in conjunction with the read image.
The display unit may display a plurality of frames whose sizes are determined in advance in accordance with the document sizes, and display in the frames images which are clipped, in accordance with the document sizes, from the image sensed by the image reader, and are applied to the frames.
The display unit may display a plurality of frames whose sizes are determined in advance in accordance with the document sizes, and display in the frames images which are clipped, in accordance with the document sizes, from the image sensed by the image reader, undergo scaling to nearly a same size, and are applied to the frames.
The display unit may display a plurality of frames whose sizes are determined in advance in accordance with the document sizes, and display in the frames images which are clipped, in accordance with the document sizes, from the image sensed by the image reader, and are applied to the frames, the images in the frames including first regions to be processed by the image processor and second regions not to be processed by the image processor, the first regions and second regions being displayed in a visually distinguishable manner.
The display unit may display the first regions and second regions with luminances different from each other, or with shadowing either of the first and second regions.
The display unit may display the images in the frames in a manner that they are rotatable together with the frames.
The selection operation unit may comprises a touch panel provided over a screen of the display unit.
The image processing system may advantageously further comprise a printer for printing on printing paper an image processed by the image processor. In this case, the image processor supplies the printer with images on which it performs processing including enlarging or reducing in accordance with a plurality of printing sizes, and the printer prints the images supplied thereto in the plurality of printing sizes.
The image processor may advantageously comprise an image combiner for combining the image selected by
Fuji Photo Film Co. , Ltd.
Lee Cheukfan
LandOfFree
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