Image Processing Apparatus for Dividing Images for Printing

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus which edits and prints image data, and, more particularly to an image processing apparatus which trims or divides image data and prints out trimmed or divided image data.

2. Description of Related Art

A conventional image processing apparatus has an image reading device such as an image scanner, a display such as a CRT which displays image data based on image information read by the image reading device, and an input device such as a keyboard or a mouse. Moreover, the conventional image processing apparatus has a function for creating image data based on the image information read by the image reading device and for editing such image data. Further, the conventional image processing apparatus has a function for trimming a part of the image data, or for magnifying or reducing the image data, and then printing the image by a print device. In addition, the conventional image processing apparatus has a function for automatically dividing the image data corresponding to the possible print size, and for printing the divided image data when the print device cannot output the entire image at one time. Such an apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,095 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-30236).

In the conventional image processing apparatus, the image data is automatically divided corresponding to the possible print size. Therefore, the dividing line in the image data which will be adhered after print out may pass through an important part of the image data (for instance, face of a person etc.) when the image data is divided and printed out which causes an unsatisfactory result. Moreover, another problem in the prior art is that the conventional image processing apparatus may print an unnecessary part of the image data because the trimming area cannot be freely set with respect to the dividing line.

An object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus which can freely set the dividing position of image data in consideration of the position where each part of the divided image data is adhered after being printed, and which can execute a division print operation efficiently.

In order to attain the above and other objects, an image processing apparatus according to the present invention comprises image reading means for providing image data which can be trimmed or divided, trimming area designating means for designating a trimming area where the periphery of the image data provided by the image reading means is trimmed and for freely selecting two points on the image data, dividing position designating means for designating a dividing position which divides the image data into plural parts and for arbitrarily selecting two points in the designated trimming area, calculating means for calculating coordinates of a plurality of points designated by the trimming area designating means and the dividing position designating means, display means having a display unit for simultaneously displaying the image data, the trimming area, and the dividing position, printing means for printing image data divided based on the designated trimming area and dividing position, and expansion rate calculating means for automatically calculating a maximum expansion rate for printing the divided image data within the possible print size of the printing means.

In the image processing apparatus of the present invention thus constructed, the entire image data read by the image reading device is displayed on the display means. The periphery of the image is trimmed by operating a trimming area designating means such as a mouse on the image data displayed on the display means. Next, the dividing position of the trimmed image is selected by operating a dividing position designating means so that a dividing line does not pass through an important part of the image. Each divided image data is printed out by the print device.

As explained above, in the image processing apparatus of the present invention, a dividing position for the entire image data or for an arbitrarily trimmed area can be set so that the divided area does not pass through an important part of the image and, as a result, a beautiful print image can be obtained whose size exceeds the possible print size of the print device.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the following figures wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing the construction of an image processing apparatus in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic front view showing the display construction of a display device;

FIG. 3 is a schematic front view showing the display device displaying image data;

FIG. 4 is a schematic front view showing the display device displaying an area of the image data to be trimmed from FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a schematic front view showing the display device displaying a position to be divided of the image data from FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the process of setting the trimming area of the image data;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the process of setting the dividing position of the image data; and

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the process of printing the image.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail.

As shown in FIG. 1, an image processing apparatus comprises a control device 1 which controls the entire image processing apparatus, a display device 2 such as a CRT, an image reading device 3 such as an image scanner, a print device 4 such as a printer which prints out an image read by the image reading device 3, and a mouse 5 which instructs the setting of a dividing position and a trimming position on displayed image data.

The control device I includes a CPU 6, a ROM 7 which memorizes a control program of the CPU 6, a RAM 8 which memorizes image data, a trimming area, and a dividing position, a display control unit 9 which controls the display device 2, an image reading control unit 10 which controls the image reading device 3, a print control unit 11 which controls the print device 4, and a mouse control unit 12 which controls the mouse 5. The mouse 5 includes a mouse cursor control mechanism 13 for controlling a mouse cursor, and a mouse instruction button 14 for inputting positional information of the mouse cursor to the control device 1.

As shown in FIG. 2, the display device 2 includes a display unit 15, a trimming mode designating button 16, a division mode designating button 17, an image data reading start button 18, a print start button 19 and a mouse cursor 20. The display unit 15 simultaneously displays image data, a trimmed area where the periphery of the image data is trimmed, and a dividing line for dividing the image data. The trimming mode designating button 16 designates a mode for setting a trimmed area of the image data. The division mode designating button 17 designates a mode for setting a dividing position of the image data. The image data reading start button 18 starts reading of the image data. The print start button 19 starts printing of the image data. The mouse cursor 20 has a shape such as an arrow.

An operation to the mouse cursor control mechanism 13, created by operating the mouse 5, is transmitted to the CPU 6 through the mouse control unit 12, and the CPU 6 puts out an instruction based on the operation to the display control unit 9. Therefore, the mouse cursor 20 can move on the display unit 15 of the display device 2.

In addition, the mouse cursor 20 is moved on each mode instruction button 16, 17, 18 and 19 which are provided on the display device 2 by operating the mouse cursor control mechanism 13 and pressing the mouse instruction button 14 located on the mouse 5. Therefore, the mode instructed by the mouse instruction button 14 is transmitted to the CPU 6 through the mouse control unit 12, and the CPU 6 executes the operation for the selected mode.

In operation during an actual processing procedure, first, image data is read into the control device 1 by the image reading device 3. That is, the mouse cursor 20 is moved on the image data reading start button 18 by operating the mouse cursor control mechanism 13, and the mouse instruction button 14 located on the mouse 5 is pressed. By this operation, the CPU 6 outputs the instruction for reading the image to the image reading device 3 through the image reading control unit 10, memorizes the read image data in the RAM 8, and displays it onto the display device 2 through the display control unit 9 as shown in FIG. 3.

The procedure for setting the trimmed area is explained with reference to FIG. 4 and FIG. 6. First, the mouse cursor 20 is moved onto the trimming mode designating button 16 which designates the mode for setting the trimmed area by operating the mouse cursor control mechanism 13 of the mouse 5, and then the mouse instruction button 14 located thereon is pressed (step S27). Then, the CPU 6 executes the operation for setting the trimmed area (step S28).

Next, the mouse cursor 20 is moved onto a point 21 on the image data displayed on the display unit 15, as shown in FIG. 4, by operating the mouse cursor control mechanism 13 of the mouse 5. The mouse instruction button 14 located thereon is then pressed (step S29). As a result, the CPU 6 calculates coordinates of the point 21 displayed on the display unit 15 from the relation between the position which the mouse cursor 20 designates at that time, that is, the position of the point 21 and the whole position of the image data which is displayed on the display unit 15. The calculated coordinates are stored in the RAM 8 (step S30).

The mouse cursor 20 is then moved onto a point 22 which is in a diagonal position to the point 21 by operating the mouse cursor control mechanism 13 of the mouse 5, and the mouse instruction button 14 located thereon is pressed (step S31). At this time, the CPU 6 calculates coordinates of the point 22 displayed on the display unit 15 by the same method for calculating the coordinates of the point 21. The calculated coordinates are also stored in the RAM 8 (step S32). Then, a rectangle which has the point 21 and the point 22 as diagonal points is calculated in the CPU 6 and is displayed on the display unit 15 as a trimmed area 23 through the display control unit 9 of the control device 1 (step S33). The trimmed area 23 is shown in FIG. 4 as the dotted line rectangle.

The procedure for setting the dividing position is explained with reference to FIG. 5 and FIG. 7. First, the mouse cursor 20 is moved onto the division mode designating button 17 which designates the mode for setting the dividing position by operating the mouse cursor control mechanism 13 of the mouse 5, and the mouse instruction button 14 located thereon is pressed (step S34). Then, the CPU 6 executes the operation for setting the dividing line (step S35).

Next, the mouse cursor 20 is moved onto a point 24 on the image data displayed on the display unit 15, as shown in FIG. 5, by operating the mouse cursor control mechanism 13 of the mouse 5, and the mouse instruction button 14 located thereon is pressed (step S36). As a result, the CPU 6 calculates coordinates of the point 24 displayed on the display unit 15 from the relation between the position which the mouse cursor 20 designates at that time, that is, the position of the point 24 and the whole position of the image data which is displayed on the display unit 15. The calculated coordinates are stored in the RAM 8 (step S37). The mouse cursor 20 is then moved onto a point 25 which is in a diagonal position to the point 24 by operating the mouse cursor control mechanism 13 of the mouse 5, and the mouse instruction button 14 located thereon is pressed (step S38). These points 24 and 25 are selected so that a dividing line extended from the points 24 and 25 should not pass through an important part of the image. At this time, the CPU 6 calculates coordinates of the point 25 displayed on the display unit 15 by the same method for calculating the coordinates of the point 24, and the calculated coordinates are also stored in the RAM 8 (step S39). Then, a plurality of dividing lines 26 which divide the trimmed area 23 into upper and lower and right and left portions are drawn based on the point 24, at intervals based on the horizontal distance and vertical distance between the points 24 and 25. The dividing lines 26 are displayed as seen in FIG. 5 with a dash-dot chain line on the display unit 15 through the display control unit 9 of the control device 1 (step S40). That is, a plurality of divided areas which have the same size as a divided area 27 based on the points 24 and 25 are automatically formed, in the right and left and upper and lower sides of the basic divided area. In FIG. 5, only two divided areas 27 are formed, but equivalent divided areas also can be formed on upper or lower sides if the image is larger than that shown in FIG. 5.

Next, the printing procedure is explained with reference to FIG. 8. First, the mouse cursor 20 is moved onto the print start button 19 for starting the print operation by operating the mouse cursor control mechanism 13, and the mouse instruction button 14 located on the mouse 5 is pressed (step S48). As a result, the CPU 6 reads the coordinates of points 21 and 22 stored in the RAM 8 and trims the image data based on those points. The CPU 6 also reads the coordinates of points 24 and 25 stored in the RAM 8 and divides the image data based on those points (step S49).

Next, the size, in length and breadth, of the trimmed area desired to be printed is input by a print size input means (not shown) (step S50). The CPU 6 calculates an expansion rate based on this input print size, the actual size of the trimmed area, and the resolution of the print device (step S51). The print size of the divided image data is calculated based on the expansion rate (step S52). Then, in step S53, it is determined whether or not the calculated print size of each divided image exceeds a maximum print size of the print device. When the calculated print size of each divided image exceeds a maximum print size of the print device (step S53: YES), a message which shows an excess of print size is displayed (step S54). In such a case, based on the flowchart for setting the dividing mode disclosed in FIG. 7, the coordinates of new points which divide the trimmed area such that the dividing line does not pass through an important part of the image are set again. When the calculated print size of each divided image does not exceed a maximum print size of the print device (step S53: NO), print data of each divided area is expanded by the expansion rate (step S55) and is transmitted to the print device 4 through the print control unit 11, and each divided area is printed in turn (step S56). The divided images printed and output from the print device 4 are manually adhered by the operator to form the complete image.

In addition, the divided image data can be expanded at an expansion rate arbitrarily set by the operator and printed out.

In this embodiment, the trimmed area 23 and the dividing lines 26 are designated by selecting the points on the image data displayed on the display unit 15 of the display device 2 by using the mouse 5. However, it is possible to numerically input the coordinates of the points for designating the trimmed area or the dividing position by using the keyboard.

Moreover, it is possible to use a tablet, a light pen or a keyboard instead of the mouse 5. Also, it is possible to realize a construction which adds an external memory device which stores the formed image data, the trimmed area and the dividing position. Further, another construction that adds a communication device which transmits the image data produced by an external computer etc. to the apparatus of the present embodiment is possible.

While advantageous embodiments have been chosen to illustrate the invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.