Patent Application
20050251016
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an image acquiring device and an image acquiring method of rotating images, and more particularly to an image acquiring device and an image acquiring method enabling a user to select a specific mark of an original as a basis for image rotation.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the prior art, the scanned image has to be transferred to a computer and processed by the application software so that the image can be rotated by 180 degrees. Typically, the user views the scanned image and determines whether the image has to be rotated or how the image has to be rotated, or an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) method using specific OCR software can be used to determine the rotation angle, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,011,877, 6,546,215, and 6,574,375. Alternatively, the conventional copier provides the user the function of selecting the orientation of the image of the to-be-copied document, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,314,213.
However, more and more scanners are designed as independent devices, which need not to be directly connected to the computer. For example, some scanners can be directly connected to a printer and directly process the scanned results into print signals that can be accepted by the printer. Alternatively, some scanners can be directly connected to the Internet or the fax network and directly process the scanned results into digital signals that can be transmitted through the Internet or fax network. When the user manually places the documents or when an automatic document feeder is used to feed a stack of documents, the images of some documents may have an orientation opposite to that of the other documents. In this case, it is very inconvenient to manually rotate the images using the application software on the computer or using the image rotating method on the copier. Using the OCR method to process the stack of documents requires a relatively large memory and the documents only having pictures as contents cannot be recognized.
Thus, it is an important object of the invention to simplify the judgement of the document orientation according to an initial setting.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an image acquiring device capable of rotating images and a method therefor, wherein the judgement of the document orientation may be simplified according to an initial setting, and then the images may be rotated according to the judgement.
To achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention provides an image acquiring device including a scanning module, a driving mechanism, a selecting module, a control-processing unit and a memory. The scanning module scans a plurality of originals in sequence in conjunction with the driving mechanism. The selecting module selects a specific mark on a first original as a basis for judging an orientation state of a second original. The control-processing unit generates a digital mark signal stored in the memory according to signals output from the scanning module and the selecting module. The control-processing unit judges a position of the digital mark signal in a digital signal obtained after the second original is scanned, and thus generates a rotating signal and rotates the digital signal into a normal image signal according to the rotating signal. Thus, the document image may be automatically rotated into a normal state.
Alternatively, the rotating signal and the digital signal can be directly outputted to an image processing device, which performs the subsequent rotating process.
The driving mechanism 14 moves the scanning module 12 with respect to each of the originals. Thus, the driving mechanism 14 can be a scanning module driving mechanism for moving the scanning module of the scanning module 12, or an automatic sheet-feeding mechanism for feeding the originals. The selecting module 16 selects the specific mark M on the first original D1 to generate a standard position signal SSP corresponding to a position SP of the specific mark M according to a reference coordinate system of the image acquiring device.
The control-processing unit 18 respectively processes the first analog signal SA1 and the second analog signal SA2 into a first digital signal DS1 and a second digital signal DS2, wherein the analog front end amplification, the analog-to-digital conversion and the gain processing may be applied to the signals. Then, the control-processing unit 18 generates a digital mark signal SDM of the specific mark M according to the first digital signal DS1. That is, the image signal of the specific mark M is selected.
The selecting module 16 can automatically determine the position SP of the specific mark M according to the first digital signal DS1, or can provide a selection interface for users such that the users can select the specific mark M by inputting instructions on the selection interface.
The memory 20 stores the digital mark signal SDM and the standard position signal SSP, based on which the control-processing unit 18 judges an orientation state of the second digital signal DS2. The control-processing unit 18 identifies a position of the digital mark signal SDM in the second digital signal DS2 and generates a rotating signal ST. That is, when it is judged that the digital mark signal SDM of the second digital signal DS2 is also positioned at the position SP, or the digital signal of the second digital signal DS2 at the position SP is the digital mark signal SDM, the second digital signal DS2 does not have to be rotated, or the rotating signal ST may be defined as 0 degrees. When it is judged that the digital mark signal SDM of the second digital signal DS2 is not positioned at the position SP, or the digital signal of the second digital signal DS2 at the position SP is not the digital mark signal SDM, the second digital signal DS2 has to be rotated by 180 degrees, or the rotating signal ST may be defined as 180 degrees. Of course, it is also possible to easily judge whether the second digital signal DS2 has to be rotated by 90 degrees or by 270 degrees. Thus, the rotating signal ST indicates that the second digital signal DS2 be rotated by 0, 90, 180 or 270 degrees. The control-processing unit 18 can identify the digital mark signal SDM in the second digital signal DS2 by comparing the digital signals which may include steps of calculating the ratio of the number of black pixels to the number of white pixels, calculating the gray-scale distribution and determining the matching rate between the digital signals.
Then, the control-processing unit 18 rotates the second digital signal DS2 according to the rotating signal ST and generates a normal image signal SN. The normal image signal SN can be outputted to an image processing device 30 through an input/output port 22. The image acquiring device can be connected to an image processing device 30 through an input/output port 22 and outputs the normal image signal SN to the image processing device 30. In another embodiment, the image acquiring device can be connected to an image processing device 30 through an input/output port 22 and outputs the second digital signal DS2 and the rotating signal ST to the image processing device 30. Then, the image processing device 30 performs a rotation process on the second digital signal DS2 according to the rotating signal. The image processing device 30 includes, without limitation to, one of the Internet, the fax network, the personal computer, the notebook computer, the workstation and the like.
In an modified embodiment, the control-processing unit 18 may further process the normal image signal SN into a print signal and output the print signal to a printing device connected to the image acquiring device through the input/output port 22.
Compared to the prior art using the OCR (Optical Character Recognition) method to judge the original orientation, the structure of the first embodiment requires a smaller memory, and the judging method of the first embodiment is simpler.
Compared to the first embodiment, the second embodiment has a simpler structure and requires a smaller memory, and the image acquiring device can perform the procedures more efficiently.
In step 51, the first original D1 is scanned to obtain the first analog signal SA1.
In step 52, the first analog signal SA1 is processed in to the first digital signal DS1.
In step 53, the specific mark M on the first original D1 is selected and a standard position signal SSP is generated corresponding to a position of the specific mark M according to a reference coordinate system of the image acquiring device.
In step 54, a digital mark signal SDM of the specific mark M is generated according to the first digital signal DS1.
In step 55, the digital mark signal SDM and the standard position signal SSP, based on which an orientation state of the second original D2 is judged, are stored.
In step 56, the second original D2 is scanned to obtain a second analog signal SA2.
In step 57, the second analog signal SA2 is processed into a second digital signal DS2.
In step 58, a position of the digital mark signal SDM in the second digital signal DS2 is identified to generate a rotating signal ST.
In step 59, the second digital signal DS2 is rotated to generate a normal image signal SN according to the rotating signal ST; or in step 60, the rotating signal ST and the second digital signal DS2 are outputted to an image processing device 30. It is to be noted that the first digital signal DS1 in step 52 is also outputted to the image processing device 30 together with the rotating signal ST indicating a rotation of zero degrees.
Step 53 can include the sub-steps of: providing a user a selection interface, which may be similar to the display 16A, the keyboard device 16B and the button 16C of
Similarly, the above-mentioned rotating signal ST indicates that the second digital signal DS2 be rotated by 0 or 180 degrees. However, the rotating signal ST can also indicate that the second digital signal DS2 be rotated by 90 or 270 degrees.
According to the image acquiring device and method of the invention, the user only has to make a simple setting before or after the first original is scanned in order to enable the image acquiring device to automatically rotate the subsequent scanned images into the normal state, such that all the scanned images have the same orientation. The required memory capacity of this invention can be effectively reduced from that of the prior art using the OCR technology. Alternatively, if the scanned signal is converted into a digital signal and a rotating signal, which are outputted to the computer system for processing the signals, the required memory capacity may be further reduced, and the user can operate this device more effectively.
While the invention has been described by way of examples and in terms of preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications. Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 093111175 | Apr 2004 | TW | national |
