IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS

Abstract

An image forming apparatus having a first image obtaining portion which obtains an image of a medium as a first image, a second image obtaining portion which can continuously obtain each image of a plurality of originals as a second image, and an image output section which outputs the image has: an input portion which inputs composition instruction information for instructing composition of first image and each second image; a control portion which makes said first and said second image obtaining portions operative when the composition instruction information is inputted; and an image composing portion which forms each composite image by composing each of the second images sequentially obtained by the second image obtaining portion to the first image obtained by said first image obtaining portion. The image output section outputs the composite images formed by the image composing portion.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a construction of an embodiment 1 of an image forming apparatus according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic constructional diagram of the image forming apparatus according to the invention;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are schematic constructional diagrams showing an example of an image obtaining section;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an image composing process by the image forming apparatus of the embodiment 1;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation in the embodiment 1 of the image forming apparatus according to the invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic constructional diagram showing a modification of the image forming apparatus according to the invention;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a construction of an embodiment 2 of the image forming apparatus according to the invention;

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing examples of layout patterns;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation in the embodiment 2 of an image forming apparatus according to the invention;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a construction of an embodiment 3 of the image forming apparatus according to the invention;

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing examples of image composite patterns;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart (part 1) showing the operation in the embodiment 3 of an image forming apparatus according to the invention;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart (part 2) showing the operation in the embodiment 3 of the image forming apparatus according to the invention;

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of a construction of an embodiment 4 of an image forming apparatus according to the invention;

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram showing examples of image editing formats; and

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the operation in the embodiment 4 of the image forming apparatus according to the invention.

Claims

1. An image forming apparatus having a first image obtaining portion which obtains an image of a medium as a first image, a second image obtaining portion which can continuously obtain each image of a plurality of media as a second image, and an image output section which outputs the image, comprising: an input portion which inputs composition instruction information for instructing composition of said first image and each of said second images;a control portion which makes said first image obtaining portion and said second image obtaining portion operative when said composition instruction information is inputted; andan image composing portion which forms each composite image by composing each of said second images sequentially obtained by said second image obtaining portion to said first image obtained by said first image obtaining portion,wherein said image output section outputs said composite images formed by said image composing portion.

2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an image storing portion which stores said first image; anda detecting portion which detects whether or not said second images can be further obtained by said second image obtaining portion when said composite images are outputted by said image output section,and wherein if it is detected by said detecting portion that said second images can be obtained, said second image obtaining portion further obtains the second image and said image composing portion further forms the composite image by composing said first image stored in said image storing portion and said second image obtained by said second image obtaining portion.

3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said image composing portion forms said composite image by overlaying said first image and said second image.

4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a layout storing portion which stores a layout of said first image and said second image in said composite image, and wherein said image composing portion forms said composite image by arranging said first image and said second image on the basis of said layout stored in said layout storing portion.

5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising: a layout pattern storing portion which stores a plurality of layout patterns of said first image and said second image in said composite image; anda selecting portion which allows an operator to select one of said plurality of layout patterns stored in said layout pattern storing portion,and wherein said layout pattern storing portion stores said layout pattern selected by said selecting portion as said layout.

6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said input portion further has a priority size detecting portion which inputs priority information for designating one of said first image obtaining portion and said second image obtaining portion as a priority image obtaining portion which obtains a priority image and detects a size of said priority image, and said image composing portion further forms said composite image on the basis of said detected size.

7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said input portion further has: an image expansion/contraction information storing portion which inputs priority information for designating one of said first image obtaining portion or said second image obtaining portion as a priority image obtaining portion which obtains a priority image and designating the other as a sub-image obtaining portion which obtains a sub-image and image expansion/contraction information for instructing to expand or contract the image and stores said image expansion/contraction information;a priority size detecting portion which detects a size of said priority image;a sub-image size detecting portion which detects a size of said sub-image;a comparison discriminating portion which compares the detected size of said priority image with the detected size of said sub-image and discriminates;an image expansion/contraction discriminating portion which discriminates whether or not said image expansion/contraction information has been stored in said image expansion/contraction information storing portion if it is determined by said comparison discriminating portion that the size of said priority image and the size of said sub-image differ; andan image expanding or contracting portion which expands or contracts said sub-image so as to coincide with the size of said priority image if it is determined by said image expansion/contraction discriminating portion that said image expansion/contraction information has been stored,and said image composing portion forms said composite image by composing said priority image and said expanded or contracted sub-image.

8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first image obtaining portion or said second image obtaining portion comprises a digital camera.

9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first image obtaining portion or said second image obtaining portion comprises an image scanner.

10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first image obtaining portion has: a first setting portion which sets the medium; anda reading portion which reads the image of said medium, as said first image, which has been set to said first setting portion.

11. The image forming apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said first setting portion comprises platen glass on which a non-standard-size medium can be set.

12. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said second image obtaining portion has: a second setting portion on which a plurality of standard-size media can be set;a conveying portion which sequentially conveys a plurality of said originals; anda reading portion which can continuously reads images of said plurality of originals, as said second images, which have sequentially been conveyed by said conveying portion.

13. The image forming apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said conveying portion comprises an automatic document feeder.

14. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: said first image obtaining portion has a first setting portion which sets the medium and a reading portion which reads the image of said medium, as said first image, which has been set to said first setting portion;said second image obtaining portion has a second setting portion on which a plurality of standard-size originals can be set and a conveying portion which sequentially conveys a plurality of said originals to said reading portion;said reading portion further reads the images of said originals, as said second images, which have sequentially been conveyed by said conveying portion;said image composing portion forms said composite image by composing said first image and each of said second images; andsaid image output section outputs said composite images.

15. The image forming apparatus according to claim 14, further comprising: an image storing portion which stores said first image; anda presence/absence detecting portion which detects the presence or absence of said original in said second setting portion when said composite image is outputted by said image output section,and wherein when the presence of said original is detected by said presence/absence detecting portion, said conveying portion further conveys said original to said reading portion, said reading portion further reads said original conveyed by said conveying portion as said second image, and said image composing portion forms said composite image by composing said first image stored in said image storing portion and said second image read by said reading portion.

16. The image forming apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said first setting portion comprises platen glass on which a non-standard-size medium can be set and said conveying portion comprises an automatic document feeder.

17. An image forming apparatus having a first image obtaining portion which obtains an image of a medium as a first image, a second image obtaining portion which can continuously obtain each image of a plurality of media as a second image, and an image output section which outputs the image, comprising: a first detecting portion which detects whether or not said first image can be obtained by said first image obtaining portion;a second detecting portion which detects whether or not said second image can be obtained by said second image obtaining portion; andan image composition discriminating portion which discriminates whether or not said first image and said second image are composed on the basis of the detection by said first detecting portion and the detection by said second detecting portion,wherein if it is determined by said image composition discriminating portion that said first image and said second image are composed, said first image obtaining portion obtains said first image and said second image obtaining portion obtains said second image,said apparatus further includes an image composing portion which forms a composite image by composing said obtained first image and said obtained second image, andsaid image output section outputs said composite image formed by said image composing portion.

18. The image forming apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising: a layout pattern storing portion which stores a plurality of layout patterns of said first image and said second image in said composite image; anda selecting portion which allows an operator to select one of said plurality of layout patterns stored in said layout pattern storing portion,and wherein said image composing portion forms said composite image by arranging said first image and said second image on the basis of said selected layout pattern.

19. The image forming apparatus according to claim 17, wherein said input portion further has: an image expansion/contraction information storing portion which inputs priority information for designating one of said first image obtaining portion or said second image obtaining portion as a priority image obtaining portion which obtains a priority image and designating the other as a sub-image obtaining portion which obtains a sub-image and image expansion/contraction information for instructing to expand or contract the image and stores said image expansion/contraction information;a priority size detecting portion which detects a size of said priority image;a sub-image size detecting portion which detects a size of said sub-image;a comparison discriminating portion which compares the detected size of said priority image with the detected size of said sub-image and discriminates;an image expansion/contraction discriminating portion which discriminates whether or not said image expansion/contraction information has been stored in said image expansion/contraction information storing portion if it is determined by said comparison discriminating portion that the size of said priority image and the size of said sub-image differ; andan image expanding or contracting portion which expands or contracts said sub-image so as to coincide with the size of said priority image if it is determined by said image expansion/contraction discriminating portion that said image expansion/contraction information has been stored,and said image composing portion forms said composite image by composing said priority image and said expanded or contracted sub-image.

20. An image forming apparatus having a first image obtaining portion which obtains an image of a medium as a first image, a second image obtaining portion which obtains the image of the medium as a second image, and an image output section which outputs the image, comprising: an input portion which inputs image obtaining portion information for designating one of said first image obtaining portion or said second image obtaining portion as an area designation image obtaining portion which obtains an area designation image to designate a specific area and designating the other as a basic image obtaining portion which obtains a basic image and editing instruction information for instructing to edit said basic image on the basis of said area designation image;a control portion which makes said area designation image obtaining portion and said basic image obtaining portion operative when said editing instruction information is inputted;an area extracting portion which extracts said specific area from said area designation image obtained by said area designation image obtaining portion; andan image editing portion which overlays said extracted specific area to said basic image obtained by said basic image obtaining portion and edits an image of said specific area, thereby forming an edition image,wherein said image output section outputs said edition image formed by said image editing portion.