Xerox Corporation

Robert Michael Chapin

Anthony Michael Frumusa

Gordon Francis Lupien, Jr

Kenneth D Romano

Daniel A Mohabir

Mehdi M Mansoori

David L Salgado

Khalid M Rabb

Timothy M Minerd

Michael E Meyers

Samuel D Ambalavanar

Whynn Victor Lovette

John F Seward, Jr

John Stewart Ceci

James G Nargi

Benjamin D Brown

Phillip A Sciuto

The present invention generally relates to a digital scanner for scanning images. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for accurately scanning documents and for processing digital data to provide digital images stored in memory, which can be retrieved for printing on support material or for displaying on a display screen.

Digital scanner for capturing and processing images

An image is rotated in opponent color space, such as L*a*b* or Y C C color space, by inputting the opponent color space image data, subsampling the opponent color space image data, and addressing the subsampled opponent color space image data into an output configuration corresponding to a specified rotation angle. For 90&deg; and 270&deg; rotation, the opponent color space image data is scaled before being addressed. This eliminates distortion of the rotated image, while allowing real-time rotation of the image in hardware.

Image rotation in opponent color space

An image data flow control and storage facility having a secondary storage, a secondary storage controller, an image input controller, an image output controller and an optional loop-back controller. According to one embodiment, the image input controller, the image output controller and the loop-back controller communicate with the secondary storage controller by way of a PCI-type bus. The secondary storage controller communicates with the secondary storage by way of an SCSI interface. Preferably, the secondary storage controller operates in master mode to transfer blocks of image data directly between the secondary storage and the image output, image input and loop-back controllers. By performing direct image data transfers, the facility of the invention avoids intermediately storing image data in costly DRAM page buffers.

Data flow control and storage facility for an image reproduction system

The present invention generally relates to a digital scanner for scanning images. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for quickly processing and storing digital data in memory.

Direct memory access control system for a digital scanner

The present invention generally relates to a loopback direct memory access control system for a digital scanner for processing images. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for quickly reading digital data from memory, processing the digital data and writing the processed digital data to memory.

Loopback direct memory access control system for a digital scanner

A method of rotating an input image matrix of pixel data 180&deg; to form an output image matrix of pixel data using a computer. The input image matrix is divided into pre-rotated bands of image pixels. Groups of pixels of a first pre-rotated band are accessed beginning at a bottom end of the first band and ending at a top end of the first band. The order of the pixels within each group of pixels of the first band is then reversed. The groups of reordered pixels are written to a band memory to form a rotated band of pixel data. In the rotated band of pixel data, the order of the groups of pixels of the rotated band is in reverse order to the order of the groups of pixels in the first band. The steps of accessing, reversing, and writing steps are repeated for the other bands of image pixels. Finally, the rotated bands are combined in reverse order of the pre-rotated bands to form the output image matrix. Optionally, the bands are concurrently reordered and compressed. By appropriately selecting the size of the groups of pixels and performing the steps on separate direct memory access masters, the method can take advantage of the bandwidth of high-performance busses to rotate and compress data in real-time.

180&deg; rotation of digital images with concurrent compression

A method for rotating an input image matrix having pixel grouping data to form an output image matrix in a computer is provided. The pixel grouping data is accessed and readdressed to rotate the input image matrix. The pixel grouping data is desampled into desampled pixel grouping data. At least one line of the desampled pixel grouping data is sorted into a plurality of groups of desampled pixel grouping data. A first group of the desampled pixel grouping data is written to a first line of the output image matrix. A second group of the desampled pixel grouping data is written to a second line of the output image matrix. Preferably, the pixel grouping data represents subsampled color image data in L*a*b* space. The method takes advantage of the bandwidth of high-performance busses in direct memory access systems to rotate data in real-time.

Hardware rotation of images with line sorting in L*A*B* color space

A multiplexing bus controller with input conditioning is provided in which the need for a dedicated microprocessor for handling input filtering, input change detection and serial-to-parallel/parallel-to-serial I/O data conversion is eliminated. The controller is realized in a gate array and provides input data oversampling and output refreshing to eliminate random noise coupled to the data lines. In addition, the oversampled data is filtered to debounce the signal received from the input devices. The input data is converted from serial-to-parallel and checked to detect any change from the previous input data stream. Upon detection of an input change, the host microprocessor is interrupted. When the host microprocessor sends data to the bus controller, the bus controller then converts the data to a serial stream for communication to the appropriate output device. Additionally, the bus controller is provided with an internal turnaround circuit to loop back outputs to the inputs for diagnostic purposes. Very low gate counts realized in the design of the multiplexing bus controller allow it to be realized on a single chip.

Multiplexing bus controller with input conditioning

A printing system, for merging a scanned image with a merge image to produce a composite image, is provided. The printing system includes a memory for storing the merge image, in the form of a first set of image data, and a decompression device for decompressing the first set of image data. The printing system further includes a scanner, for reading a hard-copy page to generate a second set of image data, and a annotate/merge device, the annotate/merge device electronically merging the decompressed first set of image data with the second set of image data to produce the composite image.

Printing machine with merging/annotating/signaturizing capability

A printing system for processing one or more images of a job is provided. The printing system includes a video bus communicating with both a first transfer module and an image processing section. In operation, a first segment of the job is processed in the image processing section while a second segment of the job is buffered in the first transfer module. Subsequently, the first segment of the job is transferred away from the image processing section, with a second transfer module, coincidentally with the the second segment being transferred to the image processing section.

Apparatus and method for maximizing a rate of image data transfer in a

A plurality of input/output connector modules are located along a time multiplex bus. Each module has a plurality of programmable cells comprised of digital components. Each cell can be electronically programmed to receive one bit of information. These bits of information are used by each module to determine the address and input/output configuration assumed by the module. Programming data is sent via a serial input data (SID) line to the programming cells. The SID line has a plurality of delays which are located between the modules. The delays allow all of the programming cells of one module to be programmed before the next module receives the data along the SID line. The delays are created by the intrinsic resistance of the SID line and capacitors connected to the SID line which cause a delay in the programming data. The SID line is also clamped to ground out the programming signals after each cell has been programmed.

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Rushville, NY, United States of America

Robert Michael Chapin