JP2002288636A - Image inspection device and imaging device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image detection device, capable of increasing the processing speed required for inspection of a print image to be as high as possible, and high in inspection precision, and to provide an imaging device furnished with the image inspection device. SOLUTION: The image inspection device for judging the quality of the print image is furnished with an image read part to provide an inspection data by reading the printed image, a layout matching judgement means to judge whether a layout of the print picture image matches with a layout of an original image by comparing them with each other by extracting the layouts, in a region where a letter or a diagram is recorded according to each image data and the inspection data and printing quality judgement means to judge whether the letter or the diagram matches with the layout by receiving the layout of the print image which matches with the layout of the original image.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image inspection apparatus for inspecting the quality of an image printed on a sheet and an image forming apparatus having the image inspection apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image printed by a copying machine, a printer, or the like is inspected using an automatic image inspection apparatus or the like.

An automatic image inspection apparatus generally uses a teaching image obtained from image data as a template, performs template matching based on read electronic data on a printed image to be inspected, obtains a residual, and obtains a residual. If the difference is large, it is determined that the printed matter has white spots or stains, and the presence or absence of a defect in the printed image is determined.

For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 6-309439 discloses a method of attaching a unique label to each area of a character pattern based on a binary signal and calculating the relative positional relationship between the areas of a standard character pattern. Then, based on the label value assigned to each area of the inspected character pattern, the existence range of an area corresponding to one area of the standard character pattern in each of these areas is calculated, and the inspection area within the existence area is calculated. There is disclosed a technique for calculating the total sum of the areas of the respective regions of the character pattern and performing comparison and collation.

According to this technique, the relative positional relationship of each area is calculated based on the attached label value, and the area of each corresponding area is compared, so that the character pattern to be inspected is inclined or misaligned. In addition to the above, there is an advantage that the automatic inspection can be performed, and even a character pattern with a printout can be automatically inspected.

[0006] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-92103 discloses that
A technique is disclosed in which print data output from a reading unit is compared with standard image data representing an original image to extract characteristics of a print defect, and the type of the print defect is determined from the extracted characteristics.

According to this technique, since detailed information such as the degree and position of a printing defect can be obtained, there is an advantage that countermeasure information to a printer can be output.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-181139 discloses a method of obtaining a difference between a reference registration pattern and a printed pattern to be inspected, and using an output of a circuit for obtaining an AND between the difference pattern and the reference registration pattern as character missing information. A technique is disclosed in which an output of a circuit for obtaining an AND between a differential pattern and a pattern to be inspected is used as character overflow information.

According to this technique, there is an advantage that a character missing portion or a protruding portion during printing can be extracted.

[0010]

However, in the inspection method using template matching, when the residual becomes large due to, for example, thickening or thinning of the entire printing portion or misalignment that occurs at the time of printing or imaging, In addition, there is a problem in that even if it is determined that the print is normal in the visual check, the print is determined to be defective.

To solve this problem, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-2
No. 83039 discloses a difference image including a difference between an inspection image obtained by capturing a printed image and a teaching image obtained by capturing a character which is known to be good, and determining the length of each side of a circumscribed rectangle with respect to the difference image. There is disclosed a technique for distinguishing and determining a residual caused by missing characters and a residual caused by thickening, thinning, or misalignment of the entire printing unit based on a ratio of the sum of the area to the area.

However, according to this technique, a difference image consisting of a difference between the inspection image and the teaching image is obtained, and a circumscribed rectangle for the difference image is obtained. The required calculation is required,
The processing time for obtaining the difference image becomes longer as the inspection area becomes wider. Further, in order not to unnecessarily enlarge the difference image, it is necessary to perform a contraction process, an expansion process, and a position shift correction process, and there is a problem that a processing time for the process needs to be considered.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide an image inspection apparatus having a high inspection speed of a printed image and high inspection accuracy, and an image forming apparatus having the image inspection apparatus.

[0014]

According to the present invention, there is provided an image inspection apparatus for determining the quality of a print image recorded on a recording medium based on image data representing an original image. An image reading unit that reads a print image recorded on a recording medium and obtains inspection data representing the print image, based on each of the image data and the inspection data, a character or a character on the original image and the print image. Layout matching determining means for extracting whether the layout of the printed image matches the layout of the original image by extracting the layout of the area where the figure is recorded and comparing the layouts with each other;
In response to the layout matching determining means determining that the layout of the print image matches the layout of the original image, a character or graphic recorded on the print image based on the image data and the inspection data. Print quality judgment means for judging whether or not the print image is good by judging whether or not the print image matches a character or a graphic on the original image.

Here, the layout coincidence determining means includes:
The layout of a rectangular area circumscribing a character or a figure of a set of characters or a figure on an original image and a print image is extracted and compared with each other. Whether the characters or figures match by determining whether the pixel values of the pixels of the original image and the pixel values of the print image are equal to or greater than a predetermined level over the entire rectangular area extracted from the image In a preferred embodiment, the determination is made.

According to an image forming apparatus of the present invention for achieving the above object, an image forming apparatus for recording a print image on a recording medium based on image data representing an original image reads the print image recorded on the recording medium. An image reading unit for obtaining inspection data representing the print image, and extracting a layout of an area where characters or graphics are recorded on the original image and the print image based on each of the image data and the inspection data. Means for determining whether the layout of the print image matches the layout of the original image by comparing the layouts with each other, and determining whether the layout of the print image is the layout of the original image by the layout match determination means. The image data and the inspection data Print quality judgment means for judging whether or not the character or graphic recorded on the print image matches the character or graphic on the original image based on the It is characterized by.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the image inspection apparatus according to the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the image inspection apparatus of the present invention.

The image inspection apparatus shown in FIG.
0 and a determination unit 20.

There are a print image 2 recorded on a sheet 1 by performing image processing on image data obtained from an original image, and a paper feed roller 3 for conveying the sheet 1 on which the print image 2 is recorded.

The image reading section 10 is provided with a light source 4 for irradiating the print image 2 on the paper 1 with light in parallel with the paper feed roller 3. The reflected light is collected by the lens 5,
An image is formed on the light receiving surface of the line CCD 6. Line CCD6
Converts the reflected light received by the light receiving surface into inspection data.

The judging section 20 extracts a layout of a region where characters or graphics are recorded on the print image and the original image based on the inspection data and the image data, and compares the extracted layouts with each other. Determine whether the layout on the print image matches the layout on the original image, and, based on the inspection data and the image data,
The quality of the print image is determined by determining whether the character or graphic recorded on the print image matches the character or graphic on the original image.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing functions of the image inspection apparatus of the present embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 2, a printing apparatus (or a printer) is used based on image data 31 representing an original image, which is raster-converted from an original image created by a personal computer or read from the original image by a scanner unit of a copying machine. An image forming apparatus 30 such as a copying machine or a printer records a print image on paper.

The image inspection device 8 includes an image reading unit 10 for reading a print image on a sheet and a determining unit 20.
The determination unit 20 includes the image data 31 input from the printing device 30 and the inspection data 1 input from the image reading unit 10.
1 to extract the layout of the area where characters or graphics are recorded on the original image and the print image,
A layout matching determining unit that determines whether the layout of the print image matches the layout of the original image by comparing each other, and a layout matching determination unit that matches the layout of the print image with the layout of the original image. Is determined based on the inspection data and the image data to determine whether the character or graphic recorded on the print image matches the character or graphic on the original image. A print quality determination unit for determining the quality of the print image.

The image reading section 10 reads the print image formed on the paper by the scanner section 9, and outputs image data 31.
Inspection data 11 composed of gradation values for each pixel corresponding to the above is obtained.

The determination unit 20 has two systems, one for processing the image data 31 input from the printing device 30 and the other for processing the inspection data 11 input from the image reading unit 10.

In the system for processing the image data 31, the frame memory 32 temporarily stores the image data 31 input from the printing device 30, and the preprocessing unit 33 stores the image data 31 temporarily stored in the frame memory 32. The original image memory 34 stores the binarized image data 31 by performing a binarization process or the like of the pixel values, and the circumscribed rectangle creating unit 35 performs processing based on the image data 31 stored in the original image memory 34. Then, the layout of a rectangular area circumscribing the set of characters or figures is extracted to create a circumscribed rectangle, and the original image feature storage memory 36 stores the feature of the circumscribed rectangle of the original image created by the Is stored.

In the system for processing the inspection data 11, the frame memory 12 temporarily stores the inspection data 11 input from the image reading unit 10, and the preprocessing unit 13 stores the inspection data temporarily stored in the frame memory 12. The data 11 is subjected to shading correction, noise removal, pixel value binarization processing, and the like. The inspection image memory 14 stores the binarized inspection data 11, and the circumscribed rectangle creating unit 15 stores the inspection data 11 in the inspection image memory 14. Based on the stored inspection data 11, a layout of a rectangular region circumscribing a set of characters or graphics is extracted to create a circumscribed rectangle, and the inspection image feature storage memory 16 is created by the circumscribed rectangle creating unit 15. The feature amount of the circumscribed rectangle of the printed image is stored.

The inspection unit 19 includes an original image feature storage memory 3
6, the feature amount of the circumscribed rectangle of the original image and the feature amount of the circumscribed rectangle of the print image stored in the inspection image feature amount storage memory 16 are compared, and the comparison result exceeds a certain threshold value In this case, the print image is determined to be defective, and if not, the binarized image data 31 stored in the original image memory 36 and the binarized inspection data 11 stored in the inspection image memory 14 The pixel value of the pixel of the original image and the pixel value of the pixel of the print image in the rectangular region of the circumscribed rectangle having the matching feature amount are compared with each other, and if the number of matching pixels exceeds a certain ratio, the print image Is judged to be good, and when it is less than a certain ratio, it is judged to be bad.

Here, the image data and the inspection data are binarized and the binarized data are compared with each other.
It is not necessary to binarize and compare. For example, even if the pixel value of each pixel is within ± 20% and the number of pixels of the pixel value within ± 20% is 80% or more, it is considered that they match.
If the number of pixels whose pixel values completely match each other is 70% or more, the pixels may be regarded as coincident, and can be arbitrarily set.

In the present embodiment, the comparison judgment based on the circumscribed rectangle has been described. However, the matching of the layout is not limited to the circumscribed rectangle, and the area of a predetermined area centered on the center of gravity of the print image and the original image is determined. The determination can also be made based on the position or the like.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for creating a circumscribed rectangle from a character string.

In FIG. 3, there is a character set 40 composed of ABCDEFG.
Is made into one lump, and a circumscribed rectangle 41 having a minimum width and height that can include the character set portion 40 is created, and its position, width, height, and area are stored in the original image feature amount storage memory or the inspection image feature amount. Store in storage memory.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example in which a circumscribed rectangle is created for the entire image.

As shown in FIG. 4, when a large number of character set portions 40 are included in the entire image, a plurality of circumscribed rectangles 41 are created, and the characteristic amounts relating to all the created circumscribed rectangles 41 are used as originals. It is stored in an image feature storage memory or an inspection image feature storage memory.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing, as an example, each feature quantity representing the layout of a circumscribed rectangle.

In the image shown in FIG.
And rectangular numbers from 1 to 6 are assigned to them. Each of the six circumscribed rectangles 41 is described using a symbol corresponding to each rectangle number, such as a position, width, height, and area representing a layout.

The position feature amount is such that the coordinate values of the X and Y coordinates are (X1, Y1) to (X6, Y6), the width feature amount is from W1 to W6, and the height feature amount is h1. To h6
, The feature amount of the area is described from d1 to d6.

FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 are diagrams showing, as an example, respective feature amounts of circumscribed rectangles of the original image and the print image.

The circumscribed rectangle of the original image shown in FIG. 6 and the circumscribed rectangle of the print image shown in FIG. 7 are respectively given rectangle numbers 1 to 6, and the position and width representing the layout of the circumscribed rectangle according to the rectangle numbers. , Height and area are described.

In the original image shown in FIG.
The coordinate values of the X coordinate and the Y coordinate are (x1, y1) to (x6,
Up to y6), the width feature amount is from w1 to w6, the height feature amount is from h1 to h6, and the area feature amount is from d1 to d6, and these are stored in the original image feature amount storage memory. .

In the print image shown in FIG. 7, the coordinate values of the X and Y coordinates are (X1, Y1) to (X6, Y6), and the width characteristic values are W1 to W6. The height feature amount is from H1 to H6, and the area feature amount is from D1 to D6, which are stored in the inspection image feature amount storage memory.

The determination unit determines whether or not the circumscribed rectangle of the original image matches the circumscribed rectangle of the print image by comparing each feature amount for each rectangle number.

The determination method will be described by taking the circumscribed rectangle of rectangle number 1 as an example. Now, the horizontal position x of the circumscribed rectangle
When there is a large difference between X1 and X1, there is a large displacement in the horizontal direction. When there is a large difference between the positions y1 and Y1 in the vertical direction, there is a large displacement in the vertical direction. I do. If there is a large difference between the widths w1 and W1 of the circumscribed rectangle, it is determined to be defective because there is missing printing (white missing) or unnecessary printing (dirt) in the horizontal direction. If there is a large difference between the heights h1 and H1 of the circumscribed rectangle, it is determined to be defective because there is missing printing (white missing) or unnecessary printing (dirt) in the vertical direction. If there is a large difference between the area d1 and the area D1 of the circumscribed rectangle, it is determined to be defective because the collective portion of the characters or figures is enlarged or reduced as a whole.

As described above, by sequentially comparing the respective feature value comparisons between the corresponding circumscribed rectangles of the original image and the print image, a defective print can be found without waiting for the result of the detailed template matching. Can be.

If a defective print occurs, the inspection is immediately terminated, and the printing operation by the printing apparatus is stopped,
The corresponding original image can be reprinted. If a defective print is not found in the comparison of each feature value using the circumscribed rectangle, the character or figure in the circumscribed rectangle extracted from the original image is used as a template, and the character or figure in the corresponding circumscribed rectangle of the print image is used as a template. Matching is performed.

The template matching in this embodiment uses a well-known residual sequential test method and a threshold automatic determination method, and when the residual (or threshold) is larger than a specified value, the print image is Is determined to have a defect.

The template matching is sequentially performed on all the characters or figures in the extracted rectangular area from the circumscribed rectangle having the rectangle number 1 to the circumscribed rectangle having the last number.

As described above, since the template matching is performed on the character or figure in the circumscribed rectangular area where the respective feature values match each other, the scanning range of the template can be small, and the residual (threshold) can be reduced. Since the required amount of calculation can be reduced, the quality of the printed image can be determined at high speed and with high accuracy.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a print image inspection flow by the image inspection apparatus of this embodiment.

In FIG. 8, when the inspection flow of the image inspection apparatus is started, the determination unit performs the first processing for processing the image data.
And a second system 46 for processing the inspection data.

The first system 45 temporarily stores the image data representing the original image input from the printing apparatus in the frame memory, and the second system 46 temporarily stores the inspection data input from the image reading unit in the frame memory. (S-1).

Next, in the second system 46, noise removal processing for removing noise in the inspection data temporarily stored in the frame memory is performed (S-2). When printing is performed by a printing apparatus or when a printed image is optically read by a scanner unit of an image reading unit, minute noise is mixed in. Therefore, it is necessary to remove the noise using a median filter or the like.

Next, the first system 45 and the second system 4
6 The image data and the inspection data temporarily stored are binarized (S-3).

Here, binarization is performed using a fixed threshold value, but the present invention is not limited to this.

Next, in the first system 45, the binarized image data is stored in the original image memory, and in the second system, the binarized inspection data is stored in the inspection image memory (S). -4).

Next, the first system 45 and the second system 4
6 Based on the image data and the inspection data stored in the original image memory and the inspection image memory, a circumscribed rectangle circumscribing a set of characters or graphics recorded on the original image and the printed image is created ( S-5).

Further, the characteristic amounts of the circumscribed rectangles respectively created in the first system and the second system are obtained, and the obtained characteristic amounts are stored in the original image characteristic amount storage memory and the print image characteristic amount storage memory ( S-6).

Next, the feature amount of the original image stored in the original image feature amount storage memory is compared with the feature amount of the print image stored in the print image feature amount storage memory (S-).
7). The respective feature values of the circumscribed rectangles are sequentially compared according to the rectangle number. If the difference between the feature values exceeds a specified value, the print image is determined to be defective, the inspection is terminated, and a print operation stop command is issued. Alternatively, a reprint command for the corresponding print is issued to the printing apparatus.

If there is no difference between the feature amounts of all the circumscribed rectangles or within a specified value, the characters or figures included in the circumscribed rectangle of the original image are used as templates and included in the corresponding circumscribed rectangles of the print image. Template matching is performed on characters or figures (S-8). In the template matching, if the residual (threshold) exceeds the specified value, the print image is determined to be defective and the inspection is terminated, and a print operation stop command or a corresponding print reprint command is issued to the printing apparatus. Emitted to

Residual (threshold) for all circumscribed rectangles
Is within the specified value, the print image is determined to be good and the inspection is terminated (S-9).

Next, an embodiment of the image forming apparatus of the present invention will be described.

In this embodiment, the image inspection apparatus described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 8 is provided in a conventionally used image forming apparatus. Therefore, a detailed description of the image inspection apparatus will be omitted.

FIG. 8 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

In the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 8, an image forming section for forming a print image on a sheet, a sheet feeding / conveying section 51 for supplying / conveying the sheet, a pass / fail judgment of the print image, and printing are completed. Finishing processing unit 52 that divides a sheet into good print images for each page, print image creation unit 53 that performs image processing on image data or generates a pulse-modulated signal, and reads and inspects print images printed on paper. The reading determination unit 54 converts the data into data and compares the image data with the image data to determine the quality of the print. Based on the determination result of the reading determination unit 54, the defective printing paper is eliminated or the reprint is performed by the image forming unit. And a printer controller 55 for instructing.

The print image creation section 53 performs image processing on image data obtained by raster-converting the original image created by the personal computer or image data read from the original image by the scanner, binarizes the image data, and performs pulse modulation. A signal is generated and transmitted to the laser exposure device 56 of the image forming unit 50.

The image forming section 50 has a photosensitive drum 57 on which a toner image is formed, a charger 58 uniformly charges the photosensitive drum 57, and a laser exposure device 56 controls a print image forming section 53. The developing device 59 irradiates a uniformly charged photosensitive drum 57 with a laser beam pulse-modulated based on the generated signal to form an electrostatic latent image. The image is developed with toner to form a toner image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 57.

The toner image formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 57 is transferred onto a sheet 61 conveyed from the sheet feeding / conveying section 51 to the printing position 60, and the fixing device 62 outputs the toner image on the transferred sheet. Is fixed by heating and pressing to obtain a printed image. The sheet on which the print image is formed is transported to the print image reading position 63 by the paper feed transport unit 51.

The paper feeder 51 has three paper trays 1 to 3 for supplying papers of different sizes according to the size of the image to be printed. Is provided with a double-sided tray 65 for temporarily storing the paper that has been finished. The paper accommodated in each tray is put on a line of a paper transport belt 67 that is driven and circulated by a paper transport roller 66 and is moved to a printing position 60, a fixing position by the fixing device 62, and a print image reading position 63. The paper that has been conveyed and has been printed on one side but has been printed on the other side is also placed in the tray 65 for double-sided printing, and the paper that has been printed on both sides or printed on only one side is further processed in a finishing processing section that separates the sheets for each page. 52 or a purge tray 68 containing defective prints.

The reading determination unit 54 is arranged at the print image reading position 63, and optically reads the characters or figures of the print image that has been fixed on the paper and converts it into inspection data.

Further, based on the image data input from the print image creation unit 53 and the converted inspection data, the layout of the area where the characters or figures are recorded on the print image and the original image is extracted and extracted. By comparing the layouts with each other, it is determined whether or not the layout on the print image matches the layout on the original image. The quality of the print image is determined by determining whether the character or graphic recorded on the print image matches the character or graphic on the original image.

When the result of the determination by the reading determination section 54 is defective, the printer controller 55 repels the sheet on which the defective print image is recorded, and
8 and issues an image formation instruction to the print image creation unit 53 so that a good print image is reprinted instead of a print image determined to be defective.

In the reading determining section 54 in the present embodiment,
Since the quality of the print image can be determined at a high speed and with high accuracy, defective prints are eliminated based on the determination result, and a good alternative print is formed again. Since it is housed in a storage device, it is possible to omit a check by human eyes.

In this embodiment, the image forming apparatus of the electrophotographic recording type has been described. However, the image forming apparatus is not limited to the electrophotographic recording type, but may be a thermosensitive recording type image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus used may be a printing apparatus. Further, the image forming apparatus may be a printer or a copying machine.

[0076]

As described above, according to the image inspection apparatus of the present invention, based on the original image data and the inspection data read from the print image, the first part of the print image with respect to a set of characters or figures is obtained. Since the stages are determined and only the print image determined to be good is finally determined by pattern matching of characters or graphics present in each set part, the quality of the print image can be determined at high speed and with high accuracy. In addition, in the image forming apparatus including the image inspection device, the defective print is automatically eliminated based on the high-speed and high-precision quality judgment of the print image, and a good substitute print is reprinted.
A visual check for print defects can be omitted.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an image inspection apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating functions of the image inspection apparatus of the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for creating a circumscribed rectangle from a character string;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example in which a circumscribed rectangle is created for the entire image.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating, as an example, each feature amount representing a layout of a circumscribed rectangle.

FIG. 6 is a comparison diagram illustrating an example in which the feature values of a circumscribed rectangle of an original image and a print image are compared.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating, as an example, each feature amount of a circumscribed rectangle of an original image and a print image.

FIG. 8 is a view showing a flowchart of the image inspection apparatus of the present embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1,61 paper 2 print image 3 paper feed roller 4 light source 5 lens 6 line CCD 8 image inspection device 9 scanner unit 10 image reading unit 11 inspection data 12,32 frame memory 13,33 preprocessing unit 14 inspection image memory 15,35 Bounding rectangle creation unit 16 Inspection image feature storage memory 20 Judgment unit 30 Printing device 31 Image data 34 Original image memory 36 Original image feature storage memory 40 Character set 41 Circumscribed rectangle 45 First system 46 Second system 50 Image forming unit 51 Paper feeding / conveying unit 52 Finishing processing unit 53 Print image creating unit 54 Reading determining unit 55 Print controller 56 Laser exposure device 57 Photoconductor drum 58 Developing device 59 Charger 60 Printing position 62 Fixing device 63 Image reading position 64 Paper tray 65 tray for both sides 6 paper transport roll 67 the paper conveying belt 68 purge tray

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2C061 AP04 AP10 AQ06 KK12 KK26 KK28 KK35 2G051 AA34 AB11 AC21 CA03 DA06 EA11 EA12 EA14 EA25 5B057 AA12 DC02 DC32 DC36 5L096 BA03 BA07 EA05 EA43 FA34 GA51 JA07 MA07

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image inspection apparatus for judging the quality of a print image recorded on a recording medium based on image data representing an original image, wherein the print image recorded on the recording medium is read to represent the print image. An image reading unit for obtaining inspection data; extracting a layout of an area where characters or graphics are recorded on the original image and the print image based on each of the image data and the inspection data, and Layout matching determining means for determining whether or not the layout of the print image matches the layout of the original image by comparing; and that the layout of the print image matches the layout of the original image by the layout matching determining means. In response to the determination, a print image is created based on the image data and the inspection data. An image inspection apparatus comprising: print quality determination means for determining whether a printed image is good by determining whether a character or graphic recorded thereon matches a character or graphic on an original image. apparatus. 2. The layout matching judging means extracts a layout of a rectangular area circumscribing a character or a figure of a set of characters or a figure on an original image and a print image and compares the extracted layouts with each other. The print quality determination means determines whether the degree of coincidence between the pixel values of the pixels of the original image and the pixel values of the print image is equal to or greater than a predetermined level over the entire rectangular area extracted from the original image and the print image. 2. The image inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determination is made to determine whether the characters or figures match. 3. An image forming apparatus for recording a print image on a recording medium based on image data representing an original image, wherein the image is read from the print image recorded on the recording medium to obtain inspection data representing the print image. A reading unit, based on each of the image data and the inspection data, extracts a layout of an area where characters or graphics are recorded on the original image and the print image, and prints by comparing the layouts with each other. A layout matching determining means for determining whether the layout of the image matches the layout of the original image; and a determination that the layout matching determining means determines that the layout of the print image matches the layout of the original image. Receiving, on the basis of the image data and the inspection data, recorded on a print image Image forming apparatus characterized by characters or graphics and a print quality judging means for judging the quality of the printed image by determining whether they match the character or graphic on the original image.