JP3930001B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that performs color printing of a document image on recording paper.

In recent years, at convenience stores and the like, a copy service with an advertisement has been developed in which a predetermined advertisement image (additional image) is added to a recording sheet and printed, and the copy fee is discounted. And patent document 1 exists as a patent application relevant to the service with an advertisement. In Patent Document 1, a digital image that prints an advertisement image on the margin of the recording paper or the back surface of the recording paper and discounts the copy fee of the user based on the amount of toner consumed at the time of printing, the size of the advertisement image, etc. An output device is disclosed.
JP-A-15-122285

  However, the invention of Patent Document 1 has no description regarding color printing, and suggests monochrome printing. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of improving the visibility of an advertisement image during color printing and enhancing the advertising effect of the advertisement image.

An image forming apparatus according to the present invention is an image forming apparatus that performs color printing of a document image on recording paper, and stores an image acquisition unit that acquires the document image and an advertisement image that is printed along with the document image. Means, a color setting means for setting a color different from the color of the main body image, which is an image in the original image excluding a background portion, as the color of the advertisement image, and an advertisement image whose color is set by the color setting means, A synthesis unit that synthesizes the original image; and a printing unit that prints the image synthesized by the synthesis unit on a recording sheet. The color setting unit is configured to designate a color to be colored for the main body image. The first color setting unit that receives the operation command from the user and sets the color designated by the operation command as the color of the main body image, and sets the color different from the first color setting unit as the color of the advertisement image Two-color setting means, and further comprising color presenting means for presenting a color different from the color set by the first color setting means among a plurality of predetermined colors to the user, the second color setting The means accepts an operation command from the user for designating the color of the advertisement image among the colors presented by the color presentation means, and sets the color designated by the operation command as the color of the advertisement image It is characterized by that.

  In the above configuration, it is preferable that the color presentation unit includes a display unit that displays a preview of an advertisement image colored with the presented color.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the advertisement image colored with a color different from the color of the main body image excluding the background portion of the original image is combined with the original image and printed on the recording paper. The difference from the image becomes remarkable, the visibility of the advertisement image is increased, and as a result, the advertising effect by the advertisement image can be enhanced.

Further, according to the first aspect of the invention, since the user may specify a color for coloring the body image, color different from the specified color is set as the color of colored advertising images, such printing forms Also in the employed image forming apparatus, the advertising effect of the advertisement image can be enhanced.

In addition, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the difference between the two images can be made remarkable while incorporating the user's preference when setting the color to be colored for the main body image and the advertisement image. Can be increased.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the advertisement image colored with the color to be a coloring candidate is displayed as a preview, the user can easily select the color to be colored in the advertisement image.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic side view mainly showing a mechanical configuration when the image forming apparatus according to the present invention is applied to a copying machine. The copying machine is installed in a store that provides a user with a copy service such as a convenience store or a stationery store. The copying machine includes a main body unit 200, a sheet post-processing unit 300 disposed on the left side of the main body unit 200, an operation unit 400 for a user to input various operation commands and the like, and an upper part of the main body unit 200. The document reading unit 500 is disposed, the document feeding unit 600 disposed above the document reading unit 500, and a fee payment device 700 for the user to pay a copy fee.

  The operation unit 400 includes an operation panel 401, a start key 402, a numeric keypad 403, and the like. The operation panel 401 displays various operation screens and various operation buttons for the user to input various operation commands. The start key 402 is used for the user to input a print execution command and the like, and the ten key 403 is used for inputting the number of copies to be printed.

  The document feeding unit 600 includes a document placement unit 601, a document discharge unit 602, a paper feed roller 603, a document transport unit 604, and the like, and the document reading unit 500 includes a scanner 501 and the like. The paper feed roller 603 feeds out the original set on the original placement unit 601, and the original transport unit 604 transports the fed originals one by one on the scanner 501. The scanner 501 sequentially reads the conveyed document, and the read document is discharged to the document discharge unit 602.

  The main body 200 includes a plurality of paper feed cassettes 201, a plurality of paper feed rollers 202, a transfer roller 203, an intermediate transfer body roller 204, a photosensitive drum 205, an exposure device 206, and development for each color of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black. Devices 207Y, 207M, 207C, and 207K, a fixing roller 208, a discharge port 209, a discharge tray 210, and the like are provided.

  The photosensitive drum 205 is uniformly charged by a charging device (not shown) while rotating in the direction of the arrow. The exposure device 206 converts the modulation signal generated based on the image data of the original read by the original reading unit 500 into a laser beam and outputs it, and forms an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 205 for each color. The developing devices 207Y, 207M, 207C, and 207K supply each color developer to the photosensitive drum 205 to form a toner image for each color.

  The intermediate transfer roller 204 transfers the color toner images from the photosensitive drum 205, and forms a color toner image on the intermediate transfer roller 204.

  On the other hand, the paper feeding roller 202 pulls out the recording paper from the paper feeding cassette 201 in which the recording paper is stored, and feeds the recording paper to the transfer roller 203. The transfer roller 203 transfers the toner image on the intermediate transfer body roller 204 onto the conveyed recording paper, and the fixing roller 208 heats and fixes the transferred toner image on the recording paper. Thereafter, the recording paper is carried into the paper post-processing unit 300 from the discharge port 209 of the main body unit 200. The recording paper is also discharged to the discharge tray 210 as necessary.

  The paper post-processing unit 300 includes a carry-in port 301, a recording paper transport unit 302, a carry-out port 303, a stack tray 304, and the like. The recording paper transport unit 302 sequentially transports the recording paper carried into the carry-in port 301 from the discharge port 209 and finally ejects the recording paper from the carry-out port 303 to the stack tray 304. The stack tray 304 is configured to move up and down in the direction of the arrow in accordance with the number of recording sheets stacked from the carry-out port 303.

  The fee payment device 700 includes a bill insertion slot 701 into which bills are inserted by the user, a currency insertion slot 702 into which money is inserted by the user, and a display unit 703 that displays the total amount of the inserted bills and money.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the copying machine shown in FIG. The copying machine includes a document image acquisition unit 11, a display unit 12, an operation unit 13, a charge input unit 14, a printing unit 15, a display control unit 21, a first color setting unit 22, a color extraction unit 23, and a second color setting unit. 24, a charge calculation unit 25, a charge determination unit 26, a composition unit 27, a print control unit 28, a document image storage unit 31, an advertisement image storage unit 32, and an operation image storage unit 33.

  The display control unit 21 to the print control unit 28 are configured by a CPU or the like, and the document image storage unit 31 to the operation image storage unit 33 are configured by a storage device such as a hard disk drive or a RAM.

  The document image acquisition unit 11 includes an image reading unit 500 shown in FIG. 1, acquires an image of a document (hereinafter referred to as a document image) by optically reading the document, and stores it in the document image storage unit 31. . In the present specification, an image other than the image showing the background portion of the recording paper included in the document image is referred to as a “main image”. The display unit 12 includes the operation panel 401 illustrated in FIG. 1, and displays various images under the control of the display control unit 21.

  The operation unit 13 includes the operation unit 400 illustrated in FIG. 1 and receives various operation commands input by the user. In the present embodiment, the operation unit 13 receives an operation command for designating a color for coloring the main body image, an operation command for designating a color for coloring the advertisement image, and the like.

  The fee insertion unit 14 includes the fee payment device 700 shown in FIG. 1, determines the types of bills and money inserted by the user, and calculates the total amount of bills and money paid by the user. The printing unit 15 includes the transfer roller 203, the intermediate transfer roller 204, the photosensitive drum 205, the exposure device 206, the developing devices 207Y, 207M, 207C, and 207K, and the fixing roller 208 shown in FIG. The output image generated by the above is printed on recording paper.

  The document image storage unit 31 stores the document image acquired by the document image acquisition unit 11. The advertisement image storage unit 32 stores an advertisement image and a discount rate determined in advance for the advertisement image. The operation image storage unit 33 stores various operation images displayed on the display unit 12 when the user inputs various operation commands to the copying machine.

  The display control unit 21 causes the display unit 12 to display various operation images stored in the operation image storage unit 33. In addition, the display control unit 21 causes the display unit 12 to display various data input by the user via the operation unit 13. Further, the display control unit 21 generates a thumbnail image of the advertisement image stored in the advertisement image storage unit 32, and colors the generated thumbnail image for each candidate color extracted by the color extraction unit 23, for each candidate color. The preview image is generated and displayed on the display unit 12.

  The first color setting unit 22 sets a color specified by the user via the operation unit 13 as a color for coloring the main body image as a color for coloring the main body image. This copying machine can perform monochrome color printing using black, yellow, cyan, magenta, red, green, and blue, and the user designates a color to be colored on the main body image from these.

  The color extraction unit 23 advertises a color other than the light color that is different from the color set by the first color setting unit 22 among the colors used for the single color printing and is difficult for the user to visually recognize. Extracted as candidate colors for the image. In this copying machine, candidate colors are extracted from colors other than light yellow among black, yellow, cyan, magenta, red, green and blue.

  The second color setting unit 24 sets a color designated by the user via the operation unit 13 among the candidate colors extracted by the color extraction unit 23 as a color for coloring the advertisement image.

  The fee calculation unit 25 reads the discount rate for the advertisement image from the advertisement image storage unit 32, and calculates the copy fee by multiplying the read discount rate by a predetermined copy fee per recording sheet. Here, the fee calculation unit 25 may change the discount rate for each color set by the second color setting setting unit 24. In this case, the advertisement image storage unit 32 may store the copy rate discount rate for each color.

  The fee determination unit 26 determines whether or not the total amount of bills and money paid by the user via the fee input unit 14 exceeds the copy fee calculated by the fee calculation unit 25. A control signal that causes the control unit 27 to generate an output image is output.

  The synthesizing unit 27 extracts, as a margin region, an area in which the background portion continuously exists from a document image whose color is set by the first color setting unit 22 as a margin area, and sets the second color to the extracted margin area. The size of the advertisement image is adjusted so that the entire advertisement image whose color is set by the unit 24 is accommodated, and the original image and the advertisement image are synthesized. The print control unit 28 controls the printing unit 15 so that the image combined by the combining unit 27 is printed on the recording paper.

  In the present embodiment, the document image acquisition unit 11 corresponds to an example of an image acquisition unit, the advertisement image storage unit 32 corresponds to an example of a storage unit, an operation unit 13, a first color setting unit 22, a color extraction unit 23, The second color setting unit 24 corresponds to an example of a color setting unit, the combining unit 27 corresponds to an example of a combining unit, the print control unit 28 and the printing unit 15 correspond to an example of a printing unit, and the color extracting unit 23 The display control unit 21 and the display unit 12 correspond to an example of a color presentation unit.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the copying machine. The operation of the copying machine will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, in step S1, when the operation unit 13 receives an operation command from the user for specifying a color to be colored on the main body image (YES in S1), the first color setting unit 22 sets the specified color of the main body image. The color is set (S2). On the other hand, when the operation unit 13 does not accept the operation command in step S1 (NO in S1), the process is returned to step S1.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation image displayed on the display unit 12 by the display control unit 21 in step S1. As shown in FIG. 4, the operation image has “auto”, “black and white”, “cyan”, “magenta”, “yellow”, “red”, “ Buttons labeled “Green” and “Blue” are displayed.

  When the “automatic” button is pressed, the copying machine prints the color of the original read by the original image acquisition unit 11 as it is on the recording paper. In this case, the copying machine prints the original image on recording paper in full color. In addition, when the “black and white”, “cyan”, “magenta”, “yellow”, “red”, “green”, and “blue” buttons are pressed, the copier copies the main body image to black, cyan, Single color printing in magenta, yellow, red, green and blue.

  In step S3, the color extracting unit 23 selects a color other than the color designated for the main image by the user from among black, cyan, magenta, yellow, red, green, and blue. Colors that are difficult to visually recognize are extracted as candidate colors for the advertisement image. Specifically, a color other than the color set for the main image is extracted as a candidate color among blacks other than yellow, cyan, magenta, red, green, and blue. Note that the color extraction unit may omit colors other than yellow as candidate colors.

  In step S4, the display control unit 21 colors the thumbnail image of the advertisement image for each candidate color extracted by the color extraction unit 23, generates a preview image for each candidate color, and displays the generated preview image on the display unit 12. Display a list. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image displayed on the display unit 12 in step S4. As shown in FIG. 5, it can be seen that five preview images G1 to G5 are displayed below the “advertising color selection” column. In the example shown in FIG. 5, since black is designated as the color of the main body image by the user in step S3, preview images G1 to G5 of cyan, magenta, red, green, and blue colors other than black are displayed. It is displayed.

  In step S5, when the operation unit 13 receives an operation command for designating a color to be colored by the user (YES in S5), the second color setting unit 24 receives the operation command received by the operation unit 13. Is set as the color of the advertisement image (S6). On the other hand, in step S5, when the operation unit 13 does not receive an operation command for designating a color to be colored for the advertisement image by the user (NO in S5), the process is returned to step S5. Here, on the screen shown in FIG. 5, the user touches any one of the preview images G1 to G5 displayed on the display unit 12 to specify a color to be colored for the advertisement image.

  In step S <b> 7, the fee calculation unit 25 calculates the copy fee by multiplying the copy fee per recording sheet by a predetermined discount rate for the advertisement image stored in the advertisement image storage unit 32. When discount rates different for each color are determined in advance, the charge calculation unit 25 reads the discount rate corresponding to the color of the advertisement image specified by the user from the advertisement image storage unit 32 and records the read discount rate. The copy fee is calculated by multiplying the copy fee per sheet.

  In step S8, the display control unit 21 causes the display unit 12 to display an image for informing the user of the calculated copy fee. In step S9, the fee calculation unit 25 compares the total amount of bills and money inserted by the user via the fee input unit 14 with the copy fee calculated by the fee calculation unit 25, and the total amount ≧ calculated. If the copy fee is determined (YES in S9), the process proceeds to step S10. If it is determined that the total amount <the calculated copy fee (NO in S9), the process returns to step S9.

  In step S 10, the document image acquisition unit 11 reads the document placed on the document placement unit 601 and stores it in the document image storage unit 31. In step S11, the synthesizing unit 27 extracts a blank area from the document image, synthesizes an advertisement image with the extracted blank area (S12), and generates an output image. As described above, since the advertisement image is combined with the margin area of the document image, the document image and the advertisement image are prevented from being printed in an overlapping manner, and the visibility of both images can be improved.

  In step S <b> 13, the print control unit 28 prints the main body image in the color set by the first color setting unit 22 in the output image generated by the synthesis unit 27 and sets the color set by the second color setting unit 24. Then, the printing unit 15 is controlled so that the advertisement image is printed on the recording paper.

  As described above, according to the present copying machine, when the user designates a color to be colored for the main body image, a color different from the designated color is set as the color to be colored for the advertisement image. The difference between the image and the main body image becomes noticeable, the visibility of the advertisement image is increased, and as a result, the advertising effect by the advertisement image can be enhanced.

  The present invention may adopt the following aspects.

  (1) In the above embodiment, an aspect is adopted in which the user selects a color to be colored for the advertisement image. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the copying machine automatically selects the color for the advertisement image. You may employ | adopt the aspect to set.

  Specifically, a color contrast table as shown in FIG. 6 is stored in the advertisement image storage unit 32, and the second color setting unit 24 refers to this color contrast table, thereby What is necessary is just to set the color to color. The color contrast table shown in FIG. 6 is extracted as a color specified by the user for the main body image and a color specified by the user for the color specified by the user. It consists of a column “Print color of advertisement image”. According to this color contrast table, when “black”, “cyan”, “magenta”, “yellow”, “red”, “green”, and “blue” are set for the main image, the second color is set. The setting unit 24 sets “magenta”, “magenta”, “cyan”, “black”, “cyan”, “magenta”, and “magenta” as colors to be colored on the advertisement image.

  Accordingly, when the user sets the main body image to a desired color, a color that is different from the set color and does not impair the visibility of the advertisement image is automatically set as the color of the advertisement image. In addition to reducing the operation burden on the user, the advertising effect of the advertisement image can be enhanced.

  Further, when automatically setting the color for the advertisement image, the copying machine has a color (for example, a complementary color) whose hue tends to be significantly different from the color set for the main body image. A color different from the color may be set as a color for coloring the advertisement image.

  (2) In the above embodiment, the case where the main body image is printed in a single color has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention can also be applied to the case where the main body image is printed in full color. In this case, a color detection unit that detects a color constituting the main body image may be further provided, and a color different from the color detected by the color detection unit may be set as a color for coloring the advertisement image. Specifically, the color detection unit may set the color of the toner that is expected to have the minimum consumption among the yellow, cyan, magenta, and black toners as the color of the advertisement image. Further, the color detection unit creates a color histogram indicating the frequency of colors for a plurality of predetermined colors based on C, M, Y, and K color components constituting the pixel data of the main body image, and the frequency is minimum. The advertisement image may be colored with a color (including 0).

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view mainly showing a mechanical configuration when the image forming apparatus according to the present invention is applied to a copying machine. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the copier illustrated in FIG. 1. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the copying machine. It is drawing which showed an example of the operation image displayed on a display part, when a user sets the color colored with respect to a main body image. It is drawing which showed an example of the operation image displayed on a display part, when a user sets the color colored with respect to an advertisement image. It is drawing which showed an example of the color contrast table.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Document image acquisition part 12 Display part 13 Operation part 14 Charge input part 15 Printing part 21 Display control part 22 First color setting part 23 Color extraction part 24 Second color setting part 25 Charge calculation part 26 Charge determination part 27 Composition part 28 Print control unit 31 Document image storage unit 32 Advertisement image storage unit 33 Operation image storage unit

Claims (2)

An image forming apparatus for color printing a document image on recording paper,
Image acquisition means for acquiring a document image;
Storage means for storing an advertisement image printed along with the original image;
Color setting means for setting a color different from the color of the main body image, which is an image in the original image excluding a background portion, as the color of the advertisement image;
Synthesizing means for synthesizing the advertisement image whose color is set by the color setting means and the original image;
Printing means for printing the image synthesized by the synthesis means on a recording paper ,
The color setting means includes
A first color setting means for receiving an operation command from a user for designating a color to be colored for the main body image, and setting a color designated by the operation command as a color of the main body image;
Second color setting means for setting a color different from the first color setting means as the color of the advertisement image;
A color presenting means for presenting to the user a color different from the color set by the first color setting means among a plurality of predetermined colors;
The second color setting unit receives an operation command from a user for designating a color of the advertisement image among the colors presented by the color presentation unit, and sets the color designated by the operation command to the advertisement image. an image forming apparatus comprising that you set as the color of the. It said color presenting means, the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a display means for previewing a colored advertising images by the presented color.

Images