JP2000216995A - Image-forming system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image-forming system for always obtaining a highly precise image. SOLUTION: This image-forming system is provided with an image inputting part 1 for arranging images or image data in an easily processable configuration, an image-outputting part 3 for outputting the images, a characteristics information recognizing part 4 for recognizing the characteristics information of one or both of the image inputting part 1 and the image-outputting part 3, a correction information generating part 5 for generating characteristics information corrected so that target characteristics information can be obtained from the recognized result of the characteristics information recognizing part 4, and an image processing part 2 for processing the image data outputted from the image-inputting part 1 based on the corrected characteristics information. The characteristics information of one or both of the image-inputting part 1 and the image outputting part 3 is present by every plural places within the same page processed by the image-inputting part 1 or the image-outputting part 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming system including an image forming apparatus having an image input means, an image processing means and an image output means, or an image forming system in which these means are communicably connected to each other. More particularly, the present invention relates to an image forming system in which characteristic information is provided for each of a plurality of locations in the same page processed by an image input unit or an image output unit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An image forming apparatus having an image input means, an image processing means and an image output means, or an image forming system including these means and an image forming apparatus, reads an original by an image input means and reads the read image. The image processing is performed by an image processing unit, and the image is output from an image output unit based on the processed image data. Means, an image processing means such as a personal computer, and an image output means such as a printer are each connected to a plurality of units via a network. However, in any form, the quality of an image to be formed greatly changes due to a difference in unique characteristic information held by the image input unit and the image output unit. In particular, in the latter configuration connected via a network, the characteristic information differs each time depending on the selected scanner or printer, and in many cases, the same image cannot be obtained every time the system configuration is different.
For this purpose, an image forming system in which the image processing apparatus recognizes characteristic information specific to a scanner or a printer in advance and always obtains an image of a constant quality based on the recognized characteristic information may be considered. It is becoming.

[0003]

However, even in an image forming system in which characteristic information unique to an input / output device of a scanner or a printer is taken into consideration, the characteristic information differs depending on the location on the same page processed by the scanner or the printer. Even if image processing is performed only with characteristic information unique to a printer, a high-definition image output cannot always be obtained. Therefore, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide characteristic information for each of a plurality of locations within the same page to be processed by an image input device or an image output device, and to perform image processing based on the characteristic information corresponding to each of the locations to be processed. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming system which performs processing and always obtains a high-definition image.

[0004]

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming system, comprising: an image input unit for inputting an image or image data so as to arrange the image or image data in a form that is easy to process at a subsequent stage; Image output means for outputting an image based on given image data, characteristic information recognizing means for recognizing characteristic information of one or both of the image input means and the image output means, and characteristic information recognizing means. Correction information generating means for generating characteristic information corrected to become predetermined target characteristic information from the recognition result; and the image input means based on the corrected characteristic information generated by the correction information generating means. Image processing means for processing the output image data; and characteristic information of one or both of the image input means and the image output means. And it is characterized by the presence in each of a plurality of locations within the same page of processing of the image input means or the image output unit.

[0005] According to the second aspect of the present invention, the first aspect is provided.
In the image forming system described in the above, the input / output correspondence determining means for determining which position in the same page processed by the image input means or the image output means corresponds to the image data processed by the image processing means. Wherein the characteristic information recognizing means recognizes characteristic information corresponding to each location of the image input means or the image output means determined by the input / output correspondence determining means based on image data to be processed. It is. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image forming system according to the second aspect, there are a plurality of target characteristic information, and a plurality of predetermined targets are set based on a recognition result of the characteristic information recognizing means. The target information selecting means for selecting one target characteristic information from the characteristic information; and the correction information generating means, the target selected by the target information selecting means from the recognition result of the characteristic information recognizing means. It is characterized by generating characteristic information corrected so as to become the characteristic information described above. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming system according to the first, second, or third aspect, the characteristic information recognized by the characteristic information recognizing means is:
Characteristic information is one or more of γ characteristic information, spatial frequency characteristic information, color characteristic information, scanner RGB dot position deviation characteristic information, or resolution characteristic information.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming system according to the first aspect, wherein characteristic information present at each of a plurality of places in the same page processed by the image input device or the image output device by the characteristic information recognizing means. The characteristic information corrected by the correction information generating means so as to become the target characteristic information from the recognition result of the characteristic information recognizing means is generated, and the image data is processed with the characteristic information corrected by the image processing means. Therefore, even if the characteristic information present at each of a plurality of locations on the same page is different, any one of the characteristic information is selected and used as the recognition result of the characteristic information recognizing means, It is possible to take the average of the characteristic information present at each of a plurality of places and use the average as the recognition result of the characteristic information recognizing means. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the invention of the image forming system configured as in the first aspect, the image data to be processed by the image processing means by the input / output correspondence determination means is provided by an image input means or an image output means. Means can determine which location to process, and the characteristic information recognizing means can determine the location of the image input means or the image output means determined by the input / output correspondence determining means based on the image data to be processed. The characteristic information of the image input / output device is always recognized even if the characteristic information of the image input / output device is different for each location in the same page to be processed. Optimal image processing can be performed based on the information.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the invention of the image forming system constructed as in the second aspect, a plurality of targets are set based on the recognition result of the characteristic information recognizing means by the target information selecting means. One target characteristic information is selected from the characteristic information to be processed, and the image data can be processed with the characteristic information corrected so as to become the selected target characteristic information. It is possible to perform extremely fine image processing in consideration of the characteristic information of the image input / output device further than that described in item 2. The invention described in claim 4 is the invention according to claim 1, claim 2, or claim 3.
In addition to the invention of the image forming system configured as follows,
The characteristic information recognized by the characteristic information recognizing means is γ characteristic information,
Since one or more of spatial frequency characteristic information, color characteristic information, scanner RGB dot displacement characteristic information, or resolution characteristic information is used, a high-definition image can be obtained even in black-and-white and color image processing. Can be.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of an image forming system in which various devices are connected on a network 40. This is a form in which each person can connect his / her personal computer to the network 40 and commonly use the database and the input / output device, and it is expected that the personal computer will be used in various fields in the future. That is, MF (multifunction) copier 41, scanners 42 and 44, laptop computer 43, personal computer 4
5, a laser printer 46, 47, and a modem 48 connected to a remote fax 49 via a public line are connected to the network 40. Here, the scanner 4
The laser printers 2 and 44 have characteristic information unique to an input device called a scanner profile to be described later, and the laser printers 46 and 47 have characteristic information unique to an output device also called a printer profile to be described later. . Further, the MF (multifunction) copying machine 41 and the facsimile 49 are configured to have a scanner profile and a printer profile. Therefore, for example, an original is read by the scanner 42 and the
Image data output from the personal computer 45
It is assumed that the image data is output to the laser printer 47 after being processed by the personal computer 4.
Reference numeral 5 captures image data and a scanner profile from the scanner 42, and at the same time, also captures a printer profile from the laser printer 47. Further, the image data of the personal computer is processed based on the information fetched from the scanner profile and the printer profile, and the laser printer 47 outputs an image based on the processed image data. With such a configuration,
Even if there is a difference between the characteristic information of the scanners 42 and 44 and a difference between the characteristic information of the laser printers 46 and 47, the processing is performed in consideration of the individual characteristic information of the selected image input device 31 and image output device 33. That is, a high-quality image suitable for the system can be obtained.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of an image forming system (including an image forming apparatus) for performing an optimization process in consideration of characteristic information of an image input / output apparatus. The whole is composed of an image input device 31, an image processing device 32 and an image output device 33. Also, those devices
The image forming apparatus may be included in one apparatus, or may be configured as an image forming system in which each is separately connected on a network as shown in FIG. However, in the image forming system of FIG. 1, signal transmission from the image input device 31 to the image processing device 32, from the image processing device 32 to the image output device 33, or from the image output device 33 to the image processing device 32 is performed directly. Instead, it is performed through the network 40. Further, the image input device 31 includes at least an image input unit 1 which is an image input unit which inputs an image or image data and arranges the image or image data into a form which is easy to process at the next stage.
And a scanner profile 21 which is unique characteristic information. Similarly, the image output device 33 includes an image output unit 3 that outputs an image based on the image data received from the image processing device 32, and a printer profile that is characteristic information unique to the image output unit 3. 22. Further, the image processing device 32 receives image data from the image input unit 1 and performs various types of image processing so that the image output unit 3 can perform optimal printing. Profile 2
And an optimization control unit 9 for optimizing image processing by incorporating characteristic information of one or both of the printer profile 22 and the printer profile 22. Therefore, as the entire processing operation, an image or image data is input to the image input unit 1.
The image processing unit 2 prepares image data that can be easily processed by the image processing unit 2 at the next stage, and transfers the image data to the image processing unit 2. The optimization control unit 9 of the image processing device 32 includes the image input unit 1 and the image output unit 3.
The scanner profile 21 and the printer profile 22 which are characteristic information unique to the scanner are input. Therefore, the optimization control unit 9 calculates a processing condition under which the image processing unit 2 can perform an optimum process based on the characteristic information of the scanner profile 21 and the printer profile 22, and provides the calculated processing condition to the image processing unit 2.
The image processing unit 2 performs image processing on the image data to be processed based on the optimum processing conditions given from the optimization control unit 9, and transmits the processed image data to the image output unit 3. The image output unit 3 outputs an image based on the image data from the image processing unit 2 to a recording medium.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a main part of the image forming apparatus or the image forming system according to claim 1 or 2 of the present invention. In the figure, an optimization control unit 9 of an image processing device 32 has a characteristic information recognizing unit 4 which is characteristic information recognizing means for recognizing characteristic information of a scanner profile 21 and a printer profile 22, and has been recognized by the characteristic information recognizing unit 4. Image processing unit 2 based on characteristic information
And a correction information generating section 5 which is a correction information generating means for generating processing conditions for performing optimal processing. The image processing device 32 has an input / output function capable of determining where in the same page the image data processed by the image processing unit 2 is processed by the image input / output device. There is an input / output correspondence determination unit 6 as a determination unit.
Further, the result of the determination by the input / output correspondence determination unit 6 is transmitted to the characteristic information recognition unit 4 so that the characteristic information corresponding to the location of the image input / output device determined by the input / output correspondence determination unit 6 can be extracted. Here, the overall operation will be described. An image or image data is received by the image input unit 1, prepared into image data that can be easily processed in the next stage, and passed to the image processing unit 2. The image input unit 1 also transmits the image data to the input / output correspondence determination unit 6. The input / output correspondence determination unit 6 determines, based on the image data from the image input unit 1, where the image data to be processed by the image processing unit 2 corresponds to the location to be processed by the image input device 31 or the image output device 33. . Further, the input / output correspondence determination unit 6 transmits information identifying the location to the characteristic information recognition unit 4. Therefore, the characteristic information recognizing unit 4 determines the characteristic corresponding to the location determined by the input / output correspondence determining unit 6 from the characteristic information present at each of a plurality of locations on the same page processed by the image input device 31 or the image output device 33. Extract information.
In other words, the characteristic information recognizing unit 4 determines the scanner profile 21 corresponding to the information given from the input / output correspondence determining unit 6
Alternatively, the printer profile 22 is fetched.

Next, the correction information generation unit 5 holds target characteristic information 23 for optimally processing the entire system, and always stores the target characteristic information 23 when viewed through the entire system. We are trying to achieve it. That is, based on the result of recognizing the scanner profile 21 and the printer profile 22 by the characteristic information recognizing unit 4, characteristic information corrected to become the target characteristic information 23 (hereinafter referred to as corrected characteristic information) is generated, and Notify processing unit 2. Therefore, the image processing unit 2 can hold the target characteristic information 23 throughout the entire system by processing the image data with the correction characteristic information received from the correction information generating unit 5. Here, it has been described that the target characteristic information 23 is held in the correction information generating unit 5; however, the target characteristic information 23 does not necessarily need to exist in the correction information generating unit 5 and is set anywhere in the image processing apparatus 32. It does not matter. Further, the image processing device 32
You can be outside. As described above, the image processing unit 2 performs image processing using the correction characteristic information generated by the correction information generation unit 5 and transmits the processed image data to the image output unit 3. Further, the image output unit 3 outputs an image based on the received image data to a storage medium (not shown). With such a configuration, even if the characteristic information existing at each of a plurality of locations on the same page processed by the image input device 31 or the image output device 33 is different, the image processing unit 2 always operates the image input device 31. Image processing can be performed based on the characteristic information of the place where processing is performed by the image processing apparatus 31 or the image output device 33.

Next, the role of the correction information generator 5 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 6 (A) (B) (C)
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing spatial frequency characteristics. First, FIG.
6A shows an example of input MTF characteristic information of a scanner which is a representative example of the image input device 31. FIG. 6B shows output MTF characteristic information of a printer which is a representative example of the image output device 33. It is an example. These pieces of property information are recognized by the property information recognition unit 4 in FIG. For example, if the original
When the image is read by a scanner having input MTF characteristic information as shown in FIG. 6A and output to a printer having output MTF characteristic information as shown in FIG. ) And the MTF characteristic shown in FIG. Therefore, the MTF of the resulting output image
As for the characteristics, those whose frequency characteristics are considerably deteriorated as compared with the original can be obtained. Therefore, for example, the MTF characteristic of the output image can be obtained without deterioration of the original as shown in FIG.
The TF characteristic is stored in advance as a target (target) MTF characteristic. That is, the scanner profile 21 described above describes the input MTF characteristic information of the scanner as shown in FIG. 6A, and the printer profile 22 describes the output MTF of the printer as shown in FIG.
F characteristic information is described. The correction information generator 5 obtains a characteristic obtained by multiplying the MTF characteristic from the information of the scanner profile 21 and the printer profile 22. Further, it is determined what kind of filter coefficient processing is required to obtain the target MTF characteristics from the obtained characteristics. The same effect as when the entire system from input to output is processed by the target MTF characteristic is obtained by performing filter processing in the filter processing unit of the image processing unit 2 using the obtained filter coefficient characteristic as correction characteristic information. Can be

FIGS. 7A, 7B, 7C and 7D show γ.
This is an example for optimizing the characteristics. FIG.
(A) shows the γ characteristic information of the scanner fetched from the scanner profile 21. The horizontal axis is the reading density of the original, and the vertical axis is the output gradation level from the scanner. FIG. 7B shows the γ characteristic information of the printer taken from the printer profile 22, which is indicated by the paper print density with respect to the gradation level input to the printer. FIG. 7C shows the γ characteristics to be the target (target) in the entire system, as in the optimization example of the spatial frequency characteristics described above, and is indicated by the γ characteristic information to be the target of the output with respect to the input. ing. Therefore, the correction information generating unit 5
7A based on the γ characteristic information of FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B, the γ correction characteristic such that the entire system is as shown in FIG.
(D) is generated. Further, the gamma conversion processing unit (see FIG. 5) in the image processing unit 2 performs image processing with the gamma correction characteristics generated by the correction information generation unit 5 as shown in FIG. In the description of the characteristic information in FIGS. 6 and 7, it is assumed that the characteristic information of the input / output device does not change depending on the processing location. However, in an actual input / output device, the characteristic information changes depending on the processing location. For example, one of the causes is that the light amount of the light source and the characteristics of the photoelectric conversion element in the scanner differ depending on the place to be processed, or the temperature temporarily drops when a cold sheet is inserted into the reading unit. I have. Further, it has been observed that in a general printer without a seam, there is a difference in the γ characteristic which is always determined above and below the paper. For example, FIG. 8A shows the MT of the scanner.
This is an example in which the F characteristic is divided for each place in the same page. At a certain frequency, the MTF characteristic values registered in the scanner profile 21 are A = 0.4, B = 0.5, C =
0.4, D = 0.45, E = 0.5, F = 0.35. FIG. 8B shows an example in which the MTF characteristics of the printer are divided for each place in the same page. At a certain frequency, the MTF registered in the printer profile 22 is displayed.
The characteristic values are a = 0.3, b = 0.35, and c = 0.35.

Here, the target characteristic information 23 is set to 0.5 as the MTF characteristic value at any frequency, and the region to which the target pixel to be processed belongs is the same as the region to which the target pixel in the pre-processing belongs. In this case, for example, when the part A and the part a are processed at the time of the pre-processing, and the part A and the part a are processed again this time, the processing is not switched, so that the same processing as the previous time is performed. Accordingly, since the MTF characteristic values of the scanner and the printer are A = 0.4 and a = 0.3, the correction information generating unit 5 sets the correction characteristic information value to the target characteristic information value of 0.5. Generated as 0.42. When the region to which the target pixel to be processed belongs is different from the region to which the target pixel belongs in the pre-processing, for example, the portions A and a are processed in the pre-processing, and the portions B and b are used this time. Is performed, the optimization process corresponding to the cases of B and b is performed again. At this time, since the MTF characteristic values of the scanner and the printer are B = 0.5 and b = 0.35, the correction information generating unit 5 sets the correction characteristic information unit 5 to the target characteristic information value of 0.5. Generate the value as 0.29. Further, the image processing unit 2 outputs the MTF correction characteristic information generated by the correction information generation unit 5, that is, 0.4% in the former case.
2. In the latter case, if MTF processing is performed with 0.29, a target MTF characteristic information value of 0.5 will be obtained. According to the above, fine correction corresponding to the characteristic information of each place to be processed by the image input device 31 and the image output device 33 can be performed.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a main part of the image forming apparatus or the image forming system according to claim 3 of the present invention. 3 is different from the operation in FIG. 3 in that the target characteristic information is not one, but a plurality of target characteristic information 24 is held in advance, and the target characteristic information 24 in the present process is stored. 23, and the correction information generating unit 5 having the selected target characteristic information 23.
Source of the correction characteristic information. Further, there is a target information selecting unit 7 as target information selecting means for selecting one target characteristic information 23 from a plurality of target characteristic information 24. Therefore, focusing on operations different from those in FIG. 3, the input / output correspondence determination unit 6 determines from the given information
The image processing unit 2 determines which of the image input device 31 and the image output device 33 corresponds to the image data to be processed, and transmits the information to the characteristic information recognition unit 4. In addition, the characteristic information recognizing unit 4 uses, based on the information provided from the input / output correspondence determining unit 6, input information based on characteristic information present at a plurality of locations in the same page processed by the image input device 31 or the image output device 33. The characteristic information corresponding to the location determined by the output correspondence determination unit 6 is extracted. Further, the target information selecting section 7 selects one target characteristic information 23 from a plurality of target characteristic information 24 based on the extracted characteristic information of the image input device 31 or the image output device 33. Next, the correction information generating unit 5 receives the recognition result of the characteristic information recognizing unit 4 and obtains the target characteristic information 23 when viewed in the whole system.
Is generated such that the correction characteristic information is achieved. Therefore, the image processing unit 2 processes the image data using the correction characteristic information received from the correction information generation unit 5.

FIG. 5 shows the image processing unit 2 in FIG.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of FIG. Here, the function of the image processing unit 2 will be mainly described. Image input unit 1
The image data arranged in a form easy to process is input to the image processing unit 2. In the image processing unit 2, first, the image data is input to the filter processing unit 11 and the image area separation processing unit 16. The image area separation processing unit 16 uses the input image data to determine whether the image attribute of the input image within the same page is an edge area such as a character or a line drawing or a continuous tone image such as a halftone print image or a photograph. Is determined to be a picture area. Based on the determination result, a filter processing unit 11, a density conversion processing unit 12, and a γ
(Gamma) The processing of each processing unit such as the conversion processing unit 13, the color conversion processing unit 14, the halftone processing unit 15, and the like is made different depending on the image area separation result in the image area separation processing unit 16. Also,
In the filter processing unit 11, M
The conversion processing of the spatial frequency of the image is performed by correcting a TF (Modulation Transfer Function) or by performing a filter processing for reducing a moire generated in a halftone print original. Further, the density conversion processing unit 12 performs resolution conversion processing when there is a difference between the input resolution and the output resolution, or when the input image requires enlargement or reduction magnification processing. Also,
The γ conversion processing unit 13 performs a conversion process of the gradation characteristics of the image data so as to obtain a desired gradation characteristic. Further, the color conversion processing unit 14 performs a conversion process of CMYK data which is a reproduction color of the printer from the RGB input image from the scanner. Also,
The halftone processing unit 15 performs processing such as systematic dither processing and error diffusion processing according to the output characteristics of the printer. Further, the image data converted by each processing unit is transmitted from the image processing unit 2 to the image output unit 3, and is output by the image output unit 3 onto a medium such as paper. Image processing unit 2 as described above
Characteristic information required for processing by the scanner is set in the scanner profile 21 and the printer profile 22 in advance. Therefore, in the configuration of the present invention, the characteristic information recognized by the characteristic information recognizing unit 4 is one of γ characteristic information, spatial frequency characteristic information, color characteristic information, scanner RGB dot position deviation characteristic information, or resolution characteristic information. This is a plurality of pieces of characteristic information.

[0017]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, even if the characteristic information existing at each of a plurality of locations on the same page is different, any one of the central characteristic information is selected. Or averaged characteristic information to generate corrected characteristic information, so that a high-definition image can be obtained based on characteristic information present at a plurality of locations on the same page. The system can now be provided. According to the second aspect of the invention, in addition to the first aspect of the invention, even if the characteristic information of the image input / output device is different for each location in the same page to be processed, the image input device always corresponds to the location. Since the optimum image processing can be performed based on the characteristic information of the output device, an image forming system capable of always obtaining a high-definition image can be provided. According to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the second aspect, the characteristic information corrected so as to be one target characteristic information selected from a plurality of target characteristic information, Since image data can be processed, it is possible to provide an image forming system that can always obtain a high-definition image as compared with the image forming apparatus according to the second aspect. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the first, second, or third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming system capable of obtaining a high-definition image even in monochrome and color image processing. Is now available.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of an image forming system in which an image input device, an image processing device, and an image output device are connected on a network.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a main part of an image forming system that performs an optimization process.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a main part of an image forming system according to the first or second aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a main part of an image forming system according to the third aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image processing unit in the image forming system of FIG. 3 in more detail;

6A is an explanatory diagram relating to MTF characteristic information of an image input device, FIG. 6B is an explanatory diagram relating to MTF characteristic information of an image output device, and FIG. 6C is an explanatory diagram relating to target MTF characteristic information.

7A is an explanatory diagram relating to γ characteristic information of the image input device, FIG. 7B is an explanatory diagram relating to γ characteristic information of the image output device, FIG. 7C is an explanatory diagram relating to target γ characteristic information,
(D) is an explanatory diagram relating to γ correction characteristic information for processing image data.

FIG. 8A is an explanatory diagram showing an example of characteristic information existing at a plurality of locations in the same page processed by the image input device, and FIG. 8B is a diagram illustrating a plurality of characteristic information in the same page processed by the image output device; FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of characteristic information existing for each location.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: image input unit (image input unit), 2: image processing unit (image processing unit), 3: image output unit (image output unit), 4:
Characteristic information recognition unit (characteristic information recognition unit), 5: correction information generation unit (correction information generation unit), 6: input / output correspondence determination unit (input / output correspondence determination unit), 7: target information selection unit (target information selection unit) ), 9: optimization control unit, 11: filter processing unit,
12: density conversion processing unit, 13: gamma conversion processing unit, 14: color conversion processing unit, 15: halftone processing unit, 16: image area separation processing unit, 21: scanner profile, 22: printer profile, 23: target Characteristic information, 24: a plurality of target characteristic information, 31: an image input device, 32: an image processing device, 33: an image output device.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Hiroki Kuboen 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Ricoh Company (72) Inventor Shogo Oneda 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Share Inside the company Ricoh

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An image input unit for inputting an image or image data to form a form that is easy to process in a subsequent stage, an image output unit for outputting an image based on given image data, and the image input unit or the image Characteristic information recognizing means for recognizing one or both characteristic information of the output means,
Correction information generating means for generating characteristic information corrected so as to become predetermined target characteristic information from the recognition result of the characteristic information recognizing means, based on the corrected characteristic information generated by the correction information generating means Image processing means for processing the image data output from the image input means, and the characteristic information of one or both of the image input means and the image output means is provided by the image input means or the image output means. An image forming system, wherein the image forming system exists at each of a plurality of places in the same page to be processed. 2. An input / output correspondence judging means for judging to which place in the same page processed by the image input means or the image output means the image data processed by the image processing means, 2. The characteristic information recognizing unit recognizes characteristic information corresponding to each location of the image input unit or the image output unit determined by the input / output correspondence determining unit based on image data to be processed. Image forming system. 3. A plurality of target characteristic information exists, and one target characteristic information is selected from a plurality of predetermined target characteristic information based on the recognition result of the characteristic information recognizing means. Target information selecting means, wherein the correction information generating means generates characteristic information corrected to become target characteristic information selected by the target information selecting means from the recognition result of the characteristic information recognizing means. 3. The image forming system according to claim 2, wherein: 4. The characteristic information recognized by the characteristic information recognizing means includes gamma characteristic information, spatial frequency characteristic information, color characteristic information,
4. The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein the information is one or a plurality of pieces of scanner RGB dot displacement characteristic information or resolution characteristic information.