JP2003219189A - Image forming apparatus and image forming method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make an emphasized color character conspicuous even when it is copied monochromatically by emphasizing the character part indicated with color on a document when a color document is copied monochromatically. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus comprises a color image scanner for reading out a document, a CPU and a monochromatic printer where the CPU judges the area of the document read out by means of the color image scanner and separates the character area, makes a decision whether a character existing in the character area is a color character or a monochromatic character, and emphasizes a color image, and then a printer prints out a document where the color character is emphasized as a monochromatic image. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and a method thereof, and more particularly, to a function of a color image scanner for reading an original with a color image sensor and converting the image of the original into digital data, and conversion to digital data. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and method having a printing function of printing an image of a formed document on a printer such as a laser printer and applied to, for example, a digital copying machine or a facsimile.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A digital copying machine will be described as an example of an image forming apparatus. When a color original is copied in color using a digital copying machine equipped with a color image scanner, the color of the color original is read by a color line image sensor. In this case, the color of the color original document irradiated with the white light is decomposed into the brightness (light intensity) of R (red), G (green), and B (blue), and the three primary colors of this light correspond to the color toner. The density is converted to C (cyan), M (magenta), and Y (yellow), and color copying is performed.

[0003]

As described above, when a color original is copied in color by using a digital copying machine equipped with a color image scanner, there is no problem, but a color original is copied in monochrome. In this case, the density of the color portion is reduced. For example, in the case of a yellow portion, when the image is copied in monochrome, there is a problem that the density is reduced and the portion emphasized by color is difficult to see on the contrary.

The present invention has been made in consideration of such circumstances, and when a color original is copied in monochrome using a digital copying machine equipped with a color image scanner, it is displayed in color on the original. By emphasizing the existing character portion, the purpose is to make the character emphasized even when the character emphasized in color is copied in monochrome.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a color image scanner for reading an original, an area separating unit for determining an area of the read original and separating a character area, and whether a character existing in the character area is a color character or not. A color determination unit that determines whether a color is a monochrome character, an enhancement processing unit that enhances color characters that are determined to be color by the color determination unit, and an original document in which color characters are enhanced by the enhancement processing unit. Is an image forming apparatus including a printer for printing as a monochrome image.

According to the present invention, even when a color original is copied in black and white, the character portion displayed in color on the original is emphasized, so that the character emphasized in color is copied in monochrome. Even if you do, you can make the character stand out.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION In the present invention, the color image scanner may be any one that can read a color original and convert it into a color image, and a color image scanner known in the art can be applied. For example,
A color image scanner including line image sensors for R, G, and B can be applied.

It is convenient to use a processor including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and an I / O port as the area separating section, the color determining section, and the emphasis processing section. The area separation unit can apply the area separation function used in a known digital color copying machine, for example. In this known area separation function, since the image processing method is different between the character portion of the read document and the image portion such as a photograph, both are separated and different image processing is performed. The function of region separation in this case can be applied.

The color determination unit can also apply the color determination function used in a known digital color copying machine, for example. In this known color determination function, the color of the read original is converted from the three primary colors of R, G, and B light into the three primary colors of C, M, and Y toners, which is used for this processing. It is possible to apply a function of color determination that is performed.

The emphasis process by the emphasis processing unit may be a process of converting a color character into a character code by character recognition and developing an image of a monochrome character corresponding to the character code in a predetermined font. Alternatively, the color character may be replaced with a monochrome character by image processing, and a predetermined symbol may be added to the monochrome character.

The monochrome characters printed by this emphasizing process may be monochrome characters corresponding to the density of color characters, or may be black characters having a constant density.

In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, it is desirable that the image forming apparatus further comprises an instruction section for instructing whether or not to perform the emphasis processing by the emphasis processing section.

The present invention will be described in detail below based on the embodiments shown in the drawings. The present invention is not limited to this, and various modifications are possible.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of an embodiment of the image forming apparatus of the present invention. In this embodiment, an example in which the image forming apparatus of the present invention is applied to a digital copying machine is shown. This digital copying machine includes a CPU 1, an image data bus 2, a color image scanner 3, an image memory 4, a monochrome laser printer 5, a region separation unit 6, a character region color determination unit 7, a character recognition unit 8, and an image / character conversion unit. 9, emphasis processing image synthesizing section 10, color / emphasis table 11, monochrome data generating section 12, black character generating section 13, and instruction key 14.
It is composed of.

The CPU 1 includes a ROM, a RAM, an I / O port, etc., and controls the entire digital copying machine. The image data bus 2 is a bus for transmitting image data,
It is composed of a serial bus such as B and a known bus such as a parallel bus.

The color image scanner 3 is an image scanner known in the art. That is, in this color image scanner 3, the reading portion of each pixel is for R, G
This is composed of CCD image sensor for B and B
D image sensors are arranged in an array. Then, the original is read by scanning the original with this CCD image sensor. When reading the original, the original is illuminated with white light and the original is read by the CCD image sensor. The color of the document is detected by each color of R, G, B, and the brightness of each color is replaced with a digital value of 0 to 255, for example.

The image memory 4 is composed of a RAM and stores image data read by the color image scanner 3.

The monochrome laser printer 5 is a laser printer known in the art. That is, the monochrome laser printer 5 irradiates the photosensitive drum with a laser beam to form an electrostatic latent image, develops the electrostatic latent image with black toner, and transfers the toner to paper to perform printing. It has become. The toner used is black only. The monochrome laser printer 5 has a color C,
It is also possible to perform monochrome printing with a color printer capable of printing with M, Y, and Bk (black) toner as required. In that case, the black color is
It may be expressed by stacking C, M, and Y toners,
It may be expressed by using only Bk toner.

The area separation unit 6 performs area separation of the image read by the image scanner. This area separation is performed using a method known in the art. Usually, a text area and an image area such as a photograph are mixed in the document, and the processing for sharpening the image is different between the text and the photographic image. Therefore, in the past, for example, in the case of a character, edge processing for sharpening the edge (outline) of the character is performed, and in the case of an image such as a photograph, a halftone (light color) can be expressed. Image processing is performed by a technique such as dithering or error diffusion, but such known methods are applied to perform region separation to extract character regions.

The character area color determination unit 7 determines the color of the character existing in the character area. This determination is made based on R, G, and B brightness values when the image is read by the color image scanner 3. As described above, the color of the original is R,
The brightness of each color of G and B is replaced with, for example, a digital value from 0 to 255, and the larger this value is, the higher the color tone of the color is. Specifically, for example, if the value of R is “250”, G is “0”, and B is “0”, it is determined that the character is red. If R, G, and B have almost the same value, the color is black. Even if the same black color is used, the higher the value, the darker it is;

The character recognition unit 8 recognizes color characters when the mode is set to the character conversion mode. No recognition is performed for black characters. This character recognition unit 8
Character recognition in is also performed using a method known in the art.

The image / character conversion unit 9 replaces the color character recognized by the character recognition unit 8 with another character.
The color / emphasis table 11 is referred to as to which character the recognized character should be replaced with.

The color / emphasis table 11 stores conversion contents of color characters into two modes, that is, a symbol addition mode and a character conversion mode. FIG. 2 shows an example of the stored contents of the color / enhancement table 11. For example, when the character conversion mode is set, the red color character is converted to italic as the emphasis process after the character recognition, and the blue color character is converted to bold as the emphasis process. This content can be arbitrarily changed by the user.

When the mode is set to the symbol addition mode, the emphasis processing image synthesizing unit 10 performs emphasis processing such as addition of a rectangular mark or addition of an underline to a color character. The color / emphasis table 11 is referred to for what kind of emphasis processing is applied to the color characters.

For example, an underline is added to the red color character as an emphasis process, and a rectangular mark is added to the blue color character as an emphasis process. This content can also be arbitrarily changed by the user.

An example of emphasis processing in the emphasis mode is shown in FIG.
It shows in (a) and FIG.3 (b). In Fig. 3 (a), "a", "ka", and "sa" in "aiueokakikukushisushisose" are in red letters, and the "ta" in "tatsutetsutonaninune""" And "na" are blue letters.
Therefore, when the emphasis processing is performed by referring to the color / emphasis table 11, as shown in FIG. 3B, underlining is added to “a”, “ka”, and “sa”, and “ta” is added. A rectangular mark is added to "NA".

The monochrome data generator 12 generates monochrome data for printing color characters in monochrome. Generation of this monochrome data is also performed using a method known in the art. As described above, the color of the character existing in the character area is determined, and this determination is made based on the R, G, B brightness values when the image is read by the color image scanner 3. Regarding the color of the original, the brightness of each color of R, G, B is replaced with a digital value of, for example, 0 to 255, and the numerical values of R, G, B are applied to a certain mathematical expression to be converted into the toner density of Bk. To do. Alternatively, the numerical values of R, G, and B may be converted into toner densities of C, M, and Y to express black. This conversion can be performed by a known method.

The black character generation unit 13 generates a black character when printing a color character as a completely black character. in this case,
Regardless of what color a color character is, it will always be the same black color as any other black character.

When the density gradation of the color characters in the color original is expressed as it is, the emphasized portion becomes thin. However, by ignoring the density gradation and printing in perfect black, the copy becomes easy to see. .

The instruction key 14 is a key for instructing various modes and processing contents. First, the instruction key 14 is used to instruct the normal processing mode or the emphasis processing mode. Next, when the emphasis processing mode is set, the emphasis content of the symbol addition mode or the character conversion mode is instructed. In the symbol addition mode and the character conversion mode, the emphasis content of the color character when referring to the color / emphasis table 11 is different.
In addition, the instruction key 14 is used to instruct density conversion as to whether color characters are converted to monochrome with the same shades or to normal black characters (true black).

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the operation of the above-mentioned digital copying machine. First, the CPU 1 determines whether the mode is the emphasis processing mode or the normal copy mode (step S1). Here, in the case of the normal copy mode, normal copy processing is performed.

In step S1, if the mode is the emphasis processing mode, the user inputs an emphasis content and a density conversion instruction (step S2). The instruction of the emphasis content is an instruction of the symbol addition mode or the character conversion mode, and the instruction of the density conversion is an instruction of whether the color character is converted into monochrome with the light and shade as it is or the normal black character (true black). Is.

Next, the original is read by the color image scanner 3 (step S3). The read image is stored in the image memory 4.

Next, the area separation unit 6 separates the area of the read document and extracts the character area (step S4). Next, the color determination unit 7 for the character area determines the color of the character in the character area (step S5).

Then, it is determined whether the mode is the character conversion mode or the symbol addition mode (step S6). If the character conversion mode, the process proceeds to step S7. If the symbol addition mode, the process proceeds to step S10.

If the character conversion mode is selected in step S6, the character recognition unit 8 recognizes the color character (step S7), and the color / emphasis table is referenced (step S6).
8) After the image of the color character is converted into a recognized character by the image / character conversion unit 9, italic, bold, etc. fonts designated by the color / emphasis table are converted (step S9).

On the other hand, if the mode is the symbol addition mode in step S6, the color / enhancement table is referred to (step S1).
0), the underline specified in the color / enhancement table is added to the color character image by the emphasis image combining unit 10.
A symbol such as a rectangular mark is added (step S11).

Then, it is determined whether or not the density conversion is performed (step S12), and if the density conversion is not performed,
Monochrome data corresponding to the shading of the color character is generated, and the color character is converted into a monochrome character (step S
13) If density conversion is to be performed, a black character (true black) corresponding to the color character is generated and the color character is converted to a black character (step S14). And the laser printer 5
Then, the generated monochrome image is printed (step S15).

In this way, when a color original is copied in black and white, a character such as an underline or a rectangular mark is added to the characters displayed in color on the original,
By converting to italics or bold and applying emphasis processing to the characters displayed in color on the manuscript, even when the characters emphasized in color are copied in monochrome, the characters can be made conspicuous. it can.

[0040]

According to the present invention, when a color original is copied in black and white using a digital copying machine equipped with a color image scanner, a character portion displayed in color on the original is emphasized. Since it is applied, even when a character highlighted in color is copied in monochrome, the character can be made conspicuous.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of stored contents of a color / enhancement table according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of emphasis processing in an emphasis mode according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of the digital copying machine according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 CPU 2 Image data bus 3 color image scanner 4 image memory 5 Monochrome laser printer 6 area separation unit 7 Character area color determination 8 character recognition part 9 Image / Character converter 10 Emphasis processing image composition unit 11 colors / emphasis table 12 Monochrome data generator 13 Black character generator 14 Instruction key

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) H04N 1/40 B41J 3/12 W 1/409 H04N 1/40 F 1/60 101D (72) Inventor cotton Semo Osaka Prefecture 22nd 22 Nagaike-cho, Abeno-ku, Osaka Prefecture (72) Inventor Jun Morimoto Osaka Prefecture Osaka Prefecture 22-22 Nagaike-cho, Abeno-ku, Osaka Prefecture (72) Inventor Seiichi Yoshida Osaka Prefecture 22-22 Nagaike-cho, Abeno-ku, Osaka City, F-term in SHARP CO., LTD. HB01 HB03 HB12 LB11 MA11 NA06 PA03

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A color image scanner for reading a manuscript, an area separating unit for judging an area of the read manuscript and separating a character area, and a color judgment as to whether a character existing in the character area is a color character or a monochrome character. A color determination unit, an enhancement processing unit that enhances color characters that are determined to be color by the color determination unit, and a printer that prints a document whose color characters have been enhanced by the enhancement processing unit as a monochrome image. An image forming apparatus comprising: 2. The image according to claim 1, wherein the emphasizing processing by the emphasizing processing unit comprises converting a color character into a character code by character recognition and developing a monochrome character corresponding to the character code in a predetermined font. Forming equipment. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the emphasizing processing by the emphasizing processing unit comprises replacing color characters with monochrome characters by image processing and adding a predetermined symbol to the monochrome characters. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the monochrome characters printed by the enhancement processing of the enhancement processing unit are monochrome characters corresponding to the density of color characters. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the monochrome character printed by the emphasizing process of the emphasizing processing unit is a black character having a constant density. 6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an instruction unit for instructing whether or not to perform the enhancement processing by the enhancement processing unit. 7. A color image scanner is used to read an original, the area of the read original is determined, the character area is separated, and the color of the character existing in the character area is determined as a color character or a monochrome character, and the color is determined. An image forming method, which comprises emphasizing color characters that are determined to be color and printing a document in which the color characters are emphasizing as a monochrome image.