JP2010081078A - Color image processor and color image processing program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a color image processor forming images including identification expressions which are easy to view at all times for both color vision impaired person and healthy person regardless of a distance between areas including predetermined colors by switching an optimum identification expression according to the distance of the area including a prescribed color image. <P>SOLUTION: The color image processor analyzes the image data of a print object to extract the area including the image of a predetermined color, and when there are the plurality of extracted areas within one image, the color image processor detects the distance between the plurality of areas. Also, when the detected distance between the areas is shorter than a predetermined reference distance, the color image processor changes the lightness of the image of one or both of the two adjacent areas so that the difference of the lightness of the images inside the areas extracted by the specified color area extraction means becomes a predetermined amount. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus provided with an image processing method that can be easily recognized by persons with color vision deficiencies and the like, and can also be recognized by a healthy person without a sense of incongruity, and in particular, an improved color image for improving the visibility of an image portion. The present invention relates to a processing apparatus and a color image processing program for causing a computer to execute a color image forming process.

In the case of color blind people, for example, red and green are often mistaken as brown. Therefore, if an image including a color that may cause misperception is converted into a color that has a high possibility of not including misperception, the problem of color misperception is almost eliminated for the color blind person.
However, in this method, the color is converted into a color that does not cause misperception for a person with color blindness, so that an image with an abnormal color is felt for a healthy person.
In order to eliminate such a situation, it is desirable to adopt an image processing technique that allows color-blind persons to be easily identified and allows healthy persons to recognize images without a sense of incongruity.
Patent Document 1 is known as one of such image processing techniques.
This method converts an image having two or more colors into a different color that can be understood by a color blind person when the color includes a color that is difficult for a color blind person to distinguish. Or by overlaying hatching on the color area.

By displaying such hatching in an overlapping manner, a healthy person can see the color of the original picture, but there is little sense of incongruity, although an extra image of hatching is superimposed.
For color blind people, although the color cannot be judged correctly, the addition of hatching allows the user to recognize that the area is likely to cause color blindness. Since it is possible to know that the existing color is wrong, there is an effect of reducing the misunderstanding about the color.
However, when hatching is applied, if the color area has a certain area, it is easy to see, but if the area is small, even if the color part cannot be seen due to hatching or the color part is visible, Inconveniences such as invisible hatching tend to occur.
In addition, since the color conversion process converts the color into a color that cannot be understood by a healthy person, if the area is wide, there is a high possibility that it will be difficult for a healthy person to understand.

As another method, there is a technique for displaying the name of the color of an image that occupies the area in the vicinity of the area when the color-blind person has a wrong area. Hereinafter referred to as color name display. For example, Patent Document 2 discloses such a technique.
Since this method does not convert the color itself or apply hatching, the display is easy to see for healthy persons. In addition, it can be said that it is an easy-to-understand method for people with color blindness because correct colors are taught.
However, when a color name is given in such an area, a considerably wide area is required, and this method cannot be adopted unless the area itself has a considerable area.
These problems are related to the distance between areas that are confusing with each other. Even when adjacent areas are too close together, it is impossible to attach a color name display. If the distance is long, it is considered that even if there is a color blindness, it is possible to sufficiently recognize the difference in the area by attaching only the color name display without adjusting the color.
JP 2007-240508 A JP 2001-257867 A

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and the object of the present invention is to switch the optimum identification expression according to the distance of the region including the predetermined color image, so that a predetermined color can be obtained. It is an object of the present invention to provide a color image processing apparatus capable of forming an image including an identification expression that can be easily viewed by both a color blind person and a healthy person regardless of the distance between the included areas.

In order to achieve the above object, a color image processing apparatus according to the present invention comprises:
Specific color area extracting means for analyzing image data to be printed and extracting an area including an image of a predetermined color;
Area distance detecting means for detecting the distance between the plurality of areas when there are a plurality of the areas extracted by the specific color area extracting means in one image;
When the distance between the areas detected by the area distance detecting means is closer than a predetermined reference distance, a predetermined amount of difference in image brightness between the areas extracted by the specific color area extracting means A color image processing apparatus comprising lightness adjusting means for changing the lightness of one or both of adjacent two regions so that
If the distance between the two areas is shorter than the reference distance, the brightness of one or both of the two areas is adjusted to change the brightness of the images in the two areas. Let me convert it.
This is because, in the case of a color blind person, for example, green and red having the same or similar hue cannot be distinguished, but even green and red can be distinguished if the brightness is different. Moreover, even if only the brightness is changed as in this method, the colors such as red and blue are not changed, so the appearance does not change so much even for a healthy person, and the aesthetic appearance is hardly impaired.

Further, when the distance between the regions is longer than a predetermined reference distance, a color name assigning unit for assigning the color name of the image of the region to the region extracted by the specific color region extracting unit or the vicinity thereof It is desirable to further comprise.
That is, when the distance between the two areas is longer than the reference distance a, a color name display indicating the color of each area is added outside the two areas, and the colors of the images in the two areas are abnormal in color vision. Display in a way that can be understood by the person in charge.
If the distance between the two areas is short as shown in FIG. 4A, there is no space for displaying the color name as described above, but if the distance between the two areas is long as shown in FIG. Even if the display is attached, the figure will not be confused, so the color name display is appropriate when the distance is long. Even if the color name display is added in this way, the colors such as red and blue are not changed, so that the appearance does not change so much for a healthy person, and the aesthetic appearance is hardly impaired.

  The present invention can also be understood as a color image processing program.

The color image processing apparatus according to the present invention analyzes the image data to be printed and extracts a region including a predetermined color image, and the specific color region extraction unit extracts the region including the image of a predetermined color. When there are a plurality of the areas in one image, an area distance detecting means for detecting the distance between the plurality of areas, and a reference distance in which the distance between the areas detected by the area distance detecting means is determined in advance. When closer, the brightness of the image in one or both of the two adjacent areas is changed so that the difference in the brightness of the image between the areas extracted by the specific color area extraction means becomes a predetermined amount. A color image processing apparatus comprising lightness adjusting means.
This makes it possible to switch the optimum identification expression according to the distance of the area including the predetermined color image, and to the color-blind person regardless of the distance between the areas including the predetermined color. Therefore, it is possible to provide a color image processing apparatus capable of forming an image including an identification expression that is always easy for a healthy person to see.

A color copying machine as an example of a color image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following embodiment is an example embodying the present invention, and does not limit the technical scope of the present invention.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the main part of the image forming apparatus X according to the embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the procedure of image processing in the image forming apparatus X, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a correspondence table between graphic distances and expression techniques, and FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the correspondence between graphic distances and expression techniques.

An image forming apparatus X according to an embodiment of the present invention is an image processing apparatus such as a color copying machine, a color printer, a facsimile apparatus, or a scanner, for example, and includes a plurality of pages stored in advance in a data storage unit such as a hard disk. A function is provided for detecting an image having a predetermined color in the page image based on print data relating to the page image.
First, the structure of the main part of the image forming apparatus X according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the block diagram shown in FIG.
The image forming apparatus X is a so-called color multifunction peripheral having a scanner function, a print function, a copy function, and a facsimile function.
As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus X includes a main control unit 1, an operation / display unit 2, a data storage unit 3, an image processing calculation unit 4, a NIC 5, a scanner unit 6, a printing unit 7, a facsimile unit 8, and the like. They are connected in such a way that information can be exchanged through the bus 11.

The operation / display unit 2 includes an operation unit 2a for inputting information and a display unit 2b for displaying information (including images). The operation unit 2a is, for example, a touch panel or a sheet key provided on the surface of the liquid crystal display device. The display unit 2b is, for example, a liquid crystal display device. The operation / display unit 2 constitutes a man-machine interface for the user.
The data storage unit 3 is a readable / writable large-capacity non-volatile memory that stores processing data as necessary when processing image data obtained by reading from a document or printing processing of image data. .

The image processing arithmetic unit 4 is constituted by a dedicated signal processing circuit or a DSP (Digital Signal Processor) or the like, performs various image processing on the image data, and forms a print job described in a predetermined print job description language into an image. A process for converting to bitmap image data to be used, a process for generating image data to be transmitted to an external device (for example, image data subjected to predetermined encoding such as JPEG format), and the like are performed.
Processing such as the specific color area extraction means (process) which is the main configuration of the present invention is executed by the image processing calculation unit 4.

The NIC 5 receives data (including data of an image read by the scanner unit 6) with an external device such as an information processing terminal or an e-mail server through a network including a LAN and the Internet conforming to the standard IEEE 802.3, for example. It is a communication interface which transmits / receives.
The scanner unit 6 converts an image formed on a document from a document placed on a glass document table (not shown) or a document conveyed by an ADF (not shown) to a color (R, G, B). ) Is a color scanner that distinguishes and reads.

The print unit 7 is a so-called print engine controlled by the main control unit 1, and sequentially feeds recording sheets stored in a sheet feeding cassette (not shown) one by one, and passes through a predetermined image forming position to a sheet discharge tray. Recording paper (recording paper) based on the image data of the original read from the original by the scanner unit 6 and the image data for printing generated by the image processing calculation unit 4 at the image forming position. It is a set of components such as a device that forms (outputs) an image on an example) and an MPU that controls the device. The printing unit 7 has a function of executing double-sided printing processing for forming an image on both the front surface and the back surface of the recording paper.
The facsimile unit 8 includes communication means such as an NCU (Network Control Unit) and a modem, and performs dial-up and negotiation processing for determining a communication method with a communication partner (partner station). It transmits and receives facsimile data (image data read by the scanner unit 6) with the facsimile apparatus.

The main control unit 1 controls each of the scanner unit 6, the print unit 7, the facsimile unit 8, the operation / display unit 2, the data storage unit 3, and the image processing calculation unit 4.
The main control unit 1 causes the scanner unit 6 to execute a scanning process for reading an image formed on the document from the document.
Further, the main control unit 1 creates printing data (image data or the like) related to an image for one page or a plurality of pages (hereinafter referred to as a page image) read from the document by the scanner unit 6.

  Subsequently, taking as an example processing for color regions that are difficult for color-blind persons to discriminate, referring to the flowchart shown in FIG. 2 and the graph shown in FIG. An image processing procedure will be described.

Here, S1, S2,... Are identification symbols of processing procedures (steps) of the image processing calculation unit 4.
The image processing calculation unit 4 first scans image data that is input to a printer that is an example of a color image forming apparatus and is stored in the data storage unit 3, and first extracts image data other than the photographic unit (S1). ). The photograph part is excluded from processing because there is a problem as an image when the brightness is converted or the color name is displayed.

Next, the image processing calculation unit 4 extracts a region including an image of a color that is difficult for a color blind person to discriminate from the extracted image data, and detects the area (S2). In general, it is said that a person with color blindness cannot see and distinguish both red and green because they are both brown, and two such regions containing red and green are extracted. In the present invention, the extraction method is not particularly limited, and an existing well-known method is adopted.
An example of the specific color area extracting means in the present invention is to realize a process of analyzing the image data to be printed and extracting an area including an image of a predetermined color. The procedure for detecting the distance between the two regions extracted by the above is an example of the region distance detecting means in the present invention.
As described above, the data storage unit 3 stores a reference distance a as a distance between regions including color images that are difficult for the color blind person detected by the image processing calculation unit 4 to be distinguished. .

As described above, when two regions containing an image of a predetermined color are extracted from the image data to be printed, the image processing calculation unit 4 calculates the distance between the two detected regions. At the same time, the distance is compared with the reference distance a stored in the data storage unit 3 to change the expression form of the identification expression for the region.
FIG. 3 shows the types of expression formats that are changed by comparing the detected distance between the regions with the reference distance a.
That is, when the distance between the two areas is shorter than the reference distance a (YES in S3), the brightness of one or both of the two areas is adjusted to adjust the image in the two areas. The brightness is converted so as to change the brightness (S4).
In this way, in the case of a color blind person, for example, green and red having the same or similar brightness cannot be distinguished, but can also be identified if the brightness is different between green and red. Moreover, even if only the brightness is changed in this way, the colors such as red and blue are not changed, so that the appearance does not change so much for a healthy person, and the aesthetic appearance is hardly impaired.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4A, for example, when the areas a and i are misleading to a color blind person, for example, a green area and a red area, the image processing calculation unit 4 Since the distance L1 between the two areas is detected, and the distance L1 is shorter than the reference distance a, the brightness of the area A is changed brightly, and the difference from the brightness of the area A is increased, so that the person with color blindness can also be detected. And i can be distinguished.
On the other hand, when the distance between the two areas is longer than the reference distance a (NO in S3), a color name display (A1, A2) indicating the color of each area is attached outside the two areas. The colors of the images in the two areas are displayed so that they can be understood by the color blind person (S5).
If the distance between the two areas is short as shown in FIG. 4A, there is no space for displaying the color name as described above, but if the distance between the two areas is long as shown in FIG. Even if the display is attached, the figure will not be confused, so the color name display is appropriate when the distance is long. Even if the color name display is added in this way, the colors such as red and blue are not changed, so that the appearance does not change so much for a healthy person, and the aesthetic appearance is hardly impaired.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4B, for example, when the areas A and C are misleading for a color blind person, for example, a green area and a red area, the image processing calculation unit 4 Since the distance L2 between the two areas is detected and the distance L2 is longer than the reference distance a, the color names A1 and A2 are attached to the respective areas without changing the brightness of the areas a and c. Therefore, it is possible to distinguish areas A and U even for those with color blindness.

In the above embodiment, only two regions are considered as a problem, but it goes without saying that a plurality of three or more regions may be extracted and their mutual distances detected. In the case of the bar graph shown in FIG. 4 above, the areas are only arranged horizontally, so it is relatively simple. However, even the same graph is somewhat complicated when it becomes a pie chart, and the distance between certain areas is short. Therefore, since the brightness conversion is performed, the distance between the different regions is long, and therefore, the case of FIG. 4A and the case of FIG.
For color name display, it is also effective to simplify the display by changing the font in some cases.

  The above processing is realized as a program executed by the image processing calculation unit 4. Such a program analyzes the image data to be printed and extracts a region containing a predetermined color image, and the region extracted by the specific color region extraction step is one. When there are a plurality of images in one image, a region distance detection step for detecting a distance between the plurality of regions, and a case where the distance between the regions detected by the region distance detection step is closer than a predetermined reference distance , A brightness adjustment step of changing the brightness of one or both of the adjacent two regions so that the difference in image brightness between the regions extracted by the specific color region extraction step is a predetermined amount. A color image processing program for causing a computer to execute the provided color image processing method.

In the color image processing method, when the distance between the areas is longer than a predetermined reference distance, the color name of the image in the area is extracted in the vicinity of the area extracted by the specific color area extracting step or in the vicinity thereof. The color image processing program further includes a color name assigning step to be attached.
In the above description, the case where the brightness is changed when the distance between the plurality of regions is shorter than the reference distance has been described. However, the hue may be changed instead of the brightness. In the above description, the case where only the lightness conversion is performed in step S4 of FIG. 2 has been described.

  The present invention can be used for a color image forming apparatus and a color image forming processing program.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of an image forming apparatus X according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 6 is a flowchart showing a procedure of image processing in the image forming apparatus X. The chart which shows the correspondence table of detection distance and expression form. The figure explaining the correspondence of the distance of a figure and an expression method.

Explanation of symbols

X: Image forming apparatus 1: Main control unit 3: Data storage unit 4: Image processing calculation unit 5: NIC (network interface card)
S1, S2,...: Identification symbols of processing procedures (steps)

Claims (6)

Specific color area extracting means for analyzing image data to be printed and extracting an area including an image of a predetermined color;
Area distance detecting means for detecting the distance between the plurality of areas when there are a plurality of the areas extracted by the specific color area extracting means in one image;
When the distance between the areas detected by the area distance detecting means is closer than a predetermined reference distance, a predetermined amount of difference in image brightness between the areas extracted by the specific color area extracting means A color image processing apparatus comprising lightness adjusting means for changing the lightness of one or both of adjacent two regions so that   When the distance between the areas is longer than a predetermined reference distance, the apparatus further comprises color name giving means for attaching the color name of the image of the area to the area extracted by the specific color area extracting means or in the vicinity thereof. The color image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein   The color image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined color is a color that causes color blindness. A specific color area extracting step of analyzing image data to be printed and extracting an area including an image of a predetermined color;
A region distance detection step of detecting a distance between the plurality of regions when there are a plurality of the regions extracted by the specific color region extraction step in one image;
When the distance between the areas detected by the area distance detection step is closer than a predetermined reference distance, the difference in image brightness between the areas extracted by the specific color area extraction step is a predetermined amount. A color image processing program for causing a computer to execute a color image processing method including a brightness adjustment step of changing the brightness of one or both of two adjacent areas so that   In the color image processing method, when the distance between the regions is longer than a predetermined reference distance, the color name of the image in the region is attached to the region extracted by the specific color region extraction step or the vicinity thereof. The color image processing program according to claim 4, further comprising a color name assigning step. Specific color area extracting means for analyzing image data to be printed and extracting an area including an image of a predetermined color;
Area distance detecting means for detecting the distance between the plurality of areas when there are a plurality of the areas extracted by the specific color area extracting means in one image;
When the distance between the areas detected by the area distance detection means is closer than a predetermined reference distance, a predetermined amount of the hue difference of the image between the areas extracted by the specific color area extraction means A color image processing apparatus comprising hue adjustment means for changing the color of one or both of two adjacent areas so that

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