JP2011055131A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a multifunction machine 100 having improved efficiency and precision of processing performed by an automatic color selecting function when implementing an image repeating function. <P>SOLUTION: The multifunction machine 100 includes an inhibiting means 504 of inhibiting an automatic color selecting means 505 from performing determination processing when an image repeating means 502 causes an image reading means 503 to read an image of a document, and a control means 507 of canceling the inhibition by the inhibiting means 504 and causing the automatic color selecting means 505 to determine whether a hollowed-out image is a monochromatic image or color image when the image repeating means 502 repeating the hollowed-out image a plurality of times to form an image. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus capable of improving the processing efficiency and accuracy of an auto color selection function when an image repeat function is executed.

  In an image forming apparatus such as an electronic copying machine, an original is irradiated with an exposure lamp, and reflected light that has been exposed and scanned is guided to form a latent image corresponding to the original on a photosensitive drum. The toner image is visualized by applying the toner image, and the visualized toner image is transferred onto a sheet by a transfer device. Thereafter, the toner image on the sheet is fixed using a fixing device. .

  In such an image forming apparatus, there is known an image forming apparatus having a function (also referred to as an image repeat function) for forming a part of a designated document (also referred to as a cutout image) repeatedly on the same sheet a plurality of times. Yes. This image repeat function has the convenience that when label printing, sticker printing, etc. are executed, it can be realized by one image reading and one printing paper, but the user can repeat the area (removed image). If the number of repetitions, desired magnification, printing paper size, etc. are arbitrarily entered, images for the specified number of repetitions may not fit within the printing paper size. In this case, there is a problem that an image for the designated number of repetitions cannot be obtained or a part of the image is missing.

  As a technique for solving such a problem, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-261599 (Patent Document 1) discloses an area of a document read by a reading unit in an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a supplied image forming medium. Area designating means for designating, an instruction means for instructing the formation of a repeated image of the document area designated by the area designating means, and a number setting means for setting the number of repetitions for forming the repeated image designated by the instruction means And an image forming means for forming a repeated image corresponding to the size of the supplied image forming medium based on the number of repetitions set by the number setting means. Has been. With this configuration, it is possible to form a repetitive image by simply storing the repetitive area, the repetitive number of times, and the desired magnification to fit the designated number of repetitive images within the paper size.

  Further, in the image forming apparatus, it is determined whether the image of the document read by the image reading unit is a monochrome image or a color image, so that monochrome printing can be performed if the image is a monochrome image, and color printing can be performed if the image is a color image. There is also known an automatic color selection function (also referred to as an ACS function) that can automatically select a print mode and execute printing. This auto color select function has the convenience that the user does not have to manually set whether to perform monochrome printing or color printing by looking at the contents of the document in advance before reading the image. When the number of color prints exceeds the limit number, color printing may be unconditionally prohibited. In this case, there is a problem that even if it is considered that a part of the color image may be converted to monochrome printing, there is no flexibility.

  As a technique for solving such a problem, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-240836 (Patent Document 2) discloses a case where a color image and a monochrome image obtained by reading with an image reading unit are printed under an auto color selection function. If the cumulative value including the planned number of prints is less than the limit number, each image will be printed for the set number, and the cumulative number of monochrome prints is less than the limit number, but the number of color prints If the cumulative value exceeds the limit, the scanned color image is displayed as a thumbnail, and if you select an image to be converted to monochrome printing from there, the cumulative value of the number of color prints after print conversion is again Discloses an image forming apparatus that determines whether or not the number of prints exceeds the limit number, and executes printing if the cumulative value of the number of color prints is within the limit number. With this configuration, the convenience of the auto color selection function is maintained as it is, and printing can be performed efficiently.

JP 7-261599 A JP 2007-240836 A

  However, the techniques described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 do not assume the case where both the image repeat function and the auto color select function are used, and when both are used, appropriate repeated image formation is executed. There is a problem that it is not possible to perform both of them, and the advantages of both cannot be properly exhibited.

  For example, in the auto color select function, when an image of a document is scanned, it is determined whether the image is a monochrome image or a color image. In the image repeat function, the scanned image is displayed once for the user, and then a cutout image is displayed. It is necessary to accept. Therefore, if both the current auto color select function and image repeat function are used, determination processing by the auto color select function is performed when the image of the document is read, and when accepting a hollow image with the image repeat function, It has already been determined whether the image is a monochrome image or a color image. As a result, if the cutout image is, for example, a monochrome image made up of only monochrome pixels such as a document, and the image other than the cutout image is a color image made up of color pixels, the entire original image is a color image. It may be determined as an image. In other words, there are cases where the characteristics of the repeated image actually formed (whether a monochrome image or a color image) and the characteristics of the original image determined first do not match. In this case, there is a problem that the determination accuracy of the auto color select function is lowered, and the first determination result is repeatedly reflected in image formation, and color toner is wasted.

  Further, for example, in the auto color selection function, the ratio of color pixels is calculated among the pixels constituting the image of the document to determine whether the image is a monochrome image or a color image. Processing memory is required. Therefore, even when the image repeat function is executed and only a hollow image is formed, if the determination process is executed for the entire original image by the auto color select function, a very long processing time is required. There is a problem that occurs. In addition, when the image forming apparatus executes the auto color selection function, sufficient processing memory is necessary for the determination process of whether the pixel constituting the image is a monochrome pixel or a color pixel, and there is not enough free memory. There is a problem that the determination process is not properly executed. For example, if the image of one A4 size document is a color image, at least 100 MB of memory is required in order for the determination process of the auto color selection function to be properly executed.

  Furthermore, as described above, the auto color selection function requires a predetermined processing time. Therefore, in a current image forming apparatus, for a user who only wants to form an image of a document, reading the image of the document immediately The automatic color selection function is set to work, and processing time (waiting time) is prevented from occurring as much as possible to the user. This setting has a problem that it is not an appropriate setting for the image repeat function that first displays the image of the document to the user and accepts the cut-out image.

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and provides an image forming apparatus capable of improving the processing efficiency and accuracy of the auto color selection function when executing the image repeat function. The purpose is to do.

  In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes an auto color selection unit that determines whether a document image read by the image reading unit is a monochrome image or a color image, and an image reading unit. It is assumed that the image forming apparatus includes an image repeat unit that forms an image by repeating a plurality of cut-out images when a cut-out image, which is an image in a predetermined area, is received from the user.

  The image forming apparatus includes a prohibiting unit that prohibits the determination process of the auto color selection unit when the image repeat unit causes the image reading unit to read the image of the document.

  The point of time when the prohibiting unit prohibits the determination process of the auto color selecting unit may be a point of time when the image repeating unit causes the image reading unit to read the image of the document, or a point of time when the image repeating unit accepts execution of the image repeat from the user. But you can. As long as an image repeat mode corresponding to the image repeat unit is provided in the image forming apparatus, the image repeat mode may be set when the user sets (activates) the image repeat mode.

  Further, the image forming apparatus cancels the prohibition by the prohibiting unit when the image repeat unit repeatedly forms a hollow image, and determines whether the hollow image is a monochrome image or a color image. Control means for determining

  The point of time when the control unit releases the prohibition by the prohibiting unit may be a point of time when the image repeat unit forms a plurality of hollowed out images or a point of time when the image repeating unit receives the hollowed out image.

  According to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, when the image repeat unit causes the image reading unit to read the image of the document, a prohibiting unit that prohibits the determination processing of the auto color selection unit, and the image repeat unit includes a plurality of cut-out images. And a control unit that cancels the prohibition by the prohibiting unit when the image is repeatedly formed, and causes the auto color selection unit to determine whether the cutout image is a monochrome image or a color image.

  As a result, when the image repeat means executes image repeat, the auto color select means performs the determination process on the cut-out image, so the image area to be determined by the auto color select means is reduced and the processing time is reduced. It is possible to reduce the amount of memory used. In addition, since the auto color selection means performs the determination process on the cutout image instead of the entire original image, when the color image is included in the original image, the cutout image received from the user is a monochrome image. Even if it exists, it becomes possible to determine appropriately that the hollow image is a monochrome image. For this reason, when image repeat is executed, useless color toner is not consumed. In addition, when the image repeat unit executes image repeat, the auto color select unit performs the above-described determination processing for the hollowed image, and in the case of normal image formation, the auto color select unit reads the image of the document. Since the determination process is performed on the image of the original, it is possible to take advantage of the conventional auto color selection means.

1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an overall configuration inside a multifunction peripheral according to the present invention. It is an enlarged view of the image reading part which concerns on this invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of an appearance of an operation unit of a multifunction peripheral according to the present invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the control system hardware of the multifunctional device which concerns on this invention. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a multifunction machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart for showing the execution procedure of the embodiment of the present invention. It is a 1st figure which shows an example of the screen displayed on the touchscreen of embodiment of this invention. It is a 2nd figure which shows an example of the screen etc. which were displayed on the touchscreen of embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings for understanding of the present invention. In addition, the following embodiment is an example which actualized this invention, Comprising: The thing of the character which limits the technical scope of this invention is not. In addition, the alphabet “S” added in front of the numbers in the flowcharts means steps.

<Image forming apparatus>
Hereinafter, an image forming apparatus (for example, a multifunction peripheral) according to the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing an overall internal configuration of a multifunction machine according to the present invention. However, details of each part not directly related to the present invention are omitted.

  The multifunction peripheral 100 of the present invention corresponds to, for example, a printer, a single scanner, or a multifunction peripheral including a printer, a copy, a scanner, a fax machine, and the like.

  As an example, the operation of the multifunction device 100 when providing a document copy function using the multifunction device 100 will be briefly described.

  When the user prints, for example, a document P using the multifunction device 100, the document P is placed on the document table 101 or the mounting table 102 shown in FIG. 1 and the operation unit 103 provided near the document table 101 is operated. Print instructions. When the instruction is given, printing is performed by operating the following units (drive units).

  That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the multifunction peripheral 100 according to the present embodiment includes a main body 104 and a platen cover 105 attached above the main body 104. A document table 101 is provided on the upper surface of the main body 104, and the document table 101 is opened and closed by a platen cover 105. The platen cover 105 is provided with an automatic document feeder 106, a placement table 102, and a sheet discharge table 107.

  The automatic document feeder 106 includes a document conveyance path 108 formed in the platen cover 105, a pickup roller 109 and conveyance rollers 110A and 110B provided in the platen cover 105, and the like. The document conveyance path 108 is a document conveyance path that leads from the mounting table 102 to the paper discharge table 107 via a reading position X where reading is performed by the image reading unit 111 provided in the main body 104.

  The automatic document feeder 106 pulls out documents one by one from a plurality of documents placed on the table 102 to the inside of the conveyance path 108 by a pickup roller 109, and passes the document drawn by the conveyance rollers etc. through the reading position X. Then, the paper is discharged onto the paper discharge tray 107 by the transport roller 110B. When the document passes through the reading position X, the document is read by the image reading unit 111.

  The image reading unit 111 is provided below the document table 101, and its details are shown in FIG. The image reading unit 111 includes a first light source 112 that illuminates the document table 102 in the scanning direction, a slit 113 that selectively allows light from the document table, and a mirror 114 that guides light from the document table. The movable carriage 115, the second movable carriage 117 including mirrors 116A and 116B that reflect the reflected light from the first movable carriage 115 again, and the lens group 118 that optically corrects the light guided by the mirror, An image sensor 119 that receives light corrected by the lens group 118, and an image data generator 120 that converts the light received by the image sensor 119 into an electrical signal and performs correction processing, image quality processing, compression processing, and the like as necessary. It consists of and.

  When reading a document on the automatic document feeder 106, the light source 112 moves to a position where the reading position X can be irradiated and emits light. Light from the light source 112 is reflected by a document that passes through the document table 101 and passes through the reading position X, and is guided to the image sensor 119 by the slit 113, mirrors 114, 116A, and 116B, and the lens group 118. The image sensor 119 converts the received light into an electrical signal and transmits it to the image data generation unit 120. The light received by the image sensor 119 is input to the image data generation unit 120 as analog electrical signals of R (red), G (green), and B (blue), where analog-digital conversion is performed. Digitized. Further, the image data generation unit 120 uses the sequentially converted digital signal as unit data, and generates image data including a plurality of unit data by performing correction processing, image quality processing, compression processing, and the like on the unit data.

  Further, the image reading unit 111 can read not only a document conveyed by the automatic document feeder 106 but also a document placed on the document table 101. When reading the document placed on the document table 101, the first carriage 114 moves in the sub-scanning direction while emitting the light source 112, so that the optical path length from the light source 112 to the image sensor 119 is constant. The second moving carriage 117 moves in the direction of the image sensor 119 at a half speed of the first moving carriage 115.

  The image sensor 119 electrically outputs the light from the document placed on the document table 101 based on the light guided to the mirrors 114, 116 A, and 116 B, as in the case of the document conveyed to the automatic document feeder 106. The signal is converted into a signal, and based on this, the image data generation unit 120 generates image data and stores it in the storage unit 120B.

  An image forming unit 121 that prints image data is provided below the image reading unit 111 of the main body 104. The image data that can be printed by the image forming unit 121 is generated from the image data generating unit 120 as described above, or from a terminal such as a personal computer connected to the MFP 100 and a network such as a LAN from the network interface. Is received via

  As a printing method performed by the image forming unit 121, an electrophotographic method is used. That is, the photosensitive drum 122 is uniformly charged by the charger 123, and then a latent image is formed on the photosensitive drum 122 by irradiating the photosensitive drum 122 with a laser 124, and toner is attached to the latent image by the developing device 125. In this method, a visual image is formed and the visible image is transferred to a transfer medium by a transfer roller.

  Note that in the multifunction peripheral 100 that supports full-color images, the developing device (rotary developing device) 125 is rotated in the circumferential direction around a rotation axis that is configured in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. A developing unit storing color toner is disposed at a position opposite to the photosensitive drum 122. In this state, the latent image on the photosensitive drum 122 is developed with toner stored in the developing device 125 and transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 126A. The developing unit 125 includes four developing units 125 (Y), (C), (M), and yellow (Y), cyan (C), magenta (M), and black (K), respectively. (K). By repeating the transfer to the intermediate transfer belt 126A for each color, a full color image is formed on the intermediate transfer belt 126A.

  A transfer medium on which a visible image is printed, that is, a sheet, is placed on a sheet feeding tray such as a sheet feeding cassette 132, 133, or 134.

When the image forming unit 121 performs printing, one transfer medium is pulled out from any one of the paper feed trays by using the pickup roller 135, and the transferred transfer medium is intermediate transfer belt by the transport roller 136 or the registration roller 137. It is fed between 126A and the transfer roller 126B.
When the visible image on the intermediate transfer belt 126A is transferred onto the transfer medium fed between the intermediate transfer belt 126A and the transfer roller 126B, the image forming unit 121 uses the transport belt 127 to fix the visible image. The transfer medium is sent to the fixing unit 128 (fixing device). The fixing unit 128 includes a heating roller 129 with a built-in heater and a pressure roller 130 pressed against the heating roller 129 with a predetermined pressure. When the transfer medium passes between the heating roller 129 and the pressure roller 130, the visible image is fixed to the transfer medium by heat and a pressing force to the transfer medium. The fixed transfer medium is discharged to a discharge tray 131.

  Through the above procedure, the multifunction peripheral 100 provides the user with a copy function process. Note that a means for executing reading of an image of the original P as image data after irradiating the light source 112 to the original P is an image reading means, and a means for performing an image forming process on the sheet based on the image data is an image forming means. (To be described later).

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the appearance of the operation unit 103 of the multifunction peripheral 100 according to the present invention. The user uses the operation unit 103 to input setting conditions for image formation as described above, and to confirm the input setting conditions. When the setting condition is input, the touch panel 301, the touch pen 302, and the operation key 303 provided in the operation unit 103 are used.

  The touch panel 301 has both a function for inputting setting conditions and a function for displaying the setting conditions. That is, by pressing an item in the setting screen displayed on the touch panel 301, a setting condition associated with the item is input. In addition, since the background color of the item is changed from white to gray in conjunction with the input setting condition, the input setting condition is confirmed by the background color of the item.

  A touch pen 302 is provided in the vicinity of the touch panel 301. When the user touches the touch pen 301 with the tip of the touch pen 302, a sensor provided under the touch panel detects the touch destination. Since the tip of the touch pen is almost close to a point, the sensor detects, for example, the contact point in dot units (minimum unit). Therefore, for example, compared with the case where the position in the touch panel 301 is designated by a finger, the position designated by the touch pen can be designated more accurately.

  The setting screen designated by the touch pen 302 includes a preview image area 304 of a document generated from the read document image (image data), and a predetermined number of instructions indicating a predetermined instruction for the preview image area 304. A selection item 305 is displayed. In FIG. 3, the setting screen is an image repeat screen (described later). The user can specify a predetermined position in the preview image with the touch pen 302, can specify (select) an image in a predetermined area from the preview image, and can select the displayed selection item 305. -It can be pressed.

  Further, a predetermined number of operation keys 303 are provided in the vicinity of the touch panel 301, and for example, a ten key 306, a start key 307, a clear key 308, a stop key 309, a reset key 310, and a power key 311 are provided. The numeric keypad 306 is used to input specific numbers when setting the number of copies and the magnification.

  Next, the configuration of the control system hardware of the multifunction machine 100 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of the control system hardware of the multifunction peripheral according to the present invention. However, details of each part not directly related to the present invention are omitted.

  The control circuit of the MFP 100 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 401, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 402, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 403, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 404, and a driver 405 corresponding to each drive unit. They are connected by a bus 406. The CPU 401 uses, for example, the RAM 403 as a work area, executes a program stored in the ROM 402, the HDD 404, and the like, and receives data and instructions from the driver 405 and the operation unit 103 (not shown) based on the execution result. The operation of each drive unit shown in FIG. 1 is controlled. In addition, each means (shown in FIG. 5) other than the above-described drive unit is realized by the CPU 401 executing a program. The ROM 402, the HDD 404, and the like store programs and data that implement each means described below.

<Embodiment of the present invention>
Next, a procedure for increasing the processing efficiency when the image repeat function and the auto color select function are set in the MFP 100 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram of the MFP 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for illustrating the execution procedure of the embodiment of the present invention.

  First, when the user places an A4 size document P on the document table 101 and turns on the power of the multifunction peripheral 100, the display accepting unit 501 displays an initial screen (here, the copy shown in FIG. 7A) on the touch panel 301. (Setting screen) is displayed (FIG. 6: S101).

  In the initial screen 700, as shown in FIG. 7A, “image repeat” 701 is displayed in addition to the normal items for setting the copy service. Therefore, when the user presses (selects) “image repeat” 701, the image repeat unit 502 accepts an image repeat function, and from the initial screen 700, a preview image area in which a preview image of the document image is displayed and a predetermined number of settings. The display on the touch panel 301 is switched to the image repeat screen 702 (FIG. 7B) with the items (FIG. 6: S102 YES).

  On the image repeat screen 702, as shown in FIG. 7B, a preview image area 703, “original image reading” 704 for instructing image reading of an original, and a hollow image that the user designates (selects) the area are determined. "Determination of cut-out image" 705, "Repetition count" 706a for setting (inputting) the number of repetitions of the cut-out image, a display field 706b in which the set repetition count is displayed, “Repetition magnification” 707a for setting a print magnification, a display field 707b for displaying the set repetition magnification, and a printing paper size for forming a repeated image in which a plurality of cut-out images are repeated. A “printing paper size” 708a, a display field 708a in which the set printing paper size is displayed, a “return” 709, The "print execution" 710 for executing the printing of the image repeat, the "expansion" 711 to enlarge the preview image, and a "reduced" 712 to collapse the preview image is displayed. When the display is switched from the initial screen 700 to the image repeat screen 702, nothing is displayed in the preview image area 703 because the image reading of the document has not yet been executed.

  When the user confirms that the document P is placed on the document table 101 and presses “read document image” 704 while looking at the image repeat screen 702, the image repeat unit 502 accepts image reading of the document and reads the image. The means 503 starts image reading of the document (FIG. 6: S103).

  When the image repeat unit 502 causes the image reading unit 503 to start reading an image of a document, the prohibiting unit 504 that has been monitoring the image repeat unit 502 communicates with the auto color selection unit 505 and performs processing on the read document image. The determination process of the auto color selection means 505 is prohibited (FIG. 6: S104). The prohibition process eliminates the need for the auto color selection unit 505 to determine whether the original image is a monochrome image or a color image, and thus the process described later proceeds smoothly.

  When the image reading unit 503 finishes reading the document image, the image storage unit 506 stores the read document image. When the document image is stored in the image storage unit 506, the image repeat unit 502 acquires the stored document image and generates a preview image corresponding to the document image. Then, the image repeat unit 502 displays the generated preview image in the preview image area 703 of the image repeat screen 702 (FIG. 6: S105, FIG. 8C).

  While viewing the image repeat screen 800 shown in FIG. 8C, the user selects an image 801 (recessed image) in a predetermined area to be repeatedly printed from the original image (FIG. 6: S106). Specifically, the user uses the touch pen 302 provided in the operation unit 103 while viewing the preview image 802 on the image repeat screen 800 illustrated in FIG. 8C, in the region near the upper left side of the preview image 802. When the position of the point 803 at the upper left position and the point 804 at the lower right position of the image “A” 801 of the image “A” 801 are designated, the image repeat unit 502 diagonally connects the two points so as to surround the image “A” 801. A rectangular frame 805 is displayed. When the user confirms whether or not the image “A” 801 is appropriately selected while looking at the square frame 805 and presses the “decision image” 705, the image repeat unit 502 displays the square frame 805. Corresponding image “A” 801 is received as a hollow image.

  Next, when the user inputs the number of repetitions, the repetition magnification, and the print paper size while viewing the image repeat screen 800 shown in FIG. 8C, the image repeat unit 502 sets the input repetition number, repetition magnification, and print paper size. Set.

  For example, when the user presses “repetition count” 706a, the image repeat unit 502 puts the repetition count into a state where the repetition count can be input, for example, the state where the input of the numeric keypad 306 of the operation unit 103 is associated with the repetition count. A numeric keypad screen 806 is displayed to accept the number of repetitions. The user inputs the number of repetitions (for example, “9 times”) by operating the numeric keypad 306 or the numeric keypad screen 806 while viewing the numeric keypad screen 806. In this way, the user inputs the number of repetitions. When the input is completed, when the user presses the “repetition count” 706a again, the image repeat unit 502 sets the input repetition count.

  Note that a magnification screen associated with the repetition magnification (for example, “100%”) is prepared for the repetition magnification, and printing associated with the printing paper size (for example, “A4”) for the printing paper size. A paper size screen is prepared. Since the procedure for inputting / setting the repetition magnification and the printing paper size is the same as the procedure for inputting / setting the number of repetitions, the description thereof is omitted.

  In the following description, the user inputs “9 times” as the number of repetitions, “100%” as the repetition rate, and “A4” as the print paper size, and the image repeat unit 502 inputs the number of repetitions, repetition rate, and printing. Assume that the paper size is set.

  When the user presses “execute printing” 710 on the image repeat screen 800, the image repeat unit 502 accepts the start of image repeat printing (FIG. 6: S107).

  When the image repeat unit 502 starts image repeat printing, the control unit 507 monitoring the image repeat unit 502 communicates with the prohibition unit 504 to prohibit the prohibition unit 504 from determining the auto color selection unit 505. To release. Then, the control unit 507 communicates with the auto color selection unit 505 to execute a determination process on the hollowed image received by the image repeat unit 502 (FIG. 6: S108).

  The auto color selection unit 505 instructed to execute the determination process from the control unit 507 acquires the cutout image (image “A” 801) from the image repeat unit 502 (or the image storage unit 506), and the cutout image is monochrome. Determine whether the image or color image. When the auto color selection unit 505 determines whether the cut-out image is a monochrome image or a color image, the determination process is executed for the cut-out image that is an image smaller than the image of the document. Therefore, the processing time required for the determination process And the amount of memory used can be reduced.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 8D1, when the cut-out image 809 is about one-ninth of the A4 size original image 810, the auto color selection unit 505 performs the determination process for all the original images. When executed, a memory of 100 MB is required, but when a determination process is performed only for a cut-out image, only a memory of 10 MB or less is sufficient.

  Further, when the auto color selection unit 505 executes the determination process for the cut-out image, it determines whether the pixel is a color pixel or a monochrome pixel for each of a plurality of pixels constituting the cut-out image. Calculate the number of. When the auto color selection unit 505 finishes determining whether all of the pixels constituting the cut-out image are color pixels or monochrome pixels, whether the ratio of the color pixels is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold among all the pixels. Execute the calculation of NO. Compared to the case where the determination process is performed for pixels of an image of an A4 size document having an image area that is about nine times larger, the processing time is about 1/9 or less, and the processing time is drastically reduced. Can be achieved.

  When the ratio of color pixels is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value among all the pixels in the cutout image, the auto color selection unit 505 determines that the cutout image is a color image, and the image repeat unit 502 determines that the cutout image is An instruction indicating that the image is a color image is transmitted (FIG. 6: S109 YES). Then, the image repeat unit 502 receives the instruction from the auto color selection unit 505, and the determination result, the cut-out image, the number of repetitions “9 times” received from the user, the repetition rate “100%”, Based on the printing paper size “A4”, a repetitive image for color printing for causing the image forming unit 508 to form an image is generated.

  When the image repeat unit 502 repeatedly generates an image, for example, as illustrated in FIG. 8D2, the image repeat unit 502 performs the cutout so that nine cutout images 809 are repeatedly printed on the A4 size printing paper 811. Nine images 809 are duplicated, three hollow images are arranged in the left-right direction, and three hollow image groups 812 arranged in the left-right direction are arranged three in the vertical direction to obtain nine hollow images. A repetitive image 813 in which 809 is arranged is generated. In the arrangement method, as shown in FIG. 8D2, the left end portion of the cutout image 809 is aligned with the left end portion of the printing paper 811 and the cutout image 809 is arranged adjacent to each other.

  When the image repeat unit 502 generates a repeated image for color printing, the generated repeated image is transmitted to the image forming unit 508. The image forming unit 508 forms an image on the A4 size printing paper by color printing (FIG. 6: S110). Thus, for example, the cutout image is a color image, and the image other than the cutout image is a monochrome image. When the determination process of the auto color selection unit 505 is executed as the entire document image, the document image is a monochrome image. Even if it is determined that the image repeat is performed using the cut-out image as a color image, it is possible to execute the image repeat that matches the characteristics of the cut-out image.

  On the other hand, when the ratio of the color pixels is less than the predetermined threshold value among all the pixels of the cutout image, the auto color selection unit 505 determines that the cutout image is a monochrome image, and the image repeat unit 502 determines that the cutout image is An instruction indicating that the image is a monochrome image is transmitted (FIG. 6: S109 NO). Then, the image repeat unit 502 receives an instruction from the auto color selection unit 505 and receives the determination result, the cut-out image, the repeat count “9 times”, the repeat magnification “100%”, and the print paper size “A4”. ”To generate a repetitive image for monochrome printing. Here, when the repeated image is generated, since the hollow image is determined to be a monochrome image, the amount of data constituting the hollow image is small compared to the case where the repeated image is generated based on the hollow image of the color image. In other words, the generation time required to generate a repeated image for monochrome printing is shortened. Then, when the image repeat unit 502 transmits the generated repeated image for monochrome printing to the image forming unit 508, the image forming unit 508 forms an image of the repeated image on A4 size printing paper by monochrome printing (FIG. 6: S111). Thus, for example, if the cutout image is a monochrome image made up of a document or the like, and the image other than the cutout image is a color image, and the determination process of the auto color selection means 505 is executed for the entire original image, the original image is changed. Even when it is determined that the image is a color image, the image repeat is executed with the cutout image as a monochrome image, and therefore, it is possible to execute the image repeat that matches the characteristics of the cutout image. In addition, it is possible to prevent wasted color toner from being consumed.

  In the MFP 100 according to the present invention, by providing the prohibiting unit 504 and the control unit 507, the automatic color selection unit 505 is used in an image forming process of a normal document, that is, an image forming process in which the image repeat unit 502 is not activated. However, when the image reading unit 503 finishes reading the image of the document, it can immediately determine whether the image of the document is a monochrome image or a color image. Therefore, the advantage of the conventional auto color selection unit 505 can be utilized. It becomes possible and the convenience for the user is maintained.

  For example, the user places the document P on the document table 101 and looks at the displayed initial screen (FIG. 7A) (FIG. 6: S101), without pressing the “image repeat” 701 (FIG. 6: When the normal print setting is input and the start key 307 of the operation unit 103 is pressed, the image reading unit 503 reads the image of the document (FIG. 6: S112).

  When the image reading unit 503 finishes reading the document image, the read image of the document is stored in the image storage unit 506. Then, the auto color selection means 505 determines whether the stored document image is a monochrome image or a color image (FIG. 6: S113). As a result of the determination, when the auto color selection unit 505 instructs the image forming unit 508 to give the result, the image forming unit 508 executes image formation according to the instruction (monochrome image or color image) (FIG. 6: S114). ). Accordingly, it is possible to maintain the convenience that the user does not need to manually set each time whether to perform monochrome printing or color printing by looking at the contents of the document in advance before reading the image.

  As described above, when the image repeat unit 502 causes the image reading unit 503 to read the image of the original, the prohibition unit 504 that prohibits the determination process of the auto color selection unit 505, and the image repeat unit 502 repeats a plurality of cut-out images. When the image is formed, the control unit 507 cancels the prohibition by the prohibiting unit 504 and causes the auto color selection unit 505 to determine whether the cut-out image is a monochrome image or a color image.

  Thereby, when the image repeat unit 502 executes image repeat, the auto color select unit 505 performs the determination process on the cut-out image, so the image area to be determined by the auto color select unit 505 is reduced, Processing time can be shortened and the amount of memory used can be reduced. In addition, since the auto color selection unit 505 performs the determination process on the cutout image instead of the entire original image, the color image is included in the original image, and the cutout image received from the user is a monochrome image. Even so, it is possible to appropriately determine that the cut-out image is a monochrome image. For this reason, when image repeat is executed, useless color toner is not consumed. Further, when the image repeat unit 502 executes image repeat, the auto color select unit 505 performs the above-described determination processing for the cut-out image, and in the case of normal image formation, the auto color select unit 505 reads the document image. Then, since the determination process is performed on the image of the document, it is possible to take advantage of the conventional auto color selection unit 505.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, when the user presses “print execution”, the image repeat unit 502 generates a repeated image and immediately executes image formation (FIG. 6: S107). Before executing image formation, a preview image corresponding to the generated repetitive image may be displayed once to the user to inquire whether the repetitive image matches the user's intention. For example, when the user presses “print execution” 710 on the image repeat screen 800, the image repeat unit 502 receives the start of image repeat printing, the control unit 507 receives the auto color select unit 505, and the image repeat unit 502 The determination processing is executed on the received cut-out image (FIG. 6: S108). When the auto color selection unit 505 determines whether the hollowed-out image is a monochrome image or a color image (FIG. 6: S109) and transmits the determination result to the image repeat unit 502, the image repeat unit 502 determines that the auto color selection unit 505 determines. A repeated image is generated based on the result, the cut-out image, the number of repetitions, the repetition magnification, and the print paper size, and an image repeat confirmation screen displaying a preview image corresponding to the repeated image is displayed on the touch panel 301.

  In the image repeat confirmation screen, for example, a preview image area where a preview image of a repeated image is displayed, and a message “a preview image of a repeated image that prompts the user to confirm whether the repeated image is appropriate. In this repeated image, “Do you want to execute image repeat?”, “Execute” to form an image repeatedly, and “return” to return to the image repeat screen 800 and execute image repeat setting again. Is done. When the user confirms that the preview screen of the repeated image conforms to his intention and presses “execute”, the image repeat unit 502 transmits the repeated image to the image forming unit 508, and the image forming unit 508 Repeated images are formed on printing paper (FIG. 6: S110). As a result, the user can cause the multi-function device 100 to execute image repeat that matches his / her intention.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, the auto color selection unit 505 is configured to automatically determine whether the document image is a monochrome image or a color image when the image reading unit 503 completes reading of the document image. For example, when “auto color select setting” for starting the auto color select means 505 is prepared on the initial screen 700 and the “auto color select setting” is pressed (set) by the user, the auto color select means 505 You may comprise so that it may start. With this configuration, it is possible to increase the range of options for the user and improve convenience.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, the image repeat unit 502 employs a method in which the left end portion of the cutout image 809 is aligned with the left end portion of the printing paper 811 and the cutout image 809 is arranged adjacent to each other. However, other arrangement methods may be adopted. For example, the image repeat unit 502 may be configured such that the repeated image 813 is arranged at the center of the printing paper 811. The arrangement method is appropriately changed in design so that the cutout image 809 does not protrude from the print paper 811 and is not formed according to the area (vertical / horizontal size) of the cutout image, the number of repetitions, the repetition magnification, the print paper size, and the like. When the cutout image 809 is used for a label, a sticker, or the like, a cutout line that makes it easy for the user to cut out the cutout image 809 may be provided in each cutout image.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, the MFP 100 is configured to include each unit. However, a program that realizes each unit may be stored in a storage medium, and the storage medium may be provided. In this configuration, the program is read by the image forming apparatus, and the image forming apparatus implements the above-described units. In that case, the program itself read from the recording medium exhibits the effects of the present invention. Furthermore, it is also possible to provide a storage method for storing the steps executed by each means in a hard disk.

  As described above, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention is useful not only for multifunction peripherals but also for copiers, printers, and the like, and improves the processing efficiency and accuracy of the auto color selection function when executing the image repeat function. It is effective as an image forming apparatus that can be used.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 MFP 103 Operation part 501 Display reception means 502 Image repeat means 503 Image reading means 504 Prohibition means 505 Auto color selection means 506 Image storage means 507 Control means 508 Image formation means

Claims (1)

An auto color selection unit that determines whether an image of a document read by the image reading unit is a monochrome image or a color image, and a cut-out image that is an image in a predetermined area of the image of the document read by the image reading unit is received from the user. And an image repeater that repeats a plurality of the cut-out images to form an image.
A prohibiting unit that prohibits the determination process of the auto color selection unit when the image repeat unit causes the image reading unit to read the image of the document;
When the image repeat unit repeatedly forms a hollow image, the control unit releases the prohibition by the prohibit unit and causes the auto color selection unit to determine whether the hollow image is a monochrome image or a color image;
An image forming apparatus comprising:

Images