JP2011082606A - Image processing apparatus, and printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To avoid a possibility of erroneously determining the type of an image. <P>SOLUTION: The image processing apparatus includes an identification unit for reading a printed matter and identifying frequencies which form each of a plurality of images included in the printed matter, and a determination unit for determining each type of the plurality of images according to the frequencies identified by the identification unit. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus that determines the type of image in a printed material, and a printing apparatus that creates the printed material.

  In recent years, paperless offices are rapidly becoming paperless as environmental problems are screamed. As a technique for realizing this paperless, there is known an image processing apparatus that reads and prints a printed matter on which a plurality of images are printed with a scanner. Furthermore, an image processing apparatus that performs processing for determining the type of image for each image included in the plurality of images and determines whether each image is a character, a figure, or a table (Patent Document 1). See also).

JP 2005-157449 A

  However, in the conventional image processing apparatus described above, there is a possibility that the type of image is erroneously determined. Therefore, an image processing apparatus that can accurately determine the type of image has been desired.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, an identification unit that reads a printed material and identifies frequencies forming each of the plurality of images included in the printed material, and the plurality of the plurality of images according to the frequency identified by the identifying unit. An image processing apparatus comprising: a determination unit that determines each type of image.

  The type of image can be accurately determined.

Block diagram showing the configuration of the printing system Block diagram for explaining the configuration of the controller 11 in more detail Diagram showing tile data conceptually The figure for demonstrating the scanner image process part 212 The figure for demonstrating the printer image process part 215 Diagram for explaining density reduction when “reuse document creation mode” is instructed Diagram for explaining the applicable screen when "Reuse original document creation mode" is instructed Diagram for explaining frequency plane transformation Flow chart of scan processing of Embodiment 1 of the present invention Flow diagram of copy processing of embodiment 2 of the present invention

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  An image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

<Printing system (Fig. 1)>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this system, the PC 40 and the image forming apparatus 10 are connected to the LAN 50. However, in the printing system according to the present invention, the number of connections is not limited. In this embodiment, LAN is applied as a connection method, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, an arbitrary network such as a WAN (public line), a serial transmission method such as USB, and a parallel transmission method such as Centronics and SCSI can be applied.

  A host computer (hereinafter referred to as a PC) 40 has a function of a personal computer. The PC 40 can send and receive files and send and receive e-mails using the FTP and SMB protocols via the LAN 50 and WAN. Also, it is possible to issue a print command from the PC 40 to the image forming apparatus 10 via a printer driver.

  The image forming apparatus 10 includes a scanner unit 13 that is an image input device, a printer unit 14 that is an image output device, a controller 11 that controls operation of the entire image forming apparatus 10, and an operation unit 12 that is a user interface (UI). The

  The scanner unit 13 has a plurality of CCDs. If the sensitivity of each CCD is different, it is recognized that each pixel has a different density even if the density of each pixel on the document is the same. Therefore, the scanner unit first performs exposure scanning on a white plate (uniformly white plate), converts the amount of reflected light obtained by exposure scanning into an electrical signal, and outputs the electrical signal to the controller 11. Next, a configuration for scanning the image on the document will be described. The scanner unit 13 converts information of an image into an electrical signal by inputting reflected light obtained by exposing and scanning the image on the document to the CCD. Further, the electric signal is converted into a luminance signal composed of R, G, and B colors, and the luminance signal is output to the controller 11 as image data.

  The document is set on a tray of a document feeder (not shown). When the user gives an instruction to start reading from the operation unit 12, a document reading instruction is given from the controller 11 to the scanner unit 13. Upon receiving this instruction, the scanner unit 13 feeds documents one by one from the tray of the document feeder, and performs a document reading operation. The document reading method is not an automatic feeding method using a document feeder, but may be a method of scanning a document by placing the document on a glass surface and moving an exposure unit.

  The printer unit 14 is an image forming device that forms image data received from the controller 11 on a sheet. The image forming method used in the description of the present embodiment is an electrophotographic method using a photosensitive drum or a photosensitive belt, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the present invention can also be applied to an ink jet system that prints on paper by ejecting ink from a micro nozzle array. The printer unit 14 is provided with a plurality of paper cassettes that allow selection of different paper sizes or different paper orientations. Further, the printed paper is discharged to a paper discharge tray or finisher.

<Detailed Description of Controller 11 (FIG. 2)>
FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining the configuration of the controller 11 of the image forming apparatus 10 in more detail.

  The controller 11 is electrically connected to the scanner unit 13 and the printer unit 14. On the other hand, the controller 11 is connected to a PC 40 or an external device via the LAN 50 or WAN 231. As a result, image data and device information can be input and output.

  The CPU 201 comprehensively controls access to various connected devices based on a control program or the like stored in the ROM 203, and also comprehensively controls various processes performed in the controller. A RAM 202 is a system work memory for the CPU 201 to operate and also a memory for temporarily storing image data. The RAM 202 includes an SRAM that retains stored contents even after the power is turned off, and a DRAM that erases the stored contents after the power is turned off. The ROM 203 stores a boot program for the apparatus. The HDD 204 is a hard disk drive and can store system software and image data.

  The operation unit I / F 205 is an interface unit for connecting the system bus 210 and the operation unit 12. The operation unit I / F 205 receives image data to be displayed on the operation unit 12 from the system bus 210 to the operation unit 12 and outputs information input from the operation unit 12 to the system bus 210.

  A network I / F 206 is connected to the LAN 50 and the system bus 210 to input / output information. The Modem 207 is connected to the WAN 231 and the system bus 210, and inputs and outputs information. The image bus 230 is a transmission path for exchanging image data, and is configured by a PCI bus or IEEE1394.

  A scanner image processing unit 212 corrects, processes, and edits image data received from the scanner unit 13 via the scanner I / F 211. The scanner image processing unit 212 determines whether the received image data is a color document or a monochrome document, a character document, or a photo document. Then, the determination result is attached to the image data. Such accompanying information is referred to as attribute data. Details of processing performed by the scanner image processing unit 212 will be described later.

  The compression unit 213 receives the image data and divides the image data into blocks of 32 pixels × 32 pixels. The 32 × 32 pixel image data is referred to as tile data. FIG. 3 conceptually represents this tile data. In the original (paper medium before reading), an area corresponding to the tile data is referred to as a tile image. The tile data is added with the average luminance information in the 32 × 32 pixel block and the coordinate position of the tile image on the document as header information. Further, the compression unit 213 compresses image data including a plurality of tile data. The decompression unit 216 decompresses image data composed of a plurality of tile data, raster-expands it, and sends it to the printer image processing unit 215.

The printer image processing unit 215 receives the image data sent from the decompression unit 216 and performs image processing on the image data while referring to attribute data attached to the image data.
The raster <-> vector conversion unit 232 vectorizes the image data on the RAM 202. Details will be described later.

  The image data after image processing is output to the printer unit 14 via the printer I / F 214. Details of processing performed by the printer image processing unit 215 will be described later.

  The image conversion unit 217 performs conversion processing such as rotation, color space conversion, color correction processing, binary multi-value conversion, and image composition on the image data.

  The RIP unit 228 receives the intermediate data generated by the compression unit 229 based on the PDL code data transmitted from the PC 40 or the like, and generates bitmap data (multivalue).

  The transmission image processing unit 232 converts the image data input from the scanner unit 13 via the scanner I / F 211 into an object by using a character / photo determination signal, which will be described later, and can be processed by an application. An electronic file of the correct format. Details of processing performed by the transmission image processing unit 232 will be described later.

<Detailed Description of Scanner Image Processing Unit 212 (FIG. 4)>
FIG. 4 shows the internal configuration of the scanner image processing unit 212.

  The scanner image processing unit 212 receives image data composed of RGB 8-bit luminance signals.

  The shading correction unit 400 performs shading correction on the luminance signal. Shading correction is a process for preventing the brightness of a document from being erroneously recognized due to variations in CCD sensitivity.

  Subsequently, the luminance signal is converted into a standard luminance signal that does not depend on the filter color of the CCD by the masking processing unit 401.

  The filter processing unit 403 arbitrarily corrects the spatial frequency of the received image data. The processing unit performs arithmetic processing using, for example, a 7 × 7 matrix on the received image data, and the character mode, the photo mode, and the character / photo mode are set as a copy mode by a button operation from the operation unit 12. You can choose. When the character mode is selected by the user, the filter processing unit 403 applies a character filter to the entire image data. When the photo mode is selected, a photo filter is applied to the entire image data. When the character / photo mode is selected, the filter is adaptively switched for each pixel in accordance with a character photo determination signal (part of attribute data) described later. In other words, it is determined for each pixel whether to apply a photo filter or a character filter. Note that coefficients for smoothing only high-frequency components are set in the photographic filter. This is because the roughness of the image is not noticeable. In addition, a coefficient for performing strong edge enhancement is set in the character filter. This is to increase the sharpness of the characters.

  The histogram generation unit 404 samples the luminance data of each pixel constituting the received image data. More specifically, luminance data in a rectangular area surrounded by a start point and an end point specified in the main scanning direction and the sub scanning direction are sampled at a constant pitch in the main scanning direction and the sub scanning direction. Then, histogram data is generated based on the sampling result. The generated histogram data is used to estimate the background level when performing background removal processing. The input-side gamma correction unit 405 converts the luminance data having nonlinear characteristics using a table or the like.

  The specific document determination unit 402 is a process that is enabled when the user sets the “reuse document” setting arranged on the operation unit 12. The specific document determination unit 402 reads a document created in a “vectorization document creation mode” described later, and determines the attribute of each object. Details will be described later.

  A color / monochrome determination unit 407 determines whether each pixel constituting the received image data is a chromatic color or an achromatic color, and the determination result is converted into image data as a color / monochrome determination signal (part of attribute data). Accompany it.

  The character photograph determination unit 408 determines whether each pixel constituting the image data is a pixel constituting a character, a pixel constituting a halftone dot, a pixel constituting a character in a halftone dot, or a pixel constituting a solid image Is determined based on the pixel value of each pixel and the pixel values of peripheral pixels of each pixel. Note that pixels that do not correspond to any of these are pixels that form a white region. Then, the determination result is attached to the image data as a character / photo determination signal (part of attribute data).

<Detailed Description of Printer Image Processing Unit 215 (FIG. 5)>
FIG. 5 shows the flow of processing performed in the printer image processing 215. Data input to the printer image processing unit 215 can be broadly divided into RGB data that handles output data from the input image processing unit such as a copy operation, and CMYK data that handles output data from the RIP unit such as a network print operation. I know. In the former case, it is input to the copy image processing unit 501, and processing such as background removal and luminance density conversion is performed. In the latter case, correction is input to the output-side gamma correction unit 502 and the signal value is proportional to the reflected density value after output. A halftone correction unit 503 performs halftone processing according to the number of gradations of the printer unit to be output. For example, the received high gradation image data is binarized or binarized. Each processing unit in the scanner image processing unit 212 and the printer image processing unit 215 can output the received image data without performing each processing.

<Description of Copy Operation and PDL Print Operation>
Next, a copy operation and a PDL print operation will be described with reference to FIGS.

  First, the copy operation will be described. The document read by the scanner unit 13 is sent as image data to the scanner image processing unit 212 via the scanner I / F 211. The scanner image processing unit 212 performs the processing shown in FIG. 5 on this image data, and generates attribute data together with new image data. Further, this attribute data is attached to the image data. Subsequently, the compression unit 213 divides the image data into blocks of 32 pixels × 32 pixels to generate tile data. Further, the compression unit 213 compresses the image data composed of the plurality of tile data. The image data compressed by the compression unit 213 is sent to the RAM 202 and stored. The image data is sent to the image conversion unit 217 as necessary, subjected to image processing, and then sent to the RAM 202 again for storage. Thereafter, the image data stored in the RAM 202 is sent to the decompression unit 216. The decompression unit 216 decompresses this image data. Further, the decompression unit 216 raster-expands image data composed of a plurality of tile data after decompression. The rasterized image data is sent to the printer image processing unit 215. The printer image processing unit 215 performs image data editing according to the attribute data attached to the image data. This process is the process shown in FIG. The image data that has been edited by the printer image processing unit 215 is sent to the printer unit 14 via the printer I / F 214. Finally, the printer unit 14 forms an image on the output paper.

  Note that the editing method in each processing unit in the scanner image processing unit 212 or the printer image processing unit 215, that is, each processing unit shown in FIG. 4 or FIG. 5, is switched by register switching. This register switching is performed according to attribute data, setting information (by the user) from the operation unit 12, or the like. Although omitted in the above description, it goes without saying that processing stored in the ROM 203 or HDD 204 and extraction processing of image data stored in the ROM 203 or HDD 204 may be performed as necessary.

  Subsequently, the PDL operation will be described. PDL data sent from the PC 40 via the LAN 50 is sent to the RAM 302 via the Network I / F 306 and stored. Intermediate data generated by interpreting the PDL data stored in the RAM 202 is sent to the RIP 228. The RIP 228 renders the intermediate data to generate raster format image data.

  When PDL data before interpretation is created by a specific application, object data exists in the PDL data. Object data is a general term for character code data, bitmap data, graphic data, paint data, and the like that constitute a document image. PDL data including such object data is rendered after being converted to intermediate data as described above. At that time, pixel values for each pixel in the document image are generated, but in practice, attribute information for each pixel in the document image is generated. This attribute information is determined by determining the type of object data in each pixel area. That is, when the object data corresponding to a certain pixel is a character code, the attribute information of the pixel is “character”. When the object data corresponding to a certain pixel is bitmap data, the attribute information of the pixel is “image”. When the object data corresponding to a certain pixel is graphic data, the attribute information of the pixel is “graphic”.

  The raster-format image data generated as described above is sent to the compression unit 229 together with the attribute information. The compression unit 229 compresses the image data after dividing it into blocks. The compressed image data is sent to the RAM 202. Needless to say, this image data is accompanied by attribute information.

  If the attribute information is attached, the halftone correction unit 503 further performs halftoning image processing for each object attribute. In the image processing apparatus of the present embodiment, error diffusion is applied to the character attribute, and a 166 line number screen is applied to the image attribute and the graphic attribute.

<Description of image processing operation during reusable document creation mode printing>
Next, a description will be given of print processing in the case of PDL data and when the “vectorization document creation mode” is instructed from the printer driver.

  When the “vectorization document creation mode” is instructed, first, the output side gamma correction unit 502 lowers the input signal level so that screen processing is applied to all images. At that time, the amount of down is determined so as to minimize the degradation of the output image quality. The amount of density reduction (density characteristic curve) can be determined by using the limit halftone dot area ratio that can stably identify the number of screen lines (frequency) as a reference. The limit halftone dot area ratio that can be identified varies depending on the combination of the spectral characteristics of the toner color material of the corresponding model and the whiteness of the paper used, but it can be identified if it is approximately 90% according to the experimental results. is there.

  In the image processing apparatus of the embodiment, the input signal level when the halftone dot area ratio is 90% corresponds to 220/255 level, and the Dmax density at that time is normally about 1.6, but is about 1.5. .

  When observed with the human eye, the sensitivity on the high density side is dull compared to the low density side, so the shape of the density characteristic curve from the middle to the low density side is not changed, and only the high density part side is adjusted to the change in Dmax. change. By this processing, it is possible to minimize image quality degradation (impression of density reduction) when the printed material for scanning this time is observed with the human eye.

  Next, the halftone correction unit 503 applies a line number screen that allows the object attribute to be determined by a specific document determination unit 402 (to be described later) when the document is read and is not used in normal times. For example, a 141-line screen is used for image areas with graphics attributes, a 103-line screen is used for image areas with image attributes (halftone image attributes), and a 200-line number is used for image areas with character attributes. Apply the screen.

  When PDL printing is instructed, this image data is sent to the printer unit 14 and an image is formed on the output paper. Since this operation is the same as the copy operation, description thereof is omitted.

  Next, with reference to FIG. 6, the density reduction when the “reuse document creation mode” is instructed will be specifically described.

  In FIG. 6, reference numeral 601 denotes an output result during normal printing. Reference numerals 602 to 606 indicate density information as bar graphs in the order of CMYK from the left with respect to five locations where the output results are present.

  Reference numeral 607 denotes a graph representing a density characteristic curve 615 during normal printing.

  Reference numeral 608 denotes a result of outputting the image data output in 601 by designating the “reuse document creation mode”. Reference numerals 609 to 613 indicate bar graphs of density information in the order of CMYK from the left with respect to five positions similar to the positions indicated by 602 to 606. Comparing the normal printing and density numerically, K is 255-> 220 at 609 and 611, M is 255-> 220 at 10 positions, and C is 255-> 220 at 612 positions. It turns out that it is down (decrease). Further, at the position 613, the density is not reduced.

  Reference numeral 614 denotes a graph in which a normal density characteristic curve is added by a dotted line 616 to the density characteristic curve 617 in the “reuse document creation mode”. As the graph shows, the density is lowered so as not to change the characteristic curve on the low density side. By reducing the image density in this way, the number of lines of the image included in the printed material can be identified later. For example, if the image is printed in black, the number of lines cannot be identified from the black image, but if the image density is reduced as in this embodiment, the image is printed in black. Can be prevented.

  Next, the screen when the “reuse document creation mode” is instructed will be specifically described with reference to FIG.

  Reference numerals 701 to 703 denote output patterns for a density of 0 to 100% when a screen for normal printing is applied. Error diffusion processing is performed on the text attribute, and a pattern like 701 is obtained. Reference numerals 707 to 710 show enlarged patterns when the densities are 20%, 40%, 70%, and 90%, respectively.

  As for the graphic attribute, a 166 line number screen is applied and a pattern like 702 is obtained. Reference numerals 711 to 714 show enlarged patterns when the densities are 20%, 40%, 70%, and 90%, respectively. As for the image attribute, a 166 line number screen is applied, and a pattern like 703 is obtained. Reference numerals 715 to 718 show enlarged patterns when the densities are 20%, 40%, 70%, and 90%, respectively.

  Reference numerals 704 to 706 denote output patterns for a density of 0 to 100% when a screen at the time of “reuse document creation mode” printing is applied. A 200 line number screen is applied to the text attribute, and a pattern like 704 is obtained. Reference numerals 719 to 722 show enlarged patterns when the densities are 20%, 40%, 70%, and 90%, respectively.

  As for the graphic attribute, a 141 line number screen is applied and a pattern like 705 is obtained. Reference numerals 723 to 726 show enlarged patterns when the densities are 20%, 40%, 70%, and 90%, respectively. As for the image attribute, a 103 line number screen is applied and a pattern like 706 is obtained. Reference numerals 727 to 730 show enlarged patterns when the densities are 20%, 40%, 70%, and 90%, respectively.

<Detailed Description of Specific Document Determination Unit 402>
Next, the process of the specific document determination unit 402 will be described in detail. This process is centrally controlled by the CPU 201.

  The specific document determination unit 402 performs contour tracking on the RGB image data input from the shading correction unit 400 and divides the data into primary character / image / graphic areas. Next, frequency plane conversion is performed for each area obtained by the primary division, and the result is developed in the RAM 202.

  The frequency plane conversion will be described with reference to FIG. For example, when the image data of the input area is FIG. 8-1 output after being processed by 141 lp / inch, the image after the frequency plane conversion is shown in FIG. In addition, when the image data of the input region is FIG. 8-3 which is image-processed and output at 103 lp / inch, the image after the frequency plane conversion is FIG. 8-4. In addition, in the case of FIG. 8-5 in which the input image data is subjected to image processing at 200 lp / inch and output, the image after frequency plane conversion is FIG. 8-6. The horizontal and vertical axes of these frequency plane transformed images represent up to about ± 300 lp / inch on the frequency axes in the X direction and Y direction, respectively.

  From these images after frequency plane conversion, the image data in FIG. 8-1 is an image having a frequency characteristic of 141 lp / inch because the maximum frequency peak occurs at point A in FIG. 8-2. I understand. The image data in FIG. 8-3 has an image having a frequency characteristic of 103 lp / inch because the maximum frequency peak occurs at point A in FIG. 8-4. The image data in FIG. 8-5 is an image having a frequency characteristic of 200 lp / inch because the maximum frequency peak occurs at point A in FIG. 8-6.

  Next, the attribute of the divided area is determined according to the characteristics extracted by frequency plane transformation. In this embodiment, if the frequency characteristic is 200 lp / inch, the character attribute is determined. If it is 141 lp / inch, it is determined as a graphic attribute. If it is 103 lp / inch, it is determined as an image attribute. The determined attribute is stored in the RAM 202 along with the image data.

<Explanation of raster <->vector>
Next, the operation of the raster <-> vector conversion unit 232 when the “reuse document” setting placed on the operation unit 12 is turned on will be described in detail.

[Character attribute area processing]
When the attribute attached to the specific document determination unit 402 is a character, first, horizontal writing and vertical writing are determined for the corresponding area, a line is cut out in each corresponding direction, and then a character is cut out to obtain a character image. Horizontal / vertical writing can be determined by taking a horizontal / vertical projection of the pixel value in the corresponding area, and determining that the horizontal projection area is large when the horizontal projection variance is large, and vertical writing area when the vertical projection variance is large. . For horizontal writing, character strings and characters are decomposed by cutting out lines using horizontal projection, and then cutting out characters from the vertical projection of the cut lines. For vertically written character areas, horizontal and vertical may be reversed. At this time, the character size can be detected.

[Font recognition]
Multiple character feature vectors used for character recognition are prepared for the character shape type, that is, font type, and the font type is output along with the character code when matching. I can do it.

[Characterization]
Characterization processing is performed using the character code and font information obtained by the character recognition and font recognition.

[Processing of graphic attribute area]
When the attribute attached to the specific document determination unit 402 is graphic, the contour of the pixel block extracted by contour tracking is converted into vector data. Specifically, a point sequence of pixels forming an outline is divided by points regarded as corners, and each section is approximated by a partial straight line or curve. A corner is a point where the curvature is maximized, and each section after being divided by the corner can be vectorized using a least square method for a straight line or a curve using a cubic spline function or the like for a curve.

[Image attribute area processing]
When the attribute attached by the specific document determination unit 402 is an image, the image data is left as it is.

[Flow diagram for scanning]
The operation of the image processing apparatus when the user sets the “reuse original document” setting and the original vectorization setting arranged on the operation unit 12 will be described using the flowchart of FIG. 9.

First, a document is read (S901), primary region division by contour tracking is performed (S902), and frequency plane conversion is performed on each region divided in S902 (S903). As a result of the frequency plane conversion, it is determined whether or not the line number characteristic of the region is 200 lines (S904). If it is 200 lines, a characterizing process is performed as a character attribute (S905). If it is determined in S904 that it is not 200 lines, it is next determined whether or not it is 141 lines (S906). If it is 141 lines in S906, vectorization is performed as a graphics attribute (S907). If it is not 141 lines in S906,
The image data is processed as it is (S908), and the process ends.

  In this embodiment, the case where the “reuse original document” placed on the operation unit 12 is set has been described. However, it is possible to discriminate between a normal processed original document and a reuse original document by the above-described frequency plane conversion. Therefore, the “reuse document” may be automatically determined.

  Next, an operation when copying a document created in the above-described “reuse document creation mode” will be described. A document read by the scanner unit 13 is analyzed for document characteristics by a specific document determination unit 402. If there is a 200-line, 141-line, or 103-line area, it can be recognized that the document is created in the “reuse document creation mode”.

  When the output side gamma correction unit 502 recognizes that the document is created in the “reuse document creation mode”, the output side gamma correction unit 502 performs density increase processing so that the density characteristic curve 616 shown in FIG. Output to the printer unit 14.

  Since the original created in "Reuse Original Creation Mode" is output with a partial density reduction, the original density can be reproduced even during copying by increasing the density during copying and making it close to the density of the original data. It is possible to increase.

Next, the operation of the second embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
First, a document is read (S1001), primary region division by contour tracking is performed (S1002), and frequency plane conversion is performed on each region divided in S1002 (S1003). As a result of the frequency plane conversion, it is determined whether the line number characteristic of the area is 200 lines, 141 lines, or 103 lines, and it is determined whether the document is a vectorized document (S1004). If it is determined that the document is a vectorized document in S1004, the output-side gamma correction unit 502 performs density increase processing (S1005). If it is determined that the normal document is determined in S1004, normal copy density processing is performed (S1006).

Claims (3)

An identification unit that reads the printed material and identifies the number of lines forming each of the plurality of images included in the printed material;
An image processing apparatus comprising: a determination unit that determines each type of the plurality of images according to the number of lines identified by the identification unit. When the determination means determines that the image type is a character, a character recognition process is performed on the image;
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the determination unit determines that the type of the image is graphic, vectorization is performed on the image. A printing apparatus for creating the printed matter according to claim 1,
Creating means for creating the printed matter by printing a plurality of images;
Printing means comprising: a reducing means for reducing the density of at least one image included in the plurality of images in order to form each of the plurality of images with the number of lines corresponding to each of the images; apparatus.

Images