JP2014011612A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus that provides printed matter having better visibility for weak-sighted users compared with the conventional apparatus.SOLUTION: An image forming apparatus includes a printing unit that prints an image based on image data on a recording medium and outputs it as printed matter, and a control unit that controls printing operation by the printing unit. The control unit determines user's eyesight, determines the size of characters to be enlarged according to the determination result, and corrects the image data so that characters included in the image that correspond to the characters to be enlarged are increased in size.

Description

 The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copier or a multifunction peripheral.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when an image is printed on a recording medium, an image forming apparatus that expands characters and the like so as to be easily seen by a user with low vision has been developed (see Patent Documents 1 and 2 below).

JP-A-8-139913 JP 2000-305746 A

  In the above prior art, since the image is uniformly enlarged and printed, the portion that needs to be enlarged and the portion that does not need to be enlarged are enlarged at the same magnification, resulting in a poor overall balance. I was printing a bad image.

 The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of obtaining a printed matter with good visibility for a user whose visual acuity is lower than before.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, in the present invention, as a first solving means related to an image forming apparatus, a printing unit that prints an image based on image data on a recording medium and outputs the printed material, and printing by the printing unit In the image forming apparatus including the control unit that controls the operation, the control unit determines the visual acuity of the user, determines a character size to be enlarged according to the determination result, and selects from among the characters included in the image A means of correcting the image data so that a character corresponding to the character size to be enlarged is enlarged is adopted.

  According to the present invention, as the second solving means relating to the image forming apparatus, in the first solving means, the control unit displays characters or symbols having different sizes on the display unit to the user. A means for prompting selection of the character or symbol that is difficult to see and determining the user's visual acuity based on the character or symbol selected by the user is adopted.

  In the present invention, as a third solving means relating to the image forming apparatus, in the first solving means, the control unit causes the display unit to display a screen prompting the user to input an age, A means of determining the user's visual acuity based on the age input by the user is adopted.

  In the present invention, as a fourth solving means relating to the image forming apparatus, in any one of the first to third solving means, the control unit determines the presbyopia power as the user's visual acuity. Adopt means.

  According to the present invention, as a fifth solving means relating to the image forming apparatus, in any one of the first to fourth solving means, the control unit sets the image size based on the corrected image data. In response, means for changing the size of the recording medium is adopted.

 According to the present invention, an image in which only characters that are difficult to be seen by the user are enlarged, that is, an image with an overall balance is printed on the recording medium. Can be obtained.

1 is a front perspective view illustrating a configuration of main parts of a multifunction peripheral 100 according to an embodiment. 2 is a functional block diagram of a multifunction peripheral 100 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is an external view of an operation display unit 62 provided in the multifunction machine 100. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing each process executed by the control unit 60 of the multifunction peripheral 100 to realize a character enlargement function. It is an example of a frequency determination dialog for displaying characters of different sizes and prompting the user to select characters that are difficult to see. It is an example of table data indicating the correspondence between the presbyopia power and the enlargement target character size. It is an example of the table data which shows the correspondence of age and presbyopia power.

 Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Hereinafter, as an image forming apparatus according to the present invention, an electrophotographic multifunction machine having functions such as a copier, a printer, and a facsimile will be described as an example.

 FIG. 1 is a front perspective view illustrating a configuration of a main part of the multifunction peripheral 100 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, a multi-function machine 100 is based on a document reading device 1 that reads a document and generates image data of the document, and image data obtained from the document reading device 1 or image data received from the outside. And a multifunction device main body 2 that forms an image on a printing paper (recording medium).

  The document reading apparatus 1 includes a scanner 10 and an ADF (Auto Document Feeder) 20. The scanner 10 reads a document set on the platen glass 11 or a document automatically fed by the ADF 20, and includes a platen glass 11, a white reference plate 12, a full rate carriage 13, a half rate carriage 14, An optical lens 15 and a CCD (Charge Coupled Devices) sensor 16 are provided.

  The platen glass 11 is a glass plate for setting originals to be read one by one. The white reference plate 12 is a white plate for acquiring white reference data for shading correction. The full-rate carriage 13 is provided below the platen glass 11 so as to be reciprocally movable in the left-right direction (scanning direction) along the platen glass 11 by a carriage transport mechanism (not shown), and emits illumination light obliquely upward. And a mirror 13b that reflects the reflected light of the illumination light toward a half-rate carriage 14 to be described later.

  Similar to the full-rate carriage 13, the half-rate carriage 14 is provided so as to be reciprocally movable in the left-right direction along the platen glass 11 by a carriage conveyance mechanism (not shown), and the incident light from the mirror 13 b of the full-rate carriage 13 is moved downward. And a mirror 14b that reflects incident light from the mirror 14a toward a condenser lens 15 to be described later. The carriage transport mechanism controls the ratio of the movement amount of the full rate carriage 13 and the movement amount of the half rate carriage 14 to 1: 0.5. Thereby, the optical path length of the illumination light until reaching the condenser lens 15 is controlled to be constant.

  When reading an original set on the platen glass 11, the original is scanned by moving the full rate carriage 13 and the half rate carriage 14 in the scanning direction. However, when the original is automatically fed by the ADF 20 described later, The full-rate carriage 13 and the half-rate carriage 14 are placed on standby at a predetermined document reading position, and the document set is moved (conveyed) to continuously scan a plurality of documents.

  The condensing lens 15 condenses incident light from the mirror 14 b of the half-rate carriage 14 and forms an image on the light receiving surface of the CCD sensor 16. The CCD sensor 16 operates in synchronization with a timing signal supplied from a CCD driving unit (not shown), and photoelectrically converts the light received on the light receiving surface to generate an analog voltage signal corresponding to the read document image. Generate and output to AFE (analog front end: not shown). The AFE amplifies the analog voltage signal with a predetermined gain setting value and then digitally converts the analog voltage signal to generate image data representing an image of the read original document, which will be described later. Output to.

  The ADF 20 automatically and continuously feeds a plurality of documents set on the document placement tray 22 one by one, and includes a platen cover 21, a document placement tray 22, a pickup roller 23, a registration roller 24, a platen It comprises a roller 25, a paper discharge roller 26, and the like. The platen cover 21 is provided so as to be openable and closable with respect to the upper surface of the scanner 10. The platen cover 21 serves as a document pressing cover when a document is set on the platen glass 11 for reading, and a pickup roller 23 and a registration roller 24. The platen roller 25 and the paper discharge roller 26 serve as housing cases for members used in the automatic paper feeding mechanism. FIG. 1 shows a state where the platen cover 21 is closed.

  The document placing tray 22 is a tray for setting a document to be read. The pickup roller 23 is a roller for picking up documents set on the document placing tray 22 one by one and carrying them out to the registration roller 24. The registration roller 24 is a roller for conveying the document to the platen roller 25 at a predetermined timing. The platen roller 25 is a roller for transporting the document to the paper discharge roller 26 via a predetermined document reading position. The paper discharge roller 26 is a roller for discharging the original after reading to the outside. The rotation operation of each roller is controlled by the control unit 60 of the multifunction machine main body 2.

  The MFP main body 2 has a function of converting image data obtained from the document reading device 1 or externally received image data into RGB color space data into RGB color space data. (Function of the control unit 60 described later). As is well known, the RGB color space data indicates the gradation values of pixels (minimum units constituting an image) corresponding to each of the three primary colors R (red), G (green), and B (blue). Digital data.

  Also, the CMYK color space data includes C (cyan), M (magenta), and Y (yellow) printing color materials (toner in the multi-function peripheral 100) and K (key plate: black color material). This is data that represents an image by adding. In the electrophotographic multifunction peripheral 100, a single toner image is formed by superimposing developed toner images on the surface of the photoreceptor for each color of CMYK. Each color toner image is constituted by a two-dimensional array of toner arrangement points called dots. In other words, the CMYK color space data is digital data that indicates, in binary, at which position of the toner image of each color the toner is arranged.

  The MFP body 2 includes a toner image forming unit 3 that forms a toner image based on image data on a printing paper, a fixing unit 4 that fixes the toner image on the printing paper to obtain a completed image, and a printing paper. Are provided with a paper transport mechanism 5 for transporting paper and paper cassettes 6, 7, 8 for storing printing paper of various sizes. Further, the multifunction device main body 2 is provided with a manually accessible tray 9 that can be freely opened and closed on the front side, so that the printing paper placed on the manual tray 9 can be transported by the paper transport mechanism 5.

  The toner image forming unit 3 includes an intermediate transfer belt 31, a toner image forming unit F (FY, FM, FC, FK) corresponding to each color of CMYK, a driving roller 32, a tension roller 33, and a secondary transfer roller. 34 and a cleaner 35. The intermediate transfer belt 31 is an intermediate transfer body for sequentially superimposing and sequentially transferring toner images of respective colors formed (developed) by the toner image forming units F (FY, FM, FC, FK), and a driving roller. 32 and tension roller 33, and is configured to rotate clockwise in FIG.

  Each of the toner image forming units F (FY, FM, FC, FK) includes a photosensitive drum Fa, a charging unit Fb, an exposure unit Fc, a developing unit Fd, and a primary transfer roller Fe. A cleaning device and a static eliminator. The photosensitive drum Fa is set in a cylindrical shape, and an electrostatic latent image and a toner image based on the electrostatic latent image are formed on a peripheral surface thereof. The charging unit Fb is disposed so as to face the photosensitive drum Fa and charges the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum Fa.

  The exposure unit Fc scans the peripheral surface of the charged photosensitive drum Fa to form an electrostatic latent image, and more specifically, the photosensitive drum corresponding to the dot position where the toner is to be disposed. Laser light is applied to the position on Fa. The developing unit Fd develops a toner image based on the electrostatic latent image on the circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum Fa by attaching toner to the circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum Fa.

  The primary transfer roller Fe is disposed to face the photosensitive drum Fa with the intermediate transfer belt 31 interposed therebetween, and primarily transfers the toner image developed on the photosensitive drum Fa to the intermediate transfer belt 31. The secondary transfer roller 34 is disposed so as to face the driving roller 32 with the intermediate transfer belt 31 interposed therebetween, and the toner image transferred on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 31 (the toner images of the respective colors are superimposed) Secondary transfer is performed from any one of the paper feed cassettes 6, 7, 8 to the printing paper conveyed by the paper conveyance mechanism 5. The cleaner 35 includes a cleaning roller, a cleaning blade, and the like, and removes residual toner from the intermediate transfer belt 31.

  The fixing unit 4 fixes the toner image secondarily transferred onto the printing paper to obtain a completed image, and includes a heating roller 41 that fixes the toner image by applying pressure and heating. The heating temperature of the heating roller 41 (that is, the fixing temperature of the fixing unit 4) can be controlled by the control unit 60 described later.

  The paper transport mechanism 5 includes pick-up rollers 51, 52, and 53 for carrying out the print paper one by one from the paper feed cassettes 6, 7, and 8, and the picked-up print paper in the toner image forming unit 3 (drive rollers 32 and 2). Paper feed rollers 54, 55, 56 for transporting to the nip portion with the next transfer roller 34), and paper discharge rollers for discharging (outputting) the print paper after the fixing process by the fixing unit 4 to the outside as printed matter 57 or the like.

  The paper feed cassettes 6, 7, and 8 are attached to the multifunction device main body 2 so as to be freely drawable, and accommodate sheets of various sizes. The toner image forming unit 3, the fixing unit 4, the paper transport mechanism 5, and the paper feed cassettes 6, 7, and 8 correspond to a printing unit that prints an image based on image data on a recording medium and outputs it as a printed material.

  FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the multifunction peripheral 100. In FIG. 2, the same components as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 60 is a control unit, reference numeral 61 is an image data memory, reference numeral 62 is an operation display unit, and reference numeral 63 is a communication I / F. Reference numeral 200 denotes an external device (for example, a personal computer or a facsimile machine) that transmits image data to the multifunction peripheral 100.

  The control unit 60 is, for example, a microcomputer in which a CPU (Central Processing Unit) core, a ROM (Read Only Memory), a memory such as a RAM (Random Access Memory), an input / output interface, and the like are integrated. Based on the operation signal input from the unit 62, the image data obtained from the document reading device 1, or the image data received from the external device 200 via the communication I / F 63, the overall operation of the multifunction peripheral 100 (the document reading device 1). The document reading operation by the toner image forming operation, the toner image forming operation by the toner image forming unit 3, the fixing operation by the fixing unit 4, the paper transporting operation by the paper transporting mechanism 5, and the like.

  Further, as described above, when the image data obtained from the document reading apparatus 1 or the image data received from the external device 200 via the communication I / F 63 is RGB color space data, the control unit 60 It also has a function of converting those image data into CMYK color space data.

  The image data memory 61 is a rewritable nonvolatile memory such as a flash memory, for example, image data obtained from the image reading device 1 under the control of the control unit 60, image data received from the external device 200, and Stores image data converted into CMYK color space data.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the operation display unit 62 includes an operation key unit 62 a and a display unit 62 b. The operation display unit 62 inputs an instruction according to a user operation, and various information such as information indicating the state of the multifunction device 100. Display information. The operation key unit 62a includes hard keys such as a start key, a stop / clear key, a power key, a numeric keypad (numerical value input key), and a function switching key. The function switching key is used to switch the multifunction device 100 to the operation mode of each function when the user uses each of the copy function, print function, scan function, and facsimile function realized by the multifunction device 100. Key. The display unit 62b has a touch panel function, and displays a screen including soft keys.

  The communication I / F 63 is an interface for performing communication between the MFP 100 (specifically, the control unit 60) and the external device 200, and can communicate with the external device 200 via a network such as a LAN (Local Area Network). It is connected.

Next, the operation of the multifunction device 100 configured as described above will be described.
The control unit 60 according to the present embodiment determines the user's visual acuity (in this embodiment, the presbyopia power) as a characteristic function, determines the enlargement target character size according to the determination result, and generates an image to be printed. It has a function of correcting image data (hereinafter referred to as a character enlargement function) so that a character corresponding to the enlargement target character size is enlarged from among the contained characters.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing each process executed by the control unit 60 to realize the character enlargement function. In the following description, it is assumed that the user presses the copy start key after setting a plurality of documents on the document placing tray 22 of the ADF 20.

  As shown in FIG. 4, when the control unit 60 detects that the copy start key is pressed based on the operation signal input from the operation display unit 62 (step S1), the control unit 60 has a size as shown in FIG. Different characters (or symbols) may be displayed, and a frequency determination dialog for prompting the user to select a character that is difficult to see is displayed on the display unit 62b (step S2). The size of the character displayed in the frequency determination dialog is associated with the presbyopia power, and the user's presbyopia power can be determined by selecting a character that is difficult for the user to see. In this frequency determination dialog, an OK button (soft key) indicating completion of selection of a difficult-to-see character is displayed.

  The control unit 60 determines whether or not the OK button is pressed in the frequency determination dialog (step S3). If “No”, the process of step S3 is repeated until the OK button is pressed. In the case of “Yes”, the presbyopia degree of the user is determined according to the character size selected in the frequency determination dialog, and the enlargement target character size is determined according to the determination result (step S4).

  Here, the built-in memory of the control unit 60 stores in advance table data indicating the correspondence between the presbyopia power and the enlargement target character size as shown in FIG. That is, the control unit 60 determines the enlargement target character size according to the determination result of the presbyopia power by referring to the table data stored in the built-in memory. For example, when the presbyopia power is “+1.00”, a character size of 1.5 mm square or less is the enlargement target character size. For example, when the presbyopia power is “+1.50”, a character size of 2.5 mm square or less is a character size to be enlarged. Similarly, for example, when the presbyopia power is “+3.50”, a character size of 5 mm square or less is the enlargement target character size.

  After determining the enlargement target character size as described above, the control unit 60 controls the document reading device 1 to start scanning the set document (step S5). Then, the control unit 60 determines whether or not scanning of all the originals has been completed (step S6). If “No”, the process of step S6 is repeated until the scanning is completed, while “Yes”. In this case, the image data of all originals obtained by scanning is converted into CMYK color space data as necessary, and then stored in the image data memory 61 (step S7).

  Subsequently, the control unit 60 searches for a character corresponding to the character size to be enlarged from characters included in the document image to be printed using the image data stored in the image data memory 61 (step S8). A general optical character recognition (OCR: Optical Character Recognition) function can be used to discriminate characters included in a document image and further determine the size of the characters.

  When the search for the character corresponding to the enlargement target character size is completed, the control unit 60 corrects the image data so that the character corresponding to the enlargement target character size is enlarged among the characters included in the document image to be printed. (Step S9). For example, when the presbyopia power is “+1.50”, the control unit 60 corrects the image data so that only characters corresponding to a character size of 2.5 mm square or less are enlarged. The enlargement ratio of each character corresponding to the enlargement target character size may be set to an appropriate value (a value that is easy to see) in advance according to the presbyopia degree, but is the same size as the maximum character size in the document image. It is desirable to adjust the enlargement ratio of each character. As a result, all the characters finally have the same size, and the overall balance is further improved.

  Then, the control unit 60 controls the toner image forming unit 3, the fixing unit 4, and the paper transport mechanism 5 based on the corrected image data, thereby starting the printing of the document image (Step S <b> 10). The control unit 60 determines whether or not printing of all document images has been completed (step S11). If “No”, the process of step S11 is repeated until printing is completed, while “Yes” is displayed. In the case, the process shown in FIG. Through the above-described processes, an image obtained by enlarging only characters that are difficult to see for the user, that is, a printed matter on which an image having an overall balance is printed is output from the multi-function device 100.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the presbyopia degree of the user is determined, the enlargement target character size is determined according to the determination result, and the enlargement target character size is selected from the characters included in the image to be printed. By correcting the image data so that the corresponding characters are enlarged, it is possible to obtain a printed material (a printed material on which an image with a well-balanced overall is printed) that has better visibility for users with lower vision than before. Become.

The multifunction machine 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, but the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be freely changed within the scope of the present invention.
For example, in the above embodiment, the case where the image forming apparatus according to the present invention is the multifunction peripheral 100 has been described as an example. However, the present invention is also applicable to other image forming apparatuses such as a copying machine and a facsimile. Can do.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, the control part 60 displays the character from which a magnitude | size differs on the display part 62b, prompts the user to select a character that is difficult to see, and based on the character selected by the user, the user's presbyopia power However, for example, the control unit 60 causes the display unit 62b to display a screen that prompts the user to input the age, and determines the presbyopia degree of the user based on the age input by the user. You may do it. In this case, if table data indicating the correspondence between the age and the presbyopia is stored in advance in the internal memory of the control unit 60 as shown in FIG. The degree of presbyopia according to can be determined.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the case where the control part 60 determines the presbyopia power as a user's visual acuity was illustrated, the international standard which is a standard visual acuity of the international visual acuity employ | adopted for the general visual acuity test | inspection. The Landolt ring is displayed on the display unit 62b to prompt the user to select an international standard Landolt ring that is difficult to see, and the user's visual acuity is determined based on the international standard Landolt ring selected by the user. good.

  Further, according to the above embodiment, there is a possibility that the size of the image based on the corrected image data (the image to be finally printed on the printing paper) exceeds the size of the currently selected printing paper. Therefore, the control unit 60 may change the size of the printing paper (increase the size of the printing paper) according to the size of the image based on the corrected image data.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... MFP, 1 ... Document reading apparatus, 2 ... MFP body, 10 ... Scanner, 20 ... ADF (Auto Document Feeder), 3 ... Toner image forming unit, 4 ... Fixing unit, 5 ... Paper transport mechanism, 6, 7, 8... Paper cassette, 60... Control unit, 61... Image data memory, 62 .. Operation display unit, 63 .. Communication I / F, 200.

Claims (5)

In an image forming apparatus comprising: a printing unit that prints an image based on image data on a recording medium and outputs the printed material; and a control unit that controls a printing operation by the printing unit.
The control unit determines a user's visual acuity, determines an enlargement target character size according to the determination result, and enlarges a character corresponding to the enlargement target character size from characters included in the image. An image forming apparatus that corrects image data.   The control unit displays characters or symbols of different sizes on a display unit to prompt the user to select the characters or symbols that are difficult to see, and based on the characters or symbols selected by the user, the user The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the visual acuity is determined.   The control unit causes the display unit to display a screen that prompts the user to input an age, and determines the user's visual acuity based on the age input by the user. The image forming apparatus described in 1.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit determines a presbyopia power as the visual acuity of the user.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit changes a size of the recording medium in accordance with an image size based on the corrected image data.

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