JP2017069785A - Reader, image processing device and reading method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To accelerate processing during reading a document to perform discoloration processing of the read document.SOLUTION: A device includes analysis means for analyzing image data of a read image in order to determine a parameter for performing discoloration correction of the read image obtained by reading a document by reading means for reading a document, and correction means for using the parameter based on an analysis result by the analysis means to correct the image data so as to perform discoloration correction of the read image. The device starts to analyze the image data by the analysis means in the middle of reading the document by the reading means, and analyzes the image data by the analysis means in parallel with reading the document by the reading means.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

  The present invention relates to a reading device, an image processing device, and a reading method for reading a document.

  In recent years, with the development of smart devices and PCs, there is an increasing demand for digitizing documents and photographs. Under such circumstances, users have come to demand scanners that have higher functionality and can obtain high-quality digitized images. As processing for realizing higher functionality and higher image quality of digitized images, there are correction processing and detection processing of read images. Examples of correction processing and detection processing include document size determination, automatic document / photo correction, and fading correction. In the document size determination, the read data is analyzed and the size of the document is automatically determined. In the automatic document / photo correction, the read original is analyzed, the original type is automatically determined, and correction processing is applied according to the result. The fading correction is a correction that analyzes a read original and corrects the photograph before fading according to the degree of fading obtained as a result. What is common to these processes is to analyze the read image. And the image analysis analyzes the prescan image acquired by the prescan. Then, after analyzing the image, the main scan is performed again to reflect the image analysis result. The pre-scan here refers to reading a low-resolution coarse image. By using the pre-scan image in this way, the time required for image analysis is shortened.

  The fading of a photograph is a phenomenon in which the color of a printed matter changes with time in a printed matter such as a silver salt film, a photographic print, or a printed matter, which affects light and air. Here, color reproduction before and after fading will be described using a gamut diagram in order to show discoloration. In FIG. 1A, the vertical axis indicates L * which is a lightness value, and the horizontal axis indicates a gamut diagram before fading when the a * value and the b * value are indicated. Similarly, FIG. 1B shows a gamut after fading. That is, when the fading phenomenon occurs, it means that the whole color is inclined in a certain direction (for example, yellow direction). Therefore, when the color is faded, the entire photo becomes yellowish. Patent Document 1 discloses a method for estimating and correcting the inclination of the entire gamut from data obtained by scanning a photographic document.

JP 2011-259039 A

  Patent Document 1 determines a correction value by storing a scan image of a fading photograph once and analyzing a histogram obtained as a result of analyzing all pixels of the scan image. That is, the process using the pre-scan image described above. In a pre-scan image, two scans of a pre-scan operation and a main scan operation for scanning an original with low resolution are required, and it takes a long time to process.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and includes a reading unit that reads a document, and the reading unit that determines parameters for performing fading correction of a read image obtained by reading the document by the reading unit. A correction unit that sequentially analyzes image data for each region of the image, and a correction that corrects the image data so that the read image is faded using the parameter based on the analysis result of the analysis unit. A reading apparatus comprising: the reading means, the analysis means starts analyzing the image data in the middle of reading the original, and the reading means reads the original in parallel with the reading means. A reading apparatus that analyzes image data.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to execute the process relating to fading correction in a short time by performing image reading and image data analysis in parallel.

It is a conceptual diagram for explaining the fading of the document. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an appearance of a reading apparatus according to an embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the concept of the control system of the reader which concerns on embodiment. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the process of 1st Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing regarding the search of dark blue black. It is a flowchart of the fading correction which concerns on embodiment. It is explanatory drawing of the processing time of embodiment and a comparison form. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the process of 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the process of 3rd Embodiment. It is a table | surface which shows the determination ratio for every mode which concerns on embodiment. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the process of 4th Embodiment. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the process of 5th Embodiment.

(First embodiment)
Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the following embodiment, an example in which an image is read and analyzed at the same time to complete the analysis at an early stage will be described.

<Hardware configuration>
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an appearance of an MFP (multifunction printer) 201 as an example of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The MFP 201 has a function as a printer that prints data received from a host computer (hereinafter referred to as a PC) and a function as a scanner that supplies a scan image obtained by reading a document to the PC. Further, the MFP 201 alone has a copy function for printing a scanned image read from a document, a function for reading out image data from a storage medium such as a memory card, and a function for printing image data received from a digital camera. The MFP 201 includes a reading device 202 such as a flat bed scanner, and a printing device 203 such as an inkjet method or an electrophotographic method. Further, a USB (not shown) port for communicating with a PC is provided on the back surface of the MFP 201. It further comprises an operation panel 205 having a display panel 204 and various key switches. Furthermore, it has a card slot 206 for reading data from various memory cards, a camera port 207 for data communication with a digital camera, and the like.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the MFP 201. The CPU 301 controls the later-described configuration via the system bus 315 according to a control program stored in the ROM 302 using the RAM 303 as a work memory. Further, the CPU 301 executes an image processing program stored in the ROM 302 to execute a part of a function as an image processing unit that performs image processing to be described later. The non-volatile memory 304 is a battery-backed SRAM or the like, and stores data unique to the MFP 201. The operation unit 305 has a photo direct print start key for selecting an image stored in the memory card and starting printing, a key for instructing order sheet printing, and a key for instructing reading of the order sheet. In addition, a copy start key for monochrome copy and color copy, a mode key for specifying a print mode such as copy resolution and image quality, a stop key for stopping a copy operation, a numeric keypad for entering the number of copies, a registration key, and the like are provided.

  The CPU 301 detects the state of these keys (whether or not they are pressed) and controls each component according to the detection state. A display unit 306 corresponding to the display panel 204 includes an LCD and an LCD drive, and performs various displays under the control of the CPU 301. Also, thumbnails of images recorded on a memory card attached to the card I / F 312 are displayed. A reading unit 208 having a CCD (charge coupled device) provided in the reading device 202 sequentially reads a document placed on a document table for each predetermined area under the control of the CPU 301. Then, RGB luminance data based on the electrical signal changed from the optical signal detected by the CCD sensor is sequentially output. Note that a contact image sensor may be used instead of the CCD. Further, if an ADF (automatic document feeder, not shown) is provided, images of a plurality of documents can be read continuously. A card interface (I / F) 312 corresponding to the camera port 207 reads an image taken by a digital still camera (hereinafter referred to as DSC) recorded on a memory card or the like under the control of the CPU 301. Note that the color space of image data read via the card I / F 312 is converted from a DSC color space (for example, YCbCr) to a standard RGB color space (for example, sRGB) by image processing by the CPU 301 if necessary. Is done. Also, based on the header information of the image data, the read image data is subjected to various processes necessary for an application described later, such as resolution conversion to an effective number of pixels. A camera I / F 313 corresponding to the camera port 207 is an interface that directly connects to the DSC and reads an image from the DSC. The PC I / F 311 is a general-purpose interface such as a USB that performs data communication between the PC and the MFP 201. A PC that is an external device issues commands such as printing and scanning to the MFP 201 via the PC I / F 311 to transmit and receive data.

  The CPU 301 performs image processing such as image analysis, calculation of conversion characteristics, luminance-density conversion, scaling, gamma conversion, and error diffusion, which will be described later, on the image data stored in the RAM 303. Then, the image data (print data) after image processing is stored in a predetermined area of the RAM 303. When the print data stored in the predetermined area of the RAM 303 reaches a predetermined amount, the CPU 301 causes the printing unit 308 corresponding to the printing apparatus 203 to perform an operation of recording an image represented by the image data. A printing unit 308 included in the printing apparatus 203 includes a general-purpose IC and the like, includes an inkjet head, reads out print data stored in a predetermined area of the RAM 303 and prints out the print data according to the control of the CPU 301. The driving unit 314 includes a stepping motor for driving the paper supply / discharge roller, a gear for transmitting the driving force of the stepping motor, a driver for controlling the stepping motor, and the like in each operation of the reading unit 208 and the printing unit 308. A motor for scanning the CCD sensor also belongs to the drive unit 314. The sensor group 307 includes a sensor that detects the width of a recording sheet, a sensor that detects the presence or absence of a recording medium, a sensor that detects the width of a document, and a sensor that detects the presence or absence of a document. The CPU 301 can detect the state of the document and the recording medium based on information obtained from the sensors of the sensor group 307. The reading unit 310 is provided in the reading device 202. When copying is instructed via the external PC or the operation unit 305 including the operation panel 205, the CPU 301 performs image processing on the image read by the reading unit 310 (hereinafter also referred to as a read image) and prints it. 308 is caused to print.

<Reading operation>
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow from reading a document to correction processing according to the present embodiment. First, the user sets the faded photograph on the document table 209 of the reading apparatus 202 and instructs the fader correction process from the operation unit 305. Receiving the instruction, the CPU 301 controls the drive unit 314 to move the sensor unit including the CCD sensor of the reading unit 208 by a predetermined amount, and scans the sensor unit to read the document with the CCD sensor (S401). The CPU 301 performs an analysis process on the image data of the read image (S402), and stores the analysis information in the RAM 303. Details of the analysis processing will be described later. In parallel with the analysis process, the read image data is also stored in the RAM 303 (S403). Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the entire reading page of the document has been read by determining whether or not the sensor unit has moved to a predetermined position (S404). As a result of the determination, if the entire area reading is not completed, the original is continuously read. Then, after the entire area of the original is read, correction processing is performed (S405). In the correction process, the CPU 301 acquires analysis information and read image data from the RAM 303 and performs the process. Details of the correction processing will be described later. If the copy mode is executed, the printing unit 308 may print an image based on the corrected image data. If the scanner mode is executed, the corrected image data is sent via the PC I / F 311. May be transmitted to a PC which is an external device. Further, the corrected image data may be transmitted to an external memory, and at this time, the card I / F 312 is used.

[Analysis processing]
In the correction process of S405, fading correction is executed. In the fading correction, correction parameters are dynamically generated and corrected in accordance with the fading degree of the input document. That is, it is necessary to generate an optimum correction parameter for each input document by analyzing the read value of the input document. Therefore, the reading value of the input document is sequentially analyzed for each input unit. As described above, the fading process is a process of correcting the inclination of the entire color of the input document and restoring the original document before fading. As a method for realizing this, a tendency of a color corresponding to an achromatic color is searched, and a tendency of the inclination of the whole color is acquired and corrected. Specifically, the overall inclination is estimated by determining a color corresponding to black (hereinafter, amber black) and a color corresponding to white (amber white) in the read document. In this search, for example, in the case of determining dark blue, the read signal is converted into the sRGB color space to obtain L *, a *, and b *, and L * is set to a second lightness (L * _k) that is set in advance. What is necessary is just to average the signal value of the several pixels used as follows. For L * _k, the brightness near black may be set as appropriate. If it is less than or equal to a preset L * _k value, it is easy to limit the color to an achromatic dark color, and therefore the achromatic color can be specified accurately. For example, FIG. 5 shows that when the region 502 is set to L * _k or less that is set in advance with respect to the color reproduction gamut 501, it is easy to limit the dark black even if it is faded. Similarly, amber white can be determined by averaging signal values that are equal to or higher than a predetermined first lightness (L * _w) value (the first lightness is higher than the second lightness). For L * _w, the brightness near white may be set as appropriate. As another analysis method, amber black and amber white may be specified using a histogram.

[Correction process]
Here, the fading correction will be specifically described. The fading correction is calculated using the slope of the color information in the L *, a *, b * space. Therefore, the RGB signal values of the read document are converted into L *, a *, and b * values expressed in scanner gamut, and correction is performed. The corrected L *, a *, and b * values are converted into RGB signal values realized in the scanner gamut. As a specific fading correction method, first, the fading black spot is moved in parallel to the target black spot. Then, a rotation amount for correcting the inclination of the entire color reproduction estimated from the dark blue point and the dark white point acquired by the analysis process may be calculated. The parallel movement amount and the rotation angle become correction parameters, and correction is performed using these parameters. Based on the above, the fading correction will be specifically described using the flowchart of FIG. As shown in FIG. 6A, the overall flow of the correction process is to create a correction formula (S601a) and then perform the correction process (S602a). First, the flow of creating a correction formula will be described with reference to FIG. In creating the correction formula, first, the dark blue point and the dark white point obtained by the analysis process are acquired (S601b). Thereafter, the target black and amber black are compared to calculate the amount of parallel movement (S602b). Here, the target black may be, for example, a neutral black point on the gray line axis (both a * value and b * value are 0) or the lowest brightness that can be expressed in the scanner color gamut. It may be a sunspot. Here, the neutral black spot is described as the target black color. Next, an inclination in the L * a * b * space is calculated from the relationship between the amber black point and the amber white point, and the rotation amount is calculated around the a * axis for correcting the inclination vertically (S603b); The rotation amount is calculated around the b * axis (S604b). Then, a correction formula is created based on the parallel movement amount and the rotation amount calculated above (S605b). The correction formula is, for example, the following formula (1) when the parallel movement amounts da, db of the black spot in the a direction and the b direction, the rotation amount around the a * axis is θ, and the rotation amount around the b * axis is φ: , (2), (3).

  (Parallel movement of sunspots)

  After creating the correction formula as described above, correction processing is performed on each read pixel.

  As shown in FIG. 6C, in the correction process, first, read image data is acquired (S601c), and the RGB values as read values are converted into L * a * b * values for the scanner gamut (S602c). Then, the correction formula described above is applied to perform a fading correction process (S603c). Finally, the L * a * b * values are converted into RGB values for the scanner gamut (S604c). By performing the conversion as described above, the fading correction can be executed.

<Effect>
Hereinafter, the effect of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The horizontal axis is time (t) common to FIGS. 7A to 7D, and shows the relationship between the passage of time and the processing to be performed. FIG. 7A shows the time for processing in the comparative example in which the sequential processing is not performed and the analysis processing is executed after the reading of the entire document is completed. FIG. 7B shows this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 7B, by performing the image reading process and the analysis process in parallel, the time required to complete the analysis can be shortened as compared with FIG. 7A. Therefore, it is possible to obtain an effect of shortening the processing time of the entire fading process.

(Second Embodiment)
In the present embodiment, an embodiment will be described in which an image reading process and an analysis process are performed at the same time, and the analysis process is stopped halfway to complete the process at an earlier stage. Unless otherwise noted, the processing of each step performed in the following second to fifth embodiments can be performed in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

<Hardware configuration>
The hardware configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment.

<Operation>
FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a flow from reading to correction processing according to the present embodiment. The reading of the original in S801 is the same as S401 in the first embodiment. Subsequently, the CPU 301 determines whether or not the analysis process is continued for the image data obtained after the reading (S802). When the analysis process is determined to be continued, the CPU 301 performs the analysis process (S803) and stores the analysis information in the RAM 303. Remember. Details of the continuation determination of the analysis process will be described later. Then, the read image data is stored in the RAM 303 together with the analysis processing (S804). Thereafter, it is determined whether or not reading has been completed for the entire area of the document by determining whether or not the sensor unit has moved to a predetermined position (S805). As a result of the determination, if the reading of the entire area of the original is not completed, the original is continuously read. Then, after the entire surface of the original is read, image data is read from the RAM 303 and correction processing is performed (S806). The analysis process and the correction process are the same as those in the first embodiment, and the details of the continuation determination in the analysis process will be described below.

[Continuation of analysis processing]
Here, the details of the analysis process continuation determination (hereinafter, analysis continuation determination) will be described. In the first embodiment, it has been described that the determination of the dark blue point and the dark white point is based on a predetermined threshold provided by L *. In the analysis continuation determination, for example, when a dark blue spot candidate pixel and a dark white spot candidate pixel determined by the threshold are detected in a predetermined ratio (hereinafter referred to as a determination ratio) or more with respect to all pixels of the read image. It is determined that the analysis is not continued. For example, the analysis is stopped when a predetermined number of pixels having a predetermined brightness or less and a predetermined number of pixels or more are detected.

  Specifically, a case where an A4 size image is read at 72 dpi will be described as an example. The total number of pixels read here is 517275 pixels (= 855 pixels × 605 pixels).

  For example, it is determined that the analysis is not continued when both pixels having a lightness of L * _k or less and pixels having a lightness of L * _w or more are 51727 pixels, which is 10% of the total. As for the number of pixels to be used as the threshold value for the analysis continuation determination, the first number for the dark blue white point and the second number for the dark black point may be different.

<Effect>
Hereinafter, the effect of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7C expresses the processing speed of the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 7C, the image reading process and the analysis process are performed in parallel, and the analysis is stopped according to the conditions, so that the start time of the correction process is further compared with the first embodiment. Can be expedited. Therefore, the effect of shortening the processing time of the entire fading process can be further enhanced.

(Third embodiment)
In the present embodiment, an example will be described in which image reading processing and analysis processing are performed simultaneously, analysis processing is stopped halfway, and further early processing is realized by performing correction processing simultaneously with analysis stop.

<Hardware configuration>
The hardware configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment.

<Operation>
FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a flow from reading to correction processing according to the third embodiment. The document reading in S901 is the same as S401 in the first embodiment. The CPU 301 determines whether to continue the analysis process on the image data obtained by reading the document (S902). If it is determined that the analysis process is to be continued, the analysis process is performed (S903). In step S905, the information and image data obtained by the analysis process are stored in the RAM 303. If it is determined in S902 that the analysis process is not continued, analysis information and image data that has already been read are acquired from the RAM 303, and an image correction process is performed on the image data (S904). In step S905, the information and image data obtained by the analysis process are stored in the RAM 303.

  Thereafter, it is determined whether or not reading of the entire area of the document has been completed by determining whether or not the sensor unit has moved to a predetermined position (S906). As a result of the determination, if it is determined that reading of the entire area has not been completed, the process returns to S901, and the document is continuously read. If it is determined in S906 that the entire area of the document has been read, the correction process is performed on the read data that has not been corrected in the correction process (S904) that has already been started (S907).

  The analysis process and the correction process are the same as those in the first embodiment, and the analysis process continuation determination will be specifically described below.

[Continuation of analysis processing]
In the second embodiment, the continuation determination of the analysis process is performed using a fixed value as a condition. Specifically, a case where both of the pixels determined to be a dark blue spot candidate pixel and a dark white spot candidate pixel by analysis are 10% of the entire read pixel. In the configuration described in the present embodiment, the correction process is started at the same time as it is determined that the analysis process is not continued due to the continuation determination of the analysis process. That is, the earlier the analysis process stops, the faster the overall processing speed can be. Therefore, for example, a configuration may be adopted in which the continuation determination condition is changed according to user preference. Specifically, the determination ratio is changed according to the user's selection as in the example of FIG. If the user wants to process quickly, the correction process can be started earlier by selecting the fast mode.

<Effect>
Hereinafter, the effect of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7D shows an example of the processing speed of this embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 7D, the image reading process and the analysis process are performed in parallel, the analysis is stopped according to the conditions, and the correction process is performed at the same time as the analysis is stopped. Compared with the configuration of 7 (c), the processing time until the completion of the correction processing can be shortened. Therefore, it is possible to obtain an effect of shortening the processing time as the entire fading process.

(Fourth embodiment)
In the present embodiment, a configuration will be described in which lossy compression is performed when the reading device stores an image in a memory.

<Hardware configuration>
The hardware configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment, but the CPU 301 in the block diagram illustrating the functional configuration example of the MFP illustrated in FIG. 3 is different in that the CPU 301 performs irreversible compression processing on the read image.

<Operation>
FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a flow from reading to correction processing according to the fourth embodiment. The reading of the original in S1101 is the same as S401 in the first embodiment. The CPU 301 performs analysis processing on the image data obtained by reading the document (S1102), and stores the analysis information in the RAM 303. The read image data is irreversibly compressed by the CPU 301 (S1103) and then stored in the RAM 303 (S1104). Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the entire area of the document has been read (S1105). If not, the process returns to S1101 to read the document. Then, after the entire area of the document is read, correction processing is performed in the same manner as in the first embodiment (S1107). For fading correction, it is also possible to include a configuration for determining whether to continue analysis processing in the second and third embodiments.

<Effect>
When the read image is stored in the memory, the data amount of the image becomes enormous, so that the data amount can be compressed and stored by irreversible compression. Therefore, when storing in the memory as page data once without performing pre-scanning and performing analysis and correction, the analysis processing must be performed with compressed data. As a result, an erroneous determination occurs during the black spot search process that is determined by fading correction. In the present embodiment, analysis is performed by sequential processing, and the analyzed data is irreversibly compressed and stored in a memory, so that it is possible to increase the processing speed while avoiding erroneous determination of the black spot search processing.

(Fifth embodiment)
In this embodiment, an embodiment will be described in which analysis processing is stopped and correction processing is not performed when it is determined that correction processing is not necessary for a photographic image that is a document.

<Hardware configuration>
A form of copying a photographic document having the same hardware configuration as that of the first embodiment will be described.

<Operation>
FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a flow from reading to correction processing according to the fifth embodiment. First, the user sets an original document to be copied on the document table 209, and instructs the copy of the document and the fading correction process from the operation unit 305. The subsequent reading of the original in S1201 is the same as S401 in the first embodiment. The CPU 301 performs a dark color gamut determination (S1202) on the read image data. The determination of out of the fading color gamut is performed in order to determine whether the read document is not fading. The color gamut in the case of fading is similar to the color gamut of FIG. 1B with respect to the non-fading color gamut of FIG. That is, when a color that does not exist in FIG. 1B (hereinafter, a color outside the fading color gamut) is detected, it can be determined that the document is not fading. If there is an out-of-color gamut color according to the out-of-color gamut determination (S1202), it is determined as a non-fading image, and the printing process (S1207) for causing the printing unit 308 to print a copy print immediately without going through the correction processing (S1207). S1203) is started. If no out-of-gamut color gamut exists due to the out-of-gamut color gamut determination (S1202), the process proceeds to analysis processing (S1204). Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the entire area of the document has been read (S1205), and the above-described flow is performed until the entire area of the document is read. If it is determined in S1206 that no color outside the fading color gamut exists in the entire document, correction processing (S1207) is performed to perform fading correction. Then, the corrected image printing process (S1208) is performed. If the printing process has already started in S1203, the remaining read data is printed in S1208 if there is a fading out-of-gamut color.

  If it is determined that the image is a non-fading image, the correction process (S1207) is performed using a correction value that does not change the value of the corrected image data. You may use the method of obtaining the result equivalent to nothing. Note that the correction process (S1207) itself may be skipped.

<Effect>
When the user selects the fading correction process, the correction can be applied to read data of a document having almost no fading. In this case, the correction amount is small, but the processing time takes the same time as an image with a large discoloration. In this embodiment, since the out-of-gamut color gamut color is determined by sequential processing, if it is the fastest, it can be switched to stop the analysis processing and correction processing based on the reading information of the first line. The benefits are great. In particular, when a large number of photographic originals are read and processing is required after reading, such as copying, it is possible to proceed to the next processing immediately after reading.

Claims (11)

An analysis that sequentially analyzes image data for each area of the read image in order to determine a reading unit that reads the original and a parameter for performing fading correction of the read image obtained by reading the original by the reading unit And a correction unit that corrects the image data so that the read image is faded using the parameter based on the analysis result of the analysis unit,
The reading is characterized in that the analysis of the image data is started by the analyzing means in the middle of reading of the original by the reading means, and the image data is analyzed by the analyzing means in parallel with the reading of the original by the reading means. apparatus.   In the middle of reading of the original by the reading means, it further comprises a determining means for determining whether or not to continue the analysis by the analyzing means based on the analysis result by the analyzing means, and does not continue the analysis by the determining means 2. The reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the analysis unit stops the analysis during reading of the original by the reading unit.   When the determination unit determines that the analysis is not continued, the analysis unit ends the analysis in the middle of reading the document by the reading unit, and the correction unit ends reading by the reading unit. The reading apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the correction of the image data is started in response to the above.   When it is determined by the determining means that the analysis is not continued, the analyzing means ends the analysis in the middle of reading the document by the reading means, and the correcting means determines the analysis in response to the end of the analysis. The reading apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the correction of the image data is started during reading of the document by the reading unit.   The analysis unit determines a black point and a white point of the read image, and the correction unit determines the parameter based on the determined black point and white point. The reading device according to claim 1.   The analyzing means detects, in the read image, the first number or more of pixels having a brightness equal to or higher than the first brightness for determining the white spot, and the black spot for determining the black spot. The reading apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the analysis is terminated in response to detection of a second or more number of pixels having a lightness equal to or lower than a second lightness lower than the first lightness.   The storage means for storing the corrected image data corrected by the correction means, and the transmission means for transmitting the corrected image data stored in the storage means to an external device. The reading device according to any one of 1 to 6.   The reading apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a recording unit configured to record an image on a recording medium based on the image data corrected by the correcting unit.   The image processing apparatus further includes a detection unit that detects pixels of a color outside the amber color gamut, and the analysis unit does not perform the analysis in response to the detection unit detecting a pixel of a color outside the amber color gamut in the read image. 9. The recording unit records an image based on the image data on a recording medium without correcting the image data for fading correction of the read image by the correcting unit. The reading device described. Analysis means for sequentially analyzing image data for each area of the read image in order to determine parameters for performing fading correction of the read image obtained by reading the original by the reading means for reading the original; and A correction unit that corrects the image data so that the read image is faded using the parameter based on the analysis result by the analysis unit, and an image processing apparatus comprising:
The image is analyzed by the analyzing unit in parallel with the reading of the document by the reading unit, and the image data is analyzed by the analyzing unit in parallel with the reading of the document by the reading unit. Processing equipment. In order to determine a reading process for reading a document and a parameter for performing fading correction of a read image obtained by reading the document in the reading process, image data for each area of the read image is sequentially analyzed. An analysis process, and a correction process that corrects the image data so that the read image is faded using the parameters based on the analysis result of the analysis process,
A reading method comprising: starting the analysis step in the middle of reading a document in the reading step, and analyzing the image data in parallel with reading the document in the reading step.