JP2594415B2 - Image forming apparatus provided with translation function - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus provided with a translation function for translating and copying the information content of character information on a document into another language.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Computer-based translation systems are being put into practical use. However, in the conventional translation system, there is a trouble that text information to be translated has to be input with a keyboard.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, the present invention provides a translation function capable of translating and copying the contents of character information on a document into another language, and forming a compact image of picture information and character information. It is an object to provide an image forming apparatus provided.

[0004]

An image forming apparatus provided with a translation function according to the present invention has a reading unit, an image forming unit, an identification unit, a translation unit, and a control unit.

The "reading means" is means for reading image information on a document and converting it into a signal. As such a reading unit, for example, a reading unit known in a paper “Multifunctional and highly commercialized laser copier” in “Electrophotography, 1984, NO. 1, Vol. .

[0006] The "identifying means" is means for identifying picture information and character information on a document based on the result of reading by the reading means. This identification means specifically uses a computer or a CPU.

As an algorithm for identification, for example, a paper “Document Image Area Division Method Based on Density Pattern in 3 × 3 Unit Mesh” in “Journal of the Institute of Image Electronics Engineers of Japan, Vol. 13, No. 1, 1984” The disclosed scheme can be used.

The "translating means" is means for translating the contents of the character information identified by the identifying means into another language. Therefore, in this translation means, first, the character information is read and recognized for each character, and the contents are translated into another language. A computer is also used for this translation means.

The algorithm for reading and recognizing character information includes:
For example, a method disclosed in the paper "OCR input" in "Journal of the Institute of Image Electronics Engineers of Japan, Vol. 11, No. 3, 1982" can be used.

As the translation algorithm, a translation algorithm which has recently been put into practical use in connection with a high-level word processor or the like may be appropriately used.

The "image forming means" is means for creating an image on a recording medium of the image information read by the reading means, and includes the following copying means and writing means.

The "copying means" uses a photoconductive photoreceptor, the photoreceptor, a charger for charging the photoreceptor, a developing means for developing an electrostatic latent image formed on the photoreceptor, A transfer unit that transfers a visible image obtained by development onto transfer paper is basically configured.

The "writing means" is means for writing information on the photosensitive member of the copying means by light. As the writing means, a plotter using an LED array, a laser writing / scanning device conventionally known in connection with an optical printer or the like can be used.

[0014] The copying means may have means for exposing the photosensitive member by light image irradiation. The writing means is adapted to convert the translation result of the translation means into a signal and apply the signal.

When the area required for forming the character information image is larger than the area other than the area where the picture information is to be formed, the control means reduces the picture information and forms the picture information. This is a means for controlling the image forming means so as to secure an area necessary for forming an image of character information. The computer described above can be used as this control means.

[0016]

[Effect] For example, when an English sentence is translated into a Japanese sentence, this is often seen. In general, when a European language is translated into Japanese, the length of the sentence tends to be about twice as long as the original sentence. is there.

Accordingly, in such a case, if the space of the picture information in the manuscript is large, the translated text in another language (in this case, Japanese) is stored in a space other than the picture information to form an image. Can be difficult.

According to the present invention, in such a case, the image information is formed by reducing the picture information and the image forming space for the character information is secured.

[0019]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG.

FIG. 1 is a front view showing only an essential part of an embodiment of the present invention.

The main reference numerals in the figure will be described.
Is the original glass, 12 is a lamp, 14 is a plane mirror,
16 is a roof mirror, 18 is a lens, 20 is a half mirror, 22 is a plane mirror, and 24 is a 1: 1 color sensor.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a half mirror, and reference F denotes a filter device.

Reference numeral 28 denotes a photoconductive photoconductor, and reference numeral 30 denotes a photosensitive member.
Is a charger, 32 is a plotter, 34 is a developing device, 36 is a pre-transfer lamp, 38 is a transfer drum,
Reference numeral 40 denotes a transfer unit, reference numeral 42 denotes a static eliminator, reference numeral 44 denotes a cleaner, reference numeral 46 denotes a separator, and reference numeral 48 denotes a separation claw.

Further, reference numeral 50 denotes a rotary encoder, reference numeral 52 denotes an optical fiber, reference numeral 0 denotes a document, and reference numeral S denotes a transfer sheet.

The original 0 to be translated and copied is the original glass 10
Placed on top.

Original glass 10, lamp 12, flat mirror 14, roof mirror 16, lens 18, flat mirror 22, 1: 1 color sensor 2
4. The interface 26 constitutes "reading means".

In order to read the original 0, as shown in FIG. 1, the original 0 is placed on the original glass 10, the lamp 12 is illuminated and moved to the right integrally with the plane mirror 14, and the roof mirror 16 is simultaneously moved to the right. On the other hand, it is only necessary to move the plane mirror 14 at a moving speed of の of the moving speed of the plane mirror 14 and drive the 1 × sensor 24. By doing so, the image on the document 0 is read out after being separated into red, green and blue colors and converted into an electric signal.

It goes without saying that the image of the original 0 is formed on the color sensor 24 at the same magnification.

Photoreceptor 28, charger 30, developing device 34,
Pre-transfer lamp 36, transfer drum 38, transfer unit 40, static eliminator 42,
The cleaner 44, the separator 46, the separation claw 48, the fixing device (not shown), and the operation panel 62 constitute a main part of "copying means".

Interface 26, line memory 58,
The LED controller 60, the LED driver 56, and the plotter 32 constitute "writing means" together with the rotary encoder 50.

The plotter 32 is a combination of an LED array (10 dots / mm) and a converging light transmitter array.
When the LEDs of the LED array are made to emit light by the LED driver 56, the converging light transmitter array
Is formed on the photoreceptor 28. In FIG. 1, the plotter 32 is shown as a pattern.

The rotary encoder 50 is a plotter
32 is for taking the timing when writing optical information to the photoreceptor 28.

The computer 54 constitutes identification means, translation means and control means.

Hereinafter, a translation copying process will be described with reference to this embodiment.

The language of the character information on the document 0 and the language to be translated can be specified by the operation panel 62. Here, an example will be described in which the character information on document 0 is an English sentence including a number, and this is translated into Japanese.

Then, English is specified as the language to be translated and Japanese is specified as the translation language through the operation panel 62.

An original 0 (having a picture (color) and English language information as shown in FIG. 3A) is placed on the original glass 10 and the apparatus is operated. , The image information on the original 0 is separated into red, green and blue colors and read and converted into electric signals.

That is, the output of the 1: 1 color sensor 24 is sent to the computer 54 via the optical fiber 52 via the interface 26.

The image signal input in this manner is first separated into character information and picture information (photographs, printed picture images, graphs) by the computer 54 as identification means.

This separation is performed as shown in the flowchart of FIG.

That is, the signal from the 1: 1 color sensor is temporarily stored in the memory. Then, 16 × 16 pixels (1 mm × 1 mm) are defined as one unit, and for each unit, whether the unit is a character portion, a background portion, or a picture portion is identified.

That is, the average of image density: μ and the variance: σ are calculated for each unit, and these average: μ, variance:
A picture portion, a background portion, and a character portion are identified based on the magnitude relationship between σ and threshold values α, β predetermined for them.

The information of the portion identified as the character portion is recognized as shown in FIG.

For example, in the case of black characters of 8 mm square, 128
The data is separated into 256 steps as x128 pixels, noise is removed by a 3x3 median filter, averaged, and then binarized.

In the binarized character image information, the geometric characteristics are extracted by a method such as processing of connected components, boundary line extraction, thinning, and the like, and are compared with the stored geometric characteristics of the character. Is recognized as a specific character.

The recognized character information is stored in a certain amount, for example, one sentence, and then translated into Japanese by a known translation algorithm.

The information of the Japanese sentence obtained by the translation is transmitted to the optical fiber 52 and the interface at appropriate timing.
The data is stored in the line memory 58 via 26.

When the translation of the character information in the read image into Japanese is completed, the computer 54 as the control means calculates a space necessary for forming the image of the "translated Japanese information". It is determined whether the translated character information can be image-formed in a space other than the picture information in the document.

When the area required for forming an image of Japanese character information (translated character information of another language) is larger than the area other than the area where the picture information is to be formed, the image formation of the character information is performed. In order to secure a necessary area, it is calculated to what degree the picture information should be reduced, and the “reduction rate” for that purpose is determined.

When the reduction magnification is determined, preparation for writing by the writing means is completed.

When writing is started, a drum-shaped photosensitive member
28 rotates in the direction of the arrow, and the transfer drum 38 also rotates clockwise following this.

After the photosensitive member 28 is neutralized and cleaned by the static eliminator 42 and the cleaner 44, it is uniformly charged to +800 V by the charger 30.

Next, the writing of the green separation image is performed by the writing means. That is, the computer 54
An image signal corresponding to the green color separation image of the portion corresponding to the picture portion (reduced image processing is performed according to the reduction magnification)
Output to the line memory 58 via the optical fiber 52 and the interface 26.

The information from the line memory 58 is applied to the LED driver 56 by the LED controller 60, whereby the LED of the plotter 32 emits light and the electrostatic latent image (the image of the (Corresponding to the green separation image).

At this time, the LED emission timing is controlled by the output of the rotary encoder 50. Incidentally, the rotary encoder 50 rotates 36 times per rotation of the photoconductor 28.
Emit a 00 pulse. The peripheral speed of the photoconductor 28 is 105 mm / sec
It is.

The formed electrostatic latent image is developed with magenta toner by the developing unit 34M of the developing device 34. The magenta visible image formed by development is transferred onto transfer paper S “as a recording medium”.

That is, the transfer paper S is held on the transfer drum 38 at an appropriate timing and brought to the transfer section.
The magenta visible image is superimposed on the magenta visible image, and the transfer device 40 transfers the magenta visible image. Prior to the transfer, the magenta visible image is irradiated with uniform light by a pre-transfer lamp 36.

After the transfer of the visible image, the photosensitive member is neutralized by a neutralizer 42 and a cleaner 44 and is cleaned.

Subsequently, in the same process as described above, the image formation of the red separated image of the picture portion is performed. The development of the electrostatic latent image formed by the writing means is performed by the developing unit 34C using cyan toner.

Further, a similar image forming process is performed on the blue separated image. The electrostatic latent image formed in this process is developed by the developing unit 34Y with yellow toner. When the yellow visible image resulting from the development is transferred to the transfer paper S, the yellow, magenta, and cyan visible images are transferred on the transfer paper S in a superimposed manner. This means that the image corresponding to the picture image (reduced according to the reduction magnification) is reproduced in color.

After the transfer of the yellow visible image, the photosensitive member 28
Is neutralized and cleaned, and then the charger 30
, The Japanese sentence is written in a positive / positive manner by the plotter 32 at the writing position of the plotter 32. At this time, the “magnification” of the image formation is the same magnification.

The electrostatic latent image obtained by this writing is developed by the developing unit 34B with black toner. When the black visible image obtained by this development is transferred onto the transfer paper S, the transfer paper S is separated from the transfer drum 38 by the separator 46 and the separation claw 48, sent to the fixing device, and After the image is fixed, it is discharged out of the apparatus.

Thus, as shown in FIG. 3 (b), a copy CP1 in which the picture information of manuscript 0 was translated as it was in English and the picture information was translated into Japanese was obtained.

In the above example, the image formation of the picture portion is also performed by image writing using the plotter 32. However, the image formation of the picture portion may be performed using light image exposure.

That is, after the reduction magnification is determined, the lens
The position and scanning speed of the mirror 18, the plane mirror 14, the roof mirror 16 and the like are determined according to the reduction magnification, and the light image exposure of the color separation image is performed by using the green filter F1, the red filter F2, and the blue filter F3 of the filter device F. Then, the portion other than the picture portion may be erased by exposure by the plotter 32.

The language to be translated and the language to be translated are not limited to English and Japanese, and translation and copying between various languages can be performed depending on the algorithm.

The copying means may be a monochrome method as well as a color method. In this case, the reading means and the developing means are
Simplified.

In addition, instead of a program for controlling the translation copy process, the first sheet is copied as it is,
On the second sheet, it is also possible to copy the character information section as a translated sentence while leaving the picture section as it is.

The computer constituting the translation means and the identification means may be a dedicated computer, but the copying apparatus, the reading apparatus, and the writing section are connected to the main computer via a local area network. May be used.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral F4 denotes an ND filter, which is used at the time of image exposure when translating and copying a monochrome original.

[0070]

As described above, according to the present invention, a multicolor image forming apparatus provided with a novel translation function can be provided.

Since this apparatus is configured as described above, it is possible to obtain a hard copy in which character information is translated into another language only by copying an original.

Further, since the picture information is reduced and the image is formed so as to secure the image forming area of the translated sentence, the picture information and the translation information of the text information in one document can be compactly stored on the same recording medium. An image can be formed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory front view schematically showing only an essential part of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an example of the process of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 0 manuscript 24 1: 1 color sensor 28 photoconductive photoreceptor 32 plotter

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An image forming apparatus comprising: reading means for reading image information on a document; and image forming means for forming an image on a recording medium by the image information read by the reading means. Identification means for identifying the image information obtained from the image information into picture information and text information; translation means for translating the information content of the text information identified by the identification means into text information in another language; When the proper area is larger than the area other than the area where the picture information is to be formed, the picture information is reduced and formed so as to secure an area necessary for the image formation of the character information. An image forming apparatus provided with a translation function, comprising: control means for controlling means.