JP2951972B2 - Image processing device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, and more particularly, to an image processing apparatus capable of performing image area determination.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, the character portion and the halftone image portion in the target image are determined,
Simple binarization is performed for the character portion, and a good image corresponding to the characteristics of each image can be obtained by applying, for example, the systematic dither method to the halftone portion.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the conventional method, there is room for improvement in determining a character portion and a halftone portion.

In other words, the accuracy of the character / halftone determination is not perfect, and as for the region where the character determination is considered preferable for the operator, the region may be determined to be a halftone part, or the region desired to be determined to be a halftone. There was a problem of character judgment.

As a result, image processing different from the operator's preference may be performed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to provide an image processing apparatus capable of determining the characteristics of an image reflecting the preference of an operator.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a first invention of the present application is a determining means for determining the characteristics of an image, wherein the image is easily determined to be a line drawing or is determined to be a halftone image. An operation means for manually instructing a judgment criterion by the judgment means to set whether to facilitate the operation, and a control means for controlling the judgment by the judgment means in accordance with the judgment criterion instructed by the operation means. And

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a determination unit for determining characteristics of an image, and manually instructs a determination criterion by the determination unit to set whether the image is easily determined to be a line drawing or a halftone image. Operating means, control means for controlling the determination by the determining means in accordance with a criterion instructed by the operating means, wherein the operating means is capable of specifying a plurality of areas on the image And a criterion specifying means for setting the criterion for each area specified by the area specifying means.

(Embodiment) Hereinafter, the present invention will be described by taking a full-color digital copying machine as an example, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment, and the present invention can also be applied to various apparatuses, for example, apparatuses having only a function of converting a target image into an electric signal. It is.

〔overall structure〕

FIG. 2 shows an overall configuration diagram of a full-color digital copying machine.

Reference numeral 201 denotes a unit for reading a document by an image scanner unit and performing digital signal processing. Reference numeral 202 denotes a printer unit which prints out an image corresponding to the document image read by the image scanner unit 201 on a sheet in full color.

In the image scanner unit 201, reference numeral 200 denotes a mirror pressure plate, and a document 204 on a platen glass (hereinafter, platen) 203 is
Irradiated by a lamp 205, guided to mirrors 206, 207, and 208, forms an image on a three-line sensor (CCD) 210 by a lens 209, and outputs full-color information red (R), green (G),
The signal is sent to the signal processing unit 211 as a blue (B) component.
Note that 205 and 206 are speeds v, and 207 and 208 are 1/2 v mechanically move in the direction perpendicular to the electrical scanning direction of the line sensor to scan the entire original. The signal processing unit 211 electrically processes the read signal, decomposes the signals into magenta (M), cyan (C), yellow (Y), and black (Bk) components, and sends them to the printer unit 202. In addition, for one original scan in the image scanner unit 201, one component among M, C, Y, and Bk is sent to the printer unit 202, and one printout is completed by a total of four original scans. .

M, C, Y or sent from the image scanner 201
The Bk image signal is sent to the laser driver 212. The laser driver 212 modulates and drives the semiconductor laser 213 according to the image signal. Laser light is polygon mirror 214, f-θ lens 2
15. Scan the photosensitive drum 217 via the mirror 216.

Reference numeral 218 denotes a rotary developing unit, which includes a magenta developing unit 219, a cyan developing unit 220, a yellow developing unit 221, and a black developing unit 222. The four developing units alternately contact the photosensitive drum 217 and are formed on the photosensitive drum 217. The developed electrostatic latent image is developed with toner.

Reference numeral 223 denotes a transfer drum which winds a sheet fed from the sheet cassette 224 or 225 around the transfer drum 223 and transfers an image developed on the photosensitive drum 217 to the sheet.

After the four colors M, C, Y, and Bk are sequentially transferred in this manner,
The sheet passes through the fixing unit 226 and is discharged.

[Image scanana]

FIG. 3 is an internal block diagram of the image scanner section. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 101 denotes a counter which outputs a main scanning address 102 for specifying a main scanning position of the CCD 210.
That is, when the horizontal synchronizing signal HSYNC is 1, the CPU (not shown) sets the predetermined value to a predetermined value, and the clock signal C of the pixel is output.
Incremented by LK.

The image formed on the CCD 201 has three line sensors 30
The photoelectric conversion is performed at 1,302,303, and the R component, G
Component, B component as a read signal, amplifiers 304, 305, 306,
Sample hold circuits 307, 308, 309 and A / D converters 310, 31
Digital image signal 313 of 8 bits for each color through 1,312
(R), 314 (G), and 315 (B) are output.

[Signal flow]

FIG. 4 shows the overall signal flow. Components common to FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals. In the figure, CLK is a clock signal for transferring pixels, HSYNC is a horizontal synchronizing signal, is a synchronizing signal for starting main scanning, and CLK4 is a clock signal to be described later.
This is a clock signal for generating a 0-line screen, as shown in FIG.
01, sent to the signal processing unit 211 and the printer unit 202.

The image scanner unit 201 reads the original 204 and converts the R, G, B signals as electrical signals into a color signal processing unit 402 and a feature extraction unit.
Send to 403. In the feature extracting unit 403, the color processing control signal generating unit 404 supplies a BL signal indicating that the current processing pixel is a black image, and a COL indicating that the image is a tinted image.
CAN to cancel the UNK signal and BL signal indicating that there is a possibility that the signal is a black image or a color image
Sends an EDGE signal indicating that the signal is a character edge.

The ATLAS signal output from the control unit 401 is an image processing operation switching signal when copying a fine text document such as a map, and is input to the feature extraction unit 403 and the color signal processing unit 402.

Similarly, the 4-bit SEG signal output from the control unit 401 is a control signal for varying the degree of character extraction, and is input to the feature extraction unit 403.

Reference numeral 407 denotes an operation panel, which receives a key input into the control unit 401 by the CPU and controls a display operation.

FIG. 6 shows details of the operation panel 407. In FIG. 6, reference numeral 601 denotes a dot matrix liquid crystal display of 64 × 192 dots. 602, a copy start key; 603, a recording paper cassette selection key; 604, a numeric keypad; 605, a numeric keypad clear key and a copy operation stop key; 606 is a key for resetting the set display, 607 to 610 are keys for moving the cursor of the liquid crystal display in the upward, downward, left and right directions, and 611 is a key for terminating the selection by the liquid crystal display. . Reference numeral 612 denotes an asterisk (*) key for setting various copy modes, and 613 denotes an image creation key for setting an image editing mode.

Referring back to FIG. 4, the color processing control signal generator 404 receives the above signal from the feature extractor 403 and generates a color processing control signal for the color signal processor. These are two multiplication coefficient signals GAIN1 and GAIN1 for weighting the two kinds of image signals.
This is a FIL signal for switching between GAIN2 and spatial filters, and a GAM signal for switching between multiple density conversion characteristics. The control unit 401 sends a 2-bit PHASE signal to each processing block. This signal corresponds to the development color of the printer
0, 1, 2, and 3 of the ASE signal mean magenta (M), cyan (C), yellow (Y), and black (Bk) of the developed colors, respectively.

The color signal processing unit generates a recording image signal VIDEO for the printer unit 202 based on the PHASE signal and the color processing control signal.

Based on this VIDEO signal, the printer unit 202 modulates the pulse width of the laser emission time to produce a copy output
406 is output.

The printer unit 202 receives an SCR from the color processing control signal generation unit 404.
The signal GA is input. The printer unit 202 switches a plurality of pulse width modulation basic clocks (screen clocks) based on the SCR signal, and performs an optimal density expression for the original. In this embodiment, when the SCR signal is 0, pulse width modulation is performed in units of one pixel, and when the SCR signal is 1, pulse width modulation is performed in units of two pixels.

Hereinafter, FIG. 1 is performed, and the color signal processing unit 402 and the feature extraction unit 4
03, the operation of the color processing control signal generator 404 will be described in detail.

[Feature extraction unit]

The feature extraction unit 403 includes a color determination unit 106 and a character edge determination unit 107
It consists of.

 FIG. 11 shows the configuration of each processing unit.

In FIG. 11, reference numeral 1101 denotes a pixel color determination unit, which is a BLP signal indicating that each pixel is black, a COLP signal indicating that the pixel is colored, or UN indicating that it is unknown.
A KP signal is generated and sent to area processing section 1102. Area processing unit
1102 determines the BLP, COLP, UNKP and G signals for each area in a 5 × 5 area, removes errors, and removes BL, COL, UNK.
And generate a CAN signal.

Reference numeral 1103 denotes a character edge determination unit which determines whether or not the character edge is a character edge unit based on the G signal, and generates an EDGE0 signal. G
The reason for determining whether or not a character edge portion is based on only the signal is that the G signal is closest to the visibility sensitivity characteristic among the RGB signals as shown in FIG. This is because it can be represented by a character edge detection signal of a black image.

Reference numeral 1104 denotes a halftone dot determination unit, which outputs a DOT signal in which it is determined on the basis of the density direction signal DSL from the character edge determination unit 1103 that the target pixel is included in the halftone dot region on a pixel basis.
When the original is a halftone printed matter, the character edge determination unit 1103 often determines a halftone dot as a character. In the present embodiment, as described later, processing such as emphasizing the edges and increasing the recording resolution is performed on the character edges in order to improve the sharpness of the recorded image. When such processing is performed on a halftone dot image, moiré occurs, and the quality of the recorded image is significantly reduced. Therefore, this dot judgment signal
DOT determines that the document is a halftone dot, and gate 1105
Prevents the occurrence of the character edge signal EDGE.

The ATLAS signal and the SEG signal are output from the control unit 407. As will be described later in detail, the ATLAS signal is a control signal for clear recording of fine characters, and the SEG signal is a signal for variably controlling the slice level for character edge detection.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of the saturation judgment of the pixel color judgment unit 1101.

In FIG. 13, reference numeral 1301 denotes a MAX / MIN detector;
Reference numerals 1309 to 1309 denote selectors, and reference numerals 1310 to 1315 denote subtracters, which output AB for inputs A and B. 1316 to 1323 are comparators for inputs A and B, 1316, 1319 are 2A> B, 1317, 1320, 1322, 1323 are A> B, 1318, 1321 are 1 if A> 2B. Output, otherwise output 0. 1324-1328 is an AND gate, 1329 is a NOR gate, 13
30 is a NAND gate.

In the above configuration, the MAX / MIN detector 1301 has
The circuit shown in FIG. 1 is used. In FIG. 14-1, 1350,1
351,1352 are comparators, R> G, G> B, B respectively
If> R, 1 is output. The circuit shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 14-2, the following judgment signals S00, S01, S02, S1
0, S11 and S12 are generated. That is, when MAX is R or when R, G, and B are all equal, S00
= 1, S01 = S02 = 0, when MAX is G, S01 = 1, S00 = S02
= 0, when MAX is B, S02 = 1, S00 = S01 = 0, when MIN is R, or when R, G, B are all equal, S10 = 1,
When S11 = S12 = 0 and MIN is G, S11 = 1, S10 = S12 =
When 0 and MIN are B, S12 = 1 and S10 = S11 = 0.

For example, when MAX is R, the comparator 1350 outputs 1 because R> G and R ≧ B, and the comparator 1352 outputs “1”.
Outputs 0. AND1 outputs 1 and OR1 outputs 1. AND2 and AND3 output 0. That is, S00 = 1,
S01 = S02 = 0. The result of performing the same determination is
2 is a table shown in FIG.

Outputs S00, S01, S02 of the MAX / MIN detector are input to a selector 1302, and outputs S10, S11, S12 are input to selectors 1303-1309.

The selectors 1302-1309 are composed of an AND circuit and an OR circuit as shown in FIG. According to this selector, the fifteenth-
As shown in FIG. 2, A is output when S0 = 1, S1 = S2 = 0 for inputs A, B, and C, and B is output when S1 = 1, S0 = S2 = 0, and S2 C is output when = 1, S0 = S1 = 0. In this embodiment, R, G, B signals correspond to inputs A, B, C.

In the pixel color determination of this embodiment, the maximum value of the R, G, B signals is MAX, the minimum value is MIN, and the values of A, B, C, D are determined as shown in FIG. 16-1. This is performed by dividing into four regions.

That is, in the achromatic region, the difference between MAX and MIN is small, and the closer to chromatic color, the larger the difference between MAX and MIN. Section the MAX-MIN plane.

Specifically, ka, kb, kc, ia, ib, ic, WMX, and WMN are assumed to be predetermined constants and are divided into four regions A, B, C, and D as shown in FIG. 16-1. .

A is a dark achromatic (black) area. (MAX, MIN)
Is included in this area if MIN ≦ WMN or MAX ≦ WMX, and Is to meet all of

B is a region between the dark achromatic color and the chromatic color. (MAX,
MIN) is included in this area if MIN ≦ WMN or MAX ≦ WMX, and Satisfy one of Is to meet all of

C is a chromatic color area. The condition that (MAX, MIN) is included in this area is MIN ≦ WMN or MAX ≦ WMX, and To satisfy any of the following.

D is a bright achromatic (white) area. (MAX, MI
N) is included in this area Is to satisfy both.

FIG. 16-2 shows output signals for the respective states A, B, C and D. BLP = 1, UNKP = COLP = 0 when included in area A, UNKP = 1, BLP = COLP = 0 when included in area B, COLP when included in area C = 1, BLP = UNKP = 0, BLP = 1, UNKP = COLP = 0, when included in the D area.

The above-described area determination is performed by the circuits 1304 to 1330 in FIG. Selector 1302, depending on the output of MAX / MIN detector 1301,
1303 selects the MAX signal and the MIN signal from among R, G and B, respectively, and the selectors 1304-1309 also select the values of the constants ka, kb, kc, ia, ib and ic in conjunction with the selector 1303. . For example, when MAX is an R signal and MIN is a G signal, the selector 1304
KAG, 1305 is KBG, 1306 is KCG, 1307 is iAG, 1308 is iBG, 1
Reference numeral 309 selects iCG, which are constants ka, kb, kc, ia, ib, and ic, respectively. The reason why the values of the constants ka, kb, kc, ia, ib, and ic are changed depending on any of R, G, and B as described above is as follows.

The color space separation in the 16-1 uses the R, G, B color separation signals of the CCD sensor. MAX of this R, G, B signal,
The MIN plane deviates from human luminosity characteristics. That is, it is necessary to switch the drawing of the achromatic region and the chromatic region depending on the number of colors of the document.

For this reason, in the present embodiment, ka, kb, kc, ia, i
Each MAX axis intercept value of b and ic is variable. In this embodiment, in order to specify the original color, the determination result of which of the MIN signals in the R, G, and B light amount signals is used. It is for the following reasons. This is because the color of a document determined by a human greatly depends on the reflection densities of C, M, and Y included in the document, and the maximum color of the reflection density corresponds to the minimum color of the light amount signal. Also, when converting the R, G, B light quantity signals into C, M, Y density signals, the range is compressed on the maximum value side of the light quantity signal and the range is expanded on the minimum value side of the light quantity signal because a -log function is used. Is done. As described above, the separation of the color signal that governs the tint in the density signal uses the MIN color signal of the light amount signal, which is advantageous in terms of determination accuracy.

Therefore, the selector 13 whose details are shown in FIG.
Decode signals A10, S11, S12 indicating MIN color from 04 to 1309
Using MAX, MAX intercept value according to MIN color ka, kb, kc, ia, ib, ic
Generate.

In the present embodiment, ka, kb, kc, ia, ib, and ic are set to the following values based on values experimentally obtained in consideration of the color separation filter of the CCD sensor. However, the range of R, G, B is from 0 to 255.

As described above, the subtractors 1316 to 1315 subtract from the MAX value using the MAX axis intercept value that is different for each MIN color. The comparator 1316 determines that 2 × MIN> (MAX−ka) and detects that the combination of the MAX value and the MIN value is above the straight line S in FIG. 16-1. Similarly, the comparators 1317 to 1321 detect that the combination of the MAX value and the MIN value respectively lies above the straight lines t, u, v, w, x.

The comparators 1322 and 1323 detect that the MAX value and the MIN value are both larger than the predetermined values WMX and WMN, and
Then, a WB signal indicating that the read pixel is a white background portion is generated by performing an AND process.

By encoding the above signals as follows, BL1,
UNK1 and COL1 signals are generated. The BL1 signal is A in Fig. 16-1.
Since it is a region, the AND gate 1325 detects that it is above the straight line s, t, u, and the AND gate 1326 adds a condition that is not the D region. NAND that the COL1 signal is below the straight lines v, w, x
The condition that is detected by the gate 1330 and is not in the D region is AND gate 1328
Is added.

The NORK 1329 detects that the UNK1 signal is below the straight lines s, t, u and above the straight lines v, w, x,
A condition that is not an area is added.

[Area processing unit]

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the area processing unit 1102 shown in FIG.

BLP, COLP, UNKP determined by the pixel color determination unit 1101
Are line-delayed by line memories 1701, 1702, 1703, and 1704, synchronized by the HSYNC signal and the CLK signal shown in FIG. 3, and five lines are simultaneously output. here,
BL2, COL2, UNK2, BKP, COLP, UNKP delayed one line, BL3, COL3, UNK3, delayed two lines, BL4, COL4, UNK4, delayed four lines, respectively Are BL5, COL5, and UNK5, respectively. In 1705, each signal is delayed by 5 pixels. In the 5 × 5 area shown in FIG. 8, the number of black pixels (BL) is counted, and NB is obtained.
L) Count and get NC. Further, the comparator 1707
Is used to compare the number NB of black pixels and the number NC of chromatic pixels in a 5 × 5 block.

Further, the gate circuits 1708, 1709, 1710, 1711, 1712, 1713, 17
A BL signal indicating that the center pixel is black, which is calculated together with the results of the outputs BK3, COL3, and UNK3 of the pixel color determination unit for the center pixel in the 5 × 5 area through 14,1715, and that the center pixel is chromatic , And an UNK signal indicating that the center pixel has intermediate saturation. The criterion at this time does not overturn the determination of the first criterion that is a black pixel and a chromatic pixel. That is, when BL3 = 1 or COL3 = 1, BL = 1 or COL
= 1. If the result of the first criterion is between a chromatic pixel and an achromatic pixel, a comparator
At 1716, it is determined whether the number of black pixels is equal to or more than a predetermined value (NBC), and the comparator 1717 determines whether the number of chromatic pixels is equal to or more than a predetermined value. Further, the comparator 1707 determines whether the number of black pixels or the number of chromatic pixels is larger. When the number of black pixels is equal to or more than a predetermined value and NB> NC, that is, even if the target pixel is UNK, if there are many black pixels in the 5 × 5 matrix including the target pixel, UNK3 is set to BL at the gate 1708. Becomes

When the number of chromatic pixels is equal to or more than a predetermined value and NB ≦ NC,
That is, even if the target pixel is UNK, 5 × 5
If there are many chromatic pixels in the matrix of
UNK3 becomes COL.

In the present embodiment, chromatic colors and achromatic colors are determined by the above-described algorithm in order to remove color blur at a color change point of a document due to scanning unevenness of the scanning optical systems 206, 207, and 208 and a magnification error of the imaging optical system 209. I have. When there are no more than a predetermined number of black pixels and chromatic pixels around the UNK3 signal, the gates 1713, 1714, and 1715 detect and output an intermediate chroma signal UNK.

Next, FIG. 17-1 shows the configuration of the CAN signal generation section included in the area processing section shown in FIG.

In the logic circuit for generating the BL signal shown in FIG. 7, if the target pixel is a black pixel, the BL signal is output regardless of the surroundings. However, if there is the aforementioned scanning speed unevenness or an imaging magnification error, a black signal (Bk) may be generated around the color signal (C) due to color fringing as shown in FIG. Since the black signal (Bk) due to the color fringing (C) is generated around the color signal as shown in FIG. 10, the light amount value is larger than the color signal. Therefore, in the CAN signal generating section shown in FIG. 7A, a color signal (CO
L) is detected to generate a CAN signal.

In this embodiment, a G signal closest to the above-described visibility sensitivity characteristic is used as the light amount signal. This G signal is converted to one line of fifo
After being delayed by the memories 1718, 1719, and 1720, the target line G3 signal and the G2 and G4 signals separated by one line before and after the target line G3 signal are input to the arithmetic unit 1722. At the same time, the three-line color determination signals COL2, COL3, and COL4 created in FIG. 7 are input.

 FIG. 17-2 shows the details of the arithmetic unit 1722.

G2, G3, G4, COL2, COL3, and COL4 are delayed by two or three pixels, respectively, by flip-flops shown at 1723 to 1735. Here, the target pixels are G32 and COL32. G32 is a peripheral pixel G22, G31, G33, G42 by comparators 1737 to 1740.
Is compared to The comparator output outputs H when the peripheral pixel has a lower light intensity value than the target pixel. And AND gate 174
From 1 to 1744, AND with the color judgment signal of the surrounding pixels
The gate 1745 outputs a CAN signal.

That is, when the level around the pixel of interest is lower than the level of the pixel of interest and there is a color component, it is determined that color bleeding as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 is derived, and a CAN signal is generated.

This is convenient, for example, in order to prevent the occurrence of “black bleeding” around color characters that occurs when processing an electrical signal obtained by reading “reddish” characters.

[Character edge judgment unit]

Next, the operation of the character edge determination unit will be described with reference to FIG.

An original 1901 shown in FIG. 19A showing a conceptual diagram is an example of an image having shading, and includes a character edge area 1902 and a halftone area 1903 expressed by halftone dots. As a method of extracting edge information in an image, in this embodiment, as shown in 1904, is there a sharp density change in a pixel block in which nine neighboring pixels surrounding the target pixel x _{i, j} are set as one unit? It is determined whether or not there is a sharp density change point continuously in a specific direction.

Specifically, for the pixel of interest x _{i, j} , take the difference value of its neighboring pixels, Taking the parameter expressed by, the magnitude judgment determines whether or not there is a steep density change, and further determines whether or not a steep density change point continuously exists in a specific direction. I do. Note that _{xij and the} like are shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG.

Specifically, the detection of the longitudinal edge in the right at a high concentration as shown in 1905 of Fig. 19 has the property that the point value of J ₁ of the sixth equation is large is continuous in the longitudinal direction Yes (Fig. 21
2101, 2102). Detection of the lateral edge with a high concentration on the lower side, as shown in 1906 the property that points larger value of J ₂ of the sixth equation is continuous in the lateral direction (FIG. 21 2103,210
Four). Detection of the right oblique direction of the edge with a high concentration in the lower right direction as shown in 1907 the property that points larger value of J ₃ of the sixth equation is continuous in the right oblique direction (FIG. 21 21
05,2106). High density detection of the left oblique direction of the edge with the lower left direction as shown in 1908 points larger value of J ₄ of the 6 expression is the property that are continuous in the left oblique direction (the
21 Figures 2107, 2108). High density detecting longitudinal edge with the left as shown in 1909 the property that is continuous to the sixth equation longitudinal points larger value of J ₅ of (FIG. 21 2109,2
110). High density detecting lateral edge with the upper as shown in 1910 the property that points larger value of J ₆ of the sixth equation is continuous in the lateral direction (FIG. 21 2111, 2112). 191
High density detection of the right oblique direction of the edge with the upper left direction as shown in 1 point higher the value of J ₇ of the sixth expression is the property that is continuous with the right oblique direction (FIG. 21 2113, 211
Four). High density detection of the left oblique direction of the edge with the upper right direction as shown in 1912 points larger the value of the sixth expression of J ₈ there is a property that is continuous in the left oblique direction (FIG. 21 21
15,2116).

On the other hand, J _1-
Values up to J ₄ increase. Furthermore, when the size of the halftone dot becomes large, continuity in a specific direction also occurs, so that it is erroneously determined as a character edge.

This halftone dot image has density symmetry as shown in FIG. 22-2 (details will be described later). In this embodiment, a means for extracting the feature of the halftone image is provided, and when the halftone image is determined, the detection result of the character edge is canceled.

FIG. 18-1 is a block diagram of the character edge determination unit.
In FIG. 18A, reference numeral 1801 denotes a density change detection unit;
Is a portion for detecting the continuity of density change for extracting character edges. Reference numeral 1842 denotes a halftone dot determination unit that detects that the pixel of interest is a halftone image, and has a halftone feature extraction unit inside.
1827 and a halftone dot area determination unit 1828 (the details of which will be described later). NAND when the dot detection signal DOT becomes “1”
The output of gate 1840 becomes 0 (when ATLAS = 0), and AND
The gate 1841 cancels the character edge determination signal EDGE0, and EDGE = 0. That is, even if it is determined that there is an edge, if it is determined that it is a halftone dot, these are excluded from the edge and the character edge determination signal becomes "0".

However, in a document such as a map, fine characters are written in a halftone image. Therefore, for example, if the map mode is selected by the operator via the operation unit 407 and the control unit 401 sets ATLAS = 1, the NAND gate is set.
The DOT signal is canceled by 1840, and the character edge information in the halftone dot is output as EDGE = 1.

Next, the density change point detection unit 1801 shown in FIG. 18-1 will be described below.

The image signal G is converted into a TXG signal by the signal conversion table 1826. The configuration of the signal conversion table 1826 is shown in FIG. 18-8.

In FIG. 18-8, there are two types of signal conversion tables 1881 and 1882. The relationship between the input and output of the table 1881 is configured as in the following equation.

Here, both the input and output of the table are 8-bit signals, and the signal values are in the range of 0 to 255. This table 1881
Is used for judging the character edge of a document in which various types of information including ordinary color photographs, halftone photographs, and characters are mixed.

In the first place, the character edge judging section separates character information in a normal document from other photograph information. Normal text information is often recorded on a white background. On the other hand, photographic information is recorded as a continuous change in density information, and there is almost no sharp change in density in a white background.

Therefore, in the table 1881, the level change of the information near the white background (level 255) is made large so that the character information in the white background can be easily understood. Then, in order to make it difficult to detect a change in the density of the background having a certain density, which is often seen in photographs, as a character edge, the level change of the information near the black background (level 0) is compressed. Therefore it is used range of 0 ≦ x ≦ 1 in the characteristics of the table 1881 in the y = x ^2.

On the other hand, the table 1882 does not perform input and output level conversion as in the following equation.

out = in This signal conversion table 1882 is for separating fine character information recorded in a color background such as a map. Therefore, input = output so that the character information in the color background and the character information in the white background are equally separated. The outputs of these two conversion tables are selected by the selector 1883 and become TXG signals. The ATLAS signal is input as a selection signal of the selector 1883. The output of 1882 is selected at the H level, and the output of 1883 is selected at the L level.

The TXG signal output from the selector 1883 shown in FIG. 18-8 is delayed by line memories 1803 and 1804, and three lines are simultaneously detected by the detector 1805 shown in FIG.
8) density change information AK1 to AK8
Is output. here It is 1 when there is a sharp increase in density in the right, lower, lower right, lower left, lower left, upper, upper left, and upper right directions with respect to the target pixel, and becomes 0 otherwise.

Here, T ₁ is the density change detection slice level in the main scanning direction,
T ₂ are the sub-scanning direction density change detection slice level, T ₃ is the oblique direction density change detection slice level is variably controlled by SEG signal ATLUS signals and 4 bits. The SEG signal is data input by the user from the operation unit 407 shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 20-1, the detector 1805 includes flip-flops 2001 to 2006, a difference calculator 2007 to 2014, and a comparator 20.
It consists of 15-2122.

 That is, flip-flops 2001 to 2006 in FIG.
At 1904 in FIG. 9 (b) by the image clock CLK.
The image data of the pixel shown in FIG.
~ 2014, the aforementioned J 1 to J₈Is calculated and the comparator
In 2015 to 2022, the determination results AK1 to AK8 are output.
Reference numeral 2023 denotes a density change detection slice level generation unit, and ATLUS
Signal and SEG signal as address,₁, T_Two, T_ThreeThe
This is a ROM table output as data. This table
Is shown in Fig. 20-2.

In this embodiment, the SEG signal changes in nine steps from 0 to 8. As this value increases, the slice level T ₁ ,
T ₂ and T ₃ also increase. As a result, if there is no large density change in the document, the density change signals AK1 to AK8 are not generated. vice versa
When the SEG signal value is reduced, T ₁ , T ₂ , and T ₃ are reduced, and AK1 to AK8 are generated due to a small density change in the document. That is, in this embodiment, the degree of density change detection is changed by controlling the SEG signal. ATLAS signal is 1
In the case of, the T ₁ , T ₂ , and T ₃ values are reduced to about half as a whole as compared with the case where the ATLAS signal is 0, and it becomes easy to detect a minute density change of the document. As a result, when the ATLAS signal is 1, minute character information of the document is also detected.

Referring back to FIG. 18A, reference numeral 1802 denotes a portion for determining that the sharp density change is continuous in a direction having an angle of 90 ° with respect to the direction of the density change. In this embodiment, the 22-1
As shown in the figure, the continuity of density change in a 5 × 5 pixel block centered on the target pixel is observed. For example, the 22nd
Reference numerals 2201 and 2202 shown in FIG. 1 indicate reference pixels when detecting a continuation of the edge in the vertical direction. This is a reference pixel in the case where it is detected that three pixels in which the characteristic of the density change of the peripheral pixels is AK1 or AK5 are continuous three pixels. Similarly, reference numerals 2203 and 2204 are reference pixels when detecting the continuation of AK2 or AK6. Reference numerals 2205 and 2206 are for detecting the continuation of AK4 or AK8, and reference numerals 2207 and 2208 are reference pixels for detecting the continuation of AK3 or AK4.

The reason why the pixel of interest is not brought to the center of the continuity check when extracting the sequence of density changes in the present embodiment is as follows. That is, as shown in FIG. 22-3, the pixels constituting the character end are also determined as the pixels included in the continuous edge.

In order to detect the continuation of the density change in the 5.times.5 area, the edges in eight directions for each pixel detected by the density change point detection unit are delayed by four line memories 1805 to 1808. The density change information AK1 to AK8, BK1 to BK8, CK1 to CK8, DK1 to DK8, and EK for five lines thus formed
Each of 1 to EK8 is delayed by one to five flip-flop pixels to check the continuity shown in FIG. 22-1. Then, the central pixel (CPU
3, CBT3, CLF3, CRT3, CUL3, CBR3, CUR3, CBL3) are detected as a continuation of three pixels, and an NOR gate 1825 outputs an EDGE0 signal indicating that the center pixel constitutes a continuous edge. Occur. For example, the gate 1809 detects that the features of AK6 are continuous in the form of 2203 shown in FIG. 22-1.

1810 also detects that the features of AK6 are continuous in the form of 2204 shown in FIG. 22-1. Similarly, gate 1811 is AK
It is detected that the feature 2 is continuous in the form of 2203. Gate 1812 detects that the features of AK2 are continuous in the form of 2204. Gate 1813 detects that the features of AK5 are continuous in the form of 2201. Gate 1814 is AK
It detects that 5 features are continuous in the form of 2202. Gate 1815 detects that the features of AK1 are continuous in the form of 2201. Gate 1816 detects that the features of AK1 are continuous in the form of 2202. Gate 1817 is AK
It detects that 7 features are continuous in the form of 2208. Gate 1818 detects that the features of AK7 are continuous in the form of 2207. Gate 1819 detects that the features of AK3 are continuous in the form of 2208. Gate 1820 is AK
It is detected that the feature 3 is continuous in the form of 2207. Gate 1821 detects that the features of AK8 are continuous in the form of 2205. Gate 1822 detects that the features of AK8 are continuous in the form of 2206. Gate 1823 is AK
It detects that the feature of 4 is continuous in the form of 2205. Gate 1824 detects that the features of AK4 are continuous in the form of 2206.

In this way, only the character edge portion in the character area 1902 shown in FIG. 19 is determined and output as the EDGE signal.

(Dot determination unit)

The halftone dot determination unit 1842 shown in FIG. 18-1 has a halftone dot feature extraction unit 1827 for detecting a symmetrical density change of a halftone dot as shown in FIG. And a halftone dot area detection unit 1828 that detects that a certain number or more are distributed in the area.

This is because there is a portion showing a symmetrical density change as shown in FIG. 23-2 even in complicated character information such as kanji. Although the symmetrical density change does not exist in a wide range in this complex character, the symmetrical density change is widely distributed in the halftone dot document, so in the present embodiment, the number of DOT0 signals in a fixed size area is set in this embodiment. To determine the halftone dot area.

FIG. 23-1 shows a determination pixel group for performing a halftone determination. As shown in FIG. 23-1, in a pixel group consisting of four pixels, each of which is indicated by bold lines 2251, 2252, 2253, and 2254, centering on the pixel of interest 2250, a characteristic density change is detected and the Detect points.

FIG. 18-2 shows the configuration of the halftone dot feature extraction unit 1827. 18th
In FIG. 2, the density direction signal DS from the character edge determination unit is shown.
Halftone dots are detected by L as follows.

The output of gate 1851 indicates that there is a downward density change of at least one pixel in pixel group 2254, and the output of gate 1852 indicates that there is an upward density change of at least one pixel in pixel group 2253. The output of indicates that there is at least one pixel upward density change in the pixel group 2254, the output of the gate 1854 indicates that there is at least one pixel downward density change in the pixel group 2254, and the output of the gate 1855 Indicates that there is at least one pixel rightward density change in pixel group 2252, the output of gate 1856 indicates that there is at least one pixel leftward density change in pixel group 2251, and the output of gate 1857 is pixel Indicates that there is at least one pixel of leftward density change in group 2252, and the output of gate 1858 is the pixel group 2251 indicates that at least one pixel has a rightward density change.

These outputs are logically operated by the gates 1859 to 1865, and as a result, the output DOT0 becomes "1" in four cases as shown at 2210, 2211, 2212 and 2213 in FIG. 23-2.

In FIG. 23-2, a symbol indicates that one or more rightward density changes exist in a pixel group surrounded by a thick line. Similarly, a symbol indicates that , Indicates that one or more pixels have a leftward density change, and the symbol indicates that one or more pixels have an upward density change in a pixel group surrounded by a thick line. This indicates that one or more pixels have a downward density change in the enclosed pixel group.

Note that the case shown in 2210 is a halftone dot portion shown in 2214 or 2215, the case shown in 2211 is a halftone dot portion shown in 2216, 2217, and the case shown in 2212 is , 2218,2
A halftone dot portion as shown at 219, and a halftone portion as shown at 2213, is a halftone portion as shown at 2220 and 2221.

FIG. 18-3 shows the DO generated at 1827 shown in FIG. 18-2.
The determination is made in a wide area with respect to the T0 signal to form a signal DOT1 indicating whether or not there is a point where DOT0 = "1" near the pixel of interest. It is a dot area detection unit.

Reference numeral 1831 denotes a determination unit for determining whether or not one or more DOT0 = “1” points exist in a 4 × 3 window including the pixel of interest. In this case, "0" is output as DOT0 '. Reference numerals 18311 and 18312 denote line memories, each delaying one line. DOT0 for three lines is input to the flip-flop 18313 at the same time.
The R gate 18314 and the flip-flops 18315, 18316, and 18317 each delay one clock, and their outputs are output.
Input to OR gate 18318 to obtain DOT0 '. At this time, for example, as shown in FIG.
As And 0 (□) are output in a mixed manner, a logical OR is performed on the pixel of interest indicated by 1851 within a 3 × 4 window indicated by 1852, and DOT0 ′ is calculated.

Due to this operation, it was sparsely present in the halftone dot image
The DOT0 signal is converted to a relatively continuous DOT0 'signal.

On the other hand, reference numeral 1832 in FIG. 18-3 indicates whether the DOT0 'signal is calculated over a wide area and indicates whether or not the pixel of interest is in a dot area.
Generate the T0 signal.

Reference numerals 18321 and 18322 denote line memories, each of which delays one line. 18323 and 18324 are calculators.

As shown in FIG. 18-5, the target pixel 1861 (sub-scan i
DOT0 'is sampled every four pixels in the main scan and every other line in the sub-scan for the (line, jth pixel in the main scan). One line before (the (i-1) th line), N is set to an appropriate integer (the following operation is performed in this embodiment; N = 16). One line after the pixel of interest (line i + 1) The above SUML1, SUMR1, SUML2, and SUMR2 are output.

Reference numerals 18325 and 18326 denote adders, each of which sums the sampling sum SUML of DOT0 'on the left side of the pixel of interest to SUML1 + SUM
Calculated as L2SUML, DO on the right side of the pixel of interest
The sampling sum SUMR of T0 'is calculated and output as SUMR1 + SUMR2SUMR.

18327 and 18328 are comparators, 18329 is OR gate, 1830 denotes a ROM table, in response to SEG signal 4bit inputted as an address and outputs the dot determination slice level value T _4. In this embodiment, since N = 16, halftone dots are detected in two areas of 5 lines in the sub-scanning direction by 4N = 64 pixels before and after the target pixel in the main scanning direction.

SUML> T ₄ or SumR> at least one of T ₄ is the DOT only when satisfied is output as "1" otherwise it becomes "0". The signal DOT is an area signal that becomes “1” in the halftone area as a result.

The contents of the ROM table 1830 are shown in FIG. 18-6. As the SEG signal value increases, the slice level for halftone dot determination decreases, and halftone dot determination is performed only when a density pattern as shown in FIG. 23-2 slightly exists in the document, and a DOT signal is output.

That is, in the above-described embodiment, in order to determine a halftone image, it is determined whether or not there is a dot continuous dot like a halftone dot in a 4.times.3 window. If there is the above, it is determined that the area is a halftone dot area.

What has been described above is the feature extraction unit of the first illustration 403. Next, a color judgment signal SL, U for each pixel from this feature extraction unit.
The operation of the color signal processing unit 402 and the color processing control signal generation unit 404 using NK, COL, CAN and the character edge determination signal EDGE will be described with reference to the color processing circuit of FIG.

Reference numeral 103 denotes a light quantity signal-density signal conversion unit which converts R, G, B signals in the 0 to 255 range into C, M, Y signals in the 0 to 255 range by the following equation.

The black component K included in the C, M, and Y signals is determined by the black extraction unit 104 as in the following equation.

K = min (C, M, Y) The density signals C, M, Y, and K of the four colors to which K is added are calculated by the UCR / Mask unit 105.
Is calculated by the following equation in order to remove the undercolor and remove the color of the developer of the printer 202.

Here, a _{11 to} a ₁₄ , a _{21 to} a ₂₄ , a _{31 to} a ₃₄ , and a _{41 to} a ₄₄ are masking coefficients for removing dust in a predetermined color, and u ₁ , u ₂ , and u ₃ are UCR coefficients for removing the K component from the M, C, and Y color components. Here, M ', C', Y ', and K' are set to 1 by the 2-bit developing color signal PHASE from the control unit 401.
One is selected and output as the V1 signal. PHASE signal
M ', C', Y ', and K' are selected corresponding to 0, 1, 2, and 3.

112,113, V ₁ signal and the M signal for delaying 3 lines and 4 clock component to generate a character edge determination signal from and feature extractor in the line delay memory is also one which likewise 3 lines and 4 clock delay.

On the other hand, the color judgment unit 106 delays two lines and two clocks until it generates judgment outputs such as BL and UNK. Signals BL1, UNK1, COL1, and CAN1 delayed by one line and two clocks are generated by the line delay memory 120 in order to match this delay amount with the delay amount of the character edge determination unit 107.

[Weighting adder]

Next, the operation of the weighting and adding section 114 to 116 shown in FIG. 1 will be described. FIGS. 24-1 to -7 show a color judgment signal and a character edge judgment signal for the "A" character read in various color states. 24-1 to 24-6 show the judgment signals of the cross section indicated by the letter a in FIG. 24-7.

FIG. 24-1 is a diagram showing a timing chart of each signal when a black "A" is read as black, and shows an achromatic density signal (hereinafter referred to as an ND signal). The M2 signal delayed by 113 is read more distorted compared to FIG. 24-7 due to blurring of the reading optical system. Edge signal is AK3
Due to the continuous change of concentration of AK7 and AK7, it is formed in a shape bulging from the end of the character. Only the BL1 signal is generated as the color determination signal.

Here, since the M2 signal and the EDGE signal indicating the ND signal use a green color separation signal, the outputs other than the green characters are substantially the same as those shown in FIG. In the case of green characters, the M2 signal and the EDGE signal are not generated.

FIG. 24-2 shows a case where an "A" character composed of color characters is read, and a COL1 signal indicating that the character is a color and a color pixel having a density higher than the own pixel exist around the own pixel. Is generated as shown in the figure.

FIG. 24-3 shows a case where a character "A" composed of intermediate chroma characters is read, and a UNK1 signal indicating the intermediate chroma is generated.

FIG. 24-4 shows a case where the character "A" composed of black characters is read with a color shift, and the BL1 signal is thinner than in FIG. Signal UNK1
Occurs. FIG. 24-5 shows a case where the character “A” composed of colored characters is read with a color shift, and compared to FIG. 24-2.
While the COL1 signal narrows, the UNK1 signal is generated at the character edge.
In addition, the portion corresponding to the outside of the character edge is also thinned due to the decrease in the portion of the CAN1 signal determined to be a color.

FIG. 24-6 shows a case in which a color character close to the intermediate saturation is read with color misregistration and a black judgment pixel is generated at the edge. In this case UN
The same signals as in FIG. 24-5 are generated except that the BL1 signal is generated instead of the K1 signal.

FIGS. 25-1 to 25-3 are enlarged views of the section a in each case of the black character, the intermediate-saturation character, and the intermediate-saturation character of the black character in FIG. Here, V2 indicates an example of an output signal of the circuit 105 when the development colors are M, C, Y, and Bk.

FIG. 25-1 shows a case where a black character is read, and since the UCR operates in the circuit 105, the color components of M, C, and Y are reduced to about 20%. However, since this character is a black character, it is desirable to record using black toner as much as possible.

It is desirable to reduce the M, C, and Y color components as much as possible in the intermediate saturation generated at the edge of the black character as shown in FIG. 24-4. On the contrary, it is desirable to reduce the K component in the intermediate chroma generated at the edge of the color character as shown in FIG. 24-5. Also, the black component generated at the edge of the color character as shown in FIG. 24-6 should be distinguished from the black character edge in FIG. 24-1.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the UCR / Mask circuit is used in accordance with the results of the color judgment signal and the character edge judgment signal as shown in FIG.
Color recording signal V2 (M ', C', Y ', K') from 105 and ND
Color recording is performed by appropriately mixing the signals M2.

In FIG. 26 (a), it corresponds to the black character EDGE in FIG. 24-1 and outputs a 0 signal (no development) when the developed color is M, C, Y, and a density signal M2 when the developed color is Bk. Is output. FIG. 26 (c) corresponds to the intermediate saturation edge of FIGS. 24-3 and 24-5. In this case, in order to emphasize the black component of the edge, half of M ', C', Y 'generated from 105 is output as a color recording signal V2 for the developed colors M, C, Y, and the developed colors are output. Is Bk
In the case of (1), a signal obtained by adding the K 'output of the color recording signal V2 and the density signal M2 by 50% is output. FIG. 26 (f) corresponds to the non-edge portion of the black characters in FIG. 24-1. Here, the M ', C', and Y 'components of the color recording signal V2 are divided by 3 / to improve the connection of the signal with the edge portion recorded in Bk single color.
4 to 3/4 of the K 'component during Bk recording and 1/4 of the density signal M2.
Is added. 26 (b), (d) and (g) show CAN1
The above-mentioned black enhancement operation is not performed by a signal.

Next, the change of the image signal by the calculation of FIG. 26 will be described with reference to FIGS. 25-1 to 25-3. V2 (M) is PHAS
It means V2 output when E = 0 (magenta development color). V2
(C), V2 (Y), and V2 (Bk) are V2 outputs for cyan, yellow, and black, respectively.

In FIG. 25A, a black character portion is shown, and a portion "b" is an edge portion corresponding to FIG. 26A.
The recording signal amount of Y becomes 0, and the density signal M ₂
Is output. The portion C is a non-edge portion of the black portion corresponding to (f) in FIG. 26, and the V4 signal V of the developed colors M, C, and Y
4 (M), V4 (C), V4 (Y) are V2 (M), V2 (C), V2
3/4 of (Y) and 3/4 of V2 (Bk) and M2
This is the value obtained by adding 1/4.

FIG. 25-2 shows an intermediate color character, and the d portion is an edge portion corresponding to FIG. 26 (c). Here, V4 (M), V
4 (C), V4 (Y) is 1/2 of V2 (M), V2 (C), V2 (Y)
Next V4 (Bk) is a value obtained by adding 1/2 and 1/2 of the M ₂ of V2 (Bk).

FIG. 25-3 shows a case where intermediate saturation occurs in an edge portion of a black character. The edge portion e performs the same processing as the d portion, and the non-edge portion performs the same processing as the (BL = 1) C portion by black determination. Is done. This reduces the color signal at the black character edge.

In order to generate the V4 signal shown in FIG. 26, multipliers 114 and 115 and an adder 116 are used in FIG. Then, the multiplication coefficient generator 108 receives the respective color judgment signals BL1, UNK1, COL1, and CAN1 and the character edge judgment signal EDGE, and generates multiplication coefficients GAIN1 and GAIN2 of the multiplier.

The multiplication coefficient generator 108 is formed of a ROM as shown in FIG. 27, and inputs a 5-bit decision signal BL1, UNK1, COL1, CAN1, and EDGE and a PHASE address as shown in FIG. Two gain signals GAIN1, GAIN of three bits each
Outputs 2.

FIG. 28 shows the relationship between the address of the ROM and the output. The gain signal here is obtained by quadrupling the actual gain, and is multiplied by the inputs V2 and M3 by the multipliers 114 and 115 after substantially multiplying them by 1/4.

FIG. 29 shows details of the multipliers 114 and 115. The 8-bit image signal is quadrupled and doubled by bit shift type multipliers 2901 and 2902, respectively. These are 3-bit gain signals GAIN (2), GAIN
(1) Addition is performed by the adders 2906 and 2907 selected by the gates 2903, 2904 and 2905 by GAIN (0). After that, it is multiplied by 1/4 by the bit shift type divider 2908 and 255 limiter 2909
All 9-bit data of 255 or more are rounded to 255 8-bit data and output.

The color recording signal V2 and the density signal M2 weighted and added by the color determination signal and the character edge determination signal as described above are input to the spatial filter 117.

[Space filter section]

FIG. 30 shows a space filter (11 in FIG. 1) in this embodiment.
7) is shown. The spatial filter in Fig. 30 is 3
This is an edge-enhancement filter using a Laplacian filter of × 3 pixels, and the Laplacian multiplier can be switched between two types, 1/2 and 1.

3001 and 3002 are line delay memories, respectively. Image signal V for three lines generated by this line delay memory
4, V42 and V45 are delayed by one clock at flip-flops 3003 to 3006, respectively. Here, the target pixel is V43, and V41, V
42, V44, V46 are multipliers 3007 to 30 to form Laplacian
It is multiplied by (-1) by 10 and added by adders 3011, 3012 and 3013 respectively. Further, the target pixel V43 is quadrupled by the multiplier 3014 and added to the output of the adder 3015 by the adder 3015 to generate the Laplacian L. This Laplacian L is multiplied by で in a multiplier 3016. In the adder 3017, the target pixel V43 and L / 2 are added to generate a weak edge emphasis signal E1. The adder 3018 adds the target pixel V43 and the Laplacian L to generate a strong edge emphasis signal E2. These two types of edge-enhanced signals and the signal V43 of the target pixel itself are control signals DFIL (1), DFIL
Selected at (0) and output as V5 signal. DFIL
When (1) is 0 and DFIL (0) is 1, a weak edge emphasis signal E1 is selected. When DFIL (1) is 1 and DFIL (0) is 1, a strong edge emphasis signal E2 is selected. 0) is 0, the image signal V43 to which edge enhancement is not applied is selected and V5 is selected.
Output as a signal.

This filter switching signal DFIL (1), DFIL (0)
The filter control signal generator generates a 2-bit DFIL signal consisting of

In the present embodiment, the black character edge portion is strongly edge-emphasized and the black character edge is output to the sharp. The edge enhancement is not applied to the non-character edge portion in order to prevent the color tone from being changed by the edge enhancement.
The character edge portion of the intermediate saturation and color is configured to apply a weak edge enhancement so that a change in color tone due to the edge enhancement is not so noticeable while recording the edge portion in a sharp form. If the CAN1 signal is 1, it is the BL1 signal and UNK1 signal generated by the color misalignment at the edge of the color character edge.
No EDGE emphasis. FIG. 31 shows a circuit of the filter control signal generator 109 shown in FIG. 1 for controlling the filter shown in FIG. The logical formula is shown in FIG.

In the FILTER circuit 117, the target pixel is delayed by one clock with respect to one line.
The signal is delayed by one line and one clock in the one-line memory 121 to become a DFIL signal. Similarly, the GAM signal from the gamma switching signal generator 110 and the screen switching signal generator 111
SCR signal from DGAM with one line and one clock delay
Signal and DSCR signal.

[Gamma conversion unit]

The gamma converter 118 shown in FIG. 1 performs image density conversion. The gamma conversion unit 118 is composed of a ROM as shown in FIG. 33. The 8-bit V5 signal subjected to the filtering is input as the address of the ROM, and the corresponding gamma conversion output is output from the data terminal of the ROM by the 8-bit V5 signal. Output as VIDEO signal. Further, as shown in FIG. 34, four types of gamma conversion characteristics can be selected by the 2-bit DGAM signal input to the address line together with the V5 signal.

In FIG. 34, the case of DGAM = 0 is the case of input = output, which is applied to a non-character edge portion. DGAM =
In the case of 1, 0 side, 255 for input of 0-255 as shown in the figure
Inputs corresponding to the j-section on both sides generate outputs of 0 and 255, and slope between them. The conversion characteristic becomes useless with the straight line. This means that a video signal with a lower density is output for a nearby input that is a low-density input, and a
A video signal with a higher density is output, and an intermediate density of 128 is output.
Since the density change of the nearby input is emphasized, the character edge can be recorded more sharply. This DG
AM1 is adapted to color character edges.

In the case of DGAM = 2, increase the value of j of DGAM = 1 to a larger k
In addition, the character edge is recorded in the sharp. However, since the linearity of the input and the output is lost, the color tone cannot be guaranteed. Therefore, DGAM = 2 applies to mid-saturated character edges.

In the case of DGAM = 3, the characteristic uses l which is a value larger than k, and is applied to a black character edge for which sharpness is required.

The gamma switching signal DGAM is supplied to the gamma switching signal generator 110.
The GAM signal is delayed by one line and one clock by the line delay 121. The gamma switching signal generator 110 is the third
As shown in FIG. 5, it is composed of a ROM, and inputs a color determination signal and a character edge determination signal as addresses and outputs a GAM signal as data. FIG. 36 shows the contents of the ROM table. Black character edge part (EDGE = 1, BL1 = 1) as described above
Is GAM = 3, and the edge portion of the mid-saturation character is (EDGE = 1, UNK =
1) is GAM = 2, but in any case, if there is a CAN1 signal indicating that BL1 = 1 or UNK = 1 due to color misregistration, GAM = 2 so as not to emphasize the character edge.
Set to 0.

[PWM modulation section]

The gamma-converted VIDEO signal is converted to a pulse width signal by the PWM modulator 119. Then, by controlling the lighting time of the laser 213 with the pulse width modulated signal, a copy output 406 having a gradation density expression is obtained.

FIG. 37 shows details of a PWM modulation circuit used in the modulation section.

The VIDEO signal is converted into an analog image signal AV by the D / A converter 3701. The image signal CLK synchronized with the VIDEO signal and the click clock CLK4 having a frequency twice that of the image signal CLK are used as the toggle flip-flop 370.
At 2,3703, the signal is synchronized with HSYNC and frequency-divided by 1/2, and converted into clocks CLK4F and CLKF each having a duty of 50%.
After these two clocks are transformed into triangular waves by the integrators 3704 and 3705, the wave height is adjusted to the output dynamic range of the A / D converter by the amplifiers 3706 and 3707, and the analog comparators 3708 and 3709 respectively output the AV signal and the analog signal. Be compared. Thus, the AV signal is converted into two pulse width modulation signals PW4 and PW.
After that, PW4 and PW are selected by the DSCR signal in the selector 3710.
Is selected as the laser drive signal LDR.

The operation timing of this circuit is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, a triangular wave TRI that integrates the clock 4F obtained by dividing CLK4 by 1/2
Reference numeral 4 denotes a triangular wave having one pixel cycle of the image. Since this triangular wave changes substantially linearly over the entire output range of the D / A converter, by comparing this triangular wave with the analog image signal AV, the AV signal is subjected to pulse width modulation with one pixel image period as one cycle. And PW4. Similarly, TRI is the pixel clock CLK.
The AV signal is pulse-width modulated by this TRI with a period of two pixels of an image as PW, and is made PW. The PW4 signal pulse-width modulated at one pixel period is recorded by the printer at the same resolution as the clock CLK. However, when an image is recorded with the PW4 signal, the basic density unit is as small as one pixel, so that the gradation expression cannot be said to be sufficient due to the characteristics of the electrostatographic process used for the printer.

On the other hand, since the PW signal reproduces the density in units of two pixels, the gradation expression is sufficient, but the recording resolution is half that of PW4.

Therefore, in this embodiment, PW and PW4 are switched for each pixel by controlling DSCR according to the type of image. Specifically, PW4 is used for the black character edge portion and the intermediate saturation character edge portion that require resolution. PW is used for the color character edge portion and the non-edge portion in order to emphasize the color tone. However, it has been experimentally confirmed that it is better to use the PW4 emphasizing the resolution for the color character edge even if the color tone is sacrificed for an original composed of thin color characters such as a map. The signal DSCR for switching between PW and PW4 is obtained by delaying the SCR signal from the screen switching signal generator 111 by one line and one clock by the line delay 121. Details of the screen switching signal generator 111 are shown in FIG. Also, a screen switching signal generator 111 for recording fine color characters by PW4.
Details are shown in FIG. The circuits shown in FIGS. 39 and 40 are provided in parallel inside the screen switching signal generator 111, and these two circuits are switched according to the mode input from the operation unit 407. This gives the DSCR in Figure 38
Is low in a portion corresponding to a black or intermediate color character edge portion (also a color character edge portion in FIG. 40), and PW4 is output as an LDR signal only in this section. At this time, even if the character edge portion is determined to be a character edge portion, a character edge portion having a color shift (CA
In the case of N1 = 1), the PW4 signal is not used in order to prevent the deterioration of the quality of the recorded image due to the enhanced color shift.

The laser drive signal LDR generated by the above processing is supplied to the printer 201 shown in FIG. Then, in response to this signal, the semiconductor laser 213 is driven by pulse width modulation in units of one pixel, and the laser light is line-scanned on the photosensitive drum 217 by the result.

As a result, the recorded image output from the printer 201 is the fourth
Figures 5-1 to 45-6 show the results.

The originals in FIGS. 45-1 to 45-6 are the same as the various characters in FIGS. 24-1 to 24-6. FIG. 45-1 is a black character image. According to the EDGE signal determined in the character peripheral portion and the BL7 signal determined in the entire character, the recorded image is subjected to different processing in the edge portion S and the non-edge portion P as shown in the figure.

Since the edge portion S has a strong black edge portion, only the black toner is recorded by the density signal M2 as shown in FIG.
Further, the strong edge emphasis shown in FIG. 32 is applied.

Further, the gamma conversion characteristic of DGAM = 3 shown in FIG. 34 is used. As a result, the black character edge portion is recorded as a sharp image close to a binary image due to the edge emphasis of the black toner single color being strong and the gamma characteristic having a steep inclination. In the S section, the DSCR signal shown in FIG.
The laser is driven by the WM modulation signal PW4, so that a high-resolution recorded image for each pixel can be obtained.

On the other hand, in the non-edge portion P, the V2 signal subjected to the UCR / masking color process is used to record the Y, M, C, and BK developing materials. Also, since a linear gamma conversion characteristic of DGAM = 0 is used, recording with a color tone and gradation faithful to the original is performed. In the P section, since the DSCR signal becomes High, the laser is driven by the PWM modulation signal PW having a two-pixel cycle. As a result, in the printer, a high-gradation recorded image is obtained because the density is expressed every two pixels.

FIGS. 46-1 and 46-2 show recorded images obtained by switching the pulse width modulation signal PW for every two pixels and the pulse width modulation signal PW4 for each pixel in the DSCR signal. 46th
FIG. 46-2 is an enlarged view of the portion a ′ (corresponding to the portion a of the original image) of the recorded image shown in FIG.

Here, the shaded portion is a portion recorded with a pulse width modulation signal of one pixel unit shown in 4601, and the solid portion is a portion recorded with a pulse width modulation signal of two pixels shown in 4602. When the laser beam scans the cross section a ', an SCR signal corresponding to the edge of the character is generated, so that the outer periphery of the character is recorded with a pulse width modulation signal of one pixel unit as shown in the figure.
As a result, the outer peripheral portion of the character becomes a sharp recorded image that is faithful to an original with little jaggedness.

FIG. 45-2 shows a recorded image for a color character document. As shown in FIG. 26 (e), the edge portion u of the color character recorded image masks the developed colors M, C, Y, and BK and applies the weak edge enhancement to the color signal V2 subjected to UCR, and further performs DGAM. = 1
Improves a little sharpness with slightly raised gamma conversion characteristics. Since the laser is driven by a pulse width modulation signal having a period of two pixels, the color tone (gradation) is faithfully reproduced although the character edge is less sharp.

The non-edge portion P is the same as in FIG. 45-1. No. 45-
The edge portion t of the recorded image in FIG. 3 and FIG. 45-4 is the edge portion for determining the intermediate saturation. In this part, as shown in FIG. 26 (c), only half of the V2 signal is used for the development colors of M, C, and Y, and a signal obtained by adding each half of the V2 signal and the M2 signal is used for the BK development color.

Weak edge enhancement is applied to this signal. Further, since the characteristic of DGAM = 2 is used as the gamma conversion characteristic, the signal change of the character edge is relatively rapid even if it is not the black character edge. The laser drive signal uses a pulse width modulation signal for each pixel in the t portion only when the BK developing material is used.

The color of the edge portion is maintained by recording the Y, M, and C developing materials using a pulse width modulation signal in units of two pixels.

As a result, the Y, M, and C developing materials reproduce the color of the t portion of the intermediate saturation, and the BK developing material realizes the sharpness of the character edge.

FIGS. 45-5 and 45-6 show the occurrence of an intermediate chroma component and a black component due to color misregistration around the color character. In this case, the processing of the edge section described in FIGS. 45-1 to 45-4 is all canceled by the CAN1 signal. This prevents the color shift component from being emphasized and recorded.

When the ATLAS signal is copied at 1, the EDGE signal shown in FIG. 45 is generated even with a slight change in density. Therefore, even in the case of faint characters or characters in color ground, black characters, color characters, and middle-saturation characters are recorded in a sharp as shown in FIGS. 45-1 to 45-4. Therefore, a sharp image can be obtained.

Next, the control unit 401 responds to the operation unit input shown in FIG.
The control operation for changing the ATLAS signal and the SEG signal will be described below.

[Map mode / Standard mode]

As described above, the map mode is a mode in which fine characters and characters with low density are easily determined as character edges. By selecting this mode, the control unit sets the ATLAS signal to 1.

As a result, the character edge judging unit 107 obtains the results shown in FIGS.
As described with reference to FIG. 2, a minute change in density is detected over the entire density range from white to black. In order to select this map mode, the operator has to enter FIG.
Press the image creation key. (Fig. 47 470
2). Then, the control unit 401 switches the display of the liquid crystal display unit from the standard screen of 4701 to the image creation mode setting screen of 4703 as shown in FIG.

In 4701, 4713 indicates the copy magnification, 4714 indicates the recording paper size, and 4715 indicates the set number of copies.

At 4704, the operator presses the 608 ▲ [▼] ▼ key 1
Each time the cursor is pressed, the cursor 4712 is lowered by one step. Key 60
When 8 is pressed three times, the display screen is switched to 4705, and when the key 608 is pressed twice five times in total, the cursor 4712 is moved to the setting position in the map mode.

Here, the OFF display is darkly displayed on a light background, and the ON display is lightly displayed on a dark background, indicating that the map mode is OFF (unset state).

Here, when the ▲ [OK] ▼ key 611 is pressed as in 4707, the control unit 401 identifies that the map mode is OFF and sets the ATLAS signal to 0.
Return the display to the standard screen as 4711.

When ▲ [] ▼ key 610 is pressed in 4705, control unit 4
01, as shown in 4708, the map mode OFF display is displayed brightly on a dark background, the ON display is displayed darkly on a light background, and the map mode is displayed darkly.
Indicates the ON state (set state).

Here, when the [OK] key 611 is pressed as in 4709, the control unit 401 identifies the map mode = ON, sets the ATLAS signal to 1, and returns to the standard screen of 4711.

When ▲ [] ▼ key 609 is pressed in 4708, control unit 4
01 returns the display to the state of 4705, indicating that the map mode has been returned to the OFF state. When the copy start key 602 is pressed on the screen 4711, the control unit 401 sets as described above.
The copy operation is performed by the ATLAS signal. When the copy start key 602 is pressed in each of the display states 4705 and 4708, the control unit 401
Changes the ATCAS signal in accordance with the display state of the above-described map mode, returns the display screen to 4711, and then starts the copy operation.

[Control of SEG signal]

Next, in response to a key input of the operation unit in FIG.
The operation of controlling the SEG signal for the character edge determination unit 107 will be described with reference to FIG.

When an asterisk key 612 is pressed like 4802 on the standard screen of 4801, the control unit 401 changes the display on the liquid crystal display unit to 48.
Change to the * mode setting screen of 03.

Here, when the operator presses, for example, the ▲ [▼] ▼ key five times to select the character / photo separation level 6, the control unit 401
Changes the display to 4805 and displays the cursor 4815 at the character / photo separation level position. Here, the operator presses the ▲ [*] ▼ key.
Pressing 612 or the ▲ [OK] ▼ key 611 changes the display to a screen 4807 for setting the character / photo separation level.

The character / photo separation level is divided into nine levels as shown, and each display position corresponds to a SEG signal value. At the leftmost position, SEG = 0, and as the position of the cursor 4816 shifts to the right, the corresponding SEG signal value increases by one, and when the cursor comes to the rightmost position, SEG = 8. In the display state of 4807, SEG = 4. ▲ [] ▼ like 4808
When the key 609 is pressed twice, the control unit 401 changes the display to 4809 and recognizes that SEG = 2.

When the ▲ [] ▼ key 610 is pressed three times like 4810 in 4807, the display is made like 4811 and SEG = 7 is recognized.

In each display state of 4809, 4811, ▲ like 4812, 4813
When the [OK] ▼ key is pressed, the control unit 401 outputs the SEG signal value and returns the display to 4814. When the copy start key 602 is pressed in each of the display states of 4807, 4809, and 4811, the control unit 401 also
The SEG signal value is output, and the screen returns to the screen 4814 to start the copy operation.

If ATLAS = 0, increase the SEG signal value to 18-18
As shown in the figure, the halftone dot determination slice level of the halftone dot area determination unit
As T4 becomes smaller, a halftone dot feature signal DOT0 is used to determine a halftone dot, and as shown in FIG. 20-2, it is extracted as an edge, and the slice levels T1, T2, and T3 become larger, making it difficult to extract a character edge. As a result, the number of portions recorded as a character edge in the recorded image in the sharp is reduced, and a process suitable for recording a soft photograph as a whole is performed. (Photo priority) Conversely, when the SEG signal value is reduced, T4 increases, the dot signal DOT is less likely to be generated, and T1, T2, T3 are reduced, so that character edges are easily extracted. As a result, the number of locations recorded as a character edge in the recorded image on the sharp increases, and fine character information is also recorded on the sharp. (Character priority) Even when ATLAS = 1 (map mode ON), T1, T2, and T3 change according to the magnitude of the SEG signal in the same tendency as when ATLAS = 0. Therefore, increasing SEG gives priority to photography, and S
If EG is small, character priority is given.

When ATLAS = 1, the DOT signal is ignored as shown in FIG. 18-1. Further, as shown in FIG. 20-2, each value of T1, T2 and T3 is about half or less compared to ATLAS = 0. Therefore, finer characters and characters in color ground are also extracted for the circuit of FIG. 18-7.

In the above description, the G color separation signal is used as the luminance signal of the color image signal. However, the character edge extracting means described in the present specification is not limited to the color reading signal alone, but can also be applied to a reading signal of a black-and-white original reading apparatus which does not perform color separation such as facsimile.

Second Embodiment The character edge determination unit 107 detects a character edge based on a level difference between pixels before and after a target pixel.

However, the optical image formed on the CCD 210 is blurred due to the deviation of the set position of the original image forming lens 209 shown in FIG. Due to this blurring, there are cases where the same character original can be detected as a character edge and cases where it cannot be detected.

In the best focus state of the imaging lens used in the present embodiment, an MTF of about 85% is obtained for the original in which the imaging lens used in this embodiment is in the best focus state, as shown in FIG. (Figure (b)). Looking at the variation during mass production, the average value of this MTF is about 55% (Figure (c)).

Furthermore, the worst value of MTF due to blurring is about 40% (d).

In this embodiment, since the original is decomposed at 400 dots per 25.5 mm per inch, 0.2 mm corresponds to about 3 pixels. That is,
The white and black pitches of the original shown in FIG. 49 (a) are also about 3 pixels.

On the other hand, in the character edge detection in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 19, a level difference at a distance of about 2 pixels is detected in order to see the level difference between the left, right, up, down, and slant pixels of the target pixel. Will be.

In the present embodiment, it can be barely decomposed by the sampling theorem. Using a document with a 3-pixel cycle slightly coarser than the 2-pixel cycle,
Has a edge slice level T ₁ of the detector, T _2, T ₃ and halftone area determining slice level T ₄ of the 18-6 diagram shown in 20-2 Figure by MTF value of G signal at its original variable .

The original in FIG. 49 (a) is black with a density of 2.0, but in an actual original, there are characters recorded with black information of, for example, a density of 0.2. In this case, the black level is about 170 and the range of black and white is This is 85 levels, which is 1/3 that of black information with a density of 2.0. In order to determine the black information having a liquidity of 0.2 as a character, the control unit 40 sets the value of 1/3 of the amplitude value W obtained by the measurement to the center value of the character / photo separation level in FIG.
1 generates a SEG signal.

In the case of MTF 55%, W = 145, so ATLAS at T ₁ = 1 / 3W
When S = 0, SEG = 6 closest to T ₁ = 48 is set as the center value of the character / photo separation level.

In the case of MTF 85%, since W = 215, T ₁ = 71.
Therefore, SEG = 8 corresponding to T ₁ = 80 closest to T ₁ = 71 is made to correspond to the center value of the character / photo separation level.

When MTF = 40%, W = 105 and T ₁ = 35, so SEG =
4 corresponds to the center of the character / photo separation level.

In this embodiment, the SEG value corresponding to the center value of the character / photo separation level is limited to five steps of SEG = 4 to SEG = 8, and each of them corresponds to five steps of CENTER values of CENTER = 0 to CENTER = 4. Let me.

When the CENTER value is 0 to 4 in FIG. 52, the control unit 401 corresponds to the display scale of the character / photo separation level in FIG.
Indicates the SEG value to be selected. Here, the character / photo separation level 1 indicates the left end of the display, and the character has priority. Level 9 indicates the right end of the display scale, and the photograph is given priority.

FIG. 53 shows a flow of inputting a CENTER value by a factory or a service person.

In the present embodiment, 5301, 5302, 5303 are measured and calculated by the operator, but may be made automatically.

The operator enters the character / photo separation level center value input mode by inputting the numeric keypad 604 and the asterisk key 612. Recognizing this mode input, the control unit 401 displays 5305 on the liquid crystal display unit 601. The operator inputs the CENTER value calculated in 5306 (in the figure, a case where 2 is input). The control unit recognizes the CENTER value by the ten-key input and displays it as indicated by 5307.

This CENTE is entered by the operator's ▲ [OK] ▼ key 611 input.
The R value is stored in a non-volatile memory (not shown). In the normal copy operation, the control unit 401 determines the character / character by the CENTER value in FIG.
Select the SEG value corresponding to the photo separation level input and set this SEG value
T ₄ generator 1830 and T _1, generated T _2, T ₃ generator 2023.

Note that the configuration of the second embodiment is almost the same as the configuration of the first embodiment.
The only difference is that the contents of the 23 tables are as shown in Fig. 50. T for ATLAS = 1 in Fig. 50
₁ through T ₃ value is a value determined experimentally so that more than half of the cases of ATLAS = 0.

The T ₄ value in FIG. 51 is the T ₄ at the same SEG value in the first embodiment.
The values are determined so as to be substantially the same as the values of ₁ , T ₂ , T ₃ , and T ₄ , and are experimentally determined as in the first embodiment.

As described above, in the second embodiment, the means for varying the character edge detection level corresponding to the blur of the optical system is provided, so that the same character edge determination signal EDGE is generated between devices having different MTFs in the optical system. Become like

Note that the present invention adds a memory for storing one line signal of the G signal in the horizontal configuration of FIG. 1, and further, instructs the control unit 401 that a human has placed the original of FIG. 49 (a) on the original platen. A means for identification is added, and the G signal of the document is stored in the memory, and the control unit 401 automatically sets the CENTER value in FIG. 53 using the maximum value and the minimum value of the signal value. .

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the provision of the means for varying the determination level of the character edge allows the photographic document to be erroneously determined to be the character document, thereby causing discontinuity in the density in the photographic recorded image or sharp high density. It is possible to suppress the occurrence of concentration dots.

Also, thin character information and fine character information can be recorded clearly.

In addition, characters in colored ground such as a map and characters in halftone dots can be clearly recorded.

Further, there is an effect that it is possible to compensate for non-uniformity in determination of a character edge due to a variation in MTF of a document reading and imaging lens between apparatuses.

[Third Embodiment] The area not determined as EDGE by the character edge determination unit 107 in the first embodiment includes a halftone original as shown in FIG. 1903. If this halftone original is read pixel-by-pixel using a CCD, moiré Hanawa occurs due to the regularity of the pixels of the CCD and the regularity of the halftone original. In order to prevent this, in the present embodiment, a filter circuit 117 is used for a document area (an area having a high possibility of a halftone dot) not determined as a character edge.
Is configured to apply smoothing. As the smoothing filter, a smoothing filter as shown in FIG. 41 is used which multiplies the target pixel by 1/2 and multiplies the surrounding four pixels by 1/8 and adds each.

FIG. 42 shows details of the FILTER circuit 117 in this embodiment.

Here, instead of the target pixel V43 connected to the A input of the selector 3020 and selected under the condition of FIG.
The SMG signal that has passed through the smoothing filter shown in the figure is selected.

In the adders 4201, 4202, and 4203, four pixels V41, V42, V44, and V46 around the pixel of interest are added. An adder 4204 adds a signal V43F obtained by quadrupling the target pixel V43 to the signal.

The result is reduced to 1/8 by a bit shift type multiplier 4205 to obtain a smoothed filter signal SM.

[Fourth Embodiment] In the present embodiment, the developing color using the pulse width modulation signal of one pixel period is limited to Bk (black) in the PWM modulator of FIG.

As described in the first embodiment, what needs a sharp character edge is a black character edge. In the case of a color character edge, the reproduction of the color tone of the document is more important.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 25-1, there is no M, C, Y toner in the black character edge portion. Bk toner hardly exists in color characters due to the operation of the UCR circuit 105. As shown in FIG. 25-2, the Bk toner and the M, C, and Y toners are moderately present in the intermediate chroma character edge portion.

In consideration of the above characteristics, in this embodiment, the pulse width modulation signal PW4 of one pixel cycle can be used for laser driving only in the case of the Bk toner in the character edge determination unit.

As a result, a black character edge originally having a small number of color components can achieve the same sharpness as that of the first embodiment, and a color character edge containing a small amount of a color component has only the Bk component recorded in the sharp, and the color component has a gradation. Since the tonality is maintained, color reproducibility is also guaranteed.

FIG. 43 shows a color processing circuit used in this embodiment. This circuit corresponds to FIG. 1, and the screen switching signal generator 4301
Is supplied with the PHASE signal. FIG. 44 shows the details of the screen switching signal generator 4301 in this embodiment.

The gate 4401 decodes that the 2-bit PHASE signal is 3, that is, the development color is Bk. The output permission signal of the NAND gate 4402 is used. The other gates in FIG. 44 are the same as in FIG.
The SCR signal becomes 0 only during the development color.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to improve the sharpness of an achromatic character portion while maintaining the tint of a color character portion by simultaneously performing character edge determination and saturation determination of a document, Removes dust on the color of the original, suppresses the occurrence of moiré in the halftone dot document, improves the sharpness of the character part, increases the amount of black material in the black character part, enables clear black character reproduction, etc. effective.

Fifth Embodiment In the first embodiment, it has been described that the intermediate saturation determination signal UNK and the black determination signal BL are generated by color bleeding around color characters caused by scanning speed unevenness and an imaging magnification error. .

The present invention is intended to find a black portion or an intermediate saturation portion of a document and use a larger amount of black toner when recording the portion to record a black or intermediate saturation image more sharply. is there.

For this reason, if an UNK signal or a BL signal is generated due to the erroneous determination due to the color bleeding described above, a large amount of black toner is used at the color character edge portion of the recorded image, resulting in an unusual image.

In order to prevent this, the first embodiment detects the presence of a color signal (COL) having a small light amount value around the target pixel, and
An AN signal was generated.

Then, even if the pixel of interest has an intermediate saturation or a black signal, as shown in FIG. 24-5 or FIG. 24-6,
It is determined that the color fringing is caused by color fringing around the color characters, and the processing shown in the table of FIG. 26 is performed to prevent a large amount of black toner from being used.

In the first embodiment, the G signal is used for detecting the light amount signal. However, a G signal obtained by reading a green original shows the same maximum light amount value as a white original. Therefore, the color shift component generated around the green character has a smaller signal value in the G signal than the green character component, and no CAN signal is generated. As a result, a large amount of black toner is used around the green characters in the recorded image, and the recorded image deteriorates.

Therefore, in this embodiment, a light amount signal that does not depend on color is used instead of the G signal for detecting the light amount signal.

 FIG. 55 shows a CAN signal generator in this embodiment.

FIG. 55 corresponds to FIG. 17-1 in the first embodiment. Then, an ND signal is generated in place of the G signal shown in FIG. 17-1, and the G2 signal, G3 signal, and G4 signal are generated by delaying the ND signal one line at a time in the three-line memories 1718, 1719, and 1720. ing. The signals of G2, G3, and G4 are input to the same operation unit 1722 as in the first embodiment to generate a CAN signal.

Here, the ND signal is a signal indicating the brightness of the document independent of the tint, and the color separation signals R, G, and B of the document are respectively multiplied by multipliers 4501 and 4501.
After being reduced to 1/3 by 4502 and 4503, they are added to each other by an adder 4504 to generate the data. Thus, the ND signal is a signal having all color components because the R, G, and B signals are added at a ratio of 1/3 each.

By using this ND signal as a brightness signal, the
The CAN signal transmitted from the 1722 is generated for the color generated around the color character of all hues.

As a result, as shown in the table of FIG. 26, the intermediate saturation and the black judgment caused by the color smudge are canceled.
Black toner is no longer used around colored characters.

Sixth Embodiment FIG. 56 shows an example in which dust covers two pixels when reading a color separation signal. In the figure, a black signal corresponding to one pixel is generated at the outer edge of a color character due to a color shift at the time of reading. Further, an intermediate saturation is generated at the outer edge by a slight color shift component.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the intermediate saturation judgment and the black judgment are canceled up to one pixel around the pixel where the color judgment signal COL is generated.
Can generate CAN signal. However, the 56th
The UNK signal two pixels outside the COL signal shown in the figure remains because no CAN signal is generated. As a result, the portion where the black determination signal BL is generated also generates the CAN signal, and therefore, as shown in FIG. 26, the UCR / Mask
The color signal V2 generated by the circuit 105 is recorded. On the other hand, since the CAN signal is not generated in the portion where the intermediate chroma signal UNK is generated, as shown in FIG. 26, the UCR / M
Only half of the color signal V2 generated by the ask circuit 105 is used, and the density signal M2 is added to the developed color of Bk. As a result, there may be a case where a larger amount of Bk toner is used in the intermediate saturation determination unit at the outer edge than in the black determination unit at the inner edge. Is formed.

Therefore, in the sixth embodiment, a CAN signal for canceling the BL signal and the UNK signal generated around two dots of the above-described color determination signal is generated. The configuration diagram is shown in FIG.

This figure is an alternative to FIG. 17-3 in the first embodiment. As in the fifth embodiment, the adder 4504 outputs the ND1 signal, which is the average value of the R, G, and B signals.
This light amount signal ND1 is delayed line by line by line memories 4701, 4702, 4703, and 4704, and the light amount signal ND for 5 lines is
1, ND2, ND3, ND4, ND5 are obtained. This light amount signal is calculated by the arithmetic unit 4705.
Is input to At this time, color determination signals COL1, COL2, COL3, COL4, and COL5 of five lines corresponding to each light amount signal are simultaneously input to the arithmetic unit 4705.

 FIG. 58 shows the details of the arithmetic unit 4705.

The light amount signals ND1, ND2, ND3, ND4, ND5 for five lines and the color determination signals COL1, COL2, COL3, COL4, COL5 are each delayed up to four clocks by flip-flops 4801 to 4812. Here, the target pixels are ND33 and COL33. First, similarly to FIG. 17-2, the comparators 4813, 4814, 4815, 4816 and the AND gate
It is determined by 4817, 4818, 4819, and 4820 whether there is a pixel whose light amount is smaller (higher density) than the target pixel and whose color is determined around the target pixel. This ends the check around one pixel of the target pixel.

Next, by the comparators 4812, 4822, 4823, 4824 and the AND gates 4825, 4826, 4827, 4828, whether there is a pixel whose light amount is small and whose color is determined, one pixel outside the pixel outside the pixel of interest. judge. This determines that two pixels having the characteristic of color shift exist outside the target pixel.

Further, the light amount level of the target pixel and the pixels around the one pixel are compared, and if the target pixel has a larger light amount value (lower density), the target pixel is influenced by the color determination pixels two pixels outside. It means that there is a possibility that the pixel is erroneously determined.

To see this, the output of the AND gates 4825-4828 and
The outputs of comparators 4813 to 4816 are AND gates 4818 to 4832
Matched by.

For example, the pixel ND23 one pixel above the pixel of interest and the pixel ND13 one pixel further above are compared in magnitude by the comparator 4821. If ND13 has a smaller light amount value (higher density) than ND23 and if ND13 is a color determination pixel (COL13 = 1), ND23
Becomes a color shift pixel of the color pixel ND13 and the AND gate 4825 outputs 1.

In addition, if the light amount value of the ND23 is smaller than that of the target pixel ND33, the target pixel ND33 is a color shift pixel two pixels outside of the color pixel ND13, and the AND gate 4829 outputs 1.

As described above, the outputs of the AND gates 4817 to 4820 indicating that a high-density color pixel exists outside one pixel of interest and the AND indicating that a high-density color pixel exists outside two pixels Each output of gates 4829-4732 is OR gate 4833-4
The logical sum is calculated by 837 and output as a CAN signal.

This CAN signal is equivalent to the CAN signal of FIG.
As shown in the figure, it is used to cancel the BL signal and UNK signal two pixels outside the COL signal.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to distinguish between a color component contained in the vicinity of the color edge portion of the document and an achromatic or intermediate chroma signal.

This allows the achromatic edge to be recorded in a sharp form using more black toner at the time of image recording, but without using unnecessary black toner in the color edge.
There is an effect that image recording with high saturation can be performed.

Particularly, in this embodiment, since a signal obtained by combining the R, G, and B signals is used for discrimination to the character edge portion, it is possible to effectively prevent, for example, black bleeding around a monochromatic green character.

Seventh Embodiment In the embodiment shown in FIG. 42, the smoothing process is performed in all areas other than the character edge area.
In the smoothing process, there is an advantage that moiré of halftone dots can be reduced, but there is also a disadvantage that image sharpness is impaired.

The seventh embodiment solves this drawback. As shown in FIG. 59, the character judging unit 107 sends the character edge area signal EDGE and the halftone area signal to the filter control signal generator 107.
DOT1 is transmitted, and as shown in FIG. 60 and FIG. 61, FiL (0) and FiL (1) are generated by dividing into four regions. FIG. 57, FIG.
FIG. 8 is a modification of FIGS. 31 and 32, respectively. Filter 117
Has four characteristics as shown in FIG. 62, and smoothing only halftone dots prevents loss of sharpness of an image other than halftone dots.

Eighth Embodiment In the previous embodiment, only the character edges were output in a single black color in consideration of the reproduction of black characters.

Even in the case of a black halftone dot, a method of faithfully reproducing the tint (= gray balance) of the black halftone dot by outputting a single black color is also conceivable. Then multiply the coefficient by 60
Shown in the figure. That is, with respect to the embodiment in FIG. 26,
As shown in (i), when DOT = "1" and BL1 = "1", black characters and black halftone images can be output in black only by outputting in black.

In the above-described embodiment, the present invention has been described by taking a color copying machine as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to such a color copying machine, but can be applied to other devices, for example, a scanner alone device. The image processing unit alone may be used without the scanner unit.

Further, in the present embodiment, as a method of switching the image processing, the spatial filter is switched, γ is changed, or the screen (line number) is switched, but in the present invention, these individual processes may be used.

In the present invention, an electrophotographic color printer is used. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention can be applied to other printers such as a thermal printer, an ink jet printer, or a bubble jet printer. .

Ninth Embodiment According to a ninth embodiment of the present invention described below, for example, the sharpness in each development color of Y (yellow), M (magenta), C (cyan), and Bk (black) Are set independently so that an appropriate value of the sharpness can be selected for each of M, C, Y and Bk.

In addition, the character sharpness and the photo sharpness are set independently so that an appropriate sharpness value can be selected for each of the character portion and the photograph portion.

Further, in view of the above-described problem, a character edge area is detected from the image signal having the density based on the continuity of the density change in the target pixel and its neighboring pixels, and a density change in a different direction exists around the target pixel. In this way, a halftone dot is detected separately from the character edge area, and the process is selectively switched according to the detected result and a mode selected by the operator's will.

FIG. 67, which is an overall block diagram of the present embodiment, is substantially the same as FIG. 1 of the first embodiment, and the description of the same circuit is omitted. As described later, MO
The D0 and MOD1 signals are supplied from the control unit 401 to the multiplication coefficient generation unit 108, the control signal generation unit 109, and the screen switching signal generation unit 111.
Is different from FIG.

[Description of operation unit]

FIG. 64 shows the details of the multi-view of the operation unit 1870 shown in FIG.

Reference numeral 601 denotes a numeric keypad for inputting numerical values from 0 to 9 when inputting the number of copies, zoom magnification, and the like.

A display panel 602 is a liquid crystal display panel for notifying an operator of the current machine setting mode, paper size, copy magnification, and the like.

A reset key 603 is used to initialize a currently set mode. For example, it is used when a desired setting cannot be performed due to an erroneous operation.

A clear / stop key 604 is used to stop the operation while the machine is operating, and to clear the numerical value set by the ten keys when the machine is not operating.

A copy start key 605 is used to start a copy operation.

A sheet size 606 is selected, and the selected sheet size (for example, A4) is displayed on the display panel 602.

Reference numeral 607 denotes a density key for adjusting the density of the copy from light to dark, and 608 denotes nine L keys.
The current density level is displayed by ED.

A document type mode selection key 609 is used to select a character mode, a photo mode, and a character / photo mode according to the type of the document.

610 is an LED, which is a character mode, a photo mode,
Indicates that text / photo mode is selected.
Only one of the three lights.

Reference numeral 611 denotes a control key, and an OK key 612, an up arrow (▲ [△] ▼) key 613, and a down arrow (▲ [▽] ▼) key 61
4, right arrow (▲ [] ▼) key 615, left arrow (▲ []
▼) A key 616 is used to move a cursor on the display panel 602 to set each mode.

An image create key 617 is used when processing and outputting an image or when adjusting various image processing conditions.

Reference numeral 618 denotes an asterisk key, which is used to determine a magnification according to the size of a sheet or to register a copy mode as described later.

Reference numeral 619 denotes a color mode key, which is a four-color key (Y, M, C, B).
Specify color mode such as k printing, 3 color (Y, M, C printing) and mono color.

A color selection key 620 selects one of an ACS (black and white / color automatic recognition) mode, a black (black and white printing) mode, and a full color mode.

Reference numeral 621 denotes a color selection display section, in which a lamp of a color mode set by a color selection key is turned on.

An area designation key 622 is used to designate an area using an area designation means such as an editor.

[About Sharpness]

In the present embodiment, the character portion and the photograph portion of the document can be automatically determined or manually set, and the sharpness and smoothness of the image can be independently specified for each of them. Each of these functions is referred to below as “character sharpness”
It is called "Photo Sharpness" and the designation method and the transition of the display panel are shown in Fig. 65. Specifically, “sharpness” can be obtained by edge enhancement, and “smoothness” can be obtained by smoothing.

Reference numeral 701 denotes a standard screen, and the normal display panel 602 displays this state.

Here, when the image create key 617 is pressed, various functions as an image create are displayed. Then, when the ▲ [▽] ▼ key 614 is pressed twice, the cursor on the screen is sequentially lowered, and the cursor is moved to the character sharpness line as indicated by 703, and the character sharpness can be designated. That is, by pressing the ▲ [] ▼ key 615 and ▲ [] ▼ key 616 in this state, the character sharpness can be designated in five levels from weak (1) to strong (5).

For example, in the state of 703, the character sharpness is the center (3) value, but when the ▲ [] ▼ key is pressed, the state becomes 704, and the character sharpness becomes (4). In this state, the ▲▲ [] ▼ key Press to return to 703.

When the ▲ [▽] ▼ key is pressed in the state of 703 or 704, the cursor moves to the line of the photo sharpness, and the photo sharpness can be designated by the ▲ [] ▼ key and the ▲ [] ▼ key similarly to the character sharpness. . (705,706).

▲ [OK] ▼ key 6 in each of 703,704,705,706
Pressing 12 returns to the standard screen 701.

[Description of Original Mode]

 FIG. 66 shows each original mode.

First, in the character mode, the main focus is on clear copying of a character original, and in the photograph mode, the color and gradation of the original are emphasized in order to realistically reproduce a photograph (including halftone dots).

In the character / photo mode, in an original document including characters and photographs (including halftone dots), the characters and the photographs are separated and the characters are sharp and the photographs are reproduced realistically.

Here, in most originals, if copying is performed in the character / photo mode, the photograph portion is realistically copied and the character portion is clearly copied, so that there is no problem. In such characters and the like, it is difficult to determine the character edge, and the character edge is recognized as a part of a photograph (halftone dot).

On the other hand, if a sharp edge portion exists in a photograph, it is recognized as a character, and the edge is unnaturally emphasized, which may make the image unsightly.

Further, when a character is drawn in a halftone dot as in a map, there is a possibility that the character is detected as a halftone dot image and the character cannot be copied clearly.

To cope with such an adverse effect, copy in the character mode, and all the character sharpness is applied.
All apply photo sharpness. Can be dealt with in the map mode as described above. By selecting the original type mode according to the original, a more preferable copy can be obtained.

FIG. 68 shows edge area determining means 1103 in this embodiment.
(FIG. 11) is a block diagram.

In FIG. 68, reference numeral 1801 denotes a density change point detection unit;
02 is a density change continuity and halftone dot extracting means,
Is a part for determining the area of the extracted halftone dot signal.
2 is the character edge area signal EDGE finally obtained by the continuous density change detected in 1802 and the halftone dot area detected in 10821.
Is the part that forms

Further, reference numeral 1871 denotes a CPU in the control unit shown in FIG. 1, and based on an operator's instruction from the operation unit 1870 (first stage 407), a CPU 1871.
The mode switching signals MOD0 and MOD1 as shown in FIG. 6 are generated, and the MO is supplied to the multiplication coefficient generator 108, the filter control signal generator 109, and the screen switching signal generator 111 in accordance with the type mode of each document.
Send D0, MOD1.

In addition, CPU1871 was determined optimally according to each mode,
The threshold data T ₁ , T ₂ , and T ₃ are sent to the density change point detection unit 1801.

FIG. 69 shows the structure of the density change point detection unit 1801. The configuration and operation of FIG. 69 are substantially the same as those of FIG. 20-1. In a 20-1 diagram in this embodiment, ATLUS signal, directly from CPU1871 in FIG. 60 in place of the ROM table for outputting data T _1, T _2, T ₃ the SEG signal as an address
The difference from the first embodiment is that T ₁ , T ₂ , and T ₃ data are set in registers 2023, 2024, and 2025, respectively.

Here, the CPU 1801 registers the optimum combination of threshold data (T ₁ , T ₂ , T ₃ ) for each of the character mode, the photo mode, and the character / photo mode according to the document type mode.
Set to 2023, 2024, 2025.

In this way, the appropriate AK1 to AK8 signals in each mode are output from the density change point detection unit 1801. That is, T ₁ ,
By changing the values of T ₂ and T ₃ , it is possible to change the strength of character edge detection, that is, the degree of capturing a character.

The above AK1 to AK8 generate an EDGEO signal and a DOT0 signal via a density change continuous detection and halftone dot detection unit 1802. The respective signals are input to an edge determination unit 18022 and a dot signal area processing unit 18021. The DOT0 signal is converted to a DOT1 signal at 18021.
This is the same as in the first embodiment.

 FIG. 70 shows the EDGE signal forming section 18022 (FIG. 68).

Reference numerals 1841 and 1842 denote line memories, which add a delay of two lines to EDGE0 and perform a period adjustment of two lines in the sub-scanning direction with DOT1. Reference numeral 1843 denotes a flip-flop. The main scanning cycle of EDGE0 and DOT1 is adjusted.
DGE0 'and DOT1' are output.

1844 is an inverter, 1845 is an OR gate, and 1846 is an AND gate. Here, the ATLAS signal is sent from the CPU 1871 and indicates that the mode is the map mode.

When ATLAS = 0, that is, when not in the map mode, the DOT1 signal is inverted by the inverter 1844, and the EDGE signal is
The 0 'signal and the AND gate are taken. That is, if the edge is an edge (EDGE0 '= 1) and not a halftone dot (DOT1' = 0), it is determined to be an edge (EDGE = 1).

On the other hand, when ATLAS = 1, that is, in the map mode, 1845 is always High, and the EDG is
Only E0 'is produced, and the influence of the dot signal DOT1' is eliminated.

That is, in the case of the map mode (ATLAS = 1), the effect of halftone dot detection is removed in character portion determination, so that even if there are fine characters on a color background such as a map, characters are not erroneously determined as halftone dots. , Can reproduce clear characters.

In such a map mode, character detection processing is performed by removing the effect of halftone dot detection.
This is effective in the text / photo mode.

 The description of the determination unit 107 ends with the character edge.

[Multiplication coefficient generation unit] As shown in FIG. 71, the multiplication coefficient generation unit 108 includes a ROM 2701, an AND gate 2702, a number gate 2703, and an inverter 2704.
It is composed of

First, EDGE '= EDGE by the gate circuits 2704,2703,2702
The EDGE 'signal is generated by the logical expression (MOD1 MOD0).
That is, the EDGE 'signal is a signal which is (character mode or character / photograph mode) and becomes 1 when EDGE = 1.
In other words, in the photo mode, EDGE '= 0 is always set, otherwise, EDGE' = 1 at the character edge
Becomes

The ROM2701 inputs four determination signals BL1, UNK1, COL1, CAN1, and EDGE 'and a PHASE signal indicating which toner among M, C, Y, and Bk is currently being used for development to an address. Two corresponding gain signals GAIN, each of three bits
1. Output the GAIN2 signal as data.

[Spatial filter]

Next, a space filter used in this embodiment will be described.

The spatial filter 117 adds characters obtained by multiplying the input image signal by weighting coefficients of peripheral pixels around the pixel (that is, a convolution operation with a coefficient matrix) to clear characters. It is possible to perform edge enhancement such as expression, removal of high-frequency noise, and smoothing such as removal of moire in a halftone dot image.

In the spatial filter according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 72 (a), the focus X _{i, j} (i: the number of pixels in the main scanning direction, j: the number of lines in the sub-scanning direction) is 5 × 5. In the window, a convolution operation can be performed on the seven pixels surrounded by a circle.

The coefficient matrix is shown in FIG. 72 (b), where R0-R3
Up to four types of coefficients can be set independently.

That is, (output) = R0 × (Xi _{, j-2} + Xi _{, j + 2} ) + R1 × Xi _{, j} + R3 ×
An output of (Xi _{-1, j} + Xi _{+ 1, j} ) + R2 × (Xi _{-2, j} + Xi _{+ 2, j} ) is output.

FIG. 72 (c) shows a block diagram of the filter 117. An input image signal V4 and a control signal DFIL to be described later are input, and a processed result V5 is output.

Reference numerals 301, 302, 303, and 304 denote FIFO memories, each of which gives a delay of one line.

, 317, and 318 are flip-flops. The input data is latched at the rising edge of CLK, a one-pixel delay is given, and the pixels required for the operation indicated by the circle in FIG. 72 (a) are extracted. .

319,320,321,322,323,324 are adders, 325,326,3
27,328 are multipliers for performing spatial filtering operation.

Reference numeral 329 denotes a coefficient generator, and the coefficients R0, R1, R of the spatial filter
2, R3 is generated, and as a result, the calculation represented by the expression (1) is performed and the result is output to V5. In this embodiment, fine adjustment of the coefficients from R0 to R3 is made possible, so that the image can be reproduced finely by spatial filtering. FIG. 72 (d) shows a block diagram of the coefficient generator 329. Show.

351 to 366 are 16 registers. R00, R01,...
Written and retained from 871. 367, 368, 369, and 370 are 4to1 selectors. Each is composed of the gate circuit shown in FIG. 72 (e), and has two bits as shown in FIG. 72 (f).
When the select signals (S (0), S (1)) are 0, 1, 2, and 3, A, B, C, and D of the four inputs are selectively output.

Therefore, in the spatial filter unit, the coefficient matrix can be switched in synchronization with the DFIL signal input in synchronization with the pixel of interest (= the pixel in question).

In the present embodiment, when the filter switching signal DFIL is DFIL = 0, 1, the photographic sharpness and DFIL =
In the case of 2, 3, a predetermined value is set in advance in the registers 351 to 356 so as to obtain a filter coefficient corresponding to the character sharpness. In the present embodiment, in order to obtain a coefficient matrix as shown in FIG. 72 (h), the operator inputs the values shown in FIG. 72 (g), whereby the values according to the value of the sharpness set by the CPU are obtained. The set of coefficients is set in each register. An operator can input a desired value for the sharpness from the operation unit 1870, and this value can be set to a different value for a plurality of areas by specifying an area as described later.

FIG. 72 (h) shows combinations of selectable spatial filters. The horizontal direction represents the strength of DFIL0 to DFIL4, and the vertical direction represents the strength of the sharpness (can be set to five levels in this embodiment). For example, if you look at Sharpness 3, DFIL =
0 means smoothing, DFIL = 1 means edge enhancement, DF
The degree of edge emphasis becomes stronger as going to the right to IL2,3.

Looking at the case of DFIL = 0, the smoothing is the strongest at the sharpness 1 and the degree of the smoothing becomes weaker as the sharpnesses 2 and 3 are obtained. Sharpness 4 applies edge enhancement, while sharpness 5 applies strong edge enhancement.

Thus, the greater the value of DFIL and the value of the sharpness, the stronger the degree of edge enhancement (the lower the degree of smoothing), and the smaller the value of DFIL and the value of the sharpness, the stronger the degree of smoothing (the degree of edge enhancement). become weak.

The above-described filter control signal DFIL will be described below.

[Filter control signal generator]

The structure of FIG. 73 of this embodiment is basically the same as that of FIG. 31, except that MODE0, MODE1 and PHASE (0), PHASE (1) are used.
In that the FIL (0) and FIL (1) signals are controlled in accordance with each of the signals.

That is, in the case of the character mode, the mode signal is MOD0 =
Since 0 and MOD1 = 1, the values of FIL (0) and FIL (1) are forcibly set to 1 regardless of the BL1 signal (black pixel) and the EDGE signal (edge), and NOD0 = 1 and MOD1 in the photo mode. Since = 0, the values of FIL (0) and FIL (1) are forcibly set to 0. In the character / photo automatic discrimination mode, since MOD0 = MOD1 = 1, the values of FIL (0) and FIL (1) are CAN1, BL as in FIG.
It depends on 1, EDGE, UNK1, COL1.

That is, in each document type mode, MOD0 = 0 in the character mode, and FIL (0) = "1", FIL (1) =
It becomes "1", and strong edge emphasis is applied to the entire copy, and character sharpness is applied.

In the photo mode, MOD0 = "1", MOD1 = "0",
FIL (0) = "0" or "0", FIL (1) = "0", and the photo sharpness is applied to the entire copy.

In the text / photo mode, MOD0 = "1", MOD1 = "1"
Then, FIL (0) and FIL (1) are switched according to the image area, and photographic sharpness and character sharpness are applied to each pixel.

In FIG. 73, when PHASE (0) and PHASE (1) are input and PHASE (0) = PHASE (1) = 1,
That is, this is the case of the Bk toner phenomenon, and FIL (0) =
When it becomes 0, the FIL (1) signal is always set to 1.
This is because, in the case of Bk printing, black pixels are reproduced more clearly when edge enhancement is performed more than in the other cases of Y, M, and C, and the image becomes narrower.

[About filter switching]

First, the correspondence between FIL (0) and FIL (1) values and FIL values is described.
This is shown in FIG. 74 (b).

Next, FIG. 74 (a) shows a filter switching signal FIL and an application state in each original mode. In FIG. 74 (a), in the case of the character mode, FIL = 3 in the entire image area.
Is applied.

In the character / photo mode, FIL = 3 is applied to a black character portion (Bk1 = 1 and EDGE = 1), and FIL = 2 is applied to a middle-color character portion (UNK = 1 and EDGE = 1). , Other flat departments (EDGE = 0) and chromatic departments (CO
When L1 = 1 and EDGE = 1), when developing with Bk toner (PHASE (0) = PHASE (1) = 1), FIL = 1
However, when developing with C, M or Y toner, FIL = 0 is applied.

In the photo mode, FIL = 1 when developing with Bk toner, and FIIL when developing with C, M or Y toner.
L = 0 applies.

Here, the value of FIL (DFIL) emphasizes sharpness in the order of 3, 2, 1, 0, and performs processing to enhance the smoothing effect in the order of 0.1.2.3.

That is, the filter of FIL = 3 is applied when sharpness is required most, and is applied to the entire image area in the character mode and the black character portion in the original in the character / photo mode.

The filter of FIL = 2 is applied when sharpness is required next to FIL = 3, and is applied to a character portion of an intermediate color in a document in the text / photo mode.

FIL = 0 or FIL = 1 is applied to the flat portion and chromatic portion in the character / photo mode or the entire image area in the photo mode, but the sharpness when developing with Bk toner is Y, M or C. By increasing the sharpness when developing with toner, it is possible to sharpen the entire image,
When developing with Bk toner, FIL = 1 is applied, and when developing with Y, M or C toner, FIL = 0 is applied.

As shown in the remarks column of FIG. 74 (a), FIL = 0, FIL = 1
In the case of, corresponding to the photo sharpness, the operation unit 1870
When switching the value of the sharpness to 5 stages by
The coefficients of the filters of FIL = 0 and FIL = 1 are switched in conjunction with each other by the CPU 1871. Similarly, FIL = 2 and FIL = 3 correspond to character sharpness and are switched in conjunction with each other.

In this way, the two cases of the photo sharpness and the character sharpness are linked and linked to each other, when FIL = 0,1 when the majority is determined to be a photographic image, and the FI
In the case of L = 2, 3, most of the images are determined to be character images. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the reproduced image from becoming unnatural by changing the strength of the sharpness in conjunction.

In addition, the setting of the strength of this sharpness is FIL = 0 to
Of course, 4 may be independently set. In particular, if you want to make the characters extremely sharp and the photographic part very smooth,
Such independent adjustment is effective.

[Screen switching signal generator]

FIG. 75 is a circuit showing the contents of the screen switching signal generator 111. The basic configuration and operation are the same as in the case of FIG. 39, except that the signals of MOD1 and MOD2 are
The difference is that they are sent.

That is, the OR gate 8006 and the AND gate 800 shown in FIG.
1,8002,8003,8005, in the case of character mode by the circuit of NOR gate 8004, MOD1 = 1, MOD0 = 0, output of 8001 is 0, output of 8002 is 1, output of 8003 is 0, 8004 Is always 0, the output of 8005 is always 0, and SCR is always 0.
That is, it is always printed in PW4.

In the case of the photograph mode, MOD1 = 0 and MOD0 = 1, the output of 8001 is 0, the output of 8002 is 0, the output of 8003 is 1, the output of 8004 is 1, and the output of 8006 is always 1. always
SCR = 1. That is, it is always printed in PW.

In the text / photo mode, MOD1 = 1, MOD0 =
The output of 8001 is 0, the output of 8002 is 0, the output of 8003 is 0, the output of 8004 is 1, and the SCR signals corresponding to BL1, UNK1, CAN1, and EDGE are the same as in the case of FIG. Occur.

That is, in each original type mode, in the character mode (MOD1 = 1, MOD0 = 0), SCR is always "0",
Always select PW4, for example, high resolution 400dpi (d
ot per inch).

Also, in the photo mode (MOD1 = 0, MOD0 = 1)
SCR = "1", always select PW, for example, 200
Printed in dpi.

On the other hand, in the text / photo mode (MOD1 = 1, MOD0 = 1), PW4 is selected in the black text area,
W is selected.

In this manner, an input signal enable circuit for driving the laser driver for printing in accordance with the mode signals MOD1 and MOD0 in high resolution and high gradation is formed, and printing according to the type of image can be performed. it can.

In this embodiment, the combination of the mode, the determination condition, and the processing condition is not limited to the above specific example.

For example, in FIG. 75, a map mode is separately defined in addition to the three modes in this embodiment, and MOD0 = 0, MOD1 =
When it is set to 0 (the other modes are the same as in the above-described embodiment), in the case of the map mode, if EDGE = "1" regardless of BL1, UNK1, and CAN1, SCR = 0 and PW4 is selected. The sharpness of characters unique to the map is maintained.

[Mode setting flow]

FIG. 76 shows the flow of mode setting in this embodiment.

If the mode selection key is pressed at 4301 after power-on (power-on), four document type modes (character, photo, text / photo, map) are sequentially switched at 4302.

In 4303, when the copy start key is pressed,
At 4304, MOD0 and MOD1 are set as shown in FIG. 42-1, according to the document type mode finally selected at 4302, and a copy operation is executed at 4305.

[Processing flow]

 FIG. 77 shows a processing flow in this embodiment.

If the original mode key is pressed in 4301 after Power on (power on), the original mode is switched in 4302 and 43
When the sharpness is set in 06, the value of the sharpness is set and held in 4307. At this time, the character sharpness and the photo sharpness can be set independently and separately.

If the start key is pressed at 4303, MOD0, MOD at 4304 corresponding to the original mode held at 4302
1 is set, and the values of R00 to R33 are set in the register at 4308 according to the value of the shearness held at 4307. Further, at 4305, a copy operation is performed.

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the image quality intended by the operator is realized by differentiating the image processing according to the mode selected by the operator's will and the detected image determination result. can do.

In particular, by changing the black character processing according to the mode signal, it is possible to finely cope with a photograph, a character image, a character / photograph mixed image, etc., and perform an optimum process for each.

The mode setting is not limited to the above example, and various modes such as a gloss mode and a mat mode can be considered. Further, the processing to be changed according to the mode is not limited to black character processing (character edge detection, halftone dot detection, etc.), but may be other various image processing such as changing a screen signal.

Although the present embodiment has also been described by taking a digital color copying machine as an example, it is as described above that the present invention can be applied to various other image processing apparatuses.

Further, according to the present embodiment, the M, C, Y sharpness and Bk
The sharpness of Bk can be selected independently of each other, and in particular, by enhancing the sharpness of Bk, an appropriate image quality can be obtained.

That is, since the sharpness of a plurality of color component signals including Bk (black) can be set independently, it is possible to improve the image quality, for example, to obtain an image with a black tint.

Further, according to the present embodiment, the sharpness of the character portion and the sharpness of the photograph portion can be independently selected, that is, the type of input image (for example, a character image, a photograph, and a character / photo mixed image) can be selected. Accordingly, the sharpness of the image can be set continuously and independently, so that an image with an appropriate sharpness can be obtained according to the use or preference.

The setting of the strength of the sharpness may be performed by a key input of the operation unit, or may be input from a keyboard when the terminal is connected to a computer.

Further, the setting width is not limited to the specific example of the present embodiment. Further, the size, type, and coefficient of the spatial filter may be freely changed.

Next, an area is specified for an image that is difficult to determine as a text part or a halftone part, and the discrimination capability of the character or halftone part is improved by controlling the determination unit for the specified area. A description will be given of an embodiment capable of performing the above.

[Operation unit and editor] Fig. 78 shows an elevational view of the apparatus of this embodiment. 702 is
This editor is also used as the document holder 200. When the diagonal two points 705 and 706 of the area are specified with the touch pen 704 on the original 703 placed on the editor 702, You can specify the area of the part.

 An operation unit 701 includes keys and a display unit.

[Area Specification] In this embodiment, up to four areas can be specified, and the document mode can be selected independently of each other.

An example is shown in FIG. 79.
, 803 (shown), and 804 (shown). The document mode can be independently selected for the other areas shown by the four areas. Here, the circled numbers ~ coincide with the order set by the editor, and the areas of and overlap, but the area specified later is given priority and the 79th
As shown by hatching in the figure, the four regions (1) to (4) are uniquely specified.

[Regarding Designation of Document Mode] The document mode can be designated independently in each of the regions to shown in FIG. 79 and in the other regions.

First, as for the area, when the original mode key 609 in FIG. 6 is depressed, the character mode, the character / photo mode, and the photo mode are sequentially switched and displayed on the display 610. When the document mode key 609 is not pressed, the default area of the apparatus is designated by designating the area with an editor. This flow is shown in FIG.

In FIG. 80, reference numeral 901 denotes a standard screen, and when an area designation key 618 is pressed, a screen like 902 is displayed.

Here, when the user presses the ▲ key, ▲ [3] ▼ partial processing is selected as in 903, and the screen of 904 is displayed.

In the state of 904, the contents of the partial processing are displayed, and when the ▽ key is pressed five times, the cursor moves to the original mode.
The screen becomes 905. When the keys are sequentially pressed, the document mode is switched cyclically in the order of character mode (905) → character / photo mode (906) → photo mode (907) → character mode (905) →. Switch to. Pressing the ▽ key in the state of 905, 906, 907 causes the screen of 910 to be displayed, and shifts to the selection of the map mode. In this state, switching between 910 (map mode OFF) and 911 (map mode ON) is performed using the keys.

When the OK key 612 is pressed in the state of 910 or 911, a screen of 908 is displayed. In this state, one area is specified by pressing the OK key 612 after specifying two points with the touch pen 704 and the standard screen. The screen returns to the screen 901.

If four areas are designated, the above operation may be repeated four times.

Further, the ON / OFF of the map mode corresponding to FIG. 79 is performed by pressing the key ▽ several times after pressing the image create key 619 in FIG. 6 to display the screen 910 in FIG. Press the OK key to switch to the standard screen 901
Return to

Further, in the character mode and the character / photo mode, a map mode can be newly set in order to make characters more clearly. (FIG. 44) [Mode Setting Flow] FIG. 81 shows a document mode setting flow in this embodiment.

At 4306, when an area as shown in FIG. 80 is set, 4037
The document mode in the area is set.

Next, when the mode selection key is pressed in 4301, the four original type modes (character, photograph, character / photo, map) are sequentially switched in 4302. If the copy start key is pressed at 4303, MOD0 and 1 are set at 4304 as shown in FIG. 42-1 according to the document type mode finally selected at 4302, and the copy operation is performed at 4305. Is executed.

[Signal Flow] Next, the overall signal flow in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 82 is a modified example of FIG. 4, and the parts common to FIG. 4 are indicated by the same reference numerals.

In FIG. 82, a CPU 406 obtains an area and an original mode input in each area from the editor 702 and the operation unit 701 by the above-described method.

An address generation circuit 407 generates a main scanning address (Y address) and a sub scanning address (X address) according to a synchronization signal. 408 is an area signal generator,
MOD0, MOD1, ATRA shown in Fig. 44 in synchronization with the original scan
The S signal is generated, the ATRAS signal is input to the feature extraction unit 403, and the MOD0 and MOD1 are input to the color processing signal control generation unit 404.

[Area Signal Generation Unit] FIG. 84 shows details of the address generation circuit 407 and the area signal generation unit 408. Reference numerals 1001 and 1002 denote up-counters, which generate addresses corresponding to pixels in the main scan Y and the sub-scan X as shown in FIG. Reference numerals 1003 to 1006 denote window comparators which are compared with values set in advance by the CPU to determine whether or not they are within a designated area.

FIG. 84 shows the inside of the window comparators 1003 to 1006 shown in FIG. 83.Comparators 10101 to 10104, registers 10105 to 10108, and registers 10105 to 10108 remaining from the AND gate 10109 have an area designated in advance by the CPU. The corresponding values are set.

In other words, the upper limit of the main scan is set in 10105, the lower limit of the main scan is set in YU10106, the upper limit of the subscan is set in YL10107, and the lower limit of the subscan is set in XU10108. It becomes 1 only when <X <XU and YL <Y <YU, and generates a signal as to whether or not it is within the rectangular area.

In FIG. 83, 1003, 1004, 1005, and 1006 are
In FIG. 9, it is determined whether or not each of the areas is within the area of,,, and inverters 1008, 1009, 1010, and AND gate
According to 1011, 1012, and 1013, the process of the later designation priority is performed, and as a result, A4, A3, A2, and A1 become “1” corresponding to each of the areas shown in FIG. There is no.

Reference numeral 1014 denotes a register directly connected to the CPU. ATRAS, MOD0, and MOD1 corresponding to the modes in the five areas of,,, and in FIG. 79 are preset, and the inverters 1015 to 1018 and the AND gate 1019 to 1023, OR
MO corresponding to each area of ~ by gate 1024
D0, MOD1, and ATRAS signals are output.

[Another Embodiment of FIG. 82] FIG. 86 shows another embodiment of the embodiment shown in FIG.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 82, designation is made for four rectangular areas, but the shape and number of the areas are not limited to this.

In the embodiment of FIG. 86 described below, an area of an arbitrary shape can be specified regardless of the number. 86th
In the figure, 4601 is a CPU, 4602 is an editor,
A non-rectangular area and a mode can be set together with the operation unit 4603.

 The result is written to bitmap memory 4605.

The bit map memory 4605 has a 3-bit search direction, and each bit corresponds to the aforementioned MOD0, MOD1, and ATRAS. 4606 is the same address generator as 407, and 460
3 and 4604 are selectors. The part shown in FIG.
These correspond to 408, 406, 701, and 702 in FIG.

First, the CPU 4601 can freely access the bit map memory 4605 by selecting the selectors 4603 and 4604 to the B side, and corresponds to the non-rectangular area specified by the editor 4062, and stores the mode MO in the bit map memory 4605.
Expand D0, MOD1, ATRAS and write.

Next, the CPU selects the selectors 4603 and 4604 to the A side, accesses the bit map memory 4605 with the address generated by the address generator 4606, and reads out MOD0, MOD1, and ATRAS which have been written in advance. can do.

[Other Embodiments] In the embodiments of FIGS. 82 and 86, the original mode (each mode of characters, characters / photographs, and photographs) and the map mode are specified for each area, but the present invention is not limited to these modes. , Other parameters may be set.

An embodiment according to FIGS. 87 (a) and 87 (b) is shown. No.
87, the same screens as those in FIG. 80 are indicated by the same numbers. Screen for selecting ON / OFF of map mode as in Fig. 87
When the ▼ key is pressed at 910 and 911, 4 in FIG. 87 (b)
The screen moves to 703 and the cursor moves to the character sharpness.
The character sharpness designation is increased by one key (4703 → 47
04) The key reduces the character sharpness by one (4704
→ 4703) Character sharpness can be specified in five stages.

If the user presses the ▽ key in the state of 4703 or 4704, the cursor moves to the photo sharpness, and the photo sharpness can be designated in five steps with the keys similarly to the case of 4703 and 4704. (47
05, 4706) When the ▽ key is pressed in the state of 4705/40706, the character /
The separation level of the photograph can be set, and can be specified in nine levels by using the keys. (4707, 4708) In any of the cases 4703 to 4708, if the OK key is pressed, the routine goes to 908 in FIG. 87 (a) to wait for area designation. (By repeating the above operation, the number of areas can be specified without limitation.) In the area shown in FIG. 79, the character / photo separation level and the sharpness can be specified by a normal operation outside the specified area.

Also, as shown in FIG. 88, the CPU 406
MOD0, MOD
1. The ATRAS signal may be generated.

Further, the CPU sets R00 to R33 to configure a filter corresponding to the value of the character sharpness / photograph sharpness of each area.
To the 402, and according to the value of the character / photo separation level, T
The values of 1, T2 and T3 are sent to 403.

FIG. 89 shows the processing flow. In 4901, when an area is designated, in 4902, a mode (character, character / photo, photograph, map, sharpness, character / photo separation level) is designated in the designated area. You.

When the mode is switched by normal key operation in 4903, the mode (text,
(Text / shape, map, sharpness, separation level).

If the start key is pressed at 4905, at 4907, T1, T2, and T3 are set according to the character / photo separation level, and R00 to R33 are set to the original mode during the copy operation in accordance with the character / photo separation level. MOD0, MOD1, ATRAS depending on
Is output.

In the embodiment described above with reference to FIG. 78 and subsequent figures, by changing the character / photo discrimination determination criterion within the specified area, even if the target image is erroneously detected in the character / photo discrimination, an area may be detected. Even if there is, such a range is specified in advance, and a good image can be determined by inputting a determination criterion that makes a good determination within the range.

In this embodiment, the reference for character / photo discrimination is changed. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the above-described character mode or photo mode is uniquely set for a specific area without performing character / photo discrimination. You may do. In this embodiment, the target image is a color image, and a halftone color image is often processed. Therefore, by combining the above-described area designation and control of character / photo discrimination, an extremely accurate image area can be obtained. A determination can be made.

Further, in this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 87 (a) and 87 (b), within the range specified by the area, the set character sharpness and the photo sharpness of the map mode can be set independently, so that the emphasis in the target image is enhanced. For a desired area, for example, a character part in an image in which characters and photos are superimposed and mixed like a product catalog, specify such an area and set the character sharpness to be stronger for this area, or set a map By specifying the mode, a desired image in which the edge of the character portion is emphasized can be obtained.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to claim 1, a determination unit that determines the characteristics of an image determines whether the image is easily determined to be a line drawing,
Operating means for manually instructing the criterion by the determining means to set whether or not to be easily determined to be a halftone image,
Control means for controlling the determination by the determination means in accordance with the determination criterion instructed by the operation means.According to the preference of the operator, it is easy to determine that the image is a line image, or it is determined that the image is a halftone image. It is possible to set whether to make it easier.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the first aspect, an area designating means capable of designating a plurality of areas on an image, and a criterion designating means capable of setting the edge criterion for each area designated by the area designating means Because of the means, it is possible to set, for each region on the image, whether to easily determine a line image or a halftone image according to the preference of the operator.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a circuit block according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of a copying apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a circuit block diagram of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing waveforms of clocks CLK and CLK4 shown in FIG. 4, and FIG. 6 is a copy of FIG. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a display unit of the apparatus, FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an area processing unit shown in FIG. 11, and FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the block shown in FIG. The figure shows the state of color fringing. FIG. 11 shows the color judgment unit 106 and the character edge judgment unit 107 shown in FIG.
FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the relative sensitivity of R, G, B of the sensor 210, and FIG. 13 is a pixel color judgment unit 1101 in the color judgment unit 106 shown in FIG.
14-1 and FIG. 14-2 are block diagrams showing the configuration and operation of the MAX / MiN detection circuit shown in FIG. 13. FIG. 15-1 and FIG. FIG. 13 shows the configuration and operation of each selector shown in FIG. 13. FIGS. 16-1 and 16-2 show the pixel color determination unit 1101 shown in FIG.
FIG. 17-1 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the CA included in the area processing unit shown in FIG.
FIG. 17-2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the arithmetic unit 1722 shown in FIG. 17-1. FIG. 18-1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the character edge determination unit 107. Fig. 18-2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the halftone dot feature extraction unit 1827 shown in Fig. 18-1. Fig. 18-3 is the configuration of the halftone dot area determination unit 1828 shown in Fig. 18-1. 18-4, 18-5 are diagrams for explaining the operation of the circuit shown in FIG. 18-3, and FIG. 18-6 is a table 1830 of FIG. 18-3. FIG. 18-7 is a diagram showing the configuration of the signal conversion table 1826 shown in FIG. 18-1, FIG. 19 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the character edge determination unit, and FIG. FIG. 20-2 is a block diagram showing the internal structure of 1805, FIG. 20-2 is a diagram showing the relationship between the input address and output data of the table 2023 shown in FIG. 20-1, and FIG. 21 is 1905 shown in FIG. FIG. 22 shows a typical dot arrangement showing the pattern shown in 1912, FIG. 22-1 shows a detection pattern for detecting the dot arrangement shown in FIG. 21, and FIG. FIG. 23-1 is a diagram showing a state of halftone dot determination, FIG. 23-2 is a diagram for explaining the operation of halftone dot determination, FIG. 24-1, FIG. Figure 24-3, Figure 24-4, Figure
FIGS. 24-5, 24-6, and 24-7 show the output of the feature extraction unit 403 when various characters are read. FIGS. 25-1, 25-2, and 25- Fig. 3 shows 24-1
FIG. 24, FIG. 24-3, and an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 24-4. FIG. 26 is a diagram showing operations of the multipliers 114 and 115, the adder 116, and the multiplication coefficient generator shown in FIG. Is a diagram showing the configuration of the multiplication coefficient generator 108 shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 28 is a diagram showing the relationship between the input address and output of the ROM shown in FIG. 27, and FIG. 29 is a diagram showing the configuration of the multiplier shown in FIG. FIG. 30, FIG. 30 is a diagram showing the internal configuration of the filter 117 shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 31 is a diagram showing the configuration of the filter control signal generator 109 shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 32 is a gate circuit shown in FIG. FIG. 33 is a diagram showing the configuration of the gamma converter 118 shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 34 is a diagram showing the relationship between the input and output of the ROM shown in FIG. 33, and FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a gamma switching signal generator 110 shown in FIG. 36, FIG. 36 is a diagram showing the relationship between the input and output of the ROM shown in FIG. 35, and FIG. Show 38 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of each block shown in FIG. 37. FIG. 39 is a block diagram showing details of the inside of the screen switching signal generator 111 shown in FIG. FIG. 41 is a block diagram showing the details of the inside of the screen switching signal generator 111 when recording a fine color character, FIG. 41 is a diagram showing the positional relationship between the target pixel and peripheral pixels, and FIG. 42 is a filter shown in FIG. FIG. 43 is a diagram showing another configuration example of the circuit 117, FIG. 43 is a diagram showing another configuration example of the color processing circuit using the filter shown in FIG. 42, and FIG. 44 is a diagram of the screen switching signal generator 4301 of FIG. 43. FIG. 45-1, FIG. 45-2, FIG. 45-3, FIG. 45-4, FIG.
FIGS. 45-5 and 45-6 are diagrams corresponding to FIGS. 24-1 to 24-6, respectively, and are timing charts showing the characteristics of each detection signal, FIGS. 46-1 and 46-. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing further details of FIG. 45-1, FIGS. 47 and 48 are diagrams showing display examples of the operation unit shown in FIG. 6, FIG. 49 is a diagram showing an MTF of an output of the CCD 201, 50 is a diagram showing another example of the contents of the table 2023 in FIG. 20-1, FIG. 51 is a diagram showing another example of the contents of the table 1830 shown in FIG. 18-3, and FIG. 48 A diagram showing the SEG value selected by the control unit 401 corresponding to the display scale of the character / photo separation level in FIG. 4807, FIG. 53 is a diagram showing an input flow of the CENTER value, FIG. 54 is another diagram in FIG. FIG. 55 and FIG. 57 are block diagrams showing another embodiment of FIG. 17-1, FIG. 56 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment of FIG. 57, FIG. FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of FIG. 17-2. You. 59, FIG. 60, FIG. 61, FIG. 62, and FIG.
FIG. 31, FIG. 32, FIG. 42, and FIG. 26 show modified examples of FIG. 64, FIG. 64 is an external view of the operation unit, FIG. 65 is a diagram for explaining the sharpness setting, and FIG. FIG. 67 is an overall block diagram of the ninth embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 68 is a basic block diagram of the ninth embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 69 is a block diagram of the density change point detecting section. Circuit diagram, FIG. 70 is a circuit diagram of an edge determination unit, FIG. 71 is a circuit diagram of a multiplication coefficient generation unit, FIG. 72 is a diagram illustrating a spatial filter, FIG. 73 is a circuit diagram of a filter control signal generation unit, 74 is a diagram for explaining filter switching, FIG. 75 is a circuit diagram of a screen switching signal generator, FIG. 76 is a flowchart for setting a mode, FIG. 77 is a flowchart for setting a sharpness value, and FIG. 78 is an area FIG. 79 is a diagram showing an operation unit for performing designation, FIG. 79 is a diagram showing an example of an area designated by the operation unit shown in FIG. 78, FIG. 80 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the operation unit shown in FIG. 78, FIG. 81 is a flowchart showing an operation input procedure of the operation unit of FIG. 80, and FIG. 82 is another example of FIG. FIG. 78 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an apparatus having an operation unit shown in FIG. 78, FIG. 83 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of an address generator 407 and an area signal generator 408 shown in FIG. 82, and FIG. 85 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of 1003 to 1006, FIG. 85 is a diagram showing the main scanning direction and sub-scanning direction on the digitizer in FIG. 78, and FIG. 86 is another example of the area signal generator shown in FIG. 87 (a) and 87 (b) are flow charts showing another example of the flow chart of FIG. 80, FIG. 88 is a block diagram showing still another example of FIG. 82, FIG. 89 Is a flowchart showing another example of FIG. 81. 210 CCD sensor 403 Feature determination circuit 108 Multiplication coefficient generator 115, 114 Multiplier 116 Adder 117 Filter 118 Gamma conversion

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H04N 1/40-1/409 H04N 1/46 H04N 1/60 G06T 7/00

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] A determining means for determining characteristics of an image; an operation of manually instructing a determining criterion by the determining means to set whether the image is easily determined to be a line drawing or a halftone image. An image processing apparatus comprising: a control unit configured to control a determination by the determination unit in accordance with a determination criterion instructed by the operation unit. 2. A determination means for determining characteristics of an image, an operation for manually instructing a determination criterion by the determination means to set whether the image is easily determined as a line drawing or a halftone image. Means, according to a criterion instructed by the operating means, control means for controlling the determination by the determining means, the operating means, an area specifying means capable of specifying a plurality of areas on the image, An image processing apparatus comprising: a determination criterion specifying unit configured to set the determination criterion for each area specified by the area specifying unit.