JP4454550B2 - Image processing apparatus and defect image correction method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and a defect image correction method, and more particularly, an image processing apparatus having a function of adding image data acquired by scanning a document to an e-mail and transmitting the image data, and a defect of the image processing apparatus The present invention relates to an image correction method.

  Conventionally, when image data is transmitted by a function of sending image data acquired by scanning a document by adding it to an e-mail (so-called scan to E-mail), and the receiving side finds a defect in the image data, the receiving side It was necessary to correct the troubled part or to request the transmission side to retransmit the image data, which took time and effort on the reception side.

  To deal with the above problem, for example, in Patent Document 1, if image data received by the receiving facsimile apparatus is decoded and it is determined that the image quality is poor, the transmitting facsimile apparatus does not require operator intervention. An image data that can be received again is disclosed.

This is because the reception side facsimile apparatus includes an image quality check circuit for determining whether the decoded image data is good or bad, and if the image quality check circuit determines that the image quality is poor, a retransmission request signal is sent to the transmission side facsimile apparatus. To send. On the other hand, the transmission-side facsimile apparatus stores the image data transmitted to the reception-side facsimile apparatus in the code memory, and when receiving a retransmission request signal, transmits the image data stored in the code memory to the reception-side facsimile apparatus. As a result, the reception side facsimile apparatus can re-receive the image data from the transmission side facsimile apparatus without operator intervention when it is determined that the image quality is poor when the received image data is decoded.
JP-A-3-52378

  However, in the invention described in Patent Document 1, since image data is simply retransmitted when there is an image quality defect, for example, it is corrected even if there is a problem such as an image being tilted or having black streaks in the image. It was never done.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and in an image processing apparatus having a function of transmitting image data acquired by scanning a document by adding it to an e-mail, the image data transmitted to the receiving side When there is a defect, the object is to receive a reply mail including the contents of the defect from the receiving side, modify the image data based on the result of analyzing the reply mail, and retransmit the image data.

In order to solve the above-described problem, a first technical means of the present invention is an image processing apparatus including a document reading unit that reads a document and acquires image data, and a storage unit that stores the acquired image data. An e-mail transmission unit that adds image data acquired by the document reading unit to an e-mail and transmits the e-mail to a destination computer, a reply e-mail analysis unit that analyzes a reply e-mail returned from the destination computer, select the image data corresponding to the image identification information included in the reply mail from the storage unit, and an image correction means for correcting, based defect of the image data the selected defect information contained in the reply mail, the The storage means stores the image data acquired by the original reading means and the destination data by the e-mail transmission means. In association with the sender's e-mail address sent to computer, when defect information contained in the reply mail is a tilt of the image, the image correcting means, whether or not can tilt determination of the image data If it is determined that the inclination of the image data can be determined, the image data is rotated, or the inclination is corrected by aligning the print position of the image data, and the e-mail transmitting means The image data corrected by the image correcting means is transmitted again to the destination computer, and if the image correcting means determines that the inclination of the image data cannot be determined, the e-mail transmitting means The sender's email address is referenced based on the image identification information included in the reply email, and the image data is not addressed to the email address. It is obtained by and transmits the e-mail for notifying that there is focus.

According to a second technical means, in the first technical means, the e-mail for notifying that the image data is defective prompts the sender to scan again with the image processing apparatus. It is characterized by including the message for .

According to a third technical means, in the first technical means, when the defect information included in the reply mail has black streaks , the image correcting means determines whether or not black streak determination of the image data is possible. , when it is determined to be the determination black streaks of the image data, when removing the black lines, also it was determined to not be black streaks determination of the image data by the image correcting means, the electronic The mail sending means refers to the sender's email address based on the image identification information included in the reply email, and sends an email to notify the email address that the image data is defective. It is characterized by transmitting .

A fourth technical means is the first technical means, when fault information included in the reply mail is noise, the image correction unit determines whether it is possible to noise determination of the image data, wherein When it is determined that the noise of the image data can be determined, the noise is removed . When the image correction unit determines that the noise of the image data cannot be determined, the e-mail transmission unit includes: The e-mail address of the sender is referred to based on the image identification information included in the reply e-mail, and an e-mail for notifying that the image data is defective is transmitted to the e-mail address. It is what.

A fifth technical means is the third or fourth technical means, e-mail for notifying that there is a problem with the image data, the document read by the image processing apparatus to the sender It includes a message for prompting the user to clean the means and scan again .

According to a sixth technical means, in the first technical means, when the defect information included in the reply mail is a character density, the image correction means determines a low-density character included in the image data, and the character It is characterized by correcting the density of the color .

According to a seventh technical means, in the first technical means, when the defect information included in the reply mail has insufficient resolution, the electronic mail transmitting means sends the sender to the electronic mail address of the sender. In contrast, the image processing apparatus transmits an e-mail for urging the user to perform scanning again after increasing the resolution .

According to an eighth technical means, in the defect image correcting method for an image processing apparatus, comprising: a document reading unit that reads a document to acquire image data; and a storage unit that stores the acquired image data. An e-mail transmission step of adding the processed image data to the e-mail and transmitting it to the destination computer, a reply e-mail analysis step of analyzing a reply e-mail returned from the destination computer, and an image included in the reply e-mail An image correction step of selecting image data corresponding to the identification information from the storage means, and correcting a defect of the selected image data based on the defect information included in the reply mail, wherein the storage means includes the document The image data acquired by the reading means and the image data are sent to the destination of the email at the e-mail transmission step. When the defect information included in the reply mail is the inclination of the image, the image correction step is performed to determine the inclination of the image data. If it is determined that the inclination of the image data can be determined, the image data is rotated, or the inclination is corrected by aligning the print position of the image data, and the e-mail In the transmission step, the image data corrected in the image correction step is transmitted again to the transmission destination computer, and when it is determined in the image correction step that the inclination of the image data cannot be determined, The e-mail transmission step refers to the e-mail address of the sender based on the image identification information included in the reply mail, and the e-mail address It is obtained by and transmits the e-mail for notifying that there is a problem with the image data to the.

  According to the present invention, in an image processing apparatus having a function of transmitting image data acquired by scanning a document by adding it to an e-mail, when the image data transmitted to the receiving side is defective, the content of the defect Can be received from the receiving side, and the image data can be corrected and re-sent based on the analysis result of the reply mail, so the receiving side can send the reply mail and correct the trouble without any hassle Obtained images can be acquired.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes an image processing apparatus, and the image processing apparatus 10 includes an original reading unit 11, an operation panel 12, An image processing unit 13, an image memory 14, a printing unit 15, a communication unit 16, a storage unit 17, and a control unit 18 are provided. Hereinafter, an example in which the image processing apparatus 10 of the present invention is applied to a digital multifunction peripheral (hereinafter, digital multifunction peripheral 10) will be described. A digital multifunction device 10 shown in FIG. 1 is configured as a multifunction device having functions of a copying machine, a printer device, a facsimile device, and a scanner device. An electronic mail server 20 and a client personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a client computer) are connected via a network 1. Client PC) 30 is connected.

  The control means 18 includes a CPU that performs a calculation, a RAM that stores temporary information associated with the calculation, a ROM that stores a control program for controlling the digital multifunction peripheral 10, and the like. The control unit 18 is connected to a document reading unit 11 that reads an image (document) recorded on a recording sheet and generates image data. The document reading unit 11 includes a document detection sensor that detects a document set on a CCD (Charge Coupled Device), a document table, an automatic document feeder (ADF), or the like for capturing a document image as image data. Etc. are provided.

  The control unit 18 is connected to a printing unit 15 that functions as an image forming unit that forms image data on a recording sheet fed from a sheet feeding tray (not shown). The printing unit 15 forms an image from the image data temporarily stored in the image memory 14 and records it on a recording sheet. The digital multi-function peripheral 10 can form the image with the printing unit 15 after temporarily storing the image data generated by the document reading unit 11 in the image memory 14. In this way, the digital multifunction machine 10 functions as a copying machine.

  In FIG. 1, the control means 18 is connected to a FAX modem (not shown) for performing facsimile communication, and this FAX modem is connected to a public line network. The digital multi-function peripheral 10 can transmit the image data generated by the document reading unit 11 to another facsimile apparatus by facsimile communication via a public line network connected to a FAX modem. The digital multi-function peripheral 10 can receive image data transmitted from another facsimile apparatus via a public line network by a FAX modem, and can form an image by the printing unit 15 from the received image data. In this way, the digital multifunction machine 10 functions as a facsimile machine.

  The control unit 18 is connected to a communication unit 16 for the digital multi-function peripheral 10 to transmit / receive information to / from the outside. The communication means 16 can be connected to a network 1 such as the Internet or a LAN (Local Area Network). The network 1 includes an e-mail server 20 which is a server computer for managing transmission / reception of e-mails, and a digital multi-function peripheral 10. Are connected to one or a plurality of client PCs 30 that transmit and receive electronic mail. In a normal state where the digital multi-function peripheral 10 is operating alone, the communication means 16 is connected to the network 1 so that information (e-mail) can be exchanged with the client PC 30 via the network 1.

  The client PC 30 is a general-purpose personal computer having a CPU for controlling the entire apparatus, a storage device such as RAM, ROM, and HD (hard disk) as semiconductor memory, an input device, a display device, a communication device, an output device, and a system bus. It is an information processing apparatus comprising a computer. The progress of the process and the processing results are presented to the operator etc. through a display device such as a CRT or LCD, and in each process, the operator inputs necessary parameters from an input device such as a keyboard and mouse (pointing device). specify. The communication device is a network interface for connecting to various communication networks, and can thereby be connected to the digital multifunction peripheral 10 in an accessible manner. The output device is a means for connecting to an external device such as a printer and outputting various data. These CPU, RAM, ROM, storage device, input device, display device, communication device, and output device are connected to each other via a system bus. The client PC 30 is assumed to have an electronic mail function that enables transmission and reception of electronic mail.

  The digital multifunction peripheral 10 can transmit the image data generated by the document reading unit 11 to the client PC 30 from the communication unit 16 by attaching it to an electronic mail. In this way, the digital multifunction device 10 functions as a scanner device. In addition, the digital multi-function peripheral 10 can receive image data transmitted from the client PC 30 by the communication unit 16 and form an image by the printing unit 15 from the received image data. In this way, the digital multifunction device 10 functions as a printer device.

  The control means 18 is connected to an operation panel 12 that receives an operation from a user. The operation panel 12 includes an input unit such as a touch panel or a numeric keypad on which information such as a control command is input by a user's operation, and a display unit such as a liquid crystal panel that displays information necessary for the operation. An authentication code for authenticating the user or operator of the digital multi-function peripheral 10 is input to the operation panel 12. The authentication code may be input from an external device via the communication unit 16.

  A storage means 17 such as a hard disk (HD) is connected to the control means 18. The storage unit 17 stores the image data acquired by the document reading unit 11 and the like.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure stored in the storage unit 17 or the image memory 14. When the original reading unit 11 reads an image, the storage unit 17 or the image memory 14 generates an identification number of the image and stores it together with the image data. At this time, the generation process of the identification number is executed by the control means 18. Further, the sender's e-mail address may be stored in association with the identification number and the image data.

  In FIG. 1, the control means 18 is connected to an image processing means 13 for realizing image processing corresponding to various defects in image data. The image processing unit 13 is a unit for executing various types of image processing such as image inclination correction, black streak removal, density correction, noise removal, and resolution change based on control from the control unit 18.

  The control means 18 for realizing the main functions according to the present invention includes a transmission mail generation unit 18a, a reception mail analysis unit 18b, and an image correction control unit 18c. These outgoing mail generator 18a, incoming mail analyzer 18b, and image correction controller 18c are programs for realizing the functions of the image processing apparatus 10 of the present invention, and are ROM or storage means in the controller 18. The CPU of the control means 18 is read into the RAM and executed at the time of execution.

  The digital multi-function peripheral 10 also has a function of sending image data acquired by scanning a document by adding it to an e-mail (so-called scan to e-mail) by the document reading unit 11, the transmission mail generation unit 18a, and the communication unit 16. Function) and transmission / reception of electronic mail to / from the client PC 30 via the electronic mail server 20.

  The transmission mail generation unit 18a and the communication means 16 corresponding to the electronic mail transmission means of the present invention add the image data acquired by the original reading means 11 to the electronic mail for sending back the defect information of the image data and transmit it. The data is transmitted to the client PC 30 that is the previous computer. At this time, the image data is transmitted with the above-described identification number assigned.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of an e-mail transmitted from the digital multi-function peripheral 10 to the client PC 30. In the figure, 40 is an e-mail attached with image data, and the e-mail 40 contains the attached image data. An icon (hereinafter referred to as image data) 41, a defect number 42, and a defect number input field 43 are shown. When the user of the client PC 30 on the receiving side looks at the image data 41 attached to the e-mail 40 received by the client PC 30 and determines that the image data 41 has a defect, the type of the defect is determined as a defect number 1 to 1. 6 is selected and entered in the defect number input field 43, and a reply mail is transmitted to the digital multi-function peripheral 10. Since this reply mail is sent with the identification number of the image data to be corrected and retransmitted, the digital multi-function peripheral 10 receives the corresponding image data or image data based on this identification number. It is possible to specify an e-mail address or the like to the PC operated by the sender.

  In addition, the received mail analysis unit 18b corresponding to the reply mail analysis unit of the present invention analyzes the reply mail from the destination client PC 30 and acquires defect information of the transmitted image data. Further, the image correction control unit 18c corresponding to the image correction means of the present invention selects image data corresponding to the identification number acquired from the reply mail from the storage means 17, and defect information (fault number acquired from the reply mail). 1-6), the image processing means 13 is controlled to correct the defect of the selected image data. Then, the transmission mail generation unit 18a attaches the image data whose defect is corrected to the electronic mail, and the electronic mail with the image data is retransmitted from the communication unit 16 to the client PC 30.

  As another embodiment, when the e-mail address of the notification destination for the sender of the image data is registered in the storage unit 17 or the image memory 14, the transmission mail generation unit 18 a uses the identification number acquired from the reply mail. The e-mail address corresponding to the image data is referred to, and an e-mail indicating that the image data is defective is sent to the e-mail address, that is, to the PC operated by the sender, and sent to the sender. You may make it notify that there was a malfunction in an image.

  For example, when black stripes occur at defect number 2, an e-mail is sent to the e-mail address to prompt cleaning and scanning of the document reading means 11 again, and characters are crushed at defect number 5 ( In other words, if the resolution is insufficient, an e-mail for increasing the resolution and prompting scanning again is sent to the e-mail address. Good. A detailed example of the e-mail at this time will be described later with reference to FIG.

  In FIG. 3, defect number 1 is selected when the image data is tilted. When this defect number 1 is returned from the client PC 30, the digital multifunction peripheral 10 selects the corresponding image data from the storage unit 17. Then, image rotation processing or print position alignment processing is performed, and the data is retransmitted to the client PC 30. The defect number 2 is selected when black streaks are generated in the image data. When the defect number 2 is returned from the client PC 30, the digital multifunction peripheral 10 stores the corresponding image data from the storage unit 17. Select, perform black streak removal processing, and retransmit to client PC 30, or perform processing to send an e-mail prompting cleaning and rescanning of document reading means 11 (document reading window) to the PC operated by the sender .

  The defect number 3 is selected when the density of the character (image) is low (low). When the defect number 3 is returned from the client PC 30, the digital multifunction peripheral 10 stores the corresponding image data in the storage means 17. Are selected, subjected to image density correction processing, and retransmitted to the client PC 30. The defect number 4 is selected when noise is generated in the image data. When the defect number 4 is returned from the client PC 30, the digital multifunction peripheral 10 selects the corresponding image data from the storage unit 17. Then, it performs noise removal processing and retransmits it to the client PC 30.

  The defect number 5 is selected when characters are crushed due to insufficient resolution. When the defect number 5 is returned from the client PC 30, the digital multi-function peripheral 10 selects the corresponding image data from the storage unit 17. Then, processing is performed to send an e-mail prompting resolution enhancement and rescanning to the PC operated by the sender. The defect number 6 is selected when another jam occurs. When the defect number 6 is returned from the client PC 30, the digital multifunction peripheral 10 selects the corresponding image data from the storage unit 17, and A process of sending an e-mail prompting rescanning to a PC operated by the sender is performed.

  Next, a defective image correction method by the digital multi-function peripheral 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining an example of a reply mail reception process in the digital multi-function peripheral 10 of the present invention. First, the digital multifunction peripheral 10 receives a reply mail (see FIG. 3) from the client PC 30 (step S1), analyzes the reply mail (step S2), operates the identification number of the corresponding image data, and the sender's operation. In addition to acquiring related information such as an e-mail address of the PC, it is determined whether or not defect information (defect numbers 1 to 6) is included (step S3).

  Next, when any one of the defect numbers 1 to 6 is designated in the above step S3 (in the case of YES), the digital multifunction peripheral 10 stores the image data of the identification number acquired from the reply mail as the storage unit 17 or Extracted from the image memory 14 (step S4), the extracted image data is subjected to processing such as correction according to the defect number, and retransmitted to the client PC 30 (step S5). If any one of the defect numbers 1 to 6 is not specified in step S3 (NO), an e-mail for notifying an error is returned to the client PC 30 (step S6).

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining an example of image data correction / retransmission processing in the digital multi-function peripheral 10 of the present invention. This flow describes step S5 of the flow shown in FIG. 4 in detail. First, the digital multifunction peripheral 10 determines the error code (that is, the defect numbers 1 to 6 shown in FIG. 3) specified in the reply mail from the client PC 30 (step S11), and the defect number 1 (slope) is specified. If it is determined (in the case of (1) in the figure), the inclination of the corresponding image data is determined (step S12), it is determined whether the inclination can be determined (step S13), and if the inclination can be determined (step S13). In the case of YES), image rotation processing or print position correction processing is performed (step S14), and the corrected image data is retransmitted to the client PC 30. If the inclination cannot be determined in step S13 (NO), an e-mail for urging the document to be reset and rescanned is transmitted to the e-mail address of the PC operated by the sender (step S15).

  In addition, when the defect number 2 (black streak) is designated in step S11 (in the case of (2) in the figure), the digital multifunction peripheral 10 determines the black streak of the corresponding image data (step S16). Then, it is determined whether black streak determination is possible (step S17). If black streak determination is possible (YES), black streak removal processing is performed (step S18), and the corrected image data is sent to the client PC 30. Resend. If the black streak cannot be determined in step S17 (NO), an e-mail prompting cleaning and rescanning of the document reading unit 11 is transmitted to the e-mail address of the PC operated by the sender (step S19). .

  In step S11, when the defect number 3 (light character) is designated (in the case of (3) in the figure), the digital multi-function peripheral 10 determines the low-density character included in the image data and determines the density. Correction processing is performed (step S20), and the corrected image data is retransmitted to the client PC 30.

  In step S11, when the defect number 4 (noise) is designated (in the case of (4) in the figure), the digital multi-function peripheral 10 determines whether noise determination of the corresponding image data is possible ( If noise determination is possible (in the case of YES), noise removal processing is performed (step S22), and the corrected image data is retransmitted to the client PC 30. If noise determination cannot be made in step S21 (NO), an e-mail for cleaning and rescanning the document reading unit 11 is transmitted to the e-mail address of the PC operated by the sender (step S23).

  Also, in step S11, when the defect number 5 (characters are crushed) is designated in the step S11 (in the case of (5) in the figure), the digital multi-function peripheral 10 transmits an e-mail for encouraging resolution up and rescanning. It is transmitted to the e-mail address of the PC operated by the person (step S24). In addition, in the case where the defect number 6 (other) is specified in step S11 (in the case of (6) in the figure), the digital multi-function peripheral 10 sends an electronic mail prompting rescanning to the electronic device of the PC operated by the sender. It transmits to a mail address (step S25).

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of various image correction processing patterns by the image correction control unit 18c. FIG. 6A shows an example in which density correction processing is performed on a read image in which the density of color characters is insufficient. As shown in Fig. 8 below, if the original image on the left side of the figure reads "Aisuke Osaki, Sashisuse Sona", and the "Sashi Suse Sona" part of the scanned image (middle in the figure) is faint due to insufficient density, Change the gamma curve and perform density correction. The right side of the figure shows the image after correction.

  In FIG. 6B to FIG. 6G, the left side in the figure shows the read image, and the right side shows the image after correction (or after rescanning). FIG. 6B shows an example when the tilted read image is subjected to the rotation process, and FIG. 6C shows an example when the print position correction process is performed on the tilted read image. FIG. 6D shows an example in which a black streak removal process is performed on a read image in which black streaks have occurred, and FIG. 6E shows an example in which a read image in which a read jam has occurred is rescanned. Indicates. FIG. 6F shows an example in the case where a read image with insufficient resolution is rescanned, and FIG. 6G shows an example in which noise removal processing is performed on a read image in which noise has occurred.

  Next, the image processing such as the above-described image inclination correction, black streak removal, noise removal, and density correction will be described in detail with reference to FIG. These image processes can be realized using a known image processing technique, and are executed by the image processing means 13 in accordance with the control from the image correction control unit 18c. 7A to 7E, the left side in the figure shows the read image, and the right side shows the image after image processing (correction). FIG. 7A shows an example when the tilted read image is subjected to the rotation process, and FIG. 7B shows an example when the print position correction process is performed on the tilted read image. FIG. 7C shows an example in which black stripe removal processing is performed on a read image in which black stripes are generated, and FIG. 7D shows a case in which noise removal processing is performed on a read image in which noise has occurred. An example is shown. FIG. 7E shows an example in which density correction processing is performed on a read image with insufficient density.

In FIG. 7A, a black line extending in the sub-scanning direction (such as a shadow at the document edge or a ruled line in the document) is extracted and is longer than a predetermined value (for example, about 1/3 of the total length in the sub-scanning direction). The black line is specified as the black line for inclination determination, and the angle θ (inclination) of the black line with respect to the sub-scanning direction is calculated. Thus, rotation processing is performed according to the calculated inclination. If the inclination is smaller than a predetermined value, correction is performed by sequentially shifting the image print start position by the difference (l ₁ , l ₂ , l ₃ ) for each sub-scan, as shown in FIG. Print position correction). Further, if a black line having a length equal to or longer than a predetermined value cannot be detected, an e-mail for prompting rescanning may be transmitted to the e-mail address of the PC operated by the sender.

  In FIG. 7C, black lines extending in the sub-scanning direction are extracted, and the lengths of all black lines are calculated. A black line having a length equal to or longer than a predetermined value (for example, the total length in the sub-scanning direction) is specified as a black line, and the specified black line is removed. Further, if a black line having a length equal to or longer than a predetermined value cannot be detected, an e-mail for prompting rescanning may be transmitted to the e-mail address of the PC operated by the sender.

  In FIG. 7D, as shown in FIG. 9, a block of pixels having a size equal to or smaller than a predetermined value (eg, 2 × 2 dots) is detected, and a 3 × 3 dot matrix is used, for example. When there are dots in the gray portion (2 × 2) shown in FIG. 9 and there are no dots around 3 × 3, the gray portion is detected as noise, and the detected noise is removed. Further, if noise cannot be detected, determination may be impossible, and an e-mail for prompting rescanning may be transmitted to the e-mail address of the PC operated by the sender.

  In FIG. 7E, when the density of “U” in the character string “Aiueo” is low, the gamma curve shown in FIG. 8 described above is changed to change the density of the corresponding location “U” to other “A”. , Eh, correct to match the density.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of an e-mail for notifying the PC operated by the sender of the image data that there is a problem. FIG. 10A shows an e-mail message sent to the PC operated by the sender when the image is tilted. “There is a problem with the sent image data, please re-read and re-send the document. "The sent document is skewed. Use the document table to check whether the document is tilted before re-reading the document." Is added and sent.

  FIG. 10B shows an e-mail message sent to the PC operated by the sender when the image has a black streak. Like FIG. 10A, “the transmitted image data has a defect. , Please re-read and re-send the document. ”, Followed by the message“ Black streaks have occurred in the image. Clean the document reading window before scanning. ” To be sent.

  FIG. 10C shows an e-mail message sent to the PC operated by the sender when there is noise in the image. Like FIG. 10A, “the transmitted image data has a defect, Please follow the message "Please re-read and re-send the document." Here, the message "There is noise in the image. Please clean the document reading window or table glass before scanning." It is added and transmitted.

  FIG. 10D shows an e-mail message transmitted to the PC operated by the sender when there is another problem. Like FIG. 10A, “the transmitted image data has a problem, Following the message "Please re-read and re-send the original." Here, there is a possibility that the image is defective due to a problem with the automatic document feeder. "Recommended" message is added and sent.

  When the sender of the image data receives any of the e-mail messages shown in FIGS. 10A to 10D from the digital multi-function peripheral 10, the digital multi-function peripheral 10 uses the digital multi-function peripheral 10 to read a document reading window. Perform cleaning, rescanning, etc., and retransmit the image data.

  As described above, according to the present invention, there is a problem in the image data transmitted to the receiving side in the image processing apparatus having the function of adding the image data acquired by scanning the document to the e-mail and transmitting it. Sometimes it is possible to receive a reply mail containing the contents of the defect from the receiving side, modify the image data based on the result of analyzing the reply mail, and re-send the image. The image in which the defect is corrected can be acquired without any problem.

It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the image processing apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure memorize | stored in a memory | storage means or an image memory. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of an electronic mail transmitted from a digital multifunction peripheral to a client PC. FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating an example of the reception process of the reply mail in the digital multi-functional peripheral of this invention. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining an example of image data correction / retransmission processing in the digital multi-function peripheral according to the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the various image correction process patterns by an image correction control part. It is a figure for demonstrating an example of image processing, such as image inclination correction | amendment, black stripe removal, noise removal, and density correction. It is a figure which shows an example of the gamma curve in a density correction process. It is a figure which shows an example of the matrix in a noise removal process. It is a figure which shows an example of the email for notifying that there was a malfunction to PC which the transmission person of image data operated.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Network, 10 ... Image processing apparatus (digital multifunction device), 11 ... Document reading means, 12 ... Operation panel, 13 ... Image processing means, 14 ... Image memory, 15 ... Printing means, 16 ... Communication means, 17 ... Memory Means, 18 ... Control means, 18a ... Transmission mail generation part, 18b ... Received mail analysis part, 18c ... Image correction control part, 20 ... Email server, 30 ... Client PC, 40 ... Email, 41 ... Attached image data An icon (image data) indicating 42, a defect number, 43 ... a defect number input field.

Claims (8)

In an image processing apparatus comprising a document reading unit that reads a document and acquires image data, and a storage unit that stores the acquired image data.
An e-mail transmission unit that adds image data acquired by the document reading unit to an e-mail and transmits the e-mail to a destination computer, a reply e-mail analysis unit that analyzes a reply e-mail returned from the destination computer, Image correction means for selecting image data corresponding to the image identification information included in the reply mail from the storage means, and correcting the defect of the selected image data based on the defect information included in the reply mail;
The storage means stores the image data acquired by the document reading means and the email address of the sender who sent the image data to the destination computer by the email sending means in association with each other;
When the defect information included in the reply mail is an image inclination, the image correction unit determines whether the image data inclination can be determined, and when it is determined that the image data inclination can be determined. The image data is rotated or the print position of the image data is aligned and the inclination is corrected, and the e-mail transmission means sends the image data corrected by the image correction means to the transmission destination computer again. And when the image correction means determines that the inclination of the image data cannot be determined, the e-mail transmission means transmits the e-mail of the sender based on the image identification information included in the reply mail. It refers to an address, image, characterized by sending e-mail for notifying that there is a problem with the image data to the addressed electronic mail address Processing apparatus. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an e-mail for notifying that there is a defect in the image data is a message for prompting the sender to scan again with the image processing apparatus. the image processing apparatus characterized by comprising a. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the defect information included in the reply mail is black streak occurrence , the image correction unit determines whether black streak determination of the image data is possible , and the image If it is determined that the black stripe determinable data is to remove the black streaks, and when it is determined that it is black streaks determination of the image data by the image correcting means, said electronic mail transmitting means Refers to the e-mail address of the sender based on the image identification information included in the reply e-mail, and transmits an e-mail for notifying that the image data is defective to the e-mail address. An image processing apparatus. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, if defect information contained in the reply mail is noise, the image correction unit determines whether it is possible to noise determination of the image data, the image data If it is determined that the noise can be determined, the noise is removed, and if it is determined by the image correcting means that the noise of the image data cannot be determined, the e-mail transmitting means An image for referring to the e-mail address of the sender based on the image identification information included in the e-mail and transmitting an e-mail for notifying that the image data is defective to the e-mail address Processing equipment. 5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein an e-mail for notifying that there is a problem with the image data is sent to the sender again by cleaning the original reading unit and re-sending the image reading means. An image processing apparatus comprising a message for prompting to perform scanning . 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein when the defect information included in the reply mail is a character density, the image correction unit determines a low-density character included in the image data and determines the character density. An image processing apparatus that performs correction . The image processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein when the defect information included in the reply mail is insufficient in resolution, the e-mail transmission unit sends the e-mail address to the sender to the sender. the image processing apparatus characterized by sending e-mail for prompting to perform re-scan by increasing the resolution in the image processing apparatus. In a defect image correcting method for an image processing apparatus, comprising: a document reading unit that reads a document and acquires image data; and a storage unit that stores the acquired image data.
An e-mail transmission step of adding the image data acquired by the document reading means to an e-mail and transmitting it to a destination computer; a reply e-mail analysis step of analyzing a reply e-mail returned from the destination computer; An image correction step of selecting image data corresponding to the image identification information included in the reply mail from the storage means, and correcting a defect of the selected image data based on the defect information included in the reply mail;
The storage means stores the image data acquired by the document reading means and the e-mail address of the sender who transmitted the image data to the transmission destination computer in the e-mail transmission step in association with each other. And
When the defect information included in the reply mail is an image inclination, the image correction step determines whether or not the image data inclination can be determined, and when it is determined that the image data inclination can be determined. The image data is rotated or the print position of the image data is aligned and the inclination is corrected, and the e-mail transmission step sends the image data corrected in the image correction step to the destination computer. If the image correction step determines that the inclination of the image data cannot be determined in the image correction step, the e-mail transmission step is performed based on the image identification information included in the reply mail. By referring to the e-mail address, an e-mail for notifying that the image data is defective is sent to the e-mail address. Defect image correction method comprising.

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