JP5182208B2 - Image reading device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus that reads a plurality of originals. More specifically, the present invention relates to an image reading apparatus that aligns the orientation of image information.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there are image reading apparatuses that read a plurality of originals and output image information of the originals to a recording medium such as paper, or output them to other devices as electronic data. In such an image reading apparatus, not all document orientations are the same. For this reason, there is a technique for outputting image information with the same orientation after reading. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for detecting the orientation of image information and rotating the image information so that the image information is in the correct orientation if the image information is not in the correct orientation.

Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5-12960

  However, the conventional technique described above has the following problems. That is, in the technique such as Patent Document 1, when the original is continuously read, the load of the processing for rotating the image information increases as the number of originals with the opposite direction of the original increases. On the other hand, for example, when printing image information on paper, any orientation may be acceptable as long as the orientation of the image information is aligned. In such a case, it is not desirable that the apparatus is subjected to a load due to the process of rotating the image information.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems of the prior art. That is, an object of the present invention is to provide an image reading system and an image reading apparatus that can reduce the load of image processing and can align the orientation of image information.

  In order to solve this problem, an image reading apparatus has a reading unit that reads a plurality of documents, and image information of at least two directions among the image information of the documents read by the reading unit. A determination unit configured to determine the orientation of the specific document; and a rotation unit configured to perform rotation processing so that at least a part of the image information is directed to the specific document in the image information that is different from the specific document direction. It is said.

  The image reading apparatus of the present invention determines the orientation of the most image information (specific document orientation) among at least two orientations in the image information of the document. Then, at least a part of the image information in the image information that is different from the specific document orientation is rotated so as to be in the specific document orientation. For example, an upward document and a downward document are counted, and the direction with the larger number of documents among the two directions is set as the specific document direction, and the document with the smaller direction is aligned with the specific document direction. The orientation of the image information can be determined by, for example, character recognition by OCR, detection of special characters, or reading of information recorded on the wireless IC chip.

  That is, the image reading apparatus according to the present invention continuously reads image information of a plurality of documents, and determines one direction, which is a frequent orientation, as a specific document orientation as a tendency of the orientation of the image information of the documents. . Then, at least a part of the image information having a direction different from the specific original direction is aligned with the specific original direction. As a result, it can be expected that the image information is aligned with a smaller number of rotations compared to the case where the alignment direction is fixed.

  In addition, the rotation unit may target only image information in a direction opposite to the specific document direction. That is, as a mode in which the orientation is different, in addition to the reverse orientation (direction different by 180 degrees), the lateral orientation (direction different by 90 degrees on either the left or right side) can be considered. In the case of horizontally oriented image information, if the image information is rotated by 90 degrees in order to align the image information, a part of the image information may be lost, and image reduction processing is necessary to avoid the loss. However, the image desired by the user is not always obtained. Therefore, the rotation process is performed only in the reverse direction where the appearance of the document can be left as it is. This can be expected to reduce user confusion.

  In addition, the image reading apparatus of the present invention includes a placement unit that places a document before being read by the reading unit, and the determination unit can place the number of pieces of image information having the same direction on the placement unit. When the number is more than half of the number, the direction may be determined as the specific document direction. That is, when the orientation of a document reaches a majority of the number of documents that can be placed, the orientation of the document can be determined as the specific document orientation. Therefore, if the orientation of a certain document is more than half the number of documents that can be placed, the specific document orientation is determined even before all the documents have been read. Thereby, the output of image information can be started early.

  In addition, each time the reading unit reads a predetermined number of documents, the determination unit may determine the orientation of the most image information among the predetermined number of image information as the specific document orientation. Since the specific document orientation is determined for each predetermined number of sheets, output of image information can be started early.

  In addition, the image reading apparatus of the present invention may include a combining unit that combines the additional information with the image information, and an additional rotating unit that rotates the additional information so as to be directed to the specific document. By aligning the direction of the additional information with the image information, an output product desired by the user can be obtained. The additional information corresponds to, for example, a header, a footer, and a watermark.

  Further, the image reading apparatus described above has a processing load A for rotating the additional information so as to be in the direction of the specific document, and a processing load for rotating the image information in a direction different from the direction of the additional image so as to be in the direction of the additional information. If the processing load A is smaller than the processing load B, the image information is rotated so as to be directed to the specific document. If the processing load A is larger than the processing load B, the image information is added to the additional information. It is good to perform rotation processing so that it may become direction. That is, when the processing load A is larger than the processing load B, if the additional information is rotated according to the image information, the processing load increases. Therefore, in such a case, the image information is rotated according to the additional information. Thereby, the processing load can be more reliably reduced.

  Further, the image reading apparatus described above causes the reading unit to read the predetermined number of originals from the first page, and set the direction of the most image information among the predetermined number of image information to the specific original direction. Temporarily determined and provided with a provisional rotation unit that rotates additional information so that it is in the direction of the specific original document that has been temporarily determined, and the combining unit temporarily determines the specific document direction determined by the determination unit and the temporary rotation unit. If the orientation of the specific document is the same, the additional image rotated by the temporary rotation unit may be combined with the image information. In other words, the processing load on the CPU is relatively small while reading a document. Therefore, before the actual determination of the specific document orientation, the specific document orientation is provisionally determined based on the result of reading a predetermined number of sheets, and additional information is rotated in advance according to the provisional determination. As a result, additional information that has been subjected to rotation processing can be prepared at the start of image information output, and a composite image can be created earlier. Note that the predetermined number may be three or more because the superiority can be determined by majority vote if the number is three.

  The image reading apparatus according to the present invention preferably includes at least one of a printing unit that prints image information on a recording medium and a transmission unit that transmits image information by facsimile. That is, the image reading apparatus of the present invention is particularly effective when image information is output on paper.

  According to the present invention, an image reading system and an image reading apparatus that can reduce the load of image processing and can align the orientation of image information are realized.

1 is a perspective view illustrating a schematic configuration of a multifunction machine according to an embodiment. 1 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of a multifunction machine according to an embodiment. It is a figure which shows the output image of the copy process concerning a 1st form. It is a flowchart (the 1) which shows the procedure of the copy process concerning a 1st form. It is a flowchart (the 2) which shows the procedure of the copy process concerning a 1st form. It is a flowchart (the 3) which shows the procedure of the copy process concerning a 1st form. It is a flowchart (the 4) which shows the procedure of the copy process concerning a 1st form. 6 shows an example of a document orientation list that stores the orientation of a read document. It is a figure which shows the output image of the copy process concerning a 2nd form. It is a flowchart (the 1) which shows the procedure of the copy process concerning a 2nd form. It is a flowchart (the 2) which shows the procedure of the copy process concerning a 2nd form.

  DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments embodying an image reading apparatus according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the present embodiment, the present invention is applied to a multi function peripheral (MFP) having a function of continuously reading a plurality of documents.

[Overall configuration of MFP]
As shown in FIG. 1, MFP 100 according to the embodiment includes an image forming unit 10 that prints an image on a sheet, and an image reading unit 20 (an example of a reading unit) that reads an image of a document. Further, on the front side of the image reading unit 20, an operation panel 40 including a display unit 41 formed of a liquid crystal display and a button group 42 including a start key, a stop key, a numeric keypad, and the like is provided. 40 enables operation status display and user input operation.

  The image forming unit 10 forms an image based on image data sent from an information terminal device such as a personal computer (PC) or image data of a document read by the image reading unit 20, and prints the image on paper. . The image forming method may be an electrophotographic method or an ink jet method. Further, it may correspond to a color image or may be dedicated to a monochrome image.

  The image reading unit 20 reads a document set on a document tray 21 (an example of a placement unit) and creates image data. In addition, the image reading unit 20 includes an ADF (Auto Document Feeder) that automatically conveys a document at a position that is the top of the MFP 100, and sets a plurality of documents on the document tray 21, and sets the documents one by one. Can be read continuously.

[Electric configuration of MFP]
Next, the electrical configuration of the MFP 100 will be described. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the MFP 100 includes a control unit 30 including a CPU 31, a ROM 32, a RAM 33, an NVRAM 34, an ASIC 35, a network interface 36, and a FAX interface 37. The ASIC 35 of the control unit 30 is electrically connected to the image forming unit 10, the image reading unit 20, the operation panel 40, and the like.

  The CPU 31 executes arithmetic operations for realizing various functions such as an image reading function and an image forming function in the MFP 100, and is the center of control. The ROM 32 stores various control programs for controlling the MFP 100, various settings, initial values, and the like. The RAM 33 is used as a work area from which various control programs are read or as a storage area for temporarily storing image data. An NVRAM (Non Volatile RAM) 34 is a non-volatile storage means and is used as a storage area for storing various settings or image data.

  The CPU 31 stores each processing result in the RAM 33 or the NVRAM 34 in accordance with a control program read from the ROM 32 and signals sent from various sensors, and turns on each component of the MFP 100 (for example, lighting timing of the exposure apparatus constituting the image forming unit 10). , A driving motor (not shown) for various rollers constituting the paper conveyance path, and a moving motor (not shown) for the image sensor unit constituting the image reading unit 20 are controlled.

  The network interface 36 is connected to a network such as the Internet, and enables connection with an information processing apparatus such as a PC. The FAX interface 37 is connected to a telephone line and enables connection with a destination FAX apparatus. A job can be exchanged with another information processing apparatus via the network interface 36 or the FAX interface 37.

  Further, the MPF 100 optically reads a character described in a document in the ADF of the image reading unit 20 and has an OCR (Optical Character Reader) 50 having a function of specifying a character by matching with a prestored pattern. have. Further, MFP 100 has a built-in program for determining the direction of characters based on the character identification result of OCR 50. That is, MFP 100 can identify characters in the image and determine the orientation of the image, that is, the orientation of the document.

[Copy processing]
[First embodiment]
Next, a copy process (an example of a reading unit, a determination unit, a rotation unit, a synthesis unit, an additional rotation unit, and a temporary rotation unit) of the MFP 100 will be described.

  The copy processing of the first form has a function of obtaining a tendency of the original direction, selecting one of the original directions as “specific original direction”, and outputting the original with the specific original direction aligned. ing. For example, as shown in FIG. 3A, it is assumed that the document is set in a state in which the orientation of the document varies in the vertical direction. In this case, the number of documents in the upward direction is compared with the number of documents in the downward direction, and the downward direction with the large number of documents is selected as the “specific document direction”. Then, as shown in FIG. 3 (B), the upward original is turned upside down, and the originals are aligned and output downward.

  Hereinafter, the procedure of the copy processing according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 4, 5, 6 and 7. The copy process is executed when a document is set on the document tray 21 of the ADF of the image reading unit 20 and a copy instruction input by the user operating the operation panel 40 is detected. This is realized by the operation of each component.

  First, as shown in FIG. 4, one document is fed from the document tray 21 (S101). Then, it is determined whether or not the document has been fed to the last document set on the document tray 21 (hereinafter referred to as “final document”) (S102). The determination of the final document is made, for example, by placing a sensor on the document tray 21 of the ADF and based on an output signal from the sensor. If it is determined that the final document has been fed (S102: YES), the process proceeds to S109. The processing after S109 will be described later.

  If the final document has not been fed (S102: NO), the fed document is read (S103). Next, it is determined whether or not a specific document orientation has already been selected (S104). When the specific document orientation is selected (S104: YES), the process proceeds to the individual printing process of S112. The individual printing process in S112 will be described later.

  If the specific document orientation is not selected (S104: NO), the orientation of the document is determined (S105). The direction of the original is determined by identifying characters with the OCR 50. Then, the determination result is recorded (S106).

  Specifically, the MFP 100 has counters for the “forward direction” defined as the reference direction in the ADF and the “reverse direction” that is opposite to the normal direction, among the document orientations. In S106, the corresponding counter is counted up according to the determination result. The forward counter is referred to as “forward counter” and the reverse counter is referred to as “reverse counter”. Further, MFP 100 has a document orientation list 341 that stores the page number and the orientation of the page in association with each other as shown in FIG. 8, and updates the page information according to the determination result. The forward counter, the backward counter, and the document orientation list 341 are stored in the RAM 33.

  Note that it is conceivable that the read original contains a mixture of a vertical original and a horizontal original. In this case, in S106, only the vertical original is counted, and the horizontal original is not counted. In the document orientation list 341, only the pages of the vertical document are recorded. In other words, a 90-degree landscape document for a portrait document is not an object of a document whose orientation is aligned. That is, in the case of a rectangular document, a part of the image information may be lost if it is rotated 90 degrees to align the orientation of the image information. In order to avoid such omission, image reduction processing is required. However, the image desired by the user is not always obtained. Therefore, in this process, the rotation process is only performed in the reverse direction where the appearance of the document can be left as it is.

  Next, it is determined whether the read original is the third original from the start of reading (S107). In the case of the third sheet (S107: YES), provisional document orientation selection processing for determining the provisional document orientation is performed (S111).

  FIG. 5 shows the procedure of the temporary document orientation selection process in S111. In the provisional document orientation selection process, first, when performing the copy process, it is determined whether or not an additional image is added, that is, whether or not an additional image is set (S121). When the read image is output on a sheet, MFP 100 can synthesize another image (additional image) on the sheet. For example, a header / footer and a watermark correspond to the additional image. If no additional image is set (S121: NO), the provisional document orientation selection process is terminated.

  When the additional image is set (S121: YES), the value of the forward counter and the value of the backward counter are compared, and the direction with the larger counter value is selected as the temporary document direction (S122).

  Next, it is determined whether or not the reverse orientation is selected as the temporary document orientation (S123). If the orientation of the temporary document is reversed (S123: YES), a reversed additional image obtained by rotating the additional image in the reverse direction is created (S124). That is, the processing load on the CPU 31 is small while reading a document. Therefore, before the actual determination of the specific document orientation, the specific document orientation is provisionally determined based on the reading results of the three sheets, and the composition information is inverted in advance according to the provisional determination. After the conversion of the additional image or when the temporary document orientation is normal (S123: NO), the temporary document orientation selection process is terminated.

  Returning to the flowchart of FIG. 4, after the provisional document orientation selection process of S111, or when the document is not the third document (S107: NO), either the value of the forward counter or the value of the backward counter is selected. It is then determined whether or not half of the document tray 21 limit has been exceeded (S108).

  If there is a counter that exceeds half the document tray 21 limit (S108: YES), the counter value of the forward counter is compared with the counter value of the reverse counter, and the direction with the larger counter value is determined. Is selected as the specific document orientation (S109). That is, when a certain orientation becomes a majority of the number of placements, the orientation can be determined as the specific document orientation. Therefore, if one of the document orientations is more than half the number of documents that can be placed, the specific document orientation is determined even before all the documents have been read. On the other hand, if there is no counter exceeding half of the limit number of documents placed on the document tray 21 (S108: NO), the process returns to S101 to feed the next document.

  If it is determined in S102 that the final document has been fed, the process proceeds to S109, and the direction with the larger counter value is selected as the specific document direction. That is, the most frequent direction is selected as the specific original direction from the information on the directions of all originals.

  After selecting the specific document orientation in S109, the process proceeds to the flowchart of FIG. 6 to determine whether or not the specific document orientation is normal (S141). If the specific document orientation is normal (S141: YES), the document orientation list 341 is referred to, and the image of the page recorded as the reverse orientation is turned upside down (S142). As a result, the orientation of the document is aligned in the forward direction.

  On the other hand, if the specific document orientation is reverse (S141: NO), it is determined whether the temporary document orientation is reverse (S151). Note that if no provisional document orientation is selected, such as when no additional image is set or when provisional document orientation determination processing is not performed, the provisional document orientation is considered to be normal. If the provisional document orientation is normal (S151: NO), the additional image remains in the normal orientation. Therefore, an inverted additional image obtained by converting the additional image in the reverse direction is created (S152). If the orientation of the temporary document is reversed (S151: YES), S152 is bypassed because a reverse addition image has already been created. Next, referring to the document orientation list 341, the image of the page recorded as the normal orientation is turned upside down (S153). As a result, the orientation of the document is aligned in the reverse direction.

  After aligning the orientation of the original in S142 to S153, it is determined whether there is an additional image setting (S143). If an additional image is set (S143: YES), a composite image is created by combining the read original image and the additional image (S144). At this time, if the specific document orientation is normal, a normal additional image prepared from the beginning is synthesized, and if the specific document orientation is reverse, an inverted additional image is synthesized. If no additional image is set (S143: NO), S144 is bypassed.

  Thereafter, printing is started in page order (S145). Next, it is determined whether or not the final document has been fed (S146). If the final document has not been fed (S146: NO), the process returns to S101 in FIG. 4 to feed the next document. On the other hand, when the document has been fed to the final document (S146: YES), this process is terminated.

  If the specific document orientation is selected in S104 in FIG. 4 (S104: YES), that is, the counter value has already exceeded the half of the document tray 21 placement limit, and the specific document has already been specified before the completion of the reading of the final document. If the document orientation is selected, an individual printing process, which is a printing process for each document, is performed (S112).

  FIG. 7 shows the procedure of the individual printing process in S112. First, the orientation of the read document is determined (S161). Next, it is determined whether the orientation of the read original is opposite to the specific original orientation (S162). That is, if the specific document orientation is normal, it is determined whether or not the read document is reverse, and if the specific document orientation is reverse, it is determined whether or not the read document is normal. When the orientation of the document is opposite to the specific document orientation (S162: YES), the read image of the document is turned upside down (S163). On the other hand, when the orientation of the document is the same as that of the specific document (S162: NO), S163 is bypassed. As a result, the read image of the original is aligned with the specific original.

  Next, it is determined whether or not an additional image is set (S164). If an additional image has been set (S164: YES), a composite image is created by synthesizing the read original image and the additional image (S165). If no additional image is set (S164: NO), S165 is bypassed. Thereafter, the image of the page is printed (S166).

  After printing, it is determined whether or not the final document has been fed (S167). If the final document has not been fed (S167: NO), the process returns to S101 in FIG. 4 to feed the next document. On the other hand, when the document has been fed to the final document (S167: YES), this process is terminated.

[Second form]
Next, another mode of copy processing of MFP 100 (an example of a reading unit, a determination unit, a rotation unit, a synthesis unit, and an additional rotation unit) will be described.

  The copy processing according to the second mode has a function of selecting “specific document orientation” for each predetermined number of sheets and outputting the document in the predetermined number of units. For example, as shown in FIG. 9A, it is assumed that the document is set in a state in which the orientation of the document varies in the vertical direction. In this case, assuming that the predetermined number of sheets is four, the number of documents in the upward direction is compared with the number of documents in the downward direction for each of the four documents. Choose as. Then, as shown in FIG. 9B, every four originals are output in one orientation. This is different from the first mode in which one specific document orientation is selected for the entire document.

  Hereinafter, the procedure of the copy processing according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. This copy process is also executed by detecting a copy instruction input by operating the operation panel 40 by the user. Further, the same step numbers are assigned to the same processes as those in the first embodiment.

  First, as shown in FIG. 10, one original is fed (S101). Then, it is determined whether or not the final document has been fed (S102). If it is determined that the final document has been fed (S102: YES), the process proceeds to S203, where it is determined whether there is an additional image setting.

  If the final document has not been fed (S102: NO), the fed document is read (S103). Thereafter, the orientation of the original is discriminated (S105), and the discrimination result is recorded (S106). That is, the forward direction counter, the backward direction counter, and the document direction list 341 are updated as appropriate.

  Next, the number counter for counting the number of read originals is incremented (S201). Then, it is determined whether or not the count value of the number counter is a predetermined value (S202). This predetermined value may be previously held by MFP 100 as a fixed value, or may be set by the user before the start of the copy process. If the count value of the number counter is not a predetermined value (S202: NO), the process returns to S101 to feed the next document.

  On the other hand, if the count value of the number counter is a predetermined value (S202: YES), or if it is determined that the final document has been fed in S102 (S102: YES), it is determined whether there is an additional image setting. (S203). If no additional image is set (S203: NO), the counter value of the forward counter and the counter value of the reverse counter are compared, and the direction with the larger counter value is selected as the specific document direction (S204). ).

  On the other hand, when an additional image is set (S203: YES), a process of inverting the additional image (processing load A) and a process of inverting all the originals of the read original having a direction different from the specific original ( In the processing load B), it is determined whether or not the processing load A for inverting the additional image is larger (S211). For example, if the load of the additional image inversion processing increases, for example, if the additional image is a high-resolution color image and the output image is a low-resolution monochrome image, in addition to the simple inversion processing, the image attribute is changed. There may be a case where conversion processing is required. On the other hand, as an example in which the load of the document image reversal processing increases, for example, it is conceivable that the number of sheets to be reversed is large. These processing loads are comprehensively determined to determine which processing load is higher.

  If the load of the process of inverting the additional image is greater (S211: YES), the normal orientation is selected as the specific document orientation (S214). On the other hand, when the processing for inverting the image of the document is not so heavy (S211: NO), the reverse direction is selected as the specific document direction (S212). Further, an inverted additional image obtained by converting the additional image in the reverse direction is created (S213). That is, a more appropriate specific document orientation is selected according to the actual processing load.

  After selecting the specific document orientation, the process proceeds to the flowchart of FIG. 11 to determine whether the specific document orientation is normal (S141). If the specific document orientation is normal (S141: YES), the document orientation list 341 is referred to, and the image of the page recorded as the reverse orientation is turned upside down (S142). As a result, the orientation of the document is aligned in the forward direction.

  On the other hand, if the specific document orientation is reverse (S141: NO), the document orientation list 341 is referred to, and the image of the page recorded as the normal orientation is turned upside down (S153). As a result, the orientation of the document is aligned in the reverse direction.

  After aligning the orientation of the original in S142 to S153, it is determined whether there is an additional image setting (S143). If an additional image is set (S143: YES), a composite image is created by combining the read original image and the additional image (S144). If no additional image is set (S143: NO), S144 is bypassed.

  Thereafter, printing is started in page order (S145). That is, printing for a predetermined number of sheets is started. Next, it is determined whether or not the final document has been fed (S146). If the final document has not been fed (S146: NO), the forward counter, the reverse counter, the number counter, and the original list 341 are initialized (S241). Then, the process returns to S101 in FIG. 10 to feed the next document. On the other hand, when the document has been fed to the final document (S146: YES), this process is terminated.

  As described in detail above, the MPF 100 according to the embodiment continuously reads image information of a plurality of originals, and determines one direction, which is a frequent direction, as a tendency of the direction of image information of the originals. The direction is determined. Then, a document having a direction different from the specific document direction is extracted, and rotation processing is performed so that the image of the document is aligned with the specific document direction. That is, the MFP 100 automatically determines the orientation of the original, and when a small amount of reverse originals are mixed with a large number of normal originals, the print image is aligned in the normal direction, and a small amount of normal originals are applied to a large number of reverse originals. When the originals are mixed, the printed images are aligned in the reverse direction. As a result, it can be expected that the images are aligned and output with a smaller number of rotations compared to those in which the alignment direction is fixed. Even if the orientation of the specific document is aligned in the reverse direction, it is not inconvenient for the user.

  The MFP 100 also rotates additional images such as watermarks in accordance with the orientation of the specific document. Therefore, even if the specific document orientation is reversed, the user can obtain a desired output.

  In the first embodiment, the specific document orientation is determined after all the documents have been read or when one of the document orientations exceeds half of the document tray placement limit. Therefore, it is possible to reliably select a large number of orientations as specific document orientations. In the first embodiment, the orientation of the temporary document is selected before all the documents are read, and the additional image is rotated in advance according to the orientation of the temporary document. Thereby, it can be expected that the printing process is started earlier.

  In the second embodiment, the specific document orientation is determined every predetermined number of sheets. Therefore, printing is started every predetermined number of pages, and it can be expected that printing of all pages is completed at an early stage. Even if some specific document orientations are different from the direction in which the specific document orientations occur frequently in the process of repeatedly selecting the specific document orientations, the user can easily output them by aligning them in units of multiple sheets. Can be identified.

  Note that this embodiment is merely an example, and does not limit the present invention. Therefore, the present invention can naturally be improved and modified in various ways without departing from the gist thereof. For example, the present invention is not limited to a multi-function peripheral (MFP), but can be applied to any apparatus having an image reading function such as a copier, a scanner, or the like. In addition, the image forming method of the image forming unit may be an electrophotographic method or an ink jet method. Further, even if a color image can be formed, it may be dedicated to a monochrome image.

  The MFP 100 includes the OCR 50 as means for specifying the orientation of the document. However, the means for specifying the orientation of the document is not limited to the OCR 50. For example, OCR software that identifies characters from an image read by a scanner may be incorporated. Alternatively, a storage medium such as an RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) tag may be attached to the paper, and the information regarding the orientation of the document may be read from the storage medium. Alternatively, the mark may be specified by writing a specific mark on the document and reading the mark. Moreover, you may specify by judging the flow of a character line.

  In the embodiment, only vertical documents are counted, but only horizontal documents may be counted. Further, all originals may be subjected to rotation processing, and even when a vertical original and a horizontal original are mixed, they may be aligned to one specific original.

  In the embodiment, the present invention is applied to a copy process in which an image of a read original is printed on paper. However, the present invention is not limited to the copy process. For example, the present invention may be applied to FAX transmission processing.

  In the embodiment, the specific document orientation is selected after all the originals have been read, after exceeding the limit of the number of documents to be placed, or after a predetermined number of originals have been read. It is not a thing. For example, when the proportion of a certain direction exceeds 80% of the read original, the direction may be determined as the specific original. In addition, when the ratio of each direction is substantially the same and the tendency of the orientation of the document becomes unknown, the orientation set as a default may be set as the specific document orientation.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Image formation part 20 Image reading part 30 Control part 40 Operation panel 50 OCR
100 MFP

Claims (5)

A reading unit that reads a plurality of documents;
A determination unit for determining the orientation of the most image information among at least two orientations as the specific document orientation in the image information of the document read by the reading unit;
A rotation unit that rotates at least a portion of the image information in the orientation different from the orientation of the specific document so as to be directed to the specific document;
A combining unit that combines additional information with the image information;
An additional rotation unit for rotating the additional information so as to be directed to the specific document;
Equipped with a,
Comparing the processing load A for reversing the additional information with the processing load B for reversing the image information in a direction different from the direction of the additional information;
If the processing load A is smaller than the processing load B, a normal reverse direction which is a reference direction of the reading unit is selected as the specific document direction, and the additional information is converted into the reverse direction,
If the processing load A is larger than the processing load B, the forward direction is selected as the specific document direction . A reading unit that reads a plurality of documents;
A determination unit for determining the orientation of the most image information among at least two orientations as the specific document orientation in the image information of the document read by the reading unit;
A rotation unit that rotates at least a portion of the image information in the orientation different from the orientation of the specific document so as to be directed to the specific document;
A combining unit that combines additional information with the image information;
An additional rotation unit for rotating the additional information so as to be directed to the specific document;
When the reading unit has read a predetermined number of documents from the first page, the orientation of the most image information among the predetermined number of image information is provisionally determined as the specific document orientation, and the additional information A temporary rotation unit that performs rotation processing so as to be directed to the temporarily determined specific document,
Equipped with a,
If the specific document orientation determined by the determination unit and the specific document orientation provisionally determined by the temporary rotation unit are the same, the combining unit converts the additional image rotated by the temporary rotation unit as the image information. An image reading apparatus characterized by combining . In the image reading apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 ,
The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rotation unit targets only image information in a direction opposite to the specific document direction. In the image reading apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3 ,
A placement unit for placing a document before being read by the reading unit;
The determination unit determines that the orientation is the specific document orientation when the number of pieces of image information having the same orientation is more than half of the number of pieces of image information that can be placed on the placement portion. Reader. In the image reading device according to any one of claims 1 to 4 ,
An image reading apparatus comprising at least one of a printing unit that prints the image information on a recording medium and a transmission unit that facsimile-transmits the image information.

Images