JP5812945B2 - Image reading apparatus, image forming apparatus, and external region determination method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus, an image forming apparatus, and an external area determination method capable of determining an external area outside an original area when image reading is performed in a state where an original cover that opens and closes an original table is opened.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, image forming apparatuses such as copying machines and facsimile machines are provided with an image reading device that reads an image of a document placed on a document placement surface such as a contact glass. The image reading apparatus is provided with a document cover for covering the document placement surface. The document cover is supported so as to be rotatable about a spindle provided on the document table, and can be opened and closed with respect to the document placement surface. In this type of image reading apparatus, the image reading operation is performed in a state where the document cover is closed after the document is placed on the document placement surface. However, when an image of a thick original (hereinafter referred to as “thick original”) such as a book is read by the image reading apparatus, the original cover is not completely closed, and the original is placed on the original placement surface. Image reading is performed with the cover tilted. In this case, when image reading light is irradiated from the inside of the document table toward the document placement surface, the light irradiated to the region outside the document region (hereinafter referred to as “external region”) is reflected on the document cover. However, since the original cover is inclined, the reflected light does not return to the reading element, and therefore a portion corresponding to the external area appears as a black image in the read image.
In order to remove such a black image, Patent Document 1 prepares a threshold having the same value as the density change amount that is expected to occur at the boundary between the document area and the external area. An image reading apparatus is disclosed that recognizes a pixel as a boundary between a document area and the external area when the density change amount of the peripheral pixel is equal to or greater than the threshold value.

JP 2002-252747 A

  However, in the conventional image reading apparatus, when an image of a document is read with the document cover slightly opened and tilted, the image density in the outer region is not constant, and specifically, the document cover is supported. The concentration on the shaft side is thin, and the concentration increases as the distance from the support shaft increases. As described above, when the density of the external area is not constant, the boundary between the document area and the external area is used even if the method described in Patent Document 1 is used unless a plurality of threshold values corresponding to different densities are prepared. Cannot be certified correctly. Further, the density of the external region also varies depending on the opening / closing angle (tilt angle) of the document cover. Therefore, in order to accurately recognize the boundary using the method described in Patent Document 1, the plurality of threshold values must be provided according to the opening / closing angle of the document cover, and a huge amount of threshold information is required. Thus, the burden of the arithmetic processing becomes extremely large.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image reading apparatus and an image forming apparatus that can accurately determine an external area outside a document area in a read document image data with a low load. An apparatus and an external area determination method are provided.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a translucent manuscript table having a manuscript placement surface on which a manuscript is placed, a manuscript cover that can be opened and closed by rotation with respect to the manuscript placement surface, An angle detection means for detecting an opening / closing angle of the document cover; an image reading means for reading image data of the document based on a reflected light amount of light irradiated from the inside of the document table to the document placement surface; A light amount storage means for storing a light amount of reflected light received by the image reading means when a document is not placed on the document placement surface in a plurality of states with different opening and closing angles of the document cover; and the image reading A light amount corresponding to the opening / closing angle detected by the angle detection unit at the time of reading by the image reading unit out of the light amount received at the time of reading the image data by the unit and the light amount stored in the light amount storage unit Based on the comparison result, and as an image reading apparatus having a, and an exterior region determining means for determining the external area of the document placed on the document placement surface.
According to the present invention, a light amount corresponding to the opening / closing angle detected by the angle detection unit is read out from a plurality of light amounts stored in advance in the light amount storage unit, and the light amount and the light amount at the time of reading are stored in the external area. The external area of the document is determined by comparison by the determination means. Therefore, it is possible to accurately determine the external area of the document in the image read by the image reading unit. In addition, since the external area determination means determines by comparing the light amounts, the burden of the comparison process can be reduced, and the burden of the calculation process can be reduced.

In the external area determination unit, the amount of light received during reading by the image reading unit corresponds to the opening / closing angle detected by the angle detection unit during reading by the image reading unit out of the amount of light stored in the light amount storage unit. An area that falls within a predetermined light quantity range based on the light quantity to be determined is determined as the external area. Thereby, even if there is a variation in the amount of light received during reading by the image reading means, the external area determination means can accurately determine the external area.
The light quantity range corresponds to a predetermined angle range centered on the opening / closing angle detected by the angle detection means at the time of reading by the image reading means, and from the light quantity corresponding to the minimum angle in the angle range. It is conceivable that the range is up to the amount of light corresponding to the maximum angle. For example, when the opening / closing angle detected by the angle detecting means is 10 ° and an angle range of 2 ° is determined around the opening / closing angle, the maximum angle of 12 ° is determined from the amount of light corresponding to the minimum angle of 8 °. The range up to the amount of light corresponding to the above corresponds to the light amount range.

  In addition, the external area determination unit includes an opening / closing angle detected by the angle detection unit at the time of reading by the image reading unit out of a light amount received at the time of reading by the image reading unit and a light amount stored in the light amount storage unit. An area in which the difference from the amount of light corresponding to is within a preset threshold value may be determined as the external area. In this case as well, even if there is a variation in the amount of light received during reading by the image reading means, the external area determination means can accurately determine the external area.

  Further, the present invention may be configured to further include a replacement unit that replaces the image data of the external area determined by the external area determination unit with white image data. By replacing with the white image data by the replacement means, the appearance of the read image data is improved and the data amount of the image data is also reduced.

  The present invention can also be understood as an image forming apparatus including the image reading apparatus described above. As this image forming apparatus, a printer, a copier, a facsimile, or a multifunction machine having these functions can be considered.

  The present invention also provides a light-transmitting document table having a document placement surface on which a document is placed, a document cover that can be opened and closed with respect to the document placement surface, and opening and closing of the document cover. An angle detection means for detecting an angle; an image reading means for reading image data of a document based on a quantity of reflected light emitted from the inside of the document table to the document placement surface; and an opening / closing angle of the document cover Applied to an image reading apparatus comprising: a light amount storage unit that stores a light amount of reflected light received by the image reading unit when a document is not placed on the document placement surface in a plurality of different states It can also be understood as an external region determination method. The external region determination method includes a first step of detecting an opening / closing angle of the opening / closing cover by the angle detection unit during reading by the image reading unit, and a light amount received when reading image data of a document by the image reading unit. Based on the comparison result of the second step and the second step of comparing the light amount stored in the light amount storage means with the light amount corresponding to the opening / closing angle detected in the first step, the document placement And a third step of determining an external area of the document placed on the surface.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to accurately determine the area outside the original in the read original image data with a low load.

1 is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of a multifunction machine X according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control unit 5. FIG. 4 is a view showing the amount of reflected light received from a document holder 27 of the document cover 7. The figure which shows the gray scale image corresponding to the reference light quantity distribution data D ((theta)). FIG. 6 is a graph showing the relationship between the amount of reflected light received from the document presser 27 at a predetermined position Pn in the main scanning direction 62 and the opening / closing angle of the document cover 7; FIG. 6 is a graph showing the relationship between the amount of light received by the CCD 16 and a predetermined position Pn in the main scanning direction 62 when a thick original 65 is placed. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of a procedure of external area determination processing executed by a control unit 5.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following embodiment is an example embodying the present invention, and does not limit the technical scope of the present invention.

[Schematic configuration of MFP X]
First, a schematic configuration of a multifunction machine X (an example of an image forming apparatus of the present invention) according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. 1A is a schematic front sectional view of the multifunction machine X, and FIG. 1B is a schematic perspective view for explaining the opening / closing operation of the document cover 7 of the multifunction machine X.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the multifunction machine X includes an image reading unit 1, an ADF (automatic document feeder) 2, a document cover 7 (an example of the document cover of the present invention), an image forming unit 3, a paper feed cassette 4, And an operation display unit (not shown). In the present exemplary embodiment, the multi-function device X is described as an example of the image forming apparatus of the present invention. However, the present invention is not limited to this. . In this embodiment, the multifunction machine X is described as an example. However, the image reading apparatus of the present invention is realized as a scanner including the image reading unit 1, the document cover 7, and the control unit 5 provided in the multifunction machine X. May be.

The image reading unit 1 is an example of an image reading unit of the present invention, and executes an image reading process for reading image data from a document. As shown in FIG. 1A, the image reading unit 1 includes a contact glass 11, a reading unit 12, mirrors 13 and 14, an optical lens 15, a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) 16, and the like.
The contact glass 11 is an example of a document table according to the present invention, and is a transparent glass plate that is provided on the upper surface of the image reading unit 1 and on which a document to be read by the multifunction machine X is placed. The upper surface of the contact glass 11 is a document placement surface on which a document is placed.

The reading unit 12 includes an LED light source 121 and a mirror 122, and is configured to be movable in the left-right direction (sub-scanning direction) 61 in FIG. 1A by a moving mechanism (not shown) using a driving motor such as a stepping motor. Has been. When the reading unit 12 is moved in the sub-scanning direction 61 by the drive motor, the light emitted from the LED light source 121 toward the contact glass 11 is scanned in the sub-scanning direction 61.
The reading unit 12 reads the scale of the encoder strip provided in the same direction as the sub-scanning direction 61 in the image reading unit 1 and detects the position of the reading unit 12 in the sub-scanning direction 61 (FIG. 2). See). The linear encoder 48 is connected to the control unit 5 and outputs position information of the reading unit 12 to the control unit 5. Based on this position information, the control unit 5 recognizes the position of the reading unit 12.
The LED light source 121 includes a large number of white LEDs arranged along the depth direction (main scanning direction) 62 in FIG. 1B, and white for one line toward the reading position 12 </ b> A on the contact glass 11. Irradiate light. Note that the reading position 12 </ b> A moves in the same direction as the reading unit 12 moves in the sub-scanning direction 61.
The mirror 122 reflects toward the mirror 13 the reflected light reflected by the document holder 27 of the document cover 7 to be described later or the document at the read position 12A when the LED light source 121 emits light to the reading position 12A. Then, the light reflected by the mirror 122 is guided to the optical lens 15 by the mirrors 13 and 14. The optical lens 15 collects incident light and makes it incident on the CCD 16.

The CCD 16 is a photoelectric conversion element that converts received light into an electric signal (voltage) corresponding to the amount of light (intensity of luminance) and outputs the electric signal (voltage). Specifically, the CCD 16 reflects one line of reflected light reflected from the document or the document holder 27 of the document cover 7 when one line of light is irradiated from the LED light source 121 toward the reading position 12 </ b> A of the contact glass 11. Is received, light amount data for one line is generated based on the reflected light, which is converted into an electrical signal and output to the control unit 5 line by line. When the LED light source 121 is continuously irradiated with light for one line while moving in the sub-scanning direction 61, the CCD 16 sequentially outputs light amount data corresponding to the density of the original on which the light is reflected or the position on the original press. Generate and output. As described above, the irradiation of one line and the generation processing of the light amount data for one line are performed a number of times according to the resolution in the sub-scanning direction 61, so that the entire region irradiated with light (for example, the entire surface of the contact glass 11). The light quantity distribution data indicating the light quantity distribution at is obtained.
In the present embodiment, an example in which the CCD 16 is used as an imaging device will be described. However, a contact image sensor (CIS: Contact Image Sensor) having a focal length shorter than that of the CCD 16 is used instead of the image reading mechanism using the CCD 16. It is also possible to apply a conventional reading mechanism.

As shown in FIG. 1B, the document cover 7 is configured to be rotatable about the rear side of the image reading unit 1 as a fulcrum. The document cover 7 has a closed position in which the upper surface of the contact glass 11 is covered and is in contact with the rotation axis (not shown) provided on the rear side of the image reading unit 1, and the upper side from the upper surface of the contact glass 11. It opens and closes between the open postures opened apart. In the present embodiment, the document cover 7 rotates within a range in which the angle formed with the contact glass 11 is 0 ° to 90 °.
On the surface of the document cover 7 that faces the contact glass 11, a document presser 27 that is uniformly white is provided. The document retainer 27 is formed in a size that can cover the entire area of the contact glass 11.
A potentiometer 47 (see FIG. 2, an example of the angle detecting means of the present invention) for detecting the opening / closing angle of the document cover 7 with respect to the contact glass 11 is attached to the rotating shaft. The potentiometer 47 is connected to the control unit 5 and outputs a signal corresponding to the opening / closing angle of the document cover 7 to the control unit 5. Based on this signal, the control unit 5 detects the opening / closing angle of the document cover 7. In this embodiment, the potentiometer 47 is used to detect the opening / closing angle of the document cover 7. However, for example, the distance between the contact glass 11 and the document holder 27 is measured by a distance sensor or the like, and the measured value is measured. The opening / closing angle of the document cover 7 may be calculated from the above. Of course, other detection mechanisms other than this may be adopted.

As shown in FIG. 1A, an ADF 2 is provided on the left side of the document cover 7. The ADF 2 includes a document setting unit 21, a plurality of transport rollers 22, a document guide 23, a paper discharge unit 24, and the like. The ADF 2 drives each of the transport rollers 22 by a motor (not shown), thereby transporting the document set on the document setting unit 21 to the paper discharge unit 24 through the reading position 12A on the contact glass 11.
The document guide 23 is provided at a position above the reading position 12 </ b> A on the contact glass 11 with a space through which the document can pass. The document guide 23 is formed in an elongated shape in the main scanning direction 62, and a white sheet is attached to the lower surface (the surface on the contact glass 11 side). In the multifunction machine X, image data of a white sheet is read as white reference data. The white reference data is used for known shading correction and the like.

  Here, the reading of the document image by the image reading unit 1 is performed according to the following procedure. First, a document is placed on the contact glass 11, and then the document cover 7 is closed. Thereafter, when an image reading instruction is input from an operation display unit (not shown), the LED light source 121 sequentially emits light for one line while moving the reading unit 12 to the right in the sub-scanning direction 61. Reflected light from the document or document holder 27 is guided to the CCD 16 via the mirrors 122, 13, 14 and the optical lens 15, and light amount data corresponding to the amount of light received by the CCD 16 is sequentially output to the control unit 5. Thereby, the control unit 5 receives light amount distribution data including a light amount distribution corresponding to the density of the reading surface of the document. When the light quantity distribution data indicating the light quantity distribution in the entire area irradiated with light (for example, the entire surface of the contact glass 11) is obtained, the control unit 5 performs image processing on the light quantity distribution data to obtain the original from the light quantity distribution data. Image data is generated.

As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming unit 3 performs image forming processing (printing processing) based on image data read by the image reading unit 1 or image data input from an information processing apparatus such as an external personal computer. Is an electrophotographic image forming means for executing (1).
Specifically, the image forming unit 3 includes a photosensitive drum 31, a charging device 32, a developing device 33, a toner container 34, a transfer roller 35, a static eliminating device 36, a fixing roller 37, a pressure roller 38, and the like. In the image forming unit 3, an image is formed on the printing paper supplied from the paper feed cassette 4 according to the following procedure.
First, the photosensitive drum 31 is uniformly charged to a predetermined potential by the charging device 32. Next, light based on image data is irradiated onto the surface of the photosensitive drum 31 by a laser scanner unit (LSU) (not shown). As a result, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 31. The electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 31 is developed (visualized) as a toner image by the developing device 33. The developing device 33 is supplied with toner (developer) from the toner container 34. Subsequently, the toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 31 is transferred onto the printing paper by the transfer roller 35. Thereafter, the toner image transferred to the printing paper is heated and fused by the fixing roller 37 when the printing paper passes between the fixing roller 37 and the pressure roller 38 and is discharged. The potential of the photosensitive drum 31 is neutralized by the neutralization device 36.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the control unit 5 includes control devices such as a CPU 51, a ROM 52, a RAM 53, and an EEPROM 54 (an example of a light amount storage unit of the present invention). The control unit 5 is connected to a CCD 16, a potentiometer 47, and a linear encoder 48. The control unit 5 comprehensively controls the multifunction machine X by the CPU 51 executing a predetermined control program stored in the ROM 52. In the present embodiment, when the CPU 51 executes a predetermined control program stored in the ROM 52, an external area determination process, which will be described later, is executed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. The RAM 53 is a volatile storage unit, and is used as a temporary storage memory for various processes executed by the CPU 51. The EEPROM 54 is a non-volatile storage unit that stores later-described reference light amount distribution data D (θ) that is used when an outer area determination process described later is executed. The control unit 5 may be configured by an electronic circuit such as an integrated circuit (ASIC, DSP).

The reference light quantity distribution data D (θ) stored in the EEPRPM 54 is obtained by the image reading unit 1 in a state where the document is not placed on the contact glass 11 in each of a plurality of rotation postures having different opening / closing angles of the document cover 7. This is the light amount distribution data received by the CCD 16 and output to the control unit 5 when the image reading process is performed. The reference light quantity distribution data D (θ) will be described below.
For example, as shown in FIG. 3A, when the document cover 7 is opened until the opening / closing angle becomes θ (0 ° <θ <90 °), the distance between the contact glass 11 and the document holder 27 is It is the narrowest at the position P1 closest to the rotation fulcrum Q of the document cover 7, increases as it moves away from the rotation fulcrum Q in the main scanning direction 62, and becomes the maximum at the position Pn farthest from the rotation fulcrum Q. Therefore, when image reading is performed in a state where there is no document when the document cover 7 is opened to the angle θ in this way, a relatively large amount of reflected light from the document holder 27 is reflected by the mirror 122 because the interval is narrow at the position P1. However, since the interval becomes wider as it moves to the position Pn side, the reflected light does not easily reach the mirror 122, and the amount of reflected light received by the CCD 16 decreases. Such a light quantity distribution tendency appears only in the main scanning direction 62 and hardly appears in the sub-scanning direction 61.

In the present embodiment, five reference light quantity distribution data D (θ: 10 °, 15 °, 20 °, 25 °, 30 °) corresponding to the open / close angles of 10 °, 15 °, 20 °, 25 °, 30 °, respectively. Is stored in the EEPROM 54. An example of the reference light quantity distribution data D (θ) is shown in FIG. Here, FIG. 3B is a diagram showing an example of the reference light quantity distribution data D (θ), and shows the amount of reflected light received from the document holder 27 at each position in the main scanning direction 62. . FIG. 4 shows these five reference light quantity distribution data D (10 °), D (15 °), D (20 °), D (25 °), and D (30 °) as grayscale images. 4A is the reference light amount distribution data D (10 °), the image of FIG. 4B is the reference light amount distribution data D (15 °), and the image of FIG. 4C is the reference. The light amount distribution data D (20 °), the image in FIG. 4D corresponds to the reference light amount distribution data D (25 °), and the image in FIG. 4E corresponds to the reference light amount distribution data D (30 °).
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, as the characteristic of the reference light amount distribution data D (θ), the reflected light from the document holder 27 becomes less likely to reach the mirror 122 as the opening / closing angle θ of the document cover 7 increases. The amount of decrease in the amount of reflected light received corresponding to each position in the main scanning direction 62 is large.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the relationship between the received light amount at each of the positions P1 and Pn in the main scanning direction 62 and the opening / closing angle θ. As shown in FIG. 5, at the position Pn farthest from the rotation fulcrum Q, when the opening / closing angle θ exceeds approximately 18 °, the reflected light from the document holder 27 does not reach the mirror 122, and the amount of light received by the CCD 16 is as follows. The received light amount Dmin indicating a black image. Even at the position P1 closest to the rotation fulcrum Q, when the opening / closing angle θ exceeds 30 °, the reflected light from the document holder 27 does not reach the mirror 122, and the amount of light received by the CCD 16 is a light reception indicating a black image. The amount is Dmin. That is, when the opening / closing angle θ exceeds 30 °, the reflected light from the document holder 27 does not reach the mirror 122 at any position in the main scanning direction 62, and the reference light amount distribution data D having the opening / closing angle θ of 30 ° or more. (Θ) is constant at the received light amount Dmin indicating a black image. When the open / close angle θ is 0 °, the open / close angle θ is 0 ° based on the amount of light received from the original press 27 while the original press 27 of the original cover 7 is in close contact with the upper surface of the contact glass 11. Since the reference light amount distribution data D (0 °) is generated, the reference light amount distribution data D (0 °) is constant at the received light amount Dmax indicating a white image.

[External area judgment processing]
Hereinafter, an example of the procedure of the external area determination process executed by the control unit 5 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In the figure, S11, S12,... Represent processing procedure (step) numbers. By executing each processing according to these processing procedures, the external area determination method of the present invention is realized. Here, the control unit 5 that executes the external region determination process corresponds to the external region determination unit and the replacement unit of the present invention. In the external area determination process, as shown in FIG. 6A, when a thick document 40 such as a book is placed on the contact glass 11, the document cover 7 remains open without being closed. When the image reading is executed in this state, it is executed by the control unit 5.

(Step S11)
First, in step S11, the control unit 5 determines whether an instruction for an image reading operation has been input based on an instruction signal input from an operation display unit (not shown). Specifically, after the user places the document 40 on the contact glass 11 and rotates the document cover 7 in the closing direction, when a start button is pressed from an operation display unit (not shown), an instruction for an image reading operation is issued. A signal is input to the control unit 5. The control unit 5 determines that there is an image reading instruction when this instruction signal is input, and then proceeds to the next step S12.

(Steps S12 to S13)
Step S12 is a procedure corresponding to the first step in the external region determination method of the present invention, and in this step S12, the control unit 5 detects the opening / closing angle θ of the document cover 7. Specifically, the opening / closing angle θ of the document cover 7 immediately after the image reading instruction is input is detected based on a signal from the potentiometer 47. In step S13, it is determined whether the document cover 7 is closed or open. Specifically, when the opening / closing angle θ detected in step S12 is 0 °, it is determined that the document cover 7 is closed. In this case, the external area determination process is not performed, and the process proceeds to step S20, where a normal image reading operation without performing the external area determination is performed. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S13 that the document cover 7 is not closed (No side in S13), an angle greater than 0 ° is detected as the opening / closing angle θ, so that a normal image reading operation is performed. Instead, the process after step S14 is performed. Note that whether or not the document cover 7 is closed may be determined using a limit switch that operates when the document cover 7 is closed.

(Steps S14 to S15)
In step S <b> 14, the control unit 5 reads the reference light amount distribution data D (θ) corresponding to the opening / closing angle θ detected in step S <b> 12 from the EEPROM 54. The read reference light amount distribution data D (θ) is temporarily stored in the RAM 53, which is a work area, for use in the light amount comparison process in step S16 described later. For example, when the opening / closing angle θ detected in step S12 is 10 °, the reference light amount distribution data D (10 °) is read from the EEPROM 54. Thereafter, the image reading operation is started with the document cover 7 being opened (S15). When reflected light is received by the CCD 16 by this image reading operation, an electrical signal indicating the amount of received light is sequentially input to the control unit 5. Then, the control unit 5 generates light amount distribution data indicating the light amount distribution in the entire region irradiated with light by the image reading operation. The generated light quantity distribution data is temporarily stored in the RAM 53.

(Steps S16 to S18)
Step S16 is a procedure corresponding to the second step in the external region determination method of the present invention. In this step S16, the control unit 5 performs the reference light amount distribution data D (θ) stored in the EEPROM 54 and the step S15. A light amount comparison process for comparing light amount distribution data generated by image reading is performed. Specifically, the respective light amounts corresponding to the regions of the same coordinates on the respective light amount distribution data are compared. Then, the control part 5 determines whether the light quantity of the area | region used as comparison object corresponds as a comparison result (S17).
For example, when the opening / closing angle θ is 10 °, the light amount distribution in the entire main scanning direction 62 at the position P21 in the sub-scanning direction 61 (see FIG. 6A) where the document 40 is not placed is shown in FIG. ) Is obtained. Since the light quantity distribution data D41 is obtained when the reading operation is performed in a state where the document 40 is not placed at the position P21, the light amount distribution data D41 is acquired in advance without the document on the contact glass 11, and the EEPROM 54 is obtained. The reference light amount distribution data D (10 °) at the opening / closing angle of 10 ° stored in FIG. Therefore, the control unit 5 compares the light amount distribution data D41 and the reference light amount distribution data D (10 °) to determine whether or not the light amounts in the same coordinate area in the main scanning direction 62 match, and the light amount is It is determined that the area in the light quantity distribution data D41 determined to match is an external area, that is, an area where no document is placed (S18). In this case, it is determined that the entire area of the light amount distribution data D41 is an external area. Here, the step S17 and the step S18 are procedures corresponding to the third step in the external region determination method of the present invention.
Further, for example, when the opening / closing angle θ is 10 °, the light quantity distribution in the entire main scanning direction 62 at the position P22 (see FIG. 6A) in the sub-scanning direction 61 where the document 40 is placed is shown in FIG. Assume that the light quantity distribution data D42 shown in (C) is obtained. The light quantity distribution data D42 is obtained when the reading operation is performed with the document 40 placed on the position P22. Therefore, the light amount distribution data D42 is acquired in advance without the document on the contact glass 11, and the EEPROM 54 is obtained. There is a portion that does not match the reference light quantity distribution data D (10 °) when the opening / closing angle is 10 °. Specifically, the light amount distribution D42A in the rear region where the document 40 is not placed and the light amount distribution D42C in the front region where the document 40 is not placed are the reference light amount distribution data D (10 °). Although they match, they do not match the light amount distribution D42B of the area where the document 40 is placed. Therefore, in this case, the control unit 5 compares the light amount distribution data D42 and the reference light amount distribution data D (10 °) to determine whether or not the light amounts in the same coordinate area in the main scanning direction 62 match. Then, the area of the light quantity distribution D42A and the light quantity distribution D42C determined to match the light quantity is determined as the external area. On the other hand, the control unit 5 determines that the light amount distribution D42B determined that the light amounts do not coincide with each other is not an external region but is a document region. The light quantity distribution D42B represents the density of the original image. In FIG. 6C, the original light image D is considered to be a white image for the sake of simplicity.

  The control unit 5 executes the processing performed in steps S16 to S18 for the entire region of the light amount distribution data obtained by the image reading in step S15. Note that the control unit 5 recognizes the position in the sub-scanning direction 61 in the entire region based on position information from the linear encoder 48 mounted on the reading unit 12. By executing such processing, it is possible to accurately specify the external region in the light amount distribution data obtained in step S15. If it is determined in step S17 that there is no region where the light amounts match, there is no external region in the light amount distribution data obtained in step S15, that is, all are original images, so the external region is determined. The process ends.

(Step S19)
When the external area is determined in step S18, the control unit 5 performs processing for replacing the information on the light amount distribution data in the external area with the information of the white image data in the next step S19. Thereafter, a series of processing ends.

  As described above, in the multi-function device X, the control unit 5 executes the external area determination process, thereby obtaining the reference light amount distribution data D (θ) stored in the EEPROM 54 and the image reading in step S15. Since the external area is determined as a result of comparison with the obtained light quantity distribution data, the external area in the light quantity distribution data obtained by the image reading process can be accurately determined. Further, since the external area determination process is performed by comparing the reference light amount distribution data D (θ) with the light amount distribution data, the burden of the comparison process can be reduced, and the burden of the arithmetic process is reduced. .

  In the above-described embodiment, the light amount distribution data indicating the light amount distribution in the entire region irradiated with light by the image reading operation is generated, and then the light amount distribution data is compared with the reference light amount distribution data D (θ). However, for example, the comparison determination process in steps S16 to S18 may be performed at the timing when the light amount distribution data for one line in the main scanning direction 62 is obtained in the sub-scanning direction 61. In this case, it is determined whether or not there is an image reading operation for the next one line. If there is, the process of steps S16 to S18 is performed on the light amount distribution data for the next one line, and the next one line is obtained. If there is not enough image reading operation, the replacement process in step S19 may be performed.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the reference light amount distribution data D (θ) is compared with the light amount distribution data obtained by the image reading in step S15, and it is determined whether or not the light amounts in the regions having the same coordinates match. However, the light amount distribution data obtained by reading the image in step S15 may be affected by disturbance light such as sunlight or room lighting. Therefore, for example, when the opening / closing angle θ of the document cover 7 is 10 °, an allowable range of ± 10% is set with respect to the reference light amount distribution data D (10 °) at an angle of 10 °, and obtained by image reading. Even when the light amount of the region having the same coordinates in the light amount distribution data is within the allowable range, the region may be determined as the external region. Thereby, even if it receives to the influence of disturbance light, an external area | region can be determined correctly.
For example, when the opening / closing angle θ of the document cover 7 is 10 °, the allowable range is the minimum angle when an allowable angle range (for example, ± 2 °) is defined around the opening / closing angle. A range from a light amount corresponding to 8 ° to a light amount corresponding to a maximum angle of 12 ° can be set as the allowable range.

  Further, the reference light quantity distribution data D (θ) and the light quantity distribution data obtained by the image reading in step S15 are compared to find the difference in the light quantity in the region of the same coordinate, and the difference is a predetermined threshold value. If it is within the range, the area may be determined as the external area.

1: Image reading unit 2: ADF
3: Image forming unit 4: Paper feeding cassette 5: Control unit 7: Document cover 11: Contact glass 16: CCD
X: MFP

Claims (5)

A translucent manuscript table having a manuscript placement surface on which the manuscript is placed;
A document cover that can be opened and closed by rotation with respect to the document placement surface;
Angle detecting means for detecting an opening / closing angle of the document cover;
Image reading means for reading image data of a document based on the amount of reflected light of light emitted from the inside of the document table to the document placement surface;
A light amount storage means for storing the amount of reflected light received by the image reading means when a document is not placed on the document placement surface in a plurality of states where the opening and closing angles of the document cover are different;
Of the light quantity received when reading the image data of the document by the image reading means and the light quantity stored in the light quantity storage means, the light quantity corresponding to the opening / closing angle detected by the angle detection means at the time of reading by the image reading means based on the comparison result between, anda outer region determining means for determining the external area of the document placed on the document placement surface,
In the external area determination unit, the amount of light received during reading by the image reading unit corresponds to the opening / closing angle detected by the angle detection unit during reading by the image reading unit out of the amount of light stored in the light amount storage unit. An image reading apparatus that determines an area within a predetermined light quantity range with reference to a light quantity to be performed as the external area . The light quantity range corresponds to a predetermined angle range centered on the opening / closing angle detected by the angle detection means at the time of reading by the image reading means, and from the light quantity corresponding to the minimum angle in the angle range. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the image reading device is in a range up to a light amount corresponding to the maximum angle. A translucent manuscript table having a manuscript placement surface on which the manuscript is placed;
A document cover that can be opened and closed by rotation with respect to the document placement surface;
Angle detecting means for detecting an opening / closing angle of the document cover;
Image reading means for reading image data of a document based on the amount of reflected light of light emitted from the inside of the document table to the document placement surface;
A light amount storage means for storing the amount of reflected light received by the image reading means when a document is not placed on the document placement surface in a plurality of states where the opening and closing angles of the document cover are different;
Of the light quantity received when reading the image data of the document by the image reading means and the light quantity stored in the light quantity storage means, the light quantity corresponding to the opening / closing angle detected by the angle detection means at the time of reading by the image reading means And an external area determination means for determining an external area of the document placed on the document placement surface based on the comparison result with
The external area determination means corresponds to the light amount received at the time of reading by the image reading means and the opening / closing angle detected by the angle detection means at the time of reading by the image reading means among the light quantities stored in the light amount storage means. der Ru images reader that the area difference is within a preset threshold value of the light intensity is determined that the external region. The image reading apparatus according to any one of the image data of the external area determined by the external area determination unit from claim 1, further comprising a replacement means for replacing the white image data 3. Image forming apparatus including an image reading apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4.