JP6236971B2 - Image processing apparatus, image forming apparatus, and image processing program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image forming apparatus, and an image processing program.

  In Patent Document 1, for image information to be output by an output device such as a printer, one or more predetermined ones such as the density, thickness, color, size, font type, etc. of characters or lines included in the image information are disclosed. An image information processing method is described in which a condition determination regarding an attribute is performed and the thickness or density of a character or line is changed according to the result of the condition determination.

JP 11-129547 A

  An object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus, an image forming system, and an image processing program in which the accuracy of line width adjustment is improved as compared with a case where adjustment is performed by controlling an image forming unit. And

In order to achieve the above object, an image processing apparatus according to the present invention applies to print data received by an image processing unit with respect to at least one of character and line image data for causing the image forming unit to form an image . Line width adjustment for performing line width adjustment processing for adjusting the line width by changing the weight parameter based on the correspondence between the adjustment value and the weight parameter when generating the image data by performing predetermined image processing And the adjustment value of the line width adjusting means based on the difference or ratio between the measured value of the width of the line formed on the recording medium by the image forming means acquired from the measuring means and the target value of the line width. Control means for performing control to change.

  The line width adjustment processing according to the present invention may be processing for adjusting a line width based on the adjustment value in edge processing for at least one edge portion of characters and lines included in the image data.

The image processing apparatus according to the present invention also provides an edge for at least one edge portion of a character and a line included in the image data with respect to at least one of the character and line image data for causing the image forming unit to form an image. The width of the line formed on the recording medium by the image forming means acquired from the measuring means, and the line width adjusting means for adjusting the line width based on the adjustment value relating to the density of the edge portion in the processing Control means for performing control to change the adjustment value of the line width adjusting means based on the difference or ratio between the measured value of the above and the target value of the line width.
The line width adjustment processing of the image processing apparatus according to the present invention may be configured such that the line width is set to the adjustment value when the image data is generated by performing predetermined image processing on the print data received by the image processing unit. The process of adjusting based on may be sufficient .
Further, the adjustment value in the image processing apparatus of the present invention may represent a degree to replace the pixel at the edge portion with a predetermined pixel.

  The edge portion in the image processing apparatus of the present invention is at least one of a density difference determination process between the density of the target pixel and the density of surrounding pixels, and a pattern matching process using a predetermined pattern indicating the edge part. It may be detected by the following.

  Further, the control means of the image processing apparatus of the present invention, the measurement value acquired from the measurement means based on the correspondence between the difference or ratio between the measurement value and the target value of the line width and the adjustment value It may be controlled to change the adjustment value according to the above.

  An image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes the image processing apparatus according to the present invention and an image forming unit that forms an image based on image data that has been subjected to line width adjustment processing by the image processing apparatus.

  The image processing apparatus program of the present invention is for causing a computer to function as the line width adjusting means and control means of the image processing apparatus of the present invention.

According to the invention described in claim 1, claim 2, claim 4 , claim 8, and claim 9, the line width is adjusted as compared with the case where the image forming means is controlled and adjusted. Improves accuracy.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the edge portion can be easily and appropriately corrected as compared with the case where the present configuration is not provided.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the line width can be adjusted easily and appropriately as compared with the case where this configuration is not provided.

  According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the edge portion can be detected easily and appropriately as compared with the case where the present configuration is not provided.

  According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, the adjustment value can be changed easily and appropriately as compared with the case where the adjustment is not performed based on the correspondence.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an outline of an example of an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment. 3 is a functional block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration related to a line width adjustment processing function in the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. It is a graph showing a specific example of the relationship between the target value and the measured value according to the first embodiment. It is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of the line | wire width adjustment process in 1st Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the measurement of the line | wire width based on ISO13660 in 1st Embodiment. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a flow of image processing parameter change processing that is weight parameter change processing according to the first embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which showed the specific example of the correspondence of the corrected amount and weight parameter in 1st Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which showed a specific example with the line | wire width (character) corresponding to the weight parameter in 1st Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which showed the specific example of the weight parameter in 1st Embodiment. FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration related to a line width adjustment processing function in an image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment. It is a flowchart of an example of the line | wire width adjustment process by the edge process of Example 2-1 of 2nd Embodiment. Explanatory drawing for demonstrating the density | concentration difference determination process of Example 2-1 of 2nd Embodiment is shown. It is explanatory drawing which showed a specific example of the edge correction table of Example 2-1 of 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart of an example of the line | wire width adjustment process by the edge process of Example 2-2 of 2nd Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the pattern matching process of Example 2-2 of 2nd Embodiment.

  Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment]
The image forming system 10 of the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating an outline of an example of an image forming system 10 according to the present embodiment.

  The image forming system 10 according to the present embodiment includes an image forming apparatus 22 and an image reading apparatus 24.

  The image reading device 24 has a function of reading an image formed on a recording medium (such as paper 31) and generating print data (eg, Page Description Language: PDL data) such as a page description language corresponding to the image. doing. This is a so-called scanner or the like. In the present embodiment, “image” includes characters and lines. The print data generated by the image reading device 24 is output to the controller 50 of the image forming device 22.

  The image forming apparatus 22 has a function of generating image data from print data and forming an image on a sheet 31 (recording medium) based on the image data. The image forming apparatus 22 includes an image forming unit 30, an image reading unit 49, a controller 50, a printer engine control unit 52, and a printer engine control unit 54.

  The image forming unit 30 has a function of forming an image based on image data on a sheet 31 (recording medium). The image forming unit 30 includes a paper feeding unit 32, an image forming unit 34, an intermediate transfer member 46, And a fixing device 48, which is a so-called printer engine.

  The image forming unit 34 is provided as an image forming unit corresponding to each color of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K). These four image forming units 34Y, 34M, 34C, and 34K are configured similarly except for the color of the image to be basically formed. The image forming unit 34 includes a photoreceptor 36, a charger 38 for primary charging, an exposure device 40, a developing device 42, and a cleaning device 44. The photoconductor 36 functions as an image carrier that is rotationally driven along the direction of arrow A. The charger 38 has a function of uniformly charging the surface of the photoreceptor 36. The exposure device 40 has a function of forming an electrostatic latent image by exposing the surface of the photoreceptor 36 based on image data corresponding to each color. The developing device 42 has a function of developing the electrostatic latent image formed on the photoreceptor 36 with a corresponding color toner. The cleaning device 44 has a function of cleaning the toner remaining on the surface of the photoreceptor 36.

  Yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) image forming units 34Y, 34M, 34C, and 34K corresponding color images to the exposure devices 40Y, 40M, 40C, and 40K Data is output sequentially. Laser light LB emitted according to image data from the exposure devices 40Y, 40M, 40C, and 40K is scanned and exposed on the surfaces of the corresponding photoreceptors 36Y, 36M, 36C, and 36K, and an electrostatic latent image is formed. The electrostatic latent images formed on the surfaces of the photoreceptors 36Y, 36M, 36C, and 36K are respectively yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black by the developing devices 42Y, 42M, 42C, and 42K. It is developed as a toner image of each color of (K).

  The yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) toner images are primary-transferred onto the intermediate transfer body 46 in a multiplex manner, and then collectively from the intermediate transfer body 46 onto the paper 31. Second transfer is performed. Further, a fixing process is performed by the fixing device 48, and the paper 31 on which a full-color or monochrome image is formed is discharged to the outside of the image forming device 22. The paper 31 is supplied with a desired size and material from the paper supply unit 32.

  The image reading unit 49 has a function of reading an image formed on the paper 31 by the image forming unit 30. Print data (PDL data) generated by reading an image is output to the controller 50. In the present embodiment, a so-called inline sensor (ILS) is used as the image reading unit 49, but the present invention is not limited to this. The image reading unit 49 only needs to have a function of reading at least a line formed on the paper 31.

  The controller 50 and the printer engine control unit 52 perform image processing (Raster Image Processor: RIP) on the print data generated by the image reading device 24 and generate image data for forming an image by the image forming device 22. have. The printer engine control unit 54 has a function of controlling the image forming unit 30 of the image forming apparatus 22 based on the generated image data. The controller 50, the printer engine control unit 52, and the printer engine control unit 54 are realized as a computer, an ASIC, or the like having a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), and the like. The CPU executes a program stored in the ROM, whereby line width adjustment processing, which will be described in detail later, is executed.

  In the image forming apparatus 22 of the present embodiment, the widths of lines and characters formed on the paper 31 by the image forming unit 30 based on the image (line image) read by the image reading device 24 or the image reading unit 49 ( Hereinafter, it has a function of adjusting (correcting) the line width.

  The line width adjustment processing function in the image forming apparatus 22 of the present embodiment will be described in detail. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing an example of a configuration related to the line width adjustment processing function in the image forming apparatus 22 of the present embodiment.

  The controller 50 of the image forming apparatus 22 includes an image processing unit 60 and a color correction unit 62.

  The image processing unit 60 has a function of performing RIP processing as image processing on print data (PDL data) received from an external device 12 such as a personal computer, converting it into a bitmap, and converting it into a raster image.

  Further, the image processing unit 60 of the present embodiment includes a weight parameter determination unit 60A. The weight parameter determination unit 60A determines the weight parameter in the RIP process based on the measured value of the line width (or print data obtained by reading the line image) measured by the image reading device 24 or the image reading unit 49. To change.

  The color correction unit 62 performs color space conversion for each pixel by converting the color signal (RGB) into the color signal (CMYK) of the image forming unit 30 by color correction processing. The color correction processing is generally performed by a correction table called LUT (Look Up Table) or a matrix operation.

  The printer engine control unit 52 includes an edge detection unit 70, an edge correction unit 72, and a screen unit 74.

  The edge detection unit 70 detects the edge of the character image and the line image for each target pixel. The edge detection method may be performed by density difference determination processing, pattern matching processing, or the like, which will be described in detail later, and is not particularly limited.

  The edge correction unit 72 corrects the density of the edge portion detected by the edge detection unit 70 using a correction table called LUT stored in advance in a storage unit (not shown) or the like.

  The screen unit 74 performs binarization processing such as dithering, which is one of the area gradation methods, using a threshold matrix stored in advance in a storage unit (not shown).

  Print data (PDL data) received from the external device 12 is converted into image data for causing the image forming unit 30 to form an image by the controller 50 and the printer engine control unit 52.

  The printer engine control unit 54 includes an exposure control unit 54A that controls the exposure device 40, a development control unit 54B that controls the developing device 42, a transfer control unit 54C that controls the intermediate transfer member 46, and a fixing control that controls the fixing device 48. A portion 54D is provided. The printer engine control unit 54 controls the exposure device 40, the developing device 42, the intermediate transfer member 46, the fixing device 48, and the like based on the image data received from the printer engine control unit 52 by these control units. In response to the control, each unit of the image forming unit 30 operates as described above, so that an image is formed on the paper 31 based on the image data. In the present embodiment, when the line width adjustment process is performed, a line width adjustment chart 55 (described later in detail) is formed.

  The chart 55 formed by the image forming unit 30 is read by the image reading unit 49 or the image reading device 24. The print data (PDL data) of the chart 55 generated by the image reading unit 49 or the image reading device 24 is output to the image processing unit 60 (weight parameter determining unit 60A).

  Next, the operation of the image forming apparatus 22 in the line width adjustment process of the present embodiment will be described.

  In the present embodiment, the correlation between the image data, that is, the digital line width (digital value) and the line width (measured value) actually formed on the paper 31 by the image forming unit 30 is obtained in advance. (Refer FIG. 4, step S10). FIG. 3 shows a graph showing a specific example of the relationship between the digital value and the measured value. FIG. 3 shows a case where the line image is 2400 dpi as a specific example.

  As shown in FIG. 3, generally, the digital value and the measured value are offset characteristics. For this reason, in the present embodiment, the correction amount (adjustment value) of the digital line width (on the image data) and the correction amount (adjustment value) of the line width on the paper 31 are regarded as equivalent. Although the absolute values of the two correction amounts are different, since the slopes are equal, the correction amount (change rate) is regarded as equivalent. As a specific example, if the line image is 600 dpi, the one-dot line width corresponds to a 40 μm line width. If the line image is 2400 dpi, the 1-dot line width corresponds to a 10 μm line width.

  From this characteristic, a correspondence relationship between the correction amount based on the measured value and the digital value correction amount is obtained in advance. Note that unlike the above, when the slopes of the characteristics of the two are different, the correction amount is calculated for each dot line width. The correspondence may be a table or a conversion equation. The correspondence relationship is stored in a storage unit (not shown) or the like in the controller 50 of the image forming apparatus 22. The correspondence relationship is preferably stored in advance in the image forming apparatus 22 as described above, but is acquired when performing line width adjustment processing from a storage unit or the like provided outside the image forming apparatus 22. You may make it do.

  FIG. 4 shows a flowchart showing an example of the flow of line width adjustment processing in the present embodiment.

  In the image forming apparatus 22 of the present embodiment, the line width adjustment process is performed on the external device 12 or the image forming apparatus 22 in order to adjust the line width in the image before the image forming apparatus 22 forms an image. This is executed when an instruction to adjust the line width is received from a provided user interface (not shown) or the like.

  In step S100, the line width adjustment chart 55 is output. The line image used for line width adjustment may be an 8 dot line of 2400 dpi as a representative line width, or may be a plurality of types of lines with different dots, dpi, and the like. In the present embodiment, the image data of the chart 55 for forming these line images is stored in the image forming apparatus 22 in advance.

  In step S102, the chart 55 is read by the image reading device 24 or the image reading unit 49. The read print data (PDL data) is output to the image processing unit 60, and the line width is measured by the image processing unit 60.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the line width measurement method in the image processing unit 60 is based on the presentation of the line width in ISO 13660 and measures 60% of the amplitude value as the line width.

  In the next step S104, the correction amount is determined based on the measured value and the target value. In the present embodiment, the difference between the measured amount and the target value is converted into a digital correction amount using the correspondence (step S10) between the digital value and the measured value acquired in advance as described above. The digital correction amount is determined.

  In the next step S106, after performing an image processing parameter changing process (details will be described later) for changing the image processing parameter based on the determined correction amount, this process is terminated.

  In the present embodiment, the weight parameter determination unit 60A changes the weight parameter as the image processing parameter. An image processing parameter changing process when changing the weight parameter will be described.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of image processing parameter change processing that is weight parameter change processing.

  In step S200, the weight parameter determination unit 60A determines the weight parameter based on the correction amount converted into the digital value. In the present embodiment, the correspondence relationship between the correction amount and the weight parameter is obtained in advance by experiments or the like and stored in the weight parameter determination unit 60A. FIG. 7 shows a specific example of the correspondence relationship between the correction amount and the weight parameter. The weight parameter determination unit 60A determines a weight parameter corresponding to the correction amount converted into a digital value based on the correspondence relationship. Note that the correspondence relationship may be stored as a table or may be stored as a conversion formula.

  In the next step S202, after changing the weight parameter in the RIP process to the weight parameter determined by the weight parameter determination unit 60A, the present process is terminated.

  As shown in FIG. 7, when the correction amount is “+”, the weight parameter is changed so as to increase in order to increase the line width. On the other hand, when the correction amount is “−”, the weight parameter is changed to be small in order to reduce the line width. FIG. 8 shows a specific example of the line width (character) corresponding to the weight parameter. FIG. 9 shows a specific example of the weight parameter. FIG. 9A shows a specific example before the weight parameter is changed. FIG. 9 (2) shows a specific example after the change of the weight parameter. In FIG. 9, “font-weight” represents the thickness of a character (line). “Font-size” represents a character (line) size (13 px in FIG. 9). “Color” represents a character (line) color (# 333333: gray close to black in FIG. 9). “Line-height” represents the height of the line (1.5 characters in FIG. 9). FIG. 9 shows a case where the font weight parameter is changed from 0.01 to 0.02. In this case, as can be seen from FIG. 8, the line width increases.

  When the correction amount is “0”, the weight parameter does not need to be changed, so that the normal RIP process may be performed without performing this process.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, when performing the RIP process, the line width adjustment process is performed by changing the weight parameter.

[Second Embodiment]
In the first embodiment, the line width adjustment processing is performed by changing the weight parameter. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the processing may be performed by edge processing. In the present embodiment, a line width adjustment process when performing an edge process will be described. In addition, since this Embodiment contains the structure and operation | movement similar to 1st Embodiment, that will be described about the same structure and operation | movement, and detailed description is abbreviate | omitted.

Since the entire configuration of the image forming system 10 is the same as that of the first embodiment, the description thereof is omitted. In the image forming apparatus 22 of the present embodiment, the configuration relating to the line width adjustment processing function is different. FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram showing an example of a configuration related to the line width adjustment processing function in the image forming apparatus 22 of the present embodiment. As shown in the image forming system 10, the image processing unit 60 of the controller 50 according to the present embodiment does not include the weight parameter determining unit 60A unlike the first embodiment. On the other hand, the edge correction unit 72 of the printer engine control unit 52 includes an edge correction parameter determination unit 72A. The edge correction parameter determination unit 72A changes the density of the edge portion based on the measurement value of the line width measured by the image reading device 24 or the image reading unit 49 (or print data obtained by reading the line image). Therefore, in the present embodiment, the print data (PDL data) of the chart 55 generated by the image reading unit 49 or the image reading device 24 is output to the printer engine control unit 52 (edge correction parameter determination unit 72A). Next, the operation of the image forming apparatus 22 in the line width adjustment process of the present embodiment will be described. Also in the present embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the correspondence relationship between the digital value and the measurement value is acquired in advance. Moreover, since the flow of the whole line width adjustment processing (see FIG. 4) is the same as that of the first embodiment, description thereof is omitted.

  In the present embodiment, the line width adjustment processing is performed by edge processing, but there are two types of methods. Which of the two types of edge processing methods to be described below is performed is not particularly limited. In addition, both methods may be used in combination with conditions and the like.

(Example 2-1)
FIG. 11 shows a flowchart of an example of line width adjustment processing by edge processing according to this embodiment.

  In step S300, an edge portion is detected by density difference determination processing. A specific example of the density difference determination process will be described. FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the density difference determination process. As shown in FIG. 12, in this embodiment, a 3 × 3 (pixel) edge detection filter is used. In this case, the pixel V of the image data corresponding to No. 5 corresponding to the center of the edge detection filter is the target pixel.

In the concentration prose determination process, SH, SV, SR, and SL are calculated by the following equations (1) to (4). The numbers 1 to 9 in the expressions (1) to (4) represent the density of the pixel corresponding to each number of the edge detection filter.
SH = | (1 + 2 + 3) − (7 + 8 + 9) | (1)
SV = | (1 + 4 + 7) − (3 + 6 + 9) | (2)
SR = | (1 + 2 + 4) − (6 + 8 + 9) | (3)
SL = | (4 + 7 + 8) − (2 + 3 + 6) | (4)

  Further, when the following expression (5) is satisfied, it is determined that the target pixel V is an edge part, and when the following expression (6) is satisfied, it is determined that the target pixel V is a non-edge part. Note that the edge threshold value is determined in advance through experiments or the like.

Max = (SH, SV, SR, SL) ≧ edge threshold value (5)
Max = (SH, SV, SR, SL) ≧ edge threshold (6)

  The edge detection unit 70 detects the edge portion by performing the density difference determination process in this way using each pixel of the image data as the pixel of interest.

  In the next step S302, the edge density is determined based on the correction amount using the edge correction table. FIG. 13 shows a specific example of the edge correction table of this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 13, in this embodiment, when the line width is increased (the correction amount is “+”), the density of the edge portion is changed by replacing the white pixel at the edge portion with a black pixel. When the line width is narrowed (correction amount is “−”), the density of the edge portion is changed by replacing the black pixel of the edge portion with the white pixel. In this embodiment, as the edge correction table, the correspondence between the correction amount and the pixel replacement amount is acquired in advance and stored in the edge correction parameter determination unit 72A or the like. In this embodiment, the correspondence relationship between the correction amount and the pixel replacement (density) is held as a table as described above. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be held as a conversion formula or the like.

  In the next step S304, after changing the density of the edge portion to the determined density, this process is terminated. In this embodiment, as described above, the density is changed by replacing the pixels in the edge portion. In this embodiment, the edge portion is given a tag to that effect and is output to the screen portion 74. In the screen part 74, based on the tag, the number of screen lines at the edge part is made larger than the number of screen lines at the non-edge part. In the present embodiment, as a specific example of the image, the number of screen lines in the non-edge portion is set to 150 to 200 lines, which is a normal screen line number, and the number of screen lines in the edge portion is set to 600 lines. The higher the screen line number, the higher the density.

(Example 2-2)
FIG. 14 shows a flowchart of an example of line width adjustment processing by edge processing according to this embodiment.

  In step S400, an edge portion is detected by pattern matching processing. A specific example of the pattern matching process will be described. FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the pattern matching process. As shown in FIG. 15, in the present embodiment, a pixel corresponding to the central portion of the matching pattern is set as a target pixel. Note that the matching itself is performed by exclusive OR of related pixels. The edge portion is detected by performing the pattern matching process in this way.

  In the next step S402, an output pattern is determined based on the correction amount using the edge correction table. The edge correction table in the present embodiment is the same as the edge correction table (see FIG. 13) in the embodiment 2-1. Also in this embodiment, when the line width is increased (the correction amount is “+”), the density of the edge portion is changed by replacing the white pixel of the edge portion with the black pixel. When the line width is narrowed (correction amount is “−”), the density of the edge portion is changed by replacing the black pixel of the edge portion with the white pixel. In this embodiment, as the edge correction table, the correspondence (table or conversion formula) between the correction amount and the pixel replacement amount is acquired in advance and stored in the edge correction parameter determination unit 72A or the like.

  In the next step S404, after changing the output pattern, this process is terminated. FIG. 15 shows an overall image (output pattern) in normal edge correction, but in this embodiment, the output pattern is changed to an output pattern in which pixels are replaced according to the correction amount as described above.

  Thus, in this embodiment, the printer engine control unit 52 performs line width adjustment processing by edge processing.

  As described above, in the image forming apparatus 22 of each of the above embodiments, the line width adjustment process is performed to adjust the line width of the character image and the line image. In the line width adjustment process, the output chart 55 is read by the image reading device 24 or the fourth output terminal 44, and the difference between the measured line width (measured value) and the target value is converted into a digital correction amount. The image forming apparatus 22 adjusts the line width of the image data by changing the image processing parameters in the controller 50 or the printer engine control unit 52 based on the correction amount. Since the image forming unit 30 forms an image based on the image data whose line width is adjusted, the line image and the character image formed on the sheet 31 have a target (desired) line width.

  A character image or a line image may not have a desired line width (quality) due to the influence of a change in the paper 31 or the environment. On the other hand, in the image forming apparatus 22 of each of the embodiments described above, since the line width adjustment process is performed, a desired line width (quality) is maintained.

  In the image forming apparatus 22 of each of the above embodiments, the line width is adjusted by changing the image data itself by the controller 50 or the printer engine control unit 52 instead of controlling the image forming unit 30 to adjust the line width. It is adjusted. For this reason, in the image forming apparatus 22 of each of the embodiments described above, the line width is adjusted with higher accuracy than when the line width is adjusted by the control of the image forming unit 30.

  In each of the above embodiments, the printer engine control unit 52 performs edge detection, edge correction, and screen processing. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the controller 50 may perform edge detection and screen processing by load distribution. . As described above, whether the controller 50 or the printer engine control unit 52 performs the processes can be changed as appropriate.

  Further, the above embodiments may be used in combination.

  Moreover, in each said embodiment, although the difference of a measured value and a target value is used, you may make it use not only this but ratio.

  In each of the above embodiments, the line width adjustment process is performed in accordance with an instruction from the user or the like, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the controller 50 may determine whether the print data includes a character image or a line image. If the controller 50 determines that the character data or line image is included, the line width adjustment process may be performed.

  Moreover, although each said embodiment may be applied only to one of a character image and a line image, it is preferable to apply to both images.

  Note that each of the above embodiments is an example of the present invention, and it is needless to say that the embodiments can be changed according to the situation without departing from the gist of the present invention. The configurations, line width adjustment processing, and the like of the image forming system 10, the image forming apparatus 22, the controller 50, the printer engine control unit 54, and the like described in the present embodiment are examples, and the scope of the present invention is not deviated. Needless to say, it can be changed according to the situation.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Image forming system 22 Image forming apparatus 24 Image reading apparatus 30 Image forming part 49 Image reading part 50 Controller 52, 54 Printer engine control part 60 Image processing part, 60A Weight parameter determination part 62 Color correction part 70 Edge detection part 72 Edge correction Part, 72A Edge correction parameter determination part 74 Screen part

Claims (9)

When the image data is generated by performing predetermined image processing on the print data received by the image processing unit with respect to at least one of character and line image data for causing the image forming unit to form an image, Line width adjusting means for performing line width adjustment processing for adjusting the line width by changing the weight parameter based on the correspondence between the adjustment value and the weight parameter ;
Control for changing the adjustment value of the line width adjusting means based on the difference or ratio between the measured value of the line width formed on the recording medium by the image forming means obtained from the measuring means and the target value of the line width Control means for performing
An image processing apparatus. The line width adjustment process is a process of adjusting a line width based on the adjustment value in an edge process for at least one edge portion of a character and a line included in the image data.
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1 . With respect to at least one of character and line image data for causing the image forming unit to form an image , the line width is determined in the edge processing for at least one edge portion of the character and line included in the image data. A line width adjusting means for performing a line width adjusting process for adjusting based on the adjustment value for ;
Control for changing the adjustment value of the line width adjusting means based on the difference or ratio between the measured value of the line width formed on the recording medium by the image forming means obtained from the measuring means and the target value of the line width Control means for performing
An image processing apparatus. The line width adjustment process is a process of adjusting a line width based on the adjustment value when the image data is generated by performing predetermined image processing on the print data received by the image processing unit.
The image processing apparatus according to claim 3 . The adjustment value represents a degree of replacing the pixel of the edge portion with a predetermined pixel.
The image processing apparatus according to claim 3 or 4 . The edge portion is detected by at least one of a density difference determination process between the density of the pixel of interest and the density of surrounding pixels, and a pattern matching process using a predetermined pattern indicating the edge part.
The image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 3 to 5.   The control means changes the adjustment value according to the measurement value acquired from the measurement means based on the correspondence between the difference or ratio between the measurement value and the target value of the line width and the adjustment value. The image processing device according to claim 1, wherein the image processing device is controlled. The image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
Image forming means for forming an image based on the image data subjected to line width adjustment processing by the image processing device;
An image forming apparatus.   An image processing program for causing a computer to function as the line width adjusting unit and the control unit of the image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7.