JPH05244391A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically obtain two-color copies from a monochromatic document such as in black without the necessity of work for adding an editing mark, etc., to the document. CONSTITUTION:A latent image depositing body is provided with plural developing equipments having different color developers and plural colored images which are developed by the developing equipments are selectively superimposed on same transfer paper so as to be transferred in an image forming device. In the device, the special property of document image information read by a reading means (scanner) 1 is recognized by an image recognizing means (character OCR) 25, image information recognized by the recognition result is separated from another image information, a latent image is formed on the latent image depositing body by writing means 10a and 10b, these latent images are developed in different kinds of color by the respectively different developing equipments and the two-color copies are obtained from the monochromatic document.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention is applicable to color copying machines, color printers and color facsimiles.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus suitable for a color color copying machine, especially a digital two-color color copying machine using an electrophotographic process.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a two-color color copying machine,
When a document is read by a scanner, the document image is separated into two colors to form a latent image on each photoconductor, and each latent image is developed with a different color developer by a different developing device. By superimposing and transferring on the same transfer paper,
I try to get two color copies.

[0003]

However, in the end, such a product is only for obtaining a copy equivalent to a document, and a monochrome image, for example, a black image document is output in two colors. You cannot get a copy of.
Therefore, for example, for a document written in a document or printed matter created by a word processor or the like, only the memo writing portion is changed to, for example, red and output, and the other portion is output as a black image with an accent. You can't get a copy.

However, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2-30677 discloses that a two-color copy is obtained from a monochrome original document. For this purpose, a portion (area) where the output color is changed on the original document. With regard to the above, an edit symbol or the like is attached, and the processing is changed by recognizing the edit symbol or the like, which is a troublesome work requiring the workmanship of the manuscript itself. Some things cannot be done.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a plurality of developing devices having different color developers are provided for a latent image carrier, and a plurality of color images developed by these developing devices are formed. In an image forming apparatus configured to selectively transfer the images on the same transfer sheet in an overlapping manner, a reading unit for reading a document image is provided, and an image recognition unit for recognizing the peculiarity of the image information read by the reading unit is provided. A writing unit is provided which separates the image information recognized by the image recognition unit from the other image information to form a latent image on the latent image carrier, and these latent images are developed by different developing units. A control means is provided for the control.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the image recognizing means is an optical character recognizing means, and an image having a regularity such as a printed character, a symbol, a pictogram or a line drawing is recognized as the peculiarity of the image information. did.

Further, according to the third aspect of the invention, the operation selecting means is provided for causing the image recognizing means to recognize the peculiarity of the image information only when the one-color original is read.

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the invention, the peculiarity of the image information itself of the document read by the reading means is recognized by the image recognition means, and the latent image formation and the development are made different according to the recognition result. Therefore, it is possible to perform image processing such as obtaining a color copy of two colors from a black-and-white original document, and it is possible to automatically obtain a sharp copy without the need to make edits on the original document itself. ..

In particular, according to the second aspect of the invention, since the read image is recognized by the optical character recognizing means, it is possible to distinguish an image having regularity such as a printed character from a handwritten image. By developing the image in different colors, an accented two color copy is obtained.

Further, according to the third aspect of the invention, since the recognition target of the image recognizing means by the operation selecting means is only one color original, that is, only the monochrome original, the two color originals are two colors as the original image. Getting a copy is not hindered.

[0011]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First, the configuration and operation of a digital two-color color copying machine as an example of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIG.
3 and FIG. This copying machine is roughly divided into a scanner (reading means) 1 and a printer 2. Scanner 1
In this case, a document (not shown) set on the contact glass 4 by the ADF (automatic document feeder) 3 or manually, for example, is sub-scanned while slit exposure is performed by the exposure lamp 5. The reflected light from the original is imaged on the photoelectric conversion element 7 such as CCD by the mirror / lens optical system 6, and the original image is electrically read.

On the other hand, the printer 2 side is based on an electrophotographic process and has a drum-shaped photosensitive member 8 serving as a latent image carrier.
It is mainly composed of. According to the electrophotographic process, a charger 9 and a writing unit 1 are provided around the photoconductor 8.
0, a developing device 11, a transfer charger 12, and a cleaning device 13 are sequentially provided. In this embodiment, the writing means 10 and the developing device 11 are the first color writing unit 10
a, second color writing unit 10b, developing units 11a, 11
Two sets are provided as b. Developing units 11a, 11
Each of b stores developer (toner) of a different color, and the developing rollers 14a, 14
b is provided. In addition, the writing units 10a, 10
b has substantially the same structure, and the writing light from the semiconductor laser (not shown) modulated according to the writing information is deflected and scanned by the polygon mirrors 15a and 15b to form a lens
The mirror optical systems 16a and 16b form an image on the photoconductor 8 to form a latent image.

A registration roller 18 for feeding and transferring the transfer paper 17 at a predetermined timing toward the transfer position of the transfer charger 12 is provided, and a transfer belt 20 for transferring the transferred transfer paper 17 to the fixing device 19.
Is provided. For the fixed transfer paper 17,
A re-feeding path 21 for transporting the transfer paper 17 again to the photoconductor 8 side via the registration roller 18, and a paper discharge tray 2
A sheet discharge path by a sheet discharge roller 23 for discharging the sheet 2 is selectively provided.

In such a structure, first, the basic operation of the digital two-color color copying machine will be described. The two-color original set on the contact glass 4 is color-separated and read by the photoelectric conversion element 7 in the scanner 1, and divided into two groups according to the color. One color image information is sent to the first color writing unit 10a, and the semiconductor laser is modulated and driven to form a corresponding latent image on the charged photoconductor 8. This latent image is developed by the developing device 11a and transferred onto the transfer paper 17 at the transfer position. The transferred transfer paper 17 faces the photoconductor 8 side again through the fixing device 19 and the re-feeding path 21, and stands by at the position of the registration roller 18. In parallel with this, this time, the other color image information is sent to the second color writing unit 10b, and the semiconductor laser is modulated and driven to form a corresponding latent image on the charged photoconductor 8. This latent image is developed by another developing device 11b, and is superimposed and transferred onto the same transfer paper 17 at the transfer position. As a result, a two-color color copy as the original can be obtained.

Based on such a digital two-color color copying machine, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, a two-color color copying function for a monochrome original is added. First, an image processing unit 24 is provided which performs a predetermined image processing before outputting the information of the document image read by the scanner 1 to the writing units 10a and 10b. An optical character recognition means (character OCR) 25 serving as an image recognition means is provided in the image processing section 24.
The character OCR 25 is defined as image information having regularity, such as characters, symbols, pictograms, line drawings, etc., from the image information read by the scanner 1 as another image with “speciality of image information”. It distinguishes and recognizes from information. A storage unit 26 is also connected to the image processing unit 24. The storage unit 26 stores the image information read by the scanner 1 as well as the recognition result by the character OCR 25 at any time.
A magnetic storage device such as D or a storage device such as an optical disk is used. Further, the control unit 2 serves as a control unit that controls all of these and also functions as an operation selection unit.
7 is provided.

In such a configuration, when the original to be copied is the original two-color original 28 as shown in FIG. 4A, the original two-color original 28 is used as shown in FIG. The copy result of the image is obtained on the transfer paper 17. That is,
At the time of reading the two-color original 28, the image read by the scanner 1 is only divided into two parts by color separation by color separation, and the image is directly processed without being processed by the character OCR 25 and stored in the storage unit 26. Writing unit 10a,
It is output to 10b, and two-color superposed copy is performed.

On the other hand, in the case of the monochrome original document 29 as shown in FIG. 5A, the function characteristic of this embodiment works. That is, it is recognized whether the image information read by the scanner 1 on the monochrome original document 29 is an image information portion having regularity such as a printed character in the character OCR 25 or another image information portion. In the example shown in FIG. 5, in the image of the monochrome original 29, the ruled line image A is an image with regularity (recognition image), and the other picture images B are images not recognized (non-recognition image), 2 as shown in FIG.
It is divided and stored in the storage unit 26. Then, regarding the recognized image, the first color writing unit 10a, the developing device 11
The image forming process using a is performed, and subsequently, for the unrecognized image, the second color writing unit 10b and the developing device 1 are used.
The image forming process using 1b is performed, and by overlapping on the same transfer paper 17, a two-color copy as shown in FIG. 7C in which the color of the ruled line image A and the picture image B are different is transferred. Paper 1
Got on 7. Therefore, a two-color color copy can be automatically obtained without making any work on the monochrome original document 29 itself, resulting in a sharp or accented result.

At this time, since the recognition result (recognized image and non-recognized image) by the character OCR 25 is stored in the storage unit 26, the control unit 27 causes the writing units 10a, 10 to be written.
By appropriately controlling the output order (sort function) for b, the number of outputs, and the like, the same document is not scanned by the scanner 1 again (therefore, the power for exposure illumination is saved, and the mechanical power of the scanner 1 is reduced). It is also preferable for the life), multiple copies can be obtained, and a copy in which the colors of the recognized image and the unrecognized image are reversed can be arbitrarily obtained.

By the way, when the monochrome original 29 is processed, the character O is read in the result read by the scanner 1.
In some cases, CR25 cannot be recognized as regular image information. When such a recognition result is obtained, the storage processing in the storage unit 26 is not performed, and the image information read by the scanner 1 remains as it is, and one writing unit 10 is used.
It is sent to a or 10b, a latent image is formed, development is performed by the corresponding developing device 11a or 11b, and a monochrome copy of only one color is obtained.

Regarding the image information recognized by the character OCR 25, for example, the printed character information, it is possible to change the typeface and output it to the writing unit 10a or 10b. As a result, for example, not only the color can be changed but also the Mincho typeface can be changed to the Gothic typeface or vice versa, and the copy output can be performed, and the output image can be further accentuated. ..

In the present embodiment, the two writing units 10a and 10b are provided for one photosensitive member 8. However, the writing unit itself is one, and the developing units 11a and 11b are sequentially different. Alternatively, it may be developed by. Alternatively, two photoconductors themselves may be provided, one writing unit and one developing unit may be provided for each photoconductor, and a transfer paper transport path connecting these photoconductors may be formed. Good.

[0022]

According to the first aspect of the invention, the image recognition means recognizes the peculiarity of the image information itself of the document read by the reading means, and the latent image is formed according to the recognition result.
Since the development is made different, it is possible to perform image processing such as obtaining a color copy of two colors from a black-and-white monochrome document, and it is possible to automatically and sharply without the work such as adding an edit symbol to the document itself. You can get a copy.

In particular, according to the second aspect of the invention, since the read image is recognized by the optical character recognizing means, for example, an image having a regularity such as a printed character and a handwritten image can be distinguished. By developing these images in different colors, it is possible to obtain an accented two-color color copy.

According to the third aspect of the invention, since the operation selecting means recognizes only the one-color original, that is, the monochrome original as the recognition target of the image recognizing means, the original two-color original has two original images. Obtaining a color copy is unobstructed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic front view showing the overall configuration of a digital two-color color copying machine.

FIG. 3 is a schematic front view showing the vicinity of the writing / developing section in an enlarged manner.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a processing example in the case of a two-color original.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a processing example in the case of a monochrome original.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Reading Means 8 Latent Image Carriers 10a, 10b Writing Means 11a, 11b Developer 17 Transfer Paper 25 Image Recognition Means 26 Control Means 29 One-color Originals

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of developing devices having developers of different colors are provided on a latent image carrier, and images of a plurality of colors developed by these developing devices are selectively superimposed and transferred onto the same transfer paper. In the image forming apparatus, the reading means for reading the original image is provided, the image recognition means for recognizing the peculiarity of the image information read by the reading means is provided, and the image information recognized by the image recognition means and the image information An image characterized by including writing means for forming a latent image on the latent image carrier by distinguishing it from other image information, and controlling means for developing these latent images by different developing devices. Forming equipment. 2. The image recognizing means is an optical character recognizing means, and an image having regularity such as a print character, a symbol, a pictogram, or a line drawing is recognized as a peculiarity of image information. 1. The image forming apparatus described in 1. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising operation selecting means for causing the image recognizing means to recognize the peculiarity of the image information only when reading the one-color original.