JPH0554188A - Picture processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a satisfactory picture even when an all over black part is generated by judging that the part where the number of black picture elements in a row direction and the column direction is more than specified value is the all over black part so as to remove it. CONSTITUTION:The black picture element number is counted by a row direction count 1541a and the column direction count 1541b and it is judged that the all over black part exists when the black picture element number comes to be more than limiting value in the end of the picture by all over black part judgement 1541c. The part judged to be the all over black part is removed from an original document picture part by all over black part removal 1541a. When a processing for cutting off the all over black part is completed, the processed original document picture part is used for the original picture in the succedding processing so as to process the cut-off of an original document character. Thus, the output picture is obtained as the satisfactory picture where the all over black part is removed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus for optically reading a document and performing image processing on the document,
The present invention relates to an image processing device that eliminates a black solid portion that occurs when reading a document.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a conventional digital copying machine, a laser is driven as it is to print out according to image information read by a scanner. Therefore, a pressure plate is not properly placed on an original when reading the original. Moreover, when the original is displaced from the predetermined original size position, light is not reflected at the displaced portion of the original and is transmitted, so that a black solid portion is generated in the output.

Further, in a translation device that optically reads a text manuscript consisting of an alphabet or the like, recognizes characters, translates the recognized characters word by word, and outputs them, the character image read by the scanner and stored in the memory is Immediately after that, the process of cutting out as an image of each character is performed. That is, first, a histogram of the number of black pixels in the cutout direction is calculated, a certain threshold value is determined, and the character image is cut out by discriminating the gap between them. Since it was not firmly placed on the manuscript, the clipping was not successful if a black solid portion occurred in the image stored in the memory as the read image.

On the other hand, cutting out has been performed by increasing the threshold value for cutting out.

[0005]

However, with the method of increasing the threshold value, the black solid portion remains as the original image, so the black solid portion remains in the final output obtained by editing the original image with the translation result. The resulting image is difficult to see.

Therefore, it is a first object of the present invention to provide an image processing apparatus which obtains a clear image which does not include a black solid portion as an output even if a black solid portion is generated by an operation of reading an original with a scanner. A second object of the present invention is to provide a translation device that performs stable recognition / translation processing even if a black solid portion is generated by the operation of reading an original with a scanner.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, an image reading means (100) for reading an original image; an image storage means (401) for storing image information read by the image reading means (100); an image Image density detecting means (1541a, 1541b) for counting the number of black pixels in the row direction and the column direction of the image information stored in the storage means (401); if the counted number of black pixels is a predetermined value (2230 dots) or more Judgment means (1541c, 30) for judging a black solid portion
1); Image processing means (1541d, 301) for removing the black solid part determined by the determination means (1541c, 301) from the image information stored in the image storage means (401); Image processing means (1541d, 301) is black Output image creating means (1547) for writing the image information from which the solid portion is removed into the output image memory (402); and the output image memory (40
2) output means for outputting the image information stored in (20)
0); Symbols in parentheses indicate corresponding elements or corresponding matters in the embodiments shown in the drawings and described later.

A second invention of the present application is an image reading means (100) for reading an original image; an image storage means (401) for storing image information read by the image reading means (100);
Image density detection means (1541a, 1541b) for counting the number of black pixels in the row direction and the column direction of the image information stored in the image storage means (401); the counted number of black pixels is a predetermined value (2230 dots) or more. Judgment means (1541c, 301) for judging the black solid portion with;
Image processing means (1541d, 301) for removing the black solid part determined by the image storage means (401) from the image information stored by the image storage means (401);
(d, 301) is a character cutout unit (1542) for extracting image information in character units from the image information from which the black solid portion is removed.
1543); character cutting means (1542, 1543)
A word area detecting means (1544) for extracting image information in word units from the line direction interval of the image information cut out by the character recognition means (1545) for recognizing the characters of the image information cut out by the character cutting means (1542, 1543). A translation unit (1546) for translating a word composed of a sequence of characters recognized by the character recognition unit (1545) for each word detected by the word area detection unit (1544); a translation unit (1546)
Output image creating means (1547) for writing the character image information of the translated word of the above into the output image memory; and an output means (2) for outputting the image information stored in the output image memory (402).
00) ;.

[0009]

According to the first invention of the present application, the image density detecting means (1541a, 1541b) is the image storing means (40).
The number of black pixels in the row direction and the column direction of the image information stored in 1) is counted, and the determination means (1541c, 301)
If the counted number of black pixels is equal to or more than a predetermined value (2230 dots), it is determined as a black solid portion. The image processing means (1541d, 301) then determines the determining means (1541c, 3).
The solid black portion determined by (01) is removed from the image information stored in the image storage means (401), and the removed image information is output by the output means (200).

Therefore, at the reading stage of the original image, even if a black solid portion is generated due to improper placement of the original document or pressure plate, for example, a clear image with the black solid portion removed can be obtained in the output image. ..

According to the second aspect of the invention, the image density detecting means (1541a, 1541b) includes the image storing means (4).
01), the number of black pixels in the row direction and the column direction of the image information stored in the image information is counted, and the determination means (1541c, 301)
Determines that the counted black pixel number is equal to or larger than a predetermined value (2230 dots) as a black solid portion. The image processing means (1541d, 301) then determines the determining means (1541).
c, 301), the solid black portion determined by the image storage means (40
The character cutting means (1542, 1543) removes the image information stored in 1) and extracts the image information in character units from the removed image information. The word area detecting means (1544) then uses the character cutting means (1542, 154).
The image information is extracted word by word from the line direction interval of the image information cut out by 3), and the character recognition means (1545) recognizes the characters of the image information cut out by the character cutout means (1542, 1543). Next, translation means (1546)
Translates a word composed of a sequence of characters recognized by the character recognition means (1545) in word units detected by the word area detection means (1544).

Therefore, even if a black solid portion is generated due to improper placement of the original document and pressure plate at the reading stage of the original image, the black solid portion is removed so that it is not affected by the black solid portion. Stable character segmentation, character recognition,
And a translation process can be implemented.

The output image creating means (1547) is
The character image information of the translated word of the translation means (1546) is written in the output image memory, and this character image information is output means (2
00) is output, a clear image without black solid parts can be obtained as an output image.

Stable character recognition, translation, and result output can be obtained. Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of embodiments with reference to the drawings.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows an outline of a mechanical portion of a digital copying machine having a translation function which is an embodiment of the present invention. The mechanical unit mainly includes an image reading unit (scanner) 100 and an image recording unit (laser printer) 200.

The contact glass 1 of the scanner 100 on which a document (not shown) is placed is illuminated by the light sources 2a and 2b, and the reflected light (document image) from the read document is reflected by the mirrors 3, 4, 5 and 5. CC through 6, 7 and lens 8
An image is formed on the light receiving surface of the D image sensor 9. Light source 2 (2
a, 2b) and the mirror 3 are mounted on a traveling body 10 that moves the lower surface of the contact glass 1 in parallel with the contact glass 1 in the sub-scanning direction (left-right direction in FIG. 1), and the mirrors 4 and 5 are mounted on the traveling body 10. It is mounted on the traveling body 11 that moves in the sub-scanning direction at a speed of 1/2 in conjunction with. The main scanning direction is performed by solid-state scanning of the CCD image sensor 9, the original image is read by the CCD image sensor 9, and the entire surface of the original is scanned by moving the optical system as described above. In the figure, 39 is
A pressure plate for pressing the document.

The laser printer 200 comprises a laser writing system, an image reproducing system and a paper feeding system. The laser writing system includes a laser output unit 21 and an imaging lens 2
2 and a mirror 23. Inside the laser output unit 21, there is provided a laser diode, which is a laser light source, and a polygon mirror (polygon mirror) that rotates at a high speed and a constant speed by an electric motor. The laser light output from the laser writing system is applied to the photosensitive drum 24 of the image reproducing system. Around the photosensitive drum 24, a charging charger 25, an eraser 26, a developing unit 27,
Transfer charger 28, separation charger 29, separation claw 3
0, a cleaning unit 31, and the like. A beam sensor (not shown) that generates a main scanning synchronization signal (MSSYNC) is arranged near the one end of the photosensitive drum 24 at a position where the laser beam is emitted.

The image reproducing process in the laser printer 200 will be briefly described. The peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 24 is uniformly charged to a high potential by the charging charger 25. When the peripheral surface is irradiated with laser light, the potential of the irradiated portion is lowered. Since the laser light is controlled to be turned on / off in accordance with black / white for recording / reproduction, the potential distribution corresponding to the recorded image, that is, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 24 by the irradiation of the laser light. It When the portion on which the electrostatic latent image is formed passes through the developing unit 27, toner adheres according to the level of the potential, and the electrostatic latent image becomes a visualized toner image. The recording sheet 32 is fed from the cassette to the portion where the toner image is formed at a predetermined timing and overlaps the toner image. This toner image is transferred to the recording sheet 32 by the transfer charger 28, and then separated from the photosensitive drum 24 by the separation charger 29 and the separation claw 30. The separated recording sheet 32 is conveyed by a conveyor belt 34, heated and fixed by a fixing roller 35 having a built-in heater, and then ejected to an ejection tray 36.

In this embodiment, the laser printer 200 has two paper feeding systems. One paper feed system is provided with an upper paper feed cassette 33a and a manual paper feed tray 33c. The upper paper feed cassette 33a or the manual paper feed tray 33c is provided.
The recording sheet 32a set in the
Fed by. The other sheet feeding system is provided with a lower sheet feeding cassette 33b, and the recording sheet 32b in the lower sheet feeding cassette 33b is fed by a sheet feeding roller 37b. Then, the recording sheet 32 fed from any one of the sheet feeding rollers is temporarily stopped while being in contact with the registration roller 38, and is fed to the photosensitive drum 24 at a timing synchronized with the progress of the recording process.

FIG. 2 shows an outline of the electrical equipment section of the copying machine shown in FIG. The electrical component section mainly reads an original and outputs an image data signal, an image reading section 100, an image processing section 150 that processes the image data signal, an image recording section 200 that performs recording based on the image data signal, a memory circuit 400, A control unit 3 for controlling the operation board 500 and these units, etc.
It is composed of 00.

In the image reading section 100, the image signal read by the CCD image sensor 9 is converted into an amplifier 10
It is amplified to a predetermined voltage amplitude of 1, converted into digital data by the A / D conversion circuit 102, and input to the shading correction circuit 103. The shading correction circuit 103 is a circuit for performing correction for uneven illuminance of the light sources 2a and 2b, uneven sensitivity of a light receiving element inside the CCD image sensor 9 and dark current. In addition, the image reading unit 10
Reference numeral 0 has a carriage drive motor M and a motor control circuit 104 for controlling the rotation of the motor M.

The image data signal output from the shading correction circuit 103 is input to the spatial filter circuit 151 of the image processing section 150. The spatial filter circuit 151 performs MTF correction for increasing the resolution of characters and line characters, smoothing processing for removing noise such as photographs, and the like.

The image data signal output from the spatial filter circuit 151 is input to the output modulation circuit 152, where it is converted into a halftone expression processing in consideration of the correction considering the characteristics of the printer and a writing signal created in the image recording unit 40. The corresponding code data is converted and output from the output circuit 153 to the image recording unit 200. The editing circuit 154 is a circuit that performs various types of processing and editing on the code data and outputs the code data.

In the image recording unit 200, the LD drive circuit 201 energizes and modulates the LD 202 according to the image data signal output from the image processing unit 150 while correcting the output fluctuation of the laser beam due to temperature and the like. The emitted laser light is emitted to the LD 202. The control unit 300 includes a CPU 301 that performs various controls according to a program, a ROM 302 that stores the control program, a RAM 303 that is temporarily used by the control program, and an I / O port 30.
A microcomputer including 4 and the like controls the entire copying machine.

The memory circuit 400 is composed of a page memory 401 for temporarily storing the read image, an output image memory 402 for storing the output image, and a dictionary memory 403 for storing a dictionary necessary for translation.

FIG. 3 shows the configuration of the editing circuit 154 shown in FIG. Reference numeral 1541 is a black solid portion determination cutout circuit for removing a black solid portion, and this circuit 1541 is a row direction counting circuit 1541 for counting the number of black pixels in the row direction.
a, a column direction counting circuit 1541b that counts the number of black pixels in the column direction, a black solid portion determination circuit 1541c that determines a black solid portion from the counted value, and a black that removes the determined black solid portion from the processed image portion. A solid portion removing circuit 1541d is included. Further, reference numeral 1542 is a line cutout circuit for cutting out a character image for each line, 1543 is a cutout circuit for each character for cutting out one character from the character image cut out for each line, and reference numeral 1544 is a cutout character image. A word extraction circuit for extracting a word from the reference numeral 1545
Is a character recognition circuit for recognizing characters in word units, reference numeral 154
Reference numeral 6 is a translation circuit for translating a recognized character, and reference numeral 1547 is an output image creation circuit for writing a character image of a translated word in the output image memory 402.

FIG. 4 shows the processing operation when the CPU 301 translates, and FIG. 5 shows its subroutine.

When a manuscript is set on the contact glass 1 and a translation instruction is given by an operator, the manuscript is optically read by the scanner section 100 (step 1: the word step or subroutine is omitted in parentheses hereinafter), and the read manuscript The image is stored in the page memory 401 (1). Then, a black solid portion cutting process is performed on the stored original image (2).

Referring to FIG. In the black solid portion cutting process (2), first, the number of black pixels is counted in the row direction and the column direction (21, 22). Then, according to the number of the counts, the existence and position of the black solid portion are judged (23).
To determine the black solid portion, specifically, when the number of black pixels at the edge of the image is larger than the limit value, it is determined that the black solid portion exists in the row range or the column range. The limit value is determined by the reading density of the scanner 100 used and the document width, and there is a relationship of limit value = scanner density × document width. For example, if an A4 original (width = about 21 cm) as shown in FIG. 6 is read at a density of 300 dpi (dots / inch), if there is a black solid portion, there are about 2480 dots (= 300 x 21
There should be /2.54) black pixels. Therefore,
Considering the error, if there is a black pixel of 2230 dots or more in one line after reducing it by about 10%, it is determined that it is a black solid portion. In the example of FIG. 6, it is determined that the 3-dot line on the original is a solid black portion.

Next, a black solid portion removal process is performed to remove the portion determined to be the black solid portion from the original image portion of the page memory 401 (24). This removal processing is performed by setting the boundary of the original range in the memory inside the solid black portion and changing the range to a smaller range as shown in FIG. As shown in the example of FIG. 7, assuming that the black pixel count in the row direction is performed on the vertically placed A4 original document, a portion determined to be a black solid portion continues for 10 rows in the horizontal direction and continues for 5 columns from the left in the vertical direction. The 11th row from the top and the 6th column from the left are document image portions. Since the document image size and position information in the page memory 401 already exist in the document size memory as coordinate values of two diagonal points of the image, the size of the document image is changed by changing the coordinate values. .. That is, when the document size is changed to a small size as shown in FIG. 7, coordinate conversion as shown in FIG. 8 is performed, and the x-coordinate of the coordinate value expressed in dot units at the upper left of the document image in the document size memory. Is added to 5 and 10 is added to the y coordinate.

Returning again to the main flow of FIG. When the black solid portion cutting process (2) is completed, the processed (smaller than the original document size) document image portion is continuously used instead of the original image in the subsequent processing. That is, the document character is cut out line by line with respect to the processed document image (3). Then, a word extraction process is performed to cut out each word from the cut line (4).
The cutout for each word is performed based on the character spacing obtained by the cutout for each character. Next, the extracted words are recognized word by word (5). Then, Japanese corresponding to each word is searched from the translation dictionary for translation (6), and the translation result is edited and output together with the original character image (7). Here, as the original character image, the small original image (excluding the black solid portion) processed in step 2 is used as a source, and as shown in FIG. 9, the output image has a black solid portion. Never appears. Then, it is transferred onto the recording paper by the printer 200 and discharged (8).

FIG. 10 shows an outline of a processing example in which the above-mentioned flow chart is actually applied to an original having a black solid portion at the time of reading.

In this embodiment, the processing operation when the CPU 301 translates is shown in FIG. 4, but in the case of the normal copying operation, the same image reading (1) as shown in FIG. 4 is performed.
And the information of the original image size range obtained by the black solid portion cutting processing (2) when another normal copying operation is performed and the image in the memory is output after the black solid portion cutting processing (2) is performed. The solid black portion is removed by driving and outputting the laser with.

[0034]

As described above, according to the first invention of the present application, even if a black solid portion occurs due to improper placement of a document or pressure plate at the reading stage of a document image, output is performed. The image gives a clean image with black solid parts removed.

Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, even if a black solid portion is generated due to improper placement of the original and pressure plate at the reading stage of the original image, the black solid portion is removed, and thus the black solid portion is removed. It is possible to perform stable character extraction, character recognition, and translation processing without being affected by the department. As a result, a clean image without black solid parts can be obtained as an output image.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of a mechanical unit of a digital copying machine having a translation function according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an outline of an electric component section of the digital copying machine shown in FIG.

3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an editing circuit 154 shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a part of the content of the processing operation of CPU 301 shown in FIG.

5 is a flowchart showing the contents of a black solid portion cutting process (2) shown in FIG.

6 is a plan view showing a document image in page memory 401. FIG.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a comparison between the original document and the document after the black solid portion is cut off.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing coordinate conversion of black solid part cutting processing.

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing how to translate without using a black solid portion.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart shown in FIG. 4 and FIG.
An outline of a processing example applied to a document having a black solid portion when reading is shown, (a) is a plan view showing an input image, (b) is a plan view showing a document image read into a memory, And (c) are plan views showing an output image.

[Explanation of symbols]

100: image reading unit (image reading unit) 150: image processing unit 154: editing circuit 1541: black solid portion determination cutout circuit 1541a: row direction counting circuit (image density detecting unit) 1541b: column direction counting circuit (image density detecting unit) ) 1541c: Black solid portion determination circuit (determination means) 1541d: Black solid portion removal circuit (image processing means) 1542: Line cutout circuit (character cutout means) 1543: Cutout circuit for each character in each line (character cutout means) 1544 : Word extraction circuit (word area detection means) 1545: character recognition circuit (character recognition means) 1546: translation circuit (translation means) 1547: output image creation circuit (output image creation means) 200: image recording unit (output means, image) Recording unit) 300: Control unit 301: CPU (determination unit, image processing unit) 302: RO 303: RAM 304: I / O port 400: memory circuit 401: a page memory (image storing means) 402: Output image memory (output image memory) 403: dictionary memory 500: the operation board

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Noriyasu Takeuchi 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Ricoh Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Satoshi Tanaka 1-3-3 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo No. 6 in Ricoh Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Takaaki Tada 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo In Ricoh Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image reading unit for reading an original image; an image storage unit for storing image information read by the image reading unit;
Image density detection means for counting the number of black pixels in the row and column directions of the image information stored in the image storage means; determination means for determining a black solid portion when the counted number of black pixels is a predetermined value or more; determination means Image processing means for removing the solid black portion determined by the above from the image information stored in the image storage means;
An image processing apparatus, comprising: an output image creating means for writing image information in which an image processing means removes a black solid portion into an output image memory; and an output means for outputting image information stored in the output image memory. 2. Image reading means for reading a document image; image storage means for storing image information read by the image reading means;
Image density detection means for counting the number of black pixels in the row and column directions of the image information stored in the image storage means; determination means for determining a black solid portion when the counted number of black pixels is a predetermined value or more; determination means Image processing means for removing the solid black portion determined by the above from the image information stored in the image storage means;
The character cutting means for extracting the image information in character units from the image information in which the image processing means removes the black solid portion; The word area detecting means for extracting the image information in word units from the line direction interval of the image information cut out by the character cutting means A character recognizing means for recognizing the characters of the image information cut out by the character slicing means; a translating means for translating a word formed by the character recognizing means and recognized by the word area detecting means in a word unit; A translation device comprising: output image creating means for writing character image information of a translated word of the means into an output image memory; and output means for outputting the image information stored in the output image memory.