JPH06210908A - Image processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable a type to be made easily without requiring after-processing as in a conventional device by a method wherein a handwritten character, a deteriorated character, etc., are enabled to be easily converted to a type by judging color of a color character in a color copy by once reading action, and besides an output image is outputted in color. CONSTITUTION:A memory 131 stores an RGB signal. A character area judging part 111 judges between a character area or an outside of the character area based on the recorded RGB signal. A font generation part as not given in the figure generates a font based on the RGB signal of the judged character area. A signal synchronizing circuit 117 outputs the generated font and the RGB signal outside the judged character area by synchronizing them with each other.

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 and, for example, to an image processing apparatus for discriminating the color of a handwritten character in a read document, recognizing the character, and outputting the character in color.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an apparatus of this type, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
There is an apparatus described in 0-77275. In this device, there is a device in which the unreadable character part of the data received by the FAX (facsimile) device is output as an unreadable mark.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, even if a color original is read, the color information thereof is not stored, and the information of the spot of interest such as color characters and underlines is lost. there were. The present invention has been made in view of the above-described drawbacks of the conventional example, and an object thereof is to determine the color of a color character in a color original by a single reading operation, and handwriting character and deteriorated. An image processing device that can easily print characters and the like, can output an output image in color, and can easily print characters without the need to modify them as before. Is in the point of providing.

Further, another object is to provide an image processing apparatus capable of outputting an output image in color by setting the time required for character recognition and the timing of outputting other image signals by performing reading a total of two times. is there.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the object, an image processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a storage unit that stores a multicolor image signal, a determination unit that determines a character region or a region other than the character region based on the stored image signal, A generation unit that generates a font based on the image signal in the determined character region and a synchronization unit that outputs the generated font and the image signal other than the determined character region in synchronization are provided.

Another image processing apparatus according to the present invention is
First reading means for reading a document image to obtain a multicolor image signal, determination means for determining a character area or other than the character area based on the read image signal, and an image signal for the determined character area Generating means for generating a font based on the above, and second reading means for reading the original image to obtain a multi-color image signal while performing the determination of the determining means and the generation of the generating means; And a synchronizing means for synchronizing and outputting the generated image signal and the generated font.

[0007]

According to this structure, the storage means stores the multi-color image signal, the determination means determines the character area or the area other than the character area based on the stored image signal, and the generation means determines the determined character area. A font is generated on the basis of the image signal, and the synchronizing means outputs the generated font and the image signal other than the determined character area in synchronization with each other.

Further, the first reading means reads the original image to obtain a multicolor image signal, the judging means judges the character area or the area other than the character area based on the read image signal, and the generating means makes the judgment. A font is generated based on the image signal of the generated character area, and the second reading unit reads the document image to obtain a multicolor image signal while performing the determination of the determination unit and the generation of the generation unit. The synchronizing means outputs the read image signal and the generated font in synchronization with each other.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. <First Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of an image processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 101 is a document, 102 is a platen glass, 103 is a halogen lamp for illuminating a document, 104 is a rod lens array, 105 is a CCD line sensor, 106 is an S / H (sample and hold) circuit, 107 is A / D conversion circuit, 1
Reference numeral 08 is a shading correction circuit, 109 is a color shift correction circuit, 110 is an input masking circuit, 111 is a character area determination unit, 112 is a LOG conversion circuit, 113 is a black extraction circuit, 1
14 is a masking circuit, 115 is a UCR (undercolor removal) circuit, 116 is a character processing unit, 117 is a signal synchronizing circuit, 11
8 is a gate signal generation circuit, 119 is a D / A conversion circuit, 1
20 is a selector, 121 is a comparator, 122 is a laser driver, 123 is a semiconductor laser, 124 is a polygon mirror, 125 is a photosensitive drum, and 131 is a memory.

FIG. 2 shows a character processing unit 11 according to the first embodiment.
6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of No. 6 of FIG. In the figure, 11
Reference numeral 25 is a color determination unit, 1126 is a processing signal generation circuit, and 11
27 is a control unit, 1128 is an edge detection unit, 1129 is a character determination unit, and 1130 is a font generation unit. Next, the operation will be described. A document 101 placed on the platen glass 102 is illuminated by a halogen lamp 103 for document illumination, and an image is formed on a CCD line sensor 105 by a rod lens array 104. CCD line sensor 10
In No. 5, R, G, and B color separation filters are applied in a dot-sequential manner, and the color separation signals of the document are output with a resolution of 400 dpi. The original illumination halogen lamp 103, the rod lens array 104, and the CCD line sensor 105 are scanned in the direction of the arrow to sequentially read the original image line by line,
Output. The S / H circuit 106 samples and holds the output of the CCD for each pixel, converts it into a digital signal by the A / D conversion circuit 107, and CCs it by the shading correction circuit 108.
The uneven output due to the variation in the sensitivity between the D pixels is corrected. R output from the shading correction circuit 108,
The G and B signals are stored in the memory 131 via the color shift correction circuit 109 and the input masking circuit 110.

Regarding the character area in the manuscript, the image information of the character area is immediately transmitted to the character area determining unit 11 via the memory 131.
Sent to 1. For the image of the portion determined to be in the character area by the character area determination unit 111, the R, G, and B signals of the image are determined by the color determination unit 11 via the character area determination unit 111.
25 is output. The color determination unit 1125 obtains the minimum value of each CCD output of R, G, and B from the input image,
Color discrimination is performed based on the ratio of the minimum values, and the ratio of (R + G + B) / 3 RGB of the processing signal generation circuit 1126 is adjusted. In this way, the contrast of the processing signal is increased and the character recognition is performed more accurately. After that, in the control circuit 1127, the edge detection unit 1128 performs edge detection on the character portion based on the processing signal of the processing signal generation circuit 1126, and the character determination unit 11
At 29, the character is cut out and the character is recognized based on the determination result. If the character is not recognized here, the condition of the edge detecting unit 1128 is changed and the edge is detected again. Here, changing the condition means changing the threshold value when the density change amount is obtained and a position having a density change amount higher than a certain threshold value is detected. Further, when the character is not recognized even if the condition is changed several times and the edge detection is repeatedly performed, the recognition is abandoned as the "unreadable character" and the original input image is output as it is. The recognized character information is sent as a control signal so that the control unit 1127 sends a sequence signal for printing to the font generation unit 1130. The character information is synchronized with an image that is not in the character range by the signal synchronization circuit 117, and then the gate signal generation circuit 118 and the selector 119 are used.
A signal is sent together with the color information determined by the color determination unit 125.

On the other hand, in parallel with the character recognition processing, the timing is set so that the image other than the character area can be simultaneously output at the time of output, and the signal is output from the memory 131 to the character area determination unit 111 again. To be done. Character area determination unit 1
11, the image of the portion determined not to be in the character range is complemented by C (cyan) and M in the LOG conversion circuit 112.
It is converted into (magenta) and Y (yellow), and the black extraction circuit 113 extracts the minimum value K (black) of C, M, Y, and K. The masking circuit 114 and the UCR circuit 115 perform well-known color correction processing to obtain C, M, Y, K frame sequential signals, and the signal synchronizing circuit 117 synchronizes with the character area.
The signal converted into the analog signal by the D / A converter 119 is output to the selector 120.

The selector 120 converts the image signals C, M, Y and K from the UCR circuit 115 into analog signals by the D / A converter 119 for the area of the document which is to be output without being printed. The gate signal generation circuit 1 is output from the character processing unit 116 to the area where the signal is output and is printed.
The signal via 18 is output. The analog signal from the selector 120 is used to pulse-modulate the semiconductor laser 123 through the laser driver 122. The semiconductor laser output is collimated by an appropriate optical system,
Photosensitive drum 125 with polygon mirror 124 rotating at high speed
Scan over and write a latent image. The latent image on the photoconductor drum 125 undergoes development, transfer, and fixing steps, and then undergoes C, M, Y, and
A visible image is formed on the paper in the K-sequential order, and the copying operation is completed.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the memory for temporarily storing the image read in the color image processing apparatus once, the color determining unit, the character recognizing unit, the font generating unit, and the memory are stored once. By installing a memory for temporarily storing the image read by the image reading in the memory, the color of the color characters in the color original can be judged by one reading operation, and handwritten characters, deteriorated characters, etc. The characters can be easily printed, the output image can be output in color, and it is possible to easily print the characters without the need to modify them later.

<Second Embodiment> In the first embodiment, by using a font having a plurality of fonts, the color copying machine of the present invention may be used to convert the fonts. . <Third Embodiment> In the first embodiment, when the color information of the color character determined by the color determination unit is sent to the font generation unit, it may be converted into a designated color from the outside.

<Fourth Embodiment> In the first embodiment, the input masking circuit 110 and the character area determination unit 1 will be described.
Although the memory 131 is provided between the memory 131 and the memory 1, the present invention is not limited to this, and the memory 131 may be omitted. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of an image processing apparatus according to the fourth embodiment. The configuration in the figure is a memory 1
The description is omitted because it is the same as FIG. 1 except for 31. Fourth
In the above embodiment, the image read by one image reading cannot be temporarily stored in the memory, but in order to read, recognize, print, and output the original, the image reading is first performed once. Then, in order to read the part other than the character, the output of the character and the timing are combined and the image is read again.

In this way, by performing reading a total of two times, the output image can be output in color in accordance with the time required for character recognition and the output timing of other image signals. The present invention may be applied to a system including a plurality of devices or an apparatus including one device. Further, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to the case where it is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, the color of a color character in a color original can be determined by one reading operation, and handwritten characters, deteriorated characters, etc. can be easily typed. In addition, the output image can be output in color, and there is no need to modify the image as before, and easy printing is possible.

Further, by performing the reading a total of two times, the output image can be output in color in accordance with the time required for character recognition and the timing of outputting other image signals.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a character processing unit 116 according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image processing apparatus according to a fourth embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference numeral 101 original document 102 original platen glass 103 original illumination halogen lamp 104 rod lens array 105 CCD line sensor 106 S / H circuit 107 A / D conversion circuit 108 shading correction circuit 109 color misregistration correction circuit 110 input masking circuit 111 character area determination unit 112 LOG conversion circuit 113 black extraction circuit 114 masking circuit 115 UCR circuit 116 character processing unit 117 signal synchronization circuit 118 gate signal generation circuit 119 D / A conversion circuit 120 selector 121 comparator 122 laser driver 123 semiconductor laser 124 polygon mirror 125 photosensitive drum 131 memory 1125 Color determination unit 1126 Processing signal generation circuit 1127 Control unit 1128 Edge detection unit 1129 Character determination unit 1130 Font generation unit

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location H04N 1/40 F 9068-5C

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A storage means for storing a multi-color image signal, a determination means for determining a character area or a portion other than the character area based on the stored image signal, and an image signal for the determined character area. An image processing apparatus comprising: a generating unit for generating a font and a synchronizing unit for synchronizing and outputting the generated font and the image signal other than the determined character area. 2. A first reading means for reading a document image to obtain a multicolor image signal, a judging means for judging a character area or a non-character area based on the read image signal, and the judgment means. Generating means for generating a font based on the image signal in the character area, and second reading means for obtaining the multicolor image signal by reading the original image while the determination means makes the determination and the generation means generates. An image processing apparatus, comprising: a synchronizing unit that synchronizes and outputs the read image signal and the generated font.