JP7571420B2 - Image processing device and program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an image processing device and a program.

The scan app of an image processing device such as a color MFP (Multi-Function Peripheral) is equipped with a function for creating PDF files, etc. Then, before scanning a document with the scan app, the user sets the resolution at which the document will be scanned, and the document is scanned with the set resolution.

An automatic resolution determination device has also been developed that automatically determines the resolution of image data according to the contents of the image data after scanning a document with a scan app, and distributes image data converted to the determined resolution. Note that the image data with converted resolution does not necessarily need to be distributed to an external device, and may be saved in a pre-set folder, etc.

However, in the above-mentioned automatic resolution determination device, image data of a drawing containing thin lines that one wishes to faithfully reproduce from the original, image data of a busy map, etc., may not be converted into high-resolution image data. For example, when the character size contained in the image data of a drawing is readable at low resolution, image data in which one wishes to reduce the jaggies of diagonal thin lines caused by the drawing being read at low resolution, or image data that one wishes to deliver at high resolution to improve the reproducibility of lines of different thicknesses, may not be delivered at high resolution.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above, and aims to provide an image processing device and program that can automatically convert image data such as drawings and maps to high resolution.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the object, the present invention includes a reading unit that reads an original, a distribution unit that distributes image data of the original read by the reading unit, a determination unit that determines a resolution of the image data based on a predetermined area of the original, a discrimination unit that discriminates an original type that is the type of the original read by the reading unit, and a switching unit that switches the predetermined area according to the original type discriminated by the discrimination unit. The discrimination unit discriminates the original type based on a feature amount that is a ratio of each density of thin lines of a preset pixel width.

The present invention has the advantage of being able to automatically convert image data such as drawings and maps into high resolution.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a copying machine to which an image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment is applied. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an example of a control system built into the copying machine according to the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of an MFP to which the copying machine according to the present embodiment is applied. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of the MFP according to the present embodiment. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of a process for determining the resolution of image data in the MFP according to the present embodiment. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of document type discrimination processing in the MFP according to the present embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a document to be read by the MFP according to the present embodiment. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a result of calculation of the feature amount of a document by the MFP according to the present embodiment. FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining another example of the process of determining the document type of the original in the MFP according to the present embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining an example of a process for detecting the spacing between thin lines in fine characters included in a document in the MFP according to the present embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining an example of a process for determining the resolution of image data in the MFP according to the present embodiment.

The following describes in detail an embodiment of an image processing device and a program with reference to the attached drawings.

Figure 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a copying machine to which an image processing device according to this embodiment is applied. Figure 2 is a diagram for explaining an example of a control system built into the copying machine according to this embodiment. First, an outline of the mechanism of the copying machine main body 101 according to this embodiment will be explained using Figures 1 and 2.

1 and 2, five photoconductor (OPC) drums 102c to 102d, each having a diameter of 30 mm, are arranged in a line in the center of the main body 101 of the copying machine. These are surrounded by a charger that charges the surface of the photoconductor drums 102c to 102d, a laser optical system that irradiates the uniformly charged surface of the photoconductor drums 102c to 102d with semiconductor laser light to form an electrostatic latent image, a transparent toner developing device 105a, a black developing device 105b, a yellow developing device 105c, and a yellow developing device 105d that supply toner of each color to the electrostatic latent image to develop it and obtain a toner image for each color. Arranged in sequence are three color developing devices 105c, 105d, and 105e for yellow, magenta, and cyan, an intermediate transfer belt 109 that sequentially transfers the toner images of each color formed on the photoconductor drums 102c to 102d, bias rollers 110a to 110e that apply a transfer voltage to the intermediate transfer belt 109, a cleaning device 111d that removes toner remaining on the surfaces of the photoconductor drums 102c to 102d after transfer, and a charge removal unit that removes the charge remaining on the surfaces of the photoconductor drums 102c to 102d after transfer.

The intermediate transfer belt 109 is also provided with a transfer bias roller for applying a voltage to transfer the transferred toner image to the transfer material, and a belt cleaning device 114 for cleaning the toner image remaining on the transfer material after transfer. A fixing device 116 for fixing the toner image by applying heat and pressure is provided at the exit end of the pressure roller 115 that transports the transfer material peeled off from the intermediate transfer belt 109, and a paper discharge tray 117 is attached to the exit of this fixing device 116.

Above the laser optical system 104, there is a contact glass 118 located on top of the copier body 101 as a document placement platform, and an exposure lamp 119 that irradiates scanning light onto the document on this contact glass 118. The light reflected from the document is guided to an imaging lens by a reflecting mirror and enters an image sensor array of a CCD (Charge Coupled Device), which is a photoelectric conversion element. The image signal converted into an electrical signal by the CCD image sensor array passes through an image processing unit (not shown) and controls the laser oscillation of the semiconductor laser in the laser optical system 104.

Next, an example of a control system built into the copier according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

2, the control system of the copying machine according to this embodiment includes a controller 910 as a main control unit. The controller 910 is also connected to the laser optical system drive unit 134, the power supply circuit 135, the optical sensors 136a to 136c installed in each of the YMCK image forming units, the toner concentration sensor 137 installed in each of the YMCK developers, the environment sensor 138, the potential sensor 139, the toner supply circuit 140, the intermediate transfer belt drive unit 141, the operation panel 940, the drive control unit 163, the power supply/bias control unit 161, the various sensor control unit 160, the communication control unit 162, the memory control unit 182, and the memory device 181 via the interface I/O 133. The communication control unit 162 is capable of communicating with the Internet and the intranet 512 via the communication interface 518. The laser optical system driver 134 is a device that adjusts the laser output of the laser optical system, and the power supply circuit 135 is a circuit that applies a predetermined charging discharge voltage to the charger 113, applies a predetermined development bias voltage to the developing devices 105a to 105e, and applies a predetermined transfer voltage to the bias rollers 110a to 110e.

The optical sensors 136 are shown as optical sensor 136a, which faces the photoconductors 102c to 102d and detects the amount of toner attached to the photoconductors 102c to 102d, optical sensor 136b, which faces the intermediate transfer belt 109 and detects the amount of toner attached to the intermediate transfer belt 109, and optical sensor 136c, which faces the conveyor belt and detects the amount of toner attached to the conveyor belt. In practice, it is sufficient to use any one of the optical sensors 136a to 136c for detection.

The optical sensors 136a-136c are composed of a light-emitting element such as a light-emitting diode and a light-receiving element such as a photosensor that are arranged in close proximity to the post-transfer area of the photoconductor drums 102c-102d, and detect the amount of toner adhesion in the toner image of the detection pattern latent image formed on the photoconductor drums 102c-102d and the amount of toner adhesion in the background for each color, and also detect the so-called residual potential after the photoconductor is de-electrified.

The detection output signals from the optical sensors 136a to 136c are applied to an optical sensor control unit (not shown). The optical sensor control unit obtains the ratio between the amount of toner adhered in the detection pattern toner image and the amount of toner adhered in the background, compares this ratio value with a reference value to detect fluctuations in image density, and corrects the control values of the toner density sensors 137 for each of the YMCK colors.

Furthermore, the toner concentration sensor 137 detects the toner concentration based on the change in magnetic permeability of the developer present in the developing devices 105a to 105e. The toner concentration sensor 137 compares the detected toner concentration value with a reference value, and when the toner concentration falls below a certain value, causing a toner shortage, it applies a toner replenishment signal of a magnitude corresponding to the shortage to the toner replenishment circuit 140.

The potential sensor 139 is a sensor that detects the surface potential of each of the photoconductors 102c to 102d, which are image carriers, and the intermediate transfer belt drive unit 141 is a device that controls the drive of the intermediate transfer belt 109.

The black developing device 105b contains developer containing black toner and carrier. This is stirred by the rotation of the developer stirring member, and the amount of developer that is pumped up onto the developing sleeve by the developer stirring member is adjusted. This supplied developer is magnetically supported on the developing sleeve and rotates as a magnetic brush in the direction of rotation of the developing sleeve.

Figure 3 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of an MFP to which a copying machine according to this embodiment is applied. Next, an example of the hardware configuration of an MFP 9 to which a copying machine according to this embodiment is applied will be described with reference to Figure 3.

As shown in FIG. 3, the MFP (Multi-Function Peripheral/Product/Printer) 9 according to this embodiment includes a controller 910, a short-range communication circuit 920, an engine control unit 930, an operation panel 940, and a network I/F 950.

Of these, the controller 910 has a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 901, which is the main part of the computer, a system memory (MEM-P) 902, a north bridge (NB) 903, a south bridge (SB) 904, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) 906, a local memory (MEM-C) 907, which is a storage unit, a HDD (Hard Disk Drive) controller 908, and a HD 909, which is also a storage unit, and is configured such that the NB 903 and the ASIC 906 are connected by an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) bus 921.

Of these, the CPU 901 is a control unit that performs overall control of the MFP 9. The NB 903 is a bridge that connects the CPU 901 with the MEM-P 902, SB 904, and AGP bus 921, and has a memory controller that controls reading and writing to the MEM-P 902, a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) master, and an AGP target.

The MEM-P 902 consists of a ROM 902a, which is memory for storing programs and data that realize the various functions of the controller 910, and a RAM 902b, which is used for expanding programs and data, and as a drawing memory during memory printing. The programs stored in the RAM 902b may be provided by recording them in an installable or executable format on a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM, CD-R, or DVD.

SB904 is a bridge for connecting NB903 with PCI devices and peripheral devices. ASIC906 is an IC (Integrated Circuit) for image processing applications that has hardware elements for image processing, and acts as a bridge connecting AGP bus921, PCI bus922, HDD908, and MEM-C907. This ASIC906 is composed of a PCI target and AGP master, an arbiter (ARB) that is the core of ASIC906, a memory controller that controls MEM-C907, multiple DMACs (Direct Memory Access Controllers) that rotate image data using hardware logic, and a PCI unit that transfers data between scanner unit 931 (an example of a reading unit that reads a document) and printer unit 932 via PCI bus 922. In addition, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface or an IEEE 1394 (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 1394) interface may be connected to the ASIC 906.

MEM-C907 is a local memory used as an image buffer for copying and a code buffer. HD909 is a storage for storing image data, font data used during printing, and forms. HD909 controls the reading and writing of data from and to HD909 under the control of CPU901. AGP bus921 is a bus interface for a graphics accelerator card proposed to speed up graphic processing, and by directly accessing MEM-P902 at high throughput, the graphics accelerator card can be made faster.

The short-distance communication circuit 920 is provided with a short-distance communication circuit 920a. The short-distance communication circuit 920 is a communication circuit such as NFC or Bluetooth (registered trademark). The engine control unit 930 is further composed of a scanner unit 931 and a printer unit 932. The operation panel 940 is provided with a panel display unit 940a such as a touch panel that displays the current setting values and selection screens and receives input from the operator, and an operation panel 940b consisting of a numeric keypad that receives setting values for image formation conditions such as density setting conditions and a start key that receives a copy start instruction. The controller 910 controls the entire MFP 9, and controls, for example, drawing, communication, and input from the operation panel 940. The scanner unit 931 or the printer unit 932 includes an image processing unit such as error diffusion and gamma conversion.

The MFP 9 can sequentially switch between the document box function, copy function, printer function, and facsimile function using the application switching key on the operation panel 940. When the document box function is selected, the document box mode is selected; when the copy function is selected, the copy mode is selected; when the printer function is selected, the printer mode is selected; and when the facsimile mode is selected, the facsimile mode is selected.

The network I/F 950 includes a communication control unit 162 and a communication interface 518, and is an interface for data communication using the communication network 100 (the Internet or the intranet 512). The short-range communication circuit 920 and the network I/F 950 are electrically connected to the ASIC 906 via the PCI bus 922.

Figure 4 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of an MFP according to this embodiment. Next, an example of the functional configuration of an MFP 9 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Figure 4.

In the MFP 9 according to this embodiment, the CPU 901 uses the RAM 902b as a working area and executes the programs stored in the ROM 902a to realize the distribution unit 201, the decision unit 202, the discrimination unit 203, and the switching unit 204.

The distribution unit 201 is an example of a distribution unit that distributes image data of an original document read by the scanner unit 931. In this embodiment, the distribution unit 201 distributes image data to an external device via the network I/F 950, and stores the image data in a storage unit such as the HDD 909 via the HDD controller 908.

The determination unit 202 is an example of a determination unit (conversion unit) that determines (converts) the resolution of image data based on a predetermined area of the document read by the scanner unit 931. Here, the predetermined area is a pre-set area in the document, and is an area in the document that is given importance when determining the resolution of the image data. In addition, the predetermined area is switched by the switching unit 204, which will be described later.

In this embodiment, the determination unit 202 determines the resolution of the image data by the first determination method or the second determination method. Here, the first determination method is a method of determining the resolution of the image data based on a specified area in the document. Also, the second determination method is a method of determining the resolution of the image data based on the type of document (hereinafter referred to as document type).

In this embodiment, the second determination method identifies (specifies) the readability (rank) corresponding to the importance of the characters in the document contained in the manuscript, and determines the default resolution corresponding to the identified rank as the resolution of the image data. Here, the importance of the characters in the document contained in the manuscript is an example of a manuscript type. In addition, in this embodiment, the second determination method can also adjust the determined resolution of the image data based on the size of the characters, the number of characters, and the density of the characters in the document contained in the manuscript. For example, when the characters in the document contained in the manuscript are very small and difficult to read at the default resolution, the second determination method adjusts the determined resolution based on the size of the characters, the number of characters, and the density of the characters in the document contained in the manuscript.

The discrimination unit 203 is an example of a discrimination unit that discriminates the document type of the document read by the scanner unit 931. Here, the document type is the type of document as described above, and includes, for example, at least one of the types of line thickness contained in the document, the spacing between the lines, the spacing between thin lines in characters contained in the document, and the importance of the characters. The discrimination unit 203 can also adjust the importance of characters in a document contained in the document in response to an operation by the user of the MFP 9 input via the operation panel 940.

The switching unit 204 is an example of a switching unit that switches the predetermined area depending on the document type determined by the discrimination unit 203. This allows the image data of a drawing, map, etc. to be automatically converted to a high resolution even when the character size included in the image data of a drawing, map, etc. is readable at a low resolution. In this embodiment, the switching unit 204 switches the predetermined area depending on at least one of the line thickness type and the spacing between the lines included in the document. Alternatively, in this embodiment, the switching unit 204 switches the predetermined area depending on the spacing between thin lines in characters included in the document. Furthermore, the switching unit 204 switches the method of determining the resolution of the image data to the first determination method or the second determination method based on the result of the discrimination of the document type by the discrimination unit 203.

Figure 5 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of the process of determining the resolution of image data in an MFP according to this embodiment. Next, an example of the flow of the process of determining the resolution of image data in an MFP according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Figure 5.

First, the scanner unit 931 reads an original document and generates image data of the original document (step S501). Next, the discrimination unit 203 discriminates the document type (original type) of the original document read by the scanner unit 931 (step S502).

In this embodiment, the discrimination unit 203 discriminates the document scanned by the scanner unit 931 into four document types, document types A to D. Here, document type A is a document of a drawing or map. Document type B is a general office document. Document type C is a document that includes fine characters in part of the document. Document type D is a photographic document.

Next, if the manuscript type determined by the discrimination unit 203 is document type A (step S503: Yes), the switching unit 205 switches to the second determination method. Then, the determination unit 202 determines the resolution of the image data generated by the scanner unit 931 to a resolution at which drawings or maps are readable (high resolution) according to the manuscript type determined by the discrimination unit 203, that is, document type A (step S504).

If the document type determined by the discrimination unit 203 is not document type A (step S503: No) but is document type D (step S505: Yes), the switching unit 205 switches to the second determination method. Then, the determination unit 202 determines the resolution of the image data generated by the scanner unit 931 to a resolution at which photographs are readable (low resolution) according to the document type D, which is the document type determined by the discrimination unit 203 (step S506).

If the document type determined by the discrimination unit 203 is not document type D (step S505: No) but is document type B (step S507: Yes), the switching unit 205 switches to the second determination method. Then, the determination unit 202 determines, by machine learning or the like, the resolution of the image data generated by the scanner unit 931 according to the document type B, which is the document type determined by the discrimination unit 203, to a resolution at which fine characters in the document are readable (step S508).

If the document type determined by the discrimination unit 203 is not document type B (step S507: No) but is document type C, the switching unit 205 switches to the first determination method. Then, the switching unit 205 identifies an area of the document read by the scanner unit 931 that contains fine characters (i.e., an area in the document that is important when determining the resolution of the image data), and switches the specified area to the identified area (step S509). Then, the determination unit 202 determines, by machine learning or the like, the resolution of the image data generated by the scanner unit 931 to a resolution at which fine characters in the specified area are readable (step S508).

Here, machine learning refers to a technology that allows a computer to acquire human-like learning capabilities, in which the computer autonomously generates algorithms necessary for judgments such as data identification from training data that is previously loaded, and applies these to new data to make predictions. The learning method for machine learning may be any of supervised learning, unsupervised learning, semi-supervised learning, reinforcement learning, and deep learning, or may be a combination of these learning methods; any learning method for machine learning is acceptable.

Figure 6 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of document type determination processing in the MFP according to this embodiment. Next, an example of the flow of document type determination processing by the MFP 9 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Figure 6.

First, the discrimination unit 203 calculates the feature amount of the image data generated by the scanner unit 931 (step S601). In this embodiment, the discrimination unit 203 calculates the ratio (density histogram) of the density of the thin line to the width (hereinafter referred to as pixel width) of a preset number of pixels (for example, 1 pixel, 3 pixels, 7 pixels, non-edge pixels) as the feature amount, as shown in the following Table 1. Here, non-edge pixels are pixels with a pixel count other than 1, 3, and 6 pixels.

Next, the discrimination unit 203 discriminates the document type (original type) of the original read by the scanner unit 931 based on the calculation results of the feature amounts (step S602).

Fig. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a document read by the MFP according to this embodiment. Fig. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the calculation results of the document feature amount by the MFP according to this embodiment. In Fig. 8, the vertical axis represents the document feature amount, and the horizontal axis represents the document read value. Next, an example of document type discrimination processing by the MFP 9 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Figs. 7 and 8.

For example, when the original of the drawing shown in FIG. 7 is read by the scanner unit 931, the discrimination unit 203 calculates the ratio (frequency) of each density of thin lines of a preset pixel width as a feature amount, as shown in FIG. 8. Then, the discrimination unit 203 discriminates the document type (original type) of the original based on the feature amount of each density of thin lines of a preset pixel width.

In this embodiment, the discrimination unit 203 discriminates the importance of characters contained in a document as a document type based on the feature amount for each density of thin lines of a preset pixel width. For example, as shown in Table 2 below, when the size of characters in a document is large and the characters exist in a block, the discrimination unit 203 discriminates the document type as a document type with high character importance (for example, a general text document). Also, as shown in Table 2 below, when the size of characters in a document is large and the characters do not exist in a block, but the proportion of characters in the document is large or medium, the discrimination unit 203 discriminates the document type as a document type with high character importance (for example, characters on a form). Also, as shown in Table 2 below, when the size of characters in a document is large and the characters do not exist in a block, but the proportion of characters in the document is small, the discrimination unit 203 discriminates the document type as a document type with high character importance (for example, title characters on a photo).

Also, for example, as shown in Table 2 below, when the size of the characters in the document is small and the characters exist in a block, the discrimination unit 203 discriminates the document type as one with high importance of the characters (for example, small characters in a catalog or specification sheet). Also, as shown in Table 2 below, when the size of the characters in the document is small and the characters do not exist in a block, but the proportion of the characters in the document is large, the discrimination unit 203 discriminates the document type as one with high importance of the characters (for example, characters on a map). Also, as shown in Table 2 below, when the size of the characters in the document is small and the characters do not exist in a block, but the proportion of the characters in the document is medium, the discrimination unit 203 discriminates the document type as one with medium importance of the characters (for example, characters in a catalog picture or very slight annotation). Furthermore, as shown in Table 2 below, when the size of the characters in the document is small and the characters do not exist in a block, but the proportion of the characters in the document is small, the discrimination unit 203 discriminates the document type as one with low importance of the characters (for example, characters in a catalog picture or very slight annotation).

In this embodiment, the discrimination unit 203 also allows the user to adjust the criteria for switching the importance of characters via the operation panel 940. This makes it possible to make it easier for the importance of characters in a document contained in a manuscript to be high or to be low. Also, in this embodiment, the discrimination unit 203 classifies document types into four document types when the size of characters in a manuscript is small and when the size of characters is large, but this is not limited to this and it is also possible to classify into five or more document types.

Figure 9 is a diagram for explaining another example of the process for determining the document type of an original in an MFP according to this embodiment. Next, using Figure 9, another example of the process for determining the document type of an original in an MFP 9 according to this embodiment will be explained.

For example, as shown in FIG. 9, if the manuscript to be discriminated is a drawing manuscript in which the text size and number of characters are small, i.e., the drawing manuscript contains very few annotations, the discrimination unit 203 discriminates that the document type has low importance of text. Then, when determining the resolution of the image data of the manuscript by the second determination method, the determination unit 202 identifies a rank of readability corresponding to the determined importance, and determines the default resolution (low resolution) corresponding to the identified rank of readability as the resolution of the image data of the drawing manuscript.

Figure 10 is a diagram for explaining an example of a process for detecting the spacing between thin lines in fine characters contained in a document in an MFP according to this embodiment. Figure 10(a) is a diagram showing an example of characters in a document contained in a document. Also, Figure 10(b) is a diagram showing an example of the read value of the characters in the document contained in the document. In Figure 10(b), the vertical axis represents the vertical position (relative value of the Y coordinate) of the characters in the document contained in the document, and the horizontal axis represents the read value of the characters in the document contained in the document. Next, an example of a readability specification process in an MFP 9 according to this embodiment will be explained using Figure 10.

In this embodiment, when the resolution of image data is determined by the second determination method, the determination unit 202 detects the spacing between thin lines in fine characters contained in the document. For example, as shown in FIG. 10(a), if the character in the document contained in the document is "擾", the determination unit 202 detects the number of pixels (e.g., 5 pixels) that is the spacing between thin lines 1001 of the character in the document contained in the document based on the position of the read value and the relative value (number of pixels) of the Y coordinate. Then, the determination unit 202 identifies the rank at which the fine characters are easy to read based on the detected number of pixels.

Figure 11 is a diagram for explaining an example of a process for determining the resolution of image data in an MFP according to this embodiment. In Figure 11, the vertical axis represents the readability of characters in a document, and the horizontal axis represents the spacing between thin lines in characters contained in the document. Next, an example of a process for determining the resolution of image data in an MFP 9 according to this embodiment will be explained using Figure 11.

When determining the resolution of image data using the second determination method, the determination unit 202 identifies a rank at which fine characters are easy to read, and then, as shown in FIG. 11, identifies the spacing between thin lines in the characters (e.g., 4 pixels) that corresponds to the identified rank (e.g., "4"), and determines the resolution of the image data of the original so that the spacing between thin lines in the characters becomes the identified spacing.

In this way, according to the MFP9 of this embodiment, by switching the specified area depending on the document type determined by the determination unit 203, even if the character size contained in the image data of a drawing, map, etc. is readable at a low resolution, the image data of the drawing, map, etc. can be automatically converted to high resolution.

The programs executed by the MFP 9 of this embodiment are provided in advance in a ROM 902a or the like. The programs executed by the MFP 9 of this embodiment may be provided by being recorded in an installable or executable format on a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM, a flexible disk (FD), a CD-R, or a digital versatile disk (DVD).

Furthermore, the program executed by the MFP 9 of this embodiment may be configured to be stored on a computer connected to a network such as the Internet and provided by being downloaded via the network. Also, the program executed by the MFP 9 of this embodiment may be configured to be provided or distributed via a network such as the Internet.

The program executed by the MFP 9 of this embodiment has a modular structure including the above-mentioned units (distribution unit 201, decision unit 202, discrimination unit 203, and switching unit 204), and in terms of actual hardware, the CPU 901 (an example of a processor) reads the program from the ROM 902a and executes it, thereby loading the above-mentioned units onto the main storage device, and the distribution unit 201, decision unit 202, discrimination unit 203, and switching unit 204 are generated on the main storage device.

In the above embodiment, the image processing device of the present invention is described as being applied to a multifunction peripheral (MFP9) having at least two of the following functions: copy function, printer function, scanner function, and facsimile function. However, the image processing device can be applied to any image processing device, such as a copier, printer, scanner device, or facsimile device.

Each function of the embodiments described above can be realized by one or more processing circuits. In this specification, the term "processing circuit" includes a processor programmed to execute each function by software, such as a processor implemented by an electronic circuit, and devices such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), DSP (Digital Signal Processor), FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), and conventional circuit modules designed to execute each function described above.

9. MFP
901 CPU
902a ROM
902b RAM
931 Scanner unit 201 Distribution unit 202 Determination unit 203 Discrimination unit 204 Switching unit

Patent No. 6262102

Claims (8)

A reading unit that reads a document;
a distribution unit that distributes image data of the document read by the reading unit;
a determination unit that determines a resolution of the image data based on a predetermined area of the document;
a discrimination unit that discriminates a type of the document to be read by the reading unit;
a switching unit that switches the predetermined area in accordance with the document type determined by the determination unit;
Equipped with
The discrimination unit discriminates the document type based on a feature amount that is a ratio of each density of a thin line of a preset pixel width . the determination unit determines the resolution by a first determination method that determines the resolution based on the predetermined area or a second determination method that determines the resolution in accordance with the document type;
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the switching section further switches between the first determination method and the second determination method depending on the document type. the document type includes a type of line thickness included in the document and a spacing between the lines;
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the switching section switches the predetermined area in accordance with at least one of a type of thickness of lines included in the document and a spacing between the lines. The document type includes a spacing between thin lines in characters included in the document,
The image processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the switching unit switches the predetermined area depending on an interval between the thin lines. The document type includes the importance of characters in a document included in the document,
The image processing device according to claim 2 , wherein the second determination method includes identifying a readability corresponding to the importance level, and determining a default resolution corresponding to the identified readability as the resolution. The image processing device according to claim 5, wherein the second determination method further adjusts the determined resolution based on the size of characters, the number of characters, and the density of characters in the document contained in the original. The image processing device according to claim 5, wherein the discrimination unit further adjusts the importance in response to a user operation. Computer,
a distribution unit that distributes image data of the document read by the reading unit;
a determination unit that determines a resolution of the image data based on a predetermined area of the document;
a discrimination unit that discriminates a type of the document to be read by the reading unit;
a switching unit that switches the predetermined area in accordance with the document type determined by the determination unit;
and make it work .
The discrimination unit discriminates the document type based on a feature amount that is a ratio for each density of thin lines of a preset pixel width .

Images