JPH09321984A - Image processor and metal color identification method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reproduce a duplication without deteriorating the original image of an original by comparing the regularly reflected light data with the irregularly reflected light data and outputting an area where a metal color of the original is identified in a pseudo metal color. SOLUTION: A movable mirror 203 of a movable light source part is moved by the instruction signal sent from an image read selection means and scans again an original 205. At the same time, the reflected light is decided as the irregular reflected light data on the original 205. In other words, no reflected light is decided in a black area since the light of a light source 204 is absorbed there. Meanwhile, the light of the source 204 is irregularly reflected in a white area and it's decided that the light is reflected there almost in the same direction. Then it's decided that the light is not reflected in a prescribed direction in a metal color area since the light of the source 204 is almost regularly reflected there. Thus, every color area of the original 205 is identified based on the original scanning result obtained at each position of the mirror 203. Then the image processing is carried out to output a pseudo metal color pattern to the metal color area.

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 a metal color identifying method, and more particularly to an image processing apparatus and a metal color identifying method in a copying machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a scanner is generally used as an image reading unit in a copying machine. As is well known, the scanner irradiates a document with light from a light source, converts the reflected light into image data, and outputs the image data. That is, the white portion of the document reflects the light, and the black portion absorbs the light, so there is almost no reflected light. Therefore, if there is reflected light, it is output as white data, and if there is no reflected light, it is output as black data.

However, a pencil-written original is often used in a copying machine. In the pencil-written part of the manuscript, lead, which is the main raw material of the pencil lead, reflects light, so when the scanner is used for reading, there is reflected light,
In other words, it was output as white data and could not be copied.

To solve this problem, diffuse reflection light is usually used as the reflection light. According to the diffusely reflected light, the light reflected by the lead of the pencil-written portion is reflected at an angle that is symmetrical with the incident angle that is almost regular reflection. Therefore, if the reflected light is detected from other than this angle, no reflected light can be obtained even in the part where the pencil is written, that is, black data can be obtained, and the white part of the document reflects the light at various angles almost uniformly. Therefore, the reflected light can be detected at other than the symmetrical angle, and the white data can be obtained correctly.

However, the scanner utilizing the diffused reflection light cannot cope with so-called metallic color (hereinafter referred to as metal color) such as metal foil. That is, in the metal color, the reflected light is almost regular reflected light, and is not irregular reflection. Therefore, the metal color portion is output as black data, and the copy is reproduced in black, resulting in a different image from the original. The same problem occurs in the full-color copying machine.

[0006]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the drawbacks of the prior art, and even when a document to be copied contains a metal color portion, the image of the original document is damaged by the copy. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image processing device that can be reproduced without a problem.

[0007]

According to the image processing apparatus of the present invention, an image reading means for reading an original, image reading selecting means for obtaining data of specular reflection light and data of irregular reflection light,
The identification means for identifying the metal color of the original by comparing the data of the specular reflection light and the data of the diffuse reflection light obtained by the image reading selection means, and the area identified as the metal color by the identification means are output in the pseudo metal color. And output means for

In the image processing apparatus of the present invention, a movable mirror is arranged in the image reading means.

The image processing apparatus of the present invention also causes the image reading means to alternately scan specular reflection light and diffuse reflection light line by line on the original.

The image processing apparatus according to the present invention further includes, in the image reading means, a first image reading means for obtaining data of specular reflection light and a second image reading means for obtaining data of irregular reflection light. are doing.

According to the metal color identifying method of the present invention, an original is optically scanned, and the metal color of the original is identified by comparing the data of specular reflection light and the data of irregular reflection light obtained by the optical scanning.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an image scanner as an image reading unit which is a reading unit of a digital copying machine using an image processing apparatus according to the present invention. The digital copying machine of this embodiment mainly includes a movable light source unit 10, a document holder 101, a light source 102, a first scanning mirror 103, a second scanning mirror 104, an imaging lens 105,
And a photoelectric conversion element (hereinafter referred to as CCD) 106.

The document holder 101 is made of a transparent glass plate and is arranged on the upper surface of the main body of the digital copying machine. The original to be copied is placed on the original holder 101 with the original surface facing down.
Placed on the table. In the present embodiment, the reference position of the document is set to the front left of the document holder 101.

The movable light source unit 10 includes a light source 102 and a mirror 2.
01, a movable mirror 203, and a light source 204. As shown in detail in FIG. 2, the movable light source unit 10 is a movable mirror that can rotate about a mirror 201 at a position that forms a pair with a light source 204 in addition to the light source 102 and a fulcrum 202. 203 is provided.

The optical path according to the present embodiment is reflected from the light source 102 on the original surface on the original holding table 101, and then illuminates the CCD 106 through the first scanning mirror 103, the second scanning mirror 104, and the imaging lens 105. To be done. CCD10
The original document image of the light incident on 6 is combined and converted into a digital signal.

The reading operation of the scanner section of this embodiment will be described below. When the light source 102 is turned on, the movable light source unit 10 moves the first scanning mirror 103 by the motor 108, and moves in parallel along the guide rail 110 to the broken line portion A in FIG. The second scanning mirror 104 is simultaneously moved in parallel to the broken line portion A at a speed that is half the moving speed of the movable light source unit 10.

The movable light source unit 10 and the second scanning mirror 10
The difference in speed from No. 4 is to keep the optical path from the light source 102 to the CCD 106 constant. In this way, the digital image signal data obtained by scanning and digitizing the entire surface of the original is
It is stored in an image memory (not shown).

The image signal data stored in the image memory is the data of the regular reflection light of the original because it passes through the optical path as shown in FIG. 2A. In this embodiment, the presence of the reflection light is "0". "(White) and no reflected light is" 1 "(black). At this time, the data of the specularly reflected light for each area of the document is determined to be no reflected light because the light emitted from the light source is absorbed in the black area as shown in FIG. The area of and the area of metal color are discriminated as having reflected light and are “0”.

The order of the intensity of the specularly reflected light with respect to the incident light in each of the black, white and metal areas of the original document is the order of metal color, white and black. The image reading unit of the conventional copying machine sets the threshold value of the intensity of the reflected light between these two colors in order to discriminate between white and black of the original, and the metal color of this embodiment is white. Is determined.

Now, returning to the description of the reading operation, the movable mirror 203 of the movable light source section 10 is moved to the position shown in FIG. 2B by the instruction signal from the image reading selecting means (not shown), and then again. The original is scanned. The reflected light at this time is discriminated as the data of the diffused reflected light of the original as in the conventional copying machine. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, since the light is absorbed from the light source in the black area, it is determined that there is no reflected light, and the white area is diffusely reflected from the light source and is almost uniform. Since there is reflected light in the direction, the discrimination is “0”, and most of the light from the light source is reflected in the direction of specular reflection in the metal color region, and there is no reflected light in the direction shown in FIG. 2B. That is, it is determined as "1".

By the above operation, each area of the original is imaged by the identification circuit (not shown) as an identification means as a result of the original scanning at the positions of the movable mirror 203 shown in FIGS. 2A and 203B. As shown in FIG. 4, white areas are identified as “0, 0”, black areas are identified as “1, 1”, and metal areas are identified as “0, 1”. Image processing for outputting a pseudo metal color pattern is performed on the identified metal color region.

In the subsequent copying process, the same image processing as in a normal copying machine is performed, that is, charging, exposure, development of the photosensitive drum, image transfer to the recording material, and fixing.

FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of the first and second scanning operations. As described above, the digital image signal data of specular reflection light obtained by the first document scanning is stored in the image memory as shown by the solid line in FIG.

The image data of diffusely reflected light obtained by the second scanning of the original document is, in real time, the image data of specularly reflected light stored in the image memory, as shown in FIG. 5B. The patterns for each region are processed while being compared.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the pseudo metal color pattern. As shown in this figure, it is effective to use a gradation pattern for the pseudo metal color pattern, and it is preferable to store these pattern data in a memory (not shown) of the device in advance. Also, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open
It is also possible to generate and process an appropriate gradation pattern each time as disclosed in -87302.

In the original scanning operation, the image data of the specular reflection light is stored in the image memory at once in this embodiment, but the above operation can be performed by storing the image data in the image memory one line at a time. In this case, the image memory for one line can be executed.

Further, as shown in FIG. 7, by providing the scanner with a structure capable of detecting specular reflection light and diffuse reflection light at the same time, each area can be identified and detected in real time by one scanning of the original. Processing becomes possible, and the movable mirror 203 or the image memory shown in this embodiment can be omitted.

[0028]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the image processing apparatus of the present invention, the movable light source unit 10 of the scanner which is the image reading unit is provided with the mirror 201 and the movable mirror 203. Since the image data of both the reflected light and the diffusely reflected light is obtained, the metal color can be identified.
Further, since the pseudo metal color pattern data is stored in the memory, the metal color of the original can be simulated in a copy.

Further, at the time of scanning the original, either the specular reflection light or the diffuse reflection light is stored in the image memory for each line to identify the metal color, so that the identification processing is performed by the memory having the capacity for one line. It can be performed.

Further, by providing the scanner with respective optical sensors for detecting specular reflection light and irregular reflection light,
The metal color can be identified by scanning the original once.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a structural cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration example of an image processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a detailed example of a movable light source unit of the image processing apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing data of specular reflection light for each color.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of an identification result obtained by scanning a document.

5 is a block diagram showing an example of a document scanning operation by the image processing apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a pseudo metal color pattern.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram showing details of a movable light source unit of another example of the image processing apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 movable light source unit 101 document holders 102, 204 light source 103 first scanning mirror 104 second scanning mirror 105 imaging lens 106 CCD 203 movable mirror

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An image processing apparatus comprising image reading means for reading a document and output means for outputting a copy based on image data read by the image reading means, wherein the apparatus is the image reading means. Image reading and selecting means for obtaining data of specular reflection light and data of diffuse reflection light, and comparing the data of the specular reflection light and the data of diffuse reflection light obtained by the image reading and selecting means, An image processing apparatus comprising: an identification unit for identifying a metal color of an original document; and an output unit for outputting an area identified as a metal color by the identification unit in a pseudo metal color. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image reading unit is provided with a movable mirror. 3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image reading unit alternately scans the specular reflection light and the irregular reflection light line by line on the original to read the original. 4. The image reading unit includes a first image reading unit for obtaining the data of the specular reflection light and a second image reading unit for obtaining the data of the irregular reflection light. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1. 5. A method for identifying a metal color, which comprises optically scanning an original and comparing the data of specular reflection light and the data of irregular reflection obtained by the optical scanning to identify the metal color of the original. .