Facsimile and static presentation processing – Static presentation processing – Emulation or plural modes
Reexamination Certificate
1998-04-10
2004-11-16
Poon, King Y. (Department: 2624)
Facsimile and static presentation processing
Static presentation processing
Emulation or plural modes
C358S001150, C358S505000, C358S474000, C358S002100, C358S519000, C358S521000, C382S169000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06819439
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus for an electronic picture copying machine or the like based on a digital system in which adjustment of image quality can be made by switching a gradation conversion table &ggr; or a color conversion coefficient or other parameters for each image quality mode, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus which can output images so that images for each mode can easily be checked.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Image forming apparatuses based on the conventional technology include a so-called copying machine for forming a image based on a read image, and a so-called printer for forming an image according to image data inputted from the outside, and for instance, in a color copying machine based on a digital system, there is provided a monitor copy mode in which an image is copied by a plurality of sheets side by side on one sheet of paper by changing a color tone of a portion thereof. The technology is disclosed, for instance, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 1-232878.
In this type of color copying machine, prior to start of a copying operation, an operator selects a monitor copy mode and specifies a portion of a document, generally a portion especially remarked for reproduction of the colors, when a plurality of monitor images intentionally having been subjected to color correction for slightly emphasizing, for instance, yellow (Y), magenta (M) and cyan (C) respectively are formed on one sheet of paper together with a monitor image with a standard color tone with the portion not having been color correction, so called a not-adjusted monitor image.
In cases of pictures, printed materials, documents written with a fluorescent pen, even if the colors look identical to human eyes, sometimes the colors become largely different when actually copied. This phenomenon occurs because the color materials such as a photo-sensitive material, printing ink, or toner are different. In a digital image forming apparatus such as an electronic picture copying machine, to reproduce excellent images each with an image quality higher than a specified value, various types of processing such as &ggr;-correction, color conversion, filter processing, and gradation processing can be executed in each mode such as a character mode and a picture mode.
Also the invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 6-334854 is known as a color copying machine having the monitor copy function as described above. The color copying machine with the motor copy function as described above according to this invention comprises a manipulating unit for specifying a degree of color correction appropriate for color tone of a particular portion of an image and a color correcting unit for executing color correction at a degree specified by the manipulating unit.
An RGB gradation conversion table loaded, for instance, in a color copying machine is based on a set of three colors R, G, and B because of restrictions for cost. For this reason, to respond to various types of document, such image processing parameters as a color correction (color conversion) coefficient, a space filter, and a YMCK gradation correction table are prepared, and an image quality mode corresponding to a type of the document is selected.
As this type of invention, for instance, the invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. HEI 6-86068 is known, and this invention comprises a coincidence detecting circuit for subjecting image data read by a reader to density correction by referring to the &ggr;-correction table, outputting the corrected image data, and also outputting a coincidence signal when positional information indicating a position of the read image is coincident to positional information from a position specifying unit for specifying an arbitrary position or an area on a document and outputting the positional information; and a &ggr;-correction circuit for subjecting the image data read by a reader to density correction according to &ggr;-correction data, outputting the corrected image data, and switching, when the coincidence signal is inputted from the coincidence detecting circuit, &ggr;-correction data to &ggr;-correction data according to the density information specified by the density specifying unit for executing density correction, and the RGB gradation conversion table is switched for each current area.
On the other hand, as documents to be copied by a color copying machine or the like, in addition to characters and pictures, there are various types of documents such as a silver-salt picture such as a glossy photo (development paper), a printed document, a document printed with an ink jet, a document written with a fluorescent pin, a map, or a thermally-transferred document. In the conventional type of color copying machines, when documents to be copied (types of paper or color materials to be used) are different, an appropriate image quality mode is selected from a plurality types of image quality mode prepared in the copying machine, and optimal image processing parameters most suited to each document are used to obtained an image more faithful to the document. As described above, by preparing various image processing parameters such as a space filter, a gradation conversion table, a dither, and a color conversion coefficient as an image quality mode, a user can set conditions most suited to a document by executing a simple operation of selecting a mode.
In the actual situations, however, even the same type of documents are prepared by various types of printers. Because the printers are produced by different manufacturers or color tastes of used color materials are different, and further the dither processing or a resolution of each printer are different, some times a copied image may not be a desired one in terms of faithfulness for a document according to the same image processing parameters.
To solve the problems as described above, disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 8-58158 with the title of “Color Adjusting Apparatus” is the technology for obtaining a copied image desired by an user by executing color correction specified to each ink jet manufacturer.
With the conventional type of technology as described above, although there is provided an image quality mode for reproducing colors of different color materials such as those used in pictures, printed materials, or documents printed with an ink jet, in a case where a plurality of color conversion coefficients are available for one image quality mode, how image quality adjustment was executed can not be confirmed unless actually copying is executed each time an image quality mode is selected and the copied image is checked. For this reason, it is required to execute printing for trial many times for selecting appropriate image quality mode, which requires many sheets of paper or a large quantity of toner to be consumed, and also along time and much energy are required.
More specifically, although there are various types of documents in addition to characters and pictures such as silver-salt pictures such as a glossy photo (development paper), printed documents, those printed with an ink jet, those written with a fluorescent pen, maps, and thermally-transferred documents, when types of documents to be copied (types of paper or color materials to be used) are different, by using a gradation conversion table, dither, and a color conversion coefficient most suited to each document, an image more faithful to the document can be obtained. For this reason, by previously preparing a gradation conversion table, a dither, and a color conversion coefficient for each (image quality) mode, an user can set conditions most suited to a document by executing a simple operation of selecting a mode. However, sometimes the selected mode may not satisfy the user's intention. In this case, sometimes an excellent image is obtained in other mode, but if it is tried to output an image for each mode, the work load becomes high and a long time is requir
Hayashi Koji
Kuwata Kazumi
Oblon & Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.
Poon King Y.
Ricoh & Company, Ltd.
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