Image processing apparatus

• US 20040105129A1
• Filed: 11/21/2003
• Published: 06/03/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Kawakami, Yasuhiro
• Application Number:
  US10/717,475
• Publication Number:
  US 20040105129A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/2.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 15/02 using printers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/40062 Discrimination between different image types, e.g. two-tone, continuous tone
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/40068 Modification of image resolution, i.e. determining the values of picture elements at new relative positions H04N1/3935 takes precedence

Abstract

An image processing apparatus performing image processing when a printing resolution of an image output apparatus is higher than a reading resolution of an image input apparatus, so that image data read by the image input apparatus is converted to image data having a high resolution to be outputted from the image output apparatus. When an original contains both a text and a picture, the apparatus performs image-region segmentation processing to identify the text and the picture, and increasing a resolution of a text region to be higher than a resolution of a picture region within an output image of the original, while making the number of pixels equal in the entire output image after binarization of each region.

Claims

1. An image processing apparatus that reads an image at a first resolution and produces a printed output at a second resolution higher than the first resolution, the apparatus comprising:

read means for reading image data of an original at the first resolution;

A/D converting means for subjecting the read image data to A/D conversion;

segmentation means for segmenting the A/D-converted image data into text image data and picture image data;

resolution converting means for converting the text image data to have a third resolution higher than the first resolution, and the picture image data to have a fourth resolution lower than the third resolution, the third resolution being an integral multiple of the fourth resolution, where the integral multiple is two or greater;

binarization means for binarizing the resolution-converted text image data and the resolution-converted picture image data;

reducing means for processing the binarized picture image data to match a size of pixels thereof with a size of pixels at the second resolution with the number of the pixels maintained;

developing means for generating copy pixels of the pixels of the picture image data processed in the reducing means one by one with a mutual positional relation of the pixels maintained, and appending the copy pixels to a region of the picture image data before equalization processing was performed on the picture image data; and

printing means for printing the picture image data done with development processing and the text image data at the second resolution.

2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second resolution is equal to the third resolution.

3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the binarization means binarizes the picture image data through one of error diffusion and a dither matrix method, and binarizes the text image data through a floating slice method.

4. An image processing apparatus that receives image data at a first resolution and produces printed data at a second resolution higher than the first resolution, the apparatus comprising:

A/D converting means for subjecting image data to A/D conversion;

segmentation means for segmenting the A/D-converted image data into text image data and picture image data;

resolution converting means for converting the text image data to have a third resolution higher than the first resolution, and the picture image data to have a fourth resolution lower than the third resolution, the third resolution being an integral multiple of the fourth resolution, where the integral multiple is two or greater;

binarization means for binarizing the resolution-converted text image data and the resolution-converted picture image data;

reducing means for processing the binarized picture image data to match a size of pixels thereof with a size of pixels at the second resolution with the number of the pixels maintained; and

developing means for generating copy pixels of the pixels of the picture image data processed in the reducing means one by one with a mutual positional relation of the pixels maintained, and appending the copy pixels to a region of the picture image data before equalization processing was performed on the picture image data.