Image forming device, image processing device and image producing program

• US 20060082833A1
• Filed: 10/20/2004
• Published: 04/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation), Toshiba Tec Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation), Toshiba Tec Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Sakakibara, Jun, Shoda, Hirokazu
• Application Number:
  US10/968,284
• Publication Number:
  US 20060082833A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/3.260
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/40012 Conversion of colour to monochrome
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/486 with separate detectors, each detector being used for one specific colour component

Abstract

The present invention provides a technology by which a fairly good monochromatic image without any picture quality deterioration can be obtained from a color image original. An image forming apparatus according to the present invention comprises: a luminance information acquiring portion adapted for acquiring luminance information of pixels forming an image; a color information acquiring portion adapted for acquiring color information of pixels forming the image; a region discriminating portion adapted for discriminating on the image a specific region and a peripheral region adjacent to said specific region based on the acquired luminance information and color information; a luminance information correcting portion adapted for executing a correction of said luminance information of pixels in said specific region or said peripheral region based on a predetermined correction rule corresponding to said specific region or the peripheral region and further corresponding to said color information of the pixels; and a monochromatic image producing portion adapted for producing a monochromatic image reflecting a correction content of said luminance information based on said image.

Claims

1. An image forming apparatus, comprising:

a luminance information acquiring portion adapted for acquiring luminance information of pixels forming an image;

a color information acquiring portion adapted for acquiring color information of pixels forming the image;

a region discriminating portion adapted for discriminating on the image a specific region and a peripheral region adjacent to said specific region based on the acquired luminance information and color information;

a luminance information correcting portion adapted for executing a correction of said luminance information of pixels in said specific region or said peripheral region based on a predetermined correction rule corresponding to said specific region or the peripheral region and further corresponding to said color information of the pixels; and

a monochromatic image producing portion adapted for producing a monochromatic image reflecting a correction content of said luminance information based on said image.

2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said luminance information correcting portion executes said correction of said luminance information of pixels in the neighborhood of a portion adjacent to said specific region and said peripheral region.

3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said luminance information correcting portion corrects said luminance information of pixels of at least one of said specific region and said peripheral region based on the acquired color information.

4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said luminance information correcting portion corrects said luminance information of pixels of at least one of said specific region and said peripheral region so that a difference in pixel luminance value becomes more than a predetermined threshold value, when the difference in luminance value of pixels forming said specific region and said peripheral region within a portion adjacent to both regions is turned out to be less than the predetermined threshold value.

5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said luminance information correcting portion is configured by a table.

6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said specific region includes a character region.

7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that a correction corresponding to a character region as said specific region and a correction corresponding to a picture region as said specific region are different in correction content of said luminance information of pixels from each other.

8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized by further comprising an image reading portion adapted for reading the luminance information and the color information of the image on an original.

9. An image producing program that is executed by a computer, comprising:

(luminance information acquisition step) for acquiring luminance information of pixels forming an image;

(color information acquisition step) for acquiring color information of pixels forming the image;

(region discrimination step) for based on said luminance information and said color information, discriminating on said image a specific region and a peripheral region adjacent to said specific region;

(luminance information correction step) for executing correction of said luminance information of pixels in said specific region or said peripheral region based on a predetermined correction rule corresponding to said specific region or the peripheral region and further corresponding to said color information of the pixels; and

(monochromatic image producing portion) for based on said image, producing a mono chromatic image reflecting a correction content of said luminance information.

10. The image producing program according to claim 9, characterized in that said luminance information correction step executes said correction of said luminance information of pixels in the neighborhood of a portion adjacent to said specific region and said peripheral region.

11. The image producing program according to claim 9, characterized in that said luminance information correction step corrects said luminance information of pixels of at least one of said specific region and said peripheral region based on the acquired color information.

12. The image producing program according to claim 9, characterized in that said luminance information correction step corrects said luminance information of pixels of at least one of said specific region and said peripheral region so that a difference in pixel luminance value becomes more than a predetermined threshold value, when the difference in luminance value of pixels forming said specific region and said peripheral region within a portion adjacent to both regions is turned out to be less than the predetermined threshold value.

13. The image producing program according to claim 9, characterized in that said correction content in said luminance information correction step is defined by a predetermined table.

14. The image producing program according to claim 9, characterized in that said predetermined correction rule is defined by a predetermined operation equations.

15. The image producing program according to claim 9, characterized in that said predetermined correction rule corresponds to at least one of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black, Red, Green, and Blue.

16. The image producing program according to claim 9, characterized in that said specific region includes a character region.

17. The image producing program according to claim 9, characterized in that a correction rule corresponding to a character region as said specific region and a correction rule corresponding to a picture region as said specific region are different in correction content of said luminance information of pixels from each other.

18. The image producing program according to claim 9, characterized in that said region discrimination step executes said discrimination of said specific region and said peripheral region adjacent to said specific region on said image by using Laplacian filters.

19. The image producing program according to claim 9, characterized in that said region discrimination step executes said discrimination of said specific region and said peripheral region adjacent to said specific region on said image by using Sobel filters.

20. The image producing program according to claim 9, characterized by further comprising an image reading step for reading said luminance information and said color information of said image of an original.