Image processing device capable of preventing needless printing

• US 8,284,417 B2
• Filed: 09/02/2008
• Issued: 10/09/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Brother Industries Limited)
• Original Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Brother Industries Limited)
• Inventors: Kondo, Masaki, Hasegawa, Tomohiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Madelein A
• Application Number:
  US12/202,986
• Publication Number:
  US 20090059257A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,498 Days
• Field of Search: 358/1.9, 358/1.14, 358/520, 358/518, 358/530, 358/540, 358/488, 358/537, 358/538, 382/162, 382/167, 382/270, 382/272, 382/274
• US Class Current: 358/1.14
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/6075 Corrections to the hue

Abstract

An image processing device includes a first image inputting unit, a second image inputting unit, an image processing unit, and a restriction control unit. The first image inputting that inputs a first image. The second image inputting unit inputs a second image. The image processing unit performs a prescribed process on the second image based on the first image. The restriction control unit is configured to restrict the prescribed process based on information of the first image.

Claims

1. An image processing device comprising:

a first image inputting unit that inputs a first image, the first image inputting unit being configured to input the first image optically read from a document placed in a prescribed reading position;

a second image inputting unit that inputs a second image;

an image processing unit that performs a prescribed process on the second image based on the first image; and

a restriction control unit that is configured to restrict the prescribed process based on information of the first image, the restriction control unit including a judging unit configured to judge whether the document is set in the reading position based on the information of the first image, and a restricting unit configured to restrict the prescribed process based on a result of the judgment, the restriction control unit further comprising a calculating unit configured to calculate a mean brightness in the first image,

wherein the judging unit judges whether the document is set in the reading position when the mean brightness value in the first image is greater than a prescribed value.

2. The image processing device according to claim 1, further comprising an instruction inputting unit that is configured so as to be capable of inputting, by a user of the image processing device, an instruction that the prescribed process is performed, and wherein the restriction control unit cancels the restriction on the prescribed process when the user inputs the instruction via the instruction inputting unit.

3. The image processing device according to claim 1, wherein the image processing unit further comprises a printing unit that performs a printing process to print the second image, and wherein the prescribed process is the printing process.

4. The image processing device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a first characteristic quantity data determining unit that determines first characteristic quantity data expressing a characteristic of the first image; and

a second characteristic quantity data determining unit that determines second characteristic quantity data expressing a characteristic of the second image, and

wherein the image processing unit comprises an image correcting unit that performs an image correction process on the second image based on the first characteristic quantity data and the second characteristic quantity data.

5. The image processing device according to claim 4, wherein the image processing unit further comprises a printing unit that performs a printing process to print the corrected second image, and wherein the prescribed process is the printing process.

6. The image processing device according to claim 4, wherein the prescribed process is the image correction process.

7. The image processing device according to claim 4, wherein the first characteristic quantity data determining unit determines a plurality of first values as the first characteristic quantity data according to a prescribed condition,

the second characteristic quantity data determining unit determines a plurality of second values as the second characteristic quantity data according to the same condition as that for the first characteristic quantity data determining unit, and

the correcting unit performs the image correction process on each of a plurality of pixels constituting the second image based on correction values that are calculated for the pixels based on the plurality of first values and the plurality of second values.

8. The image processing device according to claim 4, wherein the image processing unit further comprises a printing unit that performs a printing process to print the corrected second image, and wherein the prescribed process is the image correction process.

9. The image processing device according to claim 8, wherein the first image inputting unit is configured to input the first image optically read from a document placed in a prescribed reading position, and wherein the restriction control unit comprises:

a judging unit that judges whether the document is set in the reading position based on the information of the first image; and

a restricting unit that restricts the image correction process based on a result of the judgment.

10. An image processing device comprising:

a first image inputting unit that inputs a first image, the first image inputting unit being configured to input the first image optically read from a document placed in a prescribed reading position at a main reading resolution;

a second image inputting unit that inputs a second image;

an image processing unit that performs a prescribed process on the second image based on the first image, the image processing device further comprising a preliminary first image inputting unit that is configured to input the first image optically read from the document at a preliminary reading resolution lower than the main reading resolution; and

a restriction control unit that is configured to restrict the prescribed process based on information of the first image, the restriction control unit including a judging unit configured to judge whether the document is set in the reading position based on the information of the first image, and a restricting unit configured to restrict the prescribed process based on a result of the judgment,

wherein the judging unit judges whether the document is set in the reading position based on the first image read by the preliminary first image inputting unit.

11. The image processing device according to claim 10, wherein the image processing unit further comprises another image correcting unit that performs another image correction process on the second image based on the first image,

wherein the restriction control unit further comprises a comparing unit that compares an amount of change in the second image before and after the another image correction process with a prescribed reference amount, and

wherein the restricting unit restricts the prescribed process when the amount of change is smaller than the prescribed reference amount.

12. The image processing device according to claim 11, further comprising an instruction inputting unit that is configured so as to be capable of inputting, by a user of the image processing device, an instruction that the prescribed process is performed, and

wherein, when the user inputs the instruction via the instruction inputting unit, the restricting unit cancels the restriction on the prescribed process and updates the prescribed reference amount to the amount of change.

13. An image processing method comprising:

inputting a first image optically read from a document placed in a prescribed reading position;

inputting a second image;

performing a prescribed process on the second image based on the first image;

calculating, as an information of the first image, a mean brightness in the first image; and

restricting the prescribed process based on the information of the first image, restricting the prescribed process including judging whether the document is set in the reading position based on the information of the first image, and restricting the prescribed process based on a result of the judgment

wherein the document is judged to be set in the reading position when the mean brightness value in the first image is greater than a prescribed value.

14. A computer readable recording medium storing a set of program instructions executable on an image processing device, the program comprising instructions for:

inputting a first image optically read from a document placed in a prescribed reading position;

inputting a second image;

performing a prescribed process on the second image based on the first image;

calculating, as an information of the first image, a mean brightness in the first image; and

restricting the prescribed process based on the information of the first image, restricting the prescribed process including judging whether the document is set in the reading position based on the information of the first image, and restricting the prescribed process based on a result of the judgment,

wherein the document is judged to be set in the reading position when the mean brightness value in the first image is greater than a prescribed value.

15. An image processing device comprising:

a first image inputting unit that inputs a first image;

a first characteristic quantity data determining unit that determines first characteristic quantity data expressing a characteristic of the first image;

a second image inputting unit that inputs a second image, the second image includes a plurality of pixels, each pixel having a color value;

a second characteristic quantity data determining unit that determines second characteristic quantity data expressing a characteristic of the second image;

an image correcting unit that performs an image correction process on the second image based on the first characteristic quantity data and second characteristic quantity data;

a printing unit that performs a printing process to print the second image corrected by the image correcting unit;

a calculating unit that calculates, for each of the plurality of pixels, a difference between the color value and the corrected color value;

a setting unit that sets, as an amount of change, the maximum difference among all differences calculated by the calculating unit;

a comparing unit that compares the amount of change in the second image before and after the image correction process with a prescribed reference amount; and

a restriction control unit that is configured to restrict the printing process when the amount of change is smaller than the prescribed reference amount.

16. The image processing device according to claim 15, wherein the image correcting unit corrects, for each of the plurality of pixels, the color value to a corrected color value.