Image forming apparatus

• US 8,928,931 B2
• Filed: 08/09/2012
• Issued: 01/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Yamatani, Mitsuru
• Primary Examiner(s): THOMAS, ASHISH
• Application Number:
  US13/570,756
• Publication Number:
  US 20130050715A1
• Time in Patent Office: 880 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 358/1.2
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/5062 by measuring the characteristics of an image on the copy material
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32133 on the same paper sheet, e.g. a facsimile page header
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0091 Digital copier; digital 'photocopier' H04N2201/0093 and H04N2201/0094 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3242 of processing required or performed, e.g. for reproduction or before recording H04N2201/3256 and subgroups take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3269 of machine readable codes or marks, e.g. bar codes or glyphs

Abstract

An image forming apparatus, including: a reading portion configured to read an original to generate original image data; a code detecting portion configured to detect a code indicating image density reduction information from the original image data; a reconstruction processing portion configured to generate output image data from the original image data by using density input-output characteristics corresponding to the image density reduction information; a filter portion configured to perform unsharpness processing on the output image data by using a degree corresponding to the image density reduction information; and an image forming portion configured to form an image based on the output image data subjected to the unsharpness processing.

Claims

1. An image forming apparatus, comprising:

a reading portion configured to read an original to generate original image data;

a code detecting portion configured to detect a code indicating image density reduction information from the original image data;

a reconstruction processing portion configured to generate output image data from the original image data by using density input-output characteristics corresponding to the image density reduction information;

a filter portion configured to perform unsharpness processing on the output image data by using a degree corresponding to the image density reduction information; and

an image forming portion configured to form an image based on the output image data subjected to the unsharpness processing.

2. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a sheet feeding portion configured to feed the original to the image forming portion,

wherein the image forming portion forms the image based on the output image data subjected to the unsharpness processing, on the original fed from the sheet feeding portion.

3. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a sheet feeding portion configured to feed a recording medium to the image forming portion,

wherein the image forming portion forms the image based on the output image data subjected to the unsharpness processing, on the recording medium fed from the sheet feeding portion.

4. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the filter portion performs the unsharpness processing on the output image data by using a degree corresponding to a texture of the original.

5. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the original includes a text area and another area other than the text area, and

the filter portion performs the unsharpness processing only on the another area.

6. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the unsharpness processing comprises a processing of performing averaging on density levels of a target pixel and a predetermined number of pixels adjacent to the target pixel.

7. An image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the filter portion changes the predetermined number of pixels adjacent to the target pixel by using the degree corresponding to the image density reduction information.

8. An image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the original comprises a sheet of paper, and

the filter portion changes the predetermined number of pixels adjacent to the target pixel by using a magnitude of a texture index of the paper.

9. An image forming apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising:

a displaying portion configured to display the image density reduction information and the predetermined number of pixels adjacent to the target pixel; and

an adjusting portion configured to adjust the image density reduction information and the predetermined number of pixels adjacent to the target pixel.

10. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a low toner consumption mode processing portion configured to generate low toner output image data from the original image data; and

an image composition portion configured to combine code data representing the code indicating the image density reduction information with the low toner output image data generated by the low toner consumption mode processing portion.