IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS AND IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD

• US 20030067636A1
• Filed: 05/19/1999
• Published: 04/10/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• 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: TAKANO, GAKU, KANNO, HIROKI
• Granted Patent: US 6,980,309 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/504
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32133 on the same paper sheet, e.g. a facsimile page header
• 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 2201/3252 Image capture parameters, e.g. resolution, illumination conditions, orientation of the image capture device H04N2201/3256 and subgroups take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3271 Printing or stamping

Abstract

An image producing section produces a character or pattern image indicative of the input conditions of a color scanner section. The input conditions include data on the resolution, the sampling rate, etc. An image synthesis section synthesizes the produced image with an image scanned by the color scanner section and subjected to predetermined image processing. The resultant synthesized image is printed out by a color printer section. The operating conditions, such as the image input conditions, are clear from the character or pattern image printed out as part of the synthesized image.

Claims

1. An image forming apparatus comprising:

reading means for reading a document;

image processing means for processing image data read by the reading means;

image forming means for forming an image on an image formation medium based on the image data processed by the image processing means;

image formation condition-producing means for producing an image indicative of operating conditions of at least one of the reading means, the image processing means and the image formation means; and

means for controlling the image forming means to form the image from the image formation condition-producing means on the image formation medium.

2. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said image formation condition-producing means includes means for producing a character image indicative of the operating conditions.

3. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said image formation condition-producing means includes means for producing a pattern code image indicative of the operating conditions.

4. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said image formation condition-producing means includes means for producing an image indicative of input conditions of the reading means.

5. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said image formation condition-producing means includes means for forming an image indicative of a resolution and sampling rate of the reading means.

6. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said image formation condition-producing means includes means for forming an image indicative of output conditions of the image forming means.

7. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said image formation condition-producing means includes means for forming an image indicative of processing conditions of the image processing means.

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

synthesizing means for synthesizing an image obtained by the image processing means with the image produced by the image formation condition-producing means, wherein

an image obtained by the synthesizing means is formed on the image formation medium by the image forming means.

9. An image forming apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising:

designating means for designating whether or not an image obtained by the image processing means should be synthesized with the image produced by the image formation condition-producing means, wherein

said synthesizing means synthesizes the image obtained by the image processing means with the image produced by the image formation condition-producing means and provides a resultant synthesized image in a case where the designating means designates synthesis, and provides only the image obtained by the image processing means in other cases.

10. An image forming apparatus comprising:

image input means for reading a document and inputting an image on the document;

first image processing means for processing the image input by the image input means;

image producing means for producing a test pattern image used for evaluating a printed image;

image synthesizing means for synthesizing the image processed by the first image processing means with the test pattern image produced by the image producing means;

second image processing means for processing a synthesized image obtained by the image synthesizing means; and

printing means for printing the synthesized image obtained by the second image processing means, thereby providing the printed image.

11. An image forming apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said image producing means includes means for producing a test pattern image used for checking a resolution of the printed image.

12. An image forming apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said image producing means includes means for producing a test pattern image used for checking gradation characteristics of the printed image.

13. An image forming apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said second image processing means includes a gradation processing circuit.

14. An image processing apparatus comprising:

image input means for reading a document and inputting an image on the document;

image processing means for processing the image input by the image input means;

image producing means for producing an image indicative of operating conditions under which the image processing apparatus operates and each of which includes a plurality of items;

image synthesizing means for synthesizing the image processed by the image processing means with the image produced by the image producing means;

image output means for outputting a synthesized image obtained by the image synthesizing means;

operating condition storage means for storing the operating conditions indicated by the image produced by the image producing means, along with a plurality of identification codes corresponding to the operating conditions, respectively;

identification code input means for inputting an identification code included among the identification codes; and

operating means for searching the operating condition storage means for the operating condition that corresponds to the identification code input by the identification code input means, and for operating the image processing apparatus in accordance with the operating condition that has been searched for.

15. An image processing apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said image producing means includes means for producing an image indicative of operating condition of the image processing means, and said operating means includes means for operating the image processing means in accordance with the operating condition that have been searched for.

16. An image processing apparatus according to claim 15, wherein said operating conditions include parameters regarding color conversion and spatial filtering.

17. An image processing method comprising:

a first step for reading a document and inputting an image on the document;

a second step for processing the image input in the first step;

a third step for producing an image indicative of operating conditions under which an image processing apparatus operates and each of which includes a plurality of items;

a fourth step for synthesizing the image processed in the second step with the image produced in the third step;

a fifth step for outputting a synthesized image obtained in the fourth step;

a sixth step for causing an operating condition memory to store the operating conditions indicated by the image produced in the third step, along with a plurality of identification codes corresponding to the operating conditions, respectively;

a seventh step for inputting an identification code, which is included among the identification codes; and

an eighth step for searching the operating condition memory for the operating condition that corresponds to the identification code input in the seventh step, and for operating the image processing apparatus in accordance with the operating condition that has been searched for.