JPH0951388A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] (Correction) [PROBLEMS] To make it easy to distinguish a fax reception image from other copy images or print images in a device having a facsimile function as well as a copying function and a printer function. A header recognition unit 501 for recognizing a header portion of a fax received image, and a two-color separation unit 502 for separating the fax received image into red image data and black image data based on a recognition result by the header recognition unit 501. Is provided, and the header part of the fax reception image is formed in a different color from the other image parts,
By checking whether or not the recording paper is colored differently, it can be confirmed at a glance whether or not the recording paper is a recorded fax reception image.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and in particular, it is suitable for use in an apparatus which has a facsimile function, a copying function, etc. and which forms an image in at least two colors.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a facsimile apparatus transmits a fax image by adding information such as time, sender and telephone number (hereinafter referred to as a header) to the beginning of a document when transmitting a fax. The receiver receives the image including the header as a fax image, forms the image by the image forming means, and outputs the image.

[0003]

By the way, in recent years, as the above-mentioned receiver, there has been proposed an apparatus having not only a facsimile function for receiving and outputting a fax image but also a copying function and a printer function.

However, in such an image processing apparatus, the fax received image, the copy image, and the sheets on which the print image from the computer is recorded are output in a mixed manner, so that it is difficult to confirm the fax received image. was there. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to make it easy to confirm a fax received image.

[0005]

An image forming apparatus according to the present invention is characterized by having means for forming an image of a header portion of a received facsimile image in a color different from that of other image portions. is there.

Another feature of the present invention is that a receiving means for receiving a facsimile image, a header recognizing means for recognizing a header portion of the facsimile image received by the receiving means, and a recognition result by the header recognizing means are provided. Based on the separating means for separating the facsimile image data received by the receiving means into the first image data and the second image data based on the first image data based on the first image data separated by the separating means. It is characterized in that it has a first image forming means for forming an image and a second image forming means for forming an image with a second color based on the second image data separated by the separating means.

Another feature of the present invention is that the first image data is image data of a header portion recognized by the header recognizing means, and the second image data is image data other than the header portion. And the first color is red and the second color is black.

Another feature of the present invention is that the separating means receives the received image data and zero data, selects one of them, and outputs it as first image data. , A second selection means for inputting the zero data and the received image data, selecting any one of them and outputting as the second image data, and regarding the header part recognized by the header recognition means, , The first selecting means selects the received image data, the second selecting means selects the zero data, and the image data other than the header includes the first selecting means for selecting the zero data. With the selection, the second
It is characterized in that the reception image data is selected by the selection means.

Another feature of the present invention is that the separating means adds 1 to the received image data.
A first multiplication means for multiplying one of the two predetermined values by: a second multiplication means for multiplying the received image data by the other of the two predetermined values; and the first multiplication. First selecting means for inputting image data and zero data output from the means, selecting any one of them and outputting as first image data, image data output from the second multiplying means, and the above Enter the received image data,
A second selection means for selecting any one of them and outputting it as second image data, and for the header portion recognized by the header recognition means, the first multiplication means performs the first multiplication. The image data output from the means is selected, the image data output from the second multiplying means is selected by the second selecting means, and the image data other than the header is selected by the first selecting means. The zero data is selected, and the received image data is selected by the second selecting means.

Another feature of the present invention is that the time measuring means for measuring the present time and the two predetermined values are controlled according to the time measured by the time measuring means. And a control means.

Another feature of the present invention is that it comprises a control means for controlling the above two predetermined values so as to be changed for each facsimile reception unit.

[0012]

Since the present invention comprises the above technical means, the header portion of a facsimile received image is formed in a color different from that of the other image portions, and whether or not the recording paper is colored differently. By looking at it, it becomes possible to confirm at a glance whether or not the recording paper is a facsimile received image.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, a reader unit 1 reads an image such as a document and creates red image data and black image data according to the read image. Then, the read image data or the created image data is output to the printer unit 2 or the image input / output control unit 3.

The printer unit 2 records an image according to the image data given from the reader unit 1 on a recording sheet. The image input / output control unit 3 is connected to the reader unit 1, and includes a facsimile unit 4, a file unit 5, a magneto-optical disk drive unit 6, a computer interface unit 7, a formatter unit 8, an image memory unit 9, a core unit 10 and a hard disk. It is composed of twelve.

The facsimile unit 4 expands the compressed image data received via the telephone line and transfers the expanded image data to the core unit 10. In addition, the image data transferred from the core unit 10 is compressed and the compressed image data is transmitted via the telephone line. A hard disk 12 is connected to the facsimile section 4 so that the received compressed image data can be temporarily stored.

A magneto-optical disk drive unit 6 is connected to the file section 5, and the file section 5 is
The image data transferred from the core unit 10 is compressed and is stored in a magneto-optical disk (not shown) set in the magneto-optical disk drive unit 6 together with a keyword for searching the compressed image data.

The file section 5 also searches the compressed image data stored in the magneto-optical disk based on the keyword transferred through the core section 10. Then, the retrieved compressed image data is read and decompressed, and the decompressed image data is transferred to the core unit 10.

The computer interface unit 7 is a personal computer / workstation (PC / W
S) 11 is an interface that connects the core unit 10 to each other. The formatter unit 8 expands the code data representing the image transferred from the PC / WS 11 into image data that can be recorded by the printer unit 2. The image memory unit 9 temporarily stores the code data transferred from the PC / WS 11.

Although the details of the core portion 10 will be described later,
The core unit 10 controls the flow of data among the reader unit 1, the facsimile unit 4, the file unit 5, the computer interface unit 7, the formatter unit 8 and the image memory unit 9.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the structure of the mechanical system of the reader unit 1 and the printer unit 2. In FIG. 2, the document feeder 101 of the reader unit 1 feeds one or more documents one by one from the last page onto the platen glass 102,
After the document reading operation is completed, the document on the platen glass 102 is discharged. The original is platen glass 10
When the sheet is conveyed to the upper side, the lamp 103 is turned on, the movement of the scanner unit 104 is started, and the original is exposed and scanned.

The reflected light from the original at this time is reflected by the mirror 1.
05, 106, 107, and C through lens 108
It is guided to a CD image sensor (hereinafter referred to as CCD) 109. In this manner, the scanned image of the original is CC
Read by D109. The image data output from the CCD 109 is subjected to predetermined processing and then transferred to the printer unit 2 and the core unit 10 of the image input / output control unit 3.

Further, the laser driver 22 of the printer unit 2
Reference numerals 1 and 231 drive the laser emission unit 201, and cause the laser emission unit 201 to emit two laser beams corresponding to the image data output from the reader unit 1. These laser lights are applied to the photosensitive drum 202, and a latent image corresponding to the first laser light is first formed on the photosensitive drum 202. A red developing device 23 is provided on the latent image portion of the photosensitive drum 202.
0 attaches red developer.

Subsequently, a latent image corresponding to the second laser beam is formed on the photosensitive drum 202. At this time, the photosensitive drum 2
A black developer is attached to the latent image portion formed on No. 02 by the black developing device 203. Then, at a timing synchronized with the start of irradiation with the first laser light, the recording paper of the designated size is conveyed from the cassette 204 or the cassette 205 to the transfer unit 206, and the red and black developments attached to the photosensitive drum 202 are performed. The agent is transferred to the recording paper.

The recording paper carrying the developer is conveyed to the fixing unit 207, and the developer is fixed on the recording paper by the heat and pressure of the fixing unit 207. The recording paper that has passed through the fixing unit 207 is discharged by a discharge roller 208. Sorter 22 at this time
0 stores the discharged recording paper in each bin and sorts the recording paper. Note that the sorter 220 stores the recording paper in the uppermost bin when the sorting is not set.

When double-sided recording is set,
After the recording paper is conveyed to the discharge roller 208, the rotation direction of the discharge roller 208 is reversed and the flapper 209
To the re-feeding conveyance path 210. When multiplex recording is set, the flapper 209 guides the recording paper to the re-feeding conveyance path 210 so as not to convey it to the discharge roller 208. The recording sheet guided to the re-feeding conveyance path 210 is conveyed to the transfer unit 206 at the timing described above.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the signal processing system of the reader unit 1. In FIG. 3, the image data output from the CCD 109 is subjected to analog / digital conversion in the A / D / SH unit 110 and shading correction. The image data processed by the A / D / SH unit 110 is transferred to the printer unit 2 via the image processing unit 111, and the interface unit 11
3 is transferred to the core unit 10 of the image input / output control unit 3.

The CPU 114 controls the image processing unit 111 and the interface unit 113 according to the setting contents set by the operation unit 115. For example, when the copy mode is set on the operation unit 115, the image data is transferred from the image processing unit 111 to the printer unit 2. When the facsimile transmission mode is set on the operation unit 115, the image data and the control command corresponding to the set mode are transferred from the interface unit 113 to the core unit 10.

When the facsimile unit 4 of FIG. 1 receives a facsimile image, the CPU 114 causes the core unit 10 to input the received image to the interface unit 113 and transfers it to the printer unit 2 via the image processing unit 111. Control to let. Such a control program of the CPU 114 is stored in the memory 116, and the CPU 114
Controls with reference to the memory 116. The memory 116 is also used as a work area for the CPU 114.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the structure of the core section 10. In FIG. 4, the image data from the reader unit 1 described above is transferred to the data processing unit 121 via the interface unit 122, and the control command from the reader unit 1 is transferred to the CPU 123 via the interface unit 122.

The data processing unit 121 performs image processing such as image rotation processing and image scaling processing. Reader unit 1
The image data that has been subjected to image processing here from the facsimile unit 4, the file unit 5, and the computer interface unit 7 via the interface unit 120 according to the control command transferred from the reader unit 1 to the CPU 123. It is transferred to either.

Further, the code data representing the image inputted through the computer interface section 7 is transferred to the data processing section 121 and then further transferred to the formatter section 8 to be expanded into image data. The expanded image data is transferred to the data processing unit 121 and then to the facsimile unit 4, or to the printer unit 2 via the reader unit 1.

The image data received from the facsimile section 4 is transferred to the data processing section 121 and then transferred to the file section 5
Or to the computer interface unit 7, or to the printer unit 2 via the reader unit 1. Further, the image data from the file unit 5 is stored in the data processing unit 1
Then, the data is transferred to the facsimile unit 4, the computer interface unit 7, or the printer unit 2 via the reader unit 1.

The CPU 123 performs the above-mentioned control according to the control program stored in the memory 124 and the control command transferred from the reader unit 1.
The memory 124 is also used as a work area of the CPU 123.

As described above, in the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment, the core section 10 is mainly used for various operations such as reading an original image, printing an image, transmitting and receiving an image, storing an image, and inputting / outputting data from a computer. It is possible to perform processing that combines various functions.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of the image processing section 111 and the CPU 114 in the reader section 1 shown in FIG. The image data output from the A / D / SH unit 110 of FIG. 3 or the image data output from the interface unit 113 is input to the header recognition unit 501 of FIG.

When the image data from the A / D / SH unit 110 is input to the header recognizing unit 501, the header is not recognized, so that the image data is directly transmitted.
It is input to the color separation unit 502. The facsimile unit 4
When the received image from the input device is input to the header recognition unit 501 via the interface unit 113, the header recognition unit 501 recognizes the header portion and outputs the recognition result to the two-color separation unit 502.

Next, the two-color separation unit 502 separates the input image data into two-color image data of red and black according to the input image data and the recognition result of the header recognition unit 501. To do. When the image does not include the header portion, the red image data is “0” data and only the black image data. That is, the image data is not separated.

Then, the black image data and the red image data thus created are output to the printer section 2. At this time, in order to align the positions on one photosensitive drum 202, the black image data is output to the printer unit 2 after being delayed by the buffer memory 503 for a predetermined time.

Next, the structure and operation of the header recognition unit 501 for recognizing the header portion of the facsimile received image from the facsimile unit 4 will be described. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of the header recognition unit 501. In FIG.
The image data input to the header recognition unit 501 is stored in the memory 604 under the control of the memory controller 605.

The memory controller 605 is the CPU 11
4, a mode in which data is exchanged between the memory 604 and the CPU 114 via the CPU bus 657, a mode in which image data input via the input signal line 654 is stored in the memory 604, and a memory There are three modes, that is, a mode in which the stored contents are read from 604 and output to the first output signal line 655.

The memory 604 has a memory capacity of 32 Mbytes capable of storing an image corresponding to A3 size with a resolution of 400 dpi and 256 gradations, and also enables execution of block selection processing, character recognition processing, etc., which will be described later. It also has a work memory of sufficient capacity.

In transferring image data to the memory 604, the CPU 114 first controls the memory controller 605 to connect the input signal line 654 to the memory 604. Then, the input image data is stored in the memory 604 via the input signal line 654 and the memory controller 605.

Next, when reading the image data stored in the memory 604, the CPU 114 first controls the memory controller 605 to connect the memory 604 to the first output signal line 655. Then, the image data is sequentially read from the memory 604 and transferred to the first output signal line 655. When reading the image data of the header part, the area signal indicating the header part is
It is output from the memory 604 to the second output signal line 656 via the memory controller 605.

Further, the CPU 114, with respect to the image data stored in the memory 604, has an attribute of a partial area in the image,
That is, it has a function of performing a block selection process for classifying whether or not it is a header part. Here, an embodiment of the block selection processing in the header recognition unit 501 will be described in detail below.

First, the image data to be subjected to the block selection processing is stored in the memory 604. That is, since the image data that can be subjected to the block selection processing is limited to the binary image data, the memory 6
CPU for the multi-valued image data stored in 04.
Binarization of the image data is performed by executing the binarization processing function of 114. Then, the binary image data is stored in an area different from the area where the multivalued image data is stored.

Thereafter, block selection processing is performed on the binary image data stored in the memory 604. The details of the algorithm of this block selection processing are shown below. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the header recognition processing, of which steps P701 to P701
Reference numeral 703 shows the general flow of the block selection processing.

First, in step S701, the image of each pixel forming the image data is analyzed to search for connectivity, and a predetermined value is determined according to the size of the detected connected component and the relative position to other connected components. Classify. One connected component is a set of black pixels completely surrounded by white pixels. Therefore, one black pixel connected component is completely separated from other black pixel connected components by at least one white pixel.

Details of the processing in step S701 are shown in FIG.
As described below, roughly, a connected component search process and a connected component classification process based on information about the size of the connected component and some statistical information obtained from the connected components are performed. . In classification, each connected component is classified into either a text unit or a non-text unit.

Next, in step S702, connected components that are close to each other are grouped into one line unless a gap line is included (hereinafter, a text unit grouped into one line is referred to as a text line). The grouping performed here may be performed in the vertical direction or in the horizontal direction. This corresponds to whether the text units to be grouped are vertical writing or horizontal writing.

That is, the distances between connected components that are close to each other in both directions are checked in advance in each of the horizontal and vertical directions. When the distance in the horizontal direction is small, the distance is in the horizontal direction. Grouping will be done. At this time, the tree structure (described later) generated in step S701 is used to prevent text and non-text from being improperly mixed.

Next, in step S703, text lines that are close to each other are further grouped into blocks.
That is, if the distance between the text line grouped in step S702 and the text line group is smaller in the direction different from the grouping direction, the text blocks are grouped again in that direction. And

On the other hand, the non-text unit is used as a boundary for the image page. In other words, the non-text unit has a role of preventing two text lines from being grouped into a block when two text lines are present on both sides of the non-text unit. A text unit between two non-text units is processed separately from other text units.

FIG. 8 is a detailed flowchart showing how to detect connected pixels in pixel image data and how to classify these connected pixels. First, in step S801 of FIG. 8, pixel image data is searched for by contour line tracking processing.

As shown in FIG. 9, the contour tracking process is performed by scanning the image. The scanning of the image starts from the lower right as shown by arrow A, and is performed upward line by line until the right end of the figure is encountered toward the left. In addition, this scan
It may be performed in another direction, for example, from the upper left to the lower right.

As a result of this scanning, when one black pixel is hit, whether or not the pixel adjacent to the black pixel is a black pixel is sequentially checked according to the direction of the pattern indicated by reference numeral 31. This search is called an 8-direction search because it is represented by a vector in 8 directions when viewed from the center. Then, if there is an adjacent black pixel, it is further checked whether the pixel adjacent to the black pixel is a black pixel. By such a process, the outer contour of the figure is obtained.

For example, as shown in FIG. 9, when scanning is performed in the direction of arrow A and a point (black pixel) corresponding to the right end of the character "Q" indicated by reference numeral 32 is hit, the adjacent pixel is examined. Are sequentially performed according to the pattern indicated by reference numeral 31, and the outer contour of the character "Q" is traced. At this time,
Parts inside the closed contour are not tracked. In this way, when the contour line obtained by the eight-direction search, that is, one connected component is extracted, the scan proceeds again until the next black pixel is encountered.

Then, for example, the object 34 which seems to represent a complete black area is searched in eight directions. Similarly, a non-text object 35, which is the handwritten character "non-text", is tracked, and the individual characters 36a, 36b, 36 forming the word "text".
The aggregate objects of c and 36d are tracked. The scan shown in FIG. 9 continues until all connected components have been detected.

Next, in step S802, all connected components detected as described above are cut out into rectangles. In this case, the smallest possible rectangle covering the individual connected components is drawn. As a result, as shown in FIG. 10, the rectangle 37 around the object 32 becomes
A rectangle 39 is drawn around 4, and a rectangle 40 is drawn around the object 35. Text objects 36a, 3
The same applies to rectangles 41a to 41d for 6b, 36c, and 36d.

Next, in step S803, all rectangles are positioned in the tree structure. The tree structure obtained in this step S803, in principle, arises directly from the root for each object. This is because only the outer contour of the connected component is tracked, not the interior of the closed region.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 11, the rectangle 37 corresponding to the object 32, which is the connected component, is directly generated from the root of the page. In addition, a rectangle 40 surrounding the non-text object 35 and a text object 36
If the rectangle is completely contained in another rectangle, such as rectangles 41a and 41b that surround a and 36b, those rectangles are included (rectangle 39 in this example).
Become a child of. That is, the rectangle 39 is the rectangle 40, 41.
It includes a and 41b as main children.

Next, in step S804, each first level connected component in the tree structure is classified into a text unit or a non-text unit. This classification process consists of two steps. That is, in the first step, the size of the rectangle surrounding the connected component is compared to the predetermined size.

Then, when the height of the rectangle surrounding the connected component exceeds a predetermined value corresponding to the maximum value of the font size, or a fixed value empirically determined (“5” is satisfactory). If the width of the rectangle is greater than the page width divided by (the result has been obtained), then the connected component is classified as a non-text unit and the "non-text" attribute is given to that unit.

In the second step, the size of all remaining unconnected attributed components, ie, units not classified as non-text, is based on the statistical size obtained from all remaining connected components. It is compared with a determined threshold. For example, the average height of all rectangles that were not considered non-text is calculated and this average height is multiplied by some constant value (generally "2") to obtain an adaptive threshold.

Then, all connected components having a size larger than this threshold value are classified into non-text units.
On the other hand, a connected component having a size smaller than the threshold is regarded as a text unit, and the attribute of "text" is given to the unit. In this way, each connected component is classified into a text unit or a non-text unit, and an appropriate attribute is given.

Next, after all the first level units of the tree structure have been classified as text or non-text, all children of the units classified as text are classified as text. Also, all children of units classified as non-text are classified as non-text.

Here, as an example, the contents of the page 90 of pixel image data are shown in FIG. This page 90 includes a header section 130 which is text data,
The text 131 and a region 132 surrounded by a frame are included. FIG. 15 shows the result of performing the process of step S701 of FIG. 7 on this image data.

As described above, the text units obtained in step S701 are grouped into text lines in the next step S702. This grouping process is
It is based on the cohesiveness of each text unit and its surrounding units. Details of the processing in step S702 will be described below with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

First, in step S1201, line joining of text units is performed. In this combination, as described above, the distances between connected components that are close to each other in both the horizontal and vertical directions are checked in advance for each of the horizontal and vertical directions, and when the horizontal distance is small, the horizontal and vertical directions are If the distance is small, it is performed in the vertical direction. The combination direction corresponds to whether the text units to be combined are set vertically or horizontally.

That is, these text units are
When one text unit touches another text unit or is within a certain threshold distance, they are combined as one text line. This threshold is obtained by multiplying the average height of the text obtained in step S804 of FIG. 8 by the scale factor experimentally obtained (a satisfactory result is obtained with "1.2"). Good.

Next, in step S1202, for the set of text units that were not combined in step S1201 above, if those units are overlapped by other text units that are close to each other,
Joining is done. The processing in step S1202 is effective in erasing what does not come from the structure of paragraphs but is simply caused by the space relationship in the text line.

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram showing the grouping processing result described in step S702 of FIG. FIG.
, Each text unit is grouped into text lines as indicated at 133,134.

After the text units are combined into a text line by the grouping process described in FIG. 12,
As shown in step S703 of FIG. 7, text lines that are close to each other are combined in a direction different from the combination direction when the text lines are formed to form a text block. This grouping process is performed according to the cohesion of the text lines and the position of the non-text unit.

For example, a non-text unit existing between text lines is used as a boundary line to prevent text lines on opposite sides from being grouped into one text block. Also, 2
All text lines between two consecutive non-text units are processed simultaneously.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a process of grouping text lines that are close to each other into a text block. In FIG. 13, first, step S13
At 01, non-text units between text lines are detected. The detected non-text unit acts as a boundary line between the text lines, and serves to prevent the text lines on both sides of the non-text unit from becoming one text block.

In step S1302, text lines close to each other are grouped in a direction different from the joining direction when the text lines are formed to form a text block.
That is, when the distance between the text lines continuously existing in the block combination direction is smaller than the height of the text unit calculated in step S804, those text lines are grouped.

In step S1303, if the text blocks grouped as described above are vertically or horizontally close to each other and are not separated by a non-text unit, the text blocks are further grouped. To be done. The grouping of the text blocks is performed based on the separation state between blocks such that the distance is smaller than a certain threshold calculated according to the vertical height obtained in step S804.

After the text blocks are grouped in this way, the non-text unit is deleted in step S704 of FIG. That is, what is to be detected is the header portion of the received fax image, which is text, so unnecessary non-text units are deleted in this way. FIG. 17 shows the block structure obtained by the process of step S703 of FIG.
This shows the result of performing the process of step S704. As shown in FIG. 17, only the text block is discriminated at this stage.

Further, in step S705 of FIG. 7, the text block at the beginning of the image is extracted.
That is, only the text block closest to the beginning of the image is extracted within the range in which it is estimated that there is a header from the beginning of the image. FIG. 18 shows the extraction result,
The text block 133 has been identified as the header area of the fax received image.

By the way, depending on the setting of the fax transmitter side, the received fax image may not have a header, but since the text block of the area to which the header is added is extracted, the header is added. It is also possible to deal with fax reception images that have not been processed.

In accordance with the above algorithm, the header recognizing section 501 recognizes the header portion. Then, the memory 60 in the header recognition unit 501 shown in FIG.
4 outputs the image data and the area signal representing the header portion via the memory controller 605, and supplies them to the two-color separation unit 502 in FIG.

FIG. 19 shows an example of the structure of the two-color separation unit 502. In FIG. 19, the image data is input to the gradation correction unit 190, and a gradation correction process for correcting the gradation of the output device such as the printer unit 2 is performed.

Next, the image data subjected to the gradation correction by the gradation correction unit 190 is output to the terminal B of the first selector 191 and the second
It is input to the terminal A of the selector 192, respectively. Also,
The CPU 114 outputs “0” data (white data) to the terminal A of the first selector 191 and the terminal B of the second selector 192.
Is entered. In the first selector 191 and the second selector 192, data is selected based on the area signal given to each control terminal S.

That is, when the area signal is "1", that is, in the header area, the first selector 191 outputs the image data input to its terminal B. As a result, the data whose gradation has been corrected by the gradation correction unit 190 is output from the first selector 191 as red image data. Further, at that time, the "0" data input to the terminal B is output from the second selector 192 as black image data.

On the other hand, when the area signal is "0", that is, in the image area other than the header area, the second selector 192
Outputs the image data input to the terminal A. As a result, the data whose gradation has been corrected by the gradation correction unit 190 is output from the second selector 192 as black image data.
Further, at that time, the "0" data input to the terminal A is output from the first selector 191 as red image data.

The red image data from the two-color separation unit 502 is
The black image data is output as it is, the black image data is delayed by the buffer memory 503 for a predetermined time, and then output to the printer unit 2 to form an image on a recording sheet. In this way, by forming the color of the header portion of the fax received image in red, the fax received image can be easily distinguished from other copy images or print images.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the above-described first embodiment, the header portion of the fax received image is output in red, but in the present embodiment, it is possible to output a mixed color of red and black. Note that the configuration other than the two-color separation unit 502 is the same as that described in the first embodiment, so description will be omitted.

FIG. 20 shows the structure of the two-color separation section 502 in the second embodiment. In FIG. 20, the input image data is subjected to gradation correction processing in which the gradation correction unit 190 corrects the gradation of the output device such as the printer unit 2. The gradation-corrected image data is stored in the two multipliers 1.
93, 194 and the terminal A of the second selector 196, respectively.

In the multipliers 193 and 194, the CPU 114
Thus, the respective set values are multiplied by the image data. The multiplication result is input to the terminal B of the first selector 195 and the terminal B of the second selector 196, respectively.
On the other hand, “0” data is input from the CPU 114 to the terminal A of the first selector 195, and image data subjected to gradation correction by the gradation correction unit 190 is input to the terminal A of the second selector 196.

The values set for the two multipliers 193 and 194 are values such that the sum of the values gives 1. Here, the value set in the first multiplier 193 is 1
To a value close to 0 (the value set in the second multiplier 194 is close to 0), the mixed color image formed in the header portion approaches red. On the other hand, the value set in the first multiplier 193 is close to 0 (the value set in the second multiplier 194 is 1
(Value close to), the mixed color image formed in the header portion approaches black.

Now, when the area signal indicating the header area is "1", the data input to the respective terminals B from the two multipliers 193 and 194 is selected in the first selector 195 and the second selector 196. Is output. The red image data and the black image data output from the respective selectors 195 and 196 are printed by the printer unit 2.
In, the color is mixed to form an image.

On the other hand, when the area signal is "0", the first selector 195 has the "0" input to its terminal A.
The data is output as red image data, and the second selector 19
6 outputs the black image data input to its terminal A. As a result, a black image is formed in the printer unit 2.

Further, a known calendar IC for detecting the time
The CPU 114 may detect the time (not shown) and change the color of the header portion between morning and afternoon, for example. For example, from 0:00 to 12:00, the value set in the first multiplier 193 is set to "1" and the value set in the second multiplier 194 is set to "0". Also, 12
From the hour to 24:00, the value set in the first multiplier 193 is set to "1/2" and the value set in the second multiplier 194 is set to "1/2".

By doing so, it is possible to make the color of the header portion different between am and pm and to make it easy to understand when the received fax image is received.

Also, two multipliers 19 are provided every predetermined time.
By gradually changing the values set in 3, 194, the color of the header can be changed in finer time units, making it easier to distinguish when the fax reception image was received. Can be

In addition, by changing the color of the header portion for each fax reception unit, even if a plurality of fax reception images are overlapped, it can be easily distinguished from other fax reception images and the same fax is received. It is possible to make it easier for the received images to be united.

[0096]

As described above, according to the present invention, the header portion of the fax received image is formed in a different color from the other image portions, so that it is possible to check whether the recording paper has a different color. This makes it possible to check at a glance whether or not the recording paper is a fax received image recorded, and even if the paper is mixed and output from various external devices, the fax received image can be identified. It will be easier.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a configuration of a mechanical system of a reader unit and a printer unit.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a signal processing system of a reader unit.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a core unit.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of an image processing unit.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a header recognition unit.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the overall flow of header recognition processing.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing details of the process of step S701 of FIG.

9 is a diagram for explaining the processing content of step S801 in FIG.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining the processing content of step S802 of FIG.

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining the processing content of step S803 in FIG.

12 is a flowchart showing details of the processing in step S702 in FIG.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing details of the process of step S703 of FIG.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of image data.

15 is a diagram showing a result of performing the process of step S701 of FIG. 7 on the image data of FIG.

16 is a diagram illustrating a result of performing the process of step S702 in FIG.

FIG. 17 shows steps S703 and S7 of FIG.
It is a figure showing the result of having performed the process of 04.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a result of performing the process of step S704 of FIG.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a two-color separation unit.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram illustrating another configuration example of a two-color separation unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 reader section 2 printer section 3 image input / output control section 4 facsimile section 5 file section 6 magneto-optical disk drive unit 7 computer interface section 8 formatter section 9 image memory section 10 core section 11 PC / WS 12 hard disk 111 image processing section 114 CPU 501 Header recognition unit 502 Two-color separation unit 503 Buffer memory 604 Memory 605 Memory controller

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus comprising means for forming an image of a header portion of a received facsimile image in a color different from that of the other image portion. 2. A receiving means for receiving a facsimile image, a header recognizing means for recognizing a header portion of the facsimile image received by the receiving means, and a facsimile received by the receiving means based on a recognition result by the header recognizing means. Separation means for separating the image data into first image data and second image data, and a first image for forming an image with a first color based on the first image data separated by the separation means. An image forming apparatus comprising: a forming unit; and a second image forming unit that forms an image with a second color based on the second image data separated by the separating unit. 3. The first image data is image data of a header portion recognized by the header recognizing means, the second image data is image data other than the header portion, and the first color is red. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the second color is black. 4. The first separating means for inputting received image data and zero data, selecting one of them and outputting it as first image data, the zero data and the received image data. And a second selection means for selecting any one of them and outputting it as second image data. The header part recognized by the header recognition means is processed by the first selection means as described above. The received image data is selected, the zero data is selected by the second selection unit, and the image data other than the header is selected by the first selection unit and the second selection is performed. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the received image data is selected by means. 5. The separating means comprises a first multiplying means for multiplying the received image data by one of two predetermined values which are 1 when added together, and the two means for the received image data. Second multiplication means for multiplying the other of the predetermined values and image data and zero data output from the first multiplication means are input, and one of them is selected and output as first image data. No. 1 selecting means, the image data output from the second multiplying means and the received image data are input, and one of them is selected to generate the second
Second selecting means for outputting the image data output from the first multiplying means as the header part recognized by the header recognizing means. In addition, the second selecting means selects the image data output from the second multiplying means, and the image portion other than the header is set to the first
3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the zero data is selected by the selecting means and the received image data is selected by the second selecting means. 6. A time measuring means for measuring the present time, and the above-mentioned 2 according to the time measured by the time measuring means.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a control unit that controls to change each of the three predetermined values. 7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising control means for controlling the two predetermined values to be changed for each facsimile reception unit.