Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Kounosuke Maruyama

Hiroshi Takahashi

Yukio Sakano

Shinji Yamakawa

An image processing apparatus which can produce improved quality copies by taking into account the effects which normally occur when successive copies of copies are made. When a document is to be copied, image information is input to a processing device relating to certain parameters associated with the image characteristics such as, for example, the toner density, thickness of the image information, type of copier used, amount of toner available at the time of copying, etc. This image information is then stored on the document copy in the form of a bar code which will change as successive copies of copies are made in such a way that the image quality of the copies is not degraded. The image information contained on the document via the bar code is combined with new input image information supplied by an operator, whereby the two sets of information are combined in a central processing unit in order to determine the necessary amount of correction processing required to compensate for the fact that the image has been reproduced a number of times whereby copies are made from previous copies. In this manner, the original document quality can be maintained.

Growing community of inventors

Kawasaki, Japan

Kounosuke Maruyama