Brother Kogyo Kabushiki-Kaisha

Toshiki Motoyama

Tomohiko Hasegawa

Akidi Yoshida

Yoshihiro Okamoto

Shinya Sahara

Yoshihiro Oyama

Kentaro Aoyama

Takayuki Suzuki

Kazushi Shumiya

A reading apparatus, having a document placement table, a cover, a reader, and a controller, is provided. The cover has, on a facing surface thereof that faces the reader, a reference section having a first edge extending in a sub-scanning direction and a second edge extending in a main scanning direction, and a colored part on peripheries of the reference section. The colored part is colored along the first edge and along the second edge. The controller is configured to operate the reader to read the colored part and the peripheries of the colored part, detect a first position being a position of the first edge in the main scanning direction and a second position being a position of the second edge in the sub-scanning direction in an outcome of reading, and determine a reading range based on the first position and the second position.

Reading apparatus

In a reading device, a light transmissive member has a front surface on which an original is placed. A peripheral member is adjacent to the light transmissive member, and includes a back surface in which a reference hole is formed. The reference hole includes a first edge and a second edge intersecting with each other. A reading sensor faces the back surface of the light transmissive member and the back surface of the peripheral member. The controller controls the reading sensor to read a reading range including the reference hole to obtain a read image, and determines a reference position in the reading range based on the read image. The reference position is determined to an intersection between the first edge and the second edge. The controller sets a reading start position based on the reference position.

Reading device setting reading start position by reading reference hole having L-shape

There is provided an image reading device in which a controller is configured to perform detecting, by executing an edge detection process, edge pixels from image data scanned by a reading device and stored in a storage, the edge pixels being pixels obtained by reading an edge of an original document. Then, it is determined whether a sequence of the detected edge pixels in a particular direction is interrupted. When interrupted, an expansion process is executed to increase the edge pixels in a particular range in a neighborhood of the detected edge pixels of the image data. Then, a particular process is performed on the image data using the edge pixels detected from the image data after the edge pixels are increased.

Image reading device

A reading device includes: a reader; and a controller. The reader is configured to read both of a sheet of paper and a card as an original. The controller is, when the card having four original corners is set as the original, configured to perform for implementing a card reading function: (a) reading; and (b) acquiring. The (a) reading reads the original with the reader to acquire original image data corresponding to an original image area having four corner regions. The (b) acquiring acquires edge information of a first original corner from the original image data to estimate a round shape of the first original corner using the edge information. The first original corner being one of the four original corners in the original.

Reading device reading original and estimating corner shape thereof

A controller executes area defining processing for defining a middle area and two side areas, and ending processing. In a case where the document leading edge extends parallel to a main scanning direction, the controller executes the ending processing for non-skewed document. In a case where the document leading edge does not extend parallel to the main scanning direction, the controller executes the ending processing for skewed document. In which, the controller determines, in the middle area and the side areas, first, second, and third change positions, respectively, at each of which a type of a target read image data line changes from document data to document cover data, determines, based on the first change position and the second change position, whether a document has a rectangular shape, and ends the reading operation based on the third change position and the determination result as to the document shape.

Image scanner

An image processing apparatus has a color image, the image data being constituted by multiple pixels, each of the multiple pixels having a gradation value, and a controller, which is configured to generate a histogram of index values corresponding to brightness values of the multiple pixels constituting the image data, set an original threshold value based on the histogram which is referred to for binarization, detect a mound-shaped part, in the histogram, satisfying a particular condition, set an adjusting direction in which the original threshold value is to be adjusted, set the index value at a base on a particular direction side of a particular mound-shaped part which is one of mound-shaped parts existing on the adjusting direction side with respect to the original threshold value in the histogram as an adjusted threshold value, and apply a binarizing process to the image data using the adjusted threshold value.

Image processing apparatus and method for binarization of image data according to adjusted histogram threshold index values

An image processing apparatus includes a controller configured to control an image scanner to generate scanned data by scanning an image recorded on a document sheet, calculate an edge intensity of each of pixels included in the scanned data, determine a binarization threshold from pixel values of particular pixels, the particular pixels being a part of the pixels included in the scanned data, each particular pixel having a density value higher than density values of surrounding pixels thereof and having an edge intensity equal to or higher than an edge threshold, and generate a binary image from the scanned data, using the binarization threshold.

Image processing apparatus, method and computer-readable medium for binarizing scanned data

An image scanning apparatus includes a controller configured to perform a setting process to set a specific waiting time for a timer, based on a detected position of a document guide. The setting process includes, when the detected position of the document guide is a particular guide position for a first-size document sheet, setting a first waiting time as the specific waiting time for the timer, and when the detected position of the document guide is not the particular guide position, setting a second waiting time as the specific waiting time for the timer, the second waiting time being longer than the first waiting time.

Image scanning apparatus with timing control for document feeder, and method and computer-readable medium therefor

An image processing apparatus has a storage configured to store image data representing a color image, the image data being constituted by multiple pixels, each of the multiple pixels having a gradation value, and a controller. The controller is configured to extract pixels, from among the multiple pixels, within a specific color range as target pixels, adjust the gradation values of the target pixels such that brightness values of the target pixels are lowered, generate a histogram of index values corresponding to quantities of the brightness values of the multiple pixels constituting the image data after the gradation values of the target pixels are adjusted, set a first threshold value based on the histogram as generated, and apply a binarizing process to the image data using the first threshold value.

Image processing apparatus configured for binarizing image data and methods for binarizing image data

A first area, which includes a group of pixels with a first color, is specified. The first color corresponds to a color of an outline of a hole image in an image represented by image data. A second area corresponding to the hole image is determined. The second area is the first area larger than a first size when the first area is separated from four ends of the image. The second area is the first area larger than a second size when the first area is in contact with at least one of the four ends of the image. The second size is smaller than the first size.

Computer-readable storage medium storing image processing program, image processing device, and image processing method

Image data representing an image are obtained. A quadrangular area, which is defined by a quadrangle including a group of pixels with a first color, is specified. The first color corresponds to a color of an outline of a hole image in the image. A hole orientation is specified based on positions of the group of pixels with respect to the quadrangular area. The hole orientation represents a direction that the outline of the hole image occupies. When the hole orientation is specified, a candidate area is specified by extending the quadrangular area in an extension direction. The extension direction corresponds to a direction opposite to the hole orientation and extending along one of sides of the quadrangular area.

A first image data, binarized with a first threshold, represent a first image corresponding to a first portion of a specific image. A second image data, binarized with a second threshold different from the first threshold, represent a second image corresponding to a second portion of the specific image. A first area, which is extracted from the first image, includes pixels with a first color. The first color corresponding to a color of an outline of a hole image in the specific image. A second area, which is extracted from the second image, includes pixels with the first color. The first area and the second area are determined as a specific area corresponding to the hole image.

Imaging process for binarization and punched hole extraction

A scanning apparatus is provided with a conveyer having a plurality of conveying rollers and configured to convey an original sheet, a scanning device configured to scan the original sheet, and a controller. The controller is configured to execute a detection process of detecting an error which causes stoppage of conveying the original sheet by the conveyer, an identifying process of identifying a type of the error detecting in the detecting process, and a notification process of notifying a user of an operation which the controller encouraging the user to execute when the controller causes the conveyer to re-convey the original sheet that has been stopped, depending on the type of the error identified by the identifying process.

Scanning apparatus and sheet conveyer

An image scanning apparatus has a conveyer, a first scanning device configured to scan an image on one surface of an original sheet at a first scanning position, a second scanning device configured to scan an image on an other surface of the original sheet at a second scanning position. A controller is configured to execute a first adjustment process to adjust light amount adjustment of the first scanning device before scanning the original sheet subject to the received scanning instruction, start scanning after the first adjustment process, execute a determination process to determine, after starting conveying the original sheet, whether a light adjustment of the second scanning device is to be executed, execute a second adjustment process, when it is determined to start the light adjustment of the second scanning device, and stop conveying the original sheet when no original sheet is located at the first scanning position.

Image scanning apparatus and image reading method using a first reading head for a first scanning position and second reading head for a second scanning position

An image processor reads an image from an original, divides the image into a plurality of blocks, and performs a determination process on each block. Through the determination process, a block is classified as a first color block or second color block. The image processor classifies the original as a color image when a number of first color blocks reach a prescribed number before the determination processes for all of the plurality of blocks have been completed. The image processor classifies the original as the color image when a number of first color blocks determined through the determination processes for all of the plurality of blocks is fewer than the prescribed number and a color ratio is greater than a prescribed ratio. The color ratio is the sum of the number of the first color blocks and the number of the second color blocks to the plurality of blocks.

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Konan, Japan

Toshiki Motoyama