Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.

Yoshio Arai

Hiroyuki Kataoka

Isao Suzuki

Shozo Yokota

Kazuo Suzuki

Satoru Itoh

Saburo Suganuma

Masato Sato

Fukumi Fujiwara

Tetsuo Ohkubo

Yasumasa Moriya

Nobuaki Endo

An apparatus and method for reading, processing, storing and later printing out stored data from an original document in which undesired data portions are prevented from being recorded. Portions of the printed original image which are desirably retained and recorded are printed with solid lines, while image portions, for instance, ledger lines, which are desirably not retained and recorded, are printed as optically fine discontinuous patterns. The original thus printed is scanned line by line. The analog signal which is produced by the scanning device has high frequency portions when an optically fine discontinuous pattern is scanned. These portions are eliminated by low-pass filtering or by determining the degree of correlation between the sensor output signal and stored data representing the optically fine discontinuous patterns.

Image processing apparatus and method for recognizing only desired

A document processing method is disclosed wherein blank forms are read by an image input device, and the format thereof is stored in a memory. Additional information for filling in the form is input in the same manner, and the information is electronically overlaid using a control device for the memory, so that a completed form is stored in the memory for output by a printing device. With the invention, once the blank form is input to the device, further blank forms are unnecessary.

Method of processing documents

A rectangular pattern recognition device is disclosed which operates to recognize and note the position of solid-line rectangles drawn on an input form, document, or the like. The apparatus first recognizes vertical and horizontal line segments and then discriminates the areas which lie within the joined segments. The device may further be provided with code or symbol recognition means which can discriminate symbols, e.g. an optional numbering of the rectangles from the other line segments forming the rectangles.

Rectangular pattern recognition apparatus

An input and/or output unit which reads or records a picture utilizing a scanning beam in which sampling positions of picture elements in a main scanning direction are uniformly spaced. A first clock signal is produced which is at least three times as high in frequency as an output sampling clock signal. The first clock signal operates a counter, the output of which is compared with the output of a ROM. The ROM is addressed by a counter which is incremented by output comparison pulses. The output of the comparator is also utilized as the output sampling signal. Numerical values are stored in the ROM such that the output pulses from the comparator occur at times corresponding to constant sampling intervals of the scanning beam along a scanning line.

Beam scanning means for input/output unit

A light pen is provided with an elongated or spatula-shaped light receiving end which houses a plurality of optical fiber tubes in either a linear or two-dimensional array. The device is useful for simultaneously reading the coordinates of a plurality of points within a single scan period of a CRT image produced using the NTSC system. A slideable light interceptor may be provided in the operator of the light pen so as to limit the size or the proportion of the array receiving incident light.

Spatula-shaped light pen

An image signal processing device uses an automatically varied threshold value calculated from the average density and the density distribution of an original (document, etc). The threshold value is periodically updated at predetermined intervals, so that the overall image may be reproduced with high fidelity.

Image signal processing device

An apparatus for producing a contour line pattern image from an original image such as a character or the like recorded in binary format in a memory couples image element points equidistantly isolated from edges of the original image and thereby forms a contour line pattern curve. The coupling of the equidistant points and the formation of the contour line pattern curve in the contour line pattern image are repeatedly carried out. Smudged areas of the contour line pattern image are detected and eliminated and missing portions of the contour line pattern image are regenerated.

Apparatus and method for correcting contour line pattern images

The image converting system including an image input step or apparatus for converting an original document information into electric image signals an inputting them, an image processing step or apparatus for processing the original document information supplied by the image input step in a predetermined process or order to provide converted image signals different from the original image, and a recording step or apparatus for recording the image on a recording medium in accordance with the image signals derived from the image processing step thereby recording a pattern materially different from the original image on the recording medium or displaying same on an indicator. The converted image signals may be obtained by the use of a coding or scrambling signal and an Exclusive OR operation. Line shifting may be employed. The original image may also be divided into a number of grid components and mixed in accordance with the coding rule.

Image conversion system

A character shaping device includes a tablet or the like upon which characters are written or drawn, and a device for determing distribution functions for the character as projected in the x- and y-directions. From this information the 'center of gravity' of the character is calculated, and the x- and y-dimensions of the character are detected to determine the character area. The image is then centered within a normalization area and enlarged or reduced in size according to scale factors dependent upon the relative dimensions of the character area and the normalization area, to obtain a well balanced and sized character which may then be printed along with other characters to form sentences on a printed document or the like.

Character shaping device

A multilevel image printing device in which a laser beam is scanned onto the surface of a photoconductive drum with plural intensity levels without the use of a modulator. A multilevel image outputting circuit produces a multilevel signal which is applied to a multilevel image signal to laser beam conversion circuit which converts it into an intensity value for operating a semiconductor laser beam source. The multilevel image signal to laser beam conversion circuit includes plural switches which are operated in response to the multilevel image signal coupled through resistors of different values which determine the voltage applied to the semiconductor laser beam source.

Multilevel image printing device

An oblique projection original is formed by deforming an orthogonal projection original in such a manner that a rectangular original is transformed into a trapezoidal original by compressing the orthogonal projection original by thinning scanning lines in a horizontal direction. In addition, predetermined bits in each scanning line are thinned in a vertical direction, and each line is compressed by reducing first and last portions of each line by half the number of bits thus thinned. Finally, white bits are inserted at the first and last portions of each scanning line to complete each scanning line.

Oblique projection original and oblique projection original forming

Apparatus for producing and reproducing embedded patterns in which a character or the like including a pattern which is not observable macroscopically can be differentiated from the other formats microscopically. An input unit reads a normal original image pattern utilizing a raster scanning system. In the apparatus for producing the format, a processing unit includes a gate which receives a signal from the input means and passes or blocks the signal in accordance with the desired embedded pattern. An output unit records the image using the raster scanning system. In the apparatus for reproducing the format, a processing unit includes a gate which blocks or passes an input signal depending on whether or not it contains the embedded pattern.

Apparatus for producing and reproducing embedded pattern

A picture printing device and method for printing pictures using a main scan and a sub scan. A first comparison means counts the number of picture elements in a main-scanning direction and compares that number with a first value preset in the first comparison means. A second comparison means counts the number of scanning lines in a sub-scanning direction and compares that number with a second value preset in the second comparison means. A printer records predetermined signals in response to combinations of the outputs of the first and second comparison means.

Picture printing device

An image transcribing system for transferring an image from an original document to a recording sheet in which the original image is scanned, converted to binary signals and stored in a first page memory. An image processing section transfers the image data from the first page memory to a second page memory while it is simultaneously enlarged by a predetermined factor. In the enlargement process, the image data is first enlarged by an integer factor then reduced by a fractional factor in accordance with stored bit patterns corresponding to the required fractional factor.

Image transcribing system

Method and apparatus for eliminating noise in a digitally recorded visual image wherein the proportion of picture elements in an area surrounding an objective area having a first visual level or component is determined and the objective area concluded as having the same visual level or component when the proportion is above a predetermined value. In one embodiment, both picture elements in the surrounding and objective areas are counted to determine the proportion while in another only those picture elements in the surrounding area are counted.

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Yoshio Arai