JPH04243376A - Color picture processing unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize the color picture processing unit able to adjust a picture tone of an input picture with high accuracy with excellent operability. CONSTITUTION:The unit is provided with a means 17 designating a non- rectangular area on an original, a means 18 adjusting picture quality such as color balance, masking coefficient, and edge emphasis, means 19, 21 registering a parameter for each processing in the case of the adjustment, and a means 22 to read a series of registered parameter.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a color image processing apparatus, and more particularly to means for adjusting color tone, sharpness, etc.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, full-color copying machines have become widespread, and it has become relatively easy to perform color adjustment and sharpness adjustment. For example, you can adjust the color balance by operating the level display displayed on the panel with touch keys as shown in Figure 18, or select the desired color as shown in Figure 19(a) and The image quality is adjusted by a function that adjusts the ratio of each color component in percentages as shown in b), or a function that adjusts the intensity of sharpness emphasis using a scale as shown in FIG.

0003

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] However, these adjustments were performed on the entire image or only on a specific rectangular area, so for example, for an image like the one shown in FIG. Then, you can change the color balance of the leaves on the trees while keeping the colors of the mountains, houses, or sky in the background the same.
If you wanted to increase the sharpness of only the house part, the overall color balance and sharpness would change, which was very problematic. Also, if you dare to do it only for non-rectangular areas,
As shown in FIG. 22, it is also possible to input the data by dividing it into multiple small rectangles that cover the tree, but in this case, the operation becomes very complicated and takes time. Additionally, it has drawbacks such as not being able to handle complex shapes. Furthermore, in a large-scale electronic prepress system as shown in Figure 23, images can be stored in large-capacity memory and displayed on a monitor while making adjustments.In this case, the operator can make color adjustments and other adjustments while looking at the screen. Although the sharpness can be adjusted, the system is expensive and large-scale, and the operation is complicated and requires skill. Above all, even if the adjustment is made here, there is no means to easily make a hard copy of the image, so if printing on paper is included, the problem is that it becomes very large-scale and expensive.

Furthermore, for example, after adjusting the color balance,
Even if an image with the desired image quality is obtained by adjusting the sharpness, the process is usually performed by making several trial copies, resulting in wasted copying and extra time. If the operator leaves the machine after this and wants to obtain the same image quality again after a while, someone else may have changed the settings or automatically returned to the default settings, and then try again. The same adjustment procedure will be followed, resulting in repeated waste of cost and time. If you want to prevent this, you can record the settings after each adjustment by taking a memo, but as the operations become more complex, the number of details increases, and it is very cumbersome to do it each time. Recently, some cameras have a "memory key" function that stores the settings at a certain time in the internal memory, but this only applies to the entire image and cannot make the desired adjustments.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a color image processing device that can accurately adjust the image tone of an input image and has excellent operability.

[0006]

[Means and Objects for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the color image processing device of the present invention performs arithmetic processing on an input color signal and obtains a color image based on the result of the calculation. In the apparatus, an area specifying means for specifying an arbitrary area of the image represented by the input color signal, a setting means for setting a reproduction mode of the image, a specification by the area specifying means, and a setting of the reproduction mode of the image. means for controlling parameters of the arithmetic processing based on settings by the means; and storage means for storing arithmetic processing parameters related to the reproduction mode; The method is characterized in that processing calculations are performed using calculation processing parameters stored by the means.

[0007]

[Embodiments] Examples of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration diagram of an image processing apparatus according to the present invention, and the overall general operation will be explained here. Reference numeral 1 denotes a CCD color image sensor that separates the reflected light image from a color image document line by line and pixel by line and converts it into corresponding electrical signals.
It has a pixel configuration of approximately 4700 pixels x R, G, B (3 lines) so that it can be read at a pixel density of 0 dpi. The read color image signal 200 is subjected to signal processing in the analog processing circuit 2 in order to match the input dynamic range of the white/black balance A/D converter 3 for each color, and then sent to the next stage A/D converter 3. is digitized to obtain a digital image signal 201 for each color. The shading correction circuit 4 corrects light amount unevenness of the reading optical system (not shown), C.
This is a circuit that corrects sensitivity variations among pixels of the CD sensor. This device reads the full color image,
The configuration is such that the data is temporarily stored in an image memory and then read out later in synchronization with a synchronization signal from a color printer, for example, so that the data is compressed to reduce memory capacity. Since the human eye is highly sensitive to the luminance component in an image and relatively low in sensitivity to the color component, RGB→L
The R, G, and B signals read by the ab converter 6 are converted into the L signal, which is a luminance component, and the a, b components, which are color components.The luminance component is directly stored in the image memory 8, and the a, b components are vector quantized. A section 7 performs vector quantization to reduce the amount of data, and then stores it in the image memory 9. R, G, B to L, a,
Since the conversion to b and the vector quantization method are not the gist of the present invention, a detailed description will be omitted. The coded image signals once stored in the image memories 8 and 9 are synchronized with a synchronization signal iT in the sub-scanning direction obtained from the color printer 100.
In synchronization with OP245, it is read out (206, 207) corresponding to the image output of each color, and R is read out again in the decoding circuit 10.
, G, B (208, 209, 210) signals. The γ conversion circuit 11 is a circuit that converts R, G, and B signals into C, M, and Y signals corresponding to the density of the coloring material.

Color signals 211 and 212 corresponding to the image signal
, 213 (corresponding to M: magenta, C: cyan, and Y: yellow, respectively), in the masking processing unit 12, spectroscopy of the coloring materials used in the printer, specifically magenta toner, cyan toner, and yellow toner in this case. A so-called masking process is performed to correct color turbidity due to unnecessary absorption in the characteristics, and a UCR processing section 13 performs ink removal and undercolor removal (UCR) to obtain an image reproduction close to the color tone of the original. The sharpness processing unit 14 in the next stage emphasizes high spatial frequency components in the image to increase sharpness, and the density conversion circuit 15 emphasizes the highlights and shadows of each color signal, adjusts the overall tone, etc. It is possible to adjust it. As will be described later, parameters related to masking processing calculations, parameters determining the strength of sharpness related to sharpening processing, and density conversion characteristics can each be independently varied and set in multiple numbers by the CPU 19. Setting signals 220, 221
, 222, the configuration allows high-speed and multiple switching.

The area mask plane 16 is, for example, a bitmap memory that stores area information for each pixel.
It is input from the editor 17. A pattern corresponding to an arbitrarily shaped area is written by the CPU 19,
The area setting signals 220, 221, and 222 are read out in synchronization with the image when the image is formed, and the above-mentioned area setting signals 220, 221, and 222 are generated based on this. On the other hand, the content of processing within the designated area, for example, parameters regarding color and sharpness, are determined by the operation unit 18 as described below based on instructions given by the operator. 20, 21, and 22 are a program ROM, data RAM, and output port for the CPU 19, respectively.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of a masking processing arithmetic circuit. Masking processing uses printing technology, etc. to mask input color signals (M, C, Y).

[0011]

It is well known that this can be realized by the operation [Example 1]. Usually, for one type of image, the above calculation parameters are uniquely determined by the toner, so the parameters are also the same as the above mm.
It is sufficient to prepare nine types from ~yy. However, in this example, each parameter set is set in four ways, for example [mm
1 to yy1] to [mm4 to yy4] are prepared, and each is configured to be switched pixel by pixel using signals 220-1 and 220-2, so that masking calculations can be performed using different parameters even within the same image. This is what I did. 2
24-1 and 224-2 are color switching signals, for example, "0.0" during M output, "0.1" for C, and "1.0" during Y output.
Based on the control of the CPU 19, the output port 22
When it is output from the block 50 and is "0.0", it is to be supplied as a coefficient for the main color component of M among the 3 sets and 4 sets set in the registers 25 to 36 in the block 50.
Selectors 37, 38, 39, and 40 all have input “0”
is selected, and the selector 41 has mm1, mm2, m
m3 and mm4 are output. That is, the area signal 220-1
, 220-2, the coefficient of the principal color component is mm1
A desired value of ~mm4 is selected. Similarly, cm1 to cm4 are coefficients for the correction signal M when forming a C image, and ym1 to ym4 are coefficients for M when forming a Y image. Blocks 51 and 52 are block 5
It has the same configuration as 0, and the operation is the same except for the color correspondence. To explain the overall operation using, for example, when forming an M image, image signals M, C, Y (211, 21
2, 213), in the multipliers 42, 43, 44, if the area signals 220-1, 220-2 are "0.0", the multiplier 42 has mm1, and the multipliers 43, 44 have mm1. mc1 and my1 are output respectively, and each output has M×m
m1, C×mc1, Y×my1 are output. On the other hand, the minimum value circuit 53 calculates min (M, C, Y), that is, the black component (241), passes through the LUT 54, outputs the density-converted value KUCR237 as the UCR amount, and outputs the output 236 of the adder 45 ( M×mm1+C×mc1+Y×my
1) is subtracted by 46. Therefore, when forming a black image, the output 240 is K', (242), but when forming an M, C, Y image, it is 238, that is, (M×mm1+C×mc1+
Y×my1)-KUCR is output, and UC is masked.
The R processing has been completed, and here, the coefficients mm1, mc1, my1 can be arbitrarily varied by the area signals 220-1, 220-2, AR0, AR1, as described above. The delay circuits 23 and 24 each have a different delay amount, which is used to control the pixel delay until, for example, the pixel signals 211, 212, 213 are subjected to masking and UCR processing and input to the next stage sharpness circuit. For example, if a masking and UCR circuit causes a delay of M pixels and a sharpness processing circuit causes a delay of N pixels, 23 and 24 are provided as delay circuits having M and N pixel delays, respectively.

In the above configuration, the printer has M, C, Y,
Since a laser beam printer was used that forms images sequentially in K planes, selectors 37 to 40 were provided to switch the coefficients. In the case of a dot-sequential inkjet printer, a coefficient generator (
register) may be provided independently. Furthermore, a lookup table LUT54 that determines the UCR amount and the amount of inking
, 49 are also prepared, and similarly, for example, FIGS.
It is also possible to select characteristics I→II→III→IV by switching the characteristics shown in b) using the area signals AR0 and AR1.

Next, the sharpness processing circuit 14 will be explained. The sharpness processing circuit in this embodiment is based on a well-known technique using the so-called Laplacian technique. That is, as shown in FIG. 4(a), for example, in a 5×5 small pixel block, if the density value of the central pixel is ■, and the densities of the surrounding pixels are ■, ■, ■, ■, the edge amount E is so-called The edge-enhanced signal calculated by E=K×■-l(■+■+■+■) is obtained by D=E+■. Here, in order to perform a 5×5 block operation, in the line memories 55, 56, 57, and 58 of FIFO structure, line 251 including the center pixel, line 252 which is two lines ahead of 251, and line 250 which is also two lines behind line 251. are obtained at the same timing, and further delay element D (59-1, 59
-2, 60-1 to 60-4, 61-1, 61-2), the center pixel ■ and surrounding pixels ■, ■, ■, ■ are obtained, and the edge amount is calculated. This circuit also shows arbitrary shapes in images. Area setting signal AR'0 (221-1), AR'1
(221-2), coefficient registers 70-1 to 70
-4, the values of k and l of 72-1 to 72-4 are k1 to k4,
It can be changed in four ways from l1 to l4. For example, if (AR0, AR1) = (1.0), selectors 69 and 71 select l2 and k2, respectively, and supply them to multipliers 65 and 66, respectively, so the edge amount is E = ■ × k2 -l2(■+■+■+■), resulting in sharpness emphasis different from the above. Furthermore, the coefficient k
, l can be set to any value by rewriting the values of registers 70-1 to 70-4 and 72-1 to 72-4 under the control of the CPU 19, as will be described later. It is also possible to adjust the amount.

FIG. 5(a) is a diagram showing the configuration of the density conversion block 15. As for the basic operation, image data is
The image data is input from the LUT (look-up table) 74 and undergoes density conversion, and has functions such as emphasizing highlights and shadows and adjusting color balance. Reference numeral 199 is a CPU bus, and as will be described later, by rewriting the contents of the LUT 74 made up of RAM by the CPU 19 during non-image output, a different LUT can be set for each color. This LUT is also an area setting signal, AR″0, AR
1 (222-1, 222-2) allows changing the density conversion characteristics according to the arbitrary shape of the image.Rewriting the LUT can be done, for example, by changing the image data width to 8b.
If it is 256×4 with 4 banks of BK0 to BK3.
= 1024 bytes, and even if writing one byte takes, for example, 10 μsec, it completes in about 10 msec. Incidentally, in the color printer of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, laser light that has been image-modulated by a laser diode 82 is reflected by a polygon mirror 81, and is printed on a photosensitive drum corresponding to each color separated image while raster scanning. A latent image is formed on each of the M, C, Y, and K surfaces sequentially, and the latent image is transferred to the corresponding developing device (M, C, Y, K).
79-1 to 79-4 in order to develop them, and transfer them to the copy paper wrapped around the transfer drum 78 in order to produce M, C,
This is a full-color printer that completes one full-color copy by peeling off the paper from the transfer drum and fixing it in a heat-pressure fixing device 83 after images in four colors of Y and K are superimposed. , the time interval between surfaces is
It is about 1 second to 1.2 seconds. Therefore, there is sufficient time to rewrite the LUT 74, so there is no problem at all. Figure 5(b) is L
This shows an example of the characteristics to be written to the UT74. 0: The input-output characteristics are linear, 1: Both the highlight and shadow areas are slightly emphasized and sharpened, 2
: Emphasized highlight area, 3: Emphasized shadow area, and 0 to 3 are area setting signals AR″0, AR
"1" as appropriate.

Next, a method of setting an arbitrary-shaped area based on the coordinates of points continuously inputted from the editor 17, which is an area specifying means, will be explained. FIG. 7 shows a state in which a document O is placed on the editor 17 and a non-rectangular area F in the document is specified using the editor pen 101. From the editor 17, for example, the coordinates (X, Y) of a point specified with the left corner of the editor panel surface as the starting point, the sub-scanning direction as the Y direction, and the main scanning direction as the X direction.
is input to the CPU 19 as data representing the X pixel after Y lines from the starting point. On the other hand, since the area mask plane memory explained in FIG. )
All you have to do is write the necessary values to the address (Xn, Yn) corresponding to the address (Xn, Yn) one by one. For example, if the editor pen is
), the points sampled at regular time intervals are P1, P2, P3,
If it is P4, predetermined data can be written to the corresponding address (black dot) on the memory as shown in FIG. 8(b). At this time, connections between sampling points (for example, P1 and P2, P2 and P3) are performed by linear interpolation based on the coordinates of the two points, and therefore, any non-rectangular shape is
It is formed by connecting short line segments. The interpolation method will be described according to FIG. The sampling point is A1 (X1, X2
), A7 (X7, Y7), then the straight line passing through the two points A1 and A7 is

[0016]

[Outside 2]

[0017] In the Y direction, it is sufficient to increase the line by one line, so if Y2=Y1+1, Y3=Y1+2..., then Y7
Increase by 1 until . Therefore, this can be expressed as equation (1)
For example, if you substitute

[0018]

[Outside 3] becomes. Since Xn is an integer, if the closest integer is selected, the coordinates of (Xn, Yn) are determined, and data can be sequentially written to this address. For example, in this embodiment, the data to be written is configured to specify four areas with a depth of 2 bits, so the data to be written is "0.0" depending on each area.
”, “0.1”, “1.0”, and “1.1”.For example, in the case of specifying the first area, the address shown in black in FIG. 8(b), and therefore the formula (1) The area setting is completed by writing data "0.1" to the address calculated by .

10(a), (b), and (c), a method for generating an actual area signal from area designation data set in the area mask plane memory will be described first. 8
7 is a mask plane memory for area; for example, if the image input density is 400 dpi and it has memory corresponding to the capacity of the entire A3 sheet, then 297 x 420 x {(25.4/400)-1} 2=3
There are 1M pixels, so the memory has a capacity of 2 bits x 31M. The X counter and Y counter each have a pixel clock (
248), generates the X address and Y address on the memory by counting the horizontal synchronization signal (246). The Y counter also receives a synchronization signal (not shown) in the sub-scanning direction.
47), the count value is initialized to “0” and
The counter receives the horizontal synchronization signal 246 so that the count value = “
The 2-bit area generation data 249, 250 read by the address 253 generated by the X, Y counter is initialized to 0.
When the LCLK254 supplied to J/KFF, 91, and 92 is stopped and the values are "0.1", "1.0", and "1.1",
Supply LCLK. In other words, the data in the memory is “0”.
．． 0'', the outputs of J/KFF91 and 92 are inverted and area signals AR0 and AR1 are generated as shown in FIG. ,
A region signal for each Nth line, N+1th line...(N+n)th line will be generated, and will be supplied as a region signal that functions in FIG. 2, FIG. 4(b), and FIG. 5(a). Become.

Next, a method of specifying and manipulating a desired image aspect, such as color, density, or image atmosphere, for the arbitrarily shaped area described above will be described. FIG. 11 shows an example of the operating section 18 for implementing the present invention. Reference numeral 96 is a key and display section for adjusting the balance of color materials, and numerical display 5 is the center value. Therefore M,
Assuming that C, Y, and K are set to 5, 4, 6, and 3, straight line data having the characteristics shown in FIG. 12(a) is stored in the density conversion RAM 74 shown in FIG. 5(a). do. This printer forms images in the order of M→(-)Y→K, so as shown in the timing diagram of FIG. 13, the LUT74 is
By rewriting , you can change the conversion characteristics for each color and adjust the color balance. On the other hand, the keys 98 and 99 are effect adjustment keys and effect registration keys, and are used to express words related to colors and the atmosphere of images, such as "blue-like", "aki-like", and "vivid" as displayed on the touch panel display screen 97. One-touch adjustments can be made using words that express human sensations, such as ``ni'', color balance, etc.
After adjusting sharpness, color, etc., the resulting atmosphere is registered as sensory "words", and from then on, the same effect can be obtained with a single touch using just the registered "words". This is the key. Normally, the display panel screen displays the number of copies, cassette selection, number of selected sheets, magnification setting, etc., but these are omitted as they are not the main purpose of the explanation of the present invention. Now, for example, as shown in Fig. 12(b), Y and K (yellow, black) look "blue" when color balance is set to 5, M is set to 6, and C is set to 7.
Let's say you get an image that you can feel. At that time, if you register the effect using the method described below, the registered “
Just specify ``Aokuku'' and the processing parameters will be set automatically.

Next, for example, as shown in FIG. 5(b) for four arbitrarily shaped regions, set the magenta color so that region 1 has a high contrast, region 2 has a highlight emphasis, and region 3 has a shadow emphasis. If you set the color balance to 3 and make a slightly lighter adjustment, you can adjust the tone of each tone based on the setting of 3 (line 0') as shown in Figure 14, so you can change the previous adjustments or When making readjustments such as improvements, adjustments can be made by only changing the amount of changes.

Next, a method of effect registration and effect designation will be described with reference to FIGS. 15 and 16. Effect registration is performed using an effect registration key 99. Adjustments made by the user, such as increasing sharpness (Figure 4 (
(change the values of k and l in b)) increase the amount of undercolor removal and smearing (change the characteristics of Fig. 3 (a) and (b) to IV),
If the image becomes clearer, press the effect registration key 99 in that state and the image will appear in Figure 15 (a).
) The screen on the touch panel changes. Next, Figure 15(b)
), select the desired character from the character input area provided in a part of the editor section, and in this case, enter "ku", "tsu", "ki", "ri", "to", and then press "Register". By touching the position, the parameters of undercolor removal, ink amount, and edge amount are registered in the internal memory. FIG. 15(c) shows the memory contents, and shows the parameters for the above-mentioned "crisp" adjustment.
V” color balance characteristics are M, C, Y, K=“5”,
The edge parameters are k=5 and l=14, which represent 1/4. Therefore, as will be explained next, when the effect designation "crisp" is performed, the effect shown in FIG. 15 (
The parameter c) corresponds to the specified area. It is set in a predetermined register in the processing circuit described above.

FIG. 16 shows a display on the operation panel showing the operation procedure for specifying an effect. To specify the effect, first press the effect 98, then S1
The screen changes to specify whether or not an area is specified. If there is, specify rectangle or non-rectangle. In this case, for example, since a non-rectangular shape is specified, the screen changes to S2, and in this state, trace the desired non-rectangular shape on the image with the editor pen as shown in FIG. Data is written into the memory after predetermined address calculations are performed. After specifying the area, by touching the "OK" part, the screen moves to S3. Here, we want to specify "kukkirito", so when we touch "ka" to search in the "ka" line, "kukkirito" is displayed in the screen S4 selected in the "ka" line. “Clearly” can be achieved by setting the conditions in which the effect is registered as described above. When "3. Clear" is specified on this screen, the process moves to S5, where the degree of "clear" is adjusted. In this example, clearly refers to the degree of sharpness.
Therefore, by rewriting the values of the coefficients k and l described above, it is possible to switch to multiple stages. For example, as shown in FIG.
64 types of each parameter set are stored such that >kn+1, ln>ln+1. If the degree of sharpness in screen S5 in FIG. 16(a) immediately before adjustment is (kn, ln) with coefficients k, l, then k, l in 1, 2...9 in S5 are ( kn-4, ln-4) (kn-3, ln-3)...(k
n, ln)...(kn+4, ln+4). Therefore, for example, when "7" is selected for sharp adjustment, (kn+1, ln+1) are set in the registers 71 and 69 in FIG. 4(b). This allows you to make adjustments with a more "clear" feeling based on the state immediately before making the adjustment settings.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 24 shows a second embodiment. In this embodiment, the read image is processed by the thinning circuit 22.
0 to reduce the capacity and display memory 207
Store it in The read image is displayed on a display 208 in the copier operation section. The operator traces the instruction panel 209 using the pointing device 210, and the area information 215 obtained thereby is input to the CPU 206 via the input port 211. On the other hand, the operation panel 221
From here, settings for color and sharpness are input in the same way as in the previous embodiment, and are also input to the CPU 206. The image quality of the arbitrary figure is adjusted based on the data written to the mask memory plane 212 based on the input area data and the parameters of the processing unit 205 based on the set color and sharpness information.

(Third Embodiment) FIG. 25 shows a third embodiment. In this example, a mask plane is created in advance as a black pattern on a white background, and this is first input from the document table. That is, the original of ■ is input and the binarization circuit 240 converts it into 2
It is converted into a value and stored in the mask plane memory 241. Next, when the original image ■ is input, the mask pattern is read out from the mask plane memory 241, the readout signal 250 is used as the area signal, and the image processing unit 2
By using it as a processing parameter switching signal in step 42, image quality adjustment of an arbitrary shape is performed. CPU243
, the operation section 244, and the printer 245 are similar to those in the first embodiment described above.

(Fourth Embodiment) FIG. 26 shows a fourth embodiment. In this example, a monitor is used as the area specifying means, and a desired area in which the masking coefficient is to be changed can be specified while viewing the document on the monitor.

In FIG. 26, 1810 is a CRT, which displays an original image read by pre-scanning. 1811 is a touch panel, 1812 is a touch pen, and by specifying a specific part of the displayed image, the operator can change the masking coefficient in a non-rectangular area specified within one screen, as in the above embodiment. Can be done.

Here, the image memory for one screen required to display an image on the monitor includes the image memory 8 shown in FIG.
can be used. As described in the above embodiment, since image data is stored in this image memory in a compressed format, an expansion means 1801 for expanding the compressed data shown in FIG. 27 is provided to expand R, G, and B. After being decoded into dot sequential data, it is displayed on a CRT 1810.

As described above, according to this embodiment, a desired area in which the masking coefficient is to be changed can be specified on the monitor, so that the operability of specification is greatly improved.

Furthermore, since the image memory necessary for CRT display is shared with the memory for the printer, memory usage efficiency is excellent.

In the above embodiments, a color copying machine having a full page image memory has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, it is applicable not only to devices without image memory and to general image input/output devices, not just copying machines.

Further, the printer is not limited to a laser beam printer, but may be an inkjet printer, a thermal transfer printer, or the like.

In particular, a so-called bubble jet printer having a head of a type that ejects droplets by utilizing film boiling caused by thermal energy may also be used.

As described above, in the embodiment of the present invention, the means for specifying a figure of arbitrary shape and the processing circuit parameters for changing color processing and sharpness are switched at high speed on a pixel by pixel basis, and furthermore, complicated setting parameters are used. This solves the drawbacks of the above-mentioned prior art by allowing complex setting parameters to be easily set even for regions of arbitrary shapes.

[0035]

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to specify an area of arbitrary shape and to adjust the area within the specified area arbitrarily and easily. Now I can get an image.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of a masking processing section.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing UCR and indentation characteristics.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of a sharpness processing section.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of a density conversion section.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a color laser beam printer.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a method of specifying an area.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a method of specifying an area.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a method of specifying an area.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating generation of a region signal.

FIG. 11 is an external view of the operation section.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating setting of density conversion characteristics.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating setting of density conversion characteristics.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating settings of density conversion characteristics.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an operation procedure for effect registration.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an operation procedure for specifying an effect.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing parameters for setting sharpness.

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a conventional technique.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating a conventional technique.

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating a conventional technique.

FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating a conventional technique.

FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating a conventional technique.

FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating a conventional technique.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing the configuration of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing the configuration of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing the configuration of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing the configuration of another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

12 Masking processing section 13 UCR processing section 14 Sharpness processing section 15 Density conversion section 16 Area mask plane 17 Editor 18 Operation section

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A color image processing device that performs arithmetic processing on an input color signal and obtains a color image based on the result of the calculation, comprising: area specifying means for specifying an arbitrary area of the image represented by the input color signal; , a setting means for setting a reproduction mode of the image, a means for controlling parameters of the arithmetic processing based on a specification by the area specifying means and a setting by the setting means for the reproduction mode of the image, and a means related to the reproduction mode. and a storage means for storing arithmetic processing parameters to be processed, and the color image processing is characterized in that a processing operation is performed on an area specified by the area specifying means using the arithmetic processing parameters stored by the storage means. Device. 2. The color image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the area specifying means includes a monitor, and the area is specified on the monitor.