Image forming apparatus capable of editing color image

An image forming apparatus capable of editing a photocopied color image of an original document comprising:

• image reading means for reading an image of the original document to output image data;
• color designating means for directly sensing a desired color without aid of an intermediate display monitor, said color designating means having color reading means for optically reading a color of an image to generate color data;
• editing means for editing the image data based on the color data representation of the desired color to produce edited image data;
• and
• image forming means for reproducing the edited image data as a photocopy.

An improved copier having an editing capability comprising:

• color designating means for directly sensing a desired color of indicia on a multicolor original without aid of an intermediate display monitor and providing a corresponding color of indicia signal;
• means for storing that color of indicia signal;
• means for electro-optically converting the original image into a representative set of electrical signals including signals of the color content of the image;
• editing means responsive to the stored color of indicia signal for altering the set of electrical signals by removing the corresponding electrical signals by the same color content of the image corresponding to the color of indicia signal;
• and
• means for forming an image of the original, as modified by the editing means, in response to the altered set of electrical signals.

An improved copier having an editing capability comprising:

• means for sensing a particular color of indicia on an original and providing a corresponding color signal;
• means for storing that color signal;
• means for electro-optically converting the image of the original into a representative set of electrical signals including signals of the color content of the original image;
• editing means responsive to the stored color signal representative of the color of indicia for altering the set of electrical signals including masking control means for removing the corresponding color signal representative of the color of indicia from the image, trimming control means for removing from the image all color signals other than the corresponding color signal representative of the color of indicia, and color conversion control means for providing an alternative color signal to the image to replace the corresponding color signal representative of the color of indicia, and
• means for forming a final image of the original image, as modified by the editing means, in response to the altered set of electrical signals, including an image write head, a photosensitive member exposed by the image write head in accordance with the altered set of electrical signals, a plurality of color toner developing devices, and a source of copy paper to receive the toner image from the photosensitive member.

A method of editing a color image of a multicolored original comprising the steps of:

• optically reading an image of the original and generating first electrical signal data corresponding to an optical image of the original, said first electrical signal data including color data;
• storing the first electrical signal data;
• designating a reference color by optically reading a reference color information directly and without aid of an intermediate display monitor and generating second electrical signal data corresponding to the reference color information;
• editing the first electrical signal data corresponding to a color which is the same color as the color corresponding to the second electrical signal data;
• and
• visualizing the first electrical signal, as edited, on an image retentive member.