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US 5,493,424 AGranted
Image forming apparatus
AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.
InventorsKan Tomita, Toshihiko Majima
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An image forming apparatus capable of identifying a color or colors which may be entered on a document. The apparatus automatically manipulates an image representative of a document only if the document is marked in any desired color. With the apparatus of the invention, the image forming time is reduced, and the image forming procedure is simplified.
Claims10
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- a reading section for optically reading a document;
- an image forming section for forming an image representative of the document read by said reading section on an image carrier in response to image data;
- a storing section for storing desired colors and functions associated with said colors and relating to image formation;
- an identifying section for identifying a color entered on the document in response to the image data;
- and
- a control section for executing any of the functions stored in said storing section and matching the color determined by said identifying section,
- wherein said image forming apparatus has a color register mode in which an operator can register one of said desired colors and assign one of said functions to said one of said desired colors by sequentially setting said one of said functions, pressing a color register key, marking a sheet having a background color in said one of said desired colors, and pressing a copy start key, and
- wherein, when said color register mode has been selected, said reading section scans the sheet and outputs a corresponding output signal, said identifying section identifies said background color of said sheet and then identifies said one of said desired colors, and the storing section writes each of a mean of the output signal of said reading section corresponding to said one of said desired colors, a color register number, and said one of said functions in memory.
5 more elements
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- a mode setting section for setting a mode associated with various functions relating to image formation;
- a reading section for optically reading a document;
- an image forming section for forming an image representative of the document read by said reading section on a recording medium in response to image data and in the mode set by said mode setting section;
- a storing section for storing, for each of the modes set by said mode setting section, desired colors and functions relating to image formation and corresponding to said desired colors;
- an identifying section for identifying a color entered on a document in response to image data generated by said reading section;
- and
- a control section for executing the functions stored in said storing means in matching relation to the color identified by said identifying section and the mode set by said mode setting section,
- wherein said mode setting section sets a color register mode, in which one of said desired colors is registered and one of said functions is assigned to said one of said desired colors, when an operator sequentially sets said one of said functions, presses a color register key, marks a sheet having a background color in said one of said desired colors, and presses a copy start key, and
- wherein, when said color register mode has been set, said reading section scans the sheet and outputs corresponding image data, said identifying section identifies said background color of said sheet and then identifies said one of said desired colors, and the storing section writes each of a mean of the image data generated by said reading section corresponding to said one of said desired colors, a color register number, and said one of said functions in memory.
6 more elements
A method for forming an image comprising the steps of:
- optically reading a document;
- forming an image representative of the document on an image carrier in response to image data;
- storing desired colors and functions associated with said colors and relating to image formation;
- identifying a color entered on the document in response to the image data;
- executing any of the functions stored in said storing step and matching the color determined by said identifying;
- determining, when a color is to be newly stored in said storing step, a difference between a color signal representative of said color and a color signal representative of the stored color;
- producing an alarm when the difference between the two color signals determined by said determining step is not greater than a predetermined value;
- executing a color register mode in which an operator can register one of said desired colors and assign one of said functions to said one of said desired colors by sequentially setting said one of said functions, pressing a color register key, marking a sheet having a background color in said one of said desired colors, and pressing a copy start key, and
- wherein, when said color register mode has been selected, said method scans the sheet and outputs a corresponding output signal, identifies said background color of said sheet and then identifies said one of said desired colors, and writes each of a mean of the output signal of said reading section corresponding to said one of said desired colors, a color register number, and said one of said functions in memory.
6 more elements
A method of registering a desired color in an image forming apparatus and assigning a function to said desired color when an operator sets said function, presses a color register key, marks a sheet having a background color in said desired color, and presses a copy start key, comprising the sequential steps of:
- scanning the sheet and outputting a corresponding output signal;
- identifying said background color of said sheet;
- identifying said one of said desired colors;
- determining the difference between a mean of the output signal corresponding to the desired color and the previously registered colors;
- displaying an alarm when there is no difference or the difference is less than a predetermined value;
- and
- storing each of said mean of the output signal corresponding to said one of said desired colors, a color register number, and said one of said functions in memory when the difference is greater than said predetermined value.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.