Electrophotographic apparatus, system, and method of using colorless toner

An image processing system for image forming with an electrophotographic image forming device, comprising:

• a memory that stores correspondence information associating features of a region of image data with a colorless pattern to be formed with colorless toner in electrophotographic image forming, the correspondence information including pile height criteria information restricting a pile height of the colorless toner in association with a set of the features and the colorless pattern;
• and
• a processor configured by execution of a program of instructions to include:
• an image segmenter part that segments input image data into a plurality of regions;
• a features extractor part that obtains features of at least one of the plurality of regions segmented from the input image data;
• and
• a colorless data generator part that determines a specific colorless pattern based on the correspondence information and the pile height criteria information that corresponds to the features obtained for the at least one of the plurality of regions of the input image data, and generates colorless image data using the colorless pattern, for controlling electrophotographic image forming using the colorless toner, wherein:
• the memory stores keyword parameter correspondence information that associates a plurality of keywords each reflecting the degree of segmentation of the input image data with a plurality of segmentation parameters each specifying the degree of segmentation,
• the processor configured by execution of the of the program of instructions causes a user interface to display a list of the plurality of keyword to a user to allow the user to select one of the plurality of keywords, and
• the processor is further configured by execution of the program of instructions to include a region segmentor part that refers to the keyword parameters correspondence information to obtain a segmentation parameter that corresponds to the selected keyword, and segments the colorless pattern using the obtain pattern parameter.

An image processing apparatus for image forming with an electrophotographic image forming device, comprising:

• a table configured to store correspondence information associating features of a region of image data with a colorless pattern to be formed with colorless toner in electrophotographic image forming, the correspondence information including pile height criteria information restricting a pile height of the colorless toner in association with a set of the features and the colorless pattern;
• a region segmenter configured to segment input image data into a plurality of regions;
• a memory that stores keyword parameter correspondence information that associates a plurality of keywords each reflecting the degree of segmentation of the input image data with a plurality of segmentation parameters each specifying the degree of segmentation;
• a user interface configured to display a list of the plurality of keyword to a user to allow the user to select one of the plurality of keywords,
• wherein the regions segmentor refers to the keyword the keyword parameter correspondence information to obtain a segmentation parameter that corresponds to the selected keyword, and segments the colorless pattern using the obtain pattern parameter;
• a features extractor configured to obtain features of at least one of the plurality of regions segmented from the input image data;
• and
• a colorless data generator configured to refer to the table to obtain a specific colorless pattern based on the correspondence information and the pile height criteria information that corresponds to the features obtained for the at least one of the plurality of regions of the input image data and to generate colorless image data using the colorless pattern, for controlling electrophotographic image forming using the colorless toner.

A non-transitory recording medium storing a plurality of instructions which cause a processor to perform an image processing method for image forming with an electrophotographic image forming device, the comprising:

• storing correspondence information that associates features of a region of image data with a colorless pattern to be formed with colorless toner in electrophotographic image forming, the correspondence information including pile height criteria information restricting a pile height of the colorless toner in association with a set of the features and the colorless pattern;
• displaying a list of a plurality of keywords to a user to allow the user to select one of the plurality of keywords,
• wherein the correspondence information includes keyword parameter correspondence information that associates the plurality of keywords each reflecting a degree of segmentation of the input image data with a plurality of segmentation parameters each specifying the degree of segmentation;
• segmenting input image data into a plurality of regions using the obtained segmentation parameter;
• obtaining features of at least one of the plurality of regions segmented from the input image data;
• determining a specific colorless pattern based on the correspondence information and the pile height criteria information to obtain a colorless pattern that corresponds to the features obtained for the at least one of the plurality of regions of the input image data;
• and
• generating colorless image data using the colorless pattern, for controlling electrophotographic image forming using the colorless toner.