JP5542022B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus typified by a copying machine equipped with an image reading apparatus used for an image scanner or the like.

  An image reading apparatus used for an image scanner mounted on an image forming apparatus typified by a copying machine is generally used for a document passing over a contact glass as a document table or a document placed on the contact glass. Light is emitted toward the surface, and the reflected light is received to read an image drawn on the document surface as image data.

  Some image forming apparatuses can store read image data. The saved image data is subjected to image processing such as reduction, enlargement, density and color change, printing multiple times using a printer, etc., facsimile transmission, and transmission to a personal computer via a network. It is possible to

  An example of an image forming apparatus capable of storing image data read from such a document can be seen in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-151867. An image forming apparatus described in Patent Document 1 includes a supply unit that supplies documents one by one, a reading unit that reads an image of a document supplied from the supply unit, and a storage unit that stores image data read by the reading unit And.

JP 2004-32672 A

  When saving image data read from a document, the image data may be saved after being subjected to image processing desired by the user so that the saved image data can be printed as it is or can be facsimile-transmitted as it is. Examples of the image processing include processing such as image reduction, density change, and image conversion from a color image to a monochrome image.

  However, after performing image processing on all the pixels of the image data, such as image reduction, density change, and image conversion from color image to monochrome image, output such as printing, facsimile transmission, etc. If image processing is performed again at times, there is a high possibility that image degradation will occur. Therefore, it is conceivable to store image data without performing image processing desired by the user so that the user can perform arbitrary image processing when reused later. When the image data read from the original is stored without being subjected to the image processing as described above, the image data before the image processing may have a larger data amount than the image data after the image processing. On the contrary, depending on the image processing desired by the user when saving the image data, the image data before the image processing may have a smaller data amount than the image data after the image processing. Therefore, there is a possibility that the usage amount of the storage unit for storing the image data increases.

  The image forming apparatus described in Patent Document 1 simply has a configuration for storing image data read from a document, and there is no mention of increasing the number of documents that can be stored as image data in a storage unit as much as possible. Not. As a result, if the amount of image data per document increases, there may be a problem that the number of documents that can be stored in the storage unit becomes relatively small.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and when saving image data read from a document, the amount of image data is reduced as much as possible to increase the number of documents that can be stored as image data as much as possible. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that can perform the above-described process.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides an image forming apparatus that reads an image drawn on a document as image data, an image processing unit that performs image processing on the image data, and the image reading device. A storage unit for storing the image data read by the storage unit, and a storage unit that is provided in the storage unit, and that the image processing unit does not perform predetermined image processing when the storage unit stores the image data, and outputs the data from the storage unit. An image processing unit is provided in the reusable storage unit that stores the image data that can be subjected to the predetermined image processing; and the image processing unit performs predetermined image processing when the image processing unit stores the image data in the storage unit. A non-reusable storage unit that stores the image data that cannot be subjected to the predetermined image processing when the image processing unit outputs the image data. When saving the serial storage unit, it was decided and a setting unit for the user to set whether to store using any of the reusable storage portion or the non-reusable storage unit.

  According to this configuration, since the user sets whether the image data is stored in the reusable storage unit or the non-reusable storage unit in the setting unit, the data amount of the image data to be stored is determined based on the content of the predetermined image processing. It can be as little as possible.

  Note that the “predetermined image processing” is image processing performed by the image processing unit on the image data, such as enlargement, reduction, density conversion, color image data conversion to a gray image or a monochrome image, and the like. This means image processing that causes image quality degradation if other image processing is performed at the time of output after processing and storage.

  Further, in the image forming apparatus configured as described above, the amount of data when the image data read by the image reading unit is stored in the reusable storage unit, and the amount of data when stored in the non-reusable storage unit, The control part which calculates is decided to be provided.

  According to this configuration, since the control unit calculates the data amount of the image data before and after performing the predetermined image processing, the data amount of the image data before and after performing the predetermined image processing can be compared. When the amount of image data to be stored in the storage unit is relatively large, it is possible to cope with the amount of image data to be stored as small as possible.

  In the image forming apparatus having the above configuration, the data amount when the image data is set to be stored in the reusable storage unit and the data amount when the image data is stored in the reusable storage unit is stored in the non-reusable storage unit And / or the amount of data when the image data is set to be stored in the non-reusable storage unit and stored in the non-reusable storage unit is larger than the amount of data when the image data is stored in the reusable storage unit When there are many, the notification part which alert | reports that there are many amounts of data to preserve | save was decided to be provided.

  According to this configuration, since the fact that the amount of image data to be stored is large is notified, the user can take measures to minimize the amount of data.

  Further, in the image forming apparatus having the above configuration, the control unit is configured to store the image data in the reusable storage unit and stores the data amount in the non-reusable storage unit when the image data is stored in the reusable storage unit. When the amount of data is larger than the image data, the image data is stored in the non-reusable storage unit after the predetermined image processing is performed on the image data, and / or the image data is stored in the non-reusable storage unit Is set and the amount of data stored in the non-reusable storage unit is larger than the amount of data stored in the reusable storage unit, the image data not subjected to the predetermined image processing is stored in the reusable storage unit. I decided to let them.

  According to this configuration, the data amount of the image data is automatically saved in the storage unit so as to be as small as possible.

  Further, in the image forming apparatus having the above-described configuration, the image processing condition relating to the predetermined image processing is set using the setting unit when the image data is read by the image reading unit, and the control unit Is based on the image processing condition, which data amount is the amount of data when the image data is stored in the reusable storage unit or the data amount when the image data is stored in the non-reusable storage unit. I decided to judge.

  According to this configuration, based on the image processing conditions set by using the setting unit when the image data is read by the image reading unit, it is determined which image data amount is large before and after performing the predetermined image processing. Is done.

  In the image forming apparatus having the above configuration, when the setting unit is set to store the image data read by the image reading unit in the non-reusable storage unit, the control unit Which of the data amount when storing data in the reusable storage unit and the data amount when storing in the non-reusable storage unit is larger without performing the predetermined image processing Comparing the data amount of the image data temporarily stored in the reusable storage unit with the data amount of the image data temporarily stored in the non-reusable storage unit after performing the predetermined image processing I decided to judge.

  According to this configuration, by comparing the data amount of the image data actually temporarily stored in the reusable storage unit with the data amount of the image data temporarily stored in the non-reusable storage unit, a predetermined amount is obtained. It is determined which image data amount is large before and after performing image processing.

  According to the configuration of the present invention, when image data read from a document is stored, the amount of image data can be reduced as much as possible, and the number of documents that can be stored as image data can be increased as much as possible. An apparatus can be provided.

1 is a schematic vertical sectional front view of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the image forming apparatus in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a schematic vertical sectional front view of the image reading device of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an image data storage method in the image forming apparatus of FIG. 1. 3 is a flowchart illustrating operations related to image reading and image data storage in the image forming apparatus.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  First, an image output operation of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described while explaining an outline of the structure with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 is a schematic vertical sectional front view of an image forming apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the image forming apparatus. In FIG. 1, solid arrows indicate the paper conveyance path and conveyance direction, and alternate long and short dash arrows indicate the laser beam L.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a paper feed cassette 3 is disposed below the inside of the main body 2 of the image forming apparatus 1. The paper feed cassette 3 stores and accommodates paper P such as cut paper before printing. The sheets P are separated and sent one by one toward the upper left of the sheet feeding cassette 3 in FIG. The paper feed cassette 3 can be pulled out horizontally from the front side of the main body 2.

  A first paper transport unit 4 is provided in the main body 2 and on the left side of the paper feed cassette 3. The first paper transport unit 4 is formed substantially vertically along the left side surface of the main body 2. Then, the first paper transport unit 4 receives the paper P sent out from the paper feed cassette 3 and transports it to the transfer unit 5 vertically upward along the left side surface of the main body 2.

  A manual paper feed unit 6 is provided above the paper feed cassette 3 and on the right side, which is the side opposite to the left side of the main body 2 where the first paper transport unit 4 is formed. The manual paper feed unit 6 is loaded with paper that is not contained in the paper feed cassette 3, a thick paper, or an OHP sheet that is to be fed manually one by one.

  A second paper transport unit 7 is provided on the left side of the manual paper feed unit 6. The second paper transport unit 7 is located immediately above the paper feed cassette 3, extends substantially horizontally from the manual paper feed unit 6 to the first paper transport unit 4, and joins the first paper transport unit 4. The second paper transport unit 7 receives the paper fed from the manual paper feed unit 6 and transports it to the first paper transport unit 4 substantially horizontally.

  On the other hand, a document conveying device 8 is mounted on the upper surface of the main body 2 of the image forming apparatus 1, and an image reading device 30 is mounted in the main body 2 below it. When the user copies an original, the original on which an image such as a character, a figure, or a pattern is drawn is stacked on the original conveying device 8 or on the contact glass 41 (see FIG. 3) on the upper surface of the image reading device 30. Or place it. The document conveying device 8 separates the documents one by one and sends them out, and the image reading device 30 reads the image. An image is read by scanning the original on the contact glass 41 with light in the image reading device 30.

  Reading of a document image and start of printing are executed using an operation panel 9 provided on the front side of the image reading apparatus 30 at the top of the main body 2. The operation panel 9 includes a display unit 9a, a setting unit 9b, and a start button 9c. The display unit 9a is composed of a liquid crystal panel or the like, and accepts printing condition settings such as the type and size of paper used for printing by the user, the number of copies, enlargement / reduction, and presence / absence of double-sided printing, While displaying image data information such as color information and image processing conditions, it functions as a notification unit for notifying the user of precautions and error messages. In the setting unit 9b, the user can set image processing conditions, a method for storing image data to be described later, and the like. The start button 9c is a button for accepting reading of a document image and start of printing.

  Information on the image data of the document is sent to the exposure unit 10 disposed above the second sheet transport unit 7 and in the center of the main body 2. The exposure unit 10 irradiates the image forming unit 11 with laser light L controlled based on the image data.

  An image forming unit 11 and a transfer unit 5 are provided above the first paper transport unit 4 and to the left of the exposure unit 10. In the image forming unit 11, an electrostatic latent image of a document image is formed by the laser light L emitted from the exposure unit 10, and a toner image is developed from the electrostatic latent image. The toner is supplied to the image forming unit 11 from a toner container 12 provided above the exposure unit 10. The toner image formed by the image forming unit 11 is transferred by the transfer unit 5 to the pre-printing paper P sent in synchronization by the first paper transport unit 4.

  A fixing unit 13 is provided above the transfer unit 5. The sheet P carrying the unfixed toner image in the transfer unit 5 is sent to the fixing unit 13 where the toner image is heated and pressed by a heat roller and a pressure roller to be fixed.

  A paper guide unit 14 is provided above the fixing unit 13. When the duplex printing is not performed, the paper P discharged from the fixing unit 13 is discharged from the paper guide unit 14 to a cylinder paper discharge unit 15 provided in the upper cylinder of the image forming apparatus 1.

  The discharge port portion from which the paper P is discharged from the paper guide portion 14 toward the in-body paper discharge portion 15 functions as a switchback portion 16. When performing duplex printing, the switchback unit 16 switches the transport direction of the paper P discharged from the fixing unit 13. Then, the sheet P passes through the sheet guide unit 14, is sent downward through a double-sided printing sheet conveyance path 17 provided on the left side of the fixing unit 13 and the left side of the transfer unit 5, and again the first sheet conveyance unit 4. And then sent to the transfer section 5.

  Further, the image forming apparatus 1 includes a main control unit 18 composed of a CPU 19 and other electronic components (not shown) in the main body 2 as shown in FIG. The main control unit 18 uses a CPU 19 and an image processing unit 20 that are central processing units, and stores an image reading device 30, an exposure unit 10, an image forming unit 11, based on a program and data stored and input in a storage unit 21. A series of image forming operations are realized by controlling components such as the fixing unit 13. The image processing unit 20 performs image processing on the image data of the original read by the image reading device 30. The storage unit 21 can also store image data of a document read by the image reading device 30.

  Next, an outline of the structure of the image reading device 30 of the image forming apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 3 in addition to FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic vertical sectional front view of the image reading apparatus 30. In FIG. 3, drawing of components other than the image reading device 30 of the image forming apparatus 1 is omitted.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the image reading device 30 includes an image reading unit 40 and a reading control unit 31. The image reading unit 40 includes a contact glass 41, an optical scanning unit 50, and an imaging unit 60.

  The contact glass 41 of the image reading unit 40 is provided on the upper surface of the image reading device 30. The contact glass 41 is formed of a thin plate-like transparent glass and has a shape that extends widely in the front-rear direction (main scanning direction) and the left-right direction (sub-scanning direction) of the image reading device 30 so that the entire surface of the document can be optically scanned at once. I am doing. The document is placed on the upper surface of the contact glass 41 so that the reading surface faces downward. Then, the original is pressed and held by closing the original conveying device 8 with respect to the image reading device 30.

  The optical scanning unit 50 is provided below the contact glass 41 and includes a first optical system unit 51 and a second optical system unit 52.

  The first optical system unit 51 of the optical scanning unit 50 includes a light source 53 and a first mirror 54. The light source 53 is disposed directly opposite to the lower side of the contact glass 41 so as to irradiate light toward the reading surface of the original, that is, upward. The light source 53 is formed in an elongated shape, for example, in which a plurality of white LEDs are linearly arranged in the main scanning direction, which is the front-rear direction of the image reading device 30 as a point light source, in substantially the same length as the contact glass.

  The first mirror 54 receives the reflected light of the light source 53 reflected by the reading surface of the document, and is further set at a predetermined inclination to change the direction substantially horizontally at an angle of 90 degrees, and is disposed below the contact glass 41. Yes. The light source 53 and the first mirror 54 are fixed to a first optical system support member (not shown).

  The second optical system unit 52 of the optical scanning unit 50 includes a second mirror 55 and a third mirror 56. The second mirror 55 receives the light reflected by the first mirror 54 of the first optical system unit 51, and is further set with a predetermined inclination to change the direction substantially vertically downward at an angle of 90 degrees. It is arranged at almost the same height. The third mirror 56 is disposed substantially directly below the second mirror 55 so as to receive the light reflected by the second mirror 55 and to change the direction substantially horizontally at an angle of 90 degrees. The second mirror 55 and the third mirror 56 are fixed to a second optical system support member (not shown).

  Note that the light source 53 and each mirror provided in the first optical system unit 51 and the second optical system unit 52 are configured to have an elongated shape extending substantially the same length as the contact glass 41 in the main scanning direction.

  The optical scanning unit 50 including the first optical system unit 51 and the second optical system unit 52 is parallel to the upper surface of the contact glass 41 so as to read an image of the entire reading surface of the original placed on the upper surface of the contact glass 41. It can be reciprocated in the sub-scanning direction, that is, the front-rear direction of the image reading apparatus 30. Therefore, a moving rail (not shown) extending in the left-right direction in FIG. 3 is provided inside the image reading device 30. Then, the optical scanning unit 50 can move along the rail so as to read the image of the entire document. Note that the optical scanning unit 50 moves to a position closer to the left end in FIG. 3 of the contact glass 41 before starting reading, and the position (home position) is held.

  The imaging unit 60 is fixed to the inside lower part of the image reading device 30. The imaging unit 60 includes an imaging lens 62 that is an optical member and a line sensor 63 that is an imaging element on an upper part of a mounting base 61. Reflected light from the reading surface of the document reflected by the third mirror 56 of the second optical system unit 52 enters the imaging lens 62. The imaging lens 62 images the reflected light on the surface of the line sensor 63 provided on the downstream side of the optical path. In this way, the image reading device 30 can read an image of a document as image data using the line sensor 63.

  For example, the line sensor 63 is configured by arranging a plurality of CCDs, which are solid-state imaging elements, in a line in the main scanning direction that is the front-rear direction of the image reading device 30, that is, the depth direction in FIG. . Each mirror of the line sensor 63, the light source 53, and the optical scanning unit 50 extends in the main scanning direction in parallel. The line sensor 63 converts image information (optical information) obtained by the light receiving element into an electrical signal. The line sensor 63 can scan the reading surface of the document in the main scanning direction and obtain the image as image data.

  The reading control unit 31 is configured by electronic parts such as an IC (not shown), and is a control device that controls the image reading device 30 based on a command from the main control unit 18. The reading control unit 31 drives and controls the image reading unit 40 according to a control command from the main control unit 18 and realizes an image reading operation by executing signal processing of the electric signal converted by the line sensor 63. The image data read by the image reading unit 40 of the image reading device 30 in this way is stored in the storage unit 21 of the main body 2.

  Next, a method for storing image data of a document read using the image reading device 30 in the storage unit 21 will be described with reference to FIG. 4 in addition to FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an image data storage method in the image forming apparatus.

  When the image data of the document read using the image reading device 30 is stored in the storage unit 21, the image forming apparatus 1 can select two storage methods, reusable storage and non-reusable storage. At the same time, one of the storage methods can be set. Regarding the storage of such image data, as shown in FIG. 2, the storage unit 21 is provided with two types of storage areas, a reusable storage unit 21a and a non-reusable storage unit 21b.

  The reusable storage unit 21 a does not perform predetermined image processing when the image processing unit 20 stores the image data in the storage unit 21, and image data that can be subjected to predetermined image processing when output from the storage unit 21. Is a storage area for storing. The non-reusable storage unit 21 b performs image data that the image processing unit 20 performs predetermined image processing when storing in the storage unit 21, and image data that the image processing unit 20 cannot perform predetermined image processing when output from the storage unit 21. This is a storage area to be saved.

  The “predetermined image processing” is image processing performed by the image processing unit 20 on the image data, such as enlargement, reduction, density conversion, conversion of the color format of the color image data into a gray image or a monochrome image, and the like. It means image processing that causes image quality degradation if other image processing is performed at the time of output after image processing and storage. These image processing conditions can be set by the user using the setting unit 9b.

  Note that, when image data is stored in either the reusable storage unit 21a or the non-reusable storage unit 21b, the image data can be compressed and stored. In other words, the predetermined image processing may not include compression processing. For example, the image data may be compressed in the form of saving the image data in JPEG format. In addition, the compression rate of the image data may be different when the image data is stored in either the reusable storage unit 21a or the non-reusable storage unit 21b. The image data may be compressed using a reversible compression format. Note that the image data compression processing may be performed by, for example, the main control unit 18 or the image processing unit 20. When the image data is compressed and saved, the image data after the compression process is saved in the storage unit 21.

  In the reusable storage using the reusable storage unit 21a, when the image data of the original read by the image reading device 30 is stored in the storage unit 21 as shown in FIG. 4, the image processing unit 20 does not perform predetermined image processing. Then, when outputting image data from the storage unit 21, the image processing unit 20 performs predetermined image processing.

  On the other hand, in the non-reusable storage using the non-reusable storage unit 21b, when the image data of the original read by the image reading apparatus 30 is stored in the storage unit 21, the image processing unit 20 performs predetermined image processing. When image data is output from the storage unit 21, the image processing unit 20 cannot perform predetermined image processing.

  When the image data is stored in the storage unit 21, a storage condition for using either the reusable storage unit 21 a or the non-reusable storage unit 21 b may be set in advance and stored in the storage unit 21 or the like. For example, when the image is read, the user may use the setting unit 9b of the operation panel 9 to make appropriate settings. As a result, the amount of image data to be saved can be reduced as much as possible based on the contents of the image processing.

  Further, the main control unit 18 calculates the data amount when the image data read by the image reading unit 40 is stored in the reusable storage unit 21a and the data amount when the image data is stored in the non-reusable storage unit 21b. . Thereby, the data amount of the image data before and after performing image processing can be compared.

  For example, the amount of image data when an A4 size document is enlarged to A3 size and stored in the non-reusable storage unit 21b may be larger than that stored in the reusable storage unit 21a. . Even when storing image data of a document of the same size, the amount of image data stored in the non-reusable storage unit 21b in consideration of the compression algorithm by performing density conversion processing is the reusable storage unit. In some cases, the number may be larger than that stored in 21a.

  In such a case, when the image is stored in the reusable storage unit 21a and reused (output), more image data can be stored in the storage unit 21 by enlarging to A3 or changing the density. The storage area can be used efficiently.

  Therefore, when the image data is set to be stored in the reusable storage unit 21a and the data amount when the image data is stored in the reusable storage unit 21a is larger than the data amount when the image data is stored in the non-reusable storage unit 21b, When the amount of data set to be stored in the reusable storage unit 21b and the amount of data stored in the non-reusable storage unit 21b is larger than the amount of data stored in the reusable storage unit 21a, the main control unit 18 is an operation that is a notification unit. The display unit 9a of the panel 9 is used to notify that there is a large amount of data to be stored. Therefore, the user can deal with the amount of image data to be saved as small as possible.

  Note that the main control unit 18 may select the storage method without leaving the selection to the user. That is, the amount of data when the main control unit 18 stores the image data in the reusable storage unit 21a in advance and is stored in the reusable storage unit 21a is larger than the data amount when the main control unit 18 stores the image data in the non-reusable storage unit 21b. When the image data is subjected to predetermined image processing, the image data is stored in the non-reusable storage unit 21b, and the image data is stored in the non-reusable storage unit 21b and stored in the non-reusable storage unit 21b. When the amount of data at that time is larger than the amount of data stored in the reusable storage unit 21a, image data not subjected to predetermined image processing may be stored in the reusable storage unit 21a. Thereby, the data amount of the image data is automatically saved in the storage unit 21 so as to be as small as possible.

  Further, the main control unit 18 determines which of the following two kinds of data amount, that is, the data amount when the image data is stored in the reusable storage unit 21a and the data amount when the image data is stored in the non-reusable storage unit 21b. Judging by the method of.

  As a first example, the main control unit 18 performs predetermined image processing based on image processing conditions relating to predetermined image processing set by the user using the setting unit 9b when the image reading unit 40 reads image data. It is determined which image data amount is large before and after.

  As a second example, when the setting unit 9b is used to store image data read by the user with the image reading unit 40 in the non-reusable storage unit 21b, the main control unit 18 performs predetermined image processing. The amount of image data temporarily stored in the reusable storage unit 21a is compared with the amount of image data temporarily stored in the non-reusable storage unit 21b after performing predetermined image processing. Thus, it is determined which image data amount is large before and after performing the predetermined image processing.

  Next, operations related to image reading and image data storage in the image reading device 30 will be described along the flow shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing operations related to image reading and image data storage in the image reading apparatus 30.

  When the user reads the image of the document (start of FIG. 5), the user places the document on the upper surface of the contact glass 41 and inputs the image storage method setting and the image processing condition setting from the setting unit 9b (FIG. 5). Step # 101 of 4). As an image storage method, it is set whether to store image data in the reusable storage unit 21a or to store image data in the non-reusable storage unit 21b. As image processing conditions, for example, conditions such as enlargement, reduction, density change, and change from a color image to a monochrome image are set.

  Subsequently, the main control unit 18 determines whether or not the start button 9c is pressed (step # 102), and waits until the start button 9c is pressed (No in step # 102).

  When the start button 9c is pressed (Yes in Step # 102), the main control unit 18 reads an image of a document using the image reading device 30 (Step # 103). Then, the reading control unit 31 of the image reading device 30 performs image correction such as shading correction or input γ correction related to the line sensor 63 on the image data read by the image reading unit 40 (step # 104). Subsequently, the main control unit 18 uses the image processing conditions set in step # 101 to store the amount of image data stored in the reusable storage unit 21a and the amount of data stored in the non-reusable storage unit 21b. Are calculated (step # 105).

  Next, the main control unit 18 determines whether or not the image storage method set in step # 101 is reusable storage using the reusable storage unit 21a (step # 106). When the set image storage method is reusable storage using the reusable storage unit 21a (Yes in Step # 106), the main control unit 18 sends the data amount of the image data calculated in Step # 105 to the reusable storage unit 21a. It is determined whether the amount of data to be stored is larger than the amount of data to be stored in the non-reusable storage unit 21b (step # 107). If the amount of data stored in the reusable storage unit 21a is smaller than the amount of data stored in the non-reusable storage unit 21b (No in step # 107), the main control unit 18 stores the image data as it is in the storage unit 21. (Step # 108), a series of operations relating to image reading and image data storage in the image forming apparatus 1 is terminated (END in FIG. 5).

  On the other hand, when the reusable storage unit 21a is used and the amount of data stored in the reusable storage unit 21a is larger than the amount of data stored in the non-reusable storage unit 21b (Yes in step # 107), the main control unit 18 Notifies the user that the amount of data stored in the reusable storage unit 21a is larger than the amount of data stored in the non-reusable storage unit 21b using the display unit 9a serving as a notification unit (step # 109). ). At the same time, it is desirable to notify the user that the amount of image data stored in the storage unit 21 is further reduced by changing to the storage method using the non-reusable storage unit 21b.

  Then, the main control unit 18 receives a change in the storage method (step # 110). Thereafter, the main control unit 18 stores the image data in the storage unit 21 (step # 108), and ends a series of operations related to image reading and image data storage in the image forming apparatus 1 (end of FIG. 5).

  When the image storage method set in step # 101 is not a storage method using the reusable storage unit 21a but non-reusable storage using the non-reusable storage unit 21b (No in step # 106), the main control unit 18 determines whether the amount of image data calculated in step # 105 is larger than the amount of data stored in the non-reusable storage unit 21a than the amount of data stored in the reusable storage unit 21a (step # 111). ). When the amount of data stored in the non-reusable storage unit 21b is smaller than the amount of data stored in the reusable storage unit 21a (No in step # 111), the main control unit 18 stores the image data as it is in the storage unit 21. (Step # 108), a series of operations relating to image reading and image data storage in the image forming apparatus 1 is terminated (END in FIG. 5).

  On the other hand, when the non-reusable storage unit 21b is used and the amount of data stored in the non-reusable storage unit 21b is larger than the data amount stored in the reusable storage unit 21a (Yes in step # 111), the main control unit 18 notifies the user that the amount of data when storing in the non-reusable storage unit 21b is larger than the amount of data when storing in the reusable storage unit 21a using the display unit 9a which is a notification unit (step #). 109). At the same time, it is desirable to notify the user that the amount of image data stored in the storage unit 21 is further reduced by changing to the storage method using the reusable storage unit 21a.

  Then, the main control unit 18 receives a change in the storage method (step # 110). Thereafter, the main control unit 18 stores the image data in the storage unit 21 (step # 108), and ends a series of operations related to image reading and image data storage in the image forming apparatus 1 (end of FIG. 5).

  As described above, the main control unit 18 may automatically select the image storage method so that the data amount of the image data is further reduced without leaving the selection of the image storage method to the user as described above. good.

  According to the configuration of the above-described embodiment, when saving image data read from a document, the amount of image data can be reduced as much as possible, and the number of documents that can be stored as image data can be increased as much as possible. A forming apparatus 1 can be provided.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the scope of the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

  For example, in the above embodiment of the present invention, the image forming apparatus 1 for monochrome printing using only black toner has been described as an example, but the image forming apparatus to which the invention is applied is described above. The image forming apparatus is not limited to a model, and may be an image forming apparatus for color printing of a tandem method or a rotary rack method that includes an intermediate transfer belt and can form an image by superimposing a plurality of colors.

  The present invention can be used in an image forming apparatus equipped with an image reading apparatus.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 9 Operation panel 9a Display part (notification part)
9b Setting unit 18 Main control unit (control unit)
20 Image processing unit 21 Storage unit 21a Reusable storage unit 21b Non-reusable storage unit 30 Image reading device 40 Image reading unit

Claims (5)

An image reading unit that reads an image drawn on a document as image data;
An image processing unit that performs image processing on the image data;
A storage unit for storing the image data read by the image reading unit;
Provided in the storage unit, the image processing unit does not perform predetermined image processing when saving in the storage unit, and the image processing unit can perform the predetermined image processing when outputting from the storage unit A reusable storage unit for storing the image data;
The image that is provided in the storage unit, the image processing unit performs predetermined image processing when saving in the storage unit, and the image processing unit cannot perform the predetermined image processing when outputting from the storage unit A non-reusable storage for storing data;
When the image data is stored in the storage unit, a setting unit for a user to set which of the reusable storage unit or the non-reusable storage unit is used;
A control unit that calculates a data amount when the image data read by the image reading unit is stored in the reusable storage unit and a data amount when the image data is stored in the non-reusable storage unit;
An image forming apparatus comprising: When the image data is set to be stored in the reusable storage unit and the amount of data when stored in the reusable storage unit is larger than the data amount when stored in the non-reusable storage unit, and / or the image When data is set to be stored in the non-reusable storage unit and the amount of data when the data is stored in the non-reusable storage unit is larger than the data amount when the data is stored in the reusable storage unit, the amount of data to be stored is large The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a notification unit that notifies the effect . The control unit is configured to store the image data in the reusable storage unit, and when the data amount when storing in the reusable storage unit is larger than the data amount when storing in the non-reusable storage unit, the image The non-reusable storage unit is configured to store the image data in the non-reusable storage unit after performing the predetermined image processing on data and / or to store the image data in the non-reusable storage unit. The image data that is not subjected to the predetermined image processing is stored in the reusable storage unit when the amount of data stored in the reusable storage unit is larger than the data amount stored in the reusable storage unit. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2. An image processing condition related to the predetermined image processing is set using the setting unit when the image data is read by the image reading unit,
The control unit determines whether the amount of data of the image data when the image data is stored in the reusable storage unit or the amount of data when the image data is stored in the non-reusable storage unit is large. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the determination is based on the image quality . When storing the image data read by the image reading unit in the non-reusable storage unit is set using the setting unit,
The control unit determines whether the data amount of the image data when the image data is stored in the reusable storage unit or the data amount when the image data is stored in the non-reusable storage unit is larger than the predetermined amount. The data amount of the image data temporarily stored in the reusable storage unit without performing image processing, and the image data temporarily stored in the non-reusable storage unit after performing the predetermined image processing 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the determination is made by comparing the data amount .

Images