A color printing device can include a print engine, a circuit, and a processor. The print engine prints onto physical media using different color colorants. The circuit has data-processing color channels corresponding to the different color colorants. The processor receives monochromatic print jobs and transmits the received monochromatic print jobs to unused color channels of the color channels for processing in parallel. The processor can transmit the processed monochromatic print jobs to the print engine for printing.

A digital encoding and decoding method of high bit-depth gray scale medical images allows standard 3-channel color image compression algorithms to be used to compress and de-compress such encoded high bit-depth gray scale images without significant image quality loss. The digital encoding and decoding method may be used to improve the network transmission, storage and rendering of such gray scale images in a standard web browser.

A networked product imaging system includes devices that provide the production of imaged goods. Customer requirements are provided to a central computing device (CCD) that has two-way communication with a plurality of geographically separated image forming devices. The central computing device determines specifications for forming the image on the blank product in accordance with the customer's order. The central computing device selects an image forming device from the plurality of geographically separated image forming devices for fulfilling the order, based upon factors that include the specification of the image forming device available, the image forming inventory and the blank product inventory available at the geographic location of the image forming device. The selected image forming device forms the image on the blank product at the remote location.

A signal processing unit performs preprocessing, demosaic processing and color reproduction processing on an image signal. A control unit detects an image area having undergone a characteristic change exceeding a predetermined change amount, by using an image signal before the reproduction processing and an image signal after the color reproduction processing. The control unit associates area information indicating the detection result of the image area having undergone a characteristic change exceeding a predetermined change amount with the image signal after the color reproduction processing, and records the area information on a recording medium, or outputs the area information to an external device. Thus, it becomes possible to detect an image area where a control change caused by color reproduction processing is unnatural.

An image processing apparatus includes a target value calculation unit configured to calculate a target value to be output in a predetermined region in input image data based on pixel values of pixels included in the region, a distribution order determination unit configured to determine a distribution order of output values for distributing output values corresponding to the target value in the region based on a pixel value of each pixel included in the region and a threshold value in the threshold matrix corresponding to the pixel, and an output value determination unit configured to determine an output value of each pixel included in the region by allocating the target value to at least one pixel included in the region in the distribution order.

An image processing method includes determining whether image data acquired by reading a document with a reading unit is color or monochrome, saving color image data determined to be color and monochrome image data generated by monochrome conversion of the color image data, in association with each other as a learning sample, deciding a color conversion parameter to be used when image data read by the reading unit and determined to be monochrome image data is converted into a color image, using the saved learning sample, and converting the image data read by the reading unit and determined to be the monochrome image data into color image data, using the decided color conversion parameter.

An image processing method includes determining whether image data acquired by reading a document with a reading unit is color or monochrome, saving color image data determined to be color and monochrome image data generated by monochrome conversion of the color image data, in association with each other as a learning sample, deciding a color conversion parameter to be used when image data read by the reading unit and determined to be monochrome image data is converted into a color image, using the saved learning sample, and converting the image data read by the reading unit and determined to be the monochrome image data into color image data, using the decided color conversion parameter.

An image forming apparatus is provided. The image forming apparatus includes a communicator to receive print data, an image forming unit to print the received print data, and a processor to, in response to the received print data being a scan file, control the image forming unit to perform image processing with respect to the scan file and print the image-processed scan file.

In an image data conversion device, color image data is represented in gray scale, a histogram of brightness values is created for the gray-scaled image data, it is determined based on the created histogram which image pattern of a plurality of image patterns the gray-scaled image data is classified into, a range subjected to gamma correction and a range fixed to at least one of a minimum value and a maximum value of gray scale are set for each image pattern, and image data conversion including the gamma correction is performed on the gray-scaled image data.

In an image data conversion device, color image data is represented in gray scale, a histogram of brightness values is created for the gray-scaled image data, it is determined based on the created histogram which image pattern of a plurality of image patterns the gray-scaled image data is classified into, a range subjected to gamma correction and a range fixed to at least one of a minimum value and a maximum value of gray scale are set for each image pattern, and image data conversion including the gamma correction is performed on the gray-scaled image data.