An image reading apparatus includes an image data obtaining unit, a foreign material position information obtaining unit, and a separation processor. The image data obtaining unit obtains image data read from a document passing over a read area. The foreign material position information obtaining unit obtains foreign material position information read from the read area in which the document is not present. The separation processor separates the image data into plural objects including a background object, detects, by using the foreign material position information, a streak image portion caused by foreign material in the read area and included in the image data, and assumes a pixel of the streak image portion to belong to the background object if the pixel is present in the background object and has a pixel value equal to or smaller than a threshold determined in accordance with a representative value of the background.

Image processing corresponding to each of a plurality of pages of image data to be acquired as a target for job execution is determined. An image processing circuit that executes the determined image processing is configured in a logic device capable of dynamically configuring circuits. The image processing circuit configured in the logic device is caused to execute the determined image processing each of the plurality of pages of the image data acquired.

An image reading apparatus includes an image capturing module, a reference member, a light source for emitting light to the reference member, a foreign object determining module for determining whether or not a foreign object appears in a specific image, and a position determining module for determining whether the foreign object exists on the image capturing module side or on the reference member side, based on an absolute value of a difference between a gradation value in a region included in two images and corresponding to a region where the foreign object appears when the foreign object appears in the specific image. One image is an image of the reference member captured under illumination of light with a first light quantity from the light source, and other image is an image of the reference member captured under illumination of light with a second light quantity from the light source.

An apparatus corrects a piece of pixel data of a first color of which abnormal pixel is detected in a first color without correcting a piece of pixel data of a second color of which abnormal pixel is not detected in the second color, in the generated pieces of pixel data in a case where the abnormal pixel is a pixel other than a pixel located at an edge portion, and corrects a plurality of pieces of pixel data of all colors at a position where the abnormal pixel is detected in the generated plurality of pieces of pixel data in a case where the detected abnormal pixel is the pixel located at the edge portion.

An image reading apparatus includes a light source to emit at least light in a first wavelength range and light in a second wavelength range, a background member having different light reflectances in the first and second wavelength ranges, an imaging device, and circuitry. The imaging device receives reflected light from the background member irradiated with the light in the first wavelength range, and generates first read information. The imaging device further receives reflected light from the background member irradiated with the light in the second wavelength range, and generates second read information. The circuitry detects presence or absence of a first foreign substance based on a difference in reading level of the first read information generated by the imaging device; and detect presence or absence of a second foreign substance based on a difference in reading level of the second read information generated by the imaging device.

An image processing apparatus includes an anomaly detecting unit configured to detect anomalies included in a target image; and an anomaly exclusion processing unit configured to exclude a specific anomaly among the detected anomalies. Further, the anomaly exclusion processing unit excludes one of an anomaly and another anomaly among the detected anomalies, if (a) a detection area of the anomaly, a detection area of the other anomaly, and an overlapping area of the detection areas of the anomaly and the other anomaly satisfy a predetermined condition and (b) a type of the anomaly and a type of the other anomaly are different from each other.

The image processing apparatus includes: an abnormality detection unit configured to detect one or more abnormalities included in a target image and an abnormality exclusion processing unit configured to exclude a specific abnormality from the detected one or more abnormalities. In a case in which a detection area of a certain abnormality among the detected one or more abnormalities and a detection area of another abnormality overlap with each other and a type of the certain abnormality and a type of the another abnormality are different from each other, when brightness information of one of the certain abnormality and the another abnormality satisfies a specific condition, the abnormality exclusion processing unit excludes the one of the certain abnormality and the another abnormality from the detected one or more abnormalities.

An example operating method of a server includes obtaining vertical streak information or scanning environment information about a vertical streak detected in a scanned image, diagnosing a severity of the vertical streak or predicting formation of the vertical streak based on the vertical streak information or the scanning environment information, and transmitting, to the image forming device or a management device managing the image forming device, action information for reducing a vertical streak occurrence, based on a result of diagnosing the severity of the vertical streak or predicting formation of the vertical streak.

A reading device and an image forming apparatus are provided. The reading device includes an image reading device configured to read an image on a recording medium being conveyed, a background device serving as a background image when the image is read by the image reading device, and a foreign-object detector configured to compare a first read image obtained as the background device is read by the image reading device with a second read image obtained as the background device and the recording medium are read by the image reading device to detect an attached foreign object. The image forming apparatus includes the reading device and an image forming device.

An image reading device includes an image reading unit and a control unit. The image reading unit reads the image information of the reading target as target image information. The control unit controls the image reading unit. The control unit detects whether or not the image information of the streak not included in the reading target is included in the target image information each time the target image information is read by the image reading unit, and performs the process related to suppression of streak occurrence based on the number of times of streak appearance in which the image information of the streak is included in the target image information.