An efficient method and system to enhance digital acquisition devices for analog data is presented. The enhancements offered by the method and system are available to the user in local as well as in remote deployments yielding efficiency gains for a large variety of business processes. The quality enhancements of the acquired digital data are achieved efficiently by employing virtual reacquisition. The method of virtual reacquisition renders unnecessary the physical reacquisition of the analog data in case the digital data obtained by the acquisition device are of insufficient quality. The method and system allows multiple users to access the same acquisition device for analog data. In some embodiments, one or more users can virtually reacquire data provided by multiple analog or digital sources. The acquired raw data can be processed by each user according to his personal preferences and/or requirements. The preferred processing settings and attributes are determined interactively in real time as well as non real time, automatically and a combination thereof.

An efficient method and system to enhance digital acquisition devices for analog data is presented. The enhancements offered by the method and system are available to the user in local as well as in remote deployments yielding efficiency gains for a large variety of business processes. The quality enhancements of the acquired digital data are achieved efficiently by employing virtual reacquisition. The method of virtual reacquisition renders unnecessary the physical reacquisition of the analog data in case the digital data obtained by the acquisition device are of insufficient quality. The method and system allows multiple users to access the same acquisition device for analog data. In some embodiments, one or more users can virtually reacquire data provided by multiple analog or digital sources. The acquired raw data can be processed by each user according to his personal preferences and/or requirements. The preferred processing settings and attributes are determined interactively in real time as well as non real time, automatically and a combination thereof.

An image processing apparatus includes a processing unit that converts first input image data for a first region and second input image data for a second region to reduce a difference between first region recorded image density and second region recorded image density, and generates dot position data of a dot to be generated in each of the first and second regions based on the dot data after the conversion processing. The acquisition unit acquires edge information indicating a first object pixel edge of an image pixel for the first region and a second object pixel edge of an image pixel for the second region. Based on the acquired edge information, conversion and generation processing are performed in such a manner that a color signal of an edge pixel is increased/reduced to a degree lower than a degree to which a color signal of a non-edge object pixel is increased/reduced.

An image processing apparatus includes a processing unit that converts first input image data for a first region and second input image data for a second region to reduce a difference between first region recorded image density and second region recorded image density, and generates dot position data of a dot to be generated in each of the first and second regions based on the dot data after the conversion processing. The acquisition unit acquires edge information indicating a first object pixel edge of an image pixel for the first region and a second object pixel edge of an image pixel for the second region. Based on the acquired edge information, conversion and generation processing are performed in such a manner that a color signal of an edge pixel is increased/reduced to a degree lower than a degree to which a color signal of a non-edge object pixel is increased/reduced.

With this invention, color shifting correction is performed first based on shifting amount information indicating a shifting amount with respect to the scanning direction on an image carrier of each image forming unit, and halftone processing is then performed, thus suppressing generation of moiré due to the color shifting correction, and forming a high-quality image. To this end, an image forming engine has color shifting amount storage units C, M, Y, and K (black) which store actual shifting amounts with respect to ideal scan directions on image carriers C, M, Y, and K in image forming units C, M, Y, and K. Color shifting correction amount arithmetic units C, M, Y, and K calculate color shifting correction amounts for respective color components on the basis of the stored color shifting amounts. Color shifting correction units C, M, Y, and K perform color shifting correction by converting coordinates upon reading out image data from bitmap memories C, M, Y, and K on the basis of the calculated color shifting correction amounts, and then perform tone correction. Data after tone correction undergo halftone processing by halftone processors. C, M, Y, and K. PWM processors C, M, Y, and K generate PWM signals for scanning, and output them to exposure units C, M, Y, and K of the respective image forming units.

With this invention, color shifting correction is performed first based on shifting amount information indicating a shifting amount with respect to the scanning direction on an image carrier of each image forming unit, and halftone processing is then performed, thus suppressing generation of moiré due to the color shifting correction, and forming a high-quality image. To this end, an image forming engine has color shifting amount storage units C, M, Y, and K (black) which store actual shifting amounts with respect to ideal scan directions on image carriers C, M, Y, and K in image forming units C, M, Y, and K. Color shifting correction amount arithmetic units C, M, Y, and K calculate color shifting correction amounts for respective color components on the basis of the stored color shifting amounts. Color shifting correction units C, M, Y, and K perform color shifting correction by converting coordinates upon reading out image data from bitmap memories C, M, Y, and K on the basis of the calculated color shifting correction amounts, and then perform tone correction. Data after tone correction undergo halftone processing by halftone processors. C, M, Y, and K. PWM processors C, M, Y, and K generate PWM signals for scanning, and output them to exposure units C, M, Y, and K of the respective image forming units.

An image inspection apparatus includes: a light source configured to emit white light onto a test image formed on a paper sheet; an optical lens system configured to receive light reflected by the paper sheet, the reflected light being of the white light emitted from the light source; a separating unit configured to separate light having passed through the optical lens system; a reading unit configured to receive the separated light at the different wavelengths, and optically read the test image of the light; and a control unit configured to calculate edge blurs at a rising edge and a falling edge of each set of image data of the light obtained by the reading unit reading the test image, calculate widths of the test image, and determine the width calculated from the set of image data having the smallest edge blur to be the width of the test image.

An image inspection apparatus includes: a light source configured to emit white light onto a test image formed on a paper sheet; an optical lens system configured to receive light reflected by the paper sheet, the reflected light being of the white light emitted from the light source; a separating unit configured to separate light having passed through the optical lens system; a reading unit configured to receive the separated light at the different wavelengths, and optically read the test image of the light; and a control unit configured to calculate edge blurs at a rising edge and a falling edge of each set of image data of the light obtained by the reading unit reading the test image, calculate widths of the test image, and determine the width calculated from the set of image data having the smallest edge blur to be the width of the test image.

The present technology relates to a signal processing device, a signal processing method, a solid-state image sensor, an imaging device, an electronic device, and a program capable of generating an interpolated pixel such that occurrence of jaggies may be inhibited without blurring an image with a small calculation amount. Two candidate lines are set in each of a horizontal direction and a vertical direction in positional relationship symmetrical about a current pixel. The candidate lines are narrowed to two lines in the horizontal direction or in the vertical direction according to a pattern to which the current pixel belongs. Furthermore, searched pixels on the candidate line are narrowed according to the pattern. A weight value is calculated on the basis of similarity between a current block and a block in the same phase at the same distance from the block by block matching by a block to which the current pixel belongs. A pixel value of the interpolated pixel is generated by weighted addition of a pixel value on the candidate line and the weight value. The present technology may be applied to an imaging device.

A method for anonymizing a digital colour image comprising obtaining the digital colour image, and applying a linear random function to a respective colour vector representing colour components of a respective pixel of the digital colour image to obtain a monochrome image. The linear random function varies over the pixels of the digital colour image, and is further dependent on at least one random parameter.