Image processing system

Claim 2

A system as defined in Claim 1 wherein said input device characteristics are characteristics concerning gradation of said image information.

Claim 3

A system as defined in Claim 1 wherein said input device characteristics are characteristics concerning response of said image information.

Claim 4

A system as defined in Claim 1 wherein said standardization means comprises: a) a device characteristics detecting means for detecting said input device characteristics, upon which said received image information depends, b) an input device characteristics cancel processing means for canceling the dependence of said received image information upon said input device characteristics, and c) a standardization processing means for transforming said received image information, whose dependence upon said input device characteristics has been canceled, into said standard image information.

Claim 5

An image processing system, to which at least two kinds of image input modalities and at least one kind of image information output device are connected, the image processing system comprising: a standardization means for carrying out transform processing on image information, said transform processing being carried out such that, in every case where said image information has been received from an image information input apparatus belonging to one image input modality, which is among the connected image input modalities, said received image information may be transformed into standard image information, which does not depend upon input device characteristics of said image information input apparatus having fed said image information and depends upon standard device characteristics of the system that have been set previously.

Claim 6

A system as defined in Claim 5 wherein said input device characteristics are characteristics concerning gradation of said image information.

Claim 7

A system as defined in Claim 5 wherein said input device characteristics are characteristics concerning response of said image information.

Claim 8

A system as defined in Claim 5 wherein said standardization means comprises: a) a device characteristics detecting means for detecting said input device characteristics, upon which said received image information depends, b) an input device characteristics cancel processing means for canceling the dependence of said received image information upon said input device characteristics, and c) a standardization processing means for transforming said received image information, whose dependence upon said input device characteristics has been canceled, into said standard image information.

Claim 9

An image processing system, to which at least one kind of image input modality and at least one kind of image information output device are connected, at least one kind of image information output device, which is among connected image information output devices, including a plurality of image information output devices, which have different output device characteristics, the image processing system comprising: a standardization means for carrying out transform processing on cage information, which is to be fed into an image information output device, said transform processing being carried out such that, in every case where said image information is to be fed into one image information output device, which is among the plurality of the image information output devices, said image information may be reproduced by said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and as a standard image, which does not depend upon the output device characteristics of said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and depends upon standard device characteristics having been set previously for the kind of said one image information output device to be fed with said image information.

Claim 10

A system as defined in Claim 9 wherein said output device characteristics are characteristics concerning gradation of said image information.

Claim 11

A system as defined in Claim 9 wherein said output device characteristics are characteristics concerning response of said image information.

Claim 12

A system as defined in Claim 9 wherein said standardization means comprises: a) an output device characteristics detecting means for detecting said output device characteristics of said one image information output device to be fed with said image information, b) an output device characteristics cancel processing means for canceling the dependence of said image information, which is reproduced by said one image information output device, upon said output device characteristics of said one image information output device, and c) a standardization processing means for transforming said image information, whose dependence upon said output device characteristics has been canceled, into image information, which depends upon standard characteristics having been set for the kind of said one image information output device.

Claim 13

An image processing system, to which at least one kind of image input modality and at least two kinds of image information output devices are connected, the image processing system comprising: a standardization means for carrying out transform processing on cage information, which is to be fed into an image information output device, said transform processing being carried out such that, in every case where said image information is to be fed into one image information output device, which is among the plurality of the image information output devices, said image information may be reproduced by said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and as a standard image, which does not depend upon output device characteristics of said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and depends upon standard device characteristics of the system that have been set previously.

Claim 14

A system as defined in Claim 13 wherein said output device characteristics are characteristics concerning gradation of said image information.

Claim 15

A system as defined in Claim 13 wherein said output device characteristics are characteristics concerning response of said image information.

Claim 16

A system as defined in Claim 13 wherein said standardization means comprises: a) an output device characteristics detecting means for detecting said output device characteristics of said one image information output device to be fed with said image information, b) an output device characteristics cancel processing means for canceling the dependence of said image information, which is reproduced by said one image information output device, upon said output device characteristics of said one image information output device, and c) a standardization processing means for transforming said image information, whose dependence upon said output device characteristics has been canceled, into image information, which depends upon standard characteristics of the system that have been set previously.

Claim 17

An image processing system, to which at least one kind of image input modality and at least one kind of image information output device are connected, at least one kind of image input modality, which is among connected image input modalities, including a plurality of image information input apparatuses, which have different input device characteristics, at least one kind of image information output device, which is among connected image information output devices, including a plurality of image information output devices, which have different output device characteristics, the image processing system comprising: a standardization means for carrying out transform processing on image information, said transform processing being carried out such that, in every case where said image information has been received from one cage information input apparatus, which is among the plurality of the image information input apparatuses, and said image information is to be fed into one image information output device, which is among the plurality of the image information output devices, said image information may be reproduced by said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and as a standard image, which does not depend upon the input device characteristics of said one image information input apparatus having fed said image information and the output device characteristics of said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and depends upon standard device characteristics having been set previously for the kind of the image input modality including said one image information input apparatus having fed said image information and for the kind of said one image information output device to be fed with said image information.

Claim 18

A system as defined in Claim 17 wherein said input device characteristics are characteristics concerning gradation of said image information.

Claim 19

A system as defined in Claim 17 wherein said input device characteristics are characteristics concerning response of said image information.

Claim 20

A system as defined in Claim 17 wherein said output device characteristics are characteristics concerning gradation of said image information.

Claim 21

A system as defined in Claim 17 wherein said output device characteristics are characteristics concerning response of said image information.

Claim 22

A system as defined in Claim 17 wherein said standardization means comprises: a) a device characteristics detecting means for detecting said input device characteristics of said one image information input apparatus having fed said image information and said output device characteristics of said one cage information output device to be fed with said image information, b) a device characteristics cancel processing means for canceling the dependence of said image information, which has been received from said one image information input apparatus and is reproduced by said one image information output device, upon said input device characteristics of said one image information input apparatus and said output device characteristics of said one image information output device, and c) a standardization processing means for transforming said image information, whose dependence upon said input device characteristics and said output device characteristics has been canceled, into image information, which depends upon standard characteristics having been set for the combination of the kind of the image input modality including said one image information input apparatus and the kind of said one image information output device.

Claim 23

An image processing system, to which at least two kinds of image input modalities and at least two kinds of image information output devices are connected, the image processing system comprising: a standardization means for carrying out transform processing on image information, said transform processing being carried out such that, in every case where said image information has been received from an image information input apparatus belonging to one image input modality, which is among the connected image input modalities, and said image information is to be fed into one image information output device, which is among the plurality of the image information output devices, said image information may be reproduced by said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and as a standard image, which does not depend upon input device characteristics of said image information input apparatus having fed said image information and output device characteristics of said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and depends upon standard device characteristics that have been set previously.

Claim 24

A system as defined in Claim 23 wherein said input device characteristics are characteristics concerning gradation of said image information.

Claim 25

A system as defined in Claim 23 wherein said input device characteristics are characteristics concerning response of said image information.

Claim 26

A system as defined in Claim 23 wherein said output device characteristics are characteristics concerning gradation of said image information.

Claim 27

A system as defined in Claim 23 wherein said output device characteristics are characteristics concerning response of said image information.

Claim 28

A system as defined in Claim 23 wherein said standardization means comprises: a) a device characteristics detecting means for detecting said input device characteristics of said image information input apparatus having fed said image information and said output device characteristics of said one image information output device to be fed with said image information, b) a device characteristics cancel processing means for canceling the dependence of said image information, which has been received from said image information input apparatus and is reproduced by said one image information output device, upon said input device characteristics of said image information input apparatus and said output device characteristics of said one image information output device, and c) a standardization processing means for transforming said image information, whose dependence upon said input device characteristics and said output device characteristics has been canceled, into image information, which depends upon standard characteristics of the system that have been set previously.

Claim 29

An image processing system, to which at least one kind of image information input apparatus and at least one kind of image information output device are connected, the image processing system comprising: i) a standardization means for carrying out transform processing on image information and in accordance with response characteristics of one image information output device, into which said image information is to be fed, such that said image information may be reproduced by said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and as an image, which does not depend upon the response characteristics of said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and depends upon standard response characteristics having been set previously, ii) a response characteristics variation calculating means for calculating a variation component of said image from said standard response characteristics in cases where said image reproduced by said one image information output device is subjected to image size enlargement processing with a desired scale of enlargement or image size reduction processing with a desired scale of reduction, and iii) a correction means for carrying out frequency emphasis processing on said image information such that said variation component may be compensated for.

Claim 30

A system as defined in Claim 29 wherein said response characteristics variation calculating means calculates response characteristics, which occur after said image size enlargement processing or said image size reduction processing, in accordance with parameters, which define details of interpolation processing in accordance with said scale of enlargement or said scale of reduction, and said response characteristics variation calculating means thereby calculates said variation component.

Claim 31

An image processing system, to which at least one kind of image information input apparatus and at least one kind of image information output device are connected, the image processing system comprising: i) a standardization means for carrying out transform processing on image information and in accordance with response characteristics of one image information output device, into which said image information is to be fed, such that said image information may be reproduced by said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and as an image, which does not depend upon the response characteristics of said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and depends upon standard response characteristics having been set previously, ii) a response characteristics variation calculating means for calculating a variation component of said image from said standard response characteristics in cases where said image reproduced by said one image information output device is subjected to image size enlargement processing with a desired scale of enlargement or image size reduction processing with a desired scale of reduction, and iii) a correction means for correcting parameters, which define details of said transform processing carried out by said standardization means, such that said variation component may be compensated for.

Claim 32

An image processing system, to which at least one kind of image information input apparatus and at least one kind of image information output device are connected, the image processing system comprising: i) a standardization means for carrying out transform processing on image information and in accordance with response characteristics of one image information output device, into which said image information is to be fed, such that said image information may be reproduced by said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and as an image, which does not depend upon the response characteristics of said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and depends upon standard response characteristics having been set previously, ii) a response characteristics variation calculating means for calculating a variation component of said image from said standard response characteristics in cases where said image reproduced by said one image information output device is subjected to image size enlargement processing with a desired scale of enlargement or image size reduction processing with a desired scale of reduction, and iii) a correction means for correcting parameters, which define details of interpolation processing accompanying said image size enlargement processing or accompanying said image size reduction processing, such that said variation component may be compensated for.

Claim 33

An image processing system, to which at least one image information input apparatus having inherent input device characteristics and at least one image information output device having inherent output device characteristics are connected, the image processing system comprising: i) an input standardization means for carrying out transform processing on image information, said transform processing being carried out such that, in every case where said image information has been received from one image information input apparatus, which is among connected image information input apparatuses, said received image information may be transformed into standard image information, which does not depend upon the input device characteristics of said one image information input apparatus having fed said image information and depends upon standard device characteristics having been set previously, ii) a normalization processing means for carrying out normalization processing for normalizing and extracting image information, which is contained in said standard image information and corresponds to a desired image portion, iii) an image processing means for carrying out desired image processing on said image information, which has been normalized by said normalization processing means, iv) an output standardization means for carrying out transform processing on said image information, which has been obtained from said image processing, said transform processing being carried out such that, in every case where said image information, which has been obtained from said image processing, is to be fed into and reproduced as a visible image by one image information output device, which is among connected image information output devices, said image may be reproduced by said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and as an image, which does not depend upon the output device characteristics of said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and depends upon standard device characteristics having been set previously, and v) a filing means for appending pieces of profile information to said image information, which is fed into said input standardization means, said pieces of profile information comprising first profile information, which is necessary for defining details of said transform processing carried out by said output standardization means, second profile information, which is necessary for defining details of said image processing carried out by said image processing means, third profile information, which is necessary for defining details of said normalization processing carried out by said normalization processing means, and fourth profile information, which is necessary for defining details of said transform processing carried out by said input standardization means.

Claim 34

An image processing system, to which at least one image information input apparatus having inherent input device characteristics and at least one image information output device having inherent output device characteristics are connected, the image processing system comprising: i) an input standardization means for carrying out transform processing on image information, said transform processing being carried out such that, in every case where said image information has been received from one image information input apparatus, which is among connected image information input apparatuses, said received image information may be transformed into input standard image information, which does not depend upon the input device characteristics of said one image information input apparatus having fed said image information and depends upon standard device characteristics having been set previously, ii) a normalization processing means for carrying out normalization processing for normalizing and extracting image information, which is contained in said input standard image information and corresponds to a desired image portion, iii) an image processing means for carrying out desired image processing on said image information, which has been normalized by said normalization processing means, iv) an output standardization means for carrying out transform processing on said image information, which has been obtained from said image processing, said transform processing being carried out such that, in every case where said image information, which has been obtained from said image processing, is to be fed into and reproduced as a visible image by one image information output device, which is among connected image information output devices, said image may be reproduced by said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and as an image, which does not depend upon the output device characteristics of said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and depends upon standard device characteristics having been set previously, and v) a filing means for appending pieces of profile information to said input standard image information, said pieces of profile information comprising first profile information, which is necessary for defining details of said transform processing carried out by said output standardization means, second profile information, which is necessary for defining details of said image processing carried out by said image processing means, and third profile information, which is necessary for defining details of said normalization processing carried out by said normalization processing means.

Claim 35

An image processing system, to which at least one image information input apparatus having inherent input device characteristics and at least one image information output device having inherent output device characteristics are connected, the image processing system comprising: i) an input standardization means for carrying out transform processing on image information, said transform processing being carried out such that, in every case where said image information has been received from one image information input apparatus, which is among connected image information input apparatuses, said received image information may be transformed into input standard image information, which does not depend upon the input device characteristics of said one image information input apparatus having fed said image information and depends upon standard device characteristics having been set previously, ii) a normalization processing means for carrying out normalization processing for normalizing and extracting image information, which is contained in said input standard image information and corresponds to a desired image portion, iii) an image processing means for carrying out desired image processing on said image information, which has been normalized by said normalization processing means, iv) an output standardization means for carrying out transform processing on said image information, which has been obtained from said image processing, said transform processing being carried out such that, in every case where said image information, which has been obtained from said image processing, is to be fed into and reproduced as a visible image by one image information output device, which is among connected image information output devices, said image may be reproduced by said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and as an image, which does not depend upon the output device characteristics of said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and depends upon standard device characteristics having been set previously, and v) a filing means for appending pieces of profile information to said image information, which has been normalized, said pieces of profile information comprising first profile information, which is necessary for defining details of said transform processing carried out by said output standardization means, and second profile information, which is necessary for defining details of said image processing carried out by said image processing means.

Claim 36

An image processing system, to which at least one image information input apparatus having inherent input device characteristics and at least one image information output device having inherent output device characteristics are connected, the image processing system comprising: i) an input standardization means for carrying out transform processing on image information, said transform processing being carried out such that, in every case where said image information has been received from one image information input apparatus, which is among connected image information input apparatuses, said received image information may be transformed into input standard image information, which does not depend upon the input device characteristics of said one image information input apparatus having fed said image information and depends upon standard device characteristics having been set previously, ii) a normalization processing means for carrying out normalization processing for normalizing and extracting image information, which is contained in said input standard image information and corresponds to a desired image portion, iii) an image processing means for carrying out desired image processing on said image information, which has been normalized by said normalization processing means, iv) an output standardization means for carrying out transform processing on said image information, which has been obtained from said image processing, said transform processing being carried out such that, in every case where said image information, which has been obtained from said image processing, is to be fed into and reproduced as a visible image by one image information output device, which is among connected image information output devices, said image may be reproduced by said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and as an image, which does not depend upon the output device characteristics of said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and depends upon standard device characteristics having been set previously, and v) a filing means for appending profile information to said image information, which has been obtained from said image processing, said profile information being first profile information, which is necessary for defining details of said transform processing carried out by said output standardization means.

Claim 37

An image information filing method in an image processing system, to which at least one image information input apparatus having inherent input device characteristics and at least one image information output device having inherent output device characteristics are connected, the image processing system comprising: i) an input standardization means for carrying out transform processing on image information, said transform processing being carried out such that, in every case where said image information has been received from one image information input apparatus, which is among connected image information input apparatuses, said received image information may be transformed into standard image information, which does not depend upon the input device characteristics of said one image information input apparatus having fed said image information and depends upon standard device characteristics having been set previously, ii) a normalization processing means for carrying out normalization processing for normalizing and extracting image information, which is contained in said standard image information and corresponds to a desired image portion, iii) an image processing means for carrying out desired image processing on said image information, which has been normalized by said normalization processing means, and iv) an output standardization means for carrying out transform processing on said image information, which has been obtained from said image processing, said transform processing being carried out such that, in every case where said image information, which has been obtained from said image processing, is to be fed into and reproduced as a visible image by one image information output device, which is among connected image information output devices, said image may be reproduced by said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and as an image, which does not depend upon the output device characteristics of said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and depends upon standard device characteristics having been set previously, the image information filing method comprising: appending pieces of profile information to said image information, which is fed into said input standardization means, said pieces of profile information comprising first profile information, which is necessary for defining details of said transform processing carried out by said output standardization means, second profile information, which is necessary for defining details of said image processing carried out by said image processing means, third profile information, which is necessary for defining details of said normalization processing carried out by said normalization processing means, and fourth profile information, which is necessary for defining details of said transform processing carried out by said input standardization means.

Claim 38

An image information filing method in an image processing system, to which at least one image information input apparatus having inherent input device characteristics and at least one image information output device having inherent output device characteristics are connected, the image processing system comprising: i) an input standardization means for carrying out transform processing on image information, said transform processing being carried out such that, in every case where said image information has been received from one cage information input apparatus, which is among connected image information input apparatuses, said received image information may be transformed into input standard image information, which does not depend upon the input device characteristics of said one image information input apparatus having fed said image information and depends upon standard device characteristics having been set previously, ii) a normalization processing means for carrying out normalization processing for normalizing and extracting image information, which is contained in said input standard image information and corresponds to a desired image portion, iii) an image processing means for carrying out desired image processing on said image information, which has been normalized by said normalization processing means, and iv) an output standardization means for carrying out transform processing on said image information, which has been obtained from said image processing, said transform processing being carried out such that, in every case where said image information, which has been obtained from said image processing, is to be fed into and reproduced as a visible image by one image information output device, which is among connected image information output devices, said image may be reproduced by said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and as an image, which does not depend upon the output device characteristics of said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and depends upon standard device characteristics having been set previously, the image information filing method comprising: appending pieces of profile information to said input standard image information, said pieces of profile information comprising first profile information, which is necessary for defining details of said transform processing carried out by said output standardization means, second profile information, which is necessary for defining details of said image processing carried out by said image processing means, and third profile information, which is necessary for defining details of said normalization processing carried out by said normalization processing means.

Claim 39

An image information filing method in an image processing system, to which at least one image information input apparatus having inherent input device characteristics and at least one image information output device having inherent output device characteristics are connected, the image processing system comprising: i) an input standardization means for carrying out transform processing on image information, said transform processing being carried out such that, in every case where said image information has been received from one image information input apparatus, which is among connected image information input apparatuses, said received image information may be transformed into input standard image information, which does not depend upon the input device characteristics of said one image information input apparatus having fed said image information and depends upon standard device characteristics having been set previously, ii) a normalization processing means for carrying out normalization processing for normalizing and extracting image information, which is contained in said input standard image information and corresponds to a desired image portion, iii) an image processing means for carrying out desired image processing on said image information, which has been normalized by said normalization processing means, and iv) an output standardization means for carrying out transform processing on said image information, which has been obtained from said image processing, said transform processing being carried out such that, in every case where said image information, which has been obtained from said image processing, is to be fed into and reproduced as a visible image by one image information output device, which is among connected image information output devices, said image may be reproduced by said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and as an image, which does not depend upon the output device characteristics of said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and depends upon standard device characteristics having been set previously, the image information filing method comprising: appending pieces of profile information to said image information, which has been normalized, said pieces of profile information comprising first profile information, which is necessary for defining details of said transform processing carried out by said output standardization means, and second profile information, which is necessary for defining details of said image processing carried out by said image processing means.

Claim 40

An image information filing method in an image processing system, to which at least one image information input apparatus having inherent input device characteristics and at least one image information output device having inherent output device characteristics are connected, the image processing system comprising: i) an input standardization means for carrying out transform processing on image information, said transform processing being carried out such that, in every case where said image information has been received from one image information input apparatus, which is among connected image information input apparatuses, said received image information may be transformed into input standard image information, which does not depend upon the input device characteristics of said one image information input apparatus having fed said image information and depends upon standard device characteristics having been set previously, ii) a normalization processing means for carrying out normalization processing for normalizing and extracting image information, which is contained in said input standard image information and corresponds to a desired image portion, iii) an image processing means for carrying out desired image processing on said image information, which has been normalized by said normalization processing means, and iv) an output standardization means for carrying out transform processing on said image information, which has been obtained from said image processing, said transform processing being carried out such that, in every case where said image information, which has been obtained from said image processing, is to be fed into and reproduced as a visible image by one image information output device, which is among connected image information output devices, said image may be reproduced by said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and as an image, which does not depend upon the output device characteristics of said one image information output device to be fed with said image information and depends upon standard device characteristics having been set previously, the image information filing method comprising: appending profile information to said image information, which has been obtained from said image processing, said profile information being first profile information, which is necessary for defining details of said transform processing carried out by said output standardization means.

Claim 41

An image output device, comprising: i) an image output means for reproducing a visible image from image information, which has been subjected to image processing carried out by assuming output gradation and is provided with subsidiary information representing said assumed output gradation, and ii) a gradation correcting means for correcting the gradation of said image information in accordance with said subsidiary information and output gradation characteristics of said image output means, the correction being made such that the gradation of the output image reproduced by said image output means may approximately coincide with said assumed output gradation.

Claim 42

A device as defined in Claim 41 wherein said gradation correcting means is provided with a look-up table forming means for forming a gradation correction look-up table such that the gradation of the output image reproduced by said image output means may approximately coincide with said assumed output gradation, and said gradation correcting means transforms the gradation of said image information in accordance with the formed gradation correction look-up table.

Claim 43

A device as defined in Claim 41 wherein said gradation correcting means comprises: a plurality of gradation correction look-up tables having different correction characteristics for correcting the gradation of said image information, and a selection means for selecting a gradation correction look-up table, which is among the plurality of the gradation correction look-up tables and has the correction characteristics such that the gradation of the output image reproduced by said image output means may become closest to said assumed output gradation.