JP2001318771A - Image processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate arbitrariness by a user and to add an image without the need of the change and alteration, etc., of other equipment even in the case of adding the image of a visible watermark or the like at the time of image output in an image output device. SOLUTION: In this image professor 10 for receiving an image output job issued by client devices 20a and 20b, etc., on a network 21 and making the image output device 30 perform it, an image addition means 14 for adding additional image data for specifying the image output job to image data whose output is instructed by the image output job received from the respective client devices 20a and 20b, etc., is provided and the image output job after the additional image data are added by the image addition means 14 is performed by the image output device 30.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention accepts an image output job such as a print output job issued by a client device on a network, such as a print server device provided on the network, and sends the received image output job to a printer device. The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus to be executed by an image output device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a document such as a document or an image is electronically created by a client device such as a personal computer or a workstation, and the document is image-output by an image output device such as a printer device or a facsimile device. That is widely done. In a network system that realizes such image output,
Generally, one printer device, FAX device, and the like are shared by a plurality of client devices. Therefore, in such a network system, in order to efficiently process an image output job from each client device,
In some cases, a server device such as a print server device or a FAX server device is installed on a network.

When a document is output as an image, it may be necessary to add a visible watermark. The visible watermark is used to specify the confidentiality of the document, for example, characters such as “prohibited copying” and “confidential”. Further, in addition to the visible watermark, it may be necessary to add a company name or its image mark to a document and output the document.

Conventionally, in a network system as described above, a visible watermark or the like is added by an application program or a printer driver operating on a client device. That is, the application program or the printer driver adds, for example, a visible watermark or the like designated by the user of the client device when creating a document or issuing an image output job. In addition, a specific type of visible watermark may be added by, for example, infrared printing on a printer device that prints out a document.

[0005]

However, when the addition of a visible watermark or the like is performed on the client device side, the user can arbitrarily set various settings including the necessity of addition, and thus, for example, the confidentiality There is a possibility that a visible watermark is not added to a document that needs to be specified. That is, a visible watermark or the like may not be added to a document that needs to be added, or a visible watermark or the like may be added to a document that does not need to be added.

Further, if the addition is performed on the client device side, if the visible watermark to be added is changed (for example, a new visible watermark is added), the application program or the printer driver is changed (version Up) is needed.
Therefore, if there are many client devices in the network system, a change operation is required for each of the client devices, and it takes a lot of trouble to deal with a change in the visible watermark or the like.

On the other hand, when the addition is performed on the printer device side, it is necessary to provide the printer device with a dedicated configuration such as a function of printing with infrared rays. Therefore, unless the configuration of the printer device is modified or a printer having a dedicated configuration is not used in advance, it is not possible to cope with the addition of a visible watermark, and the flexibility in constructing the system is impaired. Further, the system can deal only with a specific type of visible watermark, and lacks versatility as a system.

Accordingly, the present invention focuses on a server device that accepts an image output job from each client device and causes the image output device to execute the job, and adds information about a visible watermark or the like on the server device. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to eliminate the user's arbitrariness and to add an image without changing or modifying other devices.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided an image processing apparatus devised to achieve the above object, wherein the image processing apparatus is connected to a client device that issues an image output job via a network, and receives an image from the client device. A job acquisition unit for acquiring an output job, an image addition unit for adding additional image data to image data designated to be output by the image output job acquired by the job acquisition unit, and a printer device for executing the image output job And a job sending means for sending the image output job to which the additional image data has been added by the image adding means to the printer device for execution.

According to the image processing apparatus having the above configuration, when the job obtaining means obtains an image output job from the client device, the image adding means adds the additional image data to the image data specified to be output by the image output job. I do. At this time, as the additional image data added by the image adding unit, data for representing a visible watermark can be considered. In addition, information necessary for specifying an image output job, such as information on an image output job (such as an issuer IP address) and information on processing time, may be used. Then, the image output job to which the additional image data has been added is sent to the image output device by the job sending means and executed by the image output device. Therefore, the image output from the image output device is an image drawn by the additional image data regardless of the operation of the user on the client device and without requiring any change or modification of the client device or the image output device. Will be added.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An image processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. However, here, a case where the present invention is applied to a print server device will be described as an example.

First, before describing a print server apparatus to which the present invention is applied, a network system using the print server apparatus will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the network system according to the present embodiment includes:
In addition to the print server device 10, a plurality of client devices 20a, 20b... And a printer device 30 are provided.

Each of the client devices 20a, 20b,.
The print server device 10 and a LAN (Local Area Network)
k), which comprises a personal computer or a workstation connected via a network 21 such as
A document such as a document or an image is created electronically, and a print output job for printing out the document is issued. That is, each of the client devices 20a, 20b...
a, 20b... are instructed to print a document, the client devices 20a, 2b
0b... Of the document to be printed by, for example, a page description language (Page Description Language)
e; hereinafter abbreviated as "PDL") format, and sends the data to the print server apparatus 10 as a print output job through the network 21.

The printer device 30 sequentially executes print output jobs issued by the respective client devices 20a, 20b,... Using a well-known electrophotographic technology or a printing technology of an ink jet system. However, the printer device 30 is directly connected to the print server device 10 via the dedicated line 31 instead of on the network 21. This is because the print output jobs from the client devices 20a, 20b,... Always pass through the print server device 10. Therefore, if the print output job passes through the print server device 10, the printer device 30 may be provided on the network 21.

These client devices 20a, 20b ...
The print server device 10 connected to the printer device 30 includes an NT Print Spooler (hereinafter, simply referred to as “spooler”) 11, a print job monitoring and stop / start processing unit (hereinafter, simply referred to as “print job monitoring unit”) 12, It has functions as an image conversion unit 13, an image addition unit 14, and a log output unit 15. These functions are realized by hardware resources and software resources included in the print server device 10.

Hereinafter, an example of the processing operation of the print server apparatus 10 performed by these functions will be described in detail.

When a print output job is issued from the client devices 20a, 20b,.
Then, after the print output job is obtained via the network 21, the spooler 11 spools the print output job. At this time, PDL data of a document to be printed out and information on the print output job are sent from the client devices 20a, 20b,. The information about the print output job includes information unique to the user who issued the print output job, for example, the name of the client device that issued the job, its IP (Internet Protocol) address, the login user name, the document name, and the job execution destination. And the like.

When the spooler 11 spools a print output job from the client device 20a, 20b,..., The print job monitoring unit 12, which constantly monitors the spooler 11, requests print output by the print output job. It is determined whether the received document is specific information (specific document). The specific document is a document that needs to be printed with a visible watermark or the like. The determination as to whether the document is a specific document may be made by analyzing PDL data related to the print output job. For example, a command representing a document name is extracted from PDL data, and if the document name includes a predetermined keyword such as “customer”, it is determined that the document is a specific document requiring confidentiality. Can be considered.

If the result of this determination is that the document is not a specific document, the print job monitoring unit 12 causes the printer device 30 to execute the print output jobs spooled by the spooler 11 as they are in the execution order.

However, if the document is a specific document, the print job monitoring unit 12 temporarily stops the spooler 11 and, based on the print output job determined to be the specific document, user-specific information (client name, IP address, login user name, document name, etc.). At the same time, it recognizes the date and time when the print output job was received by the print server device 10 and extracts the date and time as information regarding the processing time at the print server device 10. Then, the extracted information is transmitted to the image conversion unit 1.
Send to 3.

When the print job monitoring unit 12 sends out the extracted information, the image conversion unit 13 converts the extracted information into data in the same PDL format as the PDL data relating to the print output job, and Is sent to the image adding unit 14 as additional image data.

At this time, the image conversion unit 13 sends the previously stored PDL data to the image addition unit 14 as additional image data together with, or instead of, the extracted information converted to PDL data. It may be.
As the PDL data stored in advance, for example, data for displaying a visible watermark such as characters such as “prohibited copy” and “confidential” can be considered. Also, for example, at the time of print output, the image is printed as an inconspicuous ground pattern as shown in FIG. 2A, but when copied by a copying machine, a specific character such as "COPY" appears as shown in FIG. 2B. It is also conceivable to display a rising image. Further, for example, it may be for displaying a company name and its image mark as shown in FIG. FIG. 2C is an enlarged image of a rectangular portion in FIG. 2A, and a white rectangle and a black rectangle represent a white pixel and a black pixel, respectively. FIG. 2 (D)
Fig. 2 shows white pixels as '0' and black pixels as '1'.
(C) is a binary representation.

When the PDL data is transmitted from the image conversion unit 13, the image addition unit 14 adds the PDL data to the print output job determined as a specific document by the print job monitoring unit 12, and then adds the PDL data. Is converted again into the print output job format, and then returned to the print job monitoring unit 12. That is, the image adding unit 14 combines the PDL data related to the print output job determined to be the specific document with the PDL data sent from the image conversion unit 13.

Here, the PDL by the image adding unit 14 is used.
The joining of data will be described. However, here, the PDL related to the print output job determined to be the specific document is described.
The data is PDL data (hereinafter referred to as “PDL1”) as shown in FIG.
The PDL data sent from the print job monitoring unit 12
The PDL data (hereinafter “PDL2”) shown in FIGS. 3B and 3C is not converted from the extracted information.
This will be described with an example in which the image adding unit 14 combines these with each other.

Tables 1 and 2 show the meaning of the command and the contents of the arguments of each PDL data. The commands shown in Tables 1 and 2 are merely examples, and the command names,
Neither the meaning nor the argument is limited to this.
Further, each command may be composed of two or more commands, or two or more commands may be represented by one command and an argument. The numerical format of the argument is not limited to an integer, but may be another numerical format such as a floating-point real number or a fixed-point real number.

[0026]

[Table 1]

[0027]

[Table 2]

As can be seen from the DrawText command in FIG. 3A, the PDL 1 is for printing out a black character string "test" as shown in FIG. 4A. However, in the PDL 1, as shown in FIG. 3A, only one set of StartJob indicating the start of a job and EndJob indicating the end of the job exists in one print output job. The number of commands interposed between EndPage indicating the end of a page represents the number of physical pages of the print job, that is, the number of pages printed out by the printer, and includes StartLogicalPage indicating the start of a logical page and end of the logical page. En
The number of command groups sandwiched between dLogicalPage indicates the number of logical pages printed in the physical page in which the command group exists.

On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 3B and 3C, the PDL 2 is an incomplete PDL as it is.
Data. However, this is the StartPage of PDL1
When inserted between immediately after the command (the beginning of the physical page) and immediately before the EndPage command (the end of the physical page), the PDL
The PDL2, that is, FIG.
And the image shown in (E) is inserted.

This corresponds to the DrawImage command described in PDL2 and PDL3 (* in FIGS. 3B and 3C).
2 (A) and FIG.
This is because the data represents a raster image as shown in FIG. For example, in the case of the example of FIG. 3B, the raster image to be drawn has a resolution of 600 in both the main scanning and sub-scanning directions.
dpi, the number of pixels in each of the main scanning and sub-scanning directions is 49
In the case of 60 pixels / 7000 pixels, a 1-bit / pixel gray image (that is, a black-and-white image), and the example of FIG. 3C, the raster image to be drawn has a resolution of 600 dpi in both main scanning and sub scanning directions, and main scanning and sub scanning The number of pixels in each direction is 200 pixels / 200 pixels, 24 bits / pixel
Is an RGB image. That is, the argument of the DrawImage command is a data string obtained by converting the image into the binary representation in this manner. Of course, the image to be drawn is 2 bits /
If the image is a pixel or more, each pixel may be expressed in the same format for each bit number per pixel, and if the color space is composed of two or more color components, the color of each pixel The components may be arranged in order and expressed in the same format, or one color component may be expressed in the same format for each line and the entire image, followed immediately by other color components in the same format.

As described above, when PDL2 is inserted into PDL1, PDL1 has one physical page.
The images shown in (A) and (E) are inserted once. If PDL2 is inserted between immediately after the StartLogicalPage command (the beginning of the logical page) and immediately before the EndLogicalPage command (the rear end of the logical page), the PDL1 is inserted.
The images shown in FIGS. 2A and 2E are inserted once into each logical page.

In the case of PDL1, since there is only one logical page in the physical page, the images shown in FIGS. 2A and 2E are inserted once into the physical page at either insertion point. Actually, it is necessary to determine the insertion point at one place. However, there may be two or more logical pages in one physical page. In this case, two or more pages in the original document are reduced at the same magnification. Is printed on one paper surface. StartLogicalPa for PDL2
Inserting immediately after the ge command immediately before the EndLogicalPage command is not preferable because the image drawn by the PDL 2 is similarly reduced. So here we have En
The insertion position is immediately before the dPage command.

That is, the image adding unit 14 converts the PDL 1
After the EndPage command is detected and temporarily stored in a buffer (not shown), the PDL2 from the image conversion unit 13 is output to the print job monitoring unit 12, and after the output of the PDL2 is completed, the EndPage command stored in the buffer is monitored. Part 1
Output to 2. For commands other than the EndPage command in the PDL 1, the print job monitoring unit 1
Output to 2. By this operation, PDL2 is
Inserted immediately before the EndPage command, PDL1 is PDL2
Nothing changes except for the part where is inserted.

Therefore, the print job monitoring unit 12
As shown in FIG. 5, PDL data after PDL1 and PDL2 have been combined is output. The meanings and arguments of the commands in FIG. 5 are shown in FIGS.
Is the same as that shown in FIG. FIG. 4B is a printout example of the PDL data shown in FIG. 5, and FIG. 4C is an image obtained by copying FIG. 4B.

In the specific example described above, for example, P
DrawImage which is a data string obtained by converting an image to be inserted in DL2 into, for example, a binary representation as shown in FIG.
Although it is drawn as a raster image using commands,
The same effect can be obtained by using a figure drawing command such as point drawing or straight line drawing for the same image. Which should be selected may be determined in consideration of the amount of command data required to draw the same image and the time required for printout.

In the specific example described above, the case where two separate PDL data are inserted as PDL2 into PDL1 has been described. However, PDL data for drawing one image or PDL for drawing two or more images are described. Data may be inserted in the same manner. Also, two or more PDs
When inserting L data, the insertion location does not need to be the same. For example, PDL data for drawing one image is inserted at the top of the physical page, and PDL data for drawing the other image is inserted at the rear end of the physical page. You may. Of course, both may be inserted in the same place. Further, at the time of insertion, any one of two or more may be selected. At this time, information extracted from the contents of the PDL data input as a selection criterion may be used, or it may be set in advance to select any one from outside.

Furthermore, when inserting the PDL 2, it may be possible to externally set whether or not to insert the PDL 2. That is, when a system administrator of the network system operates an operation unit (not shown) of the print server apparatus 10, P
It may be possible to set whether to insert the DL2.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a setting screen (window) 81 displayed on the operation unit for making the setting. In this figure, in a window 81, there are radio buttons 82 and 83 in which a black dot is displayed inside one of three circular frames. Radio button 8
2 is the PD of FIG. 3 (B), and the radio button 83 is the PD of FIG. 3 (C).
This specifies the method of inserting L data. In the example shown,
“Image 1”, that is, the PDL data of FIG. 3B is included only in the specific document, and “Image 2”, that is, the PDL of FIG.
The data is set to be inserted into all documents. This setting may be used to determine whether or not to perform the insertion operation by referring to the notification of the insertion point, or to determine whether or not to notify when the notification of the insertion point is performed. You may.

When this setting is applied to this embodiment, the keyword of “customer” indicating that the document is a specific document is included in the argument of the DocumentName command in the PDL of FIG. ) And PD in FIG.
Both L data are inserted into the PDL data shown in FIG. Here, for example, if the argument of the DocumentName command does not include the keyword "customer",
The PDL data of FIG. 3B is not inserted, and FIG.
Will be inserted.

The PDL data thus combined is converted again into a print output job format, and then sent from the image adding unit 14 to the print job monitoring unit 12.
Overwrites the print output job sent from the image adding unit 14 on the spooler 11.

Then, the print job monitoring unit 12 restarts the operation of the spooler 11 which has been stopped. That is, the print job monitoring unit 12 causes the printer device 30 to execute the print output job overwritten on the spooler 11 when the execution order is reached. As a result, the image after the PDL data is combined with each other as shown in FIG. 4B, for example, is printed out from the printer device 30.

After restarting the operation of the spooler 11, the print job monitoring unit 12 outputs the extracted user-specific information and the information on the processing of the job to the log output unit 1.
5

When information is sent from the print job monitoring unit 12, the log output unit 15 stores the information sent from the print job monitoring unit 12 as a log file in a predetermined format. At this time, the log output unit 15 may save at least the processing record of the print output job to which the image adding unit 14 has added the image as a log file, but the other print output jobs are similarly stored as log files. Of course, it may be stored.

The log output unit 15 is connected to the printer 3
0 may have a function of comparing and collating the log in the printer device 30 with the log in the log output unit 15 as long as the log has a function of independently storing the execution record of the print output job as a log. The comparison and collation in this case is performed, for example, by using a well-known technique such as MIB (Management Information).
This may be performed using a database structure based on the application base (action base).

As described above, the print server device 10 according to the present embodiment includes the client devices 20a and 20b
After the image adding unit 14 adds the additional image data to the print output job from the print job, the printer 30 executes the print output job after the image addition. In other words, if a network system is constructed using the print server device 10 of the present embodiment, even if it is necessary to add a visible watermark or the like, the addition can be performed by the print server device 10.

Therefore, the image drawn by the additional image data is added to the image output from the printer device regardless of the user's operation on the client devices 20a, 20b,. Therefore, the user can automatically obtain a printout result to which a necessary image is added without paying attention to combining images when issuing a print output job, which is very convenient. In addition, since it is possible to eliminate the user's arbitrariness in using the client device when adding an image, it is possible to improve the accuracy and appropriateness of the image addition as compared with the related art.

In addition, even when, for example, an image to be added is changed (for example, a new visible watermark is added), an application program, a printer driver, etc., operating on each of the client devices 20a, 20b,. No change (version upgrade) is required. From this, even if many client devices 20a, 20b... Exist in the network system,
Since it can be dealt with by changing only the print server device 10,
A lot of trouble is not required. In addition, a dedicated configuration such as an infrared printing function is provided by the printer device 3.
Since there is no need to prepare for zero, the flexibility and versatility of the system are not impaired. That is, if the print server device 10 of the present embodiment is used, existing software and hardware can be replaced without replacing application programs and print drivers of the client devices 20a, 20b,... And changing the specifications of the printer device 30. Function to add an image adding function.

Further, since the image addition function is realized by image synthesis at the stage of PDL data, it is not necessary to perform synthesis using a large amount of image data, and the hardware resources in the print server apparatus 10 can be simplified. , Cost reduction, etc. are facilitated.

In the print server device 10 of the present embodiment, the print job monitoring unit 12 determines whether the document to be printed out is a specific document. Is added to the image. Therefore, since an image is surely added to a document to which an image needs to be added, it is very suitable for clarifying the confidentiality of the document. In addition, if no image is added to other documents, it is preferable from the viewpoint of processing efficiency and the like.

Further, the print server device 10 according to the present embodiment provides, as additional image data, user-specific information on a print output job, such as a client name and an IP address, and information on the date and time of reception of the print output job, ie, print output. Information for specifying a job can be added as image data.
Therefore, when a specific document for which confidentiality is required is printed out, for example, who, when, what, from where, etc. can be forcibly embedded as an image on paper, the specific document is illegally leaked. However, it is possible to easily identify a person who has performed the print output. Moreover, by embedding the image in the print server device 10, it is possible to eliminate the arbitrariness of the person who performs the print output, so that the person who has performed the print output can be specified accurately.

Further, the print server device 10 in this embodiment executes the print output job from each of the client devices 20a, 20b,... On the printing device 30 directly connected via the dedicated line 31, not on the network 21. It is made to let. That is, each client device 20a, 20b,... Cannot issue a print output job directly to the printing device 30 without passing through the print server device 10. Therefore, an image is reliably added to a document that requires an image, which is very suitable for managing the confidentiality of the document.

In the print server device 10 according to the present embodiment, the log output unit 15 stores the processing record of the print output job to which the image is added as a log. More detailed print logs can be recorded than when information or the like is embedded in paper. Therefore, by referring to the log, it is possible to more easily and surely identify the person who has performed the print output, and it is useful for management of confidentiality. In addition to this, if the log output unit 15 has a function of comparing and collating with the log in the printer device 30, more information can be obtained by the comparison and collation, so that in managing confidentiality, It becomes suitable.

In the present embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to a print server device has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, even if a FAX server device is provided on a network, it is conceivable to add an image in exactly the same manner as long as the FAX device executes a FAX job from a client device.

[0054]

As described above, according to the image processing apparatus of the present invention, even when an image such as a visible watermark is added to the image output by the image output apparatus, the user is free to arbitrarily. Since the image can be added without removing and changing or modifying other devices, the accuracy and appropriateness of the image addition, the convenience for the user, etc. can be improved as compared with the conventional art, It is also very suitable for managing confidentiality.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an example of a print server device to which the present invention is applied and a network system using the print server device.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of an image drawn by additional image data.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of image data whose output is instructed by an image output job and additional image data added thereto;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing image data to be output by an image output job and an example of printout after additional image data is added to the image data.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of image data after additional image data is added.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of an image addition setting screen.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 print server device, 11 NT Print Spooler
(Spooler), 12 ... Print job monitoring and stop / start processing unit (Print job monitoring unit, 13 ... Image conversion unit, 14 ...)
Image addition unit, 15 log output unit, 20a, 20b client device, 21 network, 30 printer device, 31 dedicated line

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (Reference) H04N 1/00 H04N 1/00 B 5C077 106 106B 9A001 1/387 1/387 1/40 1/40 Z (72) Invention Person Junichi Matsunoshita 2274 Hongo, Ebina-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. Ebina Office (72) Inventor Hiroyuki Kono 2274 Hongo, Ebina-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. Ebina Office F term (reference) 2C087 AA13 AB05 BD41 BD46 CB03 CB07 CB13 DA10 5B021 AA01 BB05 EE01 LL02 LL03 5B057 BA28 CE08 5C062 AA13 AA35 AB22 AC04 AC24 AF00 BA00 5C076 AA14 BA02 BA06 5C077 LL14 PP23 PP65 PQ08 PQ22 TT02 9A001 BZ03

Claims (7)

[Claims] A job acquiring unit that is connected via a network to a client device that issues an image output job, acquires an image output job from the client device, and outputs the image according to the image output job acquired by the job acquiring unit. An image adding unit that adds the additional image data to the designated image data; and an image output device that executes the image output job, and outputs the image output job after the additional image data is added by the image adding unit to the image. An image processing apparatus comprising: a job sending unit that sends the job to an output device to execute the job. 2. An image output job acquired by the job acquiring means, and it is determined whether or not additional image data is required to be added by the image adding means. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a job selection unit for adding data. 3. The image adding unit according to claim 2, wherein the additional image data is information included in the image output job acquired by the job acquiring unit, and information on the image output job is added as image data. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1. 4. The image according to claim 1, wherein said image adding means converts information relating to a time when an image output job from said client device is processed into image data and adds said additional image data. Processing equipment. 5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the job sending unit sends the image output job to an image output device connected via a dedicated line, instead of the image output device existing on the network. Image processing device. 6. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a log recording unit that stores, as a log, a processing record of the image output job to which the image adding unit has added the additional image data. apparatus. 7. A log collating unit for comparing and collating a log of an execution record of an image output job stored in the image output device with a log stored in the log recording unit. Item 7. The image processing device according to Item 6.