JP2009124749A - Processing apparatus and processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To appropriately apply a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image for overlaying the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image and a printing image in the case that printing is performed by adding the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image to the printing image. <P>SOLUTION: In copy-forgery-inhibited pattern application layer determination processing (S3301), on the basis of an area in which a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern and document contents of document data are overlayed, the printing of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern is determined to watermark printing or overlay printing. According to determination, copy-forgery-inhibited pattern plotting in watermark copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing is performed (S3303) or copy-forgery-inhibited pattern plotting in overlay copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing is performed (S3306). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to a processing apparatus and a processing method . More particularly, the present invention relates to a process for printing an image including a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image for clearly distinguishing a copy from an original in a system including an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer and a printing apparatus such as a printer. It is.

  Conventionally, for the purpose of prohibiting or inhibiting copying of forms and resident's cards, papers with special printing called forgery prevention papers have been used. This anti-counterfeit paper is hard to be seen by humans in the original, but when it is copied using a copying machine or the like, it is a paper on which characters such as “COPY” appear on the copied sheet. As a result, a print sheet as an original and a copy of the original can be easily recognized visually. By using this anti-counterfeit paper, a person who makes a copy hesitates to use the copy. It also has a psychological check effect of suppressing the copying act itself. The reason why it is necessary to make the character string difficult to be seen by humans in the original of the anti-counterfeit paper is to make it possible to clearly distinguish the original from the copy. If a character string such as “COPY” is visible in the original so that it can be clearly identified by humans, there is a possibility that it will be identified as a copy, which does not make sense as anti-counterfeit paper.

  However, since such anti-counterfeit paper is produced using a special printing technique, there is a problem that the cost is higher than that of normal paper. In addition, only characters set at the time of producing the anti-counterfeit paper can be raised. For this reason, the usage of anti-counterfeit paper and the character string to be set are limited. In other words, conventional anti-counterfeit paper has a lack of flexibility in terms of use due to its production.

  On the other hand, as various contents are being digitalized, contents such as forms and resident's cards are also converted into digital data. However, the digitization of the handling of these forms and resident cards is still in a transitional period. As a result, the content of digital data created using a computer is often used by outputting it to paper using a printer or the like.

  Under such circumstances, due to the dramatic improvement in printer performance in recent years, attention has been paid to a technology for printing on-demand paper having the same effect as that of conventional anti-counterfeit paper using a computer and a printer. . Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 disclose a technique for superimposing and outputting an image called a background pattern on the background of content data when content data created using a computer is printed out using a printer. Yes. The copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image looks like a simple pattern or background color to the human eye in the original (printed material output by the printer), but when the original is copied, predetermined characters and the like are raised on the copy. . As a result, it is possible to give the same effect to the copied person as the anti-counterfeit paper.

  When a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image created using a computer is output in an overlapping manner, it is natural to use normal printing paper or the like. Therefore, there is an advantage in terms of cost compared with the forgery prevention paper. Furthermore, a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image can be generated when the content is printed out. As a result, it is possible to freely set characters and the like that will be manifested during copying. Another advantage is that dynamic information such as the name of the user who executed printing and the output date and time can be highlighted as a character string.

  As described above, the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is a copy of a copy of a predetermined character that has been unrecognizable before copying and becomes apparent in the copy and is not used. In other words, it realizes an effect that makes it easy to visually identify that it is not the original. In order to realize this effect, the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is basically recognized at the time of copying when the image remains (appears) in the copy and when the image disappears in the copy or becomes thinner than the remaining region. It is composed of two areas that are difficult to perform. These two areas have almost the same density in a printed state, and it is not understood macroscopically that characters or the like that are manifested by copying such as “COPY” are hidden (embedded). However, microscopically, for example, the printing dot level has different characteristics as shown below.

  Hereinafter, an image that appears by copying is referred to as a “latent image”, and an image that disappears or becomes thin by copying is referred to as a “background” for convenience. The copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image basically consists of the latent image and the background image. Moreover, the camouflage image mentioned later may be further included. In some cases, the latent image is called a foreground as a term on the user interface.

  However, copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing is not limited to the above-described configuration, and it may be configured such that a character string such as “COPY”, a logo, a pattern, or the like appears (visualizes) in a copy so that a human can recognize it. That is, even if a character string such as “COPY” is shown in white in the copied material, the purpose of the tint block printing is achieved. In this case, needless to say, the character string “COPY” is generated as a background image.

  In the case of a dot printer such as an electrophotographic or ink jet printer, an area where an image remains in a copy (latent image portion or foreground portion) is formed by a collection of concentrated dot clusters. In addition, a region (background portion) reproduced with a lighter density than the image density of the region where the image disappears or remains in the copy is configured by a set of dispersed dots. Furthermore, when the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is printed, it is possible to make the density of the entire copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image substantially uniform by configuring the respective areas to have substantially the same density.

  FIG. 28 is a diagram showing these two areas. As shown in the figure, a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is constituted by a background portion in which dots are dispersed and a latent image portion in which a cluster of concentrated dots is arranged. These two regions can be generated by different halftone dot processing and different dither processing. When a tint block image is generated using halftone dot processing, halftone dot processing with a low number of lines is suitable for the latent image portion and halftone dot processing with a high number of lines is suitable for the background portion. When a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is generated using dither processing, dither processing using a dot concentration type dither matrix is suitable for the latent image portion, and dither processing using a dot dispersion type dither matrix is suitable for the background portion.

  Generally, a copying machine has a limit of reproducibility depending on an input resolution for reading minute dots on an original and an output resolution for reproducing minute dots. If the background dots of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image are formed smaller than the limit point of the dots that can be reproduced by the copying machine, and the dot block of the latent image is formed to be larger than the limit point, the image by the large dot block of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image by copying Is reproduced on the copy, and the image with small dots is not reproduced on the copy. As a result, the latent image is revealed. Even if the small dots dispersed by copying do not disappear completely, the latent image can be recognized more remarkably even when the density after copying is lower than that of the concentrated dot cluster.

  FIGS. 29 (a) and 29 (b) are diagrams showing the latent image. FIG. 29A corresponds to a state in which a tint block image is printed. FIG. 29B corresponds to a copy obtained when FIG. 29A is copied by a copying machine. 29 (a) and 29 (b), it will be understood that a latent image due to a collection of concentrated dot clusters appears and the background due to dispersed dots disappears.

  It is also well known that a technique called “camouflage”, which makes it difficult to recognize that a latent image is embedded in the original, is applied to the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image. Camouflage is a technique in which a pattern having a density different from that of the latent image portion and the background portion is arranged on the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image. The copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image to which the camouflage is applied has an effect that the camouflage image having a density different from that of the latent image portion and the background portion is conspicuous in the original, and the latent image is further inconspicuous. The camouflage image also has an effect of giving a decorative impression to the printed matter.

  FIG. 30A shows a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image on which no camouflage image is applied. FIG. 30B shows a tint block image to which a camouflage image is applied. It is desirable that the dots constituting the camouflage image are not reproduced on the copy so that the camouflage image can be easily recognized as a latent image that is manifested in the copy after copying. This can be realized, for example, by making the camouflage image a white image as shown in FIG.

JP 2001-197297 A JP 2001-238075 A

  By the way, a person who tries to use an illegal copy may make corrections such as copying a white portion of a latent image of a copy made by copying an original and deleting it. In order to prevent the latent image pattern from being illegally removed, the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is printed on the entire surface of the printing paper so that the latent image is surely arranged even in the blank area in the document data where there is no drawing of the document. It is desirable to do.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 24, a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image 3501 consisting of a latent image (in the example shown in FIG. 24, “VOID” in the example shown in the figure) and a background is prepared in the printable area of the print paper, and this is applied to the entire print paper. repeat. By this processing, a tiled tint block image 3502 is generated.

  FIG. 26 shows an example in which this tiled tint block image 3502 is applied to document data. This shows a case where the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image shown in FIG. 24 is first drawn on the bitmap memory of the printer and then the drawing data created by overwriting the original data shown in FIG. 25 on the memory is printed. That is, it shows a case where a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is used as a background, and document data is overlaid thereon. In this case, if the document data shown in FIG. 25 is a blank portion, that is, data having a lot of regions where drawing data does not exist, there are relatively many portions where the latent image and drawing of the document data do not overlap as shown in FIG. As a result, the latent image can be recognized even in a copy.

  However, for example, in a document data created by an application having a layer function, a “white background image” may be used for the background of the document. When synthesizing the original pattern data and the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image, when the original pattern data is drawn after drawing the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image, the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is displayed as shown in FIG. The original data is filled and the latent image cannot be recognized. For example, if the entire inside of the outer frame 3606 of the document data in FIG. 25 is a white background image, even if this document data and the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image shown in FIG. Will be reproduced.

  In this way, depending on factors such as the original data to be printed and the application that creates it, the printed data output may be inappropriate as anti-counterfeit paper even if the original data and the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image are combined. It can be.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the problem in the case where a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is combined with document data. The object of the present invention is to obtain a printed matter in which a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is appropriately combined regardless of the document data. It is an object of the present invention to provide a processing apparatus and a processing method that enable processing .

To this end, the present invention provides a second apparatus connected to a first apparatus that creates a printed matter by combining original document data and tint block image data, wherein the tint block image is placed on the original. If the user designates which one of the first method for creating the printed image and the second method for creating the printed material on which the original is placed on the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image, the user designates the method. Print data for causing the first apparatus to perform composition and creation of a printed matter according to a designated method is transmitted to the first apparatus .

The processing method in the second apparatus connected to the first apparatus for creating a printed matter by combining the document data and the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image data, the printed matter in which the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is placed on the original Of the first method for creating and the second method for creating the printed material on which the original is placed on the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image, when the user designates which method to use, the user designates that the method is to be used. Print data for causing the first apparatus to perform composition and creation of a printed matter according to the determined method is transmitted to the first apparatus .

  According to the above configuration, the user can select between watermark printing and overprinting according to the content of the document data.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration for print processing in a host computer 3000 shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an expanded configuration of the configuration shown in FIG. 2 in connection with another example of the configuration for print processing in the host computer 3000. 10 is a flowchart illustrating processing of a page unit storage step in generating a spool file 303 in the spooler 302. 10 is a flowchart showing details of control between a spool file 303 generation process and a print data generation process described below in the spool file manager 304. 6 is a flowchart illustrating details of a print data generation process in the despooler 305; 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a print setting input dialog. FIG. FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a setting screen for an output destination of a print job. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data format that is passed when a spooling page manager 304 makes a physical page print request to the despooler 305. FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of job setting information illustrated in a field 1002 of FIG. 9. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data format that is passed when a spooling page manager 304 makes a physical page print request to the despooler 305. FIG. 12 is an example of physical page setting information 1202 in FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data format that is passed when a spooling page manager 304 makes a physical page print request to the despooler 305. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the data format of the additional printing information 1304 in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the setting screen of a tint block print function. It is a figure which shows an example of the dialog for editing each detailed setting of a tint block print. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a tint block pattern drawing process. 10 is a flowchart illustrating another example of a tint block pattern drawing process. It is a flowchart which shows the process of a tint block pattern drawing process. It is a figure which shows the user interface which has the radio button for 2nd Embodiment of this invention for watermark / overlapping copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing automatic determination selection. It is a flowchart which shows the process based on the automatic determination of watermark / overlapping copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing concerning the said 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the tint block pattern application layer determination process called in step S3301 of FIG. It is a figure explaining the overlap in the tint block pattern used by the said tint block pattern application layer determination process. It is a figure which shows the tint block pattern used by the said tint block pattern application layer determination process. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a tint block pattern and document data are drawn and printed. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a tint block pattern and document data are drawn and printed. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a white brush is applied when a tint block pattern and original data are drawn and printed. It is a figure which shows the latent-image part and background part which are two area | regions of a tint block image. (a) And (b) is a figure explaining the visible image of a tint block image. (a) And (b) is a figure which shows the camouflage in a tint block image.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIGS. 1 to 19 show basic rendering data of a print pattern and accompanying copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image in a system including a host computer as an information processing apparatus and a printer as a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure explaining the structure regarding the production | generation of.

  In the present embodiment, a portion that appears in a copy at the time of copying is referred to as a latent image portion or a foreground portion. Further, when copying, a portion that disappears or becomes thinner than the latent image portion in the copy is referred to as a background portion. Then, text information such as “COPY” and “VOID” is input to the latent image portion. However, the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image in the present invention is not limited to this, and in a copy, the text information may be expressed (exposed) like a white character with respect to surrounding images. In this case, it is a matter of course that the above-described dot concentration and dispersion relationship between the latent image portion and the background portion is opposite to that which is not white. The present invention is not defined by the type of tint block image, generation processing, color, shape, size, or the like.

Configuration of Printing System FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As long as the function of the present invention is executed, a system in which processing is performed by being connected via a network such as a LAN or WAN, whether it is a single device or a system composed of a plurality of devices. Even so, the present invention can be applied.

  In the figure, a host computer 3000 includes a graphic including processing according to each embodiment of the present invention to be described later with reference to FIG. 21 on the basis of a document processing program stored in the program ROM of the ROM 3 or the external memory 11. , A CPU 1 that controls execution of document processing in which images, characters, tables (including spreadsheets and the like) are mixed, and printing processing based on the document processing. The CPU 1 summarizes the control of each device connected to the system bus 4. Further, the program ROM of the ROM 3 or the external memory 11 stores an operating system program (hereinafter referred to as OS) which is a control program of the CPU 1. The font ROM of the ROM 3 or the external memory 11 stores font data used for the document processing. The data ROM of the ROM 3 or the external memory 11 stores various data used when performing the document processing or the like. The RAM 2 functions as a main memory and work area for the CPU 1.

  A keyboard controller (KBC) 5 controls key input from a keyboard 9 or a pointing device (not shown). A CRT controller (CRTC) 6 controls display by a CRT display (CRT) 10 including display of a tint block image. A disk controller (DKC) 7 is a hard disk (HD) or floppy (registered trademark) for storing a boot program, various applications, font data, user files, edit files, a printer control command generation program (hereinafter referred to as a printer driver), and the like. Controls access to the external memory 11 such as a disk (FD). The printer controller (PRTC) 8 is connected to the printer 1500 via the bidirectional interface (interface) 21 and executes communication control processing with the printer 1500.

  The CPU 1 executes an outline font development (rasterization) process on the display information RAM set on the RAM 2, for example. And WYSIWYG on CRT10 is enabled. Further, the CPU 1 opens various windows registered based on commands instructed by a mouse cursor (not shown) on the CRT 10 and executes various data processing. When executing printing, the user can open a window related to print settings and set the print processing method for the printer driver, including printer settings and print mode selection.

  The printer 1500 is controlled by the CPU 12 provided in the printer 1500. The printer CPU 12 sends print output information to a printing unit (printer engine) 17 connected to the system bus 15 based on a control program stored in the program ROM of the ROM 13 or a control program stored in the external memory 14. The image signal is output. The program ROM of the ROM 13 stores a control program for the CPU 12 and the like. The font ROM of the ROM 13 stores font data used when generating the print output information. The data ROM of the ROM 13 stores information used on the host computer in the case of a printer that does not have the external memory 14 such as a hard disk.

  The CPU 12 can communicate with the host computer via the input unit 18 and can notify the host computer 3000 of information in the printer. The RAM 19 functions as a main memory of the CPU 12, a work area, or the like, and is configured to be able to expand the memory capacity by an optional RAM connected to an expansion port (not shown). The RAM 19 is used as an output information expansion area, environment data storage area, NVRAM, and the like. Access to the above-described external memory 14 such as a hard disk (HD) or IC card is controlled by a memory controller (MC) 20. The external memory 14 is connected as an option and stores font data, an emulation program, form data, and the like. Reference numeral 18 denotes an operation panel described above, on which switches for operation, LED indicators, and the like are arranged.

  The external memory 14 described above is not limited to one, and a plurality of external memories 14 are provided. In addition to the built-in font, a plurality of external memories storing an option card and a program for interpreting printer control languages having different language systems can be connected. May be. Further, an NVRAM (not shown) may be provided to store printer mode setting information from the operation panel 1501.

  In the present embodiment, the printing unit 17 includes an electrophotographic engine. Accordingly, the image printing and the accompanying copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image are printed by toner dots formed according to the print data. Of course, for the application of the present invention, the printing method is not limited to such an electrophotographic method. For example, the printing method may be applied to any type of printing apparatus that performs printing by forming dots, such as an inkjet method. The present invention can be applied.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration for print processing in the host computer 3000 shown in FIG. The application 201, the graphic engine 202, the printer driver 203, and the system spooler 204 exist as files stored in the external memory 11, and when executed, are loaded into the RAM 2 and executed by the OS and modules using the modules. It is a program module. Further, the application 201 and the printer driver 203 can be added to the HD of the external memory 11 via the FD of the external memory 11, a CD-ROM (not shown), or a network (not shown). The application 201 stored in the external memory 11 is loaded into the RAM 2 and executed. When printing is performed from the application 201 to the printer 1500, output (rendering) is similarly performed using the graphic engine 202 loaded into the RAM 2 and executable.

  The graphic engine 202 similarly loads the printer driver 203 prepared for each printing apparatus such as a printer from the external memory 11 to the RAM 2 and sets the output of the application 201 in the printer driver 203. Then, the GDI (Graphic Device Interface) function received from the application 201 is converted into a DDI (Device Driver Interface) function, and the DDI function is output to the printer driver 203.

  Based on the DDI function received from the graphic engine 202, the printer driver 203 converts it into a control command that can be recognized by the printer, for example, PDL (Page Description Language). The converted printer control command is output as print data to the printer 1500 via the interface 21 via the system spooler 204 loaded into the RAM 2 by the OS.

  The printing system according to the present embodiment includes a tint block processing unit 205 in the printer driver 203. The copy-forgery-inhibited pattern processing unit 205 may be a built-in module of the printer driver 203, or a library module added by an individual installation. Further, the printer driver 203 performs processing such as generation of a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image command, which will be described later, by executing the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern processing unit 205 regarding printing of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image.

  A tint block layer determining unit 308 (see FIG. 3) is a module provided in the tint block processing unit 205, and executes an automatic determination process for the tint block image printing order according to the second embodiment.

Software module Figure 3 of the printing-related relates to a another example of the configuration for print processing in a host computer 3000, is a block diagram showing the configuration an extension of the configuration shown in FIG. In this configuration, when a print command is sent from the graphic engine 202 to the printer driver 203, a spool file 303 composed of an intermediate code is once generated. In the configuration of FIG. 2, the application 201 is released from the print processing when the printer driver 203 has converted all print commands from the graphic engine 202 into printer control commands. On the other hand, in the configuration of FIG. 3, the spooler 302 converts all print commands into intermediate code data and outputs it to the spool file 303. The latter usually requires less time. In the configuration shown in FIG. 3, the contents of the spool file 303 can be processed. As a result, it is possible to realize functions that the application does not have, such as enlargement / reduction or printing by reducing a plurality of pages into one page with respect to print data from the application.

  For these purposes, the system has been extended to spool with intermediate code data as shown in FIG. In order to process the print data, settings are normally made from a window provided by the printer driver 203, and the printer driver 203 stores the setting contents on the RAM 2 or the external memory 11.

  Details of the configuration shown in FIG. 3 will be described below. As shown in the figure, in this expanded processing method, the dispatcher 301 receives a DDI function that is a print command from the graphic engine 202. When the print command (DDI function) received by the dispatcher 301 from the graphic engine 202 is based on the print command (GDI function) issued from the application 201 to the graphic engine 202, the dispatcher 301 stores it in the external memory 11. The spooler 302 is loaded into the RAM 2 and a print command (DDI function) is sent to the spooler 302 instead of the printer driver 203.

  The spooler 302 analyzes the received print command, converts it into an intermediate code for each page, and outputs it to the spool file 303. The spool file of intermediate code stored in units of pages is called a page drawing file (PDF). Further, the spooler 302 acquires processing settings (Nup, double-sided, staple, color / monochrome designation, etc.) relating to print data set for the printer driver 203 from the printer driver 203, and creates a spool file 303 as a job unit file. Save to. This setting file stored in units of jobs is called a job setting file (sometimes simply called SDF: Spool Description File). This job setting file will be described later. The spool file 303 is generated as a file on the external memory 11, but may be generated on the RAM 2. Further, the spooler 302 loads the spool file manager 304 stored in the external memory 11 into the RAM 2 and notifies the spool file manager 304 of the generation status of the spool file 303. Thereafter, the spool file manager 304 determines whether printing can be performed in accordance with the contents of the processing settings relating to the print data stored in the spool file 303.

  When the spool file manager 304 determines that printing can be performed using the graphic engine 202, the despooler 305 stored in the external memory 11 is loaded into the RAM 2. Then, the spool file manager 304 instructs the despooler 305 to perform control command generation processing based on the intermediate code page drawing file described in the spool file 303.

  The despooler 305 processes the page drawing file of the intermediate code included in the spool file 303 according to the job setting file including the processing setting information included in the spool file 303, regenerates the GDI function, and converts the GDI function again via the graphic engine 202. Output. At this time, the command generation relating to the printing of the tint block image is performed by loading the tint block processing unit 205.

  If the print command (DDI function) received by the dispatcher 301 from the graphic engine 202 is based on the print command (GDI function) issued from the despooler 305 to the graphic engine 202, the dispatcher 301 is not the spooler 302. A print command is sent to the printer driver 203. The printer driver 203 generates a printer control command including a page description language based on the DDI function acquired from the graphic engine 202 and outputs the printer control command to the printer 1500 via the system spooler 204.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, in addition to the above-described extended system, a previewer 306 and a setting change editor 307 are arranged to enable a preview including a preview of a tint block image, a print setting change, and a combination of a plurality of jobs. Is shown. In order to perform print preview, print setting change, and combination of a plurality of jobs, first, the user designates “Store” in the pull-down menu 901 which is a means for performing “designation of output destination” in the printer driver properties shown in FIG. There is a need to. If you want to see only the preview, you can also select “Preview” as the destination designation.

  The contents set in the properties of the printer driver are stored as a setting file in a structure provided by the OS (called DEVMODE in the Windows (registered trademark) OS). The structure includes, for example, a setting for whether to store in the spool file manager 304 during processing settings included in the spool file 303. When the spool file manager 304 reads processing settings via the printer driver and stores are specified, a page drawing file and a job setting file are generated and stored in the spool file 303 as described above. Further, a window screen of the spool file manager is popped up, and a list of jobs spooled in the spool file 303 is displayed.

  When a preview of a single job or a combined job is designated on the window screen of the spool file manager, the previewer 306 stored in the external memory 11 is loaded into the RAM 2, and the spool file 303 is sent to the previewer 306. Is instructed to perform a preview process of the intermediate code job described in (1).

Printing Intermediate Data Saving Process FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the process of the page unit saving step in the generation of the spool file 303 in the spooler 302.

  In the figure, first, in step 501, the spooler 302 receives a print request from the application via the graphic engine 202. In the application, a dialog for inputting print settings as shown in FIG. 7 is displayed, and the print settings input from this dialog are passed to the spooler 303 from the printer driver. The setting input dialog shown in FIG. 7 includes setting items and the like that determine the number of logical pages to be laid out on one physical page, indicated by reference numeral 801.

  In step 502, the spooler 302 determines whether the received print request is a job start request. If it is determined in step 502 that the request is a job start request, the process advances to step 503, and the spooler 302 creates a spool file 303 for temporarily storing intermediate data.

  In step 504, the spooler 302 notifies the spool file manager 304 of the progress of the printing process. In the subsequent step 505, the page number counter of the spooler 302 is initialized to 1. Here, the spool file manager 304 reads job information, processing settings, and the like for the job for which printing has started from the spool file 303 and stores it.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step 502 that the request is not a job start request, the process proceeds to step 506. In step 506, the spooler 302 determines whether the received request is a job end request. If it is determined that the request is not a job end request, the process advances to step 507 to determine whether or not a page break is required. If it is determined in step 507 that the page is a page break, the flow advances to step 508 to notify the spool file manager 304 of the progress of the printing process. Then, the page number counter is incremented, the page drawing file storing the intermediate code is closed, and the next page drawing file is generated. If it is determined in step 507 that the received print request is not a page break, the process proceeds to step 509 and the spooler 302 prepares for writing intermediate code to the page drawing file.

  Next, in step 510, in order to store the print request in the spool file 303, the spooler 302 converts the print request into an intermediate code of the DDI function. In step 511, the spooler 302 writes the print request (intermediate code) converted in the form that can be stored in step 510 to the page drawing file of the spool file 303. Thereafter, the process returns to step 501 to accept a print request from the application again. The series of processing from step 501 to step 511 is continued until a job end request is received from the application. Further, the spooler 302 simultaneously acquires information such as processing settings stored in the DEVMODE structure from the printer driver 203 and stores the information in the spool file 303 as a job setting file.

  On the other hand, if the spooler 302 determines in step 506 that the print request from the application is the end of the job, all the print requests from the application are complete, so the process proceeds to step 512 to print to the spool file manager 304. Notify the progress of the process and finish the process.

Spool File Generation FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing details of control between the spool file 303 generation process and the print data generation process in the spool file manager 304.

  In step 601, the spool file manager 304 receives a print processing progress notification from the spooler 302 or the despooler 305. In step 602, the spool file manager 304 determines whether or not the progress notification is a print start notification from the spooler 302 notified in step 504 described above. If it is a print start notification, the process advances to step 603 to read the print processing settings from the spool file 303 and start job management.

  On the other hand, in step 602, if the print start notification is not received from the spooler 302, the process proceeds to step 604. In step 604, the spool file manager 304 determines whether or not the progress notification is a print end notification of one logical page from the spooler 302 notified in step 508 described above. If it is a notification of printing completion of one logical page, the process proceeds to step 605 to store logical page information for this logical page. In the subsequent step 606, the spool file manager 304 determines whether printing of one physical page can be started for the n logical pages for which spooling has been completed at this time. If printing is possible, the process proceeds to step 607, where the physical page number is determined from the logical number assigned to one physical page to be printed.

  Regarding the calculation of the physical page, for example, when the processing setting is such that four logical pages are arranged in one physical page, the first physical page can be printed when the fourth logical page is spooled, and the first physical page is printed. It becomes a page. Subsequently, the second physical page can be printed when the eighth logical page is spooled. Even if the total number of logical pages is not a multiple of the number of logical pages allocated to one physical page, the logical page to be allocated to one physical page can be determined by the spool end notification in step 512.

  In step 608, the logical page number constituting the printable physical page and information such as the physical page number are stored in a job output setting file (a file including physical page information). The storage format is shown in FIG. The despooler 305 is notified that the physical page information has been added for one physical page. Thereafter, the process returns to step 601 to wait for the next notification. In the present embodiment, print processing can be performed even if all the print jobs are not spooled when one page of print data, that is, a logical page constituting one physical page is spooled.

  On the other hand, if the progress notification is not a print end notification of one logical page from the spooler 302 in step 604, the process advances to step 609, and the spool file manager 304 notifies the job end from the spooler 302 notified in step 512 described above. It is determined whether or not. If it is a job end notification, the process proceeds to step 606 described above. On the other hand, if it is not a job end notification, the process advances to step 610, and the spool file manager 304 determines whether or not the received notification is a print end notification of one physical page from the despooler 305. Here, if it is a notification of the end of printing of one physical page, the process proceeds to step 612, and it is determined whether or not all the processing settings have been completed. When the process is completed, the process proceeds to step 612 to notify the despooler 305 of the process end. On the other hand, if it is determined that the processing for the processing setting has not yet been completed, the process proceeds to 606 described above. The despooler 305 in this embodiment assumes the number of one physical page as a unit for performing print processing. In step 608, information necessary for printing one physical page is sequentially stored in a file so that it can be reused. If reuse is unnecessary, a high-speed medium such as a shared memory is used. May be implemented in such a manner that one physical page is overwritten one after another to save speed and resources. Further, when the spool progress is faster than the despooling progress or when the despooling is started after the spooling of all the pages is completed, it is not notified in step 608 that page printing is possible for each physical page. Depending on the progress on the despooling side, it is possible to save the number of notifications by setting the notification contents that a plurality of physical pages or all physical pages can be printed.

  If it is determined in step 610 that the notification is not a print end notification for one physical page from the despooler 305, the process advances to step 613, and the spool file manager 304 determines whether it is a print end notification from the despooler 305. If it is determined that the notification is a print end notification from the despooler 305, the process advances to step 614, and the spool file manager 304 deletes the corresponding page drawing file in the spool file 303 and ends the process. However, if the print end notification is not received from the despooler 305, the process proceeds to step 615 to perform other normal processing and wait for the next notification.

Output of Spool File FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing details of the print data generation process in the despooler 305.

  In response to a print request from the spool file manager 304, the despooler 305 reads necessary information (page drawing file and job setting file) from the spool file 303 and generates print data. The method for transferring the generated print data to the printer is as described above with reference to FIG. As described above, the print data is PDL.

  In the generation of print data, first, in step 701, the notification from the spool file manager 304 is input. In the subsequent step 702, the despooler 305 determines whether or not the input notification is a job end notification. If it is a job end notification, the despooler 305 proceeds to step 703, sets an end flag, and proceeds to step 705. On the other hand, if it is not a job end notification in step 702, the process proceeds to step 704, where it is determined whether a print start request for one physical page in step 608 is notified. If it is not determined to be a start request in step 704, the process proceeds to step 710, other error processing is performed, and the process returns to step 701 to wait for the next notification.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step 704 that the print start request is for one physical page, the process proceeds to step 705, and the despooler 305 stores the ID of the physical page that can be printed that is notified in step 704. In the subsequent step 706, the despooler 305 determines whether or not the print processing has been completed for all the pages of the physical page ID stored in step 705. If all the physical pages have been processed, the process proceeds to step 707 to determine whether the end flag is set in step 703 described above. If the end flag is set, it is considered that the printing of the job has been completed, the processing end notification of the despooler 305 is notified to the spool file manager 304, and the processing ends. If it is determined in step 707 that the end flag is not set, the process returns to step 701 to wait for the next notification.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step 706 that there are still printable physical pages, the process proceeds to step 708, and the despooler 305 sequentially reads and reads the unprocessed physical page ID from the stored physical page ID. The information necessary for generating the print data of the physical page corresponding to the physical page ID is read and printing processing is performed. In the printing process, the print request command stored in the spool file 303 is converted into a format (GDI function) that can be recognized by the graphic engine 202 in the despooler 305 and transferred. For the processing setting (hereinafter, N-page printing) for laying out a plurality of logical pages into one physical page as in the present embodiment, conversion is performed while taking the reduced arrangement into consideration in this step.

  When the necessary print processing is completed, the despooler 305 notifies the spool file manager 304 of the completion of print data generation for one physical page in the subsequent step 709. Then, the process returns to step 706 again, and the process is repeated until print processing is performed for all printable physical page IDs stored in step 705.

  The above is the flow of print processing using the dispatcher 301, the spooler 302, the spool file manager 304, and the despooler 305. By performing the processing as described above, the application 201 is released from the printing process at the timing when the spooler 302 generates the intermediate code and stores it in the spool file 303. Therefore, it is shorter than outputting the print data directly to the printer driver 203. Processing can be completed in time. Further, since intermediate files (page drawing file, job setting file) based on the print settings of the printer driver are temporarily stored in the spool file 303, the user can recognize the print preview to be actually printed. it can. In addition, by holding the intermediate file, it is possible to combine and rearrange print jobs generated by multiple applications. Even when changing the print settings, you do not have to start the application again and print. It is feasible.

  Here, in the printing process using the spooler 302, a job output setting file is generated when a print request is made to the graphic engine 202. However, a job output setting file is also generated when previewing or combining jobs. The job output setting file is equivalent to the job setting file in the case of a single job, and is generated based on a plurality of job setting information in the case of a combined job. Here, the job output setting file will be described.

Configuration of Job Output Setting File FIG. 9 shows an example of a job output setting file that stores information constituting the printable physical page generated by the spool file manager 304 in step 608. A field 1001 is an ID for identifying a job, and can be held in the form of the name of a file storing this information or the name of a shared memory. A field 1002 is job setting information. The job setting information includes a structure necessary for starting printing of a job to the graphic engine 202, designation of N page printing, designation of additional drawing such as a page frame, number of copies, finishing designation such as stapling, etc. Information that can only be set for one job is included. The job setting information 1002 stores as much information as necessary according to the function for the job. A field 1003 is the number of physical pages of the job, and indicates that the physical page information corresponding to this number is stored after this field. In this embodiment, since the number of printable physical pages is notified, the operation is possible even without this field. Thereafter, the physical page information is stored in the number of fields 1003 from the field 1004 to the end. The physical page information will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of job setting information shown in the field 1002 of FIG. A field 1101 is the total number of physical pages. A field 1102 is the total number of logical pages. The fields 1101 and 1102 are used when printing the number of pages as additional information in addition to the print data. When printing continues, both fields are provisional values, or the spool file manager 304 postpones the creation of printable physical page information until printing ends. A field 1103 is copy number information for designating how many copies of the print job are to be printed. A field 1104 is used to specify whether or not printing is performed in units of copies when the field 1103 is set to print a plurality of copies. A field 1104 is finishing information such as stapling, punching, Z-folding, and the like, and is specified when a finisher is provided in the printer main body or outside. A field 1106 is additional print information, which stores information to be added to a job, such as a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern print of the present invention, decorations such as page frames, additional information such as date, user name, number of pages, watermark printing, and the like. . As the number of functions increases, the number of fields included in the job setting information also increases. For example, when double-sided printing is possible, a field for storing designation of double-sided printing is added.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of physical page information shown in the field 1004 of FIG. The first field 1201 is a physical page number, which is a value used when managing the printing order and additionally printing the physical page number. A field 1202 is physical page setting information. When the layout and color / monochrome can be designated for each physical page, the layout and color / monochrome settings are stored. A field 1203 is the number of logical pages allocated to this physical page. When four pages are allocated to one physical page, an ID indicating 4 or 4-page printing is stored. From the field 1204 onward, logical page information is stored for the number specified in the field 1203. Depending on the number of pages printed from the application 201, the actual number of page data may be smaller than the number of pages specified in 1203. In that case, special data indicating an empty page is stored in the logical page information.

  FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of the physical page setting information 1202. A field 1301 stores the designation of the order in which the logical pages are arranged on the physical page by printing N pages in the order of arrangement of the logical pages on the physical page (from top left to side, top left to bottom, etc.). Depending on the system, the setting of 1301 may be substituted by arranging the logical page information after the field 1204 in the order corresponding to the arrangement order instead of the page number order instead of the arrangement order. A field 1302 is front / back information for double-sided printing, and is used, for example, when aligning binding margins on the front and back. Field 1303 specifies whether the page is a color page or a monochrome page. If the printer has monochrome mode and color mode, you want to print a color page in color mode and a monochrome page in monochrome mode for a document that contains both color and monochrome pages. It is a value used for cases. A field 1304 is additional print information, and is used when additional information such as the number of pages and date is printed on a physical page. In the physical page setting information, a field is added according to the function of the system.

  In the present embodiment, the tint block image printing described in FIG. 15 and subsequent figures is information added to a physical page. Information is also stored in the field 1304. An example of a data format for storing setting information regarding copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing in the additional print information 1106 and additional print information 1304 for the job will be described later with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of the logical page information indicated in the field 1204. A field 1401 is an ID of a logical page, and an intermediate code of a page drawing file corresponding to the logical page is referred to from the spool file 303 using this ID. It is only necessary that the intermediate code of the logical page can be accessed using this ID, and the intermediate code itself constituting the logical page may be included even if it is a file or a memory pointer. A field 1402 is a logical page number, and is used for printing the logical page number as additional information or for auxiliary information of the logical page ID. The format information in the field 1403 stores various setting items that can be specified in units of logical pages. For example, additional print information such as a page frame and various setting information designated for each logical page such as an enlargement / reduction ratio are stored. If necessary, attribute information for a logical page such as color / monochrome information for each logical page can be stored. On the other hand, the field 1403 is unnecessary in a system in which the setting is switched in units of logical pages or attribute information in units of logical pages is unnecessary.

  The job output setting file is configured as described above. The job setting file is almost the same as the print format (single side, double side, bookbinding printing), print layout (Nup, poster print), additional information (background print information, watermark, date, user name, etc.), number of copies, The paper size information has as a job, and is configured for each physical page from the logical page layout order, the front or back side of double-sided printing, the color mode, and the like.

  Further, FIG. 3 shows an example in which a setting change editor 307 having a job setting change function is arranged in addition to the extended system described so far. The setting change editor 307 is an editor that can interactively change the contents of the above-described job setting file or job output setting file. Since the setting change editor 307 is not directly related to the present invention, the description thereof is omitted.

(First embodiment)
Description of copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image print data generation processing The first embodiment of the present invention relates to a configuration for a user to arbitrarily select watermark printing or overprinting of a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image. Specifically, when the user selects either watermark printing or overprinting via a user interface having a radio button 2210 for selecting watermark printing or overprinting shown in FIG. The final overlapping order of the image data and the print output image data (original data) is determined. In accordance with this, watermark printing of the tint block image described in FIG. 17 or overprinting of the tint block image described in FIG. 18 is performed. The specific contents of watermark printing and overprinting will be described later.

  FIGS. 15 to 16 are diagrams illustrating an example of a user interface for performing settings related to the tint block image printing.

  FIG. 15 shows an example of an initial screen of a user interface related to a tint block print arranged in the printer driver 203. In this example, a setting related to copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing can be performed on the property sheet 2101 in the dialog.

  Reference numeral 2102 denotes a check box for designating whether to perform a tint block print (printing including a tint block image, hereinafter the same) for a print job. This designation is stored in the additional print information 1106 in FIG. 10 as a setting for whether to perform the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing. Reference numeral 2103 denotes style information for making it possible to designate a plurality of pieces of setting information of a tint block print with one identifier (style). The printer driver 203 can select a plurality of styles, and the relationship between each style and the tint block print information shown in FIG. 14 is registered in the registry. When the user presses a button 2104, a style editing dialog 2201 shown in FIG. 16A is displayed. Reference numeral 2105 denotes a check box used when adjusting the foreground and background contrast in the tint block print. When the user presses a button 2106, a contrast adjustment screen (not shown) is displayed.

  FIG. 16A is a diagram showing an example of a dialog for editing individual detailed settings of a tint block print.

  In the figure, reference numeral 2201 denotes the entire copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image information editing dialog, and the result of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image generated by individual copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image information described later is displayed for preview in the same area. An area 2202 displays a list of styles that can be selected in 2103 of FIG. The user can use the buttons 2203 and 2204 to newly add and delete styles. Reference numeral 2205 denotes an area in which the currently designated style name is displayed.

  Reference numeral 2206 denotes a radio button for selecting the type of drawing object used for copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing. When the user operates the radio button 2206 to select “character string”, a text object is used, and when “image” is selected, image data represented by BMP or the like is used. In FIG. 16, since “character string” is selected, setting information related to text objects indicated by reference numerals 2207 to 2209 is displayed in the dialog 2201 and can be edited. On the other hand, when “image” is selected in the area 2206, the information 2207 to 2209 is not displayed, and instead, an image file name display 2215 and a file selection dialog (not shown) shown in FIG. 16B are displayed. A button 2216 for displaying is displayed.

  Reference numeral 2207 denotes an area for displaying and editing a character string used as a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image. Reference numeral 2208 denotes an area for displaying and editing font information of a character string. In the present embodiment, only the font name selection screen is used, but the typeface family information (bold, italic, etc.), decorative character information, etc. may be expanded to be selectable. An area 2209 displays and sets the font size of the character string used as the tint block pattern. In this embodiment, a format that can be designated in three stages of “large”, “medium”, and “small” is assumed, but a commonly used font size designation method such as direct input of the number of points may be adopted. . Reference numeral 2210 denotes a radio button for setting the printing order of the tint block pattern and the document data. When “watermark printing” is designated, a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is first drawn on the bitmap memory of the printer, and then document data is drawn so as to overwrite the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image. On the other hand, when “overlapping printing” is designated, the original pattern data is first drawn, and then the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is drawn so as to overwrite the original data. Detailed drawing processing will be described later.

  Reference numeral 2211 denotes a radio button for designating the arrangement angle of the tint block pattern. In this embodiment, “rising right”, “decreasing right”, and “horizontal” can be selected. However, a numerical value input area in which an angle can be arbitrarily specified, a slider bar that can be intuitively specified, and the like are arranged. Then, the angle designation method may be expanded. Reference numeral 2212 denotes an area for displaying and specifying the color used for the tint block pattern (foreground pattern, background pattern). Reference numeral 2213 denotes a check box for exchanging the foreground pattern and the background pattern. If the check box is not checked, the foreground pattern will appear in the copy when copying, whereas if the check box is not checked, the background pattern will appear in the copy so that the foreground pattern is printed in white. Done.

  Reference numeral 2214 denotes an area for designating a camouflage image for making it difficult to recognize the tint block pattern embedded in the document, and can be selected from a plurality of patterns. An option of not using camouflage images is also provided.

Data format of copy-forgery-inhibited pattern print setting information Next, the data format stored in the additional information 1106 and 1304 related to the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern print setting information described with reference to FIG. 16 will be described with reference to FIG.

  In the figure, a field 2001 stores a value indicating a drawing object type (text format or image) generated by a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern print specified in an area 2206 in FIG. The field 2002 stores setting information for the drawing object designated by the information in the field 2001 designated in the areas 2207 to 2209 in FIG. 16A or FIG. 16B. When text is selected, a character string, font name, and size information are stored. When an image is selected, the location of an input image file is stored. The field 2003 stores information for designating whether the tint block pattern is drawn first or later (drawing order) with respect to the document data, which is designated in the area 2210 of FIG. A field 2004 stores angle information for arranging the drawing object, which is designated in the area 2211 in FIG. A field 2005 stores color information used for the tint block pattern (foreground pattern, background pattern) specified in the area 2212 of FIG. A field 2006 stores information indicating whether or not the foreground pattern and the background pattern specified by the check box 2213 in FIG. The field 2007 stores the camouflage image pattern additional information specified in the area 2214 of FIG. A field 2008 stores foreground pattern density information. A field 2009 stores background pattern density information.

Print Data Generation Processing for Copy-forgery-inhibited Pattern Image FIGS. 17 and 18 are flowcharts showing the flow of print data generation processing for the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image in copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing. These figures correspond to “watermark printing” and “overlapping printing” described with reference to FIG. These processes are performed in the course of the printing process in step 708 of FIG. 6, that is, the print data generation process.

  First, “watermark printing”, that is, a case where print data of a tint block image is generated first will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. As described above, “watermark printing” is a process of rasterizing document data on copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image data in the bitmap memory of the printer. For this reason, as the print data generation order, the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image print data is generated prior to the print data generation corresponding to the document data.

  In step 1901, the background pattern processing unit 205 generates a background pattern image in accordance with the information regarding the background pattern shown in FIG. The detailed process will be described later with reference to FIG. Thereafter, print data generation processing of document data is performed. In step 1902, a counter is initialized. In step 1903, it is determined whether or not the counter has reached a preset number of logical pages per physical page. If the counter is equal to the number of logical pages, the process ends. If not, the process proceeds to step 1904. In step 1904, the counter is incremented by one. In step 1905, based on the number of logical pages per page and the counter, an effective print area for the logical page to be subjected to print data generation processing is calculated. In step 1906, the current logical page number is read from the information about the physical page notified in the form as shown in FIG. 11 using the counter as an index, and the logical page is reduced so as to be within the effective print area. However, if N-page printing is not designated, of course, there is no need for reduction.

  Next, “overlapping printing”, that is, a case where print data of document data is first generated will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. As described above, “overlay printing” is a process of rasterizing a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image on document data in the bitmap memory of the printer. For this reason, as the print data generation order, the print data corresponding to the document data is generated before the print data corresponding to the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is generated.

  In step 1902, a counter is initialized. Next, in step 1903, it is determined whether or not the counter has reached the preset number of logical pages per physical page. If the counter is equal to the number of logical pages, the process proceeds to step 1908. If not, the process proceeds to step 1904. . In step 1904, the counter is incremented by one. In step 1905, based on the number of logical pages per page and the counter, an effective print area for the logical page to be generated is calculated. In step 1906, the current logical page number is read from the information about the physical page notified in the form as shown in FIG. 11 using the counter as an index, and the logical page is reduced so as to be within the effective print area. However, if N-page printing is not designated, of course, there is no need for reduction. If generation of print data corresponding to a predetermined number of logical pages as one physical page has been completed, the process proceeds to step 1908. In step 1908, based on the effective print area of the physical page acquired from the application, the background pattern processing unit 205 generates a background pattern image in accordance with the information regarding the background pattern shown in FIG. The detailed process will be described later with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing details of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image generation process in step 1901 shown in FIG. 17 and the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image generation process in step 1908 shown in FIG. 18 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, the tint block image generation processing will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, a tint block image generation process is started in step S2701. Specifically, the tint block image generation instruction and the above-described tint block print setting information are input to the tint block processing unit 205. In step S2702, the tint block processing unit 205 reads the background threshold pattern, the foreground threshold pattern, the basic image, and the camouflage image. The basic image is image data serving as a basis for generating a tint block image. This is an image generated by the despooler 305 based on the various setting information shown in FIG.

  In step S2703, the tint block processing unit 205 determines initial pixels for generating the tint block image. For example, when a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is generated by performing image processing on the entire printable area of A4 paper in the raster scan order from the upper left to the lower right, the upper left of the printable area is set as the initial position. In this case, the printable area and the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image area are equal.

In step S2704, the tint block processing unit 205 executes processing for arranging the background threshold pattern, the foreground threshold pattern, the basic image, and the camouflage image on the tile from the upper left of the tint block image area by calculation based on the following equation (1). By this calculation, it is determined whether or not the pixel value corresponding to the dot at the time of printing is written in the pixel position. At this time, the pixel value corresponds to the input color information. Here, the background threshold pattern and the foreground threshold pattern are image data composed of “1” and “0” corresponding to dot writing / non-writing, and these images are foreground (latent image) images and background images. The data is binarized by each dither matrix suitable for creating the.
nWriteDotOn = nCamouflage × (nSmallDotOn × ¬nHiddenMark + nLargeDotOn × nHiddenMark) Equation (1)
The components of the formula are shown below.
nComouflage: 0 if the target pixel is a pixel constituting a camouflage pattern in the camouflage image, 1 otherwise.
nSmallDotOn: 1 if the pixel value of the background threshold pattern is black, 0 if white (color is not limited to this)
nLargeDotOn: 1 if the pixel value of the foreground threshold pattern is black, 0 if white (color is not limited to this)
NHiddenMark: 1 if the target pixel is a pixel constituting the latent image in the basic image, and 0 if the pixel constituting the background image.
nHiddenMark: Denial of nHiddenMark. 0 in the foreground part and 1 in the background part.

  Note that it is not necessary to calculate using all the elements of Expression (1) for each processing target pixel. The processing can be speeded up by eliminating unnecessary calculations.

  For example, if nHiddenMark = 1, ¬nHiddenMark = 0, and if nHiddenMark = 0, ¬nHiddenmark = 1. Therefore, if nHiddenMark = 1, the value of the following equation (2) may be the value of nLargeDotOn, and if nHiddenMark = 0, the value of equation (2) may be the value of nSmallDotOn.

Further, since the value of nCamouflage is an integration over the whole as shown in Expression (1), if nCamouflage = 0, nWriteDotOn = 0. Therefore, when nCamouflage = 0, the calculation of the following formula (2) can be omitted.
(NSmallDotOn x nHiddenMark + nLargeDotOn x nHiddenMark) Equation (2)
In the generated tint block image, the background threshold pattern, the foreground threshold pattern, the basic image, and the image having the least common multiple of the vertical and horizontal lengths of the camouflage image are the smallest unit of repetition. If only a part of the tint block image that is the minimum unit of the pattern is generated, and a part of the tint block image is repeatedly arranged in a tile shape in the size of the tint block image area, the processing time required to generate the tint block image can be shortened. That is, only the image shown as 3501 which is a part of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image in FIG. 24 is generated and arranged in a tile shape, whereby the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image shown as 3502 can be generated.

  Next, in step S2705, the CPU 1 determines the calculation result (value of nWriteDotOn) in step S2704. That is, if nWriteDotOn = 1, the process proceeds to step S2706, and if nWriteDotOn = 0, the process proceeds to step S2707.

  In step S2706, a process of writing a pixel value corresponding to a dot at the time of printing is performed. Here, the pixel value can be changed depending on the color of the tint block image. In addition, a color copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image can also be created by setting according to the color of toner or ink of the printer. Further, a secondary color obtained by combining a plurality of colors of toner and ink can be used.

  In step S2707, it is determined whether all the pixels in the processing target area have been processed. If all the pixels in the processing target area have not been processed, the process proceeds to step S2708, an unprocessed pixel is selected, and the processes in steps S2704 to S2706 are executed again.

  According to this embodiment, the user can determine whether to perform watermark printing or overprinting according to the presence / absence of a blank area of document data or a region to be filled with a white image, the application that generated the document data, and the like. As a result, it is possible to provide an information processing apparatus that is easier for the user to use for tint block printing.

  The process for combining the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image data and the document image data as a bitmap image is performed in the printer 1500. In the compositing process in the printer, when overlap printing is set, first, the original image data is rasterized on the bitmap memory, and then the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image data is rasterized so as to overwrite the original image data. Become. At this time, if the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image data is simply overwritten, the original image becomes invisible. Therefore, when the overprint setting is set, by using logical drawing such as AND / OR, it is possible to avoid overwriting the original image with the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image. For example, when a pixel of a bitmap image obtained by developing document image data has a value corresponding to white, the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image data corresponding to the pixel is overwritten on the bitmap memory corresponding to the pixel position, For a pixel having a value other than white, a process of not overwriting the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image data is performed.

(Second Embodiment)
The second embodiment of the present invention relates to a configuration for automatically selecting watermark printing and overlapping printing of a tint block image.

  This is made possible by first pressing the “watermark / overlay automatic selection” radio button 3101 in the user interface shown in FIG. That is, in this embodiment, in addition to the radio button 2210 for selecting watermark printing or overlap printing described with reference to FIG. 16, the radio button 3101 is provided, and three types of copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing settings are possible.

  When the “watermark / overlap automatic selection” radio button 3101 is pressed by the user, automatic determination is designated in the print order 2003 of the tint block pattern shown in FIG. The copy-forgery-inhibited pattern processing unit 205 (FIG. 3) uses the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern layer determination unit 308 to determine the print order 2003 of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern and perform watermark printing instead of the watermark printing and overlap printing processes described in FIGS. Alternatively, the overprinting is determined, and the background pattern printing is executed by automatically changing the printing order of the background pattern according to the determination. Note that the background pattern layer determining unit 308 is described as a module provided in the background pattern processing unit 205, but the present invention is not limited to this.

  FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing processing based on this automatic determination.

  First, in step S3301, the tint block processing unit 205 calls the tint block image application layer determining process of the tint block layer determining unit 308. The copy-forgery-inhibited pattern pattern printing order 2003 is determined to be watermark printing or overlapping printing by a process whose details will be described later with reference to FIG.

  In step S3302, it is determined whether the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image printing order 2003 determined in step S3301 is designated for watermark copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing. If watermark printing is designated, the process proceeds to step S3303. If not designated, the process proceeds to S3304. In step S3303, the watermark copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing process described in step S1901 in FIG. 17 is performed.

  In step S3304, a logical page of intermediate data is generated based on various print settings other than the background pattern. In step S3305, it is determined whether or not the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image printing order 2003 designates overlapping copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing. If overprinting is designated, the process proceeds to step S3306. If not designated, the process proceeds to the end.

  In step S3306, the overlapping tint block printing process described in step S1908 in FIG. 18 is performed.

  Note that it is not possible in the present invention to set watermark printing and overlap printing at the same time. Therefore, if it is determined in step S3302 that watermark printing is set, the process directly from step S3304. You may move to the end.

  The copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image application layer determination processing in the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern layer determination unit 308 called in step S3301 includes drawing in a logical page provided for a physical page stored in intermediate data, line drawing without brush painting, and background. This is a process of determining whether or not a drawing with a strong area element other than a character drawing without painting and the like overlaps with a local pattern image arranged in a tile shape as shown in FIG.

  The concept of this process will be described with reference to FIG. 23, FIG. 24, and FIG.

  When the document data shown in FIG. 25 is document data with many blank portions, that is, only graphics 3601, portrait bitmap image 3602, logo bitmap image 3603, and signature bitmap image 3604 are area-filled. In the case of having elements, the pattern image in the region shown in gray in FIG. In this case, since the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image shown in white in FIG. 23 does not overlap with the drawing in the intermediate data having a large area element, even after watermark copy-forgery-printing as shown in FIG. Is possible.

  On the other hand, when the data shown in FIG. 25 is original data with few blank portions, that is, graphics 3601, portrait bitmap image 3602, logo bitmap image 3603, character string data 3607 and 3608, and signature bitmap image. In addition to 3604, when the frame line 3606 has a white brush painting element, it overlaps with all of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern images in FIG. 24, and the latent image portion after copying cannot be recognized. In this case, it is necessary to apply overlapping background pattern printing.

  As can be seen from the above example, the latent image part after copying is a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image that has a strong area element other than line drawing without brush painting or character drawing without background painting. It is important whether it overlaps.

  FIG. 22 is a flowchart showing the process for determining how to overlap. This flow is executed by the tint block pattern application layer determining process in the tint block layer determining unit 308 called in step S3301 of FIG.

  First, in step S3401, each rendering element included in rendering is extracted as a current rendering element for each iteration by using an intermediate code of a logical page related to the current physical page and a function added according to user settings. . The end of this repetition is step S3408, which ends when extraction for all the drawing elements related to the current physical page is completed.

  Next, in step S3402, it is determined whether or not the extracted current drawing element has an area-filled element related to the bitmap or brush. If the current drawing element has an area-filled element, the process proceeds to step S3403, and if not, the process proceeds to S3408.

  In step S3403, a circumscribed rectangle of the current drawing element is calculated. In step S3404, the local pattern image areas arranged in a tile shape are listed as the current background pattern image area. The end of this repetition is step S3407, which ends when all the tint block image areas arranged in a tile shape are enumerated.

  In step S3405, it is determined whether or not the circumscribed rectangle of the current drawing element overlaps the rectangle of the current tint block image area. If there is an overlap, the process proceeds to step S3406, and if not, the process proceeds to S3407. In step S3406, a predetermined mark (flag data) indicating that the current tint block image area is an incomplete tint block image indicating that the area is an area related to a drawing element in the area of the tint block image area.

  Then, in step S3409, the ratio of the number of incomplete background pattern images with the above-mentioned predetermined mark in the entire background pattern image region arranged in a tile shape to the number of all background patterns images is obtained, and this ratio has a predetermined threshold value. Judge whether or not it has been exceeded. If the ratio exceeds the threshold, the process proceeds to step S3410. If the ratio does not exceed the threshold, the process proceeds to step S3411.

  In step S3410, it is registered in the print sequence 2003 of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image that the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern print is determined. In step S3411, the fact that it has been determined to perform watermark copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing is registered in the print sequence 2003 for the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image.

  As described above, depending on the area of the portion where the document to be printed and the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image overlap, it is determined whether the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is watermark-printed or overprinted on the document image. The optimum copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing can be automatically applied without intervention.

(Other embodiments)
In the second embodiment, when the user selects “watermark printing” or “overlap printing” with the radio button 2210 of the user interface shown in FIG. 20, the respective printing described in the first embodiment is performed. In this case, however, the processing described above with reference to FIG. 22 may be started. Then, it is determined whether or not the determination by the processing matches the selection by the user. If they do not match, the user may be notified via the user interface to prompt the user to reselect. Then, it may be forcibly changed in an appropriate order.

  Further, in the above embodiment, the description of the tiled copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image has been made. However, even when a single copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is applied to the entire page, line drawing without brush painting or character drawing without background painting is performed. By determining that there is no drawing on the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern that has a strong area element other than the above, it is possible to use this as a reference for automatic determination of watermark / overlaid copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing. In this case, only the process of step S3404 in FIG. 22 is repeated once, and the method of processing is not different from the above embodiment.

  In addition, the tiled local pattern image is further divided, and it is determined that there is no drawing with a strong area element other than line drawing without brush painting or character drawing without background painting for the divided area. It is also possible. In this case, only the repetition of step S3404 in FIG. 22 is multiplied by the number of divisions, and the method of processing does not change from the above embodiment.

  In addition, some printing devices are not good at rasterization of copy-forgery-inhibited pattern images by logical operations such as OR / AND used for watermark pattern printing, in terms of printing speed and image reproduction than overprinting of overprinting. Exists. For such a printing apparatus, it is also possible to apply watermark copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image printing only to an incomplete copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image region and print other regions by overlapping copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image printing when performing watermark copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image printing.

  Further, in some applications, a page is white-painted as an initial drawing. This first white page doesn't make sense. Therefore, it is possible to delete the meaningless drawing from the intermediate data by determining the application name and analyzing the drawing element for the first white painting, and further improve the accuracy of the automatic determination.

  According to each of the embodiments described above, whether to generate print data so as to draw a print output image after drawing a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image based on how the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image and the print output image overlap in the printable area of the print medium. Or, after the print output image is drawn, the determination process for determining whether to generate the print data so as to draw the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is executed, and the print data is generated according to this determination process. It is possible to automatically perform printing in which the overlapping method is automatically associated with the identification of the tint block image.

  As a result, it is possible to appropriately apply the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image identification and to make the information processing apparatus easier to use for the user with respect to copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing.

  In addition, although the process of each embodiment mentioned above was demonstrated as performing in the host computer 3000, this invention is not restricted to this, You may perform by printing apparatus side, such as a printer. In this case, it can be executed by incorporating a module corresponding to the tint block processing unit 205 into the printer.

  In each of the above-described embodiments, the document data and the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image data are sent to the printer as a page description language such as PDL, and the data is rasterized on the printer side so as to become a bitmap image. The present invention is not limited to this, and it is also possible to generate a bitmap image obtained by combining the document data and the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image data on the host computer side, and transmit the generated bitmap data to the printer.

(Still another embodiment)
Note that the present invention can be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.), or a device (copier, printer, facsimile device, etc.) composed of a single device. You may apply to.

  In addition, the object of the present invention is that a computer (or CPU or MPU) of a system or apparatus stores a storage medium storing program codes for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments and realizing the procedures of the flowcharts shown in the drawings. It is also achieved by reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium.

  In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

  As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD-R, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, or the like is used. be able to.

  Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS (operating system) operating on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. A case where part or all of actual processing is performed and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing is also included.

  Furthermore, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion board is based on the instruction of the program code. The CPU included in the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

1 CPU
2 RAM
3 ROM
203 Printer Driver 205 Background Pattern Processing Unit 305 Despooler 306 Previewer 307 Setting Change Editor 308 Background Pattern Layer Determination Unit 1500 Printer 3000 Host Computer

Claims (3)

A second device connected to the first device for creating a printed matter by combining the document data and the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image data,
Which method is used, the first method for creating a printed material in which the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is formed on the original, and the second method for producing a printed material in which the original is applied on the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image. Or specified by the user,
A second apparatus, wherein print data for causing the first apparatus to perform composition and creation of a printed matter according to a method designated for use is transmitted to the first apparatus . A processing method in a second apparatus connected to a first apparatus that synthesizes document data and copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image data to create a printed matter ,
Which method is used, the first method for creating a printed material in which the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is formed on the original, and the second method for producing a printed material in which the original is applied on the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image. Or specified by the user,
A processing method comprising: transmitting print data for causing the first apparatus to perform composition and creation of a printed matter according to a method designated for use, to the first apparatus .   A program for causing a computer to function as the apparatus according to claim 1.