JP5807471B2 - Print control apparatus, calculation method, and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a print control apparatus, a calculation method, and a program.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been an image forming apparatus equipped with clear toner, which is a colorless toner containing no color material, in addition to toners of four colors C (cyan), M (magenta), Y (yellow), and K (black). Exists. The toner image formed with such a clear toner is fixed on a recording medium such as transfer paper on which an image is formed with CMYK toner, and as a result, a visual effect or a tactile effect on the surface of the recording medium ( A surface effect). The surface effect to be realized differs depending on what kind of toner image is formed on the clear toner and what kind of fixing is performed. There are surface effects that simply give gloss, and surface effects that suppress gloss. Further, there is a technique that not only gives a surface effect to the entire surface but also gives a surface effect to only a part.

  On the other hand, a management counter that counts and stores the frequency for the purpose of investigating the usage of various functions and charging in a certain usage unit for a certain period of time during printing by a printer is conventionally known. In this technology, a color / monochrome counter based on CYMK colored toner as well as a counter indicating the usage frequency with clear toner are already known.

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses the following technique. The technology of Patent Document 1 was created by a general application in order to solve the problem that a transparent object that is printed with clear toner cannot be specified in the color space of a normal graphic engine that is not a dedicated application. By using the data, it is possible to specify that an image for colored toner and an image for any special color toner are to be overlaid, and to charge for the printer.

  For this reason. In the technique of Patent Document 1, a page to be printed using clear toner is designated from a group of pages received from an application, and a clear toner page that is a designated page and a page in which clear toner is not designated in the page group. A job including data for printing a certain color toner page on the same side of the same sheet is generated and transmitted to the printer, and the printer is charged with a color charging counter and a clear toner for charging. A charging counter is provided, and the color charging counter and the clear toner charging counter are counted up with the execution of color printing and clear toner printing.

  There are various types of surface effects using clear toner, such as a gloss effect and a matte effect. In the printing process, a plurality of pages are printed in one print job, which is a single printing. However, the surface effect by the clear toner can be changed for each page, and a plurality of pages can be included in one page. Various surface effects can also be applied.

  However, the conventional counter for clear toner does not distinguish the type of surface effect by the clear toner and counts uniformly by using the clear toner. Therefore, the counter value for each surface effect cannot be obtained, and the details are more detailed. There has been a problem that the degree of use of the surface effect by the clear toner cannot be grasped.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a print control apparatus, a calculation method, and a program that can grasp the degree of utilization of the surface effect by clear toner in more detail.

To solve the above problems and achieve the object, the present invention in such invention, the clear toner free colors are mounting tower, recorded based on clear toner image data for attaching the clear toner A printing control apparatus for controlling a printing apparatus that forms an image on a medium, the type of surface effect being a visual or tactile effect imparted to the recording medium, and an area in the recording medium to which the surface effect is imparted based on data for specifying, based on the generator and, set density values before Symbol clear toner plane for generating image data of the clear toner plane set the density value of each pixel, the clear an analysis unit for analyzing the surface effect that is specified in the image data of the toner plane, based on the result of the analysis of the analysis unit, with a, a calculating unit which exits calculate the number of said designated surface effect And wherein the door.

Further, the calculation method according to the present invention, the clear toner free colors are mounting tower, controls the printing apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium based on image data of the clear toner plane for attaching said clear toner there calculation method to be executed by the printing control device, de chromatography for specifying the area in the recording medium that imparts a type with the surface effect of the surface effect is a visual or tactile effect applied to the recording medium based on the data, a generation step of generating image data of the clear toner plane set the density value of each pixel, based on the set density value before Symbol clear toner, the image data of the clear toner plane an analysis step for analyzing said designated surface effect, a calculation steps based on the analysis in the analyzing step, and out calculate the number of said designated surface effect, Characterized in that it contains.

The program according to the present invention, a computer clear toner free colors are mounting tower, controls the printing apparatus for forming an image on a clear toner plane recording medium based on image data of for attaching the clear toner a program to be executed by a, the data for specifying the area in the recording medium that imparts a type with the surface effect of the surface effect is a visual or tactile effect applied to the recording medium based on a generation step of generating image data of the clear toner plane set the density value of each pixel, based on the set density value to the clear toner, which is specified in the image data of the clear toner plane calculation that calculates an analysis step of analyzing the surface effect, based on the analysis in the analyzing step, the number of said designated surface effect To execute the steps, to the computer.

  According to the present invention, there is an effect that the utilization degree of the surface effect by the clear toner can be grasped in more detail.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming system according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of color plane image data. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating types of surface effects relating to the presence or absence of gloss. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the gloss effect. FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the matte effect. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the image data of the gloss control plane as an image. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of clear plane image data. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of the density value selection table. FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram conceptually illustrating a configuration example of print data. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a correspondence relationship between a drawing object, coordinates, and density values in the gloss control plane image data of FIG. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration of DFE. FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the clear processing and the counter value calculation unit. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a data configuration of the surface effect selection table. FIG. 14 is a diagram conceptually illustrating the configuration of the MIC. FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of gloss control processing performed by the image forming system. FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating the procedure of the gloss control plane image data conversion process. FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating the procedure of the counting process according to the first embodiment. FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram showing the counter value of each counter of the first embodiment for each page. FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the counting process according to the second embodiment. FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the counter value of each counter according to the second embodiment for each page. FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating the procedure of the counting process according to the third embodiment. FIG. 22 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the counter value of each counter according to the third embodiment for each page. FIG. 23 is a hardware configuration diagram of the host device 10 and the DFE 50.

  Embodiments of a print control apparatus, a calculation method, and a program will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(Embodiment 1)
First, the configuration of the image forming system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the present embodiment, the image forming system includes a printer control device (DFE: Digital Front End) 50 (hereinafter referred to as “DFE 50”) and an interface controller (MIC: Mechanism I / F Controller) 60 (hereinafter referred to as “DFE 50”). MIC 60 ”), a printer 70, and a glosser 80 and a low-temperature fixing device 90 as post-processing devices. The DFE 50 communicates with the printer 70 via the MIC 60 and controls image formation on the printer 70. The DFE 50 is connected to a host device 10 such as a PC (Personal Computer). The DFE 50 receives image data from the host device 10 and uses the image data to allow the printer 70 to use the CMYK toner and the toner. Image data for forming a toner image corresponding to the clear toner is generated and transmitted to the printer 70 via the MIC 60. The printer 70 is equipped with at least CMYK toners and clear toners, and an image forming unit, an exposure unit, and a fixing unit including a photoreceptor, a charger, a developing unit, and a photoreceptor cleaner for each toner. Each is installed.

  Here, the clear toner is a transparent (colorless) toner that does not contain a color material. In addition, transparent (colorless) shows that the transmittance | permeability is 70% or more, for example.

  In response to the image data transmitted from the DFE 50 via the MIC 60, the printer 70 irradiates a light beam from the exposure device to form a toner image corresponding to each toner on the photoreceptor, and uses this as a recording medium. This is transferred to a transfer paper and fixed by heating and pressing at a temperature within a predetermined range (normal temperature) by a fixing machine. As a result, an image is formed on the transfer paper. Since the configuration of the printer 70 is well known, detailed description thereof is omitted here.

  The glosser 80 is controlled to be turned on or off by the on / off information specified by the DFE 50. When the glosser 80 is turned on, the printer 70 presses the image formed on the transfer paper at a high temperature and a high pressure, and then cools the image. The transfer paper on which the image is formed is peeled off from the main body. As a result, the total amount of toner adhered to each pixel to which a predetermined amount or more of toner has adhered in the entire image formed on the transfer paper is uniformly compressed. The low-temperature fixing device 90 is equipped with an image forming unit including a photosensitive member for clear toner, a charger, a developing device, and a photosensitive cleaner, an exposure device, and a fixing device for fixing the clear toner. The clear toner plane image data, which will be described later, generated by the DFE 50 to use the machine 90 is input. When the DFE 50 generates clear toner plane image data (clear toner plane data) to be used by the low temperature fixing machine 90, the low temperature fixing machine 90 forms a toner image with the clear toner using the image data. The toner image is superposed on the transfer paper pressurized by 80 and fixed on the transfer paper by a fixing machine with heating or pressurization lower than usual.

  Here, image data (original data) input from the host device 10 will be described. In the host device 10, image data is generated by an image processing application (an image processing unit 120, a plate data generation unit 122, a print data generation unit 123, which will be described later) installed in advance, and is transmitted to the DFE 50. In such an image processing application, it is possible to handle the image data of the special color version with respect to the image data in which the density value (referred to as the density value) of each color in each color plate such as the RGB version or the CMYK version is defined for each pixel It is. The special color plate is image data for attaching special toners and inks such as white, gold, and silver in addition to basic colors such as CMYK and RGB, and is equipped with such special toners and inks. Data for printers. In the special color plate, R may be added to the basic colors of CMYK or Y may be added to the basic colors of RGB in order to improve color reproducibility. Usually, clear toner is also handled as one of the special colors.

  In the present embodiment, the clear toner as the special color is used to form a surface effect which is a visual or tactile effect applied to the transfer paper, and to the transfer paper, a watermark or texture other than the surface effect is provided. It is used to form a transparent image.

  For this reason, the image processing application of the host device 10 applies the gloss control plane image data and / or the specified color image data to the input image data as a special color plane image data and / or as specified by the user. Clear image data is generated.

  Here, the color plane image data is image data in which color density values such as RGB and CMYK are defined for each pixel. In the color plane image data, one pixel is expressed by 8 bits according to the color designation by the user. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of color plane image data. In FIG. 2, a density value corresponding to the color designated by the user in the image processing application is assigned to each drawing object such as “A”, “B”, and “C”.

  Further, the gloss control plane image data refers to the area to which the surface effect is applied and the surface in order to perform control to attach the clear toner according to the surface effect which is a visual or tactile effect applied to the transfer paper. This is image data that specifies the type of effect.

  This gloss control plane is represented by a density value in the range of “0” to “255” with 8 bits for each pixel as in the color version such as RGB or CMYK, and the type of surface effect is associated with this density value. (The density value may be 16 bits, 32 bits, or 0-100%). In addition, since the same value is set in the range where the same surface effect is to be applied regardless of the density of the clear toner that is actually attached, the area can be easily determined from the image data as needed even if there is no data indicating the area. Can be identified. That is, the type of surface effect and the area to which the surface effect is applied are represented by the gloss control plate (data representing the area may be separately provided).

  Here, the host device 10 sets the type of surface effect for the drawing object specified by the user through the image processing application as a density value as the gloss control value for each drawing object, and the vector format gloss control version image data ( Gloss control plane data) is generated.

  Each pixel constituting the gloss control plane image data corresponds to a pixel of the color plane image data. In each image data, the density value represented by each pixel is a pixel value. Both the color plane image data and the gloss control plane are configured in units of pages.

  The types of surface effects are roughly classified into those relating to the presence or absence of gloss, surface protection, watermarks with embedded information, and textures. As illustrated in FIG. 3, there are roughly four types of surface effects relating to the presence or absence of gloss, and the specular gloss (PG: Premium Gloss) and solid gloss (G: Gloss) are in descending order of the degree of gloss (glossiness). ), Halftone dot mat (M: Matt), and matte (PM: Premium Matt). Hereinafter, the specular gloss may be referred to as “PG”, the solid gloss as “G”, the halftone dot mat as “M”, and the matte as “PM”.

  Mirror gloss and solid gloss are highly glossy. Conversely, halftone mats and matte are used to reduce gloss, and in particular, matte is less gloss than normal transfer paper. Is realized. In the figure, the specular gloss has a gloss Gs of 80 or more, the solid gloss is a solid gloss of a primary color or a secondary color, the halftone dot is a primary color and a gloss of 30%, and the matte is gloss. Degree of 10 or less. Further, the deviation of the glossiness is represented by ΔGs and is 10 or less. For each type of surface effect, a high density value is associated with a surface effect having a high degree of glossiness, and a low density value is associated with a surface effect that suppresses gloss. The intermediate density value is associated with a surface effect such as a watermark or texture. As the watermark, for example, a character or a background pattern is used. The texture represents a character or a pattern, and can provide a tactile effect as well as a visual effect. For example, a stained glass pattern can be realized with clear toner. For surface protection, mirror gloss or solid gloss is substituted. It should be noted that which region of the image represented by the image data to be processed is given a surface effect and what kind of surface effect is given to that region is specified by the user via the image processing application. In the host device 10 that executes the image processing application, the gloss control plane image data is generated by setting the density value corresponding to the surface effect specified by the user for the drawing object constituting the area specified by the user. Is done. The correspondence between the density value and the type of surface effect will be described later.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the gloss effect. FIG. 4 shows changes in density when an image is scanned at an arbitrary position. For each plate of 8 bits (0 to 255) of the image data CMYK, a sum C + M + Y + K of toner density values per pixel is calculated. Then, a difference from 255 × 4 = 1220 of this value is calculated, and this becomes an inverse mask, which is an amount to which clear toner is attached. By superimposing the inverse mask on the original image, the glossy region can be obtained by making the total toner adhesion amount uniform. Details of the inverse mask will be described later.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the matte effect. FIG. 5 shows changes in density when an image is scanned at an arbitrary position. Since each of the CMYK colored toners is uniform, if gloss is obtained, the total amount of toner adhesion is originally uniform when a matte mat with a non-uniform density as shown in FIG. It becomes uneven. For this reason, the effect of erasing can be obtained as the gloss is generated. Such a halftone dot mat is stored in the DFE 50 as pattern data, and is developed in the pattern data area in units of pixels.

  FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of image data of the gloss control plane. In the example of the gloss control version of FIG. 6, the surface effect “PG (specular gloss)” is given to the drawing object “ABC” by the user, and the surface effect “G (solid gloss)” is given to the drawing object “(rectangular figure)”. ”Is given, and the surface effect“ M (halftone matte) ”is given to the drawing object“ (circular figure) ”. The density value (gloss control value) set for each surface effect is a density value determined in accordance with the type of surface effect in a surface effect selection table (see FIG. 13) described later.

  The clear plane image data is image data specifying a transparent image such as a watermark or texture other than the surface effect. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of clear plane image data. In the example of FIG. 7, the watermark “Sale” is designated by the user.

  In this way, the gloss control plane image data and the clear plane image data, which are the image data of the special color plane, are generated by the image processing application of the host device 10 in a plane different from the color plane image data. In addition, the format of each color image data, gloss control image data, and clear image data is PDF (Portable Document Format), but the PDF image data of each version is integrated. Is generated as document data. Note that the data format of each version of the image data is not limited to PDF, and any format can be used.

  The host device 10 generates color plane image data and clear plane image data by an image processing application according to a user instruction. Further, the host device 10 generates image data of a gloss control plane in which an area designated by the user and a surface effect are set by an image processing application or plug-in software thereof.

  The host device 10 stores in the storage unit (not shown) a density value selection table that stores the type of surface effect designated by the user and the density value of the gloss control plate corresponding to the type of surface effect. Yes. The image processing application or its plug-in software generates gloss control plane image data using this density value selection table.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of the density value selection table. In the example of FIG. 8, the density value of the gloss control plane corresponding to the area for which “PG” (specular gloss) is designated by the user is “98%”, and the area for which “G” (solid gloss) is designated. The density value of the corresponding gloss control plane is “90%”, the density value of the gloss control plane corresponding to the area where “M” (halftone matte) is designated is “16%”, and “PM” ( The density value of the gloss control plane corresponding to the area designated “matt” is “6%”.

  This density value selection table is a part of data of a surface effect selection table (described later) stored in the DFE 50, and the control unit 15 acquires the surface effect selection table at a predetermined timing and acquires the acquired surface effect selection. Generated from the table and stored in the storage unit. The surface effect selection table is stored in a storage server (cloud) on a network such as the Internet, and the control unit of the host device 10 acquires the surface effect selection table from the server, and from the acquired surface effect selection table. You may comprise so that it may produce | generate. However, the surface effect selection table stored in the DFE 50 and the surface effect selection table stored in the storage unit of the host device 10 need to be the same data.

  The host device 10 refers to the density value selection table shown in FIG. 8 and changes the density value (gloss control value) of the drawing object for which a predetermined surface effect is designated by the user to a value corresponding to the type of the surface effect. By setting, gloss control image data is generated. For example, in the target image that is the color plane image data shown in FIG. 2, the user sets “PG” in the area where “ABC” is displayed, “G” in the rectangular area, and “M” in the circular area. Assume that it is specified to be given. In this case, the host device 10 sets the density value of the drawing object (“ABC”) for which “PG” is designated by the user to “98%” and the drawing object for which “G” is designated (“rectangle”). Is set to “90%”, and the density value of the drawing object (“circular”) for which “M” is designated is set to “16%”, thereby generating gloss control image data. The generated gloss control plane image data is vector format data expressed as a set of drawing objects indicating the coordinates of the points, the parameters of the line and surface equations connecting them, and the fill and special effects. . FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a correspondence relationship between a drawing object, coordinates, and density values in the gloss control plane image data of FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the image data of the gloss control plane as an image. Then, original data in which the gloss control plane image data, the image data of the target image (colored plane image data), and the clear plane image data are integrated is generated.

  Then, the host device 10 generates print data based on the document data. The print data includes image data of the target image (colored image data), gloss control image data, clear image data, printer settings, aggregation settings, duplex settings, etc. for the printer. Job command to be specified. FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram conceptually illustrating a configuration example of print data. In the example of FIG. 9, JDF (Job Definition Format) is used as the job command, but the job command is not limited to this. The JDF shown in FIG. 9 is a command that designates “single-sided printing / staple” as the aggregation setting. Further, the print data may be converted into a page description language (PDL) such as PostScript, or may be in the PDF format as long as the DFE 50 supports it.

  Next, the functional configuration of the DFE 50 will be described. As illustrated in FIG. 11, the DFE 50 includes a rendering engine 51, a si1 unit 52, a TRC (Tone Reproduction Curve) 53, a si2 unit 54, a halftone engine 55, a clear processing 56, and a si3 unit 57. A color / monochrome determination unit 58, a counter value calculation unit 59, and a charging processing unit 60.

  The rendering engine 51, the si1 unit 52, the TRC (Tone Reproduction Curve) 53, the si2 unit 54, the halftone engine 55, the clear processing 56, and the si3 unit 57 are controlled by the control unit of the DFE 50, This is realized by executing various programs stored in the auxiliary storage unit. Each of the si1 unit 52, the si2 unit 54, and the si3 unit 57 has a function of separating image data (sepatate) and a function of integrating image data (integrate). The surface effect selection table is stored in, for example, an auxiliary storage unit.

  The rendering engine 51 receives image data (for example, print data shown in FIG. 9) transmitted from the host device 10. The rendering engine 51 interprets input image data in a language, converts image data expressed in a vector format into a raster format, and converts a color space expressed in an RGB format or the like into a color space in a CMYK format. The 8-bit image data and 8-bit gloss control plane of the CMYK color plane are output. The si1 unit 52 outputs CMYK 8-bit image data to the TRC 53, and outputs an 8-bit gloss control plane to the clear processing 56.

  Here, the DFE 50 converts the vector-format gloss control plane image data output from the host device 10 into a raster format. As a result, the DFE 50 determines the type of surface effect on the drawing object designated by the user using the image processing application. Are set as density values in units of pixels, and gloss control plane image data is output.

  CMYK 8-bit image data is input to the TRC 53 via the si1 unit 52. The TRC 53 performs gamma correction on the input image data using a 1D_LUT gamma curve generated by calibration. The image processing includes not only gamma correction but also restriction on the total amount of toner, but is omitted in the example of this embodiment. The si2 unit 54 outputs the CMYK 8-bit image data that has been gamma-corrected by the TRC 53 to the clear processing 56 as data for generating an inverse mask (described later). The halftone engine 55 receives 8-bit image data of CMYK after gamma correction via the si2 unit 54. The halftone engine 55 performs a halftone process for converting the input image data to a data format of image data such as 2 bits of CMYK, for example, to output the input image data to the printer 70, and each CMYK after the halftone process. Outputs 2-bit image data. Note that 2 bits are an example, and the present invention is not limited to this.

  The clear processing 56 receives the 8-bit gloss control version converted by the rendering engine 51 via the si1 unit 52, and the CMYK 8-bit image data subjected to the gamma correction by the TRC 53 receives the si2 unit 54. Is input via.

  FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating the functional configuration of the clear processing 56 and the counter value calculation unit 59. As shown in FIG. 12, the clear processing 56 includes a surface effect selection table storage unit 1201, a clear toner plate generation unit 1202, a gloss control storage unit 1204, and a clear toner plate analysis unit 1203.

  The surface effect selection table storage unit 1201 stores a surface effect selection table described later. The gloss control plane storage unit 1204 stores gloss control plane image data received from the host device 10. The gloss control plane storage unit 1204 stores the gloss control plane image data converted by the clear toner plane generation unit 1202.

  The clear toner plane generation unit 1202 refers to the surface effect selection table stored in the surface effect selection table storage unit 1201 using the input gloss control plane, and the density value represented by each pixel constituting the gloss control plane The surface effect on (pixel value) is determined, and on or off of the glosser 80 is determined according to the determination, and an inverse mask or a solid mask is appropriately generated using each input 8-bit image data of CMYK. By doing so, image data of a 2-bit clear toner plate for attaching the clear toner is appropriately generated.

  Then, according to the determination result of the surface effect, the clear toner plate generating unit 1202 appropriately generates the clear toner plate image data used in the printer device 70 and the clear toner plate image data used in the low temperature fixing device 90. And on / off information indicating whether the glosser 80 is on or off.

  Here, the inverse mask is for uniformizing the total adhesion amount of the CMYK toner and the clear toner on each pixel constituting the region to which the surface effect is applied. Specifically, image data obtained by adding all density values represented by pixels constituting the target area in the CMYK version image data and subtracting the added value from a predetermined value is an inverse mask. For example, the above-described inverse mask 1 is represented by the following formula 1.

Clr = 100− (C + M + Y + K) However, when Clr <0, Clr = 0
... (Formula 1)

  In Expression 1, Clr, C, M, Y, and K represent density ratios converted from density values in the respective pixels for the clear toner and the C, M, Y, and K toners, respectively. That is, according to Equation 1, the total adhesion amount obtained by adding the adhesion amount of the clear toner to the total adhesion amount of the C, M, Y, and K toners is set to 100% for all the pixels constituting the target area to be given the surface effect. To. When the total adhesion amount of C, M, Y, and K toners is 100% or more, the clear toner is not adhered, and the density ratio is set to 0%. This is because the portion where the total adhesion amount of each toner of C, M, Y, and K exceeds 100% is smoothed by the fixing process. In this way, by making the total adhesion amount on all the pixels constituting the target area to which the surface effect is given to be 100% or more, there is no surface unevenness due to the difference in the total toner adhesion quantity in the target area. As a result, gloss due to regular reflection of light occurs. However, some inverse masks are obtained by other than Equation 1, and there can be a plurality of types of inverse masks.

For example, the inverse mask may be one in which clear toner is uniformly attached to each pixel. The inverse mask in this case is also referred to as a solid mask, and is represented by the following Expression 2.
Clr = 100 (Formula 2)

  Note that among the pixels to which the surface effect is applied, there may be a pixel associated with a density ratio other than 100%, and there may be a plurality of solid mask patterns.

For example, the inverse mask may be obtained by multiplying the background exposure rate of each color. The inverse mask in this case is expressed by the following Expression 3, for example.
Clr = 100 × {(100−C) / 100} × {(100−M) / 100} × {(100−Y) / 100} × {(100−K) / 100} (Equation 3)
In the above formula 3, (100-C) / 100 represents the background exposure rate of C, (100-M) / 100 represents the background exposure rate of M, and (100-Y) / 100 represents Y The background exposure rate is indicated, and (100−K) / 100 indicates the background exposure rate of K.

Further, for example, the inverse mask may be obtained by a method that assumes that the halftone dot of the maximum area ratio regulates smoothness. The inverse mask in this case is expressed by the following formula 4, for example.
Clr = 100−max (C, M, Y, K) (Formula 4)
In the above equation 4, max (C, M, Y, K) indicates that the density value of the color indicating the maximum density value among CMYK is a representative value.

  In short, the inverse mask only needs to be expressed by any one of the above formulas 1 to 4.

  The surface effect selection table shows the correspondence between the density value as the gloss control value indicating the surface effect and the type of the surface effect, and the control information regarding the post-processing machine according to the configuration of the image forming system, the printer 7 is a table showing a correspondence relationship between clear toner plane image data used in the machine 70 and clear toner plane image data used in the post-processing machine. Although the configuration of the image forming system may be variously different, in the present embodiment, the glosser 80 and the low-temperature fixing device 90 are connected to the printer device 70 as a post-processing device. For this reason, the control information related to the post-processor according to the configuration of the image forming system is on / off information indicating whether the glosser 80 is on or off. The clear toner plane image data used in the post-processor includes clear toner plane image data used in the low-temperature fixing device 90. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a data configuration of the surface effect selection table. Note that the surface effect selection table includes control information regarding the post-processing device, image data of the clear toner plate 1 used in the printer device 70, and image data of the clear toner plate 2 used in the post-processing device for each configuration of different image forming systems. FIG. 13 illustrates a data configuration corresponding to the configuration of the image forming system according to the present embodiment. In the correspondence relationship between the types of surface effects and density values shown in the figure, each type of surface effect is associated with each range of density values. Further, each type of surface effect is associated with the ratio (density ratio) of the density converted from the representative value (representative value) of the density value range in units of 2%. Specifically, a surface effect (mirror effect and solid effect) that gives gloss is associated with a density value range (“212” to “255”) in which the density rate is 84% or more, and the density rate A surface effect (halftone matte and matte) that suppresses gloss is associated with a range of density values (“1” to “43”) that is 16% or less. In addition, surface effects such as texture and background pattern watermark are associated with a range of density values in which the density ratio is 20% to 80%.

  More specifically, for example, specular gloss (PM: Premium Gross) is associated with the pixel values “238” to “255” as a surface effect, and among these, “238” to “242”. Different types of specular gloss are associated with the three ranges of the pixel value of “243” to “247” and the pixel value of “248” to “255”. Further, the pixel values “212” to “232” are associated with solid gloss (G: Gross), and among these, the pixel values “212” to “216”, “217” to “232”. Different types of solid glossiness are associated with the four ranges of the pixel value 221, the pixel values “222” to “227”, and the pixel values “228” to “232”. The pixel values “23” to “43” are associated with halftone dot mats (M: Matt), and among these, the pixel values “23” to “28”, “29” to “29” Different types of halftone mats are associated with the four ranges of “33” pixel values, “34” to “38” pixel values, and “39” to “43” pixel values. Further, the pixel values of “1” to “17” are associated with matte (PM), among which pixel values of “1” to “7” and “8” to “7”. Different types of matte are associated with the three ranges of the pixel value of “12” and the pixel values of “13” to “17”. These different types of the same surface effect have different formulas for obtaining clear toner plane image data used in the printer 70 and the low-temperature fixing device 90, and the operations of the printer main body and the post-processing machine are the same. Incidentally, the density value of “0” is associated with not giving a surface effect.

  FIG. 13 also shows on / off information indicating whether the glosser 80 is on or off, the image data of the clear toner plate 1 used in the printer 70 (Clr-1 in FIG. 1), and the pixel value and the surface effect. The image data contents of the clear toner plate 2 used in the low-temperature fixing device 90 are shown. For example, when the surface effect is specular gloss, it is indicated that the glosser 80 is turned on, and the image data of the clear toner plate 1 used in the printer 70 represents an inverse mask. It is shown that there is no image data (Clr-2 in FIG. 1) of the clear toner plate 2 to be used. The inverse mask is obtained by, for example, Equation 1 described above. Note that the example shown in FIG. 13 is an example in which the region in which the specular effect is specified as the surface effect corresponds to the entire region defined by the image data. An example of the case where the region in which the mirror effect is designated as the surface effect corresponds to a part of the region defined by the image data will be described later.

  Further, when the density value is “228” to “232” and the surface effect is solid gloss, it is indicated that the glosser 80 is turned off, and the image data of the clear toner plate 1 used in the printer 70 is It is shown that there is no image data of the clear toner plate 2 which is the inverse mask 1 and used in the low-temperature fixing device 90. The inverse mask 1 may be any one represented by any one of the above formulas 1 to 4. This is because the glosser 80 is off and the total amount of toner to be smoothed differs, so that the surface unevenness increases due to the specular gloss, and as a result, a solid gloss with low glossiness is obtained due to the specular gloss. Further, when the surface effect is a halftone dot mat, it is indicated that the glosser 80 is turned off, and the image data of the clear toner plate 1 used in the printer 70 represents a halftone (halftone dot). It is indicated that there is no image data of the clear toner plate 2 used in the low-temperature fixing device 90. Further, when the surface effect is matte, it is indicated that the glosser 80 may be turned on or off, and there is no image data of the clear toner plate 1 used in the printer 70, and the low-temperature fixing device 90. It is shown that the image data of the clear toner plate 2 used in 1 represents a solid mask. The solid mask is obtained by, for example, the above equation 2.

  The clear processing 56 refers to the surface effect selection table described above, determines the surface effect associated with each pixel value indicated by the gloss control plane, determines whether the glosser 80 is on or off, and The clear toner plane image data to be used by the machine 70 and the low-temperature fixing machine 90 is determined. The clear processing 56 determines whether the glosser 80 is on or off for each page. As described above, the clear processing 56 appropriately generates and outputs clear toner plane image data according to the result of the determination, and outputs on / off information for the glosser 80.

  The si3 unit 57 integrates the CMYK 2-bit image data after the halftone process and the 2-bit clear toner plane image data generated by the clear processing 56, and outputs the integrated image data to the MIC 60. Note that the clear processing 56 may not generate at least one of the clear toner plane image data used in the printer 70 and the clear toner plane image data used in the low-temperature fixing device 90. When the clear toner plane image data is integrated by the si3 unit 57 and the clear toner 56 image data is not generated by the clear processing 56, the si3 unit 57 receives the CMYK 2-bit image data. Integrated image data is output. As a result, 4 to 6 image data each having 2 bits are sent from the DFE 50 to the MIC 60. The si3 unit 57 also outputs on / off information for the glosser 80 output from the clear processing 56 to the MIC 60.

  Returning to FIG. 12, the clear toner plane analysis unit 1203 analyzes the surface effect specified in the clear toner plane data based on the density value set in the image data of the clear toner plane.

  Returning to FIG. 11, the color / monochrome determination unit 58 determines whether each page is a color image or a monochrome image from the pixels of the color plane image data.

  The counter value calculation unit 59 calculates various counter values. As shown in FIG. 12, the home delivery drafting unit 59 includes a gloss effect counter 1211, a matte effect counter 1212, a color counter 1221, and a black and white counter 1222.

  The color counter 1221 counts up the counter value when the color / monochrome determination unit 58 determines that the page is a color image. The monochrome counter 1222 counts up the counter value when the color / monochrome determination unit 58 determines that the page is a monochrome image.

  The gloss effect counter 1211 counts up the counter value every time a specified pixel of specular gloss or solid gloss is found in the page based on the analysis result of the clear toner plane analysis unit 1203. The matte effect counter 1212 counts up the counter value every time a designated matte pixel is found in the page based on the analysis result of the clear toner plate analysis unit 1203.

  Returning to FIG. 11, the accounting processing unit 60 performs accounting processing based on the counter value calculated by the counter value calculating unit 59. The billing processing unit 60 may be provided in a device other than the DFE 50.

  The MIC 60 is connected to the DFE 50 and the printer 70, receives the color plane image data and the clear toner plane image data from the DFE 50, distributes each image data to the corresponding device, and controls the post-processing machine. More specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 14, the MIC 60 outputs the CMYK color image data of the image data output from the DFE 50 to the printer device 70, and uses the clear toner plate used in the printer device 70. Is output to the printer 70, and the glosser 80 is turned on or off using the on / off information output from the DFE 50, and the clear toner plane image data used in the low-temperature fixing device 90 is obtained. In some cases, this is output to the low-temperature fixing device 90. The glosser 80 may switch between a path for fixing and a path for not fixing according to the on / off information. The low-temperature fixing device 90 may switch on or off or switch the route similar to the glosser 80 depending on the presence or absence of clear toner plane image data.

  Next, a gloss control process performed by the image forming system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. When the DFE 50 receives the image data from the host device 10 (step S1), the rendering engine 51 interprets the language, converts the image data expressed in the vector format into the raster format, and expresses it in the RGB format. The color space is converted into a CMYK format color space to obtain 8-bit image data and an 8-bit gloss control plane of the CMYK color plane (step S2).

  Here, the details of the conversion process of the gloss control plane image data in step 2 will be described. FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating the procedure of the gloss control plane image data conversion process. In this conversion processing, as shown in FIG. 10, the gloss control plane image data in which the density value specifying the surface effect is specified for each drawing object, and the density value is specified for each pixel constituting the drawing object. Convert to gloss control image data.

  The rendering engine 51 assigns the density value set for the drawing object to the pixels in the coordinate range corresponding to the drawing object of the gloss control version shown in FIG. 10 (step S41), thereby controlling the gloss control. Convert the image data of the plate. Then, it is determined whether or not such processing has been completed for all the drawing objects existing in the gloss control plane image data (step S42).

  If the rendering engine 51 has not yet completed (step S42: No), the rendering engine 51 selects the next unprocessed drawing object in the gloss control plane image data (step S44). Repeat the process.

  On the other hand, in step S42, when the processing of step S41 has been completed for all drawing objects in the gloss control plane image data (step S42: Yes), the converted gloss control plane image data is stored. Output (step S43). Through the above processing, the gloss control plane image data is converted into data in which a surface effect is set for each pixel.

  Returning to FIG. 15, when 8-bit gloss control plane image data is output, the TRC 53 of the DFE 50 performs gamma correction with a 1D_LUT gamma curve generated by calibration for each 8-bit image data of the CMYK color plane. The halftone engine 55 performs a halftone process for converting the image data after the gamma correction into a data format of CMYK 2-bit image data for output to the printer 70, and after the halftone process. CMYK 2-bit image data is obtained (step S3).

  Further, the clear processing 56 of the DFE 50 determines the surface effect designated for each pixel value indicated by the gloss control plane by referring to the surface effect selection table using the 8-bit gloss control plane. Then, the clear processing 56 makes such a determination for all the pixels constituting the gloss control plane. In the gloss control plane, the density values in the same range are basically expressed for all the pixels constituting the area to which each surface effect is applied. For this reason, the clear processing 56 determines that pixels in the vicinity that have been determined to have the same surface effect are included in a region that provides the same surface effect. In this way, the clear processing 56 determines the area to which the surface effect is applied and the type of surface effect to be applied to the area. Then, the clear processing 56 determines whether the glosser 80 is turned on or off according to the determination (step S4).

  Next, the clear processing 56 of the DFE 50 appropriately uses 8-bit CMYK image data after gamma correction to appropriately generate 8-bit clear toner plane image data for attaching clear toner (step S5). ). The halftone engine 56 converts the 8-bit clear toner plane image data using 8-bit image data into 2-bit clear toner plane image data by halftone processing (step S6).

  Next, the Si3 part 57 of the DFE 50 integrates the CMYK 2-bit image data after the halftone processing obtained in step S3 and the 2-bit clear toner plane image data generated in step S6. The image data and the on / off information indicating on / off of the glosser 80 determined in step S4 are output to the MIC 60 (step S7).

  In step S5, when the clear processing 56 has not generated clear toner plane image data, in step S7, only CMYK 2-bit image data after halftone processing obtained in step S3 is stored. Integrated and output to the MIC 60.

  Next, the counting process by the DFE 50 according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating the procedure of the counting process according to the first embodiment. This counting process is performed after the clear toner plane image data is generated by the clear toner plane generation unit 1202 of the clear processing 56.

  The following processing from steps S51 to S56 is repeated for each page for all pages included in one print job. First, the color / monochrome determination unit 58 determines whether the image is a color image or a monochrome image from the pixels of the color plane image data (step S51). Then, the counter value of the color counter 1221 or the monochrome counter 1222 is counted up according to the determination result (step S52).

  Next, the clear toner plane analysis unit 1203 of the clear processing 58 analyzes the clear toner plane image data, and obtains the specified surface effect based on the density value set in the clear toner plane image data (step S53). ).

  Based on the analysis result, the clear toner plane analysis unit 1203 checks the surface effect applied to the pixel based on the density value (step S54). If the surface effect is specular gloss or solid gloss (step S54: specular gloss / solid gloss), the gloss effect counter 1211 counts up the counter value (step S55). When the surface effect is matte (step S54: matte), the matte effect counter 1212 counts up the counter value (step S56). When the surface effect is neither specular gloss, solid gloss, or matte (step S54: other than gloss / matte), the counter value is not changed. The processing from step S54 to S56 is repeatedly executed for all the pixels in the page.

  FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram showing the counter value of each counter of the first embodiment for each page. In the example of FIG. 18, one print job is 30 pages, and one of the color counter 1221 and the monochrome counter 1222 is counted as 1, and the other is counted as 0. In addition, if there are any pixels in the clear toner plane image data that have a specular gloss, solid gloss, or matte surface effect, each counter is set to 1. By this counting method, the counter of the surface effect by the clear toner can be counted in units of pages in the same manner as in color / monochrome. Furthermore, in the example of FIG. 18, the total is obtained for each of the four counters for 30 pages. This total value becomes the counter value for this print job, and is added to the cumulative value of the counter.

  In the present embodiment, the counter value is counted for each page by the counter provided for each surface effect. Therefore, the usage frequency of various surface effects of the clear toner to be applied to the image data by the colored toner is determined by the surface number. It is possible to grasp each effect. For this reason, the department in charge of device development of the product can use the frequency of use of surface effects to analyze the usage status of the functions provided by the device, which can be useful information for the next product development. it can. In addition, on the device user side, when performing the accounting for operation, it is possible to make fine settings according to the usage.

(Embodiment 2)
In the printing system of the second embodiment, the functions and configurations of the host device 10, the printer 70, the glosser 80, and the low-temperature fixing device 90 are the same as those of the first embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, the functions of the clear toner plate analysis unit 1203 and the counter value calculation unit 59 of the clear processing 56 of the DFE 50 are different from those of the first embodiment. Other functions and configurations of the DFE 50 are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  In addition to the functions of the first embodiment, the clear toner plane analysis unit 1203 of the present embodiment further obtains the total number of pixels included in the page for each page from the clear toner plane image data.

  Further, the gloss effect counter 1211 and the matte effect counter 1212 of the counter value calculation unit 59 of the present embodiment further include the number of surface effects for each type of surface effect counted in units of pages. The value divided by the total number of pixels is calculated as the count value.

  Next, the counting process by the DFE 50 according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the counting process according to the second embodiment. The following processing from steps S51 to S61 is repeatedly executed for every page for all pages included in one print job.

  The processing from step S51 to the count-up of S55 and S56 is the same as in the first embodiment. However, in step S53, the clear toner plane analysis unit 1203 calculates the total number of pixels in the page.

  After steps S55 and S56, the gloss effect counter 1211 and the matte effect counter 1212 respectively divide the counter values obtained in S55 and 56 by the total number of pixels obtained by the clear toner plane analysis unit 1203, and the divided values. Are the respective counter values (step S61).

  FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the counter value of each counter according to the second embodiment for each page. In this example, one print job is 30 pages. Also in this example, the total of the ratios of all 30 pages is calculated. Moreover, since the counter value is an integer value, the decimal point is rounded down or rounded to an integer.

  The counter value holds an integer value, is converted into an integer for each job, and is added to the cumulative value of the counter. With this method, you can get different results when the glossy effect or matte effect is applied to the majority of the page and when it is applied to the minor part of the page, so the count that more accurately reflects the application range of the effect The result can be obtained. This is particularly effective when colored image data is drawn over the entire page.

  As described above, in this embodiment, the value obtained by dividing the number of surface effects for each type of surface effect divided by the total number of pixels included in the page is calculated as the count value. It can be avoided that the same result is obtained when the glossy effect and the matte effect are applied to most of the page and when applied to the small part. For this reason, according to the present embodiment, in addition to the effects of the first embodiment, it is possible to obtain a count result that more accurately reflects the application range of the surface effect.

(Embodiment 3)
In the printing system of the third embodiment, the functions and configurations of the host device 10, the printer device 70, the glosser 80, and the low-temperature fixing device 90 are the same as those of the first embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, the functions of the clear toner plate analysis unit 1203 and the counter value calculation unit 59 of the clear processing 56 of the DFE 50 are different from those of the first embodiment. Other functions and configurations of the DFE 50 are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  If the percentage of the area printed by a colored image is 100%, that is, not the entire page but partial, the glossy effect or matte effect count is the glossy effect on the number of pixels of the colored image in that page. It is better to calculate by the ratio of the matte effect. As a result, it is possible to measure the ratio of the glossy effect and the matte effect applied to the actual image that the user tried to print.

  For this reason, the clear toner plane analysis unit 1203 of the present embodiment, in addition to the functions of the first embodiment, further, from the clear toner plane image data, the total number of pixels included in the page and the color Obtain the number of pixels. Further, the clear toner plane analysis unit 1203 calculates a drawing area ratio obtained by dividing the number of colored pixels by the total number of pixels for each page. Here, the drawing area ratio represents the ratio of the number of pixels of color or monochrome image data to the total number of pixels in the page.

  The counter value calculation unit 59 of the present embodiment further calculates, as a count value, a value obtained by dividing the number of surface effects for each type of surface effect, which is counted for each page, by the drawing area ratio.

  Next, the counting process by the DFE 50 according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating the procedure of the counting process according to the second embodiment. The following processing from steps S51 to S61 is repeatedly executed for every page for all pages included in one print job.

  The processing from step S51 to the count-up of S55 and S56 is the same as in the first embodiment. However, in step S53, the clear toner plane analysis unit 1203 calculates the total number of pixels and the number of colored pixels in the page.

  After steps S55 and S56, the clear toner plane analysis unit 1203 calculates a drawing area ratio obtained by dividing the number of colored pixels by the total number of pixels (step S71). Each of the gloss effect counter 1211 and the matte effect counter 1212 divides the counter value obtained in S55 and S56 by the drawing area ratio obtained by the clear toner plate analysis unit 1203, and the divided value is obtained by each counter. A value is set (step S72).

  FIG. 22 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the counter value of each counter according to the third embodiment for each page. In this example, one print job is 30 pages. Also in this example, the total of the ratios of all 30 pages is calculated. Moreover, since the counter value is an integer value, the decimal point is rounded down or rounded to an integer.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the count value of the surface effect is calculated as the count value obtained by dividing the count value of the surface effect by the drawing area ratio obtained by dividing the number of colored pixels by the total number of pixels. If the percentage of the color image is small, the area of the surface effect by the clear toner is naturally reduced, but the surface effect by the clear toner is counted according to the size of the color image. It is possible to grasp whether the gloss effect is applied.

  In the second and third embodiments, the gloss effect counter 1211 and the matte effect counter 1212 hold decimal values. Here, a certain number of digits, for example, a decimal value up to the second decimal place is always held, and the gloss value or the matte effect count value is also incremented for each page. Addition may be performed in units of pages, and it is not necessary to perform addition in batches in units of jobs.

  On the other hand, the integerization is performed when the counter value outputting means (CPU or the like) outputs the counter value. As a result, integerization in units of jobs is eliminated, and the number of integers is only one when referring to the counter value from the outside, so that errors due to integerization are reduced. In particular, when the number of pages in one job is small or the ratio of the clear toner effect is small, the reduction of the error becomes remarkable. As a result, a more accurate counter value can be output.

  A hardware configuration of the host device 10 and the DFE 50 according to the above-described embodiment will be described. FIG. 23 is a hardware configuration diagram of the host device 10 and the DFE 50. The host device 10 and the DFE 50 have, as hardware configurations, a control device 2901 such as a CPU for controlling the entire device, a main storage device 2902 such as a ROM and a RAM for storing various data and various programs, and various data and various programs. An auxiliary storage device 2903 such as an HDD for storing, an input device 2905 such as a keyboard and a mouse, and a display device 2904 such as a display device are mainly provided, and has a hardware configuration using a normal computer.

  The print control process executed by the DFE 50 according to the above embodiment may be realized by a print control program as software in addition to hardware. In this case, the print control program executed by the DFE 50 of the above embodiment is provided by being incorporated in advance in a ROM or the like.

  The print control program executed by the DFE 50 according to the above embodiment is an installable or executable file, such as a CD-ROM, a flexible disk (FD), a CD-R, or a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk). The program may be recorded on a readable recording medium and provided as a computer program product.

  Furthermore, the print control program executed by the DFE 50 of the above-described embodiment may be provided by being stored on a computer connected to a network such as the Internet and downloaded via the network. Further, the print control program executed by the DFE 50 according to the above embodiment may be provided or distributed via a network such as the Internet.

  The print control program executed by the DFE 50 in the above embodiment has a module configuration including the above-described units (rendering engine, halftone engine, TRC, si1, si2, si3, clear processing). As the hardware, a CPU (processor) reads out the print control program from the ROM and executes it, so that the above-described units are loaded onto the main storage device, and the rendering engine, halftone engine, TRC, si1 unit, si2 unit, si3. Is generated on the main memory as clear processing.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. Moreover, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, constituent elements over different embodiments may be appropriately combined. Further, various modifications as exemplified below are possible.

  In the above-described embodiment, the image forming system is configured to include the host device 10, the DFE 50, the MIC 60, the printer device 70, the glosser 80, and the low-temperature fixing device 90, but is not limited thereto. For example, the DFE 50, the MIC 60, and the printer device 70 may be integrally formed to form a single image forming apparatus, or may be formed as an image forming apparatus that includes the glosser 80 and the low-temperature fixing device 90. Anyway.

  In the image forming system of the above-described embodiment, an image is formed using a plurality of CMYK toners, but an image may be formed using one color toner.

  The printer system according to the above-described embodiment is configured to include the MIC 60, but is not limited to this. The processing and functions performed by the MIC 60 described above may be provided to other devices such as the DFE 50, and the MIC 60 may not be provided.

50 DFE
51 Rendering engine 52 si1 part 53 TRC
54 si2 part 55 halftone engine 56 clear processing 57 si3 part 60 MIC
70 Printer 80 Glosser 90 Low-temperature fixing machine 100 Normal fixing machine 10 Host device 11 I / F unit 12 Storage unit 13 Input unit 14 Display unit 15 Control unit 120 Image processing unit 121 Display control unit 122 Plate data generation unit 123 Print data generation Part 124 Input control part

JP 2010-20578 A

Claims (7)

Clear toner free colors are mounting tower, a print control apparatus for controlling a printing apparatus for forming an image on a clear toner plane recording medium based on image data of for attaching the clear toner,
Based on the data for specifying the area in the recording medium that imparts a type with the surface effect of the surface effect is a visual or tactile effect applied to the recording medium, setting a density value for each pixel Generating the clear toner plane image data,
An analysis unit based on the set density value before Symbol clear toner plane, analyzing the surface effect that is specified in the image data of the clear toner plane,
Based on the result of the analysis of the analyzing unit, a calculation unit which exits calculate the number of said designated surface effect,
A printing control apparatus comprising: The calculation unit counts the designated number of the surface effects for each type of the surface effect in units of pages in the number of pages to be printed included in the print job;
The print control apparatus according to claim 1. The analysis unit further obtains the total number of pixels included in the page for each page from the image data of the clear toner plate,
The calculation unit further calculates, as a count value, a value obtained by dividing the number of the surface effects for each type of the surface effect, which is counted in units of pages, by the total number of pixels included in the page;
The print control apparatus according to claim 2. The analysis unit further obtains the total number of pixels included in the page and the number of colored pixels for each page from the image data of the clear toner plate,
The calculating unit is further in page units, calculates the drawing area ratio of the number of pixels the color divided by the total number of pixels was counted, the number of the surface effect of each type of the surface effect, the Calculate the value divided by the drawing area ratio as the count value,
The print control apparatus according to claim 2. The print control apparatus according to claim 3 , further comprising a billing processing unit that performs billing processing based on the count value. Clear toner free colors are mounting tower, there calculation method is executed by the printing control device for controlling a printing apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium based on image data of the clear toner plane for attaching said clear toner And
Based on the data for specifying the area in the recording medium that imparts a type with the surface effect of the surface effect is a visual or tactile effect applied to the recording medium, setting a density value for each pixel Generating the clear toner plane image data,
An analysis step on the basis of the set density value before Symbol clear toner plane, analyzing the surface effect that is specified in the image data of the clear toner plane,
Based on the result of analysis in the analysis step, a calculation step of leaving calculate the number of said designated surface effect,
The calculation method characterized by including. Clear toner free colors are mounting tower, a program to be executed by a computer for controlling the printing apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium based on image data of the clear toner plane for attaching said clear toner ,
Based on the data for specifying the area in the recording medium that imparts a type with the surface effect of the surface effect is a visual or tactile effect applied to the recording medium, setting a density value for each pixel Generating the clear toner plane image data,
An analysis step for analyzing the surface effect specified in the image data of the clear toner plate based on the density value set in the clear toner plate;
A calculation step for calculating the number of the specified surface effects based on the result of analysis in the analysis step ;
For causing the computer to execute.

Images