JP2003152982A - Apparatus and method for forming image as well as image forming system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate the problem that in a method for printing to add a forgery preventing pattern by halftone dots having different area ratios, since the forgery preventing pattern is synthesized with print data in a host computer and transferred to a printer, the load in the host computer is increased, so that the data transfer volume is increased. SOLUTION: The method for forming the image comprises a step of holding the specific pattern formed from a plurality of halftone dot patterns having different area ratios in a ROM 207. The method further comprises the steps of synthesizing the specific pattern in the ROM 207 as a ground image with the image data by a printing data synthesizing unit 205 in response to the image forming mode decided by a command deciding unit 203 when the command for indicating the image data and the image forming mode is received from the host computer 201, and printing the data by the printer 206.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and method for printing an original whose copy can be easily identified, and an image forming system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, along with the high performance of color copying machines,
It is feared that a document that should originally be prohibited from being copied will be easily copied.

Therefore, conventionally, when a copy prohibited document (hereinafter referred to as an original) is printed by an ink jet printer or the like, characters such as "copy prohibited" and "confidential document" are added by a stamp function so that the original is a copy prohibited document. Was clearly stated. As a result, it is possible to inform the user that the printed original should not be copied.

Here, a general copying machine has a characteristic that large halftone dots constituting an original are reproduced, but small halftone dots are not reproduced. By utilizing such characteristics of the copying machine, a background image with small dots that cannot be reproduced by the copying machine is formed by halftone dots of a size that can be reproduced by the copying machine but is difficult to judge visually. A printing method is known in which a forgery prevention pattern is printed out.

In the original printed out by this method, the anti-counterfeit pattern is added, but it is not visible. However, when an original document including a forgery prevention pattern with halftone dots having different area ratios as a latent image is copied by a copying machine, the forgery prevention pattern is reproduced on the copy, but the surrounding background portion is Since it is not reproduced, the anti-counterfeit pattern stands out and becomes visible. Therefore, the original and the copy can be easily discriminated, and illegal copying can be prevented.

[0006]

However, even if characters such as "copy prohibited" and "confidential document" are clearly shown in the original by the above-mentioned conventional stamp function, it is possible to prevent illegal copying by a malicious third party. I couldn't. That is, when this original is copied, it is difficult to distinguish the original from the copy.

Further, in the printing in which the forgery prevention pattern is added by the halftone dots having different area ratios, usually, the host computer synthesizes the forgery prevention pattern with the print data,
It was executed by transferring the combined data to the printer. Therefore, the load on the host computer is increased, and since the forgery prevention pattern data is transferred in addition to the original image data, the data transfer amount is increased, and as a result, the print performance is deteriorated. Was occurring.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and when printing image data transferred from a host computer with a printer, without increasing the load on the host computer and the amount of data transfer. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus, a method thereof, and an image forming system capable of printing an original so that an original and a copy can be easily distinguished visually.

[0009]

As one means for achieving the above object, the present invention has the following configuration.

That is, a holding means for holding a specific pattern formed by a plurality of halftone dot patterns having different area ratios, and a synthesizing means for synthesizing the image data with the specific pattern held by the holding means as a background image. And an image forming unit that forms a visible image on a recording medium based on the combined image data.

Further, the image forming apparatus further comprises a receiving means for receiving an image forming command including the image data and image forming mode information from an external device. When the image forming mode is a specific mode, the synthesizing means outputs the specific pattern of the specific pattern. It is characterized in that the composition is executed.

For example, the specific pattern includes a first halftone dot pattern with a first area ratio and a second halftone dot pattern with a second area ratio higher than the first area ratio but invisible. It is composed of and.

For example, the first halftone dot pattern is not reproducible when copied by a copying machine, and the second halftone dot pattern is reproducible when copied by a copying machine. And

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

<First Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a specific example of forgery prevention pattern added printing by the image processing system of the present embodiment.

FIG. 1A shows an original 101 printed by the system. In the original 101, the document portion 102, which is the actual document data, is visually recognized on the background portion 103. However, according to the forgery prevention function of this embodiment, a monochrome halftone dot is formed on the entire surface of the background portion 103 as an anti-counterfeiting pattern. The pattern is printed.

FIG. 1B is a base portion 1 shown in FIG.
It is the figure which expanded a part of 03. According to the same, the base part 1
The halftone dot pattern constituting 03 has a small area ratio and is not reproduced when a copy is executed by a general copying machine, and a small halftone dot pattern 104 having a high area ratio and a copy is executed by a general copying machine. It can be seen that it consists of the reproduced large halftone dot pattern 105.

Here, a case will be considered in which the characters of "copy prohibition document" are formed as a latent image by the large dot pattern 105 in the base portion 103. In the original 101, if the halftone dots of the base portion 103 are formed in cyan, for example,
It seems that the document portion 102 is printed on the light cyan paper as a whole, and the characters formed by the large halftone dot pattern 105 are not conspicuous.

FIG. 1 (c) shows the original 1 shown in FIG. 1 (a).
A copy 106, which is a result of copying 01 by a general copying machine, is shown. A document portion 107 corresponding to the document portion 102 of the original 101 exists on the copy 106. Further, since the small halftone dot pattern 104 disappears on the base portion 108, only the latent image 109 formed by the large halftone dot pattern 105 is visually perceived as if it is raised. As a result, the original 101 and the copy 106 thereof can be easily distinguished visually.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image processing system of the present invention. In the figure, print data including various setting commands such as a print mode is sent from the host computer 201 to the printer 202. This command is determined by the command determination unit 203 in the printer 202, and the print mode and the like are determined. The print mode of this embodiment includes a "counterfeit prevention mode" that prohibits printing that is faithful to the original.

Since the print data sent from the host computer 201 is usually compressed, the print data is expanded by the print data expansion unit 204 and expanded into printable data.

If the command determination unit 203 determines that the print mode is not the "counterfeit prevention mode", the data expanded by the print data expansion unit 204 passes through the print data synthesis unit 205 and is printed. The data is sent to the unit 206, and the normal printing operation is executed.

On the other hand, when the command determination unit 203 determines that the print mode is the "counterfeit prevention mode", the command determination unit 203 sends a forgery prevention pattern combination signal to the print data combination unit 205. Then, the print data synthesizing unit 205 synthesizes the forgery prevention pattern read from the ROM 207 with the data developed by the print data developing unit 204, sends it to the printing unit 206, and executes printing.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the printing operation in the printer 202 of this embodiment.

First, after the print data is received (S301), the command contained in the received data is analyzed (S3).
02). The print mode is determined based on the analysis result (S30
3) If it is not the "counterfeit prevention mode", the normal printing operation is executed (S304), and the process ends (S305). On the other hand, if the print mode is the "counterfeit prevention mode", the print data is combined with the counterfeit prevention pattern in the ROM (S3).
06), the print data including the forgery copy prevention pattern as the base is printed (S304), and the printing operation is ended (S305).

As described above, according to this embodiment,
Since only the original print data is transferred from the host computer 201 to the printer 202 and the forgery prevention pattern is combined in the printer 202, effective anti-counterfeit printing can be executed without increasing the transfer data amount.

The printer 202 according to the present embodiment.
As long as it is possible to form a forgery prevention pattern with halftone dots having different area ratios as shown in FIG. 1, for example, an inkjet printer is suitable, but the printing form is not limited to inkjet, For example, an electrophotographic method is also applicable.

[0028]

Other Embodiments Even when the present invention is applied to a system including a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.), an apparatus including one device (for example, a copying machine). Machine, facsimile machine, etc.). Further, the object of the present invention is to
A storage medium recording a program code of software that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus, and the computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus reads the program code stored in the storage medium. It goes without saying that it can also be achieved by executing.

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, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD
-ROM, CD-R, magnetic tape, non-volatile memory card, RO
M etc. can be used.

Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS (operating system) operating on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. ) Etc. do some of the actual processing,
It goes without saying that the processing includes the case where the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written in the memory provided in the function expansion board inserted into the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instruction of the program code, The CPU provided in the function expansion board or function expansion unit performs some or all of the actual processing,
It goes without saying that the processing includes the case where the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the image data transferred from the host computer is printed by the printer, the original and the copy are copied without increasing the load and data transfer amount of the host computer. It is possible to print the original so that the object can be easily discriminated visually.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a specific example of forgery prevention pattern addition printing according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image processing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a forgery prevention printing process according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 Original 104 small dot pattern 105 large dot pattern 106 copy 109 Anti-counterfeiting pattern emerged by copying 201 Host computer 202 printer 203 Command parser 204 Print data expansion unit 205 print data synthesis unit 206 printing section 207 ROM

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Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. A holding means for holding a specific pattern formed by a plurality of halftone dot patterns having different area ratios, and a synthesizing means for synthesizing image data with the specific pattern held by the holding means as a background image. And an image forming unit that forms a visible image on a recording medium based on the combined image data. 2. The image forming apparatus further comprises a receiving means for receiving an image forming command including the image data and image forming mode information from an external device, and the specifying means by the combining means when the image forming mode is a specific mode. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein composition of patterns is executed. 3. The specific pattern includes a first halftone dot pattern having a first area ratio and a second halftone dot pattern having a second area ratio higher than the first area ratio but invisible. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus comprises: 4. The first halftone dot pattern is unreproducible when copied by a copying machine, and the second halftone dot pattern is reproducible when copied by a copying machine. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the holding unit is a non-volatile storage unit. 6. The image forming means forms an image by an ink jet recording method.
The image forming apparatus described. 7. An image forming method in an image forming apparatus, wherein a holding means holds a specific pattern formed by a plurality of halftone dot patterns having different area ratios, wherein said holding means holds image data. An image forming method comprising: combining a specific pattern as a background image; and forming a visible image on a recording medium based on the combined image data. 8. An image forming command including the image data and image forming mode information is received from an external device, and when the image forming mode is a specific mode, composition of the specific pattern is executed. The image forming method according to claim 7. 9. The specific pattern includes a first halftone dot pattern having a first area ratio and a second halftone dot pattern having a second area ratio higher than the first area ratio but invisible. The image forming method according to claim 7, wherein the image forming method comprises: 10. The first halftone dot pattern is unreproducible when copied by a copying machine, and the second halftone dot pattern is reproducible when copied by a copying machine. The image forming method according to claim 9. 11. An image forming system in which an image processing apparatus for generating image data and an image forming apparatus are connected to each other, wherein the image forming apparatus forms a specific pattern formed by a plurality of halftone dot patterns having different area ratios. Holding means for holding, receiving means for receiving an image forming command including the image data and image forming mode information from the image processing apparatus, and when the image forming mode is a specific mode, for the received image data A combination means for combining the specific pattern held by the holding means as a background image, and an image forming means for forming a visible image on a recording medium based on the combined image data. Image forming system. 12. The specific pattern comprises a first halftone dot pattern having a first area ratio and a second halftone dot pattern having a second area ratio higher than the first area ratio but invisible. The image forming system according to claim 11, which is configured by: 13. The first halftone dot pattern is unreproducible when copied by a copying machine, and the second halftone dot pattern is reproducible when copied by a copying machine. The image forming system according to claim 12. 14. A program that, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to operate as the image forming apparatus according to claim 1. 15. A recording medium on which the program according to claim 14 is recorded.