JP2008097636A - Image processor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image processor which judges printing restriction based on location information of a print job. <P>SOLUTION: The image processor is provided with: a printing document location information acquisition means for acquiring location information of a document for printing from the print job; a document specification means for judging whether or not the document for printing is a document for printing restriction based on the location information acquired by the printing document location information acquisition means; and a printing condition judgment means for printing the document judged as the document for printing restriction by the document specification means based on a predetermined printing condition and printing the document judged that it is not the document for printing restriction irrespective of a printing condition. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus that determines a print restriction based on location information of a print job in an image forming process using an instruction sequence such as a print description language.

  In recent years, printers have spread to general offices and homes, and there are remarkable improvements in their performance. Along with this, many problems such as leakage of confidential information have occurred. In order to prevent such a problem, for example, as in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, a function for forcibly overwriting each page of a document to be printed with an image as shown in FIG. In addition to a print driver, there are known methods for indicating that a document is a confidential document.

  In addition, for example, as disclosed in Patent Document 2, a document is printed out on a sheet printed with a ground pattern that is usually not conspicuous and a specific character or pattern appears to appear at the time of copying. Methods for preventing copying are known.

JP 11-298717 A JP 54-74125 A

  However, in the former method, in order to prevent the image shown in FIG. 14 from being overwritten on a document that is not confidential information, the presence or absence of overwriting can be selected by the user's setting. For this reason, if you forget to make this selection when printing out a document with confidential information, it will not be overwritten, and conversely if you forget to deselect the overwrite, it will be overwritten on the printout of a document that is not confidential information. .

  The printer is normally connected to a plurality of client machines via a network, and a print driver is installed in each client machine. Therefore, for example, when a new image different from the image shown in FIG. 14 is newly added, it is necessary to replace the corresponding print driver with each client machine.

  On the other hand, in the latter method, some printers have a plurality of paper trays, and a paper tray can be selected by a print driver corresponding to such a printer. For this reason, if you print out to a paper stored in a paper tray that is different from the paper tray that stores the paper with the above-mentioned ground pattern printed on it, it will be printed on normal paper, and no confidential information leakage measures have been taken It will be the same.

  The present invention is an image processing apparatus made to solve such problems. That is, according to the present invention, a print document location information acquisition unit that acquires location information of a document to be printed from a print job, and a document to be printed are restricted based on the location information acquired by the print document location information acquisition unit. Document identification means for determining whether or not the document is a target document, and a document that is determined to be a print restriction target document by the document specification means can be printed based on predetermined printing conditions, and is determined not to be a print restriction target document. The image processing apparatus includes a printing condition determination unit that can print the document regardless of the printing condition.

  In such an image processing apparatus of the present invention, location information of a document to be printed is acquired from a print job, and it is determined whether or not the document to be printed is a print restriction target document based on the location information. Therefore, it is possible to realize printing restrictions for a document at a specific location.

  Therefore, according to the image processing apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to place a print restriction on a document at a location designated in advance by an administrator regardless of the access right or document attribute of the document itself, Printing can be restricted on an individual or group basis. Further, even when a user with printing authority prints, the printing history remains for a document at a location to be restricted, so that it is possible to obtain a leakage deterrence of a confidential document or the like.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the image processing apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the first embodiment. That is, the image processing apparatus according to the first embodiment includes a determination unit 21, a coupling unit 22, and a storage unit 23. Here, the first instruction string (PDL1) in the print description language (hereinafter referred to as “PDL”), which is an instruction string, is input to the input terminal A. The storage unit 23 stores a second instruction sequence (PDL2).

  The determination unit 21 analyzes the PDL 1 input to the input terminal A, determines a location where the PDL 1 and the PDL 2 stored in the storage unit 23 are to be combined, and notifies the combining unit 22.

  The combining unit 22 reads the PDL 2 stored in the storage unit 23 at the location to be combined notified from the determining unit 21, combines the read PDL 2 with the predetermined location of the input PDL 1, and is generated as a result. PDL3 is output to the output terminal B.

  In this embodiment, the image formation in which the image indicated by PDL1 is combined with the image indicated by PDL1 can be processed at the PDL stage. For example, when printing out a predetermined document, an image representing the confidential document shown in FIG. 14 is overwritten on the image of the document, a company logo is inserted, a digital code (for example, barcode information), a watermark, The process of inserting the ground pattern can be performed at the PDL stage.

  Here, the operation of this embodiment will be described with the PDL shown in FIG. 2A as PDL1 and the PDL shown in FIG. 2B as PDL2. For the meaning of each PDL command and the contents of the arguments, refer to Tables 1 and 2 below. The commands shown in Table 1 and Table 2 are examples, and the command name, meaning, and argument are not limited to these. Further, each command may be composed of two or more commands, or two or more commands may be expressed by one command and an argument. Also, the numerical format of the argument is not limited to an integer, but may be another numerical format such as a floating-point real number or a fixed-point real number.

  First, the DrawImage command described in PDL2 will be described. The argument of the command indicated by * in FIG. 2B is data representing a raster image as shown in FIG. 3, for example. In the example of FIG. 2B, the raster image to be drawn is the main scanning direction. A gray image (that is, a black and white image) having 600 dpi in the sub-scanning direction and 4960 pixels, 7000 pixels, and 1 bit / pixel in the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction, respectively.

  FIG. 3A is a diagram showing the entire image drawn by the PDL 2, and the image is printed as an inconspicuous background pattern at the time of printout. When this printout is copied by a copying machine, FIG. As shown, the image “COPY” appears.

  FIG. 3C is an enlarged image of the rectangular portion in FIG. 3A, and the white rectangle and the black rectangle represent white pixels and black pixels, respectively. FIG. 3 (D) is a binary representation of FIG. 3 (C), with white pixels being ‘0’ and black pixels being ‘1’.

  The argument of the DrawImage command is a data string obtained by converting an image into binary representation in this way. Of course, when the image to be drawn is an image of 2 bits / pixel or more, each pixel may be expressed in the same format for each bit number per pixel, and the color space is composed of two or more color components. In this case, the color components of each pixel are arranged in order and expressed in the same format, or one color component is expressed in the same format for each line and the entire image, and the other color components are continued immediately thereafter. It may be expressed in a similar format.

  Looking at PDL1 based on the above, the resolution is 600 dpi in both the main scanning and sub-scanning directions with the Resolution command, the paper size is A4SEF with the PapaerSize command, the drawing start position is specified with coordinates (2000, 3500) with the SetPoint command, The font size is set to 24 using the FontSize command, the font type is set to Gothic using the FontFace command, the font color is set to black using the FontColor command, and the character string “test” is drawn using the DrawText command.

  The argument of the SetPoint command is a coordinate value in both main scanning and sub-scanning directions with the upper left corner of the paper as the origin, and the range that can be specified is determined by the paper size and resolution. When the paper size is A4SEF, the possible ranges of the coordinate values in the main scanning and sub-scanning directions are ‘0’ to ‘4960’ and ‘0’ to ‘7015’, respectively. Accordingly, the coordinates (2000, 3500) are located slightly to the left from the center of the sheet.

  In PDL1, there is only one set of StartJob indicating the start of a job and EndJob indicating the end of a job in one print job, and it is sandwiched between a StartPage indicating the start of a page and an EndPage indicating the end of the page. The number of command groups represents the number of physical pages of the print job, that is, the number of pages printed out by the printer, and the number of command groups sandwiched between StartLogicalPage indicating the start of the logical page and EndLogicalPage indicating the end of the logical page. Represents the number of logical pages printed in the physical page in which the command group exists.

  Therefore, when PDL1 is interpreted and printed, one physical page including one logical page in which a 24-point black character string “test” is drawn with the coordinate position (2000, 3500) as the drawing start position is printed out. The FIG. 4A shows a printout example of PDL1.

  On the other hand, PDL2 is incomplete as it is, but PDL2 is inserted into each physical page of PDL1, that is, FIG. ) Is inserted. Since PDL1 has one physical page, the image shown in FIG. 4A is inserted once.

  3A is inserted once in each logical page by inserting it immediately after the StartLogicalPage command (logical page head) and immediately before the EndLogicalPage command (logical page rear end).

  In the case of PDL1, since there is only one logical page in the physical page, the image shown in FIG. 3A is inserted once into the physical page at either insertion location. In reality, it is necessary to determine the insertion location as one location, but there may be two or more logical pages in one physical page. In this case, two or more pages in the original document are reduced at the same magnification. Printed on one sheet of paper.

  If PDL2 is inserted immediately after the StartLogicalPage command and immediately before the EndLogicalPage command, the image drawn by PDL2 is similarly reduced, which is not preferable. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the insertion point is immediately before the EndPage command.

  That is, the determination unit 21 detects the EndPage command from the PDL 1 and notifies the combining unit 22. The combining unit 22 stores the EndPage command in a buffer (not shown), and then reads the PDL 2 from the storage unit 23 to the output terminal B. After the output of PDL2 is completed, the EndPage command stored in the buffer is output to the output terminal B.

  When the EndPage command detection is not notified from the determining unit 21, that is, for commands other than the EndPage command in PDL1, the PDL input from the input terminal A is output to the output terminal B as it is. With this operation, PDL2 is inserted immediately before the EndPage command of PDL1, and PDL1 is not changed except for the portion where PDL2 is inserted. Therefore, the PDL shown in FIG.

  The meanings and arguments of the commands in FIG. 5 are the same as those shown in FIGS. 2 (A) and 2 (B). 4B is a printout example of the PDL shown in FIG. 5, and FIG. 4C is an image obtained by copying FIG. 4B.

  By the way, in the above embodiment, the image to be inserted in PDL2 is drawn as a raster image using the DrawImage command. However, the same effect can be obtained by using the graphic drawing command such as dot drawing or straight line drawing for the same image. be able to. Which should be selected may be determined in consideration of the amount of command data required to draw the same image and the time required for printout.

  In the above embodiment, the PDL 2 is a PDL that draws one image, but may be a PDL that draws two or more images, and the PDL 2 may be two or more separate PDLs. .

  When PDL2 is two or more separate PDLs, the insertion positions do not need to be the same. For example, PDL2 is composed of PDLs that draw two separate images, and PDLs that draw one image A PDL for drawing the other image may be inserted at the rear end of the physical page at the top of the physical page. Of course, both may be inserted at the same location.

  PDL2 is two or more separate PDLs, and any one of them may be selected at the time of insertion. At this time, information extracted from the contents of the PDL input as the selection criterion may be used, or it may be set in advance so as to select one from the outside.

  The image processing apparatus of the present embodiment can be implemented in a network system having a configuration as shown in FIG. 6, for example. That is, this network system includes client machines 71 and 72, a server 73, a printer 74, and a network 75. When the print driver installed in the client machines 71 and 72 is instructed to print a document, the contents of the document are changed. The print driver converts the data into PDL that can be interpreted by the printer 74, and transmits the print job to the server 73 through the network 75.

  The server 73 includes the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment as software. The server 73 processes the transmitted print job by the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment, and transmits the processed print job to the printer 74 through the network 75.

  The printer 74 interprets the transmitted print job and prints it out. That is, the present embodiment is implemented as software that operates on the server 73. At this time, the storage location of the software may be a recording medium such as a ROM, a RAM, a hard disk, and a CD-ROM. Further, the present embodiment can be implemented as hardware that is incorporated into the server 73. The image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment can also be mounted on each client machine or printer.

  According to this embodiment, images can be combined at the PDL stage, and it is not necessary to perform combining using a large amount of image data. Further, by installing the image processing apparatus of the present embodiment on the server 73, it is possible to use existing software and hardware without replacing the print drivers of the client machines 73 and 74 or changing the specifications of the printer 74. Image addition function can be added. Furthermore, the operator can obtain a printout of the automatically synthesized image without being aware of the synthesis of the image when performing the printout.

  Next, a second embodiment will be described. FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an image processing apparatus according to the second embodiment. That is, this image processing apparatus is the same as the first embodiment in that it includes a determination unit 21, a combining unit 22, and a storage unit 23, but is different in that it includes a determination unit 24.

  The PDL 1 input to the input terminal A is input to the determination unit 24, the determination unit 21, and the combining unit 22. The storage unit 23 stores PDL 2 in advance, and outputs this PDL 2 to the combining unit 22.

  The determination unit 24 analyzes the input PDL 1 to determine whether the information is specific information (specific document), and notifies the determination unit 21 of the determination result. When the determination unit 24 determines that PDL1 is a specific document from the determination unit 24, the determination unit 21 analyzes the input PDL1 and detects a portion where the PDL1 and the PDL2 stored in the storage unit 23 should be combined. The location is notified to the coupling unit 22.

  The combining unit 22 reads the PDL 2 stored in the storage unit 23 at the location to be combined notified from the determining unit 21, combines the input PDL 1 and the read PDL 2, and a print description generated as a result The language PDL3 is output to the output terminal B.

  Hereinafter, the operation of this embodiment will be described with the PDL shown in FIG. 8A as PDL1 and the PDL shown in FIGS. 8B and 8C as PDL2. The meaning of each command of PDL1 and PDL2 and the contents of the arguments are the same as those in Tables 1 and 2 described in the first embodiment.

  First, the DrawImage command among the PDL2 commands will be described in detail. The arguments of the command indicated by * in FIGS. 8B and 8C are data representing a raster image as shown in FIGS. 9A and 9E, for example. In the case of 8B, the raster image to be drawn is a gray image with a resolution of 600 dpi in both the main scanning and sub-scanning directions, and 4960 pixels and 7000 pixels in the main scanning and sub-scanning directions, respectively, and 1 bit / pixel. In the case of the example shown in FIG. 8C, the raster image to be drawn has a resolution of 600 dpi in both the main scanning and sub scanning directions, and the number of pixels in each of the main scanning and sub scanning directions is 200 pixels and 200 pixels, respectively. , 24 bit / pixel RGB image.

  FIG. 9A is a diagram showing the entire image drawn by the PDL 2, and the image is printed as an inconspicuous background pattern at the time of printout. When the printout is copied by a copying machine, as shown in FIG. 9B. This is an image in which the characters “COPY” appear. FIG. 9C is an enlarged image of the rectangular portion in FIG. 9A, and the white rectangle and the black rectangle represent white pixels and black pixels, respectively. FIG. 9 (D) is a binary representation of FIG. 9 (C), with white pixels being ‘0’ and black pixels being ‘1’.

  The argument of the DrawImage command is a data string obtained by converting an image into binary representation in this way. When the image to be drawn is an image of 2 bits / pixel or more, each pixel may be expressed in the same format for each bit number per pixel, and the color space is composed of two or more color components. In this case, the color components of each pixel are arranged in order and expressed in the same format, or one color component is expressed in the same format for each line and the entire image, and the other color components are continued immediately thereafter. It may be expressed in a similar format.

  Next, looking at PDL1, the resolution command is 600 dpi in both the main and sub-scan directions, the paper size is A4SEF with the PapaerSize command, the drawing start position is specified with coordinates (2000, 3500) with the SetPoint command, and FontSize The font size is set to 24 by the command, the font type is set to Gothic by the FontFace command, the font color is set to black by the FontColor command, and the character string “test” is drawn by the DrawText command.

  The argument of the SetPoint command is a coordinate value in both main scanning and sub-scanning directions with the upper left corner of the paper as the origin, and the range that can be specified is determined by the paper size and resolution. When the paper size is A4SEF, the possible ranges of the coordinate values in the main scanning and sub-scanning directions are ‘0’ to ‘4960’ and ‘0’ to ‘7015’, respectively. Accordingly, the coordinates (2000, 3500) are located slightly to the left from the center of the sheet.

  In PDL1, there is only one set of StartJob that indicates the start of a job and EndJob that indicates the end of the job in one print job, and it is sandwiched between StartPage that indicates the start of the page and EndJob that indicates the end of the page. The number of command groups represents the number of physical pages of the print job, that is, the number of pages printed out by the printer, and the number of command groups sandwiched between StartLogicalPage indicating the start of the logical page and EndLogicalPage indicating the end of the logical page. Represents the number of logical pages printed in the physical page in which the command group exists.

  Therefore, when PDL1 is interpreted and printed, one physical page including one logical page number in which a 24-point black character string “test” is drawn with the coordinate position (2000, 3500) as the drawing start position is printed out. Is done. FIG. 10A shows a printout example of PDL1.

  On the other hand, although PDL2 is incomplete as it is, it is inserted into each physical page of PDL1 by inserting it immediately after the StartPage command of PDL1 (physical page head) to immediately before the EndPage command (back end of physical page), that is, FIG. ) And the image shown in FIG. 9E are inserted.

  Since PDL1 has one physical page, the images shown in FIGS. 9A and 9E are inserted once. In addition, the images shown in FIGS. 9A and 9E are inserted once in each logical page by inserting it immediately after the StartLogicalPage command (first logical page) and immediately before the EndLogicalPage command (logical page rear end). become.

  In the case of PDL1, since there is only one logical page in the physical page, the images shown in FIGS. 9A and 9E are inserted once into the physical page at either insertion location.

  In reality, it is necessary to determine the insertion location as one location, but there may be two or more logical pages in one physical page. In this case, two or more pages in the original document are reduced at the same magnification. Printed on one sheet of paper. If PDL2 is inserted immediately after the StartLogicalPage command and immediately before the EndLogicalPage command, the image drawn by PDL2 is similarly reduced, which is not preferable. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the insertion point is immediately before the EndPage command.

  That is, when the determination unit 24 determines that PDL1 is a specific document, the determination unit 21 detects the EndPage command from the PDL1 and notifies the combination unit 22 of the endpage command. After storing in the buffer, PDL2 is read from the storage unit 23 and output to the output terminal B. After the output of PDL2 is completed, the EndPage command stored in the buffer is output to the output terminal B.

  When the EndPage command detection is not notified from the determining unit 21, that is, for commands other than the EndPage command in PDL1, the PDL input from the input terminal A is output to the output terminal B as it is.

  On the other hand, the determination unit 24 detects the DocumentName command from the PDL 1 and detects whether the PDL 1 is a specific document from the document name in the client machine described in the PDL 1 as an argument of the command.

  Here, in the present embodiment, if it is determined that PDL1 is a specific document when the word “customer” is included in the document name, the example of PDL1 shown in FIG. Notifies the determination unit 21 that PDL1 is a specific document.

  Therefore, the determination unit 21 notifies the combination unit 22 of the detection of the EndPage command from the PDL 1. With this operation, PDL2 is inserted immediately before the EndPage command of PDL1, and PDL1 is not changed except for the portion where PDL2 is inserted. The PDL shown in FIG. 11 is output from the output terminal B.

  Note that the meanings and arguments of the commands in FIG. 11 are the same as those shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B. FIG. 10B is a printout example of the PDL shown in FIG. 11, and FIG. 10C is an image when FIG. 10B is copied.

  By the way, in the above embodiment, the image to be inserted in PDL2 is drawn as a raster image using the DrawImage command. However, the same effect can be obtained by using the graphic drawing command such as dot drawing or straight line drawing for the same image. be able to. Which should be selected may be determined in consideration of the amount of command data required to draw the same image and the time required for printout.

  In the above embodiment, the PDL 2 is a separate PDL that draws two images, but may be a single PDL. Also, the insertion location need not be the same. For example, a PDL for drawing one image may be inserted at the top of the physical page, and a PDL for drawing the other image may be inserted at the rear end of the physical page.

  Also, the PDLs illustrated in FIGS. 8B and 8C are two or more separate PDLs, and one of them may be selected at the time of insertion. At this time, information extracted from the contents of the PDL input as the selection criterion may be used, or it may be set in advance so as to select one from the outside.

  Further, whether or not PDL2 is inserted may be set from the outside. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a setting screen. In this figure, 81 is a window displayed on the computer display, 82 and 83 are radio buttons in the window 81 in which a black dot is displayed inside one of three circles, and the radio button 82 is shown in FIG. 8 (B), radio button 83 designates the PDL insertion method of FIG. 8 (C).

  In FIG. 12, as an example, “image 1”, that is, the PDL in FIG. 8B is set to be inserted into a specific document, and “image 2”, that is, the PDL in FIG. This setting may determine whether or not to perform the insertion operation with reference to the insertion portion 22 receiving the notification of the insertion location from the determination portion 21, or the determination portion 21 may insert the insertion location into the connection portion 22. It may be determined whether or not to refer to when notifying.

  When this setting is applied to the present embodiment, the word “customer” indicating a specific document is included in the argument of the DocumentName command in the PDL of FIG. 8A. Both PDLs of 8 (C) are inserted into the PDL shown in FIG.

  Here, if the word “customer” is not included in the argument of the DocumentName command, the PDL in FIG. 8B is not inserted, and the PDL in FIG. 8C is inserted.

  In addition, for example, when a password input is requested before setting, the setting is valid only when the input password matches, and the password is a password that only a specific person knows. It may be possible that only the person can perform.

  Further, for example, as in another embodiment shown in FIG. 13, billing information may be generated according to the determination result in the determination unit 24. 13 are the same as those shown in FIG. 7 and will not be described. Only the charging information generating unit 25 will be described.

  When the determining unit 24 notifies the determining unit 21 that the PDL 1 is a specific document, the charging information generating unit 25 detects the printout of the specific document and generates charging information different from the normal charging information. To do.

  For example, when PDL1 is not a specific document and is PDL that generates raster image data consisting only of a black plate, raster image data that is not a specific document and includes a color plate other than a black plate is generated. In addition to the accounting information of 40 yen for PDL, whether PDL1 is a specific document, whether or not raster image data generated by PDL1 includes a color plate other than the black plate First, billing information of 50 yen is generated on the assumption that a color plate other than black is used.

  That is, even if PDL1 generates raster image data consisting only of the black plate, if it is a specific document, PDL2 is synthesized and output. Therefore, if the PDL 2 generates raster image data using a color plate other than the black plate, a color plate other than the black plate is used for the image to be printed out. Therefore, if the document is a specific document, a color plate other than the black plate is used, and billing information corresponding to the color plate is generated as a printout of the specific document.

The charging information generation unit 25 outputs the generated charging information to the outside of the present embodiment through the output terminal C. The output charging information is used to calculate a usage fee by a charging system (not shown). Of course, the generated billing information is not limited to the above example.

  Similar to the first embodiment, the image processing apparatus according to the second embodiment can be implemented in a network system configured as shown in FIG. That is, the present embodiment is installed as software on the server 73, a print job transmitted from the client machines 71 and 72 via the network 75 is processed according to the present embodiment, and is transferred from the server 73 to the printer 74 via the network 75. To transmit.

  The printer 74 interprets the transmitted print job and prints it out. That is, the present embodiment is implemented as software that operates on the server 73. At this time, the storage location of the software may be a recording medium such as a ROM, a RAM, a hard disk, and a CD-ROM.

  Further, the present embodiment can be implemented as hardware that is incorporated into the server 73. Furthermore, this embodiment can also be implemented in each client machine or printer.

  With such an image processing apparatus of this embodiment, it is possible to synthesize an image at the PDL stage, and it is not necessary to synthesize using a large amount of image data. Further, when the PDL 1 that is an image forming target is a specific document, the PDL 2 is automatically combined with the PDL 1 so that an image indicating the specific document can be forcibly overwritten. For this reason, it does not occur that an image indicating that it is a specific document is overwritten by mistake on an object that is not a specific document, or on the contrary, that an image indicating that it is a specific document is forgotten to be overwritten. It becomes possible to take the security leak measures surely.

  Next, an image processing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the block diagram shown in FIG. 1 as in the first embodiment. That is, the image processing apparatus according to the third embodiment includes a determining unit 21, a combining unit 22, and a storage unit 23.

  Here, PDL1 is input to the input terminal A. The storage unit 23 stores PDL2. The determination unit 21 analyzes the PDL 1 input to the input terminal A, determines a location where the PDL 1 and the PDL 2 stored in the storage unit 23 are to be combined, and notifies the combining unit 22.

  The combining unit 22 reads the PDL 2 stored in the storage unit 23 at the location to be combined notified from the determining unit 21, combines the read PDL 2 with the predetermined location of the input PDL 1, and is generated as a result. PDL3 is output to the output terminal B.

  The PDL 2 in this embodiment does not have data representing a raster image such as the DrawImage command as in the first embodiment, but has a command to designate a raster image to be synthesized and superimpose it. That is, the PDL 3 output from the output terminal B is merely combined with information indicating which image data is to be combined, and the command sequence representing the image line data itself is not combined.

  The image processing apparatus according to the third embodiment can also be described with reference to the block diagram shown in FIG. 7, as in the second embodiment. That is, the determination unit 24 that is different from the block diagram of FIG. 1 analyzes the input PDL 1 to determine whether the information is specific information (specific document), and notifies the determination unit 21 of the determination result.

  When the determination unit 24 determines that PDL1 is a specific document from the determination unit 24, the determination unit 21 analyzes the input PDL1 and detects a portion where the PDL1 and the PDL2 stored in the storage unit 23 should be combined. The location is notified to the coupling unit 22.

  The combining unit 22 reads the PDL 2 stored in the storage unit 23 at the location to be combined notified from the determining unit 21, combines the input PDL 1 and the read PDL 2, and a print description generated as a result The language PDL3 is output to the output terminal B.

  In this case as well, PDL2 includes a command for instructing superimposition of image data, not data representing a raster image such as the DrawImage command. That is, PDL 3 is not combined with a command sequence that represents an image itself, but is combined with a command sequence that indicates which image is to be combined.

  Similar to the first and second embodiments, the image processing apparatus according to the third embodiment can be implemented in a network system configured as shown in FIG. That is, the present embodiment is installed as software on the server 73, a print job transmitted from the client machines 71 and 72 via the network 75 is processed according to the present embodiment, and is transferred from the server 73 to the printer 74 via the network 75. To transmit.

  The printer 74 holds image data used for composition in a storage medium such as an internal memory or a hard disk in advance. When a print job is transmitted via the network 75, the image data is composed into the print job. Then print out.

  As described above, this embodiment is implemented as software that operates on the server 73. At this time, the storage location of the software may be a recording medium such as a ROM, a RAM, a hard disk, and a CD-ROM.

  Further, the present embodiment can be implemented as hardware incorporated in the server 73. Furthermore, this embodiment can also be implemented in each client machine or printer.

  With such an image processing apparatus of this embodiment, an image can be synthesized at the PDL stage, and it is not necessary to perform synthesis using a large amount of image data. Further, since the server 73 designates image data to be synthesized and only a command for instructing the synthesis of the image data is added to the input print job, when the processed PDL is transmitted to the printer, a network is used. Can be reduced and a printout can be obtained at high speed.

  Furthermore, by installing the image processing apparatus of the present embodiment on the server, it is possible to use existing software and hardware without replacing the printer driver of each client machine 73 and 74 or changing the specifications of the printer 74. Additional functions can be added. In addition, the operator can obtain a printout that is automatically synthesized without being aware of the composition of the image when performing the printout.

  Here, a case where the present embodiment is implemented as software on the server 73 will be described as an example. FIG. 15 is a configuration diagram illustrating the third embodiment. That is, the server 73 according to the third embodiment includes a print job temporary storage unit 31, a print job attribute information acquisition unit 32, a document specification unit 33, and a print condition determination unit 34.

  The print job temporary holding unit 31 temporarily holds a print job in the server 73 when the print job is sent from the client computer 71 to the printer 74 via the server 73 via the network 75.

  The print job attribute information acquisition unit 32 accompanies a print job such as a document name, a user name, a client computer name, a print date, an output printer name, and location information from the print job temporarily stored in the print job temporary storage unit 31. Perform processing to import attributes.

  The document specifying unit 33 is a part for specifying a condition to be a print restriction target document specified in advance by the administrator. Based on the attribute information acquired by the print job attribute information acquiring unit 32, a document to be printed is set in advance. It is determined whether the document is a print restriction target document.

  Further, the printing condition determination unit 34 performs processing for determining whether or not the printing condition of the document is satisfied. The printing conditions referred to here are, for example, conditions such that only users belonging to a certain group can print, whether printing can be performed only on a certain printer, or whether a printing request is issued from a designated client computer.

  FIG. 16 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the server in the third embodiment. In the following description, reference numerals not shown in FIG. 16 refer to FIG.

  First, a print job is sent from the client computer 71 via the network 75 via the server 73 (step S101). The print job is held in the print job temporary holding means 31 in the server 73 (step S102).

  Next, the temporarily held print job is sent to the print job attribute information acquisition unit 32, and the attribute information of the print job is taken out (step S103). The attribute information includes a document name, a user name, a client computer name, a printing date / time, an output printer name, location information, and the like.

  Next, the acquired attribute information is sent to the document specifying means 33, and it is determined from the attribute information whether the document to be printed is a print restriction target document designated in advance by the administrator (step S104).

  If the document to be printed is not a print restriction target document designated in advance by the administrator (No in step S104), the print job is sent from the server 73 to the printer 74 via the network 75 (step S105).

  On the other hand, when the document to be printed is a printing restriction target document designated in advance by the administrator (Yes in step S104), the printing condition determination unit 34 determines whether the printing condition of the document is satisfied. (Step S106). Here, the printing condition is, for example, a condition that only a user belonging to a certain group can print, a printing that can be performed only on a certain printer, or a printing request from a designated client computer.

  If the print condition is satisfied by this determination (Yes in step S106), the print job is sent from the server 73 to the printer 74 via the network 75 (step S105).

  On the other hand, if the print condition is not satisfied, the print job corresponding to the print restriction target document is deleted from the print job temporary holding means 31, and the client computer 71 is notified of the information indicating that printing is not possible (print rejection) (step). S107).

  By such processing, it is possible to print only a document subject to printing restriction specified in advance by the administrator and satisfying the specified printing condition. For example, the confidential document specified by the document ID and other print job attributes can be printed. Printing can be restricted on an individual or group basis.

  In addition, the administrator designates a document to be subject to printing restriction by designating a document using not only the document name, document ID, document storage folder and URL (Uniform Resource Locator) but also other print job attribute information. Therefore, for example, by specifying a document for full color printing as a print restriction target, it is possible to set an upper limit value of the number of full color prints for each individual or group.

  Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described. The image processing apparatus according to the fourth embodiment can be realized in a network system configured as shown in FIG. 6 as in the first embodiment. That is, the present embodiment is installed as software on the server 73, a print job transmitted from the client machines 71 and 72 via the network 75 is processed according to the present embodiment, and is transferred from the server 73 to the printer 74 via the network 75. To transmit.

  The printer 74 interprets the transmitted print job and prints it out. That is, this embodiment is implemented as software that operates on the server 73. At this time, the storage location of the software may be a recording medium such as a ROM, a RAM, a hard disk, and a CD-ROM.

  Further, the present embodiment can be implemented as hardware that is incorporated into the server 73. Furthermore, this embodiment can also be implemented in each client machine or printer.

  Here, a case where the present embodiment is implemented as software on the server 73 will be described as an example. FIG. 17 is a configuration diagram illustrating the fourth embodiment. That is, the server 73 according to the fourth embodiment includes a print job temporary storage unit 31, a print job attribute information acquisition unit 32, a document specification unit 33, a print condition determination unit 34, and a print history storage unit 36.

  The print job temporary holding unit 31 temporarily holds a print job in the server 73 when the print job is sent from the client computer 71 to the printer 74 via the server 73 via the network 75.

  The print job attribute information acquisition unit 32 includes a print document location information acquisition unit 35. The location information (folder path, intranet URL name, etc.) is mainly obtained from the print job temporarily stored in the print job temporary storage unit 31. Process to capture.

  The document specifying means 33 is a part for specifying the conditions registered in advance by the administrator as the storage location of the print restriction target document. The document specifying means 33 is a folder of a print target document acquired by the print document location information acquisition means 35 or on the intranet. Based on the location information that is the URL, it is determined whether the document to be printed is a preset print restriction target document.

  Further, the printing condition determination unit 34 performs processing for determining whether or not the printing condition of the document is satisfied. The printing conditions referred to here are, for example, conditions such that only users belonging to a certain group can print, whether printing can be performed only on a certain printer, or whether a printing request is issued from a designated client computer.

  The print history holding unit 36 automatically logs, as a print history, attribute information that can be acquired from a print job such as a document name, a user name, a client computer name, a print date, and a printer name corresponding to a print job for which a print request has been made. It has a function to leave in files etc.

  FIG. 18 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the server in the fourth embodiment. In the following description, reference numerals not shown in FIG. 18 refer to FIG.

  First, a print job is sent from the client computer 71 via the network 75 via the server 73 (step S201). The print job is held in the print job temporary holding means 31 in the server 73 (step S202).

  Next, the temporarily held print job is sent to the print job attribute information acquisition unit 32, and the location information of the print job is extracted (step S203). This location information is information such as the path of the folder in which the document to be printed is stored and the URL name on the intranet.

  Next, the acquired location information is sent to the document specifying means 33, and the document of the URL on the intranet or the folder in which the document to be printed is previously registered as the storage location of the print restriction target document by the administrator from the location information (print restriction target) It is determined whether or not (document) (step S204).

  If the document to be printed is not a print restriction target document (No in step S204), the print job is sent from the server 73 to the printer 74 via the network 75 (step S205).

  On the other hand, if the document to be printed is a print restriction target document (Yes in step S204), the printing condition determination unit 34 determines whether the printing condition of the document is satisfied (step S206). Here, the printing condition is, for example, a condition that only a user belonging to a certain group can print, a printing that can be performed only on a certain printer, or a printing request from a designated client computer.

  If the print condition is satisfied by this determination (Yes in step S206), the print job is sent from the server 73 to the printer 74 via the network 75 (step S205).

  On the other hand, if the print condition is not satisfied, the print job corresponding to the print restriction target document is deleted from the print job temporary holding means 31, and the client computer 71 is notified of the information indicating that printing is not possible (print rejection) (step). S207).

  By printing in such a process, it is possible to place a print restriction on a document at a location specified in advance by the administrator regardless of the access right or document attribute of the document itself. Can be restricted on an individual or group basis.

  For example, when a document is published on an in-house intranet or the like, the administrator registers the URL as a print restriction location in the document specifying means 33 and adds a print authority as a print condition for each user or group, thereby allowing the intranet. Printing can be restricted even for a user who has the right to read the document published above. The document specifying unit 33 and the print condition determining unit 34 do not need to be on the server 73, and may be managed collectively on a host computer on the network 75.

  Furthermore, in the print history holding means 36 shown in FIG. 17, when there is a print request for a document at a location designated in advance by the administrator, the document name, user name, client computer name, printing date and time, printer name, etc. Attribute information that can be acquired from a print job is automatically left as a print history in a log file, etc., so that even if a user with printing authority prints, the document at the restricted location is printed. Since the history remains, it is possible to obtain a deterrent against leakage of confidential documents.

  Next, a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described. The image processing apparatus according to the fifth embodiment can be realized in a network system configured as shown in FIG. 6 as in the first embodiment. That is, the present embodiment is installed as software on the server 73, a print job transmitted from the client machines 71 and 72 via the network 75 is processed according to the present embodiment, and is transferred from the server 73 to the printer 74 via the network 75. To transmit.

  The printer 74 interprets the transmitted print job and prints it out. That is, this embodiment is implemented as software that operates on the server 73. At this time, the storage location of the software may be a recording medium such as a ROM, a RAM, a hard disk, and a CD-ROM.

  Further, the present embodiment can be implemented as hardware that is incorporated into the server 73. Furthermore, this embodiment can also be implemented in each client machine or printer.

  Here, a case where the present embodiment is implemented as software on the server 73 will be described as an example. FIG. 19 is a configuration diagram for explaining the fifth embodiment. That is, the server 73 according to the fifth embodiment includes a print job temporary holding unit 31, a print job attribute information acquiring unit 32, a document specifying unit 33, and a print job processing unit 37.

  The print job temporary holding unit 31 temporarily holds a print job in the server 73 when the print job is sent from the client computer 71 to the printer 74 via the server 73 via the network 75.

  The print job attribute information acquisition unit 32 accompanies a print job such as a document name, a user name, a client computer name, a print date, an output printer name, and location information from the print job temporarily stored in the print job temporary storage unit 31. Perform processing to import attributes.

  The document specifying unit 33 is a part for specifying a condition to be a print restriction target document specified in advance by the administrator. Based on the attribute information acquired by the print job attribute information acquiring unit 32, a document to be printed is set in advance. It is determined whether the document is a print restriction target document.

  Further, the print job processing unit 37 performs processing for automatically editing the print job so that the print job attribute information is left on the printing surface of the document if the document is a print restriction target specified in advance by the administrator. For example, as the print job attribute information, a print job in which the user ID, the print date and the like are added to the print surface as a watermark, a watermark, a barcode, or the like is created based on the original print job.

  FIG. 20 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the server in the fifth embodiment. In the following description, reference numerals not shown in FIG. 20 refer to FIG.

  First, a print job is sent from the client computer 71 via the network 75 via the server 73 (step S301). The print job is held in the print job temporary holding means 31 in the server 73 (step S302).

  Next, the temporarily held print job is sent to the print job attribute information acquisition unit 32, and the attribute information of the print job is taken out (step S303). The attribute information includes a document name, a user name, a client computer name, a printing date / time, an output printer name, location information, and the like.

  Next, the acquired attribute information is sent to the document specifying unit 33, and it is determined from the attribute information whether the document to be printed is a print restriction target document designated in advance by the administrator (step S304).

  If the document to be printed is not a print restriction target document designated in advance by the administrator (No in step S304), the print job is sent from the server 73 to the printer 74 via the network 75 (step S305).

  On the other hand, if the document to be printed is a print restriction target document designated in advance by the administrator (Yes in step S304), the print job processing unit 37 leaves print job attribute information on the print surface of the document. The print job is automatically edited (step S306).

  For example, as the print job attribute information, a print job in which the user ID, the print date and the like are added to the print surface as a watermark, a watermark, a barcode, or the like is created based on the original print job. Such a print job can be created by adding (combining) a watermark, a barcode, or the like corresponding to the attribute information to be added to the original print job (print description language) in the print description language.

  Next, a process of replacing the print job (original) held in the print job temporary holding unit 31 with the processed (edited) print job created by the print job processing unit 37 in the previous step S306 is performed (step S306). S307).

  The replaced processed print job is sent from the print job temporary holding means 31 to the printer 74 via the network 75 (step S305).

  By such processing, when printing a document registered in advance as a print restriction target by the administrator, the print job can be automatically processed and the print job attribute information can be automatically added to the print surface. For example, the print date, user name, etc. can be forcibly left on the output document as a watermark, watermark, etc., and when, from whom the document was printed, and by which printer from the output paper document Can be identified.

  Note that the third and fourth embodiments described above are configured to include another embodiment shown in FIG. 13, that is, a billing information generation unit 25 that generates billing information according to the determination result in the determination unit 24. Is applicable.

It is a block diagram explaining 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of PDL1 and PDL2. It is a figure which shows the example of the image drawn by PDL2. It is a figure which shows the example of the image drawn by PDL1. It is a figure which shows the example of PDL output. It is a figure explaining a network system structure. It is a block diagram explaining 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of PDL1 and PDL2. It is a figure which shows the example of the image drawn by PDL2. It is a figure which shows the example of printout of PDL1. It is a figure which shows the example of PDL output. It is a figure which shows the example of a setting screen. It is a block diagram explaining another embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of the image overwritten on a page. It is a block diagram explaining 3rd Embodiment. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of 3rd Embodiment. It is a block diagram explaining 4th Embodiment. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of 4th Embodiment. It is a block diagram explaining 5th Embodiment. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of 5th Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

  21 ... Determining unit, 22 ... Combining unit, 23 ... Storage unit, 24 ... Determining unit, 25 ... Billing information generating unit, 31 ... Print job temporary holding unit, 32 ... Print job attribute information obtaining unit, 33 ... Document specifying unit, 34 ... Print condition determining means, 35 ... Print document location information obtaining means, 36 ... Print history holding means, 37 ... Print job processing means, 71, 72 ... Client machine, 73 ... Server, 74 ... Printer, 75 ... Network

Claims (4)

Print document location information acquisition means for acquiring location information of a document to be printed from a print job;
Document specifying means for determining whether the document to be printed is a print restriction target document based on the location information acquired by the print document location information acquisition means;
Documents determined to be print restriction target documents by the document specifying unit can be printed based on predetermined print conditions, and documents determined not to be print restriction target documents can be printed regardless of the print conditions. An image processing apparatus comprising: a printing condition determination unit. The print history holding unit that stores, as a print history, attribute information acquired from a print job of the document for a document that is determined to be a print restriction target document by the document specifying unit. Image processing device. The printing condition determining unit sends the print job to the image forming apparatus when the document determined to be a print restriction target document by the document specifying unit satisfies a preset printing condition, and satisfies the printing condition. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a printing condition determination unit that performs a process of notifying that if not. The printing condition determining unit sends the print job to the image forming apparatus when the document determined to be a print restriction target document by the document specifying unit satisfies a preset printing condition, and satisfies the printing condition. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a printing condition determination unit that performs a process of deleting the print job if not.

Images