JP2009076049A - Printing setting apparatus, printing apparatus, program and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a ground pattern from being added redundantly to print data regarding print setting. <P>SOLUTION: Each of computer terminals 10, 20 obtains ground pattern addition information indicating whether settings for adding a ground pattern are made in a printing apparatus through bidirectional communications with the printing apparatus. If the ground pattern addition information indicates that settings for adding a ground pattern are made in the printing apparatus, acceptance of settings for adding a ground pattern is prohibited in the printing setting apparatus. If the ground pattern addition information indicates that settings for adding a ground pattern are not made in the printing apparatus, acceptance of settings for adding a ground pattern is authorized in the printing setting apparatus. As a result, printing data having no ground pattern added thereto are transmitted to the printing apparatus if settings for adding a ground pattern are made on the printing apparatus side, and printing data having a ground pattern added thereto are transmitted to the printing apparatus if settings for adding a ground pattern are not made on the printing apparatus side. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention controls a print setting device that performs settings relating to printing of print data to be transmitted to a printing device, a printing device such as a printer that performs print processing of print data from the print setting device, the print setting device, and the printing device. The present invention relates to a program for realizing functions necessary for a computer (functions related to the present invention) and a computer-readable recording medium on which the program is recorded.

  Copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing is already known as a technique for making it possible to distinguish the difference between a copy and an original or to prevent copying. In addition, as a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing method, the size of job data (print data) is increased, but there is a merit that all fonts installed in a host such as a PC (personal computer) can be used. There is already known a tint block pattern addition method using a printer main body, which has an advantage that the size of job data between the host and the printer can be reduced instead of the method and the fonts that can be used.

These two methods are often used together because of their advantages and disadvantages.
For example, in Patent Documents 1 to 3, for the purpose of discriminating whether the copy is an original or a copy, a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern is added to the print data on the host side, and the print data to which the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern is added by the printing apparatus. A configuration for performing printing is disclosed.
JP 2001-324898 A JP 2005-006169 A JP 2006-331203 A

However, in the conventional technology, when both methods are used together, a background pattern is added by the printer driver, and further, a background pattern is added by the printer main body, both the background patterns overlap, and the output result does not function as a background pattern. There was a problem that there was a case. In an office where an important document is printed and an environment in which a system administrator is forced to always print with a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern, there is a security loophole, which is a big problem.
The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to prevent double-addition of a tint block pattern to print data.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a print setting device, a printing device, a program executed by a computer that controls them, and a computer-readable recording medium that records the program.

  The print setting device according to the first aspect of the present invention is a communication connection unit that is communicably connected to a printing device, a print setting unit that performs settings relating to printing of print data to be transmitted to the printing device, and a tint block added by the print setting unit A print setting device having a tint block adding means for adding a tint block to print data when the setting is made, and the bi-directional communication with the printing device makes the tint block addition setting in the printing device. If the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern additional information acquisition unit for acquiring the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern additional information indicating whether or not the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern additional information is acquired by the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern additional information acquisition unit, When the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern information that indicates that the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern setting has not been made is received and the copy-set pattern addition information has been acquired, Is provided with a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting acceptance control means for permitting the constant of acceptance.

A print setting apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention is the print setting apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein, when the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting reception control means prohibits acceptance of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting, the screen for not accepting the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting Are provided with screen display means for displaying a screen for accepting the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the printing apparatus according to the first or second aspect, wherein the tint block addition setting reception control means indicates whether or not the tint block addition information has been set by the tint block additional information acquisition means. Is not obtained, the acceptance of the tint block addition setting by the print setting means is permitted.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing apparatus comprising: a communication connection unit communicably connected to a print setting device; a tint block addition setting unit that performs tint block addition setting; and a tint block addition setting by the tint block addition setting unit. A tint block adding unit for adding a tint block to print data received from the print setting device and a processing unit for processing the print data to which the tint block has been added. When the print data with the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern added is received from the print setting device, the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern adding unit ignores the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern and enables the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition means to add to the print data. A tint block changing means for changing the tint block to be used is provided.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program for communicably connecting to a printing apparatus, a print setting means for performing settings relating to printing of print data to be transmitted to the printing apparatus, and a tint block addition setting by the print setting means In such a case, a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting is made in the printing apparatus by bidirectionally communicating with the above-mentioned printing apparatus to a computer that controls the print setting apparatus having a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern adding means for adding a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern to the print data. When the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern additional information acquisition function for acquiring the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern additional information indicating whether or not the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern additional information is acquired by the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern additional information acquisition function, If the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition information indicating that the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting is prohibited and reception of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting is acquired, the print setting means Is a program for realizing the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting acceptance control feature that allows the reception of a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting with.

A program according to the invention of claim 6 is a screen in which, in the program of claim 5, when the computer is prohibited from accepting the background pattern addition setting by the background pattern addition setting reception control function, the screen does not accept the background pattern addition setting. Is a program for realizing a screen display function for displaying a screen for accepting the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting when acceptance of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting is permitted.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the program according to the fifth or sixth aspect, the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting reception control function can acquire the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition information indicating whether or not the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition information is set by the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition information acquisition function. If not, the acceptance of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting by the print setting means is permitted.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program according to a first aspect of the present invention, provided that a communication connection means for communicably connecting to a print setting device, a background pattern addition setting means for performing a background pattern addition setting, and a background pattern addition setting by the background pattern addition setting means, The copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting unit adds a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition unit for adding copy-forgery-inhibited pattern to the print data received from the print setting device and a processing unit for processing the print data to which the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern is processed. When the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern is set and the print data with the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern is received from the print setting device, the print-pattern is added by ignoring the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern and enabling the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition means This is a program for realizing a tint block changing function for changing a tint block to be added to data.
A recording medium according to a ninth aspect of the invention is a computer-readable recording medium in which the program according to any one of the fifth to eighth aspects is recorded.

  According to this invention, the print setting device acquires the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition information indicating whether or not the print-pattern addition setting has been made in the printing device by performing bidirectional communication with the printing device, and the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition information is set as the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting. If it indicates that the background pattern addition setting has been made, it is prohibited to accept the background pattern addition setting. If it indicates that the background pattern addition setting has not been made, the reception of the background pattern addition setting is permitted. If the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern setting is set, the print data to which no copy-forgery-inhibited pattern is added is sent to the printing device. It is possible to prevent double addition of the tint block to the print data.

Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.
[Configuration example of printer system]
First, the configuration of a printer system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the printer system.

  Each of the computer terminals 10 and 20 can be communicably connected to the printers 1 to 3 via a network 5 such as a LAN (local area network). Each of the computer terminals 10 and 20 selects one of the printers 1 to 3 connected through the printer driver from the application as an output destination of the print job (print data), and sends the print job to the output destination. Can be printed.

  Each of the computer terminals 10 and 20 is an information processing apparatus (high-order apparatus) such as a PC (personal computer) or a workstation, and has a function as a print setting apparatus, and is a client computer or a print server. May be. In the case of a print server system, the client computer may be a Web client (Web server, Web browser, etc.) of the print server.

  Each of the printers 1 to 3 is a printing device that prints print data of a print job from the computer terminal 10 or 20 on a sheet as a visible image, and has only a print function such as a laser printer, an LED printer, or an inkjet printer. Is. Instead of the printers 1 to 3, a printing apparatus (image forming apparatus) such as a digital copying machine, a digital multi-function peripheral, or a facsimile machine having other functions such as a copy function in addition to the print function may be used. Further, the printers 1 to 3 may have a print server function.

Next, the hardware configuration of the computer terminal 10 of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG. Since the hardware configuration of the computer terminal 20 is the same as that of the computer terminal 10, illustration and description thereof are omitted.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of the computer terminal 10 of FIG.
The computer terminal 10 includes an I / O port 11, a CPU 12, a ROM 13, a RAM 14, a display unit 15, an HDD (hard disk device) 16, an input unit 17, and a storage medium drive 18.

The I / O port 11 is a communication means for communicating with each of the printers 1 to 3 as external devices via the network 5.
The CPU 12 is a central processing unit that manages and controls the entire computer terminal 10.
The ROM 13 is a read-only storage unit (memory) that stores a fixed control program executed by the CPU 12.

The RAM 14 is a readable / writable storage means that is used as a work area when a program executed by the CPU 12 is expanded and various processes are performed.
The display unit 15 is a display unit such as a CRT display or an LCD display for displaying various data and an operation screen for performing setting for adding a tint block.
The HDD 16 is a mass storage means for storing control programs and various data.
The input unit 17 is an input unit for receiving input of various types of operation information, and a pointing device such as a keyboard and a mouse can also be used.

The storage medium drive 18 is a recording / reproducing unit that performs recording or reproduction on the storage medium 19.
The storage medium 19 is a computer-readable recording medium such as an MO, a CD-R, a CD-RW, a DVD + R, a DVD + RW disc, a DVD-R, a DVD-RW, and a DVD-RAM that is removable from the computer terminal 10. A control program (control software) for executing print control is recorded.

In the computer terminal 10 configured as described above, the CPU 12 can read the control program from the storage medium 19 via the storage medium drive 18 and install it in the HDD 16 by the operation of the input unit 17 by the operator.
When the power is turned on, various programs including an OS (operation system), an application (application software), and a user interface in the HDD 16 are read in accordance with a boot loader (boot program) in the ROM 13 and installed in the RAM 14. (Various programs are selectively executed as necessary), and by controlling the apparatus including the display unit 15, communication connection means, print setting means, background pattern addition means, background pattern addition information acquisition means, background pattern addition Various functions including functions as a setting reception control unit and a screen display unit can be realized.

  Next, processing related to the software configuration and printing of the computer terminal 10 will be specifically described with reference to FIGS. Since the software configuration of the computer terminal 20 and the processing related to printing are the same as those of the computer terminal 10, illustration and description thereof are omitted. The processing and control by the control program (control software) are actually executed by the CPU operating in accordance with the control program. For convenience of explanation, it is assumed that the control program executes the processing. The same applies to the following description when the control program performs some processing or control.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a software configuration example of the computer terminal 10 of FIG. However, in FIG. 3, the OS (operating system) is not shown.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a part of a processing sequence by the control software of the computer terminal 10 shown in FIG.
5 and 6 are diagrams illustrating different examples of the print setting screen.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a tint block setting screen.

In the computer terminal 10, an OS, for example, Windows (registered trademark) of Microsoft Corporation operates, an application program (hereinafter also simply referred to as “application”) 21, a printer driver 30, and a GDI (Graphic Device Interface) which is a component of the OS. 22) The spooler 23 and the port monitor 24 operate during printing.
First, the user instructs the application 21 to open the print setting screen by operating the input unit 17 (hereinafter, also simply referred to as “user operation”).

In response to the instruction, the application 21 instructs the UI (user interface) unit 31 of the printer driver 30 to open the print setting screen.
In response to the instruction, the UI unit 31 of the printer driver 30 requests the bidirectional communication unit 32 to obtain a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern additional information.
In response to the request, the bidirectional communication unit 32 makes a background pattern additional information acquisition request to one of the printers 1 to 3.

Upon receiving the request, each of the printers 1 to 3 acquires copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition information indicating whether or not a setting for adding a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern (copy-forgery-inhibited pattern setting) has been made to the print data (drawing data). 10 to the UI unit 31 of the printer driver 30.
When the UI unit 31 acquires the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern additional information from the request destination in response to the request for acquiring the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern additional information to any of the printers 1 to 3, the print setting screen as illustrated in FIG. 5 or 6 is displayed on the display unit 15. Is displayed.

  At this time, if the acquired background pattern addition information is “do not add background pattern on the printer”, a button (hereinafter referred to as “background pattern”) for accepting the background pattern addition setting and displaying the background pattern setting screen for accepting the background pattern addition setting. "Set button") can be pressed as shown in FIG. When the acquired background pattern addition information is “add background pattern with printer main body”, the background pattern setting button cannot be pressed as shown in FIG. The screen displayed at this time is a screen that does not accept the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting.

If the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern setting button can be pressed, when the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern setting button is pressed by a user operation, the UI unit 31 instructs the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern setting unit 31a to open the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern setting screen. Thereby, the background pattern setting unit 31a displays a background pattern setting screen for setting the background pattern as shown in FIG.
When the user performs a user's operation to set a tint block (including setting for adding a tint block), and instructs the UI unit 31 to close the tint block setting screen through the tint block setting screen, the UI unit 31 performs the following processing.

That is, the information set on the tint block setting screen is stored in the DEVMODE structure (structure in which information on the screen mode is recorded) and returned to the application 21.
This DEVMODE structure has a field indicating whether or not to add a background pattern (hereinafter referred to as “background pattern addition field”). If the background pattern addition information is “add background pattern in printer main body”, “do not add background pattern”. Is stored. In the case of “do not add a background pattern on the printer main body”, the information set on the background pattern setting screen is stored.

  Note that the UI unit 31 permits the acceptance of the background pattern addition setting when the background pattern additional information acquisition request from any of the printers 1 to 3 cannot be acquired from the request destination. It is preferable that the background pattern setting button can be pressed.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing by the drawing unit 33 of the printer driver 30 of FIG.
When the application 21 receives a print instruction by a user operation, the application 21 passes the DEVMODE structure to the drawing unit 33 of the printer driver 30 via the GDI 22 and transmits the contents of the document (print data) to the printer driver 30 by a GDI call. The GDI call is converted into a DDI call by the GDI 22, and the drawing unit 33 of the printer driver 30 converts the DEVMODE structure into PJL (job description language) and sends it to the spooler 23 as shown in FIG. Drawing data is created according to the contents of the call and the DEVMODE structure. At this time, if the background pattern addition field of the DEVMODE structure is “add background pattern”, the background pattern generation unit 34 is requested to generate a background pattern.

In response to the request, the background pattern generation unit 34 reads the background pattern from the background pattern storage unit 35, creates the background pattern data using the pattern, and returns it to the drawing unit 33.
The tint block pattern storage unit 35 stores (saves) a tint block pattern for generating tint block data.
The drawing unit 33 transmits the received copy-forgery-inhibited pattern data to the spooler 23 as a data stream (see FIG. 9) in a format that can be distinguished from the drawing data. In this example, it is possible to distinguish whether the content of the data is copy-forgery-inhibited pattern data or other data based on an ID (identification information) uniquely assigned to each type of data. Note that the size information is omitted for the data size that can be determined only by the ID.

If the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition field of the DEVMODE structure is “do not add a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern”, the drawing unit 33 transmits only drawing data to the spooler 23.
The process shown in FIG. 8 is repeated for each page.
The spooler 23 transmits the data sent from the printer driver 30 to one of the printers 1 to 3 via the port monitor 24.
With the above mechanism, when a background pattern is added in the printer main body, the background pattern can be prevented from being added by the printer driver.

Next, the hardware configuration of the printer 1 in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG. Since the hardware configurations of the printers 2 and 3 are the same as those of the printer 1, illustration and description thereof are omitted.
FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of the printer 1 of FIG.
The printer 1 includes a CPU 101, an I / O port 102, an HDD 103, a volatile memory 104, a nonvolatile memory 105, a display unit 106, an input unit 107, an engine 108, and the like.

The CPU 101 is a central processing unit that manages and controls the entire printer 1.
The I / O port 102 is a communication unit for receiving (receiving) print data of a print job transmitted from the computer terminal 10 or 20 that is an external device.
The HDD 103 is mass storage means for storing various data.

The volatile memory 104 is a storage unit such as a readable / writable RAM that is used as a work area when the CPU 101 performs various types of processing or as an image area when creating bitmap data based on print data of a print job. It is.
The non-volatile memory 105 is a storage means such as a flash ROM for storing a control program and various data.

The display unit 106 is a display unit such as a CRT display or an LCD display for displaying an operation screen for performing the state of the printer 1 and a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting.
The input unit 107 is input means for receiving input of various types of operation information.
The engine 108 is means for printing (image forming) the bitmap data created by the CPU 101 on a print medium such as paper as a visible image.

In the printer 1 configured as described above, the CPU 101 operates according to the control program in the nonvolatile memory 105 (selectively executes the various programs as necessary) to control the device including the display unit 106. Accordingly, various functions including functions as communication connection means, background pattern addition setting means, background pattern addition means, processing means, and background pattern change means can be realized.
In this printer 1 as well, the CPU 101 can set the background pattern by a user operation by displaying the background pattern setting screen as shown in FIG. 7 on the display unit 106. At this time, the corresponding copy-forgery-inhibited pattern additional information is written into the setting storage area 202 (see FIG. 11) in the nonvolatile memory 105 (or HDD 103).

Next, the software configuration of the printer 1 and processing related to printing will be specifically described with reference to FIGS. Note that the software configuration of the printers 2 and 3 and the processes related to printing are the same as those of the printer 1, and thus illustration and description thereof are omitted.
FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a software configuration example of the printer 1 of FIG.
FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a part of a processing sequence by the control software of the printer 1 shown in FIG. The processing sequence corresponds to the case where the background pattern is added on the printer 1 side and the job is not canceled.

Upon receiving a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern additional information acquisition request from the computer terminal 10 or 20, the transmission / reception unit 201 reads and acquires the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern additional information from the setting storage area 202, and transmits it to the transmission source of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern additional information acquisition request.
When drawing data, copy-forgery-inhibited pattern data, and PJL are received from the computer terminal 10 or 20, information described in the PJL is stored in the setting storage area 202 as job setting information. Then, the drawing data and the tint block data are sent to the interpreter 203.

  The interpreter 203 interprets the data and controls the rasterizer 204 to convert the drawing data and the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern data (if there is data) into bitmap data (image data). At this time, the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition information is read from the setting storage area 202, and when the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition information is “add a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern”, the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern data is ignored and only the drawing data is interpreted, and the rasterizer 204 is controlled to control the bitmap data. Convert to In the case of “not adding a background pattern”, both the background pattern data and the drawing data are interpreted, and the rasterizer 204 is controlled to convert it into bitmap data.

  As another example, if the print data of the print job including the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern data is sent from the computer terminal 10 or 20 in the case of “adding the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern” at this time, the print job is canceled. You can also. FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing an example of processing by the interpreter 203 in this case.

Furthermore, as another example, when a background pattern is added by the printer driver 30 in FIG. 3, the drawing unit 33 generates PJL “@PJL JIMON = ON” of information indicating that, and there is the PJL. When the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition information stored in the area 202 is “add a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern”, the transmission / reception unit 201 can cancel the job. FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing performed by the transmission / reception unit 201.
Since the data stream sent from the computer terminal 10 or 20 has a format in which the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern data and the drawing data can be distinguished as shown in FIG. 9, these processes can be performed.

The rasterizer 204 sends the created bitmap data to the background pattern composition unit 205.
Upon receipt of the bitmap data, the background pattern composition unit 205 reads the background pattern addition information from the setting storage area 202, and in the case of “add background pattern”, requests the background pattern generation unit 206 to create the background pattern data. That is, the synthesis (addition) of the tint block data by the tint block synthesis unit 205 becomes effective.
Upon receiving a request to create a tint block data, the tint block generation unit 206 reads the tint block pattern from the tint block pattern storage unit 207, creates tint block data based on the job setting information stored in the setting storage area 202, and creates a tint block composition unit. It passes to 205.

The tint block pattern storage unit 207 stores a tint block pattern for generating tint block data.
Upon receiving the tint block data from the tint block generation unit 206, the tint block synthesizing unit 205 synthesizes it with the bitmap data previously received from the rasterizer 204, and sends the combined bitmap data to the engine 108. If the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern additional information read from the setting storage area 202 is “no copy-forgery-inhibited pattern”, the bitmap data received from the rasterizer 204 is sent to the engine 108 as it is.
The engine 108 prints the received bitmap data as a visible image on a print medium.

As described above, according to the computer terminal of this embodiment, the following effects (1) to (3) can be obtained.
(1) By performing two-way communication with a printer, the background pattern addition information indicating whether or not the background pattern addition setting is made in the printer is acquired, and the background pattern addition information indicates that the background pattern addition setting has been made. For example, if it is prohibited to accept the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern setting and indicates that the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting has not been made, the receipt of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting is permitted. If print data that has not been added is not set on the printer side, the print data with the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern will be sent to the printer, which prevents double-addition of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern to the print data. it can.

(2) By displaying a screen that does not accept the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting when reception of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting is prohibited, and a screen that accepts the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting when reception of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition is permitted, Since it is possible to know whether the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting is possible on the terminal side, an operation for setting the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern can be avoided.
(3) If the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition information indicating whether or not the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern setting has been made cannot be acquired, the acceptance of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting is permitted, so that the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern is not added to the print data. Inconvenience can also be avoided.

Further, according to the printer of this embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
In other words, when the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern setting is made on the own machine, when the print data with the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern is received from the computer terminal, the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern on the own machine is enabled by ignoring the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern. By changing the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern added to the print data, it is possible to avoid the inconvenience that the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern set by the computer terminal is added to the print data received from the computer terminal instead of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern set by the own device. .
In the case where the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern is set on the own device, the same effect can be obtained even if the print data is received from the computer terminal and the print data is ignored. .

[Program in this embodiment]
This program allows a computer (CPU) that controls a computer terminal to function as a communication connection unit, a print setting unit, a background pattern addition unit, a background pattern addition information acquisition unit, a background pattern addition setting reception control unit, and a screen display unit. Is a program for realizing functions as communication connection means, background pattern addition setting means, background pattern addition means, processing means, and background pattern change means, respectively, by causing the computer to execute such a program. The effects as described above can be obtained.

Such a program may be stored in a storage means such as a ROM or HDD (hard disk device) from the beginning, but is a CD-ROM or flexible disk as a recording medium, MO, CD-R, CD-RW, It can also be provided by being recorded on a non-volatile recording medium (memory) such as DVD + R, DVD + RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM, EEPROM, memory card or the like. The program recorded in the non-volatile recording medium is installed in a computer terminal and a printer and executed by the CPU, or the CPU reads out the program from the non-volatile recording medium and executes it, thereby executing the above-described procedures. be able to.
Furthermore, it is also possible to download and execute an external device that is connected to a network and includes a recording medium that records the program, or an external device that stores the program in the storage unit.

  As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent double addition of a background pattern to print data. Therefore, it is possible to provide a print setting apparatus and a printing apparatus that can print print data to which only one copy-forgery-inhibited pattern is added.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a printer system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the hardware structural example of the computer terminal of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the software structural example of the computer terminal of FIG. It is a figure which shows a part of process sequence by the control software of the computer terminal 10 shown in FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a print setting screen. FIG.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating another example of a print setting screen. It is a figure which shows an example of a tint block setting screen. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process by the drawing part of FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the data stream of the format which can distinguish copy-forgery-inhibited pattern data from drawing data. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of the printer 1 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a software configuration example of the printer 1 in FIG. 1. It is a figure which shows a part of processing sequence by the control software of the printer shown in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process by the interpreter 203 of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process by the transmission / reception part 201 of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1-3: Printer 5: Network 10, 20: Computer terminal 11, 102: I / O port 12, 101: CPU 13: ROM
14: RAM 15, 106: Display unit 16, 103: HDD
17, 107: Input unit 18: Storage medium drive 19: Storage medium 21: Application 22: GDI 23: Spooler 24: Port monitor 30: Printer driver 31: UI unit 31a: Background pattern setting unit 32: Bidirectional communication unit 33: Drawing Unit 34: tint block generation unit 35, 207: tint block pattern storage unit 104: volatile memory 105: nonvolatile memory 108: engine 201: transmission / reception unit 202: setting storage area 203: interpreter 204: rasterizer 205: tint block synthesis unit 206: tint block pattern Generator

Claims (9)

A communication connection unit that is communicably connected to the printing apparatus, a print setting unit that performs settings relating to printing of print data to be transmitted to the printing apparatus, and when the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern setting is performed by the print setting unit, A print setting apparatus having a tint block adding means for adding a tint block
A tint block additional information acquisition means for acquiring tint block additional information indicating whether or not the tint block addition setting is made in the printing device by bidirectional communication with the printing device;
When the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern additional information indicating that the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition information is set is acquired by the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern acquisition information, the acceptance of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting by the print setting unit is prohibited, and the fact that the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting is not made. A print setting apparatus, comprising: a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern setting reception control unit that permits reception of copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition settings by the print setting unit when the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition information is acquired. The print setting apparatus according to claim 1,
When reception of the background pattern addition setting is prohibited by the background pattern addition setting reception control means, a screen that does not accept the background pattern addition setting is displayed. When reception of the background pattern addition setting is permitted, the background pattern addition setting is displayed. A print setting apparatus comprising screen display means for displaying each of the screens for accepting messages. The print setting apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting acceptance control means permits the receipt of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting by the print setting unit when the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition information acquisition means cannot obtain the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition information. A print setting device. A communication connection unit that is communicably connected to the print setting device, a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern setting unit for performing copy-forgery-inhibited pattern setting, and when the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern setting is performed by the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting unit, print data received from the print setting device In a printing apparatus having a tint block adding means for adding a tint block and a processing unit for processing print data to which the tint block is added.
When the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern setting is made by the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern setting unit, when the print data to which the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern is added is received from the print setting device, the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern adding unit effectively ignores the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern. A printing apparatus comprising a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern changing means for changing a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern added to the print data. A communication connection unit that is communicably connected to the printing apparatus, a print setting unit that performs settings relating to printing of print data to be transmitted to the printing apparatus, and when the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern setting is performed by the print setting unit, A computer for controlling the print setting device having the tint block adding means for adding the tint block,
A copy-forgery-inhibited pattern additional information acquisition function for acquiring copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition information indicating whether copy-printing pattern addition settings have been made in the printing apparatus by bidirectional communication with the printing apparatus;
When the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition information indicating that the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting has been made is acquired by the function for obtaining the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern additional information, the acceptance of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting by the print setting unit is prohibited, and the fact that the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting has not been made. A program for realizing a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting reception control function that permits acceptance of copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition settings by the print setting means when the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition information is acquired. The program according to claim 5,
In the computer,
If acceptance of the background pattern addition setting is prohibited by the background pattern addition setting acceptance control function, a screen that does not accept the background pattern addition setting is displayed. If acceptance of the background pattern addition setting is permitted, the background pattern addition setting is displayed. A program that also realizes a screen display function that displays each screen that accepts. The program according to claim 5 or 6,
The copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting acceptance control function allows the print setting means to accept the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting when the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition information acquisition function cannot obtain the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition information. The program characterized by doing. A communication connection unit that is communicably connected to the print setting device, a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern setting unit for performing copy-forgery-inhibited pattern setting, and when the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern setting is performed by the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern addition setting unit, print data received from the print setting device In contrast, a computer that controls a printing apparatus that includes a tint block adding unit that adds a tint block and a processing unit that processes print data to which the tint block has been added.
When the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern setting is made by the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern setting unit, when the print data to which the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern is added is received from the print setting device, the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern adding unit effectively ignores the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern. By doing so, a program for realizing a tint block changing function for changing the tint block added to the print data.   A computer-readable recording medium in which the program according to any one of claims 5 to 8 is recorded.