JP2010247480A - Printing control device and printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing control device capable of automatically determining a page having an abnormality such as a garbled character, and a printer. <P>SOLUTION: An occupation rate of a blank area in each of pages of image data obtained by rasterizing received print data is calculated. It is determined that a page of which the occupation rate of a blank area is equal to or larger than a threshold value, is an abnormal page having a garbled character or the like. In a case where the number of pages notified from the transmission source of the print data is two or more, the determination is made only when the number of pages is not coincident with the number of pages of the image data obtained by rasterizing the print data. In a case where the notified number of pages is one, the determination based on the occupation rate of the blank area is made irrespective of the coincidence or incoincidence. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing control apparatus and a printing apparatus, and more particularly to a printing control apparatus and a printing apparatus that detect an abnormality such as garbled characters.

  When rasterizing print data and printing, abnormalities such as garbled characters may occur due to some factors. If printing continues as it is when an abnormality such as garbled characters occurs, time and resources are wasted. Therefore, there is a printer system that compares the number of pages of the job instructed for printing with the actual number of prints, and if there is a difference, determines that the print data is abnormal and cancels printing. It has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2001-113791 A

  In the method of determining an abnormality in print data based on the mismatch between the number of pages instructed to print and the number of pages actually printed, both the number of pages instructed to print and the number of pages actually printed are one page. In this case, it cannot be determined whether there is an abnormality.

  In addition, when there are a plurality of printed pages, it is not possible to identify a page having an abnormality even if it can be determined whether there is an abnormality. For this reason, the response at the time of abnormality detection is limited to stopping printing or leaving it to the user's instruction. For example, abnormal pages are not printed but normal pages are printed. It was not possible to take a distinctive response.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides a printing control apparatus and a printing apparatus that can determine whether there is an abnormality such as garbled characters regardless of the number of printed pages. It is another object of the present invention to provide a printing control apparatus and a printing apparatus that can automatically determine a page in which an abnormality such as garbled characters has occurred.

  The gist of the present invention for achieving the object lies in the inventions of the following items.

[1] An input unit for inputting print data;
A developing unit that develops the print data input by the input unit into image data in a bitmap format;
A blank occupancy ratio is calculated for each page of the image data obtained by the expansion unit, and a determination unit that determines a page having a blank occupancy ratio equal to or higher than a threshold as an abnormal page;
A printing control apparatus comprising:

  In the above invention, the blank occupancy is calculated for each page of the image data obtained by the development unit, and a page having a blank occupancy greater than or equal to the threshold is determined as an abnormal page. When an abnormality such as garbled characters occurs, in most cases, an image obtained by developing print data has only a few characters or symbols in the upper left of the page and the rest is blank. Therefore, a page having a blank occupancy ratio equal to or higher than a threshold (for example, 99.9%) is determined as an abnormal page. Further, since the determination is based on the blank occupancy rate, it is possible to determine whether there is an abnormality such as garbled characters regardless of the number of printed pages.

[2] The input unit receives input of the print data and page number information related to the print data,
When the number of pages indicated by the page number information is 2 or more, the determination unit is only when the number of pages and the number of pages of image data obtained by developing the print data by the developing unit do not match. The print control apparatus according to [1], wherein the determination is performed.

  In the above invention, when the number of pages indicated by the page number information notified from an external terminal or the like is 2 or more and the number of pages matches the number of pages after the print data is expanded, an abnormality such as garbled characters occurs. Therefore, when the number of pages indicated by the page number information is 2 or more, the determination based on the blank occupancy is performed only when the number of pages does not match the number of expanded pages. Thereby, the processing burden related to the calculation of the blank occupancy is reduced. When the number of pages indicated by the page number information is 1, the number of pages after expansion is almost 1 even if there is no abnormality such as garbled characters, etc. It is impossible to judge whether there is any abnormality. Therefore, when the number of pages indicated by the page number information is 1, it is preferable to make a determination based on the blank occupancy rate regardless of the coincidence or mismatch of the page numbers.

[3] The print control apparatus according to [1] or [2], wherein when there is a page determined to be an abnormal page by the determination unit, the fact is notified.

  In the above invention, the user is notified that an abnormal page has been detected. Notification methods include warning message display and voice notification.

[4] The print control apparatus according to any one of [1] to [3], wherein a page determined to be an abnormal page by the determination unit is notified.

  In the above invention, when an abnormal page is detected, the user is notified which page is the abnormal page. Examples of the method for notifying an abnormal page include notification of a page number, display of an abnormal page image or notification by printing, and display of an image in which a warning message indicating that the page is an abnormal page is combined with the abnormal page image. Or there is information by printing.

[5] The print control apparatus according to any one of [1] to [4], wherein the page determined as an abnormal page by the determination unit is not printed.

  In the above invention, normal pages are printed and abnormal pages are not printed.

[6] The function according to any one of [1] to [4], wherein when there is a page that is determined to be an abnormal page by the determination unit, the print data is stopped. Print control device.

  In the above invention, one of the countermeasures when an abnormal page is detected is to cancel printing.

[7] Any one of [1] to [4], including a trial print function for performing only one copy of the print data when there is a page determined to be an abnormal page by the determination unit. The printing control apparatus according to one item.

  In the above invention, as one of the countermeasures when an abnormal page is detected, there is a trial print that prints only one copy. That is, even when a print instruction for a plurality of copies is received, when an abnormal page is detected, it is possible to switch to a trial print that prints only one copy.

[8] The print control apparatus according to [7], wherein selection of whether or not to execute the trial print function is received from a user.

[9] The print control apparatus according to any one of [1] to [8];
A printing unit for printing the image data developed by the developing unit;
A printing apparatus comprising:

  According to the printing control apparatus and the printing apparatus according to the present invention, it is possible to determine whether there is an abnormality such as garbled characters regardless of the number of printed pages. Also, because abnormal pages such as garbled characters are automatically determined, if there is an error in the print data, the abnormal page is not printed and only the normal page is printed. Can be taken.

1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus as a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of calculation of a blank occupancy. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of an image forming apparatus that performs printing according to print data received from an external terminal. It is a flowchart which shows abnormality handling processing. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of a synthesis | combination of the warning message in trial printing.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus 10 as a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The image forming apparatus 10 has a copy function for optically reading a document image and printing the duplicate image on a recording paper, a scan function for saving the image data of the read document as a file, and transmitting the file to an external terminal, personal This is a so-called multi-function device equipped with a print function for forming and outputting an image related to print data received from an external terminal 5 such as a computer on recording paper.

  The image forming apparatus 10 includes a reading unit 13, a printing unit 14, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 15, a RAM, and a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11 that controls the operation of the image forming apparatus 10 via a bus 12. (Random Access Memory) 16, a non-volatile memory 17, an operation display unit 18, an expansion unit 21, an image processing unit 22, a hard disk device 23, a network communication unit 24, and the like are connected.

  The reading unit 13 optically reads a document image and acquires image data. For example, the reading unit 13 forms a light source that irradiates light on a document, a line image sensor that receives the reflected light for one line in the width direction, and guides reflected light from the document to the line image sensor. In addition to an optical system including a lens and a mirror to be moved, a moving mechanism that sequentially moves the reading position in units of lines in the length direction of the document by moving the mirror and the light source is provided.

  The printing unit 14 forms and outputs an image based on the image data on a recording sheet by an electrophotographic process. The printing unit 14 includes, for example, a recording paper conveyance device, a photosensitive drum, a charging device, an LD (Laser Diode) that is controlled to be turned on according to input image data, and laser light emitted from the LD. It is configured as a so-called laser printer having a scanning unit that scans on a photosensitive drum, a developing device, a transfer separating device, a cleaning device, and a fixing device. An LED printer that irradiates the photosensitive drum with an LED (Light Emitting Diode) instead of the laser light or another type of printer may be used.

  Various programs and fixed data are stored in the ROM 15, and the CPU 11 executes various processes according to these programs. The RAM 16 is used as a work memory for temporarily storing various data when the CPU 11 executes a program and an image memory for temporarily storing image data.

  The nonvolatile memory 17 is a rewritable memory that retains the stored contents even when the power is turned off. The nonvolatile memory 17 stores various setting contents (setting values) set for the image forming apparatus 10 and user information. The operation display unit 18 has a function of displaying various operation screens and a function of receiving various operations from the user. The operation display unit 18 includes a liquid crystal display as a display, various buttons such as a mode selection button, a start button, a stop button, and a numeric keypad, and a touch panel that is provided on the surface of the liquid crystal display and detects a pressed coordinate position. Consists of.

  The expansion unit 21 has a function of expanding (rasterizing) print data described in a character code or a page description language to generate image data in a bitmap format. The image processing unit 22 performs various kinds of image processing such as image correction, rotation, enlargement / reduction, compression / expansion on the image data. Further, in order to calculate a blank occupancy rate described later, the number of black pixels (dots) in the page for each page (in the case of color, pixels including at least one color component (referred to as color pixels)) ).

  The hard disk device 23 is a large-capacity nonvolatile storage device. The hard disk device 23 is used to store document image data read by the reading unit 13, print data received from an external terminal, image data obtained by the developing unit 21, and the like.

  The network communication unit 24 functions to transmit / receive print data and various data to / from an external terminal 5 such as a host computer through a network 2 such as a LAN (Local Area Network).

  The external terminal 5 adds page number information indicating the number of pages when the print data is correctly developed (rasterized) to the print data transmitted to the image forming apparatus 10. For example, when a copy of a 10-page document file is transmitted as print data, page number information indicating “10” pages is added. Further, when print data in which a 5-page document file, a 3-page spreadsheet file, and a 4-page presentation file are combined into one print job is transmitted, the total number of pages of the combined file is “12. "Is added to the print data.

  The image forming apparatus 10 determines whether each page of the image data obtained by expanding the print data received from the external terminal 5 by the expanding unit 21 is an abnormal page or a normal page, based on the blank occupancy ratio of the page. It has a function to judge.

  FIG. 2 shows a calculation example of the blank occupancy rate. The blank occupancy ratio is the number of black pixels included in one page 30 to be calculated (in the case of color, the number of pixels including at least one color component (color pixel)) as the total number of pixels in that page. This is a value obtained by subtracting the divided value from “1”. For example, in the example of FIG. 2, the number of pixels of the entire page is 7015 (dot) × 4960 = 3479440 (dot), and if the number of black pixels is 40000 (dot), the blank occupancy is 1− (40000 / 3479440) = 0.9886.

  FIG. 3 shows a flow of operations of the image forming apparatus 10 that performs print processing related to print data received from the external terminal 5. The image forming apparatus 10 receives the print data and the page number information related to the print data from the external terminal 5 (step S101), expands the print data into bitmap format image data by the expansion unit 21, and expands the expansion. The image data obtained by the above is sequentially stored in the hard disk device 23 with page numbers from the first page (step S102). When the development of the print data is completed, the number of pages of image data that have been developed so far and stored in the hard disk device 23 (hereinafter referred to as the number of developed pages) is obtained (step S103). The number of expanded pages may be recognized by the page number of the last expanded and saved page.

  Next, it is determined whether or not the number of pages indicated by the page number information (hereinafter referred to as the number of notification pages) is 2 or more (step S104). If the number of notification pages is 2 or more (step S104; Yes). ), The number of expanded pages is compared with the number of notification pages (step S105). If they match (step S105; Yes), it is determined that there is no abnormality in the print data, the image data stored in step S102 is sequentially printed (normal printing) (step S111), and the process is terminated.

  If the number of expanded pages and the number of notification pages do not match (step S105; No), it is determined that there is an abnormality in the print data, and the process proceeds to step S106 to determine which page the abnormal page is. Do. When the number of notification pages is less than 2, that is, when the number of notification pages is 1 (step S104; No), the process proceeds to step S106 without determining whether or not the number of expanded pages matches the number of notification pages. This is because when the number of notification pages is one, the number of expanded pages is 1 in most cases even if an abnormality such as garbled characters has occurred or no abnormality has occurred. This is because it is difficult to determine the presence or absence of abnormality due to the mismatch between the number of pages and the number of expanded pages.

  In the processing after step S106, it is determined in order from the first page whether each page stored in step S102 is an abnormal page or a normal page. First, the blank occupancy ratio of the saved image data of the first page is calculated (step S106). The calculation method is as described in FIG. Here, the CPU 11 reads the image data of the calculation target page from the hard disk device 23, sends this to the image processing unit 22, and causes the image processing unit 22 to count the number of black pixels (color pixels in the case of color). Then, the blank occupancy is obtained by subtracting from 1 a value obtained by dividing the number of black pixels in one page counted by the image processing unit 22 by the total number of pixels in one page. Note that the CPU 11 may check each pixel of the image data and count the number of black pixels. Further, the total number of pixels in one page is obtained by calculation from the vertical and horizontal lengths and resolutions of the page specified in the print data, or a value stored in advance in the nonvolatile memory 17 or the like is used.

  Next, the blank occupancy obtained in step S106 is compared with a preset threshold value (step S107). This threshold value may be a fixed value as a device, or may be a value that is set by the user through a predetermined setting screen or the like. In the latter case, the set threshold value is stored in the nonvolatile memory 17 and is read and used as necessary. The threshold is set to 0.999 (99.9%), for example. The threshold value may be set to a value corresponding to a blank occupancy when only half of a line is printed or a blank occupancy when about 10 characters are printed. In addition, the threshold value may be determined from the measured value of the blank occupancy rate when garbled characters occur. For example, the blank occupancy ratios may be tabulated for a large number of garbled cases, and the threshold value may be set to a value as large as possible (a value close to 1) under the condition that 90% or more of the cases are included above the threshold value.

  If the blank occupancy is equal to or greater than the threshold (step S107; Yes), this page is determined to be an abnormal page, and the fact that this page is an abnormal page is registered in the hard disk device 23 or the nonvolatile memory 17 (step S108). The process proceeds to S109. For example, the page number of the page determined to be an abnormal page is registered as abnormal page information. If the blank occupancy is less than the threshold (step S107; No), the page is determined to be a normal page, and the process proceeds to step S109 without performing the above registration for the page.

  In step S109, it is determined whether or not the processing in steps S106 and S107 (calculation of blank occupancy ratio and comparison with a threshold value) has been completed for all the expanded pages saved in step S102. (Step S109; No), returning to Step S106, the blank occupancy is determined for the next page. If all pages have ended (step S109; Yes), whether there is a page determined to be an abnormal page is checked based on the abnormal page information registered in step S108, and if there is no abnormal page (step S110). No), the image data stored in step S102 is sequentially printed (normal printing) (step S111), and the process is terminated.

  If an abnormal page exists (step S110; Yes), the user is notified that an abnormal page such as a garbled character exists in the print data (step S112). The notification is performed, for example, by displaying a predetermined warning message on the operation display unit 18 or sounding a warning sound. Further, even if the notification is performed by transmitting predetermined notification information to the external terminal 5 that is the transmission source of the print data and displaying a warning on the display screen of the external terminal 5 or sounding a warning sound. Good. In this case, for example, the print driver that has received the notification information performs processing such as warning display and sounding of the warning sound.

  If there is an abnormal page, a predetermined abnormality handling process is further performed (step S113), and the process is terminated.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing details of the abnormality handling process (step SS113 in FIG. 3). The CPU 11 displays on the operation display unit 18 a countermeasure selection screen (not shown) for accepting from the user a selection operation to delete a print job related to the print data in which the abnormal page is detected or to print only one copy. The above selection is received from the user (step S201).

  If a job deletion selection is received (step S202; No), the print job is deleted (step S203), and the process ends. When the trial print is selected (step S202; Yes), the trial print related to the print data is executed (step S204). In the trial print, only one copy of the print data is printed. At that time, for the abnormal page, the image of the warning message indicating that the page is an abnormal page is combined with the image data and printed. The page is printed as it is.

  For example, it is assumed that the image data in which the print data is expanded and stored in step S102 is 10 pages, of which 6 to 8 pages are detected as abnormal pages. In this case, the 1st to 5th pages, 9th and 10th pages are printed using the image data stored in step S102 as they are, and the 6th to 8th pages are printed in the image data of the corresponding pages stored in step S102. The warning message is combined and the combined image data is printed.

  FIG. 5 shows a synthesis example of warning messages in the trial print. FIG. 6A shows an example in which the warning message 31 is largely combined at the center of the blank portion, and FIG. 6B shows an example in which the warning message 31 is combined in one line at the lower end of the page. The content of the warning message, the composition position, and the composition mode are not limited to these, but avoid the area where there is a high possibility that a character symbol will be printed when garbled, specifically the upper left part of the page. A warning message should be synthesized.

  In step S112 of FIG. 3, an image in which a page determined to be an abnormal page is notified by a page number or the like, or a warning message is combined with an image of the abnormal page when the abnormal page is notified. May be displayed on the operation display unit 18.

  When the trial print is completed, the CPU 11 inquires of the user whether or not to continue the print job based on the print data (step S205). Here, the inquiry is made by displaying a predetermined selection screen on the operation display unit 18. If a selection not to continue is received (step S206; No), the process is terminated. If a selection to continue is received (step S206; Yes), the user is further inquired whether to print only normal pages or all pages including abnormal pages (step S207). Here, the inquiry is made by displaying a predetermined selection screen on the operation display unit 18.

  When a selection to print only normal pages is received (step S208; Yes), the number of copies designated by the print data for only the pages not registered as abnormal pages among the image data of each page stored in step S102. Minute printing is executed (step S209), and the process is terminated. If a selection to print all pages including an abnormal page is received (step S208; No), printing is performed for the specified number of copies for all pages stored in step S102 (step S210), and the process is terminated. . At this time, the process of combining the warning message with the abnormal page is not performed. Note that when continuous printing is performed, re-designation of the number of copies may be accepted and printing may be performed for the designated number of copies.

  In FIG. 4, the selection of the operation content is received from the user at the time of executing the abnormality handling process. However, the setting of the operation content as the abnormality handling process is received in advance and stored in the nonvolatile memory 17 and the like. For example, an operation such as deleting a job or performing a trial print may be automatically executed.

  As described above, the image forming apparatus 10 automatically determines that a page having a blank occupancy ratio equal to or greater than a threshold is an abnormal page such as a garbled character. Therefore, an abnormal page such as printing only normal pages without printing abnormal pages. And a normal page can be performed, and high convenience can be provided to the user in dealing with an abnormal page.

  In particular, by adding a warning message indicating that there is a high possibility that the page is an abnormal page to a page determined to be an abnormal page and printing it or displaying it on the operation display unit 18, the user can make an abnormality. It is possible to easily perform operations such as recognizing a page determined to be a page and visually confirming whether or not the page is really an abnormal page. Further, by printing only normal pages without printing abnormal pages, it is possible to suppress useless printing.

  Furthermore, when an abnormal page is detected, the user is inquired about how to deal with it, so that it is possible to cope with the occurrence of an abnormality such as garbled characters by a method desired by the user.

  Further, when the number of notification pages from the external terminal 5 is 2 or more, only when the number of notification pages is different from the number of expanded pages as a result of expanding the print data received from the external terminal 5 by the expansion unit 21, Since the blank occupancy ratio is calculated, the processing burden associated with the calculation is reduced as compared with the case where the blank occupancy ratio is always calculated. That is, if the number of notification pages is 2 or more and the number of notification pages matches the number of expanded pages, it can be determined that there is no abnormality such as garbled characters in the print data, so it is determined which page is an abnormal page. The processing load is reduced by not calculating the blank occupancy ratio, which is a process for the purpose.

  Further, since the determination is based on the blank occupancy rate, it is possible to determine whether there is an abnormality such as garbled characters regardless of the number of pages. That is, in the example of FIG. 3, when the number of notification pages is one, the determination based on the blank occupancy rate is performed regardless of whether the notification page number and the expanded page number match or not. It is possible to determine whether the page is abnormal.

  The embodiment of the present invention has been described with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to that shown in the embodiment, and there are changes and additions within the scope of the present invention. Are also included in the present invention.

  For example, in the embodiment, the abnormal page determination is performed in the image forming apparatus 10 having the printing unit 14, but the functional part related to the abnormal page determination is configured as a print control apparatus separate from the printing apparatus. May be. For example, the print control apparatus may be configured as a print server on the network 2 with an abnormal page determination function added.

  Although the blank occupancy ratio is used in the embodiment, the printing ratio (the number of black pixels included in one page (the number of color pixels in the case of color) divided by the total number of pixels in one page) is less than the threshold value. It may be configured to determine that the page is abnormal. The threshold value in this case may be a value obtained by subtracting the threshold value in the case of blank occupancy from 1. For example, the value is 0.1%.

  The method for notifying that an abnormal page exists and which page is abnormal is not limited to that exemplified in the embodiment. Moreover, you may be comprised so that a user can select and set an alerting | reporting method.

  In addition, the determination is made based on whether the number of notification pages and the number of expanded pages do not match, and in all cases, the blank occupancy ratio of each page is calculated and compared with a threshold value to determine whether there is an abnormality and whether it is an abnormal page. May be. Further, it may be configured to accept in advance from the user a selection setting as to whether or not to use determination based on coincidence / mismatch between the number of notification pages and the number of expanded pages.

  Further, even if the page that is determined to be an abnormal page is inquired of the user to confirm whether or not the page is really an abnormal page, only the page that the user has confirmed to be abnormal may be treated as an abnormal page. Good. At this time, an image of the abnormal page may be displayed on the operation display unit 18 to receive confirmation from the user. For example, when the answer is YES in step S107, the above inquiry may be made and the process of step S108 may be performed only when the user confirms that the page is an abnormal page.

  In addition, instead of performing display and operation reception on the operation display unit 18 of the image forming apparatus 10, the external terminal 5 may be configured to perform display and operation reception. That is, information necessary for accepting display and operation is transmitted from the image forming apparatus 10 to the external terminal 5, and a corresponding screen or warning is displayed on the external terminal 5, or an operation is received from the user and the operation content is externally displayed. The terminal 5 may be configured to transmit to the image forming apparatus 10.

2 ... Network 5 ... External terminal 10 ... Image forming apparatus 11 ... CPU
12 ... Bus 13 ... Reading unit 14 ... Printing unit 15 ... ROM
16 ... RAM
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 17 ... Nonvolatile memory 18 ... Operation display part 21 ... Expansion | deployment part 22 ... Image processing part 23 ... Hard disk apparatus 24 ... Network communication part 30 ... Calculation target page 31 ... Warning message

Claims (9)

An input unit for inputting print data;
A developing unit that develops the print data input by the input unit into image data in a bitmap format;
A blank occupancy ratio is calculated for each page of the image data obtained by the expansion unit, and a determination unit that determines a page having a blank occupancy ratio equal to or higher than a threshold as an abnormal page
A printing control apparatus comprising: The input unit receives the print data and page number information related to the print data,
When the number of pages indicated by the page number information is 2 or more, the determination unit is only when the number of pages and the number of pages of image data obtained by developing the print data by the developing unit do not match. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determination is performed. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when there is a page determined to be an abnormal page by the determination unit, the fact is notified. The print control apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a page determined to be an abnormal page by the determination unit is notified. The print control apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a page determined to be an abnormal page by the determination unit is not printed. 5. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a function of canceling printing related to the print data when there is a page determined to be an abnormal page by the determination unit. 5. The trial print function of performing only one copy of the print data when there is a page determined to be an abnormal page by the determination unit. 6. Print control device. The print control apparatus according to claim 7, wherein a selection as to whether or not to execute the trial print function is received from a user. A print control apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8,
A printing unit for printing the image data developed by the developing unit;
A printing apparatus comprising:

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