JP4207789B2 - Print image inspection device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an inspection for comparing a document image data and a printed image printed based on the document image data to determine whether the printing result is good or bad.

  There is known a print inspection apparatus that inspects whether a printed image is printed according to data of an original document image. For example, Patent Document 1 below describes an apparatus that registers in advance an important area to be inspected for an image to be printed, and compares the original image data of this portion with the image of the print result.

JP-A-9-216441

  The apparatus described in Patent Document 1 requires that the operator himself / herself set the inspection target area, and requires the setting man-hours. Further, there may be a case where the page description language of the document image data does not permit addition of information for designating the inspection target area to the document image data.

  In addition, depending on the contents of the print, there is a part that does not need to be strictly examined although the part of the fixed form in the page needs to be inspected. Regarding the print inspection of the page having such a part, the above-mentioned patent There is no description in Document 1.

  The present invention relates to setting a target area for print inspection and reduces the burden on the operator. In addition, by setting an area corresponding to the requirement of the strictness of inspection and setting the inspection accuracy to an appropriate person for each area, pages determined to be defective are reduced. In addition, the load on the apparatus related to the inspection is reduced.

  When a print image inspection apparatus according to the present invention processes a job for continuously printing a plurality of pages having a common form, an area corresponding to the inspection accuracy is extracted based on the document image data of these pages. And change the severity of inspection for each area. The area extraction is to extract a fixed print area that is common to each page and is printed with fixed contents, and a modified print area that is printed but is not common to each page. . In many cases, the fixed printing area is a so-called fixed form, and this portion is often familiar information for a person who sees a printed image. Therefore, the importance of the information shown there is not so high, and it is considered that there is not much need for a strict inspection on the print result. On the other hand, the changed print area is information that differs depending on each page, and is considered to be an area where contents to be transmitted by the page, that is, important contents are shown. Therefore, it is important that this portion of the inspection is strictly performed and that there is no mistake in the contents of transmission. Such regions are extracted, and different pass / fail judgment criteria are applied to these regions to inspect the print result image.

  Since the inspection is relatively loose in the fixed printing area, even if there are a few printing defects, the possibility of being judged as a printing defect is reduced, and the use of wasted paper is reduced. In the changed print area, since the inspection is made stricter, the possibility that erroneous information due to a print defect such as a stain or a chip is transmitted is reduced. In addition, since the strict inspection is performed only in a narrower range, the burden on the apparatus in the inspection process is reduced.

  A non-printing area where printing is not performed in common for each page can be added to the area to be extracted. Non-printing areas can be further relaxed.

  In the region extraction, for example, the pixel values of each page are integrated for each pixel group composed of pixels at the same position on each page or a plurality of adjacent pixels, and a region is extracted based on the integrated value. When the pixel value of each page is binary (0, 1), if the integrated value matches the number of integrated pages, it is a fixed print area, and the integrated value does not reach the integrated page number but is not 0 Is a changed print area. If the integrated value is 0, it is a non-printing area.

  The integration can be performed over all pages included in one common form job. In this case, each area in the job is determined.

  It is also possible to perform the above integration for some pages included in one job and determine the area based on the result.

  Also, the pages included in one job are accumulated in the order of execution of printing, each area is defined every time a predetermined number of accumulations are completed, and the area up to the previous time is updated. At the time of execution, the determination can be made based on the latest data of each area. A predetermined time is required until one image is printed and read to obtain inspection image data, and the integration of document image data can be advanced within this time. Therefore, even in the inspection of the first page, it is possible to inspect based on the area determined based on the document image data of a plurality of subsequent pages.

  Information on the area used in one job can be stored, and this can be used when processing a job whose position shape of the area is similar next time. In this case, the document image data may not be accumulated over all pages, and the processing burden is reduced. For the stored information on each area, it is also possible to provide the operator with similar information regarding the current job and to select whether to use this information. Also, a plurality of pieces of information similar to the current job area can be provided, and information on the area to be used can be selected from these. This search can be performed based only on information related to the fixed print area.

  Further, a portion surrounded by the fixed print area can be a changed print area. The portion surrounded by the fixed area may be an inner portion of the frame ruled line, and information for each page is often written in this portion. If it is inside the frame ruled line, there is a possibility that printing is performed in the remaining document image data even for a portion that is a non-printing region in a region determined based on a part of the document image data. Is preferably handled as a modified print area. In addition, the modified print area existing in the area surrounded by the fixed print area is the line direction, that is, in the horizontal direction in the horizontal writing form, in the vertical direction in the vertical writing mode, until reaching the enclosed fixed print area. Can be extended.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a printing system of this embodiment. The print system shows a schematic configuration of a printer 10, a print server 12 that gives a print instruction to the printer 10, and an inspection device 14 that inspects an image printed by the printer 10. The inspection device 14 is shown in a block diagram according to the processing function, and is actually mounted integrally with or inside the printer 10.

  The print job sent from the print server 12 is sent to the document image data extraction unit 16, and document image data necessary for printing for each page is extracted and sent to the printer 10. In the printer 10, printing is executed according to this data. The printer 10 is a known device that performs printing by an electrophotographic method, but other printing methods can also be used. The document image data extracted by the document image data extraction unit 16 is sent to the document image data storage unit 18 in the inspection apparatus 14 and temporarily stored therein. On the other hand, the printing result image printed on the paper is optically read by the reading unit 20 and temporarily stored in the inspection image data storage unit 22 as inspection image data used for inspection of the printing result. When the original image data and the inspection image data printed based on this data match, the determination unit 24 reads out these data and determines whether the print result is good or not based on the degree of coincidence of the data. The determination can be made, for example, by comparing the corresponding pixel values of the document image data and the inspection image data (0 and 1 in the case of binary data) by the number of matching pixels. If the number of matching pixels is small, it can be determined that there is some problem in the print result. Based on the determination result by the determination unit 24, the printer 10 performs a predetermined operation on each mechanism portion such as a printing mechanism and a paper feed mechanism of the printer. For example, the paper feed mechanism is controlled so that the paper that has been determined to be defective is stacked separately from other paper. Further, for example, control is performed so that printing for which a defect is determined is executed again. In the present specification, “paper” is not limited to thin paper such as so-called copy paper, but indicates all print objects such as film, cardboard, and postcard.

  In this inspection apparatus 14, the determination unit 24 divides the area according to the printing characteristics, and performs determination by changing the severity of the inspection for each area. If the judgment is made stricter, even a small difference is judged to be defective, so that a print result that more closely matches the original image data can be obtained, but the defective paper is wasted. In this inspection apparatus 14, in the case of a job for printing a plurality of pages having a common form in succession, based on the original image data of each page included in the job, a portion that is considered to be a common form, each page The areas of the contents that are not common to each other and blank areas are extracted, and the severity of the inspection is changed for each area.

  Hereinafter, extraction of each area in the inspection apparatus 14 will be described in detail. As a print job having a common form, there is an invoice shown in FIG. In the delivery note, graphic information such as ruled lines and frame lines, “XXXX Co., Ltd.” indicating the delivery source and its address, postal code, telephone number, address, etc. are common to all delivery notes. On the other hand, the name, address, postal code, telephone number of the delivery address, the name, quantity, unit price, total amount, etc. of the delivered goods differ for each delivery note. Even if the graphic information such as ruled lines is partially broken or broken and the shape is disturbed to some extent, no major problem occurs. In addition, because the character information provided along with the ruled line, for example, “Destination” and characters such as “Name”, “Prefecture”, “Zip code” indicating the items in it are determined, Even if this is difficult to discriminate, no major problem occurs. Therefore, strict inspection is not necessary for these printings, and there is no problem as long as the appearance is not dirty. On the other hand, the name, address, etc. of the delivery item, such as the name and address of each delivery note, must be read without mistake and are also a part of attention for readers. Therefore, these prints need to be sufficiently inspected so that information is not transmitted due to dirt or the like that is difficult to see or missing.

  The extraction of the region will be described by taking the delivery address column of the delivery note in FIG. 2 as an example. The accumulating unit 26 sequentially receives document image data from the document image data storage unit 18 and accumulates pixel values at the same position on each page for each pixel. If the original image data is a binary image of 0 and 1, for the portion where the same printing is performed over all the accumulated pages, the accumulated value matches the accumulated number of pages. The pixel value is 0 in the portion that is not printed over the entire page. If it is a pixel value between these, it is a part by which printing which is not common to each page is made. Further, instead of integrating each pixel individually, some pixels may be grouped into a pixel group, a representative pixel value of this pixel group may be determined, and this may be integrated. The representative value of one pixel group is 1 if there is at least one pixel value, that is, a black pixel in the pixel group, and 0 if all the pixels are 0, that is, white.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram in which integrated values are associated in gray scale. That is, the darker portion in the figure indicates that the integrated value is higher, and the thinner portion indicates that the integrated value is lower. As shown in the figure, graphic information such as letters, frames, and underlines such as “Destination”, “Name”, and “Prefecture”, which are standard parts, is black, that is, the integrated value must match the number of integrated pages. It is shown. Various characters are superimposed on the name of the addressee, the name of the prefecture, the name of the municipality, etc., and each character is also thinned. That is, the printed content of this part indicates that the content is not common to each page.

  The region extraction unit 28 extracts a region based on the integrated value. A thickening process is performed on a portion (black portion) where common printing is performed in each page, and a rectangular region surrounding a continuous black portion is set. This area is a fixed print area where printing is performed with fixed contents in common for each page. In FIG. 4, this fixed printing area is denoted by reference numeral 40 and is indicated by a gray area. In the frame portion, the straight lines constituting the frame form one region, and in this example, five regions are combined. In the character portion, adjacent characters are connected by the thickening process, whereby one region is formed. For pixels where the pixel value has not reached the total number of pages but is not 0, that is, where the content to be changed for each page is printed, a thickening process is executed to set a rectangular area surrounding the continuous portion. To do. This is shown in FIG. 4 as an area surrounded by an alternate long and short dash line, and this area is the changed print area 42. A region other than these two regions is a non-printing region. The area extraction unit 28 extracts each area as described above. In addition, although the method of setting a square area | region by the thickening process was shown, this setting can also use another method.

  The information in FIG. 4 is created based on the accumulated document image data of pages, and in the remaining pages, there is a possibility that printing will be performed in a non-printing area outside the changed image area in FIG. There is. For example, this occurs when there is a destination whose name is longer than the length indicated in the name column of FIG. However, in this case, it is estimated that printing is performed in a range in which the square of the changed print area in the drawing is extended in the row direction, that is, in the horizontal direction. Therefore, by extending the changed print area of FIG. 4 until it reaches the fixed print area, it can be included even when a longer name is printed thereafter. Each area set in this way is shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing only each region in the example of FIG. A gray area is a fixed printing area, and an area surrounded by a one-dot chain line is a changed printing area. Further, the position and shape of each extracted region on the page are determined as shown in FIG. Information on the position and shape of the area on the page is hereinafter referred to as an area form.

  Further, all the portions surrounded by the fixed print area can be set as the changed print area. For example, in the item list column shown in FIG. 7, if the number of items is small, there may be a part that becomes a non-printing area although there is a possibility of description as in the three columns below. . Therefore, all the portions surrounded by the fixed print area as shown in FIG.

  The determined area form is sent to the search unit 30 to search whether a form identical or similar to the area form is already stored in the area form storage unit 32. If a similar area form is stored, it is read out and sent to the determination criterion setting unit 34 and the display / UI (user interface) unit 36. At this time, the region form extracted this time may be sent together. Further, if a similar one to the region form extracted this time is not stored, the form extracted this time is sent to the determination criterion setting unit 34 and the display / UI unit 36 and stored in the region form storage unit 32. The display / UI unit 36 displays the sent area form on the display unit and provides it to the operator. As an example of the display, for example, it may be displayed together with the data to be printed as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, or only the area may be displayed as shown in FIG.

  The operator selects whether or not to use the displayed region form, and when there are a plurality of candidates, selects which one to use, and inputs the selection result from the display / UI unit 36. The determination criterion setting unit 34 uses the selected region form to set a determination criterion for print inspection in the page for each region. In the changed print area, individual information is described on each page, and this information is considered to be important as the contents of transmission, and high consistency with the original image data is required. Therefore, for this region, a strict determination is performed by increasing the determination reference value.

  Further, the fixed printing area only needs to convey a certain amount of information, and is not required to have a high degree of coincidence with the original image data. For example, even if a frame line is missing to some extent, necessary information is not transmitted. In addition, the contents of item names such as “name” and “telephone number” are transmitted even if the item name cannot be compared if the contents, that is, the name and telephone number of the addressee are described. In addition, “XXXX Co., Ltd.” and its address information such as the address is completely missing, but there is a problem, but if it is printed to a certain extent, obtain information from others if necessary. It can be supplemented. Therefore, for the fixed print area, the consistency with the original image data is not as demanded as the changed print area. Therefore, in this region, a slightly loose inspection is performed with a low print quality criterion.

  In addition, the non-printing area is not required to be conspicuous, and therefore, a determination criterion equal to or lower than that of the fixed printing area can be set. Alternatively, the non-printing area may not be inspected.

  The determination unit determines whether or not the printing is good according to the criterion for each region set by the determination criterion setting unit 34.

  Since there are several methods for setting each area described above, these will be described. For a job that prints a series of common form pages, integration is performed for all pages, and an area is set based on this integration value. In this case, it is not necessary to refer to the past area form. Therefore, when all pages are always added during the processing of the common form job, the search unit 30 and the area form storage unit 32 can be omitted.

  Areas can be set by accumulating some pages of the common form job. In this case, considering the remaining pages that have not been integrated, as described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 8, the process of expanding the changed print area to a portion that is determined to be possibly described on the remaining pages. It is preferable to carry out. In addition, it is possible to use a form that matches or is similar to an area form that has been used in the past or is stored in advance, and that has a matching or similar form. In searching for similar forms, it is preferable to search based on information of the fixed print area. The changed print area may change for each job, but the fixed print area is a fixed form, which is advantageous for knowing that the same form is used in different jobs.

  Furthermore, it is possible to sequentially accumulate from the first page for one job, and determine the area form each time a predetermined number of pages are accumulated. In this case, the inspection of the print result can be started before the integration of all pages is completed. Moreover, the area | region form memorize | stored can be made into the form determined using the final integration result, and the precision of an area | region increases. In addition, when a plurality of similar items are searched from the stored area form at an intermediate stage, the integration is performed until one similar item is found, and the inspection is performed after the result is obtained. Good.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of control of the print inspection apparatus 14. First, original image data of electronic data is extracted from a print job (S100). The pixel values of the extracted document image data are integrated (S102), and each area is extracted based on this (S104). It is determined whether a form that matches the form of the extracted area is registered (S106). If registered, information on the registered area form is notified to the determination unit (S108). In the registered area form, determination criterion information may be defined for each area.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S106 that there is no registered form, the printing result is inspected using the same determination criterion for the entire form (S110). In this example, an area form with no track record is not used, and after printing is finished (S112), the extracted area form is presented to the operator and registered or selected, and if selected, stored (S114). .

1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a printing system including a print inspection apparatus according to an embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of printed matter. FIG. 6 is a diagram conceptually illustrating a state in which pixel values of pages of a series of print jobs are integrated. It is a figure which shows an example of the extracted area | region. It is a figure which shows the state which expanded the change printing area | region of FIG. It is the figure which displayed only the area | region shown by FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the extracted area | region. It is a figure which shows the state which expanded and added the change printing area | region of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows an example of control of the printing inspection of this embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Printer, 14 Inspection apparatus, 18 Original image data storage part, 20 Reading part, 22 Inspection image data storage part, 24 Judgment part, 26 Accumulation part, 28 Area extraction part, 30 Search part, 32 Area form storage part, 34 Determination Reference setting section, 36 display / UI section, 40 fixed printing area, 42 change printing area.

Claims (13)

In a print image inspection apparatus that inspects a print result by comparing original image data with inspection image data obtained by reading an image printed based on the original image data.
A fixed print area in which printing is performed based on commonly fixed data based on the original image data of each page when processing a common form job for continuously printing a plurality of pages having a common form; An area extraction unit that extracts a changed print area in which printing is performed by data that is not common to each page of the print, but is changed, and
A determination unit that compares original image data and inspection image data of each page and determines the quality of a print result based on the degree of coincidence of the data, and the criterion for determining the quality is the changed printing from the fixed print region Judgment part to tighten in the area,
A printed image inspection apparatus. The printed image inspection apparatus according to claim 1,
The area extraction unit extracts a non-print area that is not printed in common on each page based on the original image data of each page when processing a common form job,
The determination unit makes the quality determination criteria stricter in the order of the non-print area, the fixed print area, and the changed print area.
Print image inspection device. The printed image inspection apparatus according to claim 1,
The region extraction unit integrates pixel values for each pixel or pixel group at the same position based on binary data of a plurality of pages, and includes a region including pixels whose integrated value is a value corresponding to the number of integrated pages. An apparatus for inspecting a print image, wherein a fixed print area is used, and an area including pixels having an integrated value greater than 0 and less than a value corresponding to the accumulated page number is defined as the changed print area. The printed image inspection apparatus according to claim 3.
The region extraction unit performs the integration of the pixel values for all pages included in one common form job, and determines the fixed print region and the changed print region based on the integration.
Print image inspection device. The printed image inspection apparatus according to claim 3.
The area extraction unit accumulates the pixel values for a predetermined number of pages included in one common form job, and determines the fixed print area and the changed print area based on the integration.
Print image inspection device. The printed image inspection apparatus according to claim 3.
The area extraction unit accumulates pages included in one common form job in the order of print execution, and updates the fixed print area and the changed print area based on the accumulated values so far each time a predetermined number of pages are accumulated. And
The determination unit determines pass / fail of the print result using the latest fixed print area and the changed print area at the determination time point,
Print image inspection device. The printed image inspection apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising:
A storage unit for storing region data including information on the position and shape of each region used for determination in one common form job;
A region data search unit for searching whether the fixed print region and the modified print region defined by the region extraction unit are stored in the storage unit;
The determination unit performs determination based on the fixed print area and the changed print area of the searched similar area data.
Print image inspection device. The printed image inspection apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising:
A storage unit for storing region data including information on the position and shape of each region used for determination in one common form job;
A region data search unit for searching whether the fixed print region and the modified print region defined by the region extraction unit are stored in the storage unit;
In the area data search unit, a search area data providing unit that provides information related to the searched area data to an operator of the print image inspection apparatus;
A selection instruction receiving unit that receives a selection instruction from an operator as to whether or not to use the searched area data and which to select when there are a plurality of area data;
Have
The determination unit performs determination based on the fixed print area and the changed print area instructed to be selected.
Print image inspection device. The printed image inspection apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising:
A storage unit for storing region data including information on the position and shape of each region used for determination in one common form job;
A region data search unit for searching whether the fixed print region and the modified print region defined by the region extraction unit are stored in the storage unit;
Have
The area extraction unit repeats integration until the searched area data becomes one, and then sets the searched area data as the fixed print area and the changed print area.
Print image inspection device. The print image inspection apparatus according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein the area data search unit performs a search based only on information of the fixed print area.
Print image inspection device.   The print image inspection apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the area extraction unit sets all areas surrounded by the fixed print area as the changed print area.   7. The print image inspection apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the area extraction unit sets the changed print area within the area surrounded by the fixed print area until the fixed print area is reached in a row direction. Expanded print image inspection device. In a print image inspection method for inspecting a print result by comparing original image data and inspection image data obtained by reading an image printed based on the original image data,
A fixed print area in which printing is performed based on commonly fixed data based on the original image data of each page when processing a common form job for continuously printing a plurality of pages having a common form; , Extract the changed print area that is printed by the data that is printed but is not common to each page,
When comparing the original image data and inspection image data of each page and determining the quality of the print result based on the degree of coincidence of these data, the criteria for the quality determination is more stringent in the changed print area than in the fixed print area. To
Print image inspection method.