JP4337836B2 - Image forming system, information terminal device, program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming system that forms an image obtained by combining a first image and a second image.

  Conventionally, when printing a document or the like created by application software, an image of the document or the like to be printed (hereinafter referred to as a “background image”) is a so-called water such as “confidential”, “COPY”, or “CONFIDENTIAL”. A technique for synthesizing and printing an image called a mark is known.

In order to ensure the visibility of the background image (readability of the background text), the density of the background image is detected, and the color density of the watermark is adjusted according to the detected density. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).
JP 2003-220748 A

  However, since the conventional device described in Patent Document 1 only adjusts the color density of the watermark, if the color of the background image and the color of the watermark are the same color, the visibility of the watermark or the background image is improved. There was a limit to improving it.

  Therefore, it is conceivable to set the watermark color to a color different from the background image. However, in the conventional apparatus, the user must manually set the watermark color while comparing the background image and the watermark. There was a problem that the operation was troublesome.

  Therefore, in order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an image forming system that forms an image obtained by combining a first image (such as a background image) and a second image (such as a watermark) without bothering the user. The purpose is to ensure the visibility of the watermark at all times.

The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein the condition determining means sets the image color, the image density, and the hue of the first image as the image color of the second image. The user is allowed to select whether or not to use the determination condition. In addition, the acquisition unit acquires the mode information related to the display mode of the first image, and the mode setting unit sets the display mode of the second image according to the acquired mode information. However, the mode setting unit includes at least a color setting unit that sets the image color of the second image according to the mode information acquired by the acquisition unit using the determination condition selected by the condition determination unit. The display mode of the second image set by the mode setting unit includes the image color set by the color setting unit. And a synthetic | combination means synthesize | combines the 2nd image and 1st image according to the display mode set by the mode setting means.

  According to the image forming system of the present invention configured as described above, the image color of the second image to be combined with the first image is automatically set to an optimal color that is easy to visually recognize according to the display mode of the first image. Therefore, the visibility of the watermark can always be ensured without forcing the user to perform a special operation.

By the way, although the acquisition means may acquire the aspect information of the entire first image, it may acquire the aspect information of the overlapping portion overlapping the second image as described in claim 2.
In this case, particularly when the display mode of the first image is not uniform, the visibility of the overlapping portion can be improved more accurately.

Further, as described in claim 3, the color setting means, when the image color is selected as the determination condition by the condition determination means, the image color of the second image other than the image color specified from the aspect information It is desirable to set the color.
In this case, since the second image is clearly distinguished from the first image, the visibility of the second image can be further improved.

Further, as described in claim 4, when the image color is selected as the determination condition by the condition determination unit , the color setting unit is configured to display the second image according to the number of image colors specified from the aspect information. The image color setting may be varied.
That is, since the image color of the second image with good visibility varies depending on the number of image colors of the first image, the setting of the image color of the second image varies depending on the number of image colors in this way, The image color of the second image can be selected more accurately according to the display mode of the first image.

  Further, as described in claim 5, the color setting means sets the image color of the second image to yellow when the number of image colors is one (when the one image color is not yellow). Is desirable.

  Thus, by setting the image color of the second image to a light color such as yellow, the influence of the second image on the first image (decrease in the visibility of the first image) is minimized. be able to.

The color setting means preferably sets the image color of the second image to black as described in claim 6 when the number of image colors is plural.
In other words, when a plurality of colors are used, there is a low possibility that black shading will be used, so that the possibility of ensuring the visibility of the second image can be increased.

Further, as described in claim 7, the color setting means, when the image density is selected as the determination condition by the condition determining means , the image of the second image according to the image density specified from the aspect information. The color settings may be different.
That is, generally, a portion where characters are shown in the first image has a low image density, and a portion where a background figure or photograph is shown has a high image density. Therefore, when the image density is high, it is highly likely that various colors are used. Therefore, by using an image color (for example, black) with good visibility for any color, the second image can be viewed. When the image density is low and the image color of the first image is similar to that of the first image, the visibility is not greatly deteriorated. Therefore, the image of the second image is selected from a wide range of colors. Color can be selected.

  Next, as described in claim 8, the aspect setting means sets the density of the image color set by the color setting means to a density different from that of the first image in accordance with the image density specified from the aspect information. A density setting means for setting may be provided.

In this case, even if the same color as the second image is used for the overlapping portion overlapping the second image, the visibility of the second image can be further improved by making the density different.
Then, as described in claim 9, the density setting unit is configured so that the difference between the density of the image specified from the aspect information and the density of the second image is equal to or greater than a predetermined specified value. It is desirable to set the concentration of.

Thus, by increasing the density difference between the first image and the second image, the distinction between the two can be clarified.
In addition, if the density of the second image is set higher than the density of the image specified from the aspect information as described in claim 10, the visibility of the second image can be further improved. .

The color setting unit confirms the color of the drawn first image when the hue is selected as the determination condition by the condition determining unit, and the color setting unit is in conflict with the confirmed color. The color may be set as the image color of the second image.
In addition, the mode setting unit may set the overall display mode of the second image, but as described in claim 12 , only the overlapping portion that overlaps the first image is preset in the second image. A display mode different from the mode may be set.

In this case, for example, even if the second image is thinned, only the portion overlapping the first image needs to be thinned, so that the visibility of the second image can be ensured.
In addition, as described in claim 13 , when there are a plurality of overlapping portions, the mode setting means may set the display mode for each overlapping portion.

In this case, when the display mode of the first image is different depending on the overlapping portion, the visibility of the second image can be optimized in all the overlapping portions.
Next, the acquisition unit may acquire the mode information added to the first image as described in claim 14 , or the display mode is analyzed from the first image as described in claim 15. And aspect information may be acquired.

In the former case ( Claim 14 ), for example, if the first image is bitmap data, the information obtained from the page description language (PDL) used to generate the first image is used as the aspect information. Information can be acquired.

In the latter case ( claim 15 ), for example, if the first image is a page description language, the mode information can be easily extracted from the first image, and the first image can be bitmap data. For example, the aspect information can be extracted by an operation independent of the generation source of the first image without separately acquiring the page description language used for the generation.

  When the image forming system includes an information terminal device and an image forming device, the first image and the second image may be combined on the information terminal device side or on the image forming device side. May be.

However, when combining the first image and the second image on the information terminal device side, the information terminal device, in addition to the condition determining means, the acquiring means, the mode setting means, and the combining means, as described in claim 16 It is only necessary to include a transmission unit that transmits the image synthesized by the synthesis unit to an image forming apparatus that performs printing according to the image.

By the way, as described in claim 17, each unit constituting the above-described image forming system may be configured as a program for causing a computer to function.
In this case, the program can be stored in a computer-readable recording medium, and the stored program can be used by loading it into a computer and starting it as necessary. The recording medium may be portable or may be incorporated in a computer. Further, the program may be loaded into a computer via a network.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image forming system 1 to which the present invention is applied.
[overall structure]
As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming system 1 generates and edits a document and an image, and also generates an information processing apparatus 10 that generates print data obtained by expanding the generated and edited document and image into bitmap data. The image forming apparatus 20 executes printing according to print data generated by the information processing apparatus 10.

  Among these, the information processing apparatus 10 is centered on a known microcomputer having a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 12, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 13, and an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 14. Further, a display unit 16 configured by an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) for displaying images and characters, a mouse for moving a pointer pointing to a specific part of the display unit 16, An operation unit 15 including a keyboard for inputting symbols, and a printer port I / F (Interface) 1 for connecting the image forming apparatus 20 to the apparatus 10 via a connection cable. It is equipped with a. The HDD 14 stores an application program for creating a document or image, a program for generating print data from a document or image created by the application program, and the like.

  On the other hand, the image forming apparatus 20 is also configured around a known microcomputer having a CPU 21, ROM 22, RAM 23, and HDD 24, and further includes a non-volatile RAM 25 that stores various setting information set by the user, and the apparatus An operation key 26 for selecting functions included in the display 20, a display panel 27 for displaying operation contents and work status, and a printing unit 28 for printing characters and images on a recording medium such as paper (an example of a printing unit). ), And a printer port I / F 29 for connecting the apparatus 20 to the information processing apparatus 10 via a connection cable.

Next, processing executed by the CPU 11 of the information processing apparatus 10 in connection with execution of printing with a watermark will be described with reference to a flowchart.
It is assumed that an image to be printed (hereinafter referred to as “print image”) is created by processing separately executed by the information processing apparatus 10 and is described in a PDL (Page Description Language) language. The contents (characters, symbols), size, and composition position of the watermark are also set in advance by processing separately executed by the information processing apparatus 10.
[Main processing]
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing main processing executed by the CPU 11.

  As shown in FIG. 2, when this process is started, the CPU 11 first performs an operation (WM color determination condition setting operation for requesting setting of a determination condition used when determining the color of the watermark via the operation unit 15. ) Is performed (S110). If this operation is performed, a WM color determination condition determination process described later is executed (S120).

  Further, the CPU 11 determines whether or not an operation (WM transmission setting operation) for requesting setting of whether or not to perform transparent display of the watermark has been performed via the operation unit 15 (S130). If it has been performed, a WM transparent display determination process described later is executed (S140).

Further, the CPU 11 determines whether or not a print request has been input via the operation unit 15 (S150). If there is no request, the CPU 11 returns to S110 as it is, and if a print request is input, it will be described later. After executing the WM color determination process (S160) and the printing process (S170), the process returns to S110.
[WM color determination condition determination process]
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing details of the WM color determination condition determination process executed in S120.

  As shown in FIG. 3, when this process is started, the CPU 11 first displays a screen on the display unit 16 for allowing the user to select whether or not to use the image color of the print image to be combined with the watermark as a determination condition. Display (S210) and wait until there is an input via the operation unit 15 (S220).

  When there is an input to the effect that the color of the print image is not used as the determination condition via the operation unit 15 (S220: NO), the CPU 11 determines whether or not the image density of the print image is used as the determination condition. A screen for selection is displayed on the display unit 16 (S230), and it waits until there is an input through the operation unit 15 again (S240).

  If there is an input through the operation unit 15 that the image density of the print image is not used as the determination condition (S240: NO), the user is allowed to select whether or not the color of the print image is used as the determination condition. A screen for displaying is displayed (S250) and waits until there is an input through the operation unit 15 again (S260).

If there is an input through the operation unit 15 that the hue of the print image is not used as a determination condition (S260: NO), the CPU 11 ends this process as it is.
On the other hand, when there is an input through the operation unit 15 to use the color of the print image as a determination condition (S220: YES), or when there is an input to use the image density of the print image as a determination condition (S220: YES) (S240: YES), or when there is an input indicating that the hue of the print image is used as a determination condition (S260: YES), the CPU 11 performs a setting to validate the selected determination condition (S270), The process ends.
S210 to S270 are an example of the condition determining unit.
[WM transparent display decision processing]
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing details of the WM transparent display determination process executed in S140.

  As shown in FIG. 4, when this process is started, the CPU 11 first displays a screen on the display unit 16 for allowing the user to select whether or not to display the watermark transparently (S310). It waits until there is an input via S320 (S320).

When there is an input to the effect that the transparent display is not performed via the operation unit 15 (S320: NO), the CPU 11 ends the processing as it is, and on the other hand, when there is an input to perform the transparent display ( (S320: YES), a setting is made to enable the determination condition for performing transparent display (S330), and this process is terminated.
[WM color determination processing]
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing details of the WM color determination process executed in S160.

As shown in FIG. 5, when this process is activated, the CPU 11 first acquires page information from a print image described in the PDL language (S410).
The page information includes various information necessary for printing. Here, the page information includes at least the type and number of colors used for printing the page, the density of the image color, and the density of the image. However, the image density referred to here is for enabling identification of, for example, an area where only characters are printed or an area where an image having a background is printed.

Next, the CPU 11 determines whether or not the image color of the print image is valid as a determination condition when setting the color of the watermark (S420).
If the image color is valid as the determination condition (S420: YES), the CPU 11 determines whether the print image is monochrome based on the page information acquired in S410 (S430), and prints. If the image is monochrome (S430: YES), the color of the watermark is determined to be yellow (S440).

  On the other hand, if the print image is not monochrome (S430: NO), the CPU 11 determines whether or not the color used in the print image is a single color (S450), and if the print image is a single color (S450: YES), the color of the watermark is determined to be a color other than the single color (S460). Specifically, this determination may be performed by storing a table in which the color of the print image and the color to be selected are associated with each other in advance in the ROM 12.

If the print image is not a single color (S450: NO), the CPU 11 determines the color of the watermark as black (S470).
When the watermark color is determined in any one of S440, S460, and S470, the CPU 11 sets a threshold value (for example, 50%) in which the density of the print image is set in advance based on the page information acquired in the previous S410. If the density of the print image is greater than the threshold (S480: YES), the watermark density is set to a value that is lower than the print image density by a preset value. On the other hand, if the density of the print image is less than or equal to the threshold (S480: NO), the density of the watermark is set to a value that is higher than the density of the print image by a predetermined value (S500). This process ends.

  When it is determined in the previous S420 that the image color is invalid as the determination condition (S420: NO), the CPU 11 determines whether the image density is valid as the determination condition (S510). .

  If the image density is valid as the determination condition (S510: YES), the CPU 11 sets the print image density to a preset threshold value (for example, a character based on the page information acquired in the previous S410). It is determined whether the image is larger than a threshold value (S520). If the density of the print image is larger than the threshold (S520: YES), the watermark is determined to be gray (S530). If the image density is equal to or lower than the threshold (S520: NO), the watermark is determined to be red (S540), and this process is terminated.

  If it is determined in S510 that the image density is invalid as the determination condition (S510: NO), the CPU 11 sets the watermark color to a preset initial color (for example, black). After determination (S550), this process is terminated.

Note that S410 is an example of an acquisition unit, S420 to S550 are mode setting units, particularly S420 to S470 and S510 to S540 are examples of color setting units, and S480 to S500 are examples of density setting units.
[Print processing]
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing details of the printing process executed in S170.

This process is a process of developing image data in which a print image is described in the PDL language into bitmap data and transmitting it to the image forming apparatus 20.
As shown in FIG. 6, when this process is started, the CPU 11 first determines whether or not unprocessed image data exists (S610). If unprocessed image data exists, the unprocessed image data exists. A drawing target line is set from the image data (S620), and a drawing process for expanding the image data of the drawing target line into bitmap data is executed (S630).

  Then, the CPU 11 determines whether or not the hue of the print image is valid as a determination condition when setting the watermark color (S640), and if the hue is valid as the determination condition (S640). : YES), the color of the image drawn in S630 is confirmed (S650), and the color opposite to the confirmed color is determined as the watermark color (S660). Specifically, this determination can be performed using a table in which the color of the print image and the color of the watermark are associated with each other, as in the process in S460.

  If there is an overlapping area where the rendered image and the watermark overlap, only the color of the overlapping area may be confirmed in S650. In S660, the color of the watermark may be different between the overlapping area and the non-overlapping area, or may be the same. Furthermore, if there is an overlapping area in S650 and a plurality of colors are confirmed in the overlapping area, the color of the watermark in the overlapping area may be determined as one color from the combination of colors in S660. Alternatively, it may be determined so that the color of the watermark is different for each portion having a different color in the overlapping region.

  Thereafter, the CPU 11 determines whether or not the transparent display of the watermark is enabled (S670). If the transparent display is enabled (S670: YES), the image and the water on the current drawing target line are determined. It is determined whether or not there is an overlapping area where the mark overlaps (S680).

  When there is no overlapping area (S680: NO) or when the transparent display is invalidated (S670: NO), the CPU 11 determines the watermark of the color determined in the previous watermark color determination process or S660. Is drawn at a position designated in advance (S690), and the process returns to S610. In this normal drawing, the watermark is drawn on the front surface of the print image.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in S680 that an overlapping area exists (S680: YES), the CPU 11 sets the watermark transmittance based on the image color density of the print image in the overlapping area (S700). The transparent drawing for drawing the watermark is performed with the transmitted transmittance (S710), and the process returns to S610. Note that the transmittance of the watermark is set to be lower as the image color density of the print image is higher and higher as the image color density is lower.

  When it is determined in S610 that there is no unprocessed image data (S610: NO), the CPU 11 forms an image of the drawn image (developed bitmap data) via the printer port I / F 17. It transmits to the apparatus 20 (S720), and this process is complete | finished.

The image forming apparatus 20 that has received the image drawn from the information processing apparatus 10 executes printing according to the received image.
S640 to S660 are examples of color setting means, S690 and S710 are examples of combining means, and S720 is an example of transmission means.
[effect]
As described above, according to the image forming system 1, the color of the watermark is automatically determined as an easily visible color according to the display mode (image color, image color density, image density) of the print image. Therefore, the visibility of the watermark can always be ensured without forcing the user to perform a special operation.

  Further, in the image forming system 1, when the print image is a single color, the color of the watermark is determined so as to be different from the color, so that the watermark can be clearly distinguished from the print image, The visibility of the watermark can be improved.

  In particular, when the print image is monochrome, since the watermark color is determined to be yellow, the influence of the watermark on the print image (decrease in the visibility of the print image) is minimized. be able to.

  Further, in the image forming system 1, when the print image is not a single color, the watermark color is set to black, and the watermark color is set so that the density difference from the image color density of the print image becomes a specified value. The color density is set.

As described above, when a plurality of colors are used in the print image, the possibility of using the black and light shade is low, so that the possibility of ensuring the visibility of the watermark can be increased.
Further, in the image forming system 1, when the image density of the print image is set as the determination condition of the watermark color, the watermark color is determined to be gray when the image density is high and red when the image density is low. Has been.

In other words, when the image density is high, such as when the printed image consists of a figure or photo with a background, there is a high possibility that various colors are used in the printed image. When good gray (black: low color density) is used and the image density is low, such as when the print image consists only of characters, the visibility is high even if a color similar to the image color of the print image is used. Since it does not decrease, the visibility of the watermark can be ensured by using a conspicuous red color.
[Other Embodiments]
As mentioned above, although one Embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, In the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention, it is possible to implement in various aspects.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the information on the entire page is used as the form information of the print image used for determining the color of the watermark. However, only the form information of the overlapping portion overlapping the watermark may be used. Good. In this case, when the display mode of the printed image is not uniform within one page, the watermark color that improves the visibility of the watermark can be determined more accurately.

  In the above embodiment, if the image color or the image density is valid as a condition for determining the color of the watermark, even if there are a plurality of overlapping portions with the watermark in one page of the printed image, all the watermarks have the same color. Although used, the color of the watermark may be determined for each overlapping portion.

In the above embodiment, the setting of the watermark color is changed depending on whether it is a single color (S450 to S470). However, when the image color is two colors, the setting may be changed in the case of three colors.
In the above embodiment, only when the image color is used as the determination condition (S420: YES), the density of the image color of the second image is changed in accordance with the density of the image color of the first image. Similarly (after the processing of S510 to S550), the density of the image color of the second image may be changed.

  In the embodiment described above, the color of the watermark is determined using either one of the image color (number of colors) or the image density of the print image as a determination condition. The color of the watermark may be determined.

In the above embodiment, the watermark is synthesized on the information processing apparatus 10 side, but may be performed on the image forming apparatus 20 side.
When the information processing apparatus 10 supplies image data described in the PDL language to the image forming apparatus 20, at least the printing process among the processes executed by the CPU 11 is performed on the image forming apparatus 20 side. Good. In this case, the watermark may be configured to be supplied to the image forming apparatus 20 by the information processing apparatus 10 together with the image data, or may be configured to use the one provided in the image forming apparatus 20. .

  In addition, when the watermark color determination process is performed on the image forming apparatus 20 side and the image data supplied from the information processing apparatus 10 is bitmap data, the image forming apparatus 20 performs the printing process. In the page information acquisition (S410), the page information may be acquired separately from the image data from the information processing apparatus 10, or the information corresponding to the page information is extracted by analyzing the image data. You may comprise as follows. When analyzing image data, specifically, for example, if image data is obtained by reading an image from a document by a scanner, information obtained at the time of reading (the amount of reflected light from the document, etc.) ) To obtain the image density and color.

1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an information processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus that constitute an image forming system. The flowchart which shows the content of the main process performed with information processing apparatus. The flowchart which shows the content of the watermark color determination condition determination process. The flowchart which shows the content of watermark transmission determination processing. The flowchart which shows the content of the watermark color determination process. 5 is a flowchart showing the contents of print processing.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Image forming system, 10 ... Information processing apparatus, 11, 21 ... CPU, 12, 22 ... ROM, 13, 23 ... RAM, 14, 24 ... HDD, 15 ... Operation part, 16 ... Display part, 17, 29 ... Printer port I / F, 20 ... image forming apparatus, 25 ... non-volatile RAM, 26 ... operation keys, 27 ... display panel, 28 ... printing unit.

Claims (17)

Condition determining means for allowing the user to select which of the image color, the image density, and the hue of the first image is a determination condition used when setting the image color of the second image;
Acquisition means for acquiring mode information relating to the display mode of the first image,
Using the selected judgment condition by said condition determining means, in accordance with the acquired mode information in the acquisition unit comprises at least a color setting means for setting the image color of the second image, the color setting Mode setting means for setting the display mode of the second image including the color set by the means;
Combining means for combining the second image and the first image in accordance with the display mode set by the mode setting unit;
An image forming system comprising:   The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein the acquisition unit acquires aspect information of an overlapping portion that overlaps the second image. The color setting unit sets the image color of the second image to a color other than the image color specified from the aspect information when the image color is selected as the determination condition by the condition determination unit. The image forming system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein The color setting means sets the image color of the second image according to the number of image colors specified from the aspect information when the image color is selected as the determination condition by the condition determination means. The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein the image forming system is made different.   The image forming system according to claim 4, wherein the color setting unit sets the image color of the second image to yellow when the number of image colors is one.   The image forming system according to claim 4, wherein the color setting unit sets the image color of the second image to black when the number of image colors is plural. The color setting means, when the image density is selected as the determination condition by the condition determination means, changes the image color setting of the second image according to the image density specified from the aspect information. The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein: The aspect setting means includes:
The image processing apparatus further comprises density setting means for setting the density of the image color set by the color setting means to a density different from that of the first image according to the image density specified from the aspect information. The image forming system according to claim 1.   The density setting means sets the density of the second image so that a difference between the density of the image specified from the aspect information and the density of the second image is equal to or greater than a predetermined specified value. The image forming system according to claim 8.   The image forming system according to claim 9, wherein the density of the second image is set to be higher than the density of the image specified from the aspect information.   The color setting unit confirms the color of the drawn first image when the hue is selected as the determination condition by the condition determination unit, and selects a color that is opposite to the confirmed color. 11. The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein the image color is set as an image color of two images. Said mode setting means, only overlapping portion overlapping with the first image of the second image, any of claims 1 to 11 and sets the display mode different from the preset manner The image forming system described in 1. The image forming system according to claim 12 , wherein the mode setting unit sets the display mode for each overlapping portion when there are a plurality of the overlapping portions. The acquisition unit, an image forming system according to any one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that obtaining the aspect information added to the first image. Said acquisition means, from said first image by analyzing the display mode, the image forming system according to any one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that to obtain the mode information. Condition determining means for allowing the user to select which of the image color, the image density, and the hue of the first image is a determination condition used when setting the image color of the second image;
Acquisition means for acquiring mode information relating to the display mode of the first image,
Using the selected judgment condition by said condition determining means, in accordance with the acquired mode information in the acquisition unit comprises at least a color setting means for setting the image color of the second image, the color setting Mode setting means for setting the display mode of the second image including the color set by the means;
Combining means for combining the second image and the first image in accordance with the display mode set by the mode setting unit;
A transmission unit that transmits the image synthesized by the synthesis unit to an image forming apparatus that executes printing according to the image;
An information terminal device comprising: Computer
Condition determining means for allowing the user to select which of the image color, the image density, and the hue of the first image is a determination condition used when setting the image color of the second image;
Acquisition means for acquiring mode information relating to the display mode of the first image,
Using the selected judgment condition by said condition determining means, in accordance with the acquired mode information in the acquisition unit comprises at least a color setting means for setting the image color of the second image, the color setting Mode setting means for setting the display mode of the second image including the color set by the means;
Synthesizing means for synthesizing the second image and the first image according to the setting in the mode setting means;
Program to function as.

Images