JP6065473B2 - Image processing apparatus, image processing method, program, and recording medium - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, a program, and a recording medium that create a tint block image.

  Conventionally, a special pattern, in which characters and images emerge when copied, is printed on the background so that it is not easily copied on receipts, securities and certificates with high security. There is also a technique for creating a copy / counterfeiting suppressive copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image by software and outputting a document in which a copy / counterfeiting suppressive copy-forgery-inhibited pattern is arranged in the background by a printer. When the output document is copied, in the copy output image, the background portion (pattern that hides the latent image portion) is erased or thinned so that the hidden image (for example, copy characters) can be seen better. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

  However, the above-described conventional techniques have a problem that toner cannot be saved for the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image and the latent image portion of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is conspicuous.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems,
An object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, a program, and a recording medium that save toner on a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image and make a latent image portion of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image inconspicuous.

The present invention is an image processing apparatus that performs toner save processing on an image printed on paper , and the printed image constitutes a printed image as an object, and outlines of characters and patterns. A copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image including a black portion and a latent image portion including a gray portion other than the black portion and a background portion, and performing the toner saving process on the latent image portion according to a toner save amount is part of the latent image portion, in the determination area including a predetermined number of dots, the dot judgment means for determining a pattern of the black portion so as not to remove all the respect to the latent image portion Dots that reduce some or all of the gray portion dots other than the determined black portion pattern in the determination area according to the toner save amount when performing the toner save process A positive means, and most important, comprising a.

  According to the present invention, toner can be saved with respect to a tint block image, and the latent image portion of the tint block image can be made inconspicuous.

1 shows a configuration of a printing system to which the present invention is applied. It is a figure explaining a tint block image. The processing structure of a prior art is shown. The processing structure of this invention is shown. It is a figure explaining the dot correction area | region of this invention. It is a figure explaining the dot correction of this invention.

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

  FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a printing system to which the present invention is applied. As shown in FIG. 1, the printing system 1 includes a host computer 2 and a printer (image processing apparatus) 3. In the present embodiment, description will be made assuming that the printer 3 performs electrophotographic image formation with toner.

  The host computer 2 is a general-purpose personal computer or the like, and is connected to the printer 3 so that data communication is possible. The host computer 2 includes a printer driver 20 that generates a print job in which a print image including an object such as a text, an image, and a graphic is described in PDL (Page Description Language). The printer driver 20 can set a toner save mode for reducing the amount of toner consumed in printing.

  The user can change the setting of the toner save mode by operating an input device such as a keyboard or a mouse to input an instruction. The print job generated by the printer driver 20 includes toner save mode setting information. The printer driver 20 controls printing by outputting a print job including setting information of the toner save mode to the printer 3.

  The printer 3 includes a controller 30 that controls the printer 3 and a print engine (printing unit) 31 that performs printing under the control of the controller 30. The print engine 31 includes a toner cartridge 311 that contains toner, and an image forming mechanism 312 that includes a photosensitive drum, an exposure device, a developing device, an intermediate transfer belt, a transfer roller, and a fixing device. In FIG. 1, one toner cartridge 311 is shown, but actually, a total of four toner cartridges 311 of each color of CMYK are provided.

  The image forming mechanism 312 develops the exposure image exposed on the surface of the photosensitive drum by the exposure device with the toner of the toner cartridge 311 and transfers the image onto the intermediate transfer belt to superimpose the CMYK color toner images. Color printing is possible by transferring and fixing the toner image on the paper.

  The controller 30 includes an input interface (input I / O) connected to the CPU 300, ROM (storage unit) 301, RAM 302, drawing processing unit 303, color conversion unit 304, halftone processing unit 305, and host computer 2. F) 306 and an engine interface (engine I / F ") 307. Each of these components is connected to a bus and can exchange data with each other.

  In the ROM 301, a control program for controlling the printer 3, an image processing program for performing image processing in tint block printing, and image data of a tint block pattern (background pattern image) are recorded in advance. A RAM 302 is a general-purpose memory used as a working memory or a development buffer in drawing processing. The CPU 300 is a main control device of the printer 3 and performs various processes for controlling printing according to a print job. The drawing processing unit 303 performs drawing processing for developing a print image represented in a bitmap format in a development buffer by drawing each object described in the print job. The color conversion unit 304 performs color conversion processing for converting pixel values of a print image into CMYK values when developing in the drawing processing. The halftone processing unit 305 performs halftone processing on the image developed in the development buffer, and converts it into halftone dot data corresponding to the dots formed by the print engine 31. The engine I / F 307 is a part that controls the printing operation by the print engine 31 according to the halftone data after the halftone process. Specifically, the engine I / F 307 performs pulse width modulation on the data after halftone processing to convert it into an image signal that can be processed by the print engine 31, and sends the converted image signal to the print engine 31. Supply. The print engine 31 performs printing by executing image formation by exposure, development, transfer, and fixing in accordance with the supplied image signal.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a tint block image. FIG. 2A shows an image before copying, and FIG. 2B shows an image after copying. The copy-forgery-inhibited pattern character “Copy” that appears without being erased after copying is the latent image portion, the background pattern that makes the latent image portion of the image before copying inconspicuous, and the background pattern that fades or disappears after copying And used in the following description.

  FIG. 3 shows the processing configuration of the prior art. 401 is a tint block image (background portion), 402 is a tint block image (latent image portion), 403 is a print image, 404 is a density adjustment unit, 405 is a toner save processing unit, 406 is a halftone processing unit, 407 is a combining unit, and 408. Is paper output.

  In the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing at the time of toner save, the density adjustment unit 404 performs density adjustment to maintain the state before the toner save on the background portion 401 and the latent image portion 402 of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image, and the toner save processing unit 405 A toner save process is performed on the images 401 and 402 and the print image 403. The halftone processing unit 406 performs halftone processing on the toner-saved copy-forgery-inhibited pattern images 401 and 402 and the print image 403, and the composition unit 407 prints the toner-saved processing and halftone-processed copy-forgery-inhibited pattern images 401 and 402 and printing. The image 403 is synthesized and a paper output 408 is performed.

  FIG. 4 shows the processing configuration of the present invention. 101 is a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image (background portion), 102 is a print image, 103 is a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image (latent image portion), 104 is a toner save processing portion, 105 is a halftone processing portion, 106 is a latent image portion processing portion, 107 is dot determination , 108 is a dot correction unit, 109 is a synthesis unit, and 110 paper output.

  The copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image (background portion) 101 and the print image 102 are subjected to toner save processing by the toner save processing portion 104, subjected to halftone processing by the halftone processing portion 105, and then input to the combining portion 110. The copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image (latent image portion) 103 is subjected to toner save processing by the toner save processing portion 104, subjected to halftone processing by the halftone processing portion 105, and then subjected to dot determination and correction processing by the latent image portion processing portion 106 as described later. And input to the combining unit 110. The synthesizing unit 110 synthesizes the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image (background portion) 101, the print image 102, and the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image (latent image portion) 103, and outputs the paper 110.

  The latent image portion processing unit 106 includes a dot determination unit 107 and a dot correction unit 108, and performs processing in the order of dot determination and then dot correction. The latent image portion processing unit 106 receives a dot correction area, dot size information, and a toner save amount.

  FIG. 5A is a diagram illustrating the dot correction area of the present invention. FIG. 5 shows the character “ko” in the latent image portion. In the present invention, the latent image portion is corrected according to the area (black portion that becomes the outline) 201 to be corrected to a dot that does not completely disappear, and the amount of toner save. Area (gray portion) 202 to be formed. For example, if the dot size is a 2 × 2 dot, the black portion 201 has a size of two lines.

  The image of the latent image portion (which can be written by the user or freely changed) becomes a determination region and is input to the dot determination unit 107 of the latent image portion processing unit 106.

  FIG. 5B is a diagram illustrating a dot determination pattern. The dot determination unit 107 determines a dot determination pattern according to the dot size and the toner save amount. FIG. 5B shows an example in which the dot size is 2 × 2 dots. A pattern (black portion 201) corresponding to the toner save amount is selected.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining dot correction (reduction) according to the present invention. 6A shows a part of the character “ko” in the latent image portion before the toner saving process, and FIG. 6B shows a part of the character “ko” in the latent image portion after the toner saving process. Show.

  In FIG. 6A, 2 × 2 dots are composed of a black portion 201 selected according to the amount of toner save and a gray portion 202 which is a correction area. As shown in FIG. 6B, the dot correction unit 108 reduces the gray portion 202, which is the correction area, in accordance with the amount of toner save (dot-on pixels are dot-off).

  As described above, the conventional technology has a density adjustment function for maintaining the state before toner save, and maintains the state before toner save for the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image and performs density adjustment. The toner could not be saved. On the other hand, in the present invention, the density adjustment function for maintaining the state before the toner save is eliminated, and the toner can be saved even for the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image.

  In the prior art, since the density adjustment function unit performs density adjustment for maintaining the state before toner saving only for the latent image portion with respect to the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image, the difference in density between the background portion and the latent image portion increases. The latent image part was conspicuous. On the other hand, in the present invention, the latent image portion is determined so that the latent image portion does not disappear and the latent image portion is not noticeable, and dot correction is performed according to the determination result and the toner save amount. Thus, it is possible to achieve both the effect of toner reduction for the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image and the maintenance of the latent image portion.

  According to the present invention, a storage medium storing software program codes for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus, and the computer (CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus is stored in the storage medium. It is also achieved by reading and executing the program code. In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment. As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used. Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS (operating system) operating on the computer based on an instruction of the program code. A case where part or all of the actual processing is performed and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing is also included. Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion is performed based on the instruction of the program code. A case where the CPU or the like provided in the board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing is included. Further, the program for realizing the functions and the like of the embodiments of the present invention may be provided from a server by communication via a network.

101 Copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image (background part)
102 Print image 103 Copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image (latent image portion)
104 Toner save processing unit 105 Halftone processing unit 106 Latent image unit processing unit 107 Dot determination unit 108 Dot correction unit 109 Composition unit 110 Paper output

JP 2007-189318 A

Claims (6)

An image processing apparatus that performs toner save processing on an image printed on paper ,
The image to be printed includes a printed image as an object, and a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image including a black portion constituting a contour of a character and a pattern, and a latent image portion including a gray portion other than the black portion and a background portion. ,
When the toner saving process is performed on the latent image portion, not all of the determination area, which is a part of the latent image portion and includes a predetermined number of dots, is deleted according to the toner saving amount. A dot determination means for determining a pattern of the black portion;
When the toner saving process is performed on the latent image portion, a part or all of the gray portion dots other than the determined black portion pattern are determined in the determination region according to the toner saving amount. An image processing apparatus comprising: a dot correction unit that reduces the number of dots . A halftone processing unit for performing halftone processing for converting the data constituting the image into halftone dot data corresponding to dots;
  The dot determination means determines a pattern of the black portion in the determination area of the latent image portion, which is configured by a predetermined number of dots after the halftone process.
  The image processing apparatus according to claim 1.   The print image subjected to the toner save process and the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image including the latent image portion subjected to the toner save process are combined to form an image to be printed on the paper.
  The image processing apparatus according to claim 1. An image processing method for performing toner save processing on an image printed on paper ,
The image to be printed includes a printed image as an object, and a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image including a black portion constituting a contour of a character and a pattern, and a latent image portion including a gray portion other than the black portion and a background portion. ,
When performing the toner saving process on the latent image portion by the dot determination means , in a determination region composed of a predetermined number of dots, which is a part of the latent image portion, according to the toner save amount, A dot determination step for determining a pattern of the black portion so as not to delete all,
When the toner correction process is performed on the latent image portion by the dot correction unit, the gray portion dots other than the determined black portion pattern are determined in the determination region according to the toner save amount. A dot correction step for reducing part or all of the image processing method.   A program for causing a computer to realize the image processing method according to claim 4. A computer-readable recording medium on which a program for causing a computer to realize the image processing method according to claim 4 is recorded.