JP2005242864A - Image information processing system and image information processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To conceal information being printed or the like with a simple configuration and with fewer resources.
An image processing system including an image reading unit and a printing unit, wherein image data of a document read by the image reading unit is read in units of a certain area, and whether or not each area is printed is determined. And generating the print data for filling the corresponding area of the document by the printing means with respect to the area determined to be printed with reference to the recorded information. An image processing system comprising: a print data generation unit that performs printing.
[Selection] Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to an image information processing system, and more particularly, to an image information processing system that paints a specific area on a print medium and conceals information described in the area.

  In documents such as printed matter, information that is not desired to be known to others, confidential information, and the like may be printed or written. If such a document is discarded as it is or reused as so-called backing paper printing, confidential information may be leaked, which may cause a problem from the viewpoint of safety.

  In view of this, a technique relating to so-called concealment printing has been proposed in which information already printed is concealed by further overlapping printing on a document on which certain information is printed.

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique of printing a predetermined pattern on the back surface when it is detected that printing has already been performed on the back surface of the printing paper when performing back paper printing.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a technique for detecting a predetermined character string from an image of a document read by a scanner and superimposing and printing it at a detected position using a printer.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-100738

JP 2003-25684 A

  The technique described in Patent Document 1 prints a pattern on the entire back side even when information is printed on a part of the back side of the document, and increases the amount of toner and ink used. There's a problem. The technique described in Patent Document 2 prints only necessary portions, but requires character recognition, and thus processing and configuration become complicated. On the other hand, since concealment printing is different from the original purpose of printing necessary information, it is desirable to use as little memory as possible so as not to affect other processes such as a computer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to make it possible to conceal information being printed or the like with a simple configuration and with fewer resources.
Objective.

In order to solve the above problems, the first aspect of the present invention is:
An image processing system including an image reading unit and a printing unit,
A determination unit that reads the image data of the document read by the image reading unit in units of a certain area, determines whether or not to print each area, and records the result;
Print data generating means for generating print data for filling the corresponding area of the document by the printing means for an area determined to be printed with reference to the recorded information. An image processing system.

  According to the present invention, it is determined whether or not printing is performed in units of areas, and printing is performed for the areas determined to be printed, so that only the areas necessary for concealment can be printed. In addition, since it is not necessary to perform character recognition, the configuration can be simplified.

In order to solve the above problem, the second aspect of the present invention is:
An image processing device to which an image reading device that reads image data of a document and a printing device that prints the document based on print data are connected,
A determination unit that reads the image data read by the image reading device in units of a certain area, determines whether or not to perform printing for each area, and records the result;
Print data generating means for referring to the recorded information and generating print data for filling the area in the printing apparatus with respect to the area determined to be printed;
An image processing apparatus comprising: print data output means for outputting print data to the printing apparatus.

  Here, the fixed area unit read by the determination means is a line-shaped area having a fixed width, and this width can be made to coincide with the width of a band which is a processing unit of the printing apparatus. Or it is good also as a block-shaped area | region of a fixed magnitude | size.

  For example, when the image data of the read area unit includes density information of a predetermined density or more, the determination means determines that the area is to be printed. Generally, acquisition of density distribution information can be realized with a simpler configuration than character recognition.

  Further, if the read area unit image data includes density information of a predetermined density or higher, information including the density information is recorded, and the print data generation unit is determined to perform printing. For the area, print data for printing at a density higher than the density recorded for the area may be generated. As a result, concealment printing can be performed reliably, and the amount of toner and the like used for printing can be saved.

  Alternatively, in the case where density information of a predetermined density or higher is included in the read area unit image data, information including the color information of the area is recorded, and the print data generation means determines that printing is performed. With respect to the printed area, print data for printing in a color approximate to the color recorded for the area may be generated. This also makes it possible to reliably perform concealment printing.

  In addition, since the determination unit reads the image data from the image reading device in a certain area unit, it is not necessary to store all the image data on the image processing device, thereby saving memory. Can do.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining the outline of the hardware configuration of the image information processing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in the figure, the image information processing system includes a computer 10 for realizing various processes by applications, an image reading process by a scanner driver, a printing process by a printer driver, and the like, a printer 30 connected to the computer 10, and And a scanner 40.

  In the present embodiment, a range in which the computer 10 performs overprinting is set from the image data of the document read by the scanner 40. Then, based on this setting, the printer 30 performs printing on the same document in a superimposed manner, and performs hidden printing of the document by painting the printed information from above. However, the configuration of the image information processing system is not limited to this.

  The computer 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11 for executing various programs, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 12 for temporarily storing data and programs, various data for controlling the computer 10, various programs, and the like in advance. A ROM (Read Only Memory) 13 that is stored in a nonvolatile manner and an interface 14 that controls transmission / reception of data to / from a peripheral device such as a connected printer 30 are provided.

  Further, the computer 10 includes a display device 21 such as a color display, an input device 22 such as a mouse and a keyboard, a media reading device 23 for reading data from a recording medium such as a CD-ROM, and a built-in or external auxiliary storage device 24. Connected. Of course, the configuration of the computer 10 is not limited to this.

  The printer 30 is, for example, a laser type color page printer. A laser type color page printer includes a plurality of cartridges filled with toner in a housing, and performs printing by transferring the toner to a printing medium such as printing paper. The toner colors are, for example, four colors of black, cyan, magenta, and yellow, and various colors can be expressed by combining these colors.

  However, the printing method of the printer 30 is not limited to this. For example, an inkjet serial color printer or a printer using other printing methods may be used. A monochrome printer may also be used.

  The printer 30 includes an interface 31 that controls transmission and reception of data with the computer 10, a CPU 32 that executes various programs, a RAM 33 that temporarily stores print data and the like, various data and various programs that control the printer 30, and the like in advance. A print engine 35 including a ROM 34, a toner cartridge, a photosensitive drum, a laser beam irradiation mechanism, a paper feed mechanism, a paper supply / discharge mechanism for performing print medium supply / discharge processing, and an operation panel 36. It is prepared for. The operation panel 36 includes a display unit for displaying the printer status, menus, and the like, for example, a liquid crystal panel, and an input unit for receiving operations from the user, for example, operation buttons. Of course, the configuration of the printer 30 is not limited to this.

  The scanner 40 includes an interface 41 that controls transmission / reception of data to / from the computer 10, a CPU 42 that controls the operation of the scanner, a RAM 33 that temporarily stores image data, various data for image processing, various programs, and the like in advance. A ROM 44, a CCD engine, a scanner engine 45 including a feed roller, and an operation panel 46 are stored. Of course, the configuration of the scanner 40 is not limited to this.

  Next, functional configurations realized in the computer 10, the printer 30, and the scanner 40 by the image information processing system will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG.

  As shown in the figure, an application unit 110, a printer driver unit 130, and a scanner driver unit 140 are constructed on the computer 10.

  The application unit 110 is virtually realized on the computer 10 when the CPU 11 executes an application program loaded on the RAM 12. The application unit 110 controls the printer driver unit 130 and the scanner driver unit 140 to perform processing for performing hidden printing in the image processing system.

  Therefore, the application unit 110 includes an area setting unit 111, an area determination unit 112, a print information generation unit 113, a driver control unit 114, and an area information storage unit 115.

  The area setting unit 111 sets in what unit area the document to be concealed is to be concealed. As the unit of the area, for example, there are a line, a block and the like, and the size of each unit is determined. For example, when a line is set as the unit of the area, the number of dots of the line width is determined, and when a block is set as the unit of the area, the number of vertical and horizontal dots of the block is determined. As will be described later, when a line is set as a unit of the area, the line width is matched with the bandwidth in the printing process in the printer 30, thereby saving the memory necessary for the concealment printing and at a high speed. Processing can be performed.

  The area determination unit 112 determines whether or not to print the area for each unit area of the document to be subjected to the concealment printing in which the scanner driver unit 140 has acquired the image data. In other words, in the present embodiment, when any printing or the like is performed in the unit area, the printing is performed by overlapping the area.

  The area determination unit 112 further sets what kind of printing is to be performed when printing is performed in the area. Here, for example, the color and density used for the concealment printing are set. That is, in the present embodiment, it is possible to change the pattern to be overprinted according to the contents printed in the area. For example, when printing is performed in a red color, printing is performed by overlapping red. As a result, the content to be concealed becomes more difficult to distinguish. Further, the fill density may be changed in accordance with the printed density. Thereby, toner, ink, etc. used for printing can be saved. Of course, it is also possible to uniformly perform overprinting in black, for example. Further, in order to ensure the concealment, it is most effective to fill the area with a solid color. However, for example, the area may be filled with a pattern such as a fine mesh pattern or a diagonal line.

  The area determination unit 112 stores the determination result in the area information storage unit 115. The area information storage unit 115 is virtually realized by being allocated as a storage area on the RAM 12 or the auxiliary storage device 24, for example.

  The print information generation unit 113. In accordance with the contents of the area information storage unit 115, information to be printed is generated for a document to be concealed. Specifically, print information based on settings such as color and density used for the concealment printing is generated for the area where concealment printing is performed.

  The driver control unit 114 controls the exchange of data and the like between the printer driver unit 130 and the scanner driver unit 140.

  The printer driver unit 130 is virtually realized on the computer 10 by the CPU 11 executing the printer driver program loaded in the RAM 12. The printer driver unit 130 generates print data according to the print information generated by the application unit 110 and causes the printer 30 to execute printing. The printer driver unit 130 handles print data in band units and causes the printer 30 to execute printing. Here, the band is a line-shaped region having a predetermined dot width obtained by dividing the region for one page into a plurality of regions. By handling print data in band units, print processing requiring a large memory with a limited memory capacity can be performed.

  The scanner driver unit 140 is virtually realized on the computer 10 by the CPU 11 executing the scanner driver program loaded in the RAM 12. The scanner driver unit 140 controls the scanner 40 to perform processing for reading an image of a document placed on a document table or the like of the scanner 40. Normally, the scanner driver unit 140 reads the image data of the documents acquired by the scanner 40 at a time, but in the present embodiment, the scanner driver unit 140 can also read the data for each predetermined unit. In this case, since it is not necessary to store image data for one page on the computer 10, it is possible to save memory used such as the RAM 12.

  An application program, a printer driver program, and a scanner program for virtually realizing the application unit 110, the printer driver unit 130, and the scanner driver unit 140 on the computer 10 are recorded on a portable recording medium such as a CD-ROM. Can be distributed. Each program can be installed in the computer 10 by reading the recording medium with the media reader 23. For example, it can also be installed in the computer 10 via a computer network such as the Internet.

  In the present embodiment, the printer 30 and the scanner 40 are desirably products from the same manufacturer. In such a case, the printer driver program and the scanner driver program are developed by the same manufacturer. The application program can be developed so as to perform processing as described below in accordance with the specifications of these driver programs. For this reason, it is desirable that application programs are also provided from the same manufacturer. Such a manufacturer may provide a single program package in which these programs are integrated.

  In FIG. 2, a print control unit 310 and a print execution unit 320 are virtually realized on the printer 30. The print control unit 310 interprets the print data transmitted from the computer 10 and performs control for executing printing based on the print data. The print execution unit 320 executes printing by the print engine 35 on printing paper or the like in accordance with an instruction from the print control unit 310.

  In addition, a reading control unit 410 and a reading execution unit 420 are virtually realized on the scanner 40. The reading control unit 410 causes the reading execution unit 420 to read a document in accordance with an instruction from the scanner driver unit 140, performs predetermined image processing, and outputs the document to the scanner driver unit 140. The reading execution unit 420 executes image reading by the scanner engine 45.

  Next, the operation of the image information processing system in the embodiment of the present invention realized by the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  In the present embodiment, first, the area setting unit 111 of the application unit 110 sets a unit of area when performing hidden printing (S101). The unit of the area may be a predetermined fixed value, but here it is determined based on an instruction from the user.

  The area setting unit 111 displays, for example, a concealed print setting screen 400 as shown in FIG. 4 and receives an instruction about the unit of area from the user. As shown in the figure, the hidden print setting screen 400 includes, for example, an area setting field 401, a processing mode setting field 402, and a color mode setting field 403.

  The area setting column 401 is a column that accepts designation of the shape of the area, and can select either a line or a block, for example. “Line” is a mode in which it is checked whether printing or the like is performed on a document in a line unit area, and when printing is performed, overprinting is performed in that area. The line is usually in the horizontal direction, but may be a vertical line depending on the size of the document, for example. At this time, it is desirable to match the bandwidth direction, the main scanning direction, and the like. “Block” is a mode in which it is checked whether printing or the like is performed on a document in a block unit area, and if printing is performed, overprinting is performed in that area. In addition, in the area setting column 401, designation of the area size may be received. For example, when a block unit is set, one of large, medium, and small can be selected as the block size.

  The processing mode setting column 402 is a column for accepting selection of whether to perform the hidden printing process while saving the memory or to perform the hidden printing process with priority on the processing speed when a line is selected as an area. . “Memory saving” is a mode in which the line width matches the bandwidth, the image data is read into the memory in units of lines, and it is checked whether printing or the like is performed in the area. In this mode, since it is not necessary to store image data for one screen, the memory used can be saved. “Fast” is a mode in which image data for one screen is stored, and for each line area, it is checked whether printing or the like is performed in that area. In this mode, image data for one page is stored in the memory at a time, so that the processing speed can be increased compared to the “memory saving” mode.

  When “memory saving” is set in the processing mode setting field 402, the area setting unit 111 acquires the bandwidth from the printer driver unit 130 and sets the width as the line width. In other cases, a predetermined size is set. Of course, you may make it set based on the instruction | indication from a user.

  A color mode setting field 403 is a field for receiving designation of whether to perform overprinting in color or monochrome. When a color is designated, overprinting is performed with a color close to the color of characters or the like printed in the area. When monochrome is designated, overprinting is performed at a density equal to or higher than the density of characters printed in the area. However, the color mode setting field 403 may not be provided, and the overprinting may be performed uniformly in black or the like. In addition, when “memory saving” is set in the processing mode setting field 402, the overprinting may be performed uniformly in black or the like.

  Next, the driver control unit 114 controls the scanner driver unit 140 to cause the scanner 40 to read a document (S102). As the reading resolution at this time, a low resolution is sufficient, and it may be coarser than a so-called pre-scanning resolution. By doing so, a memory area for reading can be saved and the reading speed can be increased. Note that the user sets a document to be subjected to the concealment printing process on the document table of the scanner 40 in advance.

  When the scanner 40 finishes reading the document, the area determination unit 112 acquires the read image data for each area via the scanner driver unit 140 (S103). At this time, if “memory saving” is set in the processing mode setting field 402, image data is acquired from the scanner 40 for each area of the processing unit. Thereby, the memory for this process can be saved. On the other hand, when “fast” is set in the processing mode setting field 402, image data for one page is acquired from the scanner 40 in a lump and stored in a memory such as the RAM 12, and the processing unit area. The image data is read from the memory every time.

  Then, it is checked whether printing or the like is performed in the area (S104). In this process, for example, the density distribution of the area is examined, and when density information that includes a density greater than a predetermined value is included, it can be determined that printing or the like is being performed.

  As a result, if it is determined that printing or the like has been performed, the contents of printing or the like are determined as necessary, and the color system, the density of the darkest portion, or the like is determined. Then, the result is recorded in the area information storage unit 115 (S105).

  5 and 6 are diagrams for specifically explaining the processing at this time.

  FIG. 5 shows an example in which a document as shown in FIG. 5A is processed with a setting for saving memory in line units. In this case, as shown in FIG. 5B, the image data of the document 601 is acquired in units of lines. Then, it is checked whether printing or the like has been performed on the line. For a line that has not been printed or the like, for example, “0” is recorded in the area information storage unit 115, and “1” for a line that has been printed or the like. Shall be recorded. Therefore, a storage area having a bit width corresponding to the number of lines may be allocated to the area information storage unit 115. In this example, since processing is performed with a setting that saves memory, it is determined whether or not printing is performed for each line, and the result is recorded as 0 or 1. However, it is also possible to determine the density, color system, etc., and record the determination result in the area information storage unit 115 in a predetermined bit pattern. In this case, a storage area having a size having a bit width indicating the determination result as many as the number of lines is allocated to the area information storage unit 115.

  FIG. 6 shows an example when the document shown in FIG. 6A is processed in the monochrome mode in units of blocks. In this case, as shown in FIG. 6B, the image data of the document 611 is acquired in units of blocks. Then, it is checked whether printing or the like has been performed on the block. For a block on which printing or the like has not been performed, for example, “0” is recorded in the area information storage unit 115, and for a block on which printing or the like has been performed, Any one of “1” to “4” is recorded according to the maximum density (see 512). Therefore, a storage area having a size corresponding to the number of blocks is allocated to the area information storage unit 115. In the case of color mode processing, instead of the maximum density in the block, for example, the color system existing most in the block or the darkest color in the block is detected and recorded in the area information storage unit 115. You may make it do.

  The application unit 110 repeats these processes for all areas of the image data of the document (S106).

  When all areas of the image data of the document are recorded in the area information storage unit 115, the print information generation unit 113 prints information for causing the printer 30 to execute printing based on the information recorded in the area information storage unit 115. And output to the printer driver unit 130 (S107).

  Regarding generation of print information, for example, in the example shown in FIG. 5, print information is generated such that overprinting is performed on a line recorded when printing or the like is performed in the area information storage unit 115. Specifically, a command for filling a line on which printing or the like is performed is generated. When the line width matches the band width, it may be possible to instruct only whether to perform overprinting for each band. In this way, it is possible to further reduce the amount of memory used for the hidden printing process.

  Further, in the example shown in FIG. 6, overprinting is performed on a block recorded as being printed in the area information storage unit 115 at least at a density equal to or higher than that density (see reference numeral 613). Generate print information. As a result, concealment printing is reliably performed, and the amount of toner or the like used for overprinting can be saved. Further, when information related to the color in the block is recorded in the area information storage unit 115, print information for performing overprinting with a color close to the color may be generated.

  The printer driver unit 130 generates print data for controlling the printer based on the output print information, and outputs the print data to the printer (S108). Then, the printer 30 executes printing according to the print data, whereby the hidden printing process of the present embodiment is performed. Note that it is assumed that the user sets a document to be subjected to the concealment printing process in the paper feeding device of the printer 40 after being read by the scanner 40.

  As a result, in the example of FIG. 5, a print result such as the document 502 is obtained, and in the example of FIG. 6, a print result such as the document 614 is obtained.

  Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in the above embodiment, the image information processing system is configured by a computer to which the printer 30 and the scanner 40 are connected. However, image information is to be acquired by a computer to which a printer with a scanner function in which the printer and the scanner are integrated is connected. A processing system may be configured. In this case, the printer driver unit 130 and the scanner driver unit 140 can be constructed on the computer 10 as a single driver unit.

The block diagram for demonstrating the hardware constitutions of an image information processing system. The block diagram for demonstrating the function structure of an image information processing system. The flowchart explaining the processing operation in an image information processing system. The figure which shows an example of a concealment print setting screen. The figure explaining the concealment printing process of a line unit. The figure explaining the block-unit hidden printing process.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Printer, 11 ... Interface, 12 ... CPU, 13 ... RAM, 14 ... ROM, 21 ... Display device, 22 ... Input device, 23 ... Media reader, 24 ... Auxiliary storage device, 31 ... Interface, 32 ... CPU, 33 ... RAM, 34 ... ROM, 35 ... print engine, 36 ... operation panel, 41 ... interface, 42 ... CPU, 43 ... RAM, 44 ... ROM, 45 ... scanner engine, 46 ... operation panel, 110 ... application section, 111 ... Area setting section, 112 ... Area determination section, 113 ... Area information generation section, 114 ... Driver control section, 115 ... Area information storage section, 130 ... Printer driver section, 140 ... Scanner driver section, 310 ... Print control section, 320 ... Print execution unit 410 ... Read control unit 420 ... Read execution unit

Claims (10)

An image processing system including an image reading unit and a printing unit,
A determination unit that reads the image data of the document read by the image reading unit in units of a certain area, determines whether to perform printing for each area, and records the result;
Print data generating means for generating print data for filling the corresponding area of the document by the printing means for an area determined to be printed with reference to the recorded information. Image processing system. An image processing apparatus to which an image reading apparatus and a printing apparatus are connected,
A determination unit that reads image data of a document read by the image reading device in units of a certain area, determines whether or not to print each area, and records the result;
Print data generating means for generating print data for filling the corresponding area of the document with the printing apparatus with respect to the area determined to be printed with reference to the recorded information;
An image processing apparatus comprising: print data output means for outputting print data to the printing apparatus. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2,
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined area unit read by the determination means is a line-shaped area having a predetermined width. The image processing apparatus according to claim 3.
The printing apparatus performs printing processing in a predetermined band unit,
The width of the line shape is equal to the width of the band. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2,
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined area unit read by the determination means is a block-shaped area having a predetermined size. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2,
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines that printing is performed for an area when the read image data of the area unit includes density information of a predetermined density or more. The image processing apparatus according to claim 6.
The determination means records information including information on the density when density information of a predetermined density or more is included in the read area unit image data,
The image processing apparatus, wherein the print data generation unit generates print data for filling an area determined to be printed with a density equal to or higher than a density recorded for the area. The image processing apparatus according to claim 6.
In the case where density information of a predetermined density or more is included in the read area unit image data, the determination unit records information including the color of the area,
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print data generation unit generates print data for filling an area determined to be printed with a color approximate to a color recorded for the area. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2,
The image processing apparatus, wherein the determination unit reads the image data from the image reading apparatus in a certain area unit. A program executed on a computer to which an image reading device and a printing device are connected,
A determination unit that reads image data of a document read by the image reading device in units of a certain area, determines whether or not to print each area, and records the result;
Print information generating means for generating print information for filling the corresponding area of the document in the printing apparatus with respect to the area determined to be printed with reference to the recorded information;
A program causing a computer to function as print data output means for outputting print data to the printing apparatus.

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