JP2009143124A - Image processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To print image data stored in an image processing apparatus, depending on print settings, the readability of the printed matter is not good. Further, when the print settings of the image processing apparatus are set in advance by the system administrator, the readability of the printed matter is not good depending on the image data.
An image input means for inputting image data, an image storage means for storing image data input by the image input means, an image output means for outputting image data stored in the image storage means, Output setting means for setting the image data output by the image output means, recommended setting notification means for notifying the recommended output setting when outputting the image data, and analyzing the image data stored in the image storage means Image data analyzing means is provided.
[Selection] Figure 7

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus having a function of printing image data.

Conventionally, image data input by a plurality of input means such as PDL print images, scan images, and fax received images is temporarily stored in a memory such as a hard disk in the image processing apparatus, and arbitrary image data is printed from the memory according to user instructions. Technology has been developed. (See Patent Document 1)
JP 2006-164150 A

  However, in the conventional technology, when the user designates the print setting to perform printing on the image data stored in the image processing apparatus, depending on the image data to be printed and the print setting designated by the user, Readability may not be excellent.

  Also, depending on the installation environment of the image processing apparatus, the print settings of the image processing apparatus are set in advance by the system administrator, and depending on the print settings and the image data to be printed, the readability of the printed matter may still not be excellent. .

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the conventional example,
Image input means for inputting image data;
Image storage means for storing image data input by the image input means;
Image output means for outputting image data stored in the image storage means;
Output setting means for setting the image data output by the image output means;
A recommended setting notification means for notifying a recommended output setting when outputting image data;
Image data analysis means for analyzing image data stored in the image storage means is provided.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to print image data stored in the image processing apparatus with an appropriate print setting that causes no problem in readability, and it is possible to improve the convenience of the printer to the user.

Example 1
The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a printing system including a printer suitable for applying this embodiment.

  An access management server 101, a host 102 (102a, 102b, 102c), and a printer 103 (103a, 103b, 104c) are connected via a network.

  All print instructions from the host 102 and the printer 103 are performed under the restriction of the access management server 101.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of an operation screen displayed on the operation panel of the printer when the user selects data to be printed from the print data stored in the printer in this embodiment.

  A thumbnail image 202 (202a, 202b, 202c, 202d) of print data stored in the printer is displayed on the operation screen 201, and detailed information 203 (203a, 203b, 203c, 203d) is displayed below the thumbnail image. Has been.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of an operation screen displayed on the operation panel of the printer after the user selects print data to be printed. A dialog 301 is a thumbnail image 305 of the selected print data, and a print setting display 302 indicates that the current print setting is single-sided printing, monochrome printing, or 4in1. When the user presses the button 303, actual printing is started, and when the user presses the button 304, the print setting can be changed.

  FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing the configuration of controller software for controlling the operation of the printer in this embodiment.

  The printer interface 1301 is a means for input / output with the outside. The protocol control unit 1302 is means for performing communication with the outside by analyzing and transmitting a network protocol.

  The PDL analysis unit 1303 is a unit that analyzes the PDL and converts it into vector data in a format that is easier to process. Vector data generated by the PDL analysis unit 1303 is passed to the data drawing unit 1304 for processing. The RIP unit 1304 expands the vector data into a bitmap, and the expanded bitmap data is sequentially drawn in the page memory 1305.

  A page memory 1305 is a volatile memory that temporarily holds a bitmap developed by the renderer.

  The access management control unit is a means for controlling the job and user access to the printing apparatus.

  The panel input / output control unit controls input / output from the operation panel.

  A document storage unit 1308 is a means for holding a data file containing vector data for each job of an input document, and is realized by a secondary storage device such as a hard disk. If the data file of the input document is held, the user can take it out at any time and output it repeatedly. A function for holding input data in a file format in the secondary storage device of the image output apparatus for reuse is called a box function, and a file system is called a box.

  A scan control unit 1309 performs various processes such as correction, processing, and editing on the image data input from the scanner.

  The print control unit 1310 converts the contents of the page memory 1305 into a video signal and transfers the image to the printer engine unit 1310. The printer engine unit 1311 is a printing mechanism unit for forming a received video signal on a recording sheet as a permanent visible image.

  Hereinafter, the processing of the printer in this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  In step S701, the printer receives a print instruction for a job (print data) stored in the HDD in the printer from the user.

  In step S702, the printer determines recommended print settings necessary for appropriately printing the job. A method for determining the recommended print setting will be described later with reference to FIGS.

  Here, how the recommended print settings appear to the user will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is an example of an operation screen displayed on the operation panel of the printer when the user determines the number of pages to be printed on one sheet of paper.

  Buttons 401, 402, 403, and 404 indicate that 2 pages, 4 pages, 6 pages, and 8 pages are printed per sheet (hereinafter, “2 in 1”, “4 in 1”, “6 in 1”, and “8 in 1”). However, in this embodiment, the button 401 is invalidated by the access management server and cannot be used.

  That is, the user can only print including four pages or more per sheet. A warning mark 406 displayed on the buttons 403 and 404 indicates that the print setting “6 in 1” or “8 in 1” does not match the recommended print setting. That is, the user can select the buttons 402, 403, and 404 as the print settings, but the printer recommends the “4 in 1” print setting of the button 402.

  In step S703, the printer determines whether the print setting currently specified for the printer conforms to the recommended print setting determined in step S702. If not, the process proceeds to step SS704. If it does not, the process proceeds to step S7012.

  In step S704, the printer confirms the print restriction specified by the access management server.

  In step S705, the printer determines whether the recommended print setting determined by the printer violates the print restriction specified by the access management server. If there is a conflict, the process proceeds to step S706. If not, the process proceeds to step S7011.

  In step S706, the printer requests the access management server to temporarily cancel the print restriction.

  In step S707, if the access management server accepts the request for the printer, the process proceeds to step S708. If not accepted, the process proceeds to step S7012.

  In step S708, the printer notifies the user of recommended print settings and prompts the user to change the print settings.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of an operation screen displayed on the operation panel of the printer at that time, and a print message 501 notifies the recommended print setting and prompts the user to change the print setting.

  The user who has received the notification changes the print setting of the corresponding job by selecting the button 503 or the button 505, and accepts the printing of the corresponding job by selecting the button 504.

  FIG. 6 is an example of an operation screen displayed on the operation panel of the printer when the user selects the button 505 and changes the print setting.

  When the access management server accepts the printer request ("2 in 1" printing) in step S707, the button 601 ("2 in 1") disabled in FIG. 4 due to the printing restriction of the access management server is enabled.

  In step S709, if the user approves printing, the printer prints the job with the designated print settings. It does not matter whether the user has changed the print settings after step S708.

  In step S710, the printer notifies the access management server that the job has been printed.

In step S711, the printer notifies the user of recommended print settings and prompts the user to change the print settings. (Processing similar to step S708)
If the user approves printing in step S712, the printer prints the job with the designated print settings. It does not matter whether the user has changed the print settings after step S711.

  Next, details of the processing in step S702 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  In step S801, the printer has a table as shown in FIG. 9 that determines recommended print settings in accordance with the distribution status of characters included in a job (print data) for which a print instruction has been issued in advance.

In the table of FIG. 9, for example, when the job includes a character whose format is a bitmap and the size is less than 5 points, the printer recommends a print setting within “2 in 1” of the table 901. (In other words, “1in1” or “2in1” is the recommended print setting.)
In step S802, the printer analyzes the size and format of characters included in the job for which a print instruction has been issued.

  In step S803, the printer refers to the analysis result in step S802 and the above-described table, and determines recommended print settings that are considered necessary for appropriately printing the job.

  FIG. 10 and FIG. 11 are examples showing that the recommended print settings displayed on the operation panel of the printer change depending on the characters included in the job.

  In the case of FIG. 10, the job displayed on the thumbnail 1005 is composed of less than 5 points and bitmap characters, and the printer recommends printing with a setting within “2 in 1” as a result according to the table of FIG. .

  In the case of FIG. 11, the job displayed on the thumbnail 1105 is composed of 5 or more points and pass characters, and the printer recommends printing with a setting within the result “6 in 1” according to the table of FIG.

  Next, the processing of the access management server that the printer of this embodiment requested in step S706 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  In step S1201, the access management server restricts printing of each printer according to the settings of the system administrator.

  In step S1202, the access management server determines whether there is a request to temporarily cancel the print restriction from the printer. If there is a request, the access management server advances the process to step S1203. If there is no request, the access management server advances the process to step 1201.

  In step S1203, the access management server determines whether or not the system administrator permits temporary release of the print restriction that is a request from the printer. If permitted, the process proceeds to step S1204. If not permitted, the access management server proceeds to step S1208.

  In step S1204, the access management server accepts the request for the corresponding printer, and changes the print restriction of the corresponding printer according to the request.

  In step S1205, the access management server determines whether a print end notification has been received from the printer. If the access management server receives the print end notification, the process proceeds to step S1206. If not received, the access management server repeats the process of step S1205 while continuing the other processes.

  In step S1206, the access management server returns the print restriction of the printer to the original setting.

  In step S <b> 1207, the access management server notifies the system administrator of the record of changing the print restriction of the corresponding printer.

  As described above, the processing described so far enables the user to designate print settings suitable for the print data, thereby improving the convenience of the printer for the user.

(Example 2)
In the present embodiment, a process different from the process shown in step S702 of the first embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  In step S1401, the printer has a table as shown in FIG. 15 for determining recommended print settings in accordance with the distribution status of graphics included in a job (print data) for which a print instruction has been issued in advance.

The table in FIG. 15 indicates that the printer recommends a print setting within “2 in 1” of the table 1501 when, for example, a graphic having a line width of less than 2 points is included in the job. (In other words, “1in1” or “2in1” is the recommended print setting.)
In step S1402, the printer analyzes the line width of the graphic included in the job instructed to print.

  In step S1403, the printer refers to the analysis result in step S1402 and the above-described table, and determines recommended print settings that are considered necessary for appropriately printing the job.

  As in the first embodiment, the user can specify print settings suitable for print data by the above processing, and the convenience of the printer to the user is improved.

1 is a diagram illustrating a printing system including a printer. FIG. It is the operation screen 1 displayed on the operation panel of a printer. It is the operation screen 2 displayed on the operation panel of a printer. It is the operation screen 3 displayed on the operation panel of a printer. It is the operation screen 4 displayed on the operation panel of a printer. It is the operation screen 5 displayed on the operation panel of the printer. It is a flowchart figure which shows the process of the printer of a present Example. FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating processing for determining recommended print settings from characters. 6 is a table for determining recommended print settings from character size and format. It is a figure which shows the recommended print setting of the job comprised by a bitmap character. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating recommended print settings for a job configured with path characters. It is a flowchart figure which shows the process of the access management server of a present Example. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of printer controller software. FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the second embodiment. The table of the second embodiment is an island bell.

Claims (5)

Image input means for inputting image data;
Image storage means for storing image data input by the image input means;
Image output means for outputting image data stored in the image storage means;
Output setting means for performing output setting when outputting image data;
Recommended setting notification means for notifying the recommended output setting when outputting image data;
Image data analysis means for analyzing the image data stored in the image storage means,
An image processing apparatus characterized in that an output setting recommended by the recommended setting notifying unit is determined based on an analysis result by an image data analyzing unit. Separately from the output setting means, comprising output setting management means for managing output settings,
2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image output means outputs image data in accordance with output settings managed by the output setting management means.   3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the output setting management unit is requested to change the output setting based on an analysis result obtained by the image data analyzing unit and an output setting recommended by the recommended setting notification unit.   The image according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the recommended setting notifying means determines a recommended output setting from the size and format of characters included in the image data obtained by the analysis of the image data analyzing means. Processing equipment.   4. The image according to claim 1, wherein the recommended setting notifying unit determines a recommended output setting from a graphic line width included in the image data obtained by the analysis of the image data analyzing unit. Processing equipment.

Images