JP2010262628A - Image forming apparatus, printer controller, printer driver, and image forming method - Google Patents

Abstract

An image forming apparatus, a printer controller, a printer driver, and an image forming method that free a user from reprinting and avoid unnecessary increase in printing cost.
An OCR result character code and a character code in PDL data extracted by an extracting unit are collated with an output observation image in which a printing system deterioration and an image deterioration associated with a user's visual acuity and viewing distance are simulated. If the collation is matched by collating the OCR result character code and the character code in the PDL data, the user determines that the character can be read. If the check does not match, the user determines that the character cannot be read. In addition, the user is informed on the preview screen of the location where the collation did not match.
[Selection] Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, a printer controller, a printer driver, and an image forming method that generate print data based on print target data.

  In general, when printing a document with a printer, in order to save paper, it is possible to perform page layout with Nin1, such as 2in1 or 4in1, which prints a plurality of pages on one sheet. However, when printing with Nin1, if the character size is small, it may be difficult to read. In that case, the user has been forced to redo the page layout and redo the printing. That is, although Nin1 is a function for saving paper, as a result, extra printing may be performed.

  Therefore, conventionally, when Nin1 printing is performed, as a mechanism for avoiding reprinting due to improper settings, if the print character size is less than the set minimum desired size, the print setting is set. A print processing apparatus to be changed is known. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1.) According to this conventional technique, it is possible to perform print processing according to a print setting and a print layout intended by the user while ensuring the visibility of characters on a printed matter before printing.

  In addition, when printing with Nin1, if thick characters (such as bold fonts or emphasized characters) are used in the print data, character conversion (font type conversion, emphasized character conversion) is executed. In addition, printer drivers that convert thick font characters into thin font characters are known. (For example, refer to Patent Document 2.) According to this conventional technique, it is possible to suppress the use of extra paper by Nin1 printing.

  In the case of the above-described print processing apparatus (Patent Document 1), the focus is on the character size, and it is impossible to determine whether or not the character can actually be read by a person without looking at the output printed matter. . For example, when Nin1 printing is performed, a character with a large number of strokes may be illegible and difficult to read.

  In the case of a printer driver (Patent Document 2), the focus is on thick characters and does not consider characters that are difficult to read even if the characters are thin. For example, as with the problem of the above-described print processing apparatus (Patent Document 1), even a thin typeface character may be difficult to read.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that an image forming apparatus, a printer controller, a printer driver, and an image forming apparatus that release a user from the trouble of reprinting and avoid an unnecessary increase in printing cost. An object is to provide an image forming method.

  In order to achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention includes raster image data generated from PDL (Page Description Language) data including a predetermined character code and expressed in a page description language. The generation unit that predicts and generates a deteriorated image representing an image when the observer sees the print result of the raster image data, and recognizes the character code included in the deteriorated image by recognizing the character A recognition unit that obtains, an extraction unit that obtains a PDL character code by extracting a character code included in the PDL data, a collation between the recognized character code and the PDL character code, and whether there is a mismatched character code. If there is a collation part to be collated and a character code that does not match between the collation part, characters that are difficult to read by the observer are A presentation unit for presenting the message including the possible presence in the data image data, in that it comprises as its gist.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to relieve the user from the trouble of reprinting and to avoid an unnecessary increase in printing cost.

It is a figure which shows an example of the system in this embodiment. 1 is a block diagram of an image forming apparatus. 3 is a processing flowchart in the image forming apparatus. It is a figure which shows the character code extracted from PDL data in this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of the raster image data in this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of the output observation image in this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example (when a user's visual acuity is low) of the output observation image in this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of the OCR result in this embodiment. It is a block diagram of the production | generation part in this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example (when a user's visual acuity is low) of the OCR result in this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of the warning message in this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of the location display of the hard-to-read character on a print preview in this embodiment.

  Exemplary embodiments of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be explained below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the present embodiment is a system that includes a client PC 601 and one or more MFPs (Multi Function Peripheral) 603. Each component is connected via a network such as a LAN, a WAN, or a wireless LAN.

  Each component of the client PC 601 has a standard element mounted on a general-purpose computer. For example, such standard elements include a CPU, RAM, ROM, HDD, external storage device, network I / F (interface), display, keyboard, mouse, and the like.

  The client PC 601 allows a user to create a document when an internal CPU executes an application program stored in a storage area such as a ROM. A printer driver, which is a program installed in the client PC 601, creates a print job data of a document created by an application in a page description language (PDL) when a print request is received from a user. Next, the printer driver sends the created print job data (PDL data) to the MFP 603 or the client PC 601.

  The MFP 603 has a monochrome or color copy function, a monochrome or color scanner function, a monochrome or color printer function, and the like. The MFP 603 forms an image of a document on a print medium by, for example, an electrophotographic method (printing) based on the normally received print job data, or forms an image of a scanned original scanned using a scanner function on the print medium (see FIG. Copy).

  Further, the MFP 603 is connected to the network to transmit the scanned image to a desired destination by E-mail, to store the scanned image so that the image can be exchanged via the network, or to a network printer or fax. It is the apparatus structure which can implement | achieve the function as. Further, the MFP 603 can execute predetermined image processing on the acquired scanned image or the like by executing a program stored in the storage area by the internal CPU.

  The MFP 603 includes a printer controller 103 that controls the printer. The printer controller 103 outputs an output observation image by predicting various deterioration factors in actual printing, and determines whether the user can read the characters.

  In the present embodiment, the OCR result character code and the character code in the PDL data extracted by the extraction unit are collated with respect to the output observation image in which the print system deterioration and the image deterioration accompanying the user's visual acuity and viewing distance are simulated. . If the collation is matched by collating the OCR result character code and the character code in the PDL data, the user determines that the character can be read. If the check does not match, the user determines that the character cannot be read. In addition, the user is notified of the mismatched location on the preview screen.

  FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of the image forming apparatus 603 in FIG. The printer controller 103 (portion surrounded by a dotted line) includes a generation unit 104, a character visibility determination unit 110, a presentation unit 117, and a print preview additional information generation unit 120.

  The generation unit 104 adds “blur” to the raster image data generated and output by the RIP (Raster Image Processor) based on the document data expressed in PDL, so that the user can print the print result on the print medium. An appearance image (output observation image) when it is seen is predicted and generated. The predicted generation of the output observation image is “blurred” based on the print characteristic information 105, the print medium information 106, the observation viewing distance information 107, and the observer visual acuity information 108. When printing is actually performed, print system deterioration and image deterioration associated with the user's visual acuity and viewing distance occur. Therefore, it is necessary to consider these conditions at the time of prediction before printing. Therefore, “blur” is added.

  The print characteristic information 105 is information indicating the type of print engine and the type of ink. For example, water-based ink, oil-based ink, toner particle shape, and the like.

  The print medium information 106 is information such as paper quality and thickness of the print medium. For example, copy paper, thick paper such as Kent paper, and the like. The print medium is not limited to paper, but may be cloth or the like.

  The observation viewing distance information 107 is distance information between the observer and the print medium observed by the observer. For example, an office, a poster, a banner, etc. may be selected.

  The observer eyesight information 108 is the eyesight information of the observer. If the user is authenticated, it may be set automatically. Further, the user's eyesight information may be registered in advance.

  The character visibility determination unit 110 performs OCR character recognition on the output observation image information, and collates the result (character code of the recognized character) with the character code of the known PDL data 100, so that the print result is Predict the location of characters that are difficult to read. The character visibility determination unit 110 includes a recognition unit 111, an extraction unit 113, and a collation unit 115.

  The recognition unit 111 performs OCR character recognition on the output observation image information and outputs an OCR result character code 112.

  The extraction unit 113 extracts the character code 114 in the PDL data from the PDL data 100.

  The collation unit 115 collates the OCR result character code 112 and the character code 114 in the PDL data. If the collation results match, the collation unit 115 determines that the character is readable. If the collation results do not match, the collation unit 115 interprets the character. Judged as difficult. Based on the determination result, a visibility determination result indicating the presence or absence of a character that is determined to be difficult to read in the target document, and information that identifies the character determined to be difficult to read, that is, position information in the document (page number and page) Position), character code information (correct information of PDL data and incorrect information of OCR result), and difficult-to-read character specifying information consisting of character size are output.

  The presentation unit 117 generates a message 118 for presenting the visibility determination result 116 supplied from the character visibility determination unit 110 to the client PC 601.

  The print preview additional information generating unit 120 prints the print preview additional information 121 for displaying the location of the difficult-to-read character on the client PC 601 in a superimposed manner based on the difficult-to-read character specifying information 119 supplied from the character visibility determining unit. Is generated.

  The operation of this embodiment will be described below. FIG. 3 shows a process flowchart of the MFP 603.

  First, when the user wants to perform printing, the PDL data 100 created by the client PC 601 is sent to the MFP 603. When the PDL data 100 is transmitted from the client PC 601, the extraction unit 113 receives the PDL data 100 from the MFP 603 in S200. A character string to be drawn or a character code corresponding to the character string is embedded in the PDL data 100 as shown in FIG. 4, and the extraction unit 113 extracts the character code from the PDL data 100 based on the PDL grammar. In the example of FIG. 4, character strings “ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQR”, “STUVWXYZ”, and “01234456789” are extracted from the PDL data 100. The extraction result is supplied to the collation unit 115 of the character visibility determination unit 110.

  On the other hand, in step S <b> 201, the RIP / screen processing unit 101 that receives the PDL data 100 similarly to the extraction unit 113 generates raster image data 102 that can be printed by a print engine (not shown) and supplies the generated raster image data 102 to the generation unit 104. To do.

  In S <b> 202, the generation unit 104 generates an output observation image 109 from the raster image data 102.

  FIG. 5 shows a raster image 102 obtained by RIP from the PDL data 100 illustrated in FIG. The output observation image 109 generated by the generation unit 104 with respect to the raster image data 102 is an image to which “blurring” is added (the generation method will be described later). FIG. 6 is an output observation image 109a conceptually showing the state. Further, as another condition for generating the output observation image 109, an example of the output observation image 109b when the user's visual acuity is lower is shown in FIG. The image in FIG. 7 is an image having a higher degree of “blurring” than that in FIG. 6, reflecting that the user's visual acuity is low.

  In S203 of the processing flow of FIG. 3, the recognition unit 111 of the character visibility determination unit 110 performs character recognition on the output observation image. The OCR result character code 112 is output and supplied to the collation unit 115 of the character visibility determination unit 110.

  In step S <b> 204, the collation unit 115 collates the OCR result character code 112 with the character code 114 in the PDL data extracted by the extraction unit 113.

  FIG. 8 shows an OCR result 400 for the output observation image of FIG. As a result of the OCR character recognition, the character strings “ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ” and “01234456789” are recognized from the image of FIG. The collation unit 115 collates whether the character string obtained by the character recognition matches the character string extracted from the PDL data 100 of FIG. 4, that is, the correct character string. In the example of FIG. 8, the OCR result character code 112 completely matches the character code 112 in the PDL data. As a result, even if the raster image data is printed as it is, there is no character that is difficult to read (Yes in S205 in FIG. 3). At this time, after the character visibility is determined by the character visibility determination unit 110 in FIG. 2, printing is performed without using the presentation unit 117 and the print preview additional information generation unit 120.

  Here, the generation unit 104 will be described. FIG. 9 shows a block diagram of the generation unit 104 in the present embodiment. The generation unit 104 includes a printing system deterioration parameter generation unit 300, an observation system deterioration parameter generation unit 301, a two-dimensional Fourier transform unit 302, a print system deterioration processing unit 303, an observation system deterioration processing unit 304, and a two-dimensional inverse Fourier transform unit 305. Consists of.

  Here, the flow of processing in the generation unit 104 will be described. The raster image data (herein, raster image data is defined as i (x, y)) 102 supplied from the RIP / screen processing unit 101 is subjected to two-dimensional Fourier transform in a two-dimensional Fourier transform unit 302, and the result I (u, v) 306 is output as Here, x and y represent two-dimensional position coordinates in the image, and u and v represent two-dimensional spatial frequencies.

  The print system deterioration processing unit 303 performs a simulation of image deterioration caused by the print characteristic information 105 and the print medium information 106 with respect to I (u, v) 306. The content of image degradation is the addition of “blur”. The transfer characteristic of “blur” addition in the printing system deterioration processing unit 303 is expressed by a two-dimensional MTF (Modulation Transfer Function). Assuming that this transfer characteristic is the printing system deterioration parameter P (u, v) 307, the result I ′ (u, v) 308 to which “blurring” is added is expressed as follows.

  I ′ (u, v) = I (u, v) P (u, v)

  The transfer characteristic P (u, v) 307 is generated by the print system deterioration parameter generation unit 300 based on the print characteristic information 105 and the print medium information 106 and is supplied to the print system deterioration processing unit 303. The print characteristic information 105 and the print medium information 106 are supplied to the print system deterioration parameter generation unit 300 by a supply unit (not shown). However, as another embodiment of the printing system deterioration parameter generation unit 300, print engine type information, color material type information, and print medium type information may be received instead of user-specific characteristic information. In this method, one P (u, v) 307 is selectively output based on type information received from a plurality of types of P (u, v) 307 created and held in advance.

  The observation system deterioration processing unit 304 performs a simulation of image deterioration caused by the observation visual distance information 107 and the observer visual acuity information 108 with respect to I ′ (u, v) 308. The content of the image degradation is intended to add “blurring” as in the printing system degradation process. Assuming that the transfer characteristic (two-dimensional MTF) of “blurring” in the observation system deterioration processing unit 304 is the observation system deterioration parameter H (u, v) 309, as a result of adding “blur”, O (u, v) 310 becomes It is expressed as follows.

  O (u, v) = I ′ (u, v) H (u, v)

  The observation system deterioration parameter H (u, v) 309 is generated by the observation system deterioration parameter generation unit 301 based on the observation viewing distance information 107 and the observer visual acuity information 108 and is supplied to the observation system deterioration processing unit 304. . The observation visual distance information 107 and the observer visual acuity information 108 are supplied to the observation shape deterioration parameter generation unit 301 by a supply unit (not shown). A group of observation system deterioration parameters H (u, v) 309 is created and held, and one observation system deterioration parameter H (u, v) 309 is based on the received observation visual distance information 107 and observer visual acuity information 108. It is also possible to use a method of selectively outputting.

  O (u, v) 310 is subjected to two-dimensional inverse Fourier transform in a two-dimensional inverse Fourier transform unit 305. As a result, an output observation image o (x, y) 109 is output.

  On the other hand, FIG. 10 shows an OCR result 401 for the output observation image 109 of FIG. 7 having a higher degree of “blurring” than that of FIG. For example, when information indicating that the user's visual acuity is low is obtained from the observer visual acuity information 108, the degree of “blurring” in the output observation image 109 becomes strong. As a result of the character recognition, the character strings “ABCDEFCHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ” and “01284456789” are recognized from the image of FIG. In the collation unit 115, the recognized character string is collated with the character string extracted from the PDL data 100 of FIG.

  In the example of FIG. 10, the seventh English character “C” and the fourth number “8” do not match the characters in the PDL data. That is, since the “blurring” of the image is strong, the character that should be recognized as “G” is erroneously recognized as “C”, and the character that should be recognized as “3” is erroneously recognized as “8”. As a result of this mismatch (No in S205 in FIG. 3), a warning message indicating that there are characters that are difficult to read is generated in S207, assuming that characters that are difficult to read are generated in the print result.

  In this case, the collation unit 115 outputs a visibility determination result 116 indicating “there is a difficult-to-read character” and supplies the result to the presentation unit 117. The presentation unit 117 generates a warning message 118 that there is a character that is difficult to read based on the visibility determination result 116 and supplies it to a message output unit (not shown). As the message 118, for example, as shown in FIG. 11, a warning message 500 for prompting the user to select whether to force printing or cancel is output.

  In step S208, information for displaying the location of a character that is difficult to read in a print preview is output. The collation unit 115 outputs difficult-to-read character specifying information 119 and supplies it to the print preview additional information generation unit 120. The print preview additional information generation unit 120 generates print preview additional information 121 to be displayed on the print preview generated by the print preview generation unit (not shown) based on the difficult-to-read character specifying information 119. The print preview additional information 121 is information indicating the location of characters determined to be difficult to read and how misreading may occur.

  FIG. 12 shows a state in which the print preview additional information 121 is displayed on the print preview screen 503 based on the example of FIG. FIG. 12 highlights the seventh English character and the fourth digit as the location of the character that was misrecognized by OCR character recognition, and the OCR predicts the result that the user may misread. The character of the erroneous recognition result by is displayed. In this embodiment, misrecognized characters are highlighted with bold and shaded characters. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and may be highlighted with coloring or blinking.

  The processing is changed according to the user response to the warning message 500 of FIG. When the user selects the “Yes” button 501 (Yes in S209), printing is executed in S206, and the process ends. On the other hand, when the “No” button 502 is selected by the user (No in S209), the process ends without executing printing.

  The present embodiment is not limited to printing with a layout of Nin1, and may be applied during normal printing in which one page is printed on one printing medium. The information for generating the deterioration parameter is not limited to the print characteristic information 105, the print medium information 106, the observation viewing distance information 107, and the observer visual acuity information 108, and may include at least one of them. In addition, if the output observation image 109 can be deteriorated, information for generating deterioration parameters other than these may be used.

  The present embodiment can be implemented as a part of the printer controller 103 of the MFP 603, but can be implemented if the PDL data 100 and the raster image data 102 can be received. For example, the printer driver may be mounted on the client PC 601 outside the MFP 603 as part of the printer driver.

  By providing the image forming apparatus described above to the user, it is possible to release the user from the trouble of reprinting and to avoid an unnecessary increase in printing cost.

100: Document data (PDL data)
101 ... RIP / screen processing unit 102 ... raster image data 103 ... printer controller 104 ... generation unit 105 ... printing characteristic information 106 ... print medium information 107 ... observation viewing distance information 108 ... observer visual acuity information 109 ... output observation image 110 ... characters Visibility determination unit 111 ... Recognition unit 112 ... OCR result character code 113 ... Extraction unit 114 ... PDL data character code 115 ... Verification unit 116 ... Visibility determination result 117 ... Presentation unit 118 ... Message 119 ... Unreadable character identification information 120 ... Print preview additional information generation unit 121 ... Print preview additional information

JP 2008-176365 A JP 2007-233592 A

Claims (6)

An image obtained when the observer sees the print result of the raster image data by performing degradation processing on the generated raster image data from the PDL data including a predetermined character code and expressed in the page description language. A generation unit that predicts and generates a degradation image to be represented;
A recognition unit that recognizes characters included in the degraded image and obtains a recognized character code;
An extraction unit for obtaining a PDL character code by extracting a character code included in the PDL data;
A collation unit that collates the recognized character code and the PDL character code to collate whether there is a mismatched character code;
When there is a character code that does not match in the collation unit, a presentation unit that presents a message including a possibility that a character difficult to read is present in the raster image data to the observer;
An image forming apparatus comprising:   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a print preview additional information generation unit that specifies characters that are determined to be difficult to read by the collation unit and generates print preview additional information.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the deterioration process is performed based on at least one of print characteristics, a print medium, an observation viewing distance, and an observer visual acuity. An image obtained when the observer sees the print result of the raster image data by performing degradation processing on the generated raster image data from the PDL data including a predetermined character code and expressed in the page description language. A generation unit that predicts and generates a degradation image that
A recognition unit that recognizes characters included in the degraded image and obtains a recognized character code;
An extraction unit for obtaining a PDL character code by extracting a character code included in the PDL data;
A collation unit that collates the recognized character code and the PDL character code to collate whether there is a mismatched character code;
When there is a character code that does not match in the collation unit, a presentation unit that presents a message including a possibility that a character difficult to read is present in the raster image data to the observer;
A printer controller comprising: An image obtained when the observer sees the print result of the raster image data by performing degradation processing on the generated raster image data from the PDL data including a predetermined character code and expressed in the page description language. A generation unit that predicts and generates a degradation image that
A recognition unit that recognizes characters included in the degraded image and obtains a recognized character code;
An extraction unit for obtaining a PDL character code by extracting a character code included in the PDL data;
A collation unit that collates the recognized character code and the PDL character code to collate whether there is a mismatched character code;
When there is a character code that does not match in the collation unit, a presentation unit that presents a message including a possibility that a character difficult to read is present in the raster image data to the observer;
A printer driver comprising: An image obtained when the observer sees the print result of the raster image data by performing degradation processing on the generated raster image data from the PDL data including a predetermined character code and expressed in the page description language. Predicting and generating a degradation image that represents
Recognizing characters included in the degraded image to obtain a recognized character code,
Extracting a PDL character code by extracting a character code included in the PDL data;
Collating the recognized character code and the PDL character code, collating whether there is a mismatched character code,
When there is a character code that does not match in the collation, the observer is provided with a message including a possibility that a character that is difficult to read exists in the raster image data. Method.