JP2011126041A - Image forming apparatus, image forming system, image forming method, image forming program, and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, an image forming system, an image forming method, an image forming program, and a recording medium for printing a printed document adapted to the visual characteristics of each viewer who views the printed document.
An image forming system 1 executes a print job including print data of a document transmitted from a host device HS and a visitor ID that identifies all viewers who view the print document printed with the print data. When acquired by the printer Pr, the printer Pr obtains the color vision of all the viewers corresponding to the browser IDs of the acquired print jobs from the browser information previously acquired from the server SV and registered in the printer reader address book. Acquire characteristics and generate image data for printing by applying image processing according to the visual characteristics for the viewer to the image data obtained from the print job, and print based on the image data for printing Print out the document.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, an image forming system, an image forming method, an image forming program, and a recording medium, and more particularly, to image formation for printing a print document adapted to the visual characteristics of each viewer who views the print document. The present invention relates to an apparatus, an image forming system, an image forming method, an image forming program, and a recording medium.

  In recent years, color image forming technology (printing technology) has been developed, and a wide variety of color documents have been created and printed by individuals and companies.

  However, there may be color blind people among the viewers of the document that has been imaged and output, and color blind people misunderstand colors, so if the color itself contains important information, all contents May not be understood correctly. Such a problem can occur on a daily basis today, when the number of color document publications is rapidly increasing.

  Conventionally, various techniques have been proposed for examining a user's color vision characteristics and optimizing the contents of image processing based on the result, and creating a document that is favorable to the user and feels favorable.

  For example, conventionally, when at least a color vision characteristic related to color discrimination in the brightness direction is input, a color correction parameter is generated based on the input information, and the presence or absence of color weakness is determined. A technique for performing color correction on an input color image signal using color correction parameters has been proposed (see Patent Document 1). This prior art generates one print data for image formation output (print output) that has been subjected to color vision correction processing from one input image signal, and enables image formation (print output) that is easy to see even for people with color blindness. Yes. That is, one print data obtained by performing color vision correction processing corresponding to a color blind person for one print job is generated.

  However, in the above prior art, since one print data is generated by performing color vision correction processing corresponding to a color blind person for one print job, the relationship between the print job and the print result is 1. In order to obtain an image output result having good versatility and usability with respect to various color vision levels, it is not possible to obtain a print result corresponding to the degree of color vision abnormality or a color vision healthy person. There was a need for improvement.

  Accordingly, the present invention provides an image forming apparatus, an image forming system, an image forming method, an image forming program, and a recording medium that perform data processing capable of obtaining print output corresponding to various color vision characteristics for image data. The purpose is that.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention acquires a print job that includes print data of a document and viewer identification information that identifies all viewers who browse the print document printed by the print data. Based on the viewer identification information of the print job, the browsing information is stored in the browser information storage means in which the viewer information including the color vision characteristics of the viewer is associated with the viewer identification information for each viewer. The color vision characteristics of all the viewers corresponding to the viewer-specific information are acquired, and the image data obtained from the print job is subjected to image processing corresponding to the visual characteristics for the viewers to obtain a print image Data is generated, and a print document is printed out based on the print image data.

  Further, the present invention acquires the name from the viewer information storage means in which the name of the viewer is registered as the viewer information for each viewer, and adds the name to the print image data It may be characterized by.

  Further, the present invention provides the browsing by a predetermined communication line when acquisition of the color vision characteristic or / and name of the viewer corresponding to the viewer specifying information of the acquired print job from the viewer information storage means fails. The color vision characteristics of the viewer corresponding to the viewer identification information from the management device that stores and manages the color vision characteristics or / and the name as management browser information in the management viewer information storage means in correspondence with the viewer identification information It is also possible to acquire the / and name, perform image processing according to the acquired color vision characteristic, and / or add the acquired name to the print image data.

  In the image forming system in which an information processing apparatus, a management apparatus, and an image forming apparatus are connected to a network, the management apparatus specifies viewer specifying information for specifying the viewer for each viewer of a print document, and The management side viewer information storage means for storing the viewer information including the color vision characteristics of the viewer, and in response to a viewer acquisition request from the information processing apparatus and / or the image forming apparatus, the management side The browser information stored in the browser information storage means is transmitted to the information processing apparatus or / and the image forming apparatus that has made the browser acquisition request, and the information processing apparatus transmits the information to each viewer of the print document. At least requesting viewer information storage means for registering the viewer information including the viewer specifying information for specifying the viewer, and making a request for acquiring the viewer information to the management device. Get The viewer identification information of all viewers who register the browser information transmitted from the management apparatus in response to the request in the request side viewer information storage means and browse the print document printed by the print data Is acquired from the requesting viewer information storage unit, a print job in which the viewer identification information is added to the print data of the document is generated and transmitted to the image forming apparatus, and the image forming apparatus Corresponding to the viewer identification information, it has image forming side viewer information storage means in which the viewer information including the color vision characteristics of the viewer is registered, and makes an acquisition request for the viewer information to the management device. The browser information transmitted from the management device in response to the browser information acquisition request is registered in the image forming side viewer information storage means, and the print data transmitted from the information processing device and the Viewer specific The print job including the information is acquired, and based on the acquired viewer specifying information of the print job, the color vision characteristics of all the viewers corresponding to the viewer specifying information from the image forming side viewer information storage unit Image data obtained from the print job is subjected to image processing according to the visual characteristics for the viewer to generate print image data, and based on the print image data It is characterized by printing out a print document.

1 is a system configuration diagram of an image forming system to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied. The figure which shows an example of the browser address book of a host apparatus. The figure which shows an example of the browser address book for servers. The figure which shows an example of the personal information management table of a server. The block block diagram of a printer. The figure which shows an example of the browser address book for printers. The figure which shows the function module with respect to the process of the print data of a printer, and the flow of print data. The figure which shows the flow of a viewer relevant information in a printer, and a functional module. The flowchart which shows the viewer information acquisition process by a host apparatus. The flowchart which shows the viewer information transmission process to the host device by a server. The flowchart which shows the browsing information acquisition process of all the browsing by a printer. 5 is a flowchart showing print request processing by a host device. 10 is a flowchart showing browser information transmission processing to the printer by the server. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data configuration of a print job. 6 is a flowchart illustrating image formation control processing by a printer. 16 is a flowchart showing processing subsequent to FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing color vision characteristic acquisition processing to a server by a printer. 6 is a flowchart showing browser information transmission processing by a server in response to a color vision characteristic acquisition request from a printer. The flowchart which shows the reader name acquisition process by a printer. 7 is a flowchart showing browser information transmission processing by a server in response to a name acquisition request from a printer.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, since the Example described below is a suitable Example of this invention, various technically preferable restrictions are attached | subjected, However, The range of this invention is unduly limited by the following description. However, not all the configurations described in the present embodiment are essential constituent elements of the present invention.

  1 to 20 are diagrams showing an embodiment of an image forming apparatus, an image forming system, an image forming method, an image forming program, and a recording medium according to the present invention. FIG. 1 shows an image forming apparatus and an image according to the present invention. 1 is a system configuration diagram of an image forming system 1 to which an embodiment of a forming system, an image forming method, an image forming program, and a recording medium are applied.

  In FIG. 1, an image forming system 1 includes a printer Pr, a server SV, a host device HS, and the like connected to a network NW such as Ethernet (registered trademark). A plurality of host devices HS and printers Pr are provided. It may be connected.

  The host device HS is a computer having a normal hardware configuration and software configuration. Generally, a hard disk, a memory such as a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a CPU (Central Processing Unit), Image data including viewer information of the present invention on hardware such as an input unit such as a display, a keyboard, a mouse, etc., and on an OS (Operating System) such as Windows (registered trademark) in a memory of the hardware Are installed on the printer Pr via the server SV and software such as a host image forming program, a printer driver, and document creation software requesting printing.

  The host device HS stores, as a host reader address book, viewer information related to a viewer who uses a print document to be printed out (image formation output) by the printer Pr on a memory such as hardware. In the browser address book, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, each information such as user ID, name, department, e-mail address is registered in a table format for each viewer. The department and e-mail address, etc. are used when selecting a document viewer when there is a person with the same name and the same name as the name alone.

  By executing the host image forming program, the host device HS performs processing for requesting registration of viewer information in the host viewer address book, processing for registering viewer information in a print job, and the like. .

  The host device HS includes a ROM, an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory), an EPROM, a flash memory, a flexible disk, a CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory), a CD-RW (Compact Disc Rewritable), a DVD ( A print request method which is an image forming method in a host of the present invention recorded on a computer-readable recording medium such as a digital versatile disk (SD), a secure digital (SD) card, or a magneto-optical disc (MO) is executed. By reading the host image forming program and installing it on a hard disk, etc., print request processing that involves registration control processing of viewer information in the host viewer address book, which will be described later, registration processing of browser information in a print job, etc. It is constructed as an information processing apparatus that executes The host image forming program is a computer-executable program written in a legacy programming language such as assembler, C, C ++, C #, Java (registered trademark), an object-oriented programming language, or the like. Can be stored and distributed.

  The server SV uses a print server having a normal hardware configuration and software configuration, and generally includes a hard disk, a memory such as a ROM (Read Only Memory) and a RAM (Random Access Memory), and a CPU (Central Processing Unit). A print job including image data including the viewer information of the present invention and a print request on an OS such as Windows in a hardware memory such as an input unit such as a display, a keyboard, and a mouse. Is sent from the host device HS, once stored in a hard disk or the like, the viewer's visual related information to which the viewer's visual characteristic information corresponding to the viewer information of the print job is added is sent to the printer Pr. Software such as a server image forming program for requesting printing is installed.

  The server SV uses the printer Pr to print out (image formation output) the print document (image formation output) on the memory such as hardware, and the viewer information regarding the visual characteristics of the viewer and the viewer and the color printability information based on the visual characteristics. Is stored as a server browser address book, and the server browser address book is, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, for each viewer, a user ID, name, visual characteristics, department, e-mail address. Each information such as color printing availability is registered in a table format. The server SV stores a personal information management table (management information storage means) as shown in FIG. 4 on a memory such as hardware, and the personal information management table is registered in the server browser address book. Information on whether or not to register in the browser address book for the host of the host device HS for each item of the viewer information, that is, user ID, name, color printability, color vision characteristics, department to which the user belongs, and e-mail address Registration permission / prohibition information in the Pr address book is registered. Note that this personal information management table is not limited to the one that manages registration permission for each viewer information item, but may be one that manages registration permission for each viewer and for each viewer information item.

  In the server SV, when the CPU (the viewer information providing means) executes the print server image forming program, the browser information registration control process in the server viewer address book and the browser information print job are performed. Print server processing including registration processing and registration control processing of the browser related information to the host device HS and the printer Pr.

  The server SV is a print of the present invention recorded on a computer-readable recording medium such as ROM, EEPROM, EPROM, flash memory, flexible disk, CD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD, SD card, MO, and the like. By reading a print server image forming program for executing a print server method, which is an image forming method on a server, and introducing the program to a hard disk or the like, the viewer information in the server viewer address book, which will be described later, the viewer's visual characteristics It is constructed as a print server apparatus that executes a print server process including a registration control process of visual related information such as the above, a registration process of viewer visual information to a print job, and the like. The print server image forming program is a computer-executable program described in a legacy programming language such as an assembler, C, C ++, C #, Java (registered trademark), an object-oriented programming language, or the like. Can be stored and distributed.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the printer Pr includes a controller 10, a main body engine 20, a finisher 21, an operation panel 22, a program recording medium 30, and the like. The controller 10 includes a communication control unit 11, a RAM 12, an NV-RAM 13, An operation panel control unit 14, a CPU 15, a ROM 16, a hard disk (HDD) 17, an engine control unit 18, a medium control unit 19 and the like are provided.

  The print engine 20 includes a paper transport unit, a photosensitive member, a charging unit, a light writing unit, a developing unit, a transfer unit, a charge eliminating unit, a cleaning unit, and a sheet on which a toner image is transferred. Are provided with a fixing unit and a paper discharge unit for fixing by heating and pressurizing, and a finisher 21 is connected. In the print engine 20, the optical writing unit irradiates the photosensitive member, which is uniformly charged by the charging unit and rotated at a predetermined speed, with the laser beam modulated based on the drawing data delivered from the controller 10. An electrostatic latent image is formed thereon, toner is applied to the photoreceptor by the developing unit, and the electrostatic latent image on the photoreceptor is developed to form a toner image. The print engine 20 transfers the toner image formed on the photoconductor onto the paper conveyed between the photoconductor and the transfer unit from the paper conveyance unit by the transfer unit, and completes the transfer of the toner image. The residual toner on the top is cleaned by the charge eliminating unit and the cleaning unit, and again used for image formation. The print engine 20 conveys the paper onto which the toner image has been transferred to the fixing unit, and after the toner image on the paper is fixed on the paper by the fixing unit, it is sent to the finisher 21 or discharged to the paper discharge unit. .

  The finisher 21 includes a plurality of paper discharge trays, and includes a post-processing mechanism unit such as a stapling mechanism unit that performs stapling processing on a printed sheet bundle and a punch mechanism unit that performs punching processing. Executes a sort function that performs post-processing specified for a sheet bundle on which images are printed, discharges the paper onto a paper discharge tray, and sequentially discharges a plurality of copies for each page onto a plurality of paper discharge trays. .

  The operation panel 22 includes various operation keys necessary for operating the printer Pr such as a start key, a stop key, a numeric keypad, and an image quality setting key, and also includes a display (for example, a liquid crystal display). In this case, various operations for operating the printer Pr are performed. The operation panel 22 prints on the display the contents of commands input from the operation keys and various information notified to the user from the printer Pr, in particular, the image subjected to image correction suitable for each color vision characteristic of the viewer of the present invention. Displays various information necessary for output.

  The communication control unit 11 is connected to the network NW to which the host device HS and the server SV are connected, analyzes a print job received from the server SV and the host device HS, extracts image data and viewer information, and extracts the CPU 15 Or print information such as a print result is transmitted to the host device HS or the server SV via the network NW.

  The engine control unit 18 receives drawing data that has been received by the communication control unit 11 from the server SV and subjected to necessary image processing by the CPU 15 and sends the drawing data to the engine 20 to control the engine 20 and based on the image data. Have the image printed.

  The ROM 16 performs image processing corresponding to the color vision characteristics of all the viewers based on the basic program for controlling the engine 20 of the printer Pr, the necessary system data, and the viewer information of the present invention described later. An image formation control program for executing an image formation control method to be printed by the print engine 20 and necessary data are stored, and the CPU (means) 15 uses the RAM 12 as a work memory based on the program in the ROM 16. Each part of the printer Pr is controlled to execute basic processing as the printer Pr, and to execute image formation control processing described later.

  The NV-RAM 13 is a non-volatile memory that retains stored contents even when the printer Pr is turned off. The NV-RAM 13 stores various information related to the operation of the printer Pr such as the contents of mode instructions from the operation panel 22 and the operation history. Various kinds of information necessary for the image formation control process, for example, viewer information regarding a viewer of a print document to be printed out are stored.

  The operation panel control unit 14 is connected to the operation panel 22. The operation panel 22 monitors the operation on the operation panel 22 and notifies the CPU 15 of the operation content. The operation panel control unit 14 also displays display data from the CPU 15 on the display of the operation panel 22 and controls lighting, extinction, blinking, and the like of LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) provided on the operation panel 22.

  The hard disk 17 is a large-capacity data storage medium. Under the control of the CPU 15, the hard disk 17 stores large-capacity data, particularly print data, for each print job, and stores necessary programs and other data. In particular, the hard disk 17 includes an image formation control program for performing print output by print data subjected to image processing according to the color vision characteristics of individual viewers according to the present invention, and data necessary for executing the image formation control program, In particular, for example, a printer browser address book as shown in FIG. 6 is stored. As shown in FIG. 6, in this printer browser address book, for each viewer, a user ID, color printing availability, department, and e-mail address are registered in a table format.

  A program recording medium (recording medium) 30 is detachably attached to the medium control unit 19, and the program recording medium 30 is ROM, EEPROM, EPROM, flash memory, flexible disk, CD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD, A recording medium readable by a printer Pr such as an SD card, MO, etc., which reads an image formation control program for executing the image formation control method of the present invention and introduces it into the ROM 16 or the hard disk 17, thereby enabling MICR printing to be described later. It is constructed as an image forming apparatus that executes an image forming method. The image formation control program is a computer-executable program written in a legacy programming language such as assembler, C, C ++, C #, Java (registered trademark), an object-oriented programming language, or the like. Can be stored and distributed.

  Then, the printer Pr reads the basic program and the image formation control program and introduces them into the hard disk 17 or the like, whereby a functional module as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 is constructed. That is, the printer Pr is configured with a print parameter interpretation module 41, a print data drawing module 42, a print control module 43, an image data processing module 44, etc., as shown in FIG. In the information processing, as shown in FIG. 8, in addition to the print parameter interpretation module 41, the print control module 43, and the image data processing module 44, an address book management module 45 is constructed.

  In FIG. 7, when the communication control unit 11 receives the print job from the host device HS via the communication I / F 23, the printer Pr passes the print job to the print parameter interpretation module 41, and the print parameter interpretation module 41 receives the print job. , And passes the RGB print data to the print data drawing module 42. The print data drawing module 42 converts the print data received by the print parameter interpretation module 41 into image data A which is drawing data such as CMYK suitable for the print engine 20 based on the print parameters interpreted by the print parameter interpretation module 41. The print control module 43 temporarily stores the image data A in the hard disk 17, and then passes the image data A, the print parameters, and the color vision characteristics of the viewer to the image data processing module 44. In accordance with the color vision characteristics, the image data B for each viewer having different color vision characteristics is subjected to image processing, and the image data B corresponding to the printer engine 20 is converted into an image data. Data B is passed to the engine control unit 18.

  Various methods can be used for the image processing corresponding to the color vision characteristics in the image data processing module 44, and there is no limitation as long as it is an appropriate image processing method. For example, a method of changing the brightness without changing the hue can be used, and image processing corresponding to the type of color vision characteristic may be performed.

  The engine control unit 18 controls the print engine 20 based on the image data B passed from the print control module 43 to output a print result (print document) Pb for each viewer having different color vision characteristics.

  In FIG. 8, in the printer Pr, when the print parameter interpretation module 41 acquires print parameters from the print job and stores them in the RAM 12, the print control module 43 has different color vision characteristics according to the viewer-related information. When performing image processing on the image data B for each viewer, the communication control unit 11 requests the communication control unit 11 to acquire color vision characteristics, obtains a name, and obtains registration availability, and the communication control unit 11 sets the communication I / F 23. Via the server SV, a browser related information acquisition request is made.

  When the viewer-related information is sent from the server SV, the communication control unit 11 passes the viewer-related information to the print control module 43. The print control module 43 acquires the print parameters from the RAM 12, and the viewer Along with the related information, the image data processing module 44 passes it. The image data processing module 44 performs image processing on the image data A according to the print parameters and the color vision characteristics of the viewer-related information, and passes the processed image data B to the print control module.

  The print controller module 43 passes the image data B image-processed by the image data processing module 44 to the engine controller 18 together with the print parameters, and the engine controller 18 controls the print engine 20 so that the image data B and An image corresponding to the print parameter is printed on paper, and a print document (print result) Pb is output.

  In addition, the term regarding the color vision characteristic used in the present embodiment conforms to the color vision classification term of the Color Universal Design Organization (color universal design organization), and the print result (print document) Pb suitable for the color vision characteristic is: Colors that cannot be judged by color vision characteristics (for example, red and green colors in the P-type and D-type) are changed (corrected) by changing parameters related to colors such as hue, saturation, and brightness, so that they can be distinguished even by people with weak colors. The converted print result shall be said. According to the Color Universal Design Mechanism, human color vision characteristics include C-type, P-type (Protanope), D-type (Deuteranope), T-type (Tritanope), and A-type (Achromat). It has become.

  C type: color vision (general type) of a person who has all three types of cones (L cone, M cone, S cone).

  P-type: Color vision of a person who does not have an L cone that mainly feels red light (P-type intensity) and a person who has a similar spectral sensitivity to the M cone by shifting the spectral sensitivity of the L cone (P-type weakness).

  D type: Color vision of a person who does not have an M cone that mainly feels green light (D type intensity) and a person who has a similar resemblance to an L cone due to a shift in spectral sensitivity of the M cone (D type weakness).

  T-type: Color vision of people without S cones that mainly feel blue light.

  Type A: Color vision of a person who has only one of the three types of cones, a person who has no cones and has only a rod, that is, a person who can feel the color only in light and dark.

  Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. The image forming system 1 according to the present exemplary embodiment transmits a print job to which the viewer information for specifying the viewer of the print document that is the print result is added from the host device HS to the printer Pr. After performing image processing corresponding to the color vision characteristics on the print data of the print job, a print document is output.

  The image forming system 1 of this embodiment needs to know the color vision characteristic information of the viewer designated by the host device HS at least in the printing stage by the printer Pr. However, the viewer information, particularly the color vision identification information, is confidential information and requires careful handling.

  Therefore, in the image forming system 1 of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, in the image forming system 1, the server viewer address book, which is the viewer information including the color vision characteristic information of the viewer, is stored in the hard disk or the like. A personal information management table is stored for each viewer information item to store whether or not registration of visual characteristic information in the host device HS or the printer Pr is permitted, and stored in the memory. Print output according to the characteristics is made possible, and management of the color vision characteristics of the viewer is made appropriate. The image forming system 1 basically manages the viewer information using the server viewer address book of the server SV and the personal information management table, and the browser information acquisition request is from the host device HS or the printer Pr. Among the registration information in the server browser address book, the information permitted by the management information in the personal information management table is provided to the host device HS and the printer Pr, and the registration in the host device HS and the printer Pr is permitted. In addition, it is permitted to be subjected to printing processing by the printer Pr.

  First, a browser acquisition process for acquiring browser information from the host device HS to the server SV will be described with reference to FIG. When the host image forming program is activated and there is a viewer information acquisition request such as a name acquisition request, the host device HS performs full browsing with respect to the server SV via the network NW as shown in FIG. Requesting the acquisition of the name of the user (hereinafter referred to as the user as appropriate) (step S101), firstly, the registration information on the address book is acquired (step S102), and registration to the address book is possible. Is checked (step S103).

  When the registration of the viewer information in the address book is not permitted in step S103, the host device HS acquires the viewer information from the server SV as described later. When used to generate the specified print job, the acquired browser information is deleted without registering it in the host reader address book such as a hard disk.

  When the host device HS is permitted to register the viewer information in the address book in step S103, the host device HS browses user information (names such as departments and e-mails) of all viewers transmitted from the server SV. -If there is a mail address, this information is also included) (step S104), and the obtained viewer information is registered in the host reader address book such as a hard disk to generate a print job specifying the viewer (Step S105).

  Then, as shown in FIG. 10, when the print server image forming program receives a request for acquiring the names of all viewers as a browser acquisition request from the host device HS (step S201), the server SV performs a personal information management table. (Step S202), registration permission / prohibition information in the host browser address book (host viewer address book) of the host device HS is acquired (step S203). The server SV sends (notifies) the registration availability information acquired from the personal information management table to the host device HS that has made a browser acquisition request (step S204), and the registration availability information to the address book. Is registered (step S205).

  If registration in the address book is permitted in step S205, the server SV reads only the user ID, name, etc. other than the visual characteristic information from the viewer information in the server reader address book, and reads the host device HS. Or the transmission of the browser information from the browser address book for servers is stopped and the process is terminated.

  If registration in the address book is permitted in step S205, the browser information such as the names of all viewers is acquired from the server reader address book (step S206), and the host that has made a browser acquisition request The browser information of all viewers is transmitted (notified) to the device HS, and the process is terminated (step S207).

  Further, as shown in FIG. 11, the printer Pr makes a request in advance for acquiring color printability of all viewers (hereinafter referred to as “users” as appropriate) to the server SV via the network NW ( In step S301), registration permission / prohibition information in the address book is acquired from the server SV (step S302), and it is checked whether registration in the address book is possible (step S303).

  In step S303, if registration to the address book is not permitted, the printer Pr does not transmit the viewer information from the server SV, and thus ends the process.

  If registration of the browser information in the address book is permitted in step S303, the browser information such as user IDs and names of all viewers transmitted from the server SV (there are departments and e-mail addresses). (Including these information) and color printing propriety information (step S304), and registering the viewer information including the acquired color printing propriety information in the browser address book for printers such as a hard disk. It is used for generation of image data B corresponding to visual characteristics and print output based on the image data B (step S305).

  Then, as shown in FIG. 12, the server SV receives an acquisition request for whether or not color printing is possible for all viewers, which is an acquisition request for whether or not color printing is possible for all viewers from the printer Pr. In step S401, referring to the personal information management table (step S402), registration permission information on the printer Pr in the printer viewer address book is acquired (step S403). The server SV transmits (notifies) the registration availability information of the color printing availability information to the address book acquired from the personal information management table to the printer Pr that has made the browser acquisition request (step S404), and sends it to the address book. It is checked whether registration information on whether or not color printing is possible can be registered (step S405).

  If registration to the address book is permitted in step S405, the server SV ends the process without notifying the viewer information.

  If registration to the address book is permitted in step S405, the server SV acquires information (viewer information) including the user IDs of all the viewers and color printability information from the browser address book for servers ( In step S206), the browser information of all the viewers is transmitted (notified) to the printer Pr that has made the browser acquisition request, and the process is terminated (step S407).

  When the host device HS receives a print request for a document created by an application or received from the outside in a state where the viewer information is registered in the host viewer address book as described above, a plurality of requests are generated. A print job specifying a person or one viewer is generated and transmitted to the printer Pr.

  That is, in the host device HS, when a print request is generated, the host image forming program picks up information of all the viewers registered in the host viewer address book (step S501), and displays a list of all the viewers. A viewer selection screen is displayed on the display, and a viewer of the print document can be selected (step S502). At this time, the host device HS displays only information (for example, name, department, e-mail address, etc.) necessary for selecting as a print document viewer among the viewer information, and requires confidentiality. Information to be performed (for example, user ID) is not displayed.

  When the viewer of the print document is selected on the viewer selection screen using an input device such as a keyboard or a mouse (step S503), the host device HS deletes the display of the viewer selection screen from the display (step S503). S504), the selected viewer information (selected viewer information) is stored in the RAM or the like (step S505). This selected viewer information is an aggregate of user IDs of one or a plurality of viewers as the minimum information that can identify the viewer of the print document.

  Thereafter, when an instruction to start printing is given by the input device (step S506), creation of a print job is started (step S507). After the designated document data is converted into print data, the selected viewer is selected as the print data. Information is added (step S508), and as shown in FIG. 14, a print job including a print job start command, a print parameter portion, print data, and a print job end command is generated (step S509). The print parameter portion of the print job stores print parameters such as a paper feed destination, a paper discharge destination, and the number of copies. The selected viewer information is added to the print parameter portion.

  When completing the generation of the print job, the host apparatus HS transmits the generated print job to the printer Pr via the network NW (step S510).

  Then, as shown in FIGS. 15 and 16, the printer Pr performs image processing according to the color vision characteristics of individual viewers based on the print job transmitted from the host device HS, and then prints out an image to be printed out. A formation control process is performed. That is, in the printer Pr, when the communication control unit 11 receives a print job (step S601), the print parameter interpretation module 41 selects the selected viewer information added to the print parameter portion of the print job, as shown in FIG. (Step S602), and the selected viewer information is stored in the RAM 12 (step S603).

  Next, in the printer Pr, the print parameter interpretation module 41 acquires the print data from the print job and passes it to the print data drawing module 42, and the print data drawing module 42 creates the image data A from the print data (step S604). The image data A is stored in the hard disk 16 through the print control module 43 (step S605).

  In the printer Pr, the print control module 43 acquires the viewer information from the RAM 12 (step S606), calculates the number N of viewers specified in the print job (step S607), and the number of processed viewers Is set to "1", and the counter value for counting the number of printed copies is set to "0" (n = 1, 2, 3,..., N) In step S608), as shown in FIG. 16, it is checked whether the number of print completed copies has reached the number N of viewers (step S609).

  In step S609 of FIG. 16, when the number of copies completed is not equal to the number N of viewers, the print control module 43 sends the color vision characteristics of the viewer n to the address book management unit 45 from the printer reader address book on the hard disk 12. The address book management unit 45 obtains the color vision characteristic of the viewer n designated from the printer viewer address book and passes it to the print control module 43 (step S610). When the color vision characteristic of the viewer n is not registered in the printer viewer address book and the address book management unit 45 cannot acquire the color vision characteristic of the viewer n, the print control module 43 is a server as described later. The color vision characteristic of the viewer n is acquired from the SV.

  When acquiring the color vision characteristic of the viewer n, the print control module 43 checks whether the color vision characteristic of the viewer n is C type (general color vision person) (step S611). The processed image data A is transferred to the image data processing module 44, and the image data processing module 44 converts the image data A into image data B suitable for printing by the print engine 20 (for example, RGB image data A is converted into CMYK image data). (Converted into data B) (step S612), and viewer information such as the name of the viewer n is added to the header of the converted image data B (step S614). Note that the processing for adding the viewer information such as the name of the viewer n to the header of the image data B may be performed by the print control module 43 or the image data processing module 44.

  When the visual characteristic of the viewer n is not the C type in step S611, the print control module 43 passes the visual characteristics of the image data A and the viewer n to the image data processing module 44, and the viewer n is transferred to the image data processing module 44. After image complementation suitable for the visual characteristics of image data A is performed on the image data A (step S613), the image data B is converted into image data B suitable for printing by the print engine 20 (step S612), and the converted image is displayed. Viewer information such as the name of the viewer n is added to the header of the data B (step S614).

  The print control module 43 sends the image data B to which the viewer information such as the name of the viewer n is added and the print parameters to the printer engine 20 via the engine control unit 18 (step S615). The image of the image data B is printed out (step S616). Note that it is not always necessary to add the viewer information to the image data B. For example, the viewer information in the printer browser address book or the server viewer address book of the server SV is added to each viewer. Whether or not to add the browser information (name etc.) to the image data B is registered in advance, and whether or not to add the viewer information to the image data B according to this addition information. You may make it control.

  Then, when the viewer information is not added, the print control module 43 passes the image data B before the addition and the print parameters to the engine control unit 18.

  When printing of the print data B of the viewer n is performed, the print control module 43 increments (adds) the print completion number of copies and the count value of the viewer number counter n by “1” (step S617), and step S609. Returning to step S609, the same process as described above is performed from the check whether the number of copies completed has reached the number of viewers N (steps S609 to 617).

  The processing in steps S609 to S617 is repeated to generate image data B for all viewers. When the print processing is performed and the number of copies completed is N in step S609, the browsing stored in the RAM 12 is performed. The user information is deleted (step S619), the image data A stored in the hard disk 17 is deleted, and the process ends (step S619).

  In step S610 of FIG. 16, the visual characteristic information of the viewer n is not registered in the printer reader address book of the hard disk 12, and the address book management unit 45 cannot acquire the visual characteristic of the viewer n. When the print control module 43 receives the color vision characteristic, the print control module 43 performs a color vision characteristic acquisition request process on the server SV as shown in FIG.

  In other words, the print control module 43 requests the address book management unit 45 to acquire the color vision characteristics of the viewer n from the browser address book for printers on the hard disk 12 (step S701), and the address book management unit 45 uses the printer for the printer. It is checked whether or not the color vision characteristic of the viewer n can be acquired from the browser address book (step S702). In step S702, when the visual characteristics of the viewer n can be acquired from the printer reader address book, the visual characteristics acquisition request process is terminated, and the image formation control process shown in FIG. 16 is performed. In step S702, when the visual characteristic of the viewer n cannot be acquired from the printer reader address book, the print control module 43 requests the viewer n to acquire the visual characteristic (specify the viewer ID) via the communication control unit 11. When the communication control unit 11 receives the viewer information including the color vision characteristic of the viewer n transmitted from the server SV (step S703), the communication control unit 11 receives the color vision from the viewer information. A characteristic is acquired (step S704). Next, the print control module 43 acquires registration permission / inhibition information from the viewer information (step S705), and checks whether registration of the viewer information of the viewer n in the printer browser address book of the printer Pr is permitted. (Step S706).

  When the registration is not permitted in step S706, the print control module 43 deletes the information from the RAM 12 after using the viewer information of the viewer n, particularly the color vision characteristics, in the image formation control process.

  If registration is permitted in step S706, the print control module 43 uses the viewer information of the viewer n, in particular, the color vision characteristics in the image formation control process, and the browsing including the color vision characteristics of the viewer n. The person information is registered in the browser address book for printers in the RAM 12, and the color vision characteristic acquisition process is terminated (step S707).

  Then, as described above, when there is a color vision characteristic acquisition request of the viewer n from the printer Pr, the server SV performs a viewer information transmission process as shown in FIG. That is, when the server SV receives a color vision characteristic acquisition request from the printer Pr (step S801), the server SV checks whether a viewer ID is specified in the color vision characteristic acquisition request (step S802). Then, a notification indicating that the visual characteristic acquisition request is inappropriate (NG notification) is returned to the printer Pr that has made the color vision characteristic acquisition request, and the process ends (step S803).

  When the viewer ID is designated in step S802, the server SV searches the server browser address book by the browser ID (step S804), and succeeds in obtaining the color vision characteristics from the server browser address book. Is checked (step S805).

  In step S805, the server SV has made a color vision characteristic acquisition request if it fails to acquire color vision characteristics due to reasons such as the fact that the viewer information of the designated browser ID is not registered in the server browser address book. A notification that the visual characteristic acquisition request is NG is returned to the printer Pr, and the process ends (step S803).

  When the server SV succeeds in acquiring the color vision characteristic in step S805, the server SV transmits the acquired color vision characteristic to the printer Pr that has made the color vision characteristic acquisition request (step S806), and searches the personal information management table. In step S807, the information on registration / non-registration of the printer Pr of the color vision characteristic in the printer viewer address book is acquired. When the server SV acquires the color vision characteristic registration availability information, the server SV transmits the color vision characteristic registration availability information to the printer Pr that has made the color vision characteristics acquisition request, and ends the processing (step S808).

  In addition, when adding the viewer name to the header of the image data B in step S614 of FIG. 16, the printer Pr cannot obtain the viewer name from the printer viewer address book in FIG. As shown, a name is acquired by making a color vision characteristic acquisition request to the server SV in order to acquire the name.

  That is, the print control module 43 of the printer Pr checks whether or not the name is printed on the header of the print document in the image formation control process (step S901), and does not need to perform the name acquisition process when printing is not performed. The name acquisition process is terminated as it is. Information for determining whether or not to print the name on the header of the print document (name print necessity information) is added from the host device HS to the print parameter, and the name print necessity information of the print parameter is displayed. The print control module 43 may determine whether or not the name printing is necessary, or the name printing necessity information set and inputted in advance by the key operation or the like of the operation panel 22 of the printer Pr is stored in the NV-RAM 13 or the like. The print control module 43 may acquire and determine the name print necessity information of the NV-RAM.

  When printing the name in the header in step S901, the print control module 43 requests the address book management module 45 to obtain the name of the viewer n from the printer reader address book on the hard disk 17 (step S902). It is checked whether the name of the viewer n has been successfully acquired from the printer browser address book (step S903).

  If the print control module 43 succeeds in acquiring the name of the viewer n from the printer reader address book in step S903, the print control module 43 adds the name of the viewer n to the header of the image data B, and ends the process (step S903). S904).

  If the print control module 43 fails to acquire the name of the viewer n from the reader address book for printers in step S903, the print control module 43 issues a request for acquiring the color vision characteristic of the viewer n ((visual characteristic request specifying the viewer ID)). When the communication control unit 11 receives the viewer information including the color vision characteristics of the viewer n transmitted from the server SV (step S906), the name is obtained from the viewer information (step S906). Next, the print control module 43 acquires registration permission / inhibition information from the viewer information (step S907), and permits the registration of the viewer information of the viewer n, particularly the name, with respect to the printer browser address book of the printer Pr. It is checked whether it has been done (step S908).

  When the registration of the name is not permitted in step S908, the print control module 43 adds the name of the viewer n to the header of the image data B in the image formation control process. Is deleted (step S904).

  If the registration of the name is permitted in step S908, the print control module 43 adds the name of the viewer n to the header of the image data B in the image formation control process, and also includes the name of the viewer n. The user information is registered in the printer browser address book of the RAM 12, and the browser name acquisition process is terminated (step S909).

  Then, as described above, when there is a color vision characteristic acquisition request (name acquisition request) for acquiring the name of the viewer n from the printer Pr, the server SV performs a viewer information transmission process as shown in FIG. Do. That is, when the server SV receives a name acquisition request from the printer Pr (step S1001), the server SV checks whether or not a browser ID is specified in the name acquisition request (step S1002). A notification indicating that it is inappropriate for the acquisition request (NG notification) is returned to the printer Pr that has made the name acquisition request, and the process ends (step S1003).

  When the browser ID is designated in step S1002, the server SV searches the server browser address book by the browser ID (step S1004), and whether the name has been successfully acquired from the server browser address book. A check is made (step S1005).

  In step S1005, if the server SV fails to acquire the name because the browser information of the specified browser ID is not registered in the server browser address book, the printer Pr that has made the name acquisition request. A notification that the name acquisition request is NG is returned to the process, and the process is terminated (step S1003).

  When the server SV succeeds in acquiring the name in step S1005, the server SV transmits the acquired name to the printer Pr that has made the name acquisition request (step S1006), searches the personal information management table, and searches for the name. Information on whether or not the printer Pr can be registered in the printer browser address book is acquired (step S1007). When the server SV acquires the registration information on the name, the server SV transmits the registration information on the name to the address book to the printer Pr that has made the name acquisition request, and ends the processing (step S1008).

  As described above, the image forming system 1 according to the present exemplary embodiment is configured so that the printer Pr includes the print data including the document print data and the visitor identification information that identifies all the viewers who view the print document printed by the print data. When the image data A obtained from the print data is subjected to image processing according to color vision characteristics to generate image data B which is image data for printing, the print job acquired by the communication control unit 11 is processed. The printer browser address book for the printer of the hard disk 17 in which the viewer information including the color vision characteristics of the viewer is registered for each viewer based on the browser ID that is the viewer identification information. The color vision characteristics of all the viewers corresponding to the viewer ID are acquired from the image data A according to the visual characteristics corresponding to the viewers for the image data A obtained from the print job. Generating image data B subjected to image processing, and print out the print document based on image data B in the printer engine 20.

  Accordingly, the image data can be printed out after image processing corresponding to the color vision characteristics of all the viewers viewing the print document printed out based on the image data, and the visual A print document corresponding to the characteristics can be printed out.

  Further, in the image forming system 1 of the present embodiment, a host device, a server SV, and a printer Pr are connected to a network NW, and the server SV identifies a viewer ID for each viewer of a print document and the browsing. Information stored in the server browser address book in response to a browser acquisition request from the host device or the printer Pr. Is transmitted to the host device or printer Pr that has made the browser acquisition request. In addition, the host device HS has a host reader address book in which viewer information including at least a viewer ID for identifying the viewer is registered for each viewer of the printed document, and the server SV stores the viewer information. All browsing that makes an acquisition request, registers the browsing information transmitted from the server SV in response to the browsing information acquisition request in the browsing address book for the host, and browses the printed document printed by the print data The browser ID of the reader is acquired from the host reader address book, and a print job in which the viewer ID is added to the print data of the document is generated and transmitted to the printer Pr. The printer Pr has a printer reader address book in which the viewer information including the color vision characteristics of the viewer is registered for each viewer, and the browser SV acquires the viewer information. Make a request, register the browser information transmitted from the server SV in response to the browser information acquisition request in the printer browser address book, and print data and the browser ID transmitted from the host device HS And print the color vision characteristics of all viewers corresponding to the viewer ID from the printer reader address book based on the acquired browser ID of the print job. The image data A obtained from the job is subjected to image processing corresponding to the visual characteristics as much as the viewer to generate image data B (image data for printing). A print document is printed out in the gin 20.

  Accordingly, the image data can be printed out after image processing corresponding to the color vision characteristics of all the viewers viewing the print document printed out based on the image data, and the visual A print document corresponding to the characteristics can be printed out.

  Further, in the image forming system 1 of the present embodiment, the printer Pr stores the name of the viewer as the viewer information for each viewer in the printer viewer address book of the hard disk 17, and the print control module 43 includes: The name of the viewer is acquired from the printer viewer address book, and the image data processing module 44 adds the name to the image data B.

  Therefore, it is possible to know which printed document is for which viewer, which can improve convenience when distributing the printed document, and can provide a printed document suitable for the color vision characteristics of the viewer. Can be distributed.

  In the image forming system 1 of the present embodiment, the printer Pr stores color management characteristics and names in the server browser address book (management viewer information) in association with the viewer ID via the network NW and manages them. If the print control module 43 fails to acquire from the color vision characteristics of the viewer corresponding to the viewer ID of the print job or the name from the printer reader address book for the printer, the server SV From the above, the color vision characteristic and name of the viewer corresponding to the viewer ID are acquired. Then, the image forming system 1 causes the image data processing module 44 to perform image processing according to the acquired color vision characteristics, and adds the acquired name to the image data B.

  Therefore, even when the color vision characteristic or name is not registered in the printer browser address book of the printer Pr for personal information protection or the like, a print document obtained from the server SV and suitable for the color vision characteristic of the browser is printed out. In addition, the name can be printed on the print document, and the convenience and appropriateness in distribution can be ensured.

  Furthermore, in the image forming system 1 of the present embodiment, the server SV registers the viewer information of the server viewer address book in the host browser address book of the host device HS and the printer browser address book of the printer Pr. Information registration enable / disable information is registered for each host device HS and printer Pr, and in response to a browser information acquisition request, information registration enable / disable information in the personal information management table is provided. The viewer information transmission control is performed based on the information, and information registration propriety information for the viewer information to be transmitted is transmitted. When the host device HS and the printer Pr receive the viewer information and the information registration availability information that cannot be registered from the server SV, the host information HS and the printer browser address book of the viewer information are sent to the host device HS and the printer Pr. When the use of the viewer information is completed, the viewer information is deleted.

  Accordingly, it is possible to prevent leakage of the personal information of the viewer, particularly information relating to visual characteristics, and it is possible to appropriately perform print output corresponding to the visual characteristics while protecting the personal information.

  Also, in the image forming system 1 of the present embodiment, the server SV has information registration availability information registered in the personal information management table for each information item of the viewer information. Based on information registration availability information for each information item, transmission control of browser information and selection control of a viewer information item to be transmitted are performed, and information registration availability information for each of the viewer information items to be transmitted is transmitted.

  Accordingly, leakage of the personal information of the viewer can be finely prevented, and print output corresponding to the visual characteristics more appropriately can be appropriately performed while protecting the personal information more appropriately.

  Although the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described based on the preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited to that described in the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. It goes without saying that it is possible.

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a printer apparatus, a composite apparatus, and a copying apparatus, an image forming system, and an image forming method for generating a printed document that has undergone image processing in accordance with the color vision characteristics of individual viewers viewing the printed document. It can be used for an image forming program and a recording medium.

1 Image Forming System NW Network Pr Printer SV Server HS Host Device 10 Controller 11 Communication Control Unit 12 RAM
13 NV-RAM
14 Operation panel controller 15 CPU
16 ROM
17 Hard disk (HDD)
18 Engine control unit 19 Medium control unit 20 Main engine 21 Finisher 22 Operation panel 23 Communication I / F
30 Program recording medium 41 Print parameter interpretation module 42 Print data drawing module 43 Print control module 44 Image data processing module 45 Address book management module

JP 2005-4664 A

Claims (13)

Print job acquisition means for acquiring a print job including print data of a document and browser identification information for identifying all viewers who browse a print document printed by the print data;
Browser information storage means for registering browser information including the color vision characteristics of the viewer in correspondence with the viewer identification information for each viewer;
Print image generation processing means for generating image data for printing by performing image processing according to color vision characteristics on image data obtained from the print data;
Printing means for printing out a print document based on the print image data;
Based on the viewer identification information of the print job acquired by the print job acquisition unit, the color vision characteristics of all the viewers corresponding to the viewer identification information are acquired from the viewer information storage unit, and the printing The image data obtained from the job is subjected to image processing corresponding to the visual characteristics by the viewer for the print image generation processing means to generate print image data, and based on the print image data Control means for causing the printing means to print out a print document;
An image forming apparatus comprising: In the viewer information storage means, the name of the viewer is registered as the viewer information for each viewer,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit acquires the name from the viewer information storage unit, and causes the print image generation processing unit to add the name to the print image data. . The image forming apparatus is connected to a management device that stores and manages color vision characteristics or / and names as management viewer information in a management viewer information storage unit corresponding to the viewer identification information through a predetermined communication line. And
When the control unit fails to acquire the color vision characteristics or / and name of the viewer corresponding to the viewer specifying information of the print job acquired by the print job acquisition unit from the viewer information storage unit, the management unit Acquires the color vision characteristics or / and name of the viewer corresponding to the viewer identification information from the apparatus, and causes the print image generation processing means to perform or perform image processing according to the acquired color vision characteristics. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the name is added to the image data for printing. In an image forming system in which an information processing device, a management device, and an image forming device are connected to a network,
The management device
Management-side viewer information storage means for storing viewer-specific information for identifying the viewer for each viewer of the printed document and viewer information including the color vision characteristics of the viewer;
In response to a browser information acquisition request from the information processing apparatus or / and the image forming apparatus, the information that has made the browser acquisition request for the browser information stored in the management-side browser information storage means Browser information providing means for transmitting to the processing device or / and the image forming device;
With
The information processing apparatus includes:
A requesting viewer information storage means for registering viewer information including at least viewer specifying information for each viewer of a printed document;
Browser information acquisition means for making a browser information acquisition request to the management apparatus and registering the browser information transmitted from the management apparatus in response to the browser information acquisition request in the requesting browser information storage means When,
A print job in which the viewer identification information of all viewers who browse the print document printed by the print data is acquired from the requesting viewer information storage unit and the viewer identification information is added to the print data of the document Print requesting means for generating and transmitting to the image forming apparatus;
With
The image forming apparatus includes:
Print job acquisition means for acquiring the print job including the print data transmitted from the information processing apparatus and the viewer identification information;
Image forming side viewer information storage means for registering the viewer information including the color vision characteristics of the viewer in correspondence with the viewer identification information for each viewer;
Obtain browser information from the management device in response to the browser information acquisition request and register the browser information transmitted from the management device in the image forming side viewer information storage means. Means,
Print image generation processing means for generating image data for printing by performing image processing according to color vision characteristics on image data obtained from the print data;
Printing means for printing out a print document based on the image data;
Based on the viewer identification information of the print job acquired by the print job acquisition unit, the color vision characteristics of all the viewers corresponding to the viewer identification information are acquired from the image forming side viewer information storage unit. The print image generation processing unit performs image processing corresponding to the visual characteristics on the image data obtained from the print job so as to generate print image data. Control means for causing the printing means to print out a print document based on the data;
An image forming system comprising:   The control unit of the image forming apparatus acquires the name of the viewer included in the viewer information from the image forming side viewer information storage unit, and inputs the name to the print image generation processing unit. 6. The image forming system according to claim 5, wherein the image forming system is added to image data for printing.   The control unit of the image forming apparatus includes a color vision characteristic of a viewer corresponding to the viewer specifying information of the print job acquired by the print job acquisition unit, and / or an image forming side viewer information storage unit of a name. If the acquisition fails, the browser information acquisition unit acquires the color vision characteristic or / and name of the viewer corresponding to the viewer identification information from the management device, and the print image generation processing unit causes the browser information to be acquired. 7. The image formation according to claim 5, wherein the image processing is performed according to the color vision characteristic acquired by the acquisition unit, and / or the acquired name is added to the image data for printing. system. The management device
Whether to permit registration of the viewer information in the management-side viewer information storage means in the request-side viewer information storage means in the information processing apparatus and the image forming-side viewer information storage means in the image forming apparatus Management information storage means for registering the information registration availability information for each of the information processing apparatus and the image forming apparatus,
The browser information providing means performs transmission control of the browser information based on information registration availability information of the management information storage means in response to the browser information acquisition request, and information registration availability for the browser information to be transmitted Send information,
When the viewer information and the information registration availability information that cannot be registered are transmitted from the management device, the information processing device and the image forming device receive the requester viewer information storage unit and the image formation of the viewer information. The registration in the side viewer information storage means is not permitted, and the viewer information is deleted when the use of the viewer information is completed. Image forming system. The management information storage means, the information registration availability information is registered for each information item of the viewer information,
The browsing information providing means performs transmission control of the browsing information and selection control of browsing information items to be transmitted based on information registration availability information of the management information storage means in response to the browsing information acquisition request. 9. The image forming system according to claim 8, wherein information registration propriety information for each viewer information item to be transmitted is transmitted. A print job acquisition processing step for acquiring a print job including print data of a document and browser identification information for identifying all viewers who browse a print document printed by the print data;
A print image generation processing step for generating image data for printing by performing image processing according to color vision characteristics on image data obtained from the print data;
A print processing step of printing out a print document based on the print image data;
Based on the viewer identification information of the print job acquired in the print job acquisition processing step, the viewer information including the color vision characteristics of the viewer is registered for each viewer corresponding to the viewer identification information. The color vision characteristics of all the viewers corresponding to the viewer specific information are acquired from the viewer information storage means, and the visual characteristics corresponding to the viewers are obtained for the image data obtained from the print job. A control processing step for generating image data for printing by performing image processing in the printing image generation processing processing step, and printing out a print document in the printing processing step based on the printing image data;
An image forming method characterized by comprising: An image forming method in an image forming system in which an information processing device, a management device, and an image forming device are connected to a network,
The management device
A browser information storage processing step for storing, in the management-side browser information storage means, browser identification information that identifies the viewer for each viewer of the printed document and the viewer's color vision characteristics;
In response to a browser acquisition request from the information processing apparatus or / and the image forming apparatus, the information processing that has performed the browser acquisition request for browser information stored in the management-side browser information storage means Viewer information provision processing step to be transmitted to the apparatus or / and the image forming apparatus;
Have
The information processing apparatus includes:
A request for browsing information is sent to the management device, and the browser information including the browser identification information that identifies at least the viewer transmitted from the management device in response to the browser information acquisition request Viewer information acquisition processing step registered in the user information storage means;
A print job in which the viewer identification information of all viewers who browse the print document printed by the print data is acquired from the requesting viewer information storage unit and the viewer identification information is added to the print data of the document Print request processing step for generating and transmitting to the image forming apparatus;
Have
The image forming apparatus includes:
A print job acquisition processing step for acquiring the print job including the print data transmitted from the information processing apparatus and the viewer identification information;
A browser information acquisition request is sent to the management device, and the viewer information including the color vision characteristics of the viewer transmitted from the management device in response to the browser information acquisition request is specified for each viewer. A viewer information acquisition processing step for registering in the image forming side viewer information storage means corresponding to the information;
A print image generation processing step of generating image data for printing by performing image processing according to color vision characteristics on the image data obtained from the print data;
A print processing step of printing out a print document based on the print image data;
Based on the viewer identification information of the print job acquired in the print job acquisition processing step, the color vision characteristics of all viewers corresponding to the viewer identification information are acquired from the image forming side viewer information storage means. Then, the image data obtained from the print job is subjected to image processing according to the visual characteristics in the print image generation processing step by the amount corresponding to the viewer to generate print image data, and the print data is generated. A control processing step for printing out a print document in the print processing step based on the image data for use;
An image forming method characterized by comprising: On the computer,
Print job acquisition processing for acquiring a print job including print data of a document and viewer specifying information for specifying all viewers browsing the print document printed by the print data;
Print image generation processing for generating image data for printing by performing image processing according to color vision characteristics on image data obtained from print data;
Print processing for printing out a print document based on the print image data;
Based on the viewer identification information of the print job acquired in the print job acquisition process, the viewer information including the color vision characteristics of the viewer is registered for each viewer corresponding to the viewer identification information. The color vision characteristics of all the viewers corresponding to the viewer specific information are acquired from the viewer information storage means, and the visual characteristics corresponding to the viewers are obtained for the image data obtained from the print job. A control process for performing image processing in the print image generation process to generate image data for printing, and printing out a print document in the print process based on the print image data;
An image forming program for executing An image forming program executed in an image forming system in which an information processing apparatus, a management apparatus, and an image forming apparatus are connected to a network,
In the computer of the management device,
Browser information storage processing for storing, in the management-side viewer information storage means, browser identification information that identifies the viewer for each viewer of the printed document and the viewer's color vision characteristics;
In response to a browser acquisition request from the information processing apparatus or / and the image forming apparatus, the information processing that has performed the browser acquisition request for browser information stored in the management-side browser information storage means Browser information providing processing to be transmitted to the apparatus or / and the image forming apparatus;
And execute
In the computer of the information processing apparatus,
A request for browsing information is sent to the management device, and the browser information including the browser identification information that identifies at least the viewer transmitted from the management device in response to the browser information acquisition request Browser information acquisition processing to be registered in the user information storage means;
A print job in which the viewer identification information of all viewers who browse the printed document printed by the print data is acquired from the requesting viewer information storage unit and the viewer identification information is added to the print data of the document. Print request processing for generating and transmitting to the image forming apparatus;
And execute
In the computer of the image forming apparatus,
A print job acquisition process for acquiring the print job including the print data transmitted from the information processing apparatus and the viewer identification information;
A browser information acquisition request is sent to the management device, and the viewer information including the color vision characteristics of the viewer transmitted from the management device in response to the browser information acquisition request is specified for each viewer. Browser information acquisition processing to be registered in the image forming side viewer information storage means corresponding to the information,
Print image generation processing for generating image data for printing by performing image processing according to color vision characteristics on image data obtained from the print data;
Print processing for printing out a print document based on the print image data;
Based on the viewer identification information of the print job acquired in the print job acquisition process, the color vision characteristics of all viewers corresponding to the viewer identification information are acquired from the image forming side viewer information storage unit. Then, the image data obtained from the print job is subjected to processing corresponding to the visual characteristics by the viewer in the print image generation processing to generate print image data, and the print image data Control processing for printing out a print document in the print processing based on
An image forming program for executing   12. A computer-readable recording medium on which the image forming program according to claim 10 or 11 is recorded.

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