Print control apparatus, print control method, and program therefor

• US 9,485,376 B2
• Filed: 10/29/2014
• Issued: 11/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Tsuchitoi, Naoki
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Madelein
• Application Number:
  US14/526,979
• Publication Number:
  US 20150055150A1
• Time in Patent Office: 734 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 21/04 Preventing copies being made of an original
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 2215/00932 Security copies
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 15/18 Conditioning data for presenting it to the physical printing elements for data conditioning specific to a type of printer see subgroups G06K15/028 - G06K15/14; print job translation or parsing G06F3/1244
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00846 based on detection of a dedicated indication, e.g. marks or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00848 by detecting a particular original
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00859 Issuing an alarm or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00875 Inhibiting reproduction, e.g. by disabling reading or reproduction apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32133 on the same paper sheet, e.g. a facsimile page header
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0091 Digital copier; digital 'photocopier' H04N2201/0093 and H04N2201/0094 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/323 for tracing or tracking, e.g. forensic tracing of unauthorized copies
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3269 of machine readable codes or marks, e.g. bar codes or glyphs

Abstract

Conventionally, during a copy operation, certain advanced mode settings make the extraction of additional security information impossible. In order to solve this problem, the print control apparatus includes: determining unit for determining an interval between a pattern element and a pattern element adjacent to the pattern element from the received image data; and control unit for performing a control so as to scale the image at a magnification specified by a user and have the scaled image printed by a printing apparatus when the product of the magnification specified by the user and the interval determined by the determining unit falls within a predetermined range, and configured to terminate or interrupt the printing of the image by the printing apparatus when the product of the magnification specified by the user and the interval determined by the determining unit does not fall within the predetermined range.

Claims

1. A copier comprising:

a setting unit configured to set a copy ratio;

a scanning unit configured to scan a document to obtain an image of the scanned document after a copy ratio has been set;

an extracting unit configured to extract, in a case where the image includes a code, information from the code;

a requiring unit configured to require, after the information has been extracted, a user to input a password in a case where the extracted information indicates that a password is required;

a determining unit configured to determine whether a password input by the user according to the requirement is a correct password based on the extracted information;

a printing unit; and

a controlling unit configured to control the printing unit not to print the image, whenever information is extracted from the code and the set copy ratio is not 1, and

configured to control the printing unit to print the image, in a case where the input password is determined to be a correct password and the set copy ratio is 1.

2. The copier according to claim 1, wherein

the controlling unit is configured to control the printing unit not to print the image, in a case where the input password is determined not to be a correct password and the set copy ratio is 1.

3. The copier according to claim 1, wherein the copy ratio is a ratio of a size of a document to be obtained by printing an image of the scanned document to the size of the scanned document.

4. The copier according to claim 1, wherein the code is a two-dimensional code.

5. A copier comprising:

a setting unit configured to set a copy ratio;

a scanning unit configured to scan a document to obtain an image of the scanned document after a copy ratio has been set;

a detecting unit configured to detect a code from the image;

an extracting unit configured to extract information from the detected code;

a requiring unit configured to require, after the information has been extracted, a user to input a password in a case where the extracted information indicates that a password is required;

a determining unit configured to determine whether a password input by the user according to the requirement is a correct password based on the extracted information;

a printing unit; and

a controlling unit configured to control the printing unit not to print the image, whenever a code is detected and the set copy ratio is not 1, and

configured to control the printing unit to print the image, in a case where the input password is determined to be a correct password and the set copy ratio is 1.

6. The copier according to claim 5, wherein

the controlling unit is configured to control the printing unit not to print the image, in a case where the input password is determined not to be a correct password and the set copy ratio is 1.

7. The copier according to claim 5, wherein the copy ratio is a ratio of a size of a document to be obtained by printing an image of the scanned document to the size of the scanned document.

8. The copier according to claim 5, wherein the code is a two-dimensional code.

9. A copier comprising:

a setting unit configured to set a copy ratio;

a scanning unit configured to scan a document to obtain an image of the scanned document after a copy ratio has been set;

an extracting unit configured to extract, in a case where the image includes a code, information from the code;

a requiring unit configured to require, after the information has been extracted, a user to input a password in a case where the extracted information indicates that a password is required;

a determining unit configured to determine whether a password input by the user according to the requirement is a correct password based on the extracted information;

a printing unit; and

a controlling unit configured to control the printing unit not to print the image, whenever information indicating that a password is required is extracted from the code and the set copy ratio is not 1, and

configured to control the printing unit to print the image, in a case where the input password is determined to be a correct password and the set copy ratio is 1.

10. The copier according to claim 9, wherein

the controlling unit is configured to control the printing unit not to print the image, in a case where the input password is determined not to be a correct password and the set copy ratio is 1.

11. The copier according to claim 9, wherein the copy ratio is a ratio of a size of a document to be obtained by printing an image of the scanned document to the size of the scanned document.

12. The copier according to claim 9, wherein the code is a two-dimensional code.

13. A copier comprising:

a setting unit configured to set a copy ratio;

a scanning unit configured to scan a document to obtain an image of the scanned document after a copy ratio has been set;

an extracting unit configured to extract, in a case where the image includes a code, information from the code;

a requiring unit configured to require, after the information has been extracted, a user to input a password in a case where the extracted information indicates that a password is required;

a unit configured to determine whether a password input by the user according to the requirement is a correct password based on the extracted information;

a printing unit; and

a determining unit configured to determine whether the printing unit should print the image based on at least (i) whether or not the set copy ratio is 1 and (ii) the determination as to whether a password input by a user according to the requirement is a correct password based on the extracted information.

14. The copier according to claim 13, wherein the copy ratio is a ratio of a size of a document to be obtained by printing an image of the scanned document to the size of the scanned document.

15. The copier according to claim 13, wherein the code is a two-dimensional code.

16. The copier according to claim 13, wherein the determining unit is configured to determine that the printing unit should print the image in a case where the set copy ratio is 1 and the input password is determined to be a correct password based on the extracted information.

17. The copier according to claim 16, wherein the determining unit is configured to determine that the printing unit should not print the image in a case where the set copy ratio is 1 and the input password is not determined to be a correct password based on the extracted information.

18. The copier according to claim 17, wherein the determining unit is configured to determine that the printing unit should not print the image in a case where the set copy ratio is not 1 and information is extracted from the code.

19. The copier according to claim 17, wherein the determining unit is configured to determine that the printing unit should not print the image in a case where the set copy ratio is not 1 and the information indicating that a password is required is extracted from the code.

20. A copier comprising:

a setting unit configured to set a copy ratio;

a scanning unit configured to scan a document to obtain an image of the scanned document after a copy ratio has been set;

a detecting unit configured to detect, in a case where the image includes a code, the code;

an extracting unit configured to extract information from the detected code;

a requiring unit configured to require, after the information has been extracted, a user to input a password in a case where the extracted information indicates that a password is required;

a unit configured to determine whether a password input by the user according to the requirement is a correct password based on the extracted information;

a printing unit; and

a determining unit configured to determine whether the printing unit should print the image based on at least (i) whether or not the set copy ratio is 1 and (ii) the determination as to whether a password input by a user according to the requirement is a correct password based on the extracted information.

21. The copier according to claim 20, wherein the copy ratio is a ratio of a size of a document to be obtained by printing an image of the scanned document to the size of the scanned document.

22. The copier according to claim 20, wherein the code is a two-dimensional code.

23. The copier according to claim 20, wherein the determining unit is configured to determine that the printing unit should print the image in a case where the set copy ratio is 1 and the input password is determined to be a correct password based on the extracted information.

24. The copier according to claim 23, wherein the determining unit is configured to determine that the printing unit should not print the image in a case where the set copy ratio is 1 and the input password is not determined to be a correct password based on the extracted information.

25. The copier according to claim 24, wherein the determining unit is configured to determine that the printing unit should not print the image in a case where the set copy ratio is not 1 and a code is detected by the detecting unit.

26. A method of controlling a copier, said method comprising:

setting a copy ratio;

scanning a document to obtain an image of the scanned document after a copy ratio has been set;

extracting, in a case where the image includes a code, information from the code;

requiring, after the information has been extracted, a user to input a password in a case where the extracted information indicates that a password is required;

determining whether a password input by the user according to the requirement is a correct password based on the extracted information; and

determining whether a printing unit should print the image based on at least (i) whether or not the set copy ratio is 1 and (ii) the determination as to whether a password input by a user in response to the requirement is a correct password based on the extracted information.

27. A method of controlling a copier, said method comprising:

setting a copy ratio;

scanning a document to obtain an image of the scanned document after a copy ratio has been set;

detecting, in a case where the image includes a code, the code;

extracting information from the detected code;

requiring, after the information has been extracted, a user to input a password in a case where the extracted information indicates that a password is required;

determining whether a password input by the user according to the requirement is a correct password based on the extracted information; and

determining whether a printing unit should print the image based on at least (i) whether or not the set copy ratio is 1 and (ii) the determination as to whether a password input by a user in response to the requirement is a correct password based on the extracted information.