Patent Application
20120105916
This application claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 from Korean Patent Application No. 10-2010-0092599, filed on Sep. 20, 2010 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present general inventive concept relate to a printing control apparatus and method that secure a document displayed on a preview screen.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, to form an image and obtain printed matter, print data are created by a host apparatus and transmitted to an image forming apparatus to print the print data. The image forming apparatus converts the received print data into a format in which the print data will be printed and prints the print data having such a format.
When print data prepared by the host apparatus is actually printed by the image forming apparatus, an image of the print data displayed by the host apparatus is generally different from an image printed by the image forming apparatus. This is because a method of displaying the image on a display unit of the host apparatus is not identical to a method of printing the image at the image forming apparatus.
For this reason, the host apparatus and the image forming apparatus provide an image obtained through a forecast before actual printing of print data, i.e., a preview image.
Meanwhile, in recent years, information security has been emphasized due to damage caused by information leakages, and much research has been conducted into methods of maintaining information security of printed documents. When a preview image is displayed before printing, a preview function may be provided to maintain security on some or all of the documents selected by users.
It is an aspect of the present general inventive concept to provide a printing control apparatus and method with a document security function through which a document is displayed while security is maintained for each object during preview.
Additional aspects of the general inventive concept will be set forth in the description which follows and will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the general inventive concept.
Features and/or utilities of the present general inventive concept may be realized by a printing control apparatus with a document security function includes a user interface driver to provide a security preview setup screen such that security preview options for each object are selected when a call signal is transmitted from a graphic device interface according to a print request signal input from an application program and a previewer to divide objects through the security preview setup screen and to secure a corresponding one of the objects when the security preview options are set so as to perform preview.
The previewer may include an object map creation unit to record and store an object attribute of each position of an enhanced meta file converted from an original file such that preview is performed before printing.
The previewer may further include a security preview execution unit to confirm the object attribute of each position of the enhanced meta file recorded by the object map creation unit when a security operation is set to be performed with respect to one or more of the objects through the security preview setup screen and to secure and display the object upon which the security operation is set to be performed.
The previewer may further include a security authentication unit to communicate with a server or perform security authentication using information stored in a host computer upon reception of an ID (identification)/PW (password) or PIN (personal identification number) for security authentication.
The previewer may further include a security output unit to create and send a command to print data to which security options are applied to a print processor or to create and send a command to print data to which security options are not applied to the print processor according to security authentication information transmitted from the security authentication unit.
The previewer may simultaneously display the security preview setup screen and a preview screen such that preview security options are edited during execution of the preview.
Each of the objects may include at least one selected from a group consisting of text, a vector, and an image.
Features and/or utilities of the present general inventive concept may also be realized by a control method of a printing control apparatus with a document security function includes converting an original file into an enhanced meta file to perform preview before printing and spooling the enhanced meta file, loading the spooled enhanced meta file to classify and record an object attribute of each position of the enhanced meta file, converting the enhanced meta file into preview data that are displayed on a display, and determining whether security preview options for each object have been selected upon execution of the preview and securing the corresponding objects to perform preview upon determining that the security preview options for each object have been selected.
The control method may further include performing security authentication of a user requesting preview and performing security preview upon which a security operation is performed or general preview upon which a security operation is not performed according to a result of the security authentication.
The control method may further include transmitting preview data upon which the security operation has been performed or preview data upon which the security operation has not been performed to a printer according to a result of the security authentication.
The control method may further include transmitting preview data upon which the security operation has been performed or preview data upon which the security operation has not been performed to a printer connected to the printing control apparatus such that the printer performs security authentication to output a document.
Performing security authentication of the user requesting the preview may include communicating with a server or performing security authentication using information stored in a host computer upon reception of an ID/PW or PIN for the security authentication.
Classifying and recording the object attribute of each position of the enhanced meta file may include classifying and recording object attributes based on types of items recorded in the enhanced meta file.
Features and/or utilities of the present general inventive concept may also be realized by a printing control apparatus including a previewer to determine whether a security option has been set to obstruct at least one type of object in a preview image, and to generate the preview image including a security feature to obstruct the at least one type of object when it is determined that the security option has been set.
The previewer may determine whether the security option has been set with respect to each separate one of at least text, graphics, and pictures of a document to be previewed.
The security feature may include at least one of a watermark, a blackout block, a replacement image, and a blurring effect.
The printing control apparatus may include a security authentication unit to determine whether predetermined authentication information has been received, to generate the preview image including the security feature when it is determined that the predetermined authentication information has not been received, and to generate the preview image to exclude the security feature when it is determined that the predetermined authentication information has been received.
The previewer may include a print processing unit to receive image data and an initial print command and to generate preview image data and a display processing unit to receive the preview image data and to generate display data based on the preview image data to transmit to a display device to display the display data. The print processing unit may generate an EMF spool file and loads the EMF spool file to generate the preview image data.
Features and/or utilities of the present general inventive concept may also be realized by a printing system, including a printer to print an image on a printing medium, a printing control apparatus to generate print data and to transmit the print data to the printer to print the image, and a display to receive preview image data from the printing control apparatus corresponding to the image to be printed by the printer, and to display a preview image based on the preview image data. The printing control apparatus may include a previewer to determine whether a security option has been set to obstruct at least one type of object in the preview image data, and to generate the preview image data including a security feature to obstruct the at least one type of object when it is determined that the security option has been set.
The display may display the preview image having the at least one type of object obstructed when the previewer determines that the security option has been set.
The previewer may include a security authentication unit to determine whether predetermined authentication information has been received, to generate the preview image data including the security feature when it is determined that the predetermined authentication information has not been received, and to generate the preview image data to exclude the security feature when it is determined that the predetermined authentication information has been received.
The printing system may include an authentication server to store predetermined authentication information. The printing control apparatus may receive input authentication information from a user and may transmit the input authentication information to the authentication server. The authentication server may compare the input authentication information to the predetermined authentication information and may transmit an authentication confirmation to the authentication unit of the previewer when the input authentication corresponds to the predetermined authentication information.
Features and/or utilities of the present general inventive concept may also be realized by a method of securely providing data in a printing apparatus, the method including receiving print data corresponding to a request to print data, determining whether a security option has been set to obstruct at least one type of object in a preview image corresponding to print data to be printed, and generating the preview image including a security feature to obstruct the at least one type of object when it is determined that the security option has been set.
The request to print data may be received from an application running on a computing apparatus, and the print data may correspond to a document generated by the application.
Determining whether the security option has been set may include determining whether the security option has been set with respect to each separate one of at least text, graphics, and pictures of a document to be previewed.
The security feature may include at least one of a watermark, a blackout block, a replacement image, and a blurring effect.
Determining whether a security option has been set may include determining whether predetermined authentication information has been received and generating the preview image including the security feature when it is determined that the predetermined authentication information has not been received, and generating the preview image to exclude the security feature when it is determined that the predetermined authentication information has been received.
Features and/or utilities of the present general inventive concept may also be realized by a computer-readable medium having stored thereon a code to execute a method, the method including receiving print data corresponding to a request to print data, determining whether a security option has been set to obstruct at least one type of object in a preview image corresponding to print data to be printed, and generating the preview image including a security feature to obstruct the at least one type of object when it is determined that the security option has been set.
These and/or other aspects of the general inventive concept will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:
Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present general inventive concept, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.
The printing control apparatus 1 includes an application program 10, a graphic device interface (GDI) 20, a user interface driver 30, enhanced meta file (EMF) spool files 40 and 80, a print processor 50, a printer graphic driver 60, and a previewer 70.
The printing control apparatus 1 creates print data, which are transmitted to an image forming apparatus 90. The image forming apparatus 90 has a printing function. In this embodiment, a host computer having a print driver is used as an example of the printing control apparatus 1, and a printer is used as an example of the image forming apparatus 90. The host computer may be a personal computer, such as a tower including a CPU, memory, and other logic circuitry to control input and output operations and to run one or more application programs
The application program 10 is provided in a memory, such as a hard disk drive, of the host computer 1. The application program 10 may be a word processor which allows users to write documents including text, graphics, and/or photographs or pictures, and which reads documents written by users or already prepared documents to print the documents via a printer connected to the printing control apparatus 1. Other examples of application programs may include a database program, a web browser, and a communication program. When the application program 10 prints a prepared document, the application program 10 sends the document and a print request signal input through a user interface to the GDI 20.
The GDI 20 draws a graphic object on a screen. When the operating system is MS Windows, GDI 20 may be a component of MS Windows to perform graphic functions such as line drawing and color management. The GDI 20 may be a dynamic link library (DLL) providing a function that the application program uses to output graphs to a display, a printer, or other apparatuses and architecture related thereto. The GDI 20 may draw a straight line, a curved line, a polygon, text, and a bitmap image.
According to the print request signal input from the application program 10, the GDI 20 calls the user interface driver 30 to provide a printing condition setup screen. The printing condition setup screen is an interface to allow a user to set printing conditions, such as paper size, print range, print quality, and number of copies. The printing condition setup screen is displayed on a display 100.
According to the print request signal input from the application program 10, the GDI 20 also calls the user interface driver 30 to provide a security preview setup screen. The security preview setup screen is provided to allow a user to select security options displayed on a preview screen. Referring to
The GDI 20 temporarily spools data received from the application program 10 in the EMF spool file 40. Upon completion of spooling, the GDI 20 sends a print request to the print processor 50.
Upon reception of the print request from the GDI 20, the print processor 50 drives the previewer 70, a program to preview data. The previewer 70 may be a program stored in memory and executed by a processor to generate preview image data of the document data to be printed and to transmit the preview image data to the display 100. In addition, the previewer 70 may include one or more circuits, including a processor, memory, supporting logic, and other circuitry to communicate with a central processing unit of the printing control apparatus 1. The previewer 70 may be called through the user interface driver 30 as well as the print processor 50. The print processor 50 creates an EMF spool file 80 for preview based on the EMF spool file 40 input through the GDI 20.
The EMF is a file spooled in the memory according to a setup method of an operating system. The EMF is used as intermediate data when printing is performed in Windows.
Upon reception of a spooling end message from the Windows operating system, the print processor 50 requests the previewer 70 to start preview. The previewer 70 loads an EMF and displays the EMF on the display 100. The previewer 70 may convert the EMF into bitmap data for preview, which may be displayed on the display 100.
When a user inputs a print command through the previewer 70, the previewer 70 calls the GDI 20 such that the print graphic driver 60 is driven to perform an actual printing process.
The GDI 20 loads a rendering command from the EMF spool file 40, performs color coincidence suitable for the printer 90, and sends a print request to the printer graphic driver 60. The printer graphic driver 60 converts the print request into commands that the printer 90 interprets and sends the commands to the printer 90. The printer 90 prints data based on the commands.
In this embodiment, security is applied to the previewer file created as described above, and the file to which security is applied is output, which will be described hereinafter.
For security preview, the host computer 1 includes an EMF creation unit 200, an EMF spool file 80, and a previewer 70.
The EMF creation unit 200 includes all blocks of
The EMF spool file 80 has a format defined by Microsoft at which each page is configured and stored in an EMF for each printing operation.
The previewer 70 loads an EMF from the EMF spool file 80 and displays the EMF on the display 100. The previewer 70 may convert the EMF into a bitmap file, which may be displayed on the display 100.
The previewer 70 may include an object map creation unit 71, a security authentication unit 74, a security preview execution unit 76, and a security output unit 78.
The object map creation unit 72 classifies and records an object attribute of each position of the EMF. Types of items are recorded in the EMF. Objects may be classified into the following types. The EMF includes attributes for the respective objects.
Items classified into the vector, text, and image objects are resource types constituting the EMF. EMR is an enhanced meta resource, and the EMF is configured in the form of EMR_i TYPE (tag type). The classification may be changed in other embodiments.
The object map creation unit 72 records object attributes of the EMF in the manner as described above. When a user selects security options for each object, therefore, the security options may be applied to each object.
The previewer 70 may display a security preview setup screen such that preview security options are edited when a preview screen in displayed on the display 100. Referring to
For example, as illustrated in
As illustrated in
A user may previously designate and store a combination of security preview setup options and, afterward, may easily designate security preview setup as needed. For example, the following presets may be set.
Preset 1: Color image and “TOP SECRET” string (Security preview is applied to text including a color image and a “TOP SECRET” string.)
Preset 2: Text and designation of a middle area thereof (A middle area of text is designated, and security preview is applied to the designated part.)
When an ID/PW or PIN for security authentication is input to the security authentication unit 74, the security authentication unit 74 communicates with a server or performs security authentication using information stored in the host computer 1.
Based on information transmitted from the security authentication unit 74, the security preview execution unit 76 may display preview data to which security features are applied or preview data to which security features are not applied on the display 100. Referring to
In other words,
Based on information transmitted from the security authentication unit 74, the security output unit 78 may send a command to the print processor 50 to print the preview data to which security options are applied or the preview data to which security options are not applied. Referring to
The security output unit 78 may send a command to the print processor 50 to transmit both the print preview data to which security options are applied print and the preview data to which security options are not applied to the printer 90. In this case, the printer 90 performs user security authentication. When an authenticated user requests data output, the printer 90 may output data to which security options are not applied. When an unauthenticated user requests data output, the printer 90 may output preview data to which security options are applied.
In other words, as illustrated in
When a user issues a print command through an application program, the EMF creation unit 200 creates an EMF spool file including an EMF in operation 310. The EMF creation unit 200 includes all blocks of
Subsequently, the previewer 70 loads the EMF from the EMF spool file 80 and determines and records object attributes of the EMF in operation 320. Specifically, the object map creation unit 72 of the previewer 70 classifies and records an object attribute of each position of the EMF. Types of items are recorded in the EMF. Objects may be classified based on types of items. The EMF includes attributes for the respective objects.
Subsequently, the previewer 70 determines in operation 330 whether security preview has been set. A user may manipulate the security preview setup screen through the user interface to set the security preview. The security preview setup screen is provided for the user to select security features displayed on the preview screen. The security preview setup screen is provided to select security features to apply to each object. Each object may include an image, text, or a vector. Also, the user interface may be manipulated to select a specific area of the file and secure the selected area. In other words, in the present specification and claims, security options may refer to options selectable to display or not display security features on a preview image and/or a printed image, and security features are the images (e.g. watermark, block-out, blurring, or alternative images) that are displayed in the preview image and/or the printed image.
When the security preview is set, security features are applied to the preview data in operation 340. The security features may include security setup for each object, security setup of a specific area, and security setup of a specific page. Also, when security setup is performed for a specific object, a specific area, or a specific image, various security features, such as application of a substitute image, deletion of the corresponding area, and application of a watermark to the corresponding area, may be applied.
Subsequently, the security authentication unit 74 of the previewer 70 confirms authorization information of a user in operation 350. When an ID/PW or PIN for security authentication is input to the security authentication unit 74, the security authentication unit 74 communicates with a server or performs security authentication using information stored in the host computer 1.
When user security authentication for preview is not performed by the security authentication unit 74, the security preview execution unit 76 of the previewer 70 displays, in operation 370, preview data to which security features have been applied. In other words, the predetermined objects, such as text, pictures, and graphics, may be obstructed according to the previously-set security options. When user security authentication is performed by the security authentication unit 74, the security preview execution unit 76 of the previewer 70 displays, in operation 370, preview data to which security features are not applied. In other words, the text, pictures, and/or graphics of a previewer are not obstructed by predetermined security features, such as watermarks, blocked-out portions, or replacement pictures.
Operations 410 to 470 are identical to Operations 310 to 370 of
When the preview data to which the security features are not applied are displayed on the display 100 at operation 460, a user may edit preview security features. The preview security features may be edited using a method of designating a specific page, a method of designating an object attribute, a method of designating a specific area, and a method of designating a specific string. The user may previously designate and store a combination of preview security features and, afterward, may easily designate security preview setup as needed.
In operation 480, it may be determined whether the user has edited the preview security options of features. In operation 490, the edited security options may be stored.
Operations 510 to 570 are identical to Operations 310 to 370 of
After displaying the preview data to which the security features are not applied on the display 100 at operation 560, the previewer 70 sends a command to the print processor 50 to transmit the preview data to which the security features are not applied to the printer 90, and the print processor 50 transmits print data to which the security features are not applied through the above-described procedures to the printer 90 in operation 580.
After displaying the preview data to which the security features are applied on the display 100 at operation 570, the previewer 70 sends a command to the print processor 50 to transmit the preview data to which the security features are applied to the printer 90, and the print processor 50 transmits print data to which the security features are applied through the above-described procedures to the printer 90 in operation 590.
Operations 610 to 670 are identical to Operations 310 to 370 of
The embodiment of
At operation 680, both print data to which security features are applied and print data to which security features are not applied are transmitted to the printer 90.
Subsequently, the printer 90 performs security authentication to output the print data to which the security features are not applied when an authenticated user requests output of the print data and to output the print data to which the security features are applied when an unauthenticated user requests output of the print data in operations 690 to 710.
An administrator may access security preview setup features at an administrator level to secure preview features for each object. The administrator level is a level at which an authenticated administrator sets up security preview features in operation 810.
Subsequently, it is determined in operation 820 that preview is attempted with respect to a specific file upon which security preview features have been set at a user level. This is because, when the administrator sets up security preview setup features at operation 810, security authentication is additionally performed at the user level to maintain document security. The user level may be a level at which preview data may not be edited even in the case of security authentication or a level at which preview data may be edited in the case of security authentication.
When preview is attempted with respect to a specific file, security preview features of which have been set, at the user level, it is determined whether the user is authorized in operation 830.
When it is determined at Operation 820 that the user attempting the preview is authorized, preview data to which security features are not applied are displayed, and, when it is determined that the user attempting the preview is unauthorized, preview data to which security features are applied are displayed in operations 840 and 850.
Meanwhile, the preview data of
Each of the processing units 142, 143, and 144 may be separate processing units, or they may be part of one processing unit. For example, the central processing unit 142 may control all of the functions of display processing and print data processing using predetermined programs stored in memory.
The printing control apparatus 1 may also include memory 145 to store programs, applications, and data. The memory 145 may include ROM, RAM, hard disks, or any other type of memory. Although various programs are illustrated in
While the graphics device interface 146, user interface driver 147, print graphic driver 149, previewer program 150, and application program 152 are illustrated as being programs in
The preview generating unit 160 receives image data and a print request from a central processing unit (CPU) 142. The CPU 142 may generate the print request in response from an input from a user via the user interface 141. The user may generate the input based on displayed information from an application stored in memory 145a and executed by the CPU 142, for example.
Upon receiving from the CPU 142 the print request, the preview generating unit 160 may generate display data corresponding to a preview, which may include security data, and may output the image data to a display device 100. The process of generating the preview has been described above with respect to
The structure of the preview generating unit 160 is provided as an example, but the present general inventive concept is not limited to the specific structure of
Similarly, the memory 145b may be one or more chips dedicated to the preview generating unit 160, or the memory 145b may include predetermined areas within general purpose memory chips that are dedicated to generating preview images. The dedicated areas may be temporarily dedicated, so that the size of the dedicated area changes according to the size of the preview images to be stored and displayed, or the dedicated areas may be predetermined so that other functions of the printing control apparatus 1 may not access the dedicated areas, even when the preview generating unit 160 is not in operation.
The present general inventive concept can also be embodied as computer-readable codes on a computer-readable medium. The computer-readable medium can include a computer-readable recording medium and a computer-readable transmission medium. The computer-readable recording medium is any data storage device that can store data as a program which can be thereafter read by a computer system. Examples of the computer-readable recording medium include read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), CD-ROMs, DVDs, magnetic tapes, floppy disks, and optical data storage devices. The computer-readable recording medium can also be distributed over network coupled computer systems so that the computer-readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion. The computer-readable transmission medium can generate or transmit carrier waves or signals (e.g., wired or wireless data transmission through the Internet). Also, functional programs, codes, and code segments to accomplish the present general inventive concept can be easily construed by programmers skilled in the art to which the present general inventive concept pertains.
As is apparent from the above description, a preview screen upon which security features for each object is set is displayed, thereby preventing malicious use and easily achieving security intended by a user.
Although a few embodiments of the present general inventive concept have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the general inventive concept, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2010-0092599 | Sep 2010 | KR | national |
