Printing apparatus with units for embedding indentification information and detecting when pages to be printed are out of order
A printing apparatus that can maintain consistency between image information and page numbers with respect to that image information. The printing apparatus includes: a data input unit that embeds identification information for identifying pages to be printed in image information; and a data converting unit, a layout determining unit, a rasterizing unit and a print engine control unit that determine whether or not the processing order is a predetermined page order on the basis of the identification information that has been embedded in each image information set and, when the processing order is the predetermined page order, perform processing in a state where the identification information remains embedded with respect to the image information serving as the determination target.
1. A printing apparatus comprising:
an embedding unit that embeds first identification information for identifying pages to be printed with respect to image information representing images per page to be printed on each page of a recording medium; and
a processing unit which, when performing predetermined processing relating to printing with respect to each image information set in which the first identification information has been embedded, determines whether or not the processing order is a predetermined page order on the basis of the first identification information that has been embedded in each image information set and, when the processing order is the predetermined page order, performs the predetermined processing in a state where the first identification information remains embedded with respect to the image information serving as the determination target wherein,
attribute information representing the per page printing conditions is correlated with the image information,
the embedding unit further embeds second identification information with respect to the attribute information that has been correlated with the image information in which the first identification information has been embedded, and
the processing unit determines whether or not the first identification information that has been embedded in the image information and the second identification information that has been embedded in the attribute information that has been correlated with that image information match and performs the predetermined processing when they match.
2. The printing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
the embedding unit adds the first identification information to a predetermined region of boundary portions of the images represented by the image information to thereby embed the first identification information with respect to the image information, and
the processing unit performs with respect to the image information, as with the predetermined region of the images represented by the image information being excluded as a processing target, processing selected from among image processing that rotates the images, conversion processing that converts the resolution of the images, and compression processing of the image information.
3. The printing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
the processing unit plurally divides the image information of one page and performs the predetermined processing with respect to each divided image information set that has been divided, and
the embedding unit embeds the first and second identification information with respect to each divided image information set.
4. The printing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
the first and second identification information is a page count representing the pages on which the images represented by the image information are to be printed, and
the processing unit determines whether or not the processing order is the page order to be printed on the basis of the page count that has been embedded in each image information set.
5. The printing apparatus of claim 4 , wherein
the embedding unit further embeds initialization information representing that the page count to be embedded with respect to the image information is to be initialized to a predetermined initial value, and
the processing unit determines the page order to be an order beginning with the initial value when the initialization information has been embedded in the image information.
6. The printing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
the embedding unit embeds the first identification information inside an image region of the images represented by the image information, and
the processing unit performs with respect to the image information image processing that rotates the images represented by that image information and performs processing where rotation angle information representing the angle by which the images have been rotated is included in the attribute information that has been correlated with that image information.
7. The printing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first identification information is embedded in an image region of the image represented by the image information.
8. A printing method comprising:
embedding first identification information for identifying pages to be printed in image information representing images per page to be printed on each page of a recording medium;
determining whether or not the processing order is a predetermined page order on the basis of the first identification information that has been embedded in each image information set; and,
when the processing order is the predetermined page order, performing predetermined processing relating to printing in a state where the first identification information remains embedded with respect to the image information serving as the determination target, wherein
attribute information representing the per page printing conditions is correlated with the image information,
the embedding further embeds second identification information with respect to the attribute information that has been correlated with the image information in which the first identification information has been embedded, and
the determining process determines whether or not the first identification information that has been embedded in the image information and the second identification information that has been embedded in the attribute information that has been correlated with that image information match and continuously performs predetermined processing when they match.
9. The printing method of claim 8 , wherein
the embedding adds the first identification information to a predetermined region of boundary portions of the images represented by the image information, and
the printing method includes performing with respect to the image information, with the predetermined region of the images represented by the image information being excluded as a processing target, processing selected from among image processing that rotates the images, conversion processing that converts the resolution of the images, and compression processing of the image information.
10. The printing method of claim 8 , wherein
the printing method plurally divides the image information of one page and performs the predetermined processing with respect to each divided image information set, and
the embedding embeds the first and second identification information with respect to each divided image information set.
11. The printing method of claim 8 , wherein
the first and second identification information is a page count representing the pages on which the images represented by the image information are to be printed, and
the determining determines whether or not the processing order is the page order to be printed on the basis of the page count that has been embedded in each image information set.
12. The printing method of claim 11 , wherein
the embedding further embeds initialization information representing that the page count to be embedded with respect to the image information is to be initialized to a predetermined initial value, and
the determining process determines the page order to be an order beginning with the initial value when the initialization information has been embedded in the image information.
13. The printing method of claim 8 , wherein the first identification information is embedded in an image region of the image represented by the image information.