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EP-4250704-B1 - INSPECTION SYSTEM, INSPECTION APPARATUS, CONTROL METHOD THEREFOR, AND STORAGE MEDIUM

EP4250704B1EP 4250704 B1EP4250704 B1EP 4250704B1EP-4250704-B1

Inventors

  • TANAKA, HIROTOMO

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20230308

Claims (13)

  1. An inspection apparatus (108) that executes an inspection by comparing an image of a printed material printed by a printing apparatus and a reference image, comprising: obtaining means (226, S1201) for obtaining a stored content type and a stored inspection level corresponding to the stored content type, extracting means (226, S1204) for extracting a region corresponding to a content type on a basis of content information of the reference image; first setting means (226, S1208) for setting, for the region, an inspection level corresponding to the content type of the region on a basis of the stored content type and the stored inspection level; and presenting means (226, S1210, S1211) for presenting, to a user, the region extracted by the extracting means and the inspection level set by the first setting means, associated with the reference image.
  2. The inspection apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a second setting means (226) for setting an inspection level corresponding to a content type; and storing means (228) for storing the content type and the inspection level set by the second setting means as the stored content type and the stored inspection level.
  3. The inspection apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the presenting means presents, to a user, the reference image provided with information indicating the region.
  4. The inspection apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the content information of the reference image is received from the printing apparatus which prints with a raster image developed from the reference image.
  5. The inspection apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the content information of the reference image is received from the information processing apparatus which generates the print data of the reference image.
  6. The inspection apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the presenting means assigns a number to the region extracted by the extracting means, and presents the content type and the inspection level corresponding to a region with the number, associated with the number.
  7. The inspection apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the presenting means presents the region corresponding to the content type grouped as a single group.
  8. The inspection apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising: means for setting a maximum number of the regions included in the single group, wherein the presenting means presents, to a user, the region included in the single group numbering the maximum number or less.
  9. The inspection apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8, further comprising: inspecting means (226) for inspecting the region using the reference image and the inspection level set by the setting means, wherein the extracting means extracts a region corresponding to a predetermined content type, and the first setting means sets a predetermined inspection level for the region corresponding to the predetermined content type.
  10. The inspection apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the predetermined content type is a face region.
  11. An inspection system, comprising: a printing apparatus (101); and an inspection apparatus (108) according to any one of claims 1 to 10 that executes an inspection by comparing an image of a printed material printed by the printing apparatus and a reference image.
  12. A control method for controlling an inspection apparatus (108) that executes an inspection by comparing an image of a printed material printed by a printing apparatus and a reference image, comprising: obtaining (S1201) a stored content type and a stored inspection level corresponding to the stored content type, extracting (S1204) a region corresponding to a content type on a basis of content information of the reference image; setting (S1208), for the region, an inspection level corresponding to the content type of the region on a basis of the stored content type and the stored inspection level; and presenting (S1210, S1211), to a user, the region extracted in the extracting and the inspection level set in the setting, associated with the reference image.
  13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program for causing a computer to execute a control method for controlling an inspection apparatus (108) that executes an inspection by comparing an image of a printed material printed by a printing apparatus and a reference image, wherein the control method is the control method according to claim 12.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an inspection system, an inspection apparatus, a control method therefor, and a storage medium. Description of the Related Art A known inspection apparatus reads a printed material printed by a printing apparatus and inspects the quality of the image printed on the printed material. The inspection apparatus can detect image defects, such as marks and print omissions. Regarding such image defects, typically, the type of defect is detected and, for each detected type, a threshold for detecting a defect as an image failure can be set. For example, for circular image defects, typically, a threshold of a diameter of a few millimeters or greater can be set for determining an image failure. For such inspections, a method is used that includes using an image without defects referred to as a reference image as a comparison target and comparing the reference image and an image on a printed material. The reference image in such cases is obtained by printing and scanning in advance one or a plurality of inspection target print jobs, having a user confirm that there are no marks or character errors on the number of articles printed, and then scanning the printed materials to obtain image data as the reference image. Also, in such inspections, since the print quality required varies depending on the user and the print job, the region and threshold (in terms of an application, the inspection threshold is referred to as the inspection level, and higher levels mean that smaller defects can be detected) for inspection can preferably be set. For example, when printing a photo album of a sports day, a holiday, or the like, the customer focuses on the faces of people, and thus marks on the face portion are preferably detected. Also, for fine characters, an inspection region may wish to be set so that whether the fine lines are printed up to expectations can be inspected. In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2021-078082, a technique is described for specifying a region to be inspected and an inspection level for a reference image via a user input. Moreover, US 2010/0021001 A1 discloses reference-free image quality assessment for digital images such that reference images ("test targets") are not required. US 2014/0092419 A1 describes a customer database where the "image quality index" of a printout product previously accepted (or rejected) by a customer is stored for the content type of the printouts. However, with the known techniques, the inspection region and inspection level are specified and accepted via a manual input by the user, required effort from the user. Also, as the number of inspection sections increases, more time is required to specify the inspection region and the inspection level. An object of the present invention is to solve at least one of the problems in known techniques described above. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention enables realization of a technique for automatically setting the inspection regions and the inspection levels on the basis of information included in a reference image. The present invention in its first aspect provides an inspection apparatus as specified in claims 1-10. The present invention in its second aspect provides an inspection system as specified in claim 11. The present invention in its third aspect provides a control method as specified in claims 12. The present invention in its fourth aspect provides a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as specified in claims 13. Further features of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of an inspection system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.FIG. 2 is a block diagram for describing the configuration of a printing apparatus, an inspection apparatus, a large-capacity stacker, an information processing apparatus, and a client computer according to the first embodiment.FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view for describing the internal configuration of the printing apparatus, the inspection unit, and the large-capacity stacker according to the first embodiment.FIGS. 4A to 4C are diagrams illustrating examples of screens where inspection settings displayed by the inspection apparatus according to the first embodiment are set.FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of an inspection status screen displayed on the display unit when an inspection is executed by an inspection apparatus according to the first embodiment.FIG. 6 is a flowchart for describing the processing when the inspection apparatus according to the firs