US-12620084-B2 - Inspection apparatus and method for controlling inspection apparatus for inspecting a printed material

US12620084B2US 12620084 B2US12620084 B2US 12620084B2US-12620084-B2

Abstract

An inspection apparatus configured to be communicably connected to an image forming apparatus for printing an image on a sheet, includes a controller for receiving at least a reference image and print setting information, registering the reference image based on the print setting information, receiving a scanned image generated by reading a printed material on which an image is printed on the sheet, and inspecting the printed material based on the scanned image and the reference image corresponding to the scanned image. The controller is arranged to perform the inspection using reference data when the scanned image includes a blank page for which a corresponding reference image is not registered.

Inventors

Masaaki Muraishi

Assignees

CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20230512
Priority Date: 20220519

Claims (14)

1 . An inspection apparatus configured to be communicably connected to an image forming apparatus for printing an image on a sheet, the inspection apparatus comprising a controller for: receiving at least a reference image and print setting information; registering the reference image based on the print setting information; receiving a scanned image generated by reading a printed material on which an image is printed on the sheet; and inspecting the printed material based on the scanned image and the reference image corresponding to the scanned image, wherein the controller is arranged to perform the inspection using reference data when the scanned image comprises a blank page for which a corresponding reference image is not registered, wherein the controller is arranged to generate a reference image corresponding to the blank page, and wherein the reference data comprises the reference image corresponding to the blank page generated by the controller.
2 . The inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the reference data is the reference image corresponding to the blank page.
3 . The inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller registers the reference image in association with each page of the printed material based on the print setting information and registers an instruction to use the reference data in the inspection, for a page of the printed material with no corresponding reference image.
4 . The inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller registers the reference image in association with each page of the printed material based on the print setting information, and registers as the reference image the reference data for a page of the printed material with no corresponding reference image.
5 . The inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the reference data is pixel data indicating white.
6 . The inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is arranged to perform control to inspect the printed material including the blank page, based on an instruction to inspect the blank page, and wherein the controller is arranged to perform control to skip the inspection of the blank page based on an instruction not to inspect the blank page.
7 . The inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the inspection apparatus is communicably connected to an image processing apparatus, and wherein the reference image is a raster image received from the image processing apparatus.
8 . The inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the received reference image corresponds to the image to be printed by the image forming apparatus.
9 . The inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the print setting information is setting information relating to single-sided printing or double-sided printing.
10 . The inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the blank page is a page on which an image of a printed material obtained by the image forming apparatus printing images for pages with odd numbers in double-sided printing is not printed.
11 . The inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the blank page is a surface on which an image of a printed material having been subjected to single-sided printing in the image forming apparatus is not printed.
12 . The inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller receives the scanned image generated by reading, by a reader, the image on the printed material conveyed from a conveyor configured to receive the printed matter from a printer by which the printed matter has been generated and configured to convey the printed matter.
13 . The inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein, before receiving the scanned image, the controller receives the reference image and the print setting information, and, based upon information on the blank page being included in the print setting information, generates the reference data.
14 . A method for controlling an inspection apparatus configured to be communicably connected to at least an image forming apparatus configured to print an image on a sheet, the method comprising: receiving at least a reference image and print setting information; registering the reference image based on the print setting information; receiving a scanned image generated by reading a printed material on which an image is printed on the sheet; and inspecting the printed material based on the scanned image and the reference image corresponding to the scanned image, wherein inspection is performed, using reference data, when the scanned image comprises a blank page for which a corresponding reference image is not registered, wherein the inspection apparatus generates a reference image corresponding to the blank page, and wherein the reference data comprises the reference image corresponding to the blank page generated by the inspection apparatus.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an inspection apparatus and method for controlling inspection apparatus. Description of the Related Art Inspection to check whether a printed material is correctly printed has conventionally been manually performed. In recent years, an apparatus that automatically performs the inspection as post-processing of a printer has been used. Such an inspection apparatus first registers reference image data. Processing for the registration is called a reference image registration job. Subsequently, a user makes inspection settings to set a region where a defect is to be detected in a regular print job and a threshold with respect to a reference image. Next, the regular print job is executed, an image forming apparatus prints and outputs input image data on a sheet, and an inspection sensor inside the inspection apparatus reads a printed material printed and output on the sheet. Image data read by the inspection sensor and the reference image data first registered are compared to detect a defect of the printed material. Inspection to detect a defect in a picture pattern part of the printed material is called printed image inspection. In the reference image registration job, a raster image processor (RIP) image that is obtained by rasterizing print data is registered as the reference image. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2021-196310 discusses a method of acquiring information indicating a reference image from an information processing apparatus and performing inspection by comparing a printed material printed by a printing apparatus with a scanned image. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to an aspect of the present invention, an inspection apparatus configured to be communicably connected to an image forming apparatus for printing an image on a sheet, the inspection apparatus comprising a controller for receiving at least a reference image and print setting information, registering the reference image based on the print setting information, receiving a scanned image generated by reading a printed material on which an image is printed on the sheet; and inspecting the printed material based on the scanned image and the reference image corresponding to the scanned image. The controller is arranged to perform the inspection using reference data when the scanned image comprises a blank page for which a corresponding reference image is not registered. Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example configuration of a system including an inspection apparatus according to a first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of an internal configuration of the system according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a job property screen according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is an flowchart of inspection which is performed by an information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 5 is a flowchart of reference image registration which is performed by the inspection apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate examples of a raster image processor (RIP) image and a sheet information list according to the first embodiment. FIG. 7 is a flowchart of inspection which is performed by the inspection apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a user interface (UI) screen in the inspection according to the first embodiment. FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a job property screen according to a second embodiment. FIG. 10 is a flowchart of reference image registration which is performed by an inspection apparatus according to the second embodiment. FIGS. 11A and 11B each illustrate an example of a sheet information list according to the second embodiment. FIG. 12 is a flowchart of inspection which is performed by the inspection apparatus according to the second embodiment. DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS Some embodiments of the present invention are described in detail with reference to accompanying drawings. The following embodiments do not limit the invention according to the claims, and all of combinations of features described in the embodiments are not necessarily essential for solving means of the present invention. In the following description, an image forming apparatus is also referred to as a multifunctional peripheral (MFP) in some cases. A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an inspection system including an inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 includes an image forming apparatus 100, an inspection unit 110, a finisher 120, a client personal computer (PC) 130, an information processing apparatus 140, an inspect