JP2007140953A - Information processor, image forming system, and data generating method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To control an image forming device to correctly print the superimposition part of a character even when data other than a low-resolution character is superimposed on a high-resolution character. <P>SOLUTION: In the case of character information, high-resolution character data is generated from low-resolution character information and also the low-resolution character data is generated from the high-resolution character data. In the case of information other than the character, the data other than the character is generated from information other than the character. Then, the superimposition part is discriminated on the basis of the low-resolution character data and the data other than the character. The high-resolution character data is binarized so as to output binary data which is obtained by removing the discriminated superimposition part from the binarized data, and the data other than the character. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for generating data to be output to an image forming apparatus.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an information output device such as a word processor, a personal computer, and a facsimile, an image forming device that records information such as characters and images on a paper, film, or sheet-like recording medium is used. In particular, an image forming apparatus using a serial image forming method that performs recording while reciprocating scanning in a direction perpendicular to the feeding direction of the recording medium is generally widely used because it is inexpensive and easy to downsize. .

  However, when a font that does not exist in the image forming apparatus is recorded on a recording medium, it is necessary to transmit characters using the font to the image forming apparatus as image data, as with images other than characters. When both image data for character formation and image data other than characters are transmitted to the image forming apparatus, both image data are created and sent with the same resolution.

  For example, Patent Literature 1 has been proposed as a technique for improving this problem. Normally, image data for character formation and image data other than characters become enormous as the color becomes higher and the resolution is higher. Therefore, there is a problem that not only the transfer time from the output source device to the image forming apparatus is long, but also the processing time of each of the output source device and the image forming apparatus is long.

  In addition, if image data for character formation is created at a high resolution in order to improve character quality in the output source device, the amount of data to be transferred becomes enormous, and the transfer time and image formation time become longer. On the other hand, when image data for character formation is created at a low resolution, the transfer time is shortened, but small characters are crushed and difficult to read.

  Therefore, when using a font that does not exist in the image forming apparatus, there has been proposed an image forming apparatus capable of shortening the image forming time while maintaining high quality characters and maintaining standard image quality.

  When printing through a printer driver from an application on a general-purpose OS such as Windows (registered trademark) using this apparatus, the printer driver can handle only one resolution, so the following processing is performed.

  For example, when the character is high resolution data of 600 dpi and the non-character is low resolution data of 300 dpi, the resolution of the printer driver is set to 300 dpi. When printing from the application, the printer driver re-renders a character rendering command of 300 dpi to 600 dpi, and then sends binarized CMYK data to the printer. Also, other than characters, multi-value RGB data of 300 dpi is sent. This processing enabled printing with high character quality.

  However, when printing a document in which a graphic or the like is superimposed on the character, the character is printed on the graphic even for a portion where the character is not originally visible. This can be done by holding overlapping information when a figure or the like overlaps on the character and not sending the overlapping character. However, since the 300 dpi character data and the 600 dpi character data differ depending on the character size, character type such as Gothic, Mincho, etc., and bold, italic, etc., information on this overlapping portion cannot be acquired. For this reason, the printer driver sends character data to the printer without considering the overlapping portion.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a 300 dpi character “A” and a 600 dpi character “A” with a grid line of 300 dpi. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a state in which 300 dpi white characters and 600 dpi characters are combined by the image forming apparatus. Here, after synthesis, when a 300 dpi character is large, it is shown in white, and when a 600 dpi character is large, it is shown in gray. In this example, in the gray portion, although it is determined that drawing is not performed even though a character of 600 dpi is actually drawn, information on the overlapping portion cannot be acquired correctly.
JP 2002-254723 A

  In the above conventional technique, in a raster-type image forming apparatus having no font or graphic drawing means, high-resolution character forming image data and image data other than low-resolution character data are stored in the image forming apparatus. Synthesizing. When printing from an application dedicated to this apparatus, there is no particular problem if a measure is taken not to place graphics, images, graphics, etc. on the characters.

  However, when a document in which a low-resolution image or graphic is superimposed on a high-resolution character from the above-described application on the general-purpose OS through a printer driver is printed, the character is printed on the image or graphic. There was a problem.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and even when a character other than a low-resolution character is superimposed on a high-resolution character, the overlapping portion of the character is correctly printed on the image forming apparatus. The purpose is to let you.

  The present invention relates to a data generation method in an information processing apparatus that generates data to be output to an image forming apparatus. When the information is a character, high-resolution character data is generated from low-resolution character information. Generating low-resolution character data from high-resolution character data, and generating information other than characters from information other than characters when the information is other than characters, and low-resolution character data generated in the generation step And a binarization step of binarizing the high-resolution character data generated in the generation step, and binarization in the binarization step The method includes a binary data obtained by removing the overlapping portion determined in the determination step from the binary data, and an output step for outputting data other than the characters.

  The present invention also relates to an information processing apparatus that generates data to be output to an image forming apparatus. When the information is a character, high-resolution character data is generated from low-resolution character information, and the high-resolution Generating low-resolution character data from the character data and generating information other than characters from information other than characters when the information is other than characters, and the low-resolution character data and characters generated by the generating means Discriminating means for discriminating an overlapping portion based on other data, binarizing means for binarizing high-resolution character data generated by the generating means, and binary binarized by the binarizing means And an output unit that outputs binary data obtained by removing the overlapping portion determined by the determination unit from the data and data other than the character.

  According to the present invention, even when a character other than a low-resolution character is superimposed on a high-resolution character, the overlapping portion of the character can be correctly printed by the image forming apparatus.

  In addition, deterioration of character quality due to ink bleeding can be improved.

  The best mode for carrying out the invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the image forming system in the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, the image forming system is composed of a host device such as a personal computer and an image forming apparatus (large format printer) such as a large format ink jet system. In this example, only the application 1, the OS 2, and the printer driver 3 are shown as host devices, but the present invention is not limited to this. Hereinafter, the flow of normal printing processing in the image forming system will be described.

  In the host device, the application 1 creates various documents. Then, the OS 2 and the printer driver 3 operate to print the created document with the image forming apparatus. First, when printing is performed from the application 1, the OS 2 acquires the band size from the printer driver 3 as pre-printing processing.

  In the case of a large paper size such as B0 paper as in a large format printer, the drawing command is specified to be sent in band units for dividing print data for one page in consideration of memory and performance. In addition, depending on the image forming apparatus, there is a limitation in the memory for synthesizing the high resolution image and the low resolution image, and there are cases where it can be performed only in band units.

  Next, for the application 1, the OS 2 calls a print control function (print start, print end, etc.) prepared by the printer driver 3 or a print function such as a text, graphic, or image drawing function. As a result, the printer driver 3 creates print data that can be recognized by the image forming apparatus according to these called functions, and sends the created print data to the image forming apparatus.

  The main part of the present invention is included in the printer driver 3. The outline of the printing process in the embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG. In order to simplify the description, the processing for one band will be mainly described.

  In FIG. 3, first, the application 1 instructs the OS 2 to print a document (dotted line arrow 301). The OS 2 calls the graphic processing module 4 (print function (initialization) module 5) of the printer driver 3 (dotted arrow 302) in order to acquire information on whether or not to perform banding as pre-printing processing. Then, the print function (initialization) module 5 calculates the band size and the like from the amount of memory that can be used by the banding initialization unit 6, and passes information such as the band size to the OS 2 (dotted arrow 303).

  Next, the OS 2 calls a print function such as a print control function prepared by the printer driver 3 or a drawing function for each band (dotted arrow 304). On the other hand, the graphic processing module 4 of the printer driver 3 performs a drawing process for each band through the print function (drawing and control) module 7.

  Here, a plurality of drawing functions within one band are called, but in the case of characters, the banding processing unit 8 calls the character high resolution processing unit 9 (dotted arrow 305). The rendering processing unit 10 of the character high-resolution processing unit 9 renders high-resolution characters, and the binarization processing unit 11 creates binarized data, and then adds a printer command and sends it to the image forming apparatus ( Dotted arrow 308). Hereinafter, the character high resolution processing executed by the character high resolution processing unit 9 will be described.

  First, the rendering processing unit 10 creates high-resolution character data from low-resolution character information, and simultaneously creates low-resolution character data from high-resolution character data as shown in FIG. Then, the low resolution character data is transferred to the rendering processing unit 14 of the image resolution processing unit 13 (dotted arrow 306). The binarization processing unit 11 performs binarization processing on the high-resolution character data for each CMYK of the image forming apparatus, and holds it in a memory for high-resolution character data. Next, after the processing of the drawing function within one band is completed, the command control unit 12 obtains character information including overlapping graphics, images, etc. after drawing within one band from the character information determination processing unit 15 (dotted line). Arrow 307). Then, a printer command is added to the data from which the high-resolution character data in the overlapping portion is removed, and the data is sent to the image forming apparatus.

  In the example shown in FIG. 4, this overlapping portion is a contour portion indicating a white character of 300 dpi among the superimposed characters “A” on the right side.

  On the other hand, when the drawing function is graphic or image among the plurality of drawing functions in one band, the band resolution processing unit 8 calls the image resolution processing unit 13 (dotted arrow 309). The rendering processing unit 14 of the image resolution processing unit 13 renders graphics and images to create low-resolution image data, and then sends a printer command to the image forming apparatus (dotted arrow 310). Hereinafter, image resolution processing executed by the image resolution processing unit 13 will be described.

  First, the rendering processing unit 14 renders graphics and images, and holds them in a memory for image resolution data. Further, when low resolution character data is transferred from the rendering processing unit 10 (dotted arrow 306), it is stored in the image resolution data memory in white. At the same time, the character information discrimination processing unit 15 holds the graphic, image and character overlap information for one band. After the processing of the drawing function within one band is completed, the command control unit 16 adds a printer command to the image resolution data and sends it to the image forming apparatus (dotted arrow 310).

  The UI module 17 has a print setting screen such as a print method setting, and is a module that manages an interface with the user.

  In contrast to the above host apparatus, in the image forming apparatus, when the print data is high-resolution character data, the binary data receiving unit 18 receives the print data of the high-resolution character data and outputs it to the image composition unit 21 (dotted arrow). 311). When the print data is image resolution data, the multi-value data receiving unit 19 receives the print data of the image resolution data and outputs it to the binarization processing unit 20 (dotted arrow 312). In the binarization processing unit 20, the 300 dpi image resolution data is converted into 600 dpi binary data and output to the image composition unit 21 (dotted arrow 313).

  Further, the image composition unit 21 synthesizes the high-resolution character data and the image resolution data by OR, and outputs them to the image forming unit 22 (dotted arrow 314), and the image forming unit 22 performs printing.

  Next, processing executed by the above-described high resolution character processing unit 9 and image resolution processing unit 13 will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing high-resolution character processing within one band in the present embodiment. This process is a process performed by the high resolution character processing unit 9.

  First, in step S501, it is determined whether or not all drawing functions in one band have been completed. If not completed, the process proceeds to step S502, and if completed, the process proceeds to step S507.

  In step S502, the rendering processing unit 10 creates high-resolution character data from the low-resolution character information of the character drawing function. In addition, when changing the character from 300 dpi to 600 dpi, the width and height of the character of 300 dpi are each doubled and re-rendered by the drawing function of OS2.

  Next, in step S503, the rendering processing unit 10 creates character data of low resolution (300 dpi) from character data of high resolution (600 dpi) as shown in FIG. In step S504, the binarization processing unit 11 converts the high-resolution character data created in step S502 into binary data of CMYK.

  Next, in step S505, the data binarized in step S504 is stored in a binary data memory for one band. In step S506, the low-resolution character data created in step S503 is passed to the rendering processing unit 14 of the image resolution processing unit 13, and the high-resolution character processing ends.

  On the other hand, in step S507, based on the information of the overlapping portion determined by the character information determination processing unit 15, the portion overlapping the character information in the binary data memory is changed so as not to be character information. A method for determining the overlap will be specifically described. The image resolution memory is enlarged and converted for 600 dpi. It is determined whether the image resolution memory corresponding to the character data portion of the binary data memory is a white character. If it is a white character, it can be determined as a non-overlapping portion, and if it is not a white character, it indicates that the graphic or image has been overwritten on the character, so that it can be determined as an overlapping portion. The character data in the binary data memory is changed so as to delete this overlapping portion.

  Also, an attribute plane for 300 dpi, which will be described later, is enlarged and converted to an attribute plane for 600 dpi. It is determined whether the attribute of the converted attribute plane for 600 dpi corresponding to each pixel in the “character data” portion of the binary data memory is a character. If the attribute is a character, it can be determined as a non-overlapping portion, and if the attribute is not a character but a graphic or an image, it indicates that the graphic or image has been overwritten on the character, so that it can be determined as an overlapping portion. The character data in the binary data memory is changed so as to delete this overlapping portion.

  In step S508, the command control unit 12 adds a printer command to the data in the binary data memory. In step S509, the binary data for one band to which the printer command is added is sent to the image forming apparatus. finish.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing image resolution processing within one band in the present embodiment. This processing is performed by the image resolution processing unit 13.

  First, in step S601, it is determined whether or not all drawing functions in one band have been completed. If not completed, the process proceeds to step S602, and if completed, the process proceeds to step S607.

  In step S602, it is determined whether the data to be drawn is low-resolution character data created by the high-resolution character processing unit 9. Here, in the case of low resolution character data, the process proceeds to step S603, and the low resolution character data is stored in the image resolution memory as white character data. Next, in step S604, the character information determination processing unit 15 updates the attribute information of the attribute plane indicating in which part of the image resolution memory the character is held, and the process is terminated. The attribute plane stores attribute information indicating whether each bit of the image resolution memory is a character, an image, or a graphic.

  If the determination result in step S602 described above is an image or graphic drawing function, the process proceeds to step S605, and the rendering processing unit 14 renders the graphic and image function and stores them in the image resolution memory. Next, in step S606, the character information determination processing unit 15 updates the attribute information of the attribute plane indicating in which part of the image resolution memory the graphic and the image are stored, and ends this processing.

  On the other hand, in step S607, the command control unit 16 adds a printer command to the data in the image resolution memory. In step S608, the multi-value data in the image resolution memory for one band to which the printer command is added is sent to the image forming apparatus, and this process is terminated.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to prevent character data from being printed on a portion in which character data is not originally visible in a document in which an image or a graphic is superimposed on characters. .

  Also, as shown in FIG. 4, by creating low-resolution character data from high-resolution character data, it is possible to acquire overlapping portion information.

  Furthermore, it is possible to effectively operate low resolution character data, and to improve the deterioration of character quality due to ink bleeding, which is a problem in an ink jet image forming apparatus.

  Even if the present invention is applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.), it is applied to an apparatus (for example, a copier, a facsimile machine, etc.) composed of a single device. It may be applied.

  In addition, a recording medium in which a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is recorded is supplied to the system or apparatus, and the computer (CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus stores the program code stored in the recording medium. Read and execute. It goes without saying that the object of the present invention can also be achieved by this.

  In this case, the program code itself read from the recording medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the recording medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

  As a recording medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like is used. be able to.

  In addition, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also the following cases are included. That is, when the OS (operating system) running on the computer performs part or all of the actual processing based on the instruction of the program code, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

  Further, the program code read from the recording medium is written in a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer. After that, based on the instruction of the program code, the CPU of the function expansion board or function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by the processing. Needless to say.

It is a figure which shows 300 dpi character "A" and 600 dpi character "A" which made the grid line 300 dpi. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a 300 dpi white character and a 600 dpi character are combined by an image forming apparatus. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of an image forming system in the present embodiment. It is a figure which shows the state which synthesize | combined the 300 dpi white character produced from the 600 dpi character, and the 600 dpi character. It is a flowchart which shows the high resolution character processing in 1 band in this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the image resolution process in 1 band in this embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

1 Application 2 OS
3 Printer Driver 4 Graphics Processing Module 5 Print Function (Initialization) Module 6 Banding Initialization Unit 7 Print Function (Drawing and Control) Module 8 Banding Processing Unit 9 Character High Resolution Processing Unit 10 Rendering Processing Unit 11 Binarization Processing Unit 12 Command processing unit 13 Image resolution processing unit 14 Rendering processing unit 15 Character information discrimination processing unit 16 Command processing unit 17 UI module 18 Binary data receiving unit 19 Multi-value data receiving unit 20 Binary processing unit 21 Image composition unit 22 Image formation Part

Claims (10)

A data generation method in an information processing apparatus for generating data to be output to an image forming apparatus,
When the information is a character, high-resolution character data is generated from the low-resolution character information, and low-resolution character data is generated from the high-resolution character data. A generation process for generating non-character data from
A determination step of determining an overlapping portion based on low-resolution character data and non-character data generated in the generation step;
A binarization step for binarizing the high-resolution character data generated in the generation step;
An output step of outputting binary data obtained by removing the overlapping portion determined in the determination step from the binary data binarized in the binarization step, and data other than the characters;
A data generation method characterized by comprising:   2. The generation process, the determination process, the binarization process, and the output process are executed by a printer driver installed in the information processing apparatus corresponding to the image forming apparatus. Data generation method.   The generating step draws the low-resolution character data as white character image data, and the determining step includes overlapping portions based on the white character image data and image data on which information other than characters is drawn. The data generation method according to claim 1, wherein the data generation method is determined. An information processing apparatus that generates data for output to an image forming apparatus,
When the information is a character, high-resolution character data is generated from the low-resolution character information, and low-resolution character data is generated from the high-resolution character data. Generating means for generating non-character data from
Discriminating means for discriminating an overlapping portion based on low-resolution character data generated by the generating means and data other than characters;
Binarizing means for binarizing the high-resolution character data generated by the generating means;
Output means for outputting binary data obtained by removing the overlapping portion determined by the determination means from the binary data binarized by the binarization means, and data other than the characters;
An information processing apparatus comprising:   5. An image forming system comprising: the information processing apparatus according to claim 4; and an image forming apparatus that forms an image based on data output from the information processing apparatus.   A program for causing a computer to execute the data generation method according to any one of claims 1 to 3.   A computer-readable recording medium on which the program according to claim 6 is recorded. First generation means for generating low resolution image data;
Second generation means for generating high-resolution image data by removing a portion overlapping with the low-resolution image;
An information processing apparatus comprising: output means for outputting low-resolution image data generated by the first generation means and high-resolution image data generated by the second generation means to an image forming apparatus. A first generation step of generating low resolution image data;
A second generation step of generating high resolution image data by removing a portion overlapping with the low resolution image;
A data generation method comprising: an output step of outputting the low resolution image data generated by the first generation step and the high resolution image data generated by the second generation step to an image forming apparatus.   A program for causing a computer to execute the data generation method according to claim 9.

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