JP2007257504A - Server, program, and business form production system for electronic pen - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a production system allowing a general user to easily produce a business form for an electronic pen printed with a dot pattern on the basis of a designed design without understanding a mechanism of the system. <P>SOLUTION: In this production system 100, a POD server 60 acquires first print data transmitted to a printer 52 by a design terminal 50 by intercept. The POD server 60 converts the first print data into image data, and performs impartment of an image ID and allocation of the dot pattern. The image ID and coordinate data of the dot pattern are associated, and are stored as address information. The POD server 60 produces second print data on the basis of the image data and the dot pattern, and transmits them to the printer 52. The printer 52 produces the business form for the electronic pen on the basis of the second print data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technology for manufacturing electronic pen forms.

  In recent years, pen-type input devices called “electronic pens” and “digital pens” have appeared (hereinafter referred to as “electronic pens” in this specification). The developed “Anoto pen” is known. Anotopen is used in a pair with dedicated paper (hereinafter referred to as “dedicated paper”) on which a predetermined dot pattern is printed. In addition to the normal ink-type pen tip, the Anoto pen is equipped with a small camera for reading the dot pattern on the dedicated paper and a data communication unit. When a user writes characters on the special paper with an anotopen or checks an image that is designed on the special paper, the small camera detects the dot pattern on the special paper as the pen moves, and the user Entry information (also referred to as “stroke data”) such as written characters and images is acquired. This entry information is transmitted from the Anotopen by the data communication unit to a terminal device such as a nearby personal computer or mobile phone. The system using this anotopen can be used as an input device in place of the keyboard, and is very easy to use for users who are reluctant to use the personal computer and keyboard described above. Therefore, currently, a system using such an electronic pen is spreading (for example, Patent Document 1).

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a print-on-demand system that assigns and outputs different dot patterns for each sheet has been proposed so that an electronic pen can uniquely identify a paper medium. However, the conventional system needs to register the design that is the background of the paper medium in advance, and it is not possible to assign a dot pattern to the paper medium designed by a general user who is not the system administrator and output it. It was difficult.

JP 2004-153612 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and a general user can easily manufacture an electronic pen form on which a dot pattern is printed based on a designed design without understanding the system mechanism. It is an object of the present invention to provide a manufacturing system that can be used.

  One aspect of the present invention relates to a design terminal for designing a design to be printed on a paper medium and a server capable of communicating with a printer for performing printing on a paper medium, the design being designed by the design terminal, First print data acquisition means for acquiring first print data necessary for printing on a medium, image data conversion means for converting the first print data into image data recognizable by the server, and the image data Image identification information providing means for assigning image identification information capable of identifying each image data; dot pattern assigning means for acquiring a dot pattern recognizable by the electronic pen and assigning the image data to the image data; and image identification information providing means Stores address information that associates the image identification information assigned by the image with the dot pattern coordinate information assigned by the dot pattern assigning means. For printing on a paper medium with respect to the design designed by the design terminal based on the address information storage means, the image data converted by the image data conversion means, and the dot pattern assigned by the dot pattern assignment means Second print data creating means for creating the second print data necessary for printing, and second print data transmitting means for sending the second print data to the printer.

  The server configured as described above is communicably connected to a design terminal on which a design for printing on a paper medium is designed by a user and a printer that executes printing on the paper medium. First, a user designs a design of a picture / symbol printed on a paper medium using a design terminal, that is, printed on a form for an electronic pen to be manufactured. The design terminal is a terminal device that designs a design to be printed on a form for an electronic pen by a user, and has arbitrary application software in advance. Application software refers to software for creating drawings and design drawings including CAD (Computer Aided Design) software, for example. When the design of the design is completed, the user performs printing by a predetermined operation. Then, regarding the design designed by the user, the design terminal transmits the first print data necessary for printing on the paper medium to the printer. At this time, the server acquires the first print data transmitted from the design terminal to the printer by intercepting it. Further, the server creates image data by converting the acquired first print data into a format that can be recognized by the server. That is, the first print data is converted into image data. Then, the server assigns an image ID to the image data and assigns a dot pattern to the image data. The image ID assigned to each image data and the coordinate information indicating the position coordinates of the assigned dot pattern are associated with each other and stored in the server as address information. Furthermore, the server creates second print data necessary for printing on a paper medium for the design designed by the user based on the image data and the dot pattern. Then, the server transmits the second print data to the printer. The printer manufactures the electronic pen form by printing the design designed by the user and the assigned dot pattern on a paper medium based on the second print data.

  As described above, according to the server of the present invention, a general user can easily manufacture an electronic pen form based on the design of one point designed by the general user without understanding a detailed mechanism. Furthermore, since the function used for manufacturing the electronic pen form diverts the printing function of almost all software, it is not necessary to correspond to each type of application and can be applied universally. Further, based on the address information stored in the server, the contents entered in the electronic pen form by the electronic pen can be easily reflected in the design.

  In another aspect of the server, the image data conversion unit adjusts the color containing black used in the image data so as to express the mixed color of other colors not containing carbon. Means are further provided. Since the electronic pen recognizes ink containing carbon, by performing color adjustment in this way, the electronic pen can accurately recognize the contents of entry and the coordinate information of the dot pattern.

  In another aspect of the present invention, a design terminal for designing a design to be printed on a paper medium and a program executed by a computer capable of communicating with a printer for performing printing on a paper medium, the design designed by the design terminal The first print data acquisition means for acquiring the first print data necessary for printing on a paper medium, the image data conversion means for converting the first print data into image data recognizable by the computer, the image data In addition, image identification information providing means for assigning image identification information capable of identifying each image data, dot pattern assigning means for acquiring a dot pattern recognizable by the electronic pen and assigning the image data to the image data, and the image identification information providing means The assigned image identification information is associated with the coordinate information of the dot pattern assigned by the dot pattern assigning means. Address information storage means for storing address information, printing on a paper medium for a design designed by the design terminal based on the image data converted by the image data conversion means and the dot pattern assigned by the dot pattern assignment means The computer is caused to function as second print data creating means for creating second print data necessary for the purpose, and second print data transmitting means for transmitting the second print data to the printer.

  By executing the above program by a computer, the above-described server can be realized. Moreover, each aspect of the above-described server can be realized in the same manner.

  In still another aspect of the present invention, a design terminal for designing a design to be printed on a paper medium, a server that assigns a dot pattern that can be recognized by an electronic pen, and a printer that executes printing on a paper medium, An electronic pen form manufacturing system for manufacturing an electronic pen form which is a paper medium on which the dot pattern is printed, wherein the design terminal is necessary for printing on a paper medium based on the designed design A first print data creating means for creating first print data; and a first print data sending means for sending the first print data to the printer. The server sends the design terminal to the printer. First print data acquisition means for acquiring first print data by intercepting the first print data, and converting the first print data into image data that can be recognized by the server. Image data conversion means, image identification information providing means for assigning image identification information capable of identifying each image data to the image data, dot pattern assignment means for acquiring the dot pattern and assigning it to the image data, Address information storage means for storing address information in which the image identification information given by the image identification information giving means and the coordinate information of the dot pattern assigned by the dot pattern assignment means are associated with each other, and the image data conversion means converts Second print data for generating second print data necessary for printing on a paper medium with respect to the design designed by the design terminal based on the obtained image data and the dot pattern assigned by the dot pattern assigning means Creating means and second print data transmitting means for transmitting the second print data to the printer The printer includes a second print data acquisition unit that acquires the second print data from the server, and an electronic device that manufactures an electronic pen form by executing printing on a paper medium based on the second print data. Pen form manufacturing means.

  According to the manufacturing system configured as described above, a user first designs a design to be printed on a paper medium using a design terminal. When the design of the design is completed, the user performs printing by a predetermined operation. Then, regarding the design designed by the user, the design terminal transmits the first print data necessary for printing on the paper medium to the printer. At this time, the server acquires the first print data transmitted from the design terminal to the printer by intercepting it. Further, the server creates image data by converting the acquired first print data into a format that can be recognized by the server. That is, the first print data is converted into image data. Then, the server assigns an image ID to the image data and assigns a dot pattern to the image data. The image ID assigned to each image data and the coordinate information indicating the position coordinates of the assigned dot pattern are associated with each other and stored in the server as address information. Furthermore, the server creates second print data necessary for printing on a paper medium for the design designed by the user based on the image data and the dot pattern. Then, the server transmits the second print data to the printer. The printer manufactures the electronic pen form by printing the design designed by the user and the assigned dot pattern on a paper medium based on the second print data. According to this, a general user can easily manufacture a form for an electronic pen based on a single design designed by the general user without understanding a detailed mechanism.

  According to the present invention, a general user can easily manufacture an electronic pen form on which a dot pattern is printed based on the designed design without understanding the system mechanism.

  Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, an outline of an electronic pen used as an input device in the system of the present invention will be described.

[Electronic pen]
FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing how the electronic pen is used, and FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing the structure of the electronic pen. As shown in FIG. 1, the electronic pen 10 is used in combination with a dedicated paper 20 on which a dot pattern is printed. The electronic pen 10 includes a pen tip portion 17 similar to a normal ink pen, and a user writes characters on the dedicated paper 20 in the same manner as a normal ink pen.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the electronic pen 10 includes a processor 11, a memory 12, a data communication unit 13, a battery 14, an LED 15, a camera 16, and a pressure sensor 18 therein. The electronic pen 10 includes an ink cartridge (not shown) as a component similar to a normal ink pen.

  The electronic pen 10 does not convert the locus of the ink drawn on the dedicated paper 20 by the pen tip unit 17 but converts the locus coordinates of the movement of the electronic pen 10 on the dedicated paper 20 into data. While the LED 15 illuminates the vicinity of the pen tip 17 on the dedicated paper 20, the camera 16 reads the dot pattern printed on the dedicated paper 20 and converts it into data. That is, the electronic pen 10 can acquire, as image data or vector data, a stroke generated when the user moves the electronic pen 10 on the dedicated paper 20.

  The pressure sensor 18 detects the pressure applied to the pen tip portion 17 when the user writes characters on the dedicated paper with the electronic pen 10, that is, the writing pressure, and supplies the detected pressure to the processor 11. The processor 11 switches on / off the LED 15 and the camera 16 based on the writing pressure data provided from the pressure sensor 18. That is, when the user writes characters or the like on the dedicated paper 20 with the electronic pen 10, writing pressure is applied to the pen tip portion 17. Therefore, when the writing pressure exceeding the predetermined value is detected, it is determined that the user has started the description, and the LED 15 and the camera 16 are operated.

  The camera 16 reads the dot pattern on the dedicated paper 20 and supplies the pattern data to the processor 11. The processor 11 calculates X / Y coordinates on the dedicated paper 20 from the supplied dot pattern.

  The processor 11 acquires the writing pressure array data and the X / Y coordinate data while the description of the user is performed, and stores them in the memory 12 in association with the time stamp (time information). Therefore, data corresponding to the description content of the user is stored in the memory 12 in time series. The capacity of the memory 12 can be about 1 Mbyte, for example.

  All the acquired data is held in the memory 12 until a transmission instruction is given by the user. When the user gives a transmission instruction, the data communication unit 13 transmits the data in the memory 12 to the terminal device 25 within a predetermined distance from the electronic pen 10. Basically, once a transmission instruction is given, the electronic pen 10 transmits all data stored in the memory 12 to the terminal device 25, and thus the memory 12 is cleared. Therefore, when it is desired to transmit the same information to the terminal device 25 again after transmission, the user needs to write the description on the dedicated paper 20 again. In this case, the user can trace characters written on the dedicated paper 20 with an ink pen.

  The transmission instruction and other instructions are executed when the user checks the dedicated box provided at a predetermined position on the dedicated paper 20 with the electronic pen 10. A transmission instruction is associated with the position coordinates of the dedicated box in advance, and when the processor 11 receives the position coordinates of the dedicated box, the processor 11 supplies the data in the memory 12 to the data communication unit 13 and transmits it to the terminal device 25. To do. The electronic pen 10 can indicate completion of data transmission by vibration of the electronic pen. Further, the electronic pen 10 itself may be equipped with a transmission function.

  The battery 14 is for supplying power to each element in the electronic pen 10, and the electronic pen 10 itself can be turned on / off by a cap (not shown) of the electronic pen, for example.

  As described above, the electronic pen 10 has a function of acquiring coordinate data and writing pressure data corresponding to characters and the like described on the dedicated paper 20 by the user and transmitting them to the nearby terminal device 25. Since the pen tip portion 17 is a normal ink pen, the content described on the dedicated paper 20 remains as an original original. That is, at the same time as describing the original paper, its contents can be digitized in the form of coordinate data in real time.

  According to the standard function of the electronic pen 10, data obtained by the electronic pen 10 is in principle in the form of coordinate data or vector data, and is not text data. However, as a standard function, the electronic pen 10 has a function of converting text into alphanumeric characters by describing it in a dedicated area provided on the dedicated paper 20.

  Also, the electronic pen 10 can hold property information (pen information and pen owner information) regarding the pen itself and its owner, and can be referenced from the application. As the pen information, a battery level, a pen ID, a pen manufacturer number, a pen software version, a subscription provider ID, and the like can be held. The pen owner information can hold nationality, language, time zone, email address, free memory capacity, name, address, fax / phone number, mobile phone number, and the like.

  In the data communication unit 13 in the above example, the electronic pen 10 is connected to the terminal device 25 by various methods such as wireless transmission using Bluetooth (registered trademark), wired transmission using a USB cable, and data transmission by contact with a terminal. It is conceivable to perform data transmission.

  Next, a method for acquiring X / Y coordinate data of contents described by the user with the electronic pen will be described. As described above, a predetermined dot pattern is printed on the dedicated paper 20. The camera 16 of the electronic pen 10 does not read the locus of ink described on the dedicated paper 20 by the user, but reads the dot pattern on the dedicated paper 20. Actually, as shown in FIG. 1, the illumination area by the LED 15 and the shooting area of the camera 16 (located in the illumination area) are deviated from the position where the pen tip portion 17 contacts the dedicated paper 20.

  The dot pattern is printed with a special ink containing carbon, and the camera 16 can recognize only the pattern with the special ink. Even if a ruled line or a frame is printed on the dedicated paper with an ink other than the dedicated ink (not including carbon), the electronic pen does not recognize them. Therefore, when creating forms such as various application forms using dedicated paper, input frames, ruled lines, cautions, etc. are printed with ink other than dedicated ink.

  In the dot pattern, the position of each dot is associated with data, as illustrated in FIG. In the example of FIG. 3, the 2-bit information 0 to 3 is displayed by shifting the dot position vertically and horizontally from the reference position of the lattice (intersection of the vertical and horizontal lines). The position coordinates on the dedicated paper are determined by the combination of information expressed in this way. As illustrated in FIG. 4A, 36 dots are arranged in a grid within a range of 2 mm in length and width, and the data array (FIG. 4B) indicated by these dots is displayed on the dedicated paper. Are associated with the position coordinates. Therefore, when the camera 16 of the electronic pen 10 captures a dot pattern as shown in FIG. 4A, the processor 11 changes the data array shown in FIG. 4B based on the dot pattern data input from the camera 16. The position coordinates on the dedicated paper (that is, where the dot pattern is located on the dedicated paper) corresponding to the acquired position are calculated in real time. The minimum unit for recognizing a dot pattern is 2 mm × 2 mm, and the camera 16 takes about 100 shots per second.

  Next, the dedicated paper will be described. An example of the structure of the dedicated paper is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the dedicated paper 20 has a dot pattern 32 printed on a mount 30 and a design 34 such as a ruled line printed thereon. The mount 30 is usually paper, and the dot pattern 32 is printed with dedicated ink containing carbon as described above. Also, the design 34 is printed with normal ink or the like. The dot pattern and the design may be printed at the same time, or one of them may be printed first.

  An example of the design 34 is shown in FIG. FIG. 6 shows an example of a certain application form 36 in which a plurality of entry fields 38 and a transmission box 39 are printed. Although it is not clearly shown in FIG. 6 and will be described in detail later, a dot pattern is actually printed on the entire surface of the application form 36, and an entry box 38 and a transmission box 39 are formed on the entire surface using ordinary ink. It is printed. The user may fill out the necessary items in the entry fields 38 of the application form 36 using the electronic pen 10 in the same manner as a conventional application form without being aware of the dot pattern.

  The area on the dedicated paper 20 can be roughly divided into two types. One is an entry area, in which the content described by the electronic pen 10 is handled as information as it is. In the example of FIG. 6, a plurality of entry fields 38 correspond to this. The other is a functional element. When a corresponding area is checked with the electronic pen 10, actions, instructions, and the like defined for the area are executed in advance. The transmission box 39 in the example of FIG. 6 corresponds to this.

  The transmission box 39 is used when giving an instruction to transmit data stored in the electronic pen 10 to the nearby terminal device 25 as described above. When the user checks the transmission box 39 with the electronic pen 10, the electronic pen 10 reads the dot pattern in the transmission box. The pattern is associated with a transmission instruction, and the processor 11 in the electronic pen 10 issues a command to transmit data stored in the memory 12 to the data communication unit 13.

  When the user inputs necessary items to the application form 36 with the electronic pen 10, it is possible to specify from the coordinate data on the application form which item of the application form the input item is for. .

  As described above, by printing a predetermined design on the dedicated paper on which the dot pattern is printed, various application forms using the dedicated paper can be created. If the user uses the electronic pen 10 and fills in necessary items in a normal manner, the electronic data is automatically acquired.

  In the above example, the dot pattern is printed on the dedicated paper with carbon-containing ink. However, it is also possible to print the dot pattern on ordinary paper using a printer and carbon-containing ink. Furthermore, the design on the dedicated paper can also be formed by a printer instead of printing. When dot patterns are formed on paper by a printer, different dot patterns can be formed on each sheet. Therefore, each of the sheets can be identified and distinguished by the difference in the formed dot pattern.

  In the present specification, the term “print” is a concept including not only normal printing but also printing by a printer. Further, in this specification, normal “offset printing” is not performed, but “printer printing” by a printer is performed.

  Next, transmission processing of data acquired by the electronic pen will be described with reference to FIG. The data acquired by the electronic pen 10 is mainly data of items input by the user, but usually does not include information on where the service server that is the transmission destination of the data is. Instead, information specifying the application or service related to the dedicated paper is included in the dot pattern on the dedicated paper, and the information is acquired from the dedicated paper during the user's input operation. Therefore, the terminal device 25 that has received the entry information on the dedicated paper from the electronic pen 10 first makes an inquiry to the inquiry server 26 to which service server 27 the data input to the dedicated paper should be transmitted. I do. The inquiry server 26 has information on a corresponding service server for each dedicated paper, and in response to an inquiry from the terminal device 25, information (such as a URL) of the service server 27 that performs a service related to the dedicated paper. Answer to the terminal device 25. Then, the terminal device 25 transmits the entry information acquired from the electronic pen to the service server 27.

  In the above example, the terminal device 25, the inquiry server 26, and the service server 27 are separately configured. However, some or all of them may be configured as one device. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the calibration server 70 described later includes the functions of the inquiry server 26 and the service server 27.

[Manufacturing system]
Next, the manufacturing system of the present invention will be described. FIG. 7 shows a schematic configuration of the manufacturing system 100 of the present invention. The manufacturing system 100 is a system for manufacturing an electronic pen form by printing a design designed by a user and a dot pattern recognizable by the electronic pen 10 on a normal paper medium. The electronic pen form is the above-described dedicated paper.

  As illustrated, the manufacturing system 100 is configured by connecting a terminal device 50, a POD (Print On Demand) server 60, and a printer 52 so that they can communicate with each other. The design terminal 50 is a terminal device that designs a design to be printed on a form for an electronic pen by a user, and has arbitrary application software in advance. Application software refers to software for creating drawings and design drawings including CAD (Computer Aided Design) software, for example. The POD server 60 is a server that assigns a dot pattern that can be recognized by the electronic pen 10 to the image data corresponding to the design designed by the design terminal 50, and stores the relationship between the image data and the dot pattern as address information. is there. The POD server 60 is connected to a dot pattern database (hereinafter referred to as “DB”) 62 and an address information DB 64.

  Here, with reference to FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, the outline of the electronic pen form manufacturing method according to the present system will be described. FIG. 8 is an example of a design designed by the user using the design terminal 50.

  In addition, the printer 52 of this embodiment prints a dot pattern with the special ink containing carbon etc. which the electronic pen 10 can recognize. On the other hand, designs other than the dot pattern (patterns and designs) are printed with ink that does not contain carbon that cannot be recognized by the electronic pen 10, that is, ink other than the dedicated ink. Specifically, in this embodiment, the dot pattern is printed with black ink (K) containing carbon, and the pattern or the like is printed with ink other than black (CMY). Therefore, it is assumed that the printer 52 used in this embodiment is not a monochrome printer but a color printer.

  In the manufacturing system 100, a user first designs a design as shown in FIG. That is, a design for printing on a paper medium by the printer 52 is designed. When the design is completed, the user prints the designed design from the print menu by a predetermined operation. At this time, the design terminal 50 creates first print data for printing the design designed by the user, and transmits the first print data to the printer 52.

  The POD server 60 acquires the first print data transmitted from the design terminal 50 to the printer 52 by intercepting the dot pattern automatic composition driver. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the POD server 60 has a printer driver. The POD server 60 converts the acquired first print data into image data that can be recognized by itself. Specifically, the first print data is converted into EPS format or the like as image data. Further, the POD server 60 performs color adjustment so that black (K) used in the image data is expressed by a CMY mixed color. This is because since the electronic pen 10 recognizes ink containing carbon, black (K) containing carbon cannot be used in a design other than the dot pattern.

  The POD server 60 that has completed conversion to image data assigns an image ID to the image data. The image ID is information for identifying each image data. Then, the POD server 60 extracts the dot pattern from the dot pattern DB 62 and assigns it to the image data. At this time, the POD server 60 creates address information in which the image ID of the image data is associated with the coordinate data related to the coordinates of the assigned dot pattern, and stores the address information in the address information DB 64. Further, the POD server 60 creates second print data based on the image data obtained by converting the first print data and the assigned dot pattern, and transmits the second print data to the printer 52.

  The printer 52 executes printing on a paper medium based on the second print data. Specifically, by printing the image data and the dot pattern of the second print data on a paper medium, an electronic pen form on which a design as shown in FIG. 8 is printed is manufactured.

[Calibration system]
Next, a calibration system using the electronic pen form manufactured by the manufacturing system 100 as described above will be described. FIG. 9 shows a schematic configuration of the calibration system 100 of the present invention. The calibration system 100 is a system that can easily reflect the contents calibrated by the electronic pen 10 by the user B, such as a client, to the electronic pen form 3 which is a design drawing manufactured by the user A, the designer. It is.

  As illustrated, the calibration system 200 is configured by connecting the terminal device 25, the POD server 60, and the calibration server 70 via the network 2 so that they can communicate with each other. The terminal device 25 is a personal computer, a mobile phone, or the like that acquires entry information from the electronic pen 10 and transmits it to the calibration server 70 as described above. The calibration server 70 is a server that reflects the content of calibration based on the entry information acquired from the terminal device 25 and the address information extracted from the address information DB 64 connected to the POD server 60. Since the POD server 60 has been described above, a description thereof will be omitted for the sake of convenience.

  Since the electronic pen form 3 is manufactured by the manufacturing system 100, it is assumed that corresponding address information is stored in the address information DB 64 in advance.

  Here, an outline of the method of reflecting the calibration contents by this system will be described. The user A who is a designer first manufactures the electronic pen form 3 on which the design drawing designed by the user A is printed by the manufacturing system 100. User B who is a client or the like calibrates the design drawing by filling in the electronic pen form 3 with the electronic pen 10. When the calibration is completed, the user B transmits the entry information stored in the electronic pen 10 to the calibration server 70 via the terminal device 25.

  The calibration server 70 extracts the coordinate data of the dot pattern printed on the electronic pen form 3 from the entry information acquired from the electronic pen 10. Further, the calibration server 70 extracts corresponding address information from the address information DB 64 of the POD server 60 via the network 2 based on the extracted coordinate data. With this address information, the proofreading server 70 can specify the image ID of the image data corresponding to the design drawing printed on the electronic pen form 3. Therefore, the calibration server 70 can acquire the image data based on the specified image ID, and can easily reflect the calibration content in the image data based on the entry information.

  The image data may be stored in the address information DB 64 in association with the image ID and coordinate data, or may be stored in advance in the calibration server 70 in association with the image ID.

  In the present embodiment, the proofreading system 200 automatically reflects the proofreading contents based on the entry information and the address information. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the entry information is displayed by the designer. It may be transmitted to a certain user A and reflected artificially in the design drawing.

  As described above, according to the electronic pen form manufactured by the manufacturing system 100 of the present invention, the calibration contents can be automatically reflected in a short time by calibrating the electronic pen form with the electronic pen 10. it can. Further, even when the proofreading contents are artificially reflected, since the entry information is electronic data, the reflection time can be greatly shortened.

[POD server]
Next, the POD server 60 will be described in detail. FIG. 10 shows an internal configuration of the manufacturing system 100, particularly the manufacturing system 60. As shown in the figure, the POD server 60 includes an electronic pen form manufacturing program 101, a first print data acquisition function 102, an image data conversion function 103, an image ID assignment function 104, a dot pattern assignment function 105, an address information storage function 106, A second print data creation function 107 is provided. Each function is realized by the CPU of the POD server 60 executing a program prepared in advance.

  The electronic pen form production program 101 is a program for creating second print data by assigning a dot pattern after converting the intercepted first print data into image data. The electronic pen form manufacturing program 101 is a program for storing the relationship between the image data and the dot pattern in the address information DB 64 as address information.

  The first print data acquisition function 102 is a function for acquiring the first print data by intercepting the first print data transmitted from the design terminal 50 to the printer 52.

  The image data conversion function 103 is a function for converting the first print data into image data that can be recognized by the POD server 60. Specifically, the image data conversion function 103 first converts the first print data into EPS format image data. Further, the image data conversion function 103 performs color adjustment so that black (K) used in the image is expressed by CMY mixed colors.

  The image ID assigning function 104 is a function for assigning an image ID for identifying each image data obtained by converting the first print data by the image data conversion function 103.

  The dot pattern assignment function 105 is a function for assigning the dot pattern extracted from the dot pattern DB 62 to the image data. The dot pattern assignment function 105 may assign different dot patterns to each image data. It is assumed that the dot pattern DB 62 is recognizable by the electronic pen 10 and stores a large amount of usable dot patterns in advance.

  The address information storage function 106 creates address information in which the image ID assigned by the image ID assignment function 104 and the coordinate data of the dot pattern assigned by the dot pattern assignment function 105 are associated with each other, and stores the address information in the address information DB 64. It is.

  Here, the address information DB 64 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 11 is a diagram schematically showing the data structure of the address information DB 64. As shown in the figure, the address information DB 64 is composed of an image ID and coordinate data. Here, the image ID is identification information given to the image data. The coordinate data is information indicating the position coordinates of the dot pattern assigned to the image data. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the dot pattern assigned to each image data is a rectangle, and the coordinate data is expressed by the upper left vertex coordinates and the lower right vertex coordinates of the dot pattern. The present embodiment is not limited to this, and the dot pattern assignment method and the coordinate data expression method can be arbitrarily set.

  The second print data creation function 107 is a function for creating second print data based on the image data converted by the image data conversion function 103 and the dot pattern assigned by the dot pattern assignment function 105. Specifically, the second print data, which is the final print data, is created by converting to the PS format. The second print data creation function 107 is a function for transmitting the created second print data to the terminal device 25.

[Form manufacturing process]
Next, the form manufacturing process executed by the manufacturing system 100 will be described. FIG. 12 is a flowchart of the form manufacturing process.

  First, a user who is a designer designs a design using the design terminal 50. Specifically, a design diagram as shown in FIG. 8 is designed. When the design is completed, the user requests printing of the design drawing from the print menu by a predetermined operation. At this time, the design terminal 50 creates first print data for printing the design drawing designed by the user, and transmits the first print data to the printer 52.

  The POD server 60 acquires the first print data transmitted from the design terminal 50 to the printer 52 through interception (step S1). Then, the acquired first print data is converted into image data (step S2). At this time, the POD server 60 specifically performs conversion to the EPS format and color adjustment. When the conversion to the image data is completed, the POD server 60 assigns an image ID to the image data (step S3). Further, the POD server 60 assigns the dot pattern extracted from the dot pattern DB 62 to the image data (step S4). Further, the POD server 60 creates address information in which the assigned image ID is associated with the coordinate data of the assigned dot pattern, and stores it in the address information DB 62 (step S5).

  Then, the POD server 60 creates second print data that is final print data based on the converted image data and the assigned dot pattern. Further, the generated second print data is transmitted to the printer 52, thereby completing the form manufacturing process (step S6).

  Based on the second print data acquired from the POD server 60, the printer 52 manufactures an electronic pen form by printing a design diagram as shown in FIG. 8 and an assigned dot pattern on a paper medium.

  The design terminal 50, the printer 52, and the POD server 60 may be connected via the network 2 such as the Internet.

  In the conventional system, it is necessary to register the design drawing in the manufacturing system 100 in advance. However, since the designer designs one design drawing each time, there is a problem that the work of the designer converting the design drawing into an image format that can be recognized by the POD server 60 and registering it every time cannot be endured. It was. Although a method for automating such an operation is conceivable, since there are many softwares for creating drawings and design drawings, it has been extremely difficult to deal with all the commercially available software each time.

  On the other hand, according to the manufacturing system 100 of the present invention, the common function “printing” possessed by almost all commercially available software is used. The manufacturing system 100 intercepts print data output from the application before transferring it to the printer, and transmits new print data to which the dot pattern has been added to the printer 52 by the POD server 60. Therefore, a general user can easily automatically output an electronic pen form with a dot pattern based on the designed one design without understanding the mechanism of the manufacturing system 100. In addition, since this function uses the printing function of almost all software, it is not necessary to correspond to each type of application and can be used for general purposes.

  As described above, according to the present invention, a general user can easily manufacture and use an electronic pen form on which a dot pattern is printed based on a designed design without understanding the system mechanism. .

It is a figure which shows the usage pattern of an electronic pen typically. It is a functional block diagram which shows the structure of an electronic pen. It is a figure explaining the expression method of the information by the dot pattern printed on the exclusive paper. It is an example of a dot pattern and the information corresponding to it. The structure of a form composed of dedicated paper is shown. An example of an electronic pen form is shown. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a manufacturing system. It is an example of a design drawing. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a calibration system. FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram of a POD server included in the manufacturing system shown in FIG. 7. It is a figure which shows typically the data structure of address information DB. It is a flowchart of a form manufacturing process.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 2 ... Network 10 ... Electronic pen 11 ... Processor 12 ... Memory 13 ... Data communication unit 14 ... Battery 25 ... Terminal device 26 ... Inquiry server 27 ... Service server 100 ... Manufacturing system

Claims (4)

A server capable of communicating with a design terminal that is designed to print on a paper medium and a printer that executes printing on the paper medium,
First print data acquisition means for acquiring first print data necessary for printing on a paper medium in relation to the design designed by the design terminal;
Image data conversion means for converting the first print data into image data recognizable by the server;
Image identification information giving means for giving image identification information capable of identifying each image data to the image data;
A dot pattern assigning unit that obtains a dot pattern recognizable by the electronic pen and assigns it to the image data;
Address information storage means for storing address information in which the image identification information given by the image identification information giving means and the coordinate information of the dot pattern assigned by the dot pattern assignment means are associated with each other;
Second print data necessary for printing on a paper medium with respect to the design designed by the design terminal based on the image data converted by the image data conversion means and the dot pattern assigned by the dot pattern assignment means. A second print data creating means for creating
And a second print data transmitting means for transmitting the second print data to the printer. The image data converting means includes
2. The server according to claim 1, further comprising a color adjusting unit configured to adjust black including carbon used in the image data so as to be expressed by a color mixture of other colors not including carbon. . A program executed by a computer capable of communicating with a design terminal for designing a design to be printed on a paper medium and a printer for executing printing on the paper medium,
First print data acquisition means for acquiring first print data necessary for printing on a paper medium with respect to the design designed by the design terminal;
Image data conversion means for converting the first print data into image data recognizable by the computer;
Image identification information providing means for adding image identification information capable of identifying each image data to the image data;
A dot pattern assigning means for acquiring a dot pattern recognizable by the electronic pen and assigning the dot pattern to the image data;
Address information storage means for storing address information in which the image identification information given by the image identification information giving means is associated with the coordinate information of the dot pattern assigned by the dot pattern assignment means;
Based on the image data converted by the image data converting means and the dot pattern assigned by the dot pattern assigning means, the second print data necessary for printing on the paper medium is provided for the design designed by the design terminal. Second print data creation means for creating,
A program that causes the computer to function as second print data transmission means for transmitting the second print data to the printer. A paper medium that includes a design terminal that is designed to print on a paper medium, a server that assigns a dot pattern that can be recognized by an electronic pen, and a printer that executes printing on the paper medium. An electronic pen form manufacturing system for manufacturing electronic pen forms,
The design terminal is
First print data creating means for creating first print data necessary for printing on a paper medium based on the designed design;
First print data transmission means for transmitting the first print data to the printer,
The server
First print data acquisition means for acquiring the first print data transmitted from the design terminal to the printer by intercepting;
Image data conversion means for converting the first print data into image data recognizable by the server;
Image identification information giving means for giving image identification information capable of identifying each image data to the image data;
Dot pattern assigning means for obtaining the dot pattern and assigning it to the image data;
Address information storage means for storing address information in which the image identification information given by the image identification information giving means and the coordinate information of the dot pattern assigned by the dot pattern assignment means are associated with each other;
Second print data necessary for printing on a paper medium with respect to the design designed by the design terminal based on the image data converted by the image data conversion means and the dot pattern assigned by the dot pattern assignment means. A second print data creating means for creating
Second print data transmission means for transmitting the second print data to the printer;
The printer is
Second print data acquisition means for acquiring the second print data from the server;
An electronic pen form manufacturing system comprising: electronic pen form manufacturing means for manufacturing an electronic pen form by executing printing on a paper medium based on the second print data.

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