JPH03102513A - Image output controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To print out image data without missing an important part even when the size of a printable area in a printing sheet is smaller than the size of the image data by designating a print starting position to the image data. CONSTITUTION:A user designates the print starting position of the read image data by a print starting position designating means 2. The print starting position is designated by a position designating means 2b while observing the image data in a display means 2a. Continuously, when the sheet in the prescribed size is set to an image printing means and the print output of the image data is instructed by the user, a comparing means 4 compares the size of the image data with the size of the printable area. When the size of the printable area is smaller, the print starting position due to the position designating means 2 is defined as the print starting position as it is. Reversely, when the size of the printable area is larger, the head of the image data is set as the print starting position.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an image output control device that controls the print output of image data read by an image input device.

〔overview〕

The present invention enables a user to specify in advance the print start position for each image data read by an image input device, and when printing the image data, the image output device is configured to print the print start position. If the printable area of the printing paper is smaller than the size of the image data to be printed, the image output device prints out the image data specified for printing from the print start position specified in advance for the image data. This is how it is controlled. Therefore, by specifying the print start position, the user can avoid a situation in which important parts of each image data are omitted from printing.

[Conventional technology]

Recently, electronic file systems have come into use in offices, which store documents, images, figures, etc. on storage devices such as hard disks and optical disks to improve the efficiency of document processing and make effective use of space. ing.

Most of the documents stored in the above electronic file system are created using word processors, and Image League is mainly used to input other handwritten documents, printed documents, photographs, etc. into electronic files. ing.

Image data such as documents and photographs read by this image reader are stored in electronic files on recording devices such as magnetic disks, write-once optical disks, and writable magneto-optical disks under the control of office computers, etc. is written as image data. Image data such as documents and photographs in this electronic file can be displayed on a display device such as a CRT display or printed externally using a printer or the like at any time.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

3 4 However, when an A4 size handwritten document as shown in Figure 8 (al) is read by an image reader,
The image reader reads all the image information written in the A4-sized handwritten document, but when the printer prints the image data on A4-sized paper, the printer reads all the image information written in the A4-sized handwritten document. paper 2
The edge 2a (the shaded area in the figure) is used for paper feeding, etc. Therefore, the area that can actually be printed on the A4 size paper 2 is excluding the edge 2a. This becomes area 2b. For this reason, if important information is written on the y;11 copy 2a, that important information is not printed, causing an inconvenience. In addition, when a handwritten document, etc. that spans multiple pages is read continuously with an image reader, the arrangement of the image data read for each page may be several meters due to the reading error of the image reader.
It will be off by about l. As a result, important parts may be missing from some pages.

Therefore, in order to deal with the above situation, it is necessary to make a reduced copy of the handwritten document, etc. before having it read by ImageLeague, and then have the reduced copy of the handwritten document read by the image reader. Ta.

This means that when a printer prints image data recorded in an electronic file, it does not determine whether or not the image data to be printed fits within the printable area of the printing paper loaded in the printer. This is thought to be due to the fact that printing is always performed from a predetermined print start position.

An object of the present invention is to enable the printing start position to be specified for each page of image data (image data) to be printed, and when actually printing the image data, the size of the image data and the paper size By constantly comparing the size of the printable area with the size of the printable area of the paper set in the printer, and if the size of the image data is larger than the size of the printable area of the paper set in the printer, printing can be performed from the print start position specified above. be.

[Means to solve the problem]

5 6 The means of the present invention are as follows.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION This invention is applied to the image output control apparatus which prints out the image data (image data) of the document of a predetermined size read by the image input means on the paper of a predetermined size by an image print output means.

Image data size identification 1,000 steps (see the functional block diagram in FIG. 1 fa) identifies the size of image data read by an image input means such as an image reader.

The print start position specifying means 2 is a means for specifying the print start position of the image data read by the image input means, and displays the image data on a display device such as a CRT display and views the display screen. At the same time, the printing start position of the image data is specified using a pointing device such as a mouse.

The printable area size identifying means 3 detects the size of printing paper that is printed on an image printing output means such as a printer, and determines the size of the printing paper using, for example, a pre-stored table.・Identify the printable area size of the printed paper.

Comparison means 4 compares the size of the image data to be printed identified by the image data size identification means 1 and the printable area of the printing paper assigned to the image print output means identified by the printable area size identification means 3. This is a means of comparing the size of the .

If the image print output control means 5 determines that the size of the printable area is smaller than the size of the image data by the comparison stage 4, the image data is designated by the print start position designation stage 2. The image print output is configured such that the image data is printed from the print start position, and if it is determined that the size of the printable area is greater than or equal to the size of the image data, the image data is printed from the top position. It is a means of controlling means.

Further, the printing start position designation 1,000 stages 2 is, for example, as claimed in claim 2.
A display means 2a (see FIG. 1(b), hereinafter the same) for displaying the image data read by the image input means as described, and an arbitrary position of the image data displayed by the display means 2a. and a position specifying means 2b for specifying.

The above display 1,000 steps 2a, e.g. CRT display, LC
It consists of D (liquid crystal display device), plasma display, etc. Further, the position designation stage 2b can be controlled from a pointing device such as a mouse or a digitizer.

[For production]

The operation of the means of the invention is as follows.

When a document, figure, photograph, etc. written on a manuscript of a predetermined size is read as image data (image data) by an image input means such as an image scanner, the image data size identification 1,000 steps identifies the read data. Identify the overall size of the image data.

The image data read by the image input means may be written to an external storage device such as a magnetic disk or an optical disk, or directly displayed on a CRT display or the like.
It is displayed on a.

Next, the user uses the print start position specifying means 2 to specify the print start position of the image data read by the image input means.

The printing start position of the image data can be designated by the print start position designation 1,000 rows 2, for example, by displaying the image data on the display 2a of a CRT display, etc.
While looking at the image data displayed on the screen at a, specify an arbitrary position of the image data displayed on the screen at the display means 2a using a pointing device such as a mouse using a certain position specifying means 2b. This is done by

Next, when the user loads printing paper of a predetermined size into the image print output means and instructs the print output of arbitrary image data, the comparison column 4 compares the size of the image data to be printed and the image print output. Compare the size of the printable area of the printing paper specified in the means.

Then, when the comparison means 4 finishes comparing the size of the image data to be printed and the size of the printable area of the separated printing paper, the image printing 9 10 output control stage 5 performs a process based on the comparison result. , to set a print start position of the image data.

That is, if the size of the printable area of the printing paper is smaller than the size of the image data to be printed, printing is started directly at the print start position of the image data specified by the print start position specification 1,000 steps 2. Conversely, if the size of the printable area of the printing paper is greater than or equal to the size of the image data to be printed, the beginning of the image data to be printed is set as the print start position. Then, when the image print output control step 5 sets the print start position as described above, it then controls the image print output means and prints the image data specified for printing at the position specified above. Print output from the print start position.

Therefore, the user can print from any designated print start position for each image data read by the image input means, even if the document has important parts written (or drawn) at the edges. The original can be printed out without missing important parts.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram of an office computer 10 according to an embodiment.

In the figure, CPU II is a microprocessor that operates according to programs stored in ROM 1.2, which is a read-only memory, and controls the entire system.

The image reader 13 is an image input device that reads image data such as printed documents, handwritten documents, photographs, etc., and the image data read by the image reader 136 (
image data) is sent to the CP via the image league control unit I4.
Input to UII. CPU]. 1 stores the input image data in FIA.1, which is a random access memory. Write to M24.

Further, the keyboard 16 is an alphanumeric input device provided with alphanumeric keys, etc., and is used for inputting alphanumeric data, command input, and the like. Alphanumeric data, commands, etc. input by key operations on the keyboard 16 are input to the CI"'tJil via the eleventh control section 17.

The CRT 18 also receives alphanumeric data and commands input from the keyboard 16, as well as V-R, which will be described later.
This is a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) display that displays image data stored in the AM24, and the CPU II displays the alphanumeric data, commands, and image data on the CRT 18 via the CRT control unit 19. .

Further, the mouse 20 is an operating device for moving a cursor displayed on the screen of the CRT 18, and has mouse buttons 20a.
Specify coordinate positions on the screen, select menus, etc. using the Kurinoku operation. Since the mouse 20 does not move forward, backward, left, or right on desk-L, its movement data is transferred to the mouse control unit 21.
is sent to the CPU 11 via the C. 1) [. J
1. I is CR based on the input movement data.
Move the cursor on 'F18 screen'.

The printer 22 is a print output device using the binot image method that prints out characters, figures, image data, etc. on paper, and prints the binot image data sent via the printer control unit 23 on paper under the control of the CPU II. Output.

(2) The RAM 24 is a random access memory that stores image data displayed on the CRT 18 in units of pixels (pixels), and stores screen data in the form of screen images.

In addition, the ROMI Z 25 is a ROMI disk that stores application programs (business programs) for document creation, spreadsheet processing, and other administrative processes. The aggregation program stored in the floppy disk 25 is read out by the loader stored in the floppy disk 25 via the external storage control unit 26, and the R
The aggregation program is loaded into the AMI 5, and the CPU II starts executing the loaded aggregation program.

The hard disk 27 is a magnetic disk that stores document data, image data, etc.
11, writing/reading of the document data, image data, etc. is performed via the external storage control section 26.

Further, the optical disk 28 is, for example, a write-once optical disk that stores document data, image data, etc., and like the hard disk 27, the document data, Writing/reading of image data, etc. is performed.

Aiming for IP Next, the internal structure of the RAM 15 is shown in FIG.

As shown in the figure, RA. M15 is a printer printing paper size management table 15-1 that stores information regarding the size of the printable area for each printing paper sent to the printer; It has an image data management information table 15-2 that stores the start position.

Figure 4 shows the printer printing paper size management table 15.
-1's internal structure is shown.

As shown in the figure, in the printer printing paper size management table 15-1, the printable area for each size of printing paper such as "B,""A4","B4", etc. It is stored in the format of [・number, vertical dosoto number].

Next, FIG. 5 shows the image data management information table 1.
5-2 shows the internal structure.

As shown in the figure, image database management information table 1
5-2, for each image data read by the image reader 13, a certain image data size 1.5-28, mouse 20 from (horizontal doso number, vertical doso I number)
Indicates the print start position of the image data specified by the click operation of the mouse button 20a (horizontal dot coordinates
It stores image data printing start position i1 5-2 b consisting of vertical dot coordinates (uy) and vertical dot coordinates (uy). still,
Each piece of image data is stored in order starting from page 1.

12 Next, 15 of the main parts of the office computer 10 16 Explain the operation.

Image data processing When a printed document, handwritten document, photograph, etc. of a predetermined size is read by the image reader 13, the image reader 13 scans the document or photograph, etc. in a predetermined order and reads each The gradation information or color information of pixels (vixels) is output to the CPUI 1 via the image league control section 14.

The CPU II inputs the gradation information or color information of each pixel inputted via the image league control unit 14 to R.
Sequentially write to predetermined areas of AMI5. Also, when all image data are input, the dot size of the input image data can be changed to the image data management information table 15-
Write on the relevant page of 2.

Next, by operating keys on the keyboard 16, a command is input that instructs to display the image 2-1 read by the image reader 13 on the screen, and the image data is stored in the RAM by CI) U11. 15 and then written to the V-RAM 24 and displayed on the CRT 18 via the CRT control section 19.

FIG. 6 shows an example of image data displayed by the CRT 18.

As shown in the figure, the screen of the CRTI 8 is provided with an X-Y orthogonal coordinate system with the origin (0, 0) at the upper left corner, and the operator uses the mouse 2 while looking at the screen of the CRT 18.
, move the cursor 101 to the print start position of the image data, and click the mouse button 20a, so that the tip of the arrow of the cursor 101 indicates the X-Y coordinates of the print start position of the image data. It can be specified in the position.

When the mouse button operation is performed, operation information indicating that the button operation has been performed is transmitted to the mouse control unit 21.
When the CPU 1 inputs the operation information, it displays the current screen coordinates of the cursor 101 (
UX, Uy) as the X, Y coordinates of the print start position, R
Image data management information table 15-2 in AM15
The image data 17 to 18 in the image data is written to the corresponding area of the print start position storage area 15-2b (the page to which the image data 6 is allocated).

Next, the image data currently displayed on the CRT 18 is selected by menu selection by key operations on the keyboard 16 or click operations on the mouse button 20a of the mouse 20.
The CPIJII image data print control process performed when an instruction to print image data stored in the hard disk 27 or optical disk 28 is issued will be described with reference to flowchart 1 in FIG.

The CPU 1 first executes an OPEN command to the blink 22 to enable reading/writing of image data to the printer 22, and then reads/writes the currently loaded printing paper to the printer 22 via the printer control unit 23. Detect the size (S1).

Then, based on the detected print paper size, the printer print paper size management table 15-1 in the RAM 15 is searched, and the printable M area of the detected print paper (horizontal dot number y) and stores the printable area data in a built-in register (not particularly shown) (S2).

Subsequently, if the image data specified by the operation of the keyboard I6 or the click operation of the mouse button 20a of the mouse 20 is not currently stored in the RAM 1.5, the specified image data is stored in the RAM 1.5 via the external storage control unit 26. The image data is read out into a print data storage area (not shown) in the RAM 15. Also, if the image data specified above is currently stored in the RAM 15,
The image data is transferred to the print data storage area in the RAM 15. Then, the size of the image data is read from the image data management information 15-2 in the RAM 15, and the size (number of horizontal dots x
vertical dosoto number> is stored in a register (not particularly shown) in the CPU' 11 (S3).

19 20 Next, it is determined whether the size of the printable area of the printing paper loaded in the printer 22 is larger than or equal to the size of the image data designated for printing (S4), and the size of the image data is determined to be larger than the size of the image data designated for printing. If the size is less than the possible area size, register C8 and register ly are both set to "0" (S4).

Note that the register IXXly is a register built into the CPUll that stores the X coordinates and Y coordinates of the print start position of the image data to be printed by the printer 22, respectively.

Following the above process S4, controlling the printer control unit 23,
All of the image data is printed out using the blink 22 from the beginning.

As a result of the above operation, for example, an A4 size printing paper is loaded into the printer 22, and the image data is stored in a B5 size.
If it is the size, the printer 22 prints all 135 size image data on A4 size printing paper. In this way, if the size of the printable area of the printing paper set in the printer 22 is greater than or equal to the size of the image data, the entire designated image data is printed on the printing paper.

On the other hand, if it is determined in the process S4 that the size of the image data to be printed is larger than the printable area of the printing paper set in the printer 22, the image data is extracted from the image data management information table 15-2 in the RAM 15. The image data printing start position i (Uyu, Uy) of the data is read out, and the X coordinate U. of the image data printing start position is read. , y coordinates Uy are stored in registers CX and βA, respectively (S6), and then the above process S7
I do.

For example, if A4 size printing paper is loaded in the printer 22 and the size of the image data is A4 size, the image data will be printed from the print start position specified by the user. Ru.

In this way, if the size of the printable area of the printing paper is smaller than the size of the image data and it is impossible to print the entire image data on the cent printing paper,
Printing of the image data starts from the print start position specified by the user. As a result, by allowing the user to appropriately set the print start position of the image data, the image data can be printed without omitting important parts.

On the other hand, in the above process S7, it is determined whether there is still image data to be printed (S8), and if there is still image data to be printed, the above processes 31 to S7 are repeated.

By the operation described above, all pages of the image data for which the print command has been issued are printed out from the printer 22.

Further, if it is determined in the process S7 that printing of all pages of image data has been completed, the C L of the printer 22 is
OSE processing is performed (S9).

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, the printing start position can be specified at any position for each image data read by the image input device, and when printing out the image data, the size of the image data can be specified by the image output device. automatically identifies whether or not the size of the image data is larger than the printable area of the printing paper being sent, and if the size of the image data is larger than the printable area of the printing paper, the image data is Printing is performed from a pre-specified print start position, so by specifying an appropriate print start position for each image data, it is possible to avoid cases where the size of the printable area of the printing paper is smaller than the size of the image data to be printed. Even if there is, it is possible to print out the important parts without omitting them.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1(a) is a functional block diagram of the present invention, FIG.
2 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of the print position designation means, FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram of an office computer according to the embodiment, and FIG. 23 24 Figure 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of the image data management information table; Figure 6 is the image data displayed on the CRT. FIG. 7 is a flowchart explaining the image data print control process performed by C PtJ, FIG. 8 fa)
Figure 8(b) is a diagram showing a handwritten document of A4 size.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing printable areas of four sizes. ■...Image data size identifying means, 2...Printing start position specifying means, 2a...Display means, 2b...Position specifying means, 3...Printable area size identifying means, 4... Comparison means, 5... Image print output control means.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) An image output control device that causes image print output means to print out image data of a document of a predetermined size read by an image input means on paper of a predetermined size, comprising: image data size identification means for identifying the size of image data read by the image input means; print start position designation means for designating a print start position of the image data read by the image input means; printable area size identification means for detecting the size of paper and identifying the size of the printable area of the printing paper; and the size of the image data to be printed identified by the image data size identification means and the printable area size. a comparison means for comparing the size of the printable area of the printing paper identified by the identification means; and when the comparison means determines that the size of the printable area is smaller than the size of the image data; The image data is printed from the print start position specified by the print start position specifying means, and when it is determined that the size of the printable area is larger than the size of the image data, the image data is printed from the print start position specified by the print start position specifying means. An image output control device comprising: image print output control means for controlling the image print output means so as to print from the top position. 2) The print start position specifying means includes: a display means for displaying the image data read by the image input means; and a position specifying means for specifying an arbitrary position of the image data displayed by the display means. 2. The image output control device according to claim 1, further comprising: an image output control device;