Background
POD (Printing On Demand) is a new Printing mode, and with the development of information technology and the change of information transmission modes, the technology suitable for the existing environment and supporting the realization thereof gradually becomes clear and mature.
In the on-demand printing mode, the printing supplier directly performs digital printing, binding and distribution of the required printing data according to the requirements of the user and the appointed place and time. The printing according to the requirement can meet the requirements of individual printing, waste reduction and one-step in-place of printed matters, zero stock, instant book output and optional individual book printing are realized, the printing according to the requirement is the specific practice of a digital technology in the printing link, and the implementation of the printing according to the requirement needs the support of a whole set of software system.
As shown in fig. 1, in the related art, a print-on-demand printing flow generally includes:
step 102, the server converts the electronic file into a PDF (Portable Document Format) file.
At step 104, the server distributes the electronic file (e.g., PDF file) to the print point.
Step 106, setting a printing control characteristic parameter corresponding to each printing point.
At each printed point, the electronic file is rasterized into an image file, step 108. Typically 8-bit or 1-bit pixel formats, including others.
And step 110, packaging the rasterized file into a formatted printing file by each printing point. Specifically, the rasterized image file and the printing control command are packaged into a specific file format recognized by the digital printer, and the digital printer is controlled to print.
Because the same printing single product is required for printing according to needs, the printing is carried out in different places at different times. In the specific implementation process of the printing process, the real-time printing of the printed matter, namely 'ordering on the same day and shipping on the next day' is difficult to achieve, and the main reason is that during actual printing, a formatted printing file finally used for printing by any printing point may be different from other printing points, and the content and the color of the printed matter printed by each printing point cannot be ensured to be correct in the production process, so that the correctness of the content and the color needs to be manually checked before each printing.
The above printing process was analyzed to have the following drawbacks:
in step 106, when setting the printing control characteristic parameters, different printing points have certain free rows, and the problem of inconsistent parameter setting in the process of printing for multiple times may occur;
in step 108, when the electronic file is converted into the raster file by different printing points, whether the converted pixel dot matrix results are consistent or not cannot be verified, so that the final printed product cannot be ensured to have correct content and meet the quality requirement;
in step 110, the packaged printing control command, command sequence, comes from manual setting, and multiple printing may also be inconsistent.
At present, no effective method is available for avoiding the problems, and the uniform standardized processing of the printed files before the printed files are distributed to the printing points cannot be realized.
Therefore, how to implement unified management and control on the printed documents becomes an urgent technical problem to be solved.
Disclosure of Invention
The invention is based on at least one of the technical problems, and provides a new printing management scheme, when any source electronic file has printing requirements, the corresponding printing template file is generated, so that one-time standardization and multiple printing are realized, and the quality of a printed finished product is ensured.
In view of the above, the present invention provides a printing management method, including: acquiring a source electronic file to be printed; generating a printing template file according to the source electronic file, wherein the printing template file comprises printing parameter information associated with the source electronic file; and sending the printing template file to a printing terminal so that the printing terminal performs printing production according to the printing parameter information and the printing template file.
According to the technical scheme, the source electronic file to be printed is acquired, the printing template file is generated according to the source electronic file, the printing template file comprises printing parameter information associated with the source electronic file, and the printing template file is sent to the printing terminals, so that the source electronic file is subjected to unified standardization processing before the file is sent to each printing terminal, the printing template file comprising the printing parameter information is generated, the printing terminals can perform printing production according to the printing template file and the printing parameter information when receiving the unified printing template file, manual interference is not needed, one-time standardization and multiple-time printing are achieved, and the quality of a printed finished product is ensured.
In the foregoing technical solution, preferably, the step of generating a printing template file according to the source electronic file specifically includes: acquiring the printing parameter information; converting the source electronic file into a standard printed file; performing rasterization processing on the standard printing file to obtain a rasterized image file; and vectorizing the image file, and combining the vectorized image file with the printing parameter information to obtain the printing template file.
In the technical scheme, the printing parameter information is used for abstractly describing printing parameters of the source electronic file, such as resolution, paper size, binding parameters, overprint control parameters and the like (for example, an extensible markup language is used for abstract description), the source electronic file is converted into a standard printing file, preferably, the standard printing file can be converted into a PDF file, certainly, the standard printing file can also be a type file, and a printing template file after multiple processing is a vectorized image file.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing management method including: acquiring a printing template file, wherein the printing template file comprises printing parameter information associated with a source electronic file to be printed; extracting the printing parameter information from the printing template file; and performing printing production according to the printing parameter information and the printing template file.
According to the technical scheme, the printing parameter information is extracted from the printing template file by acquiring the printing template file, so that the printing terminal can perform printing production based on the printing parameter information and the printing template file without manual interference, and the quality of a printed finished product is ensured.
In the above technical solution, preferably, the step of performing printing production according to the printing parameter information and the printing template file specifically includes: generating a target printing control instruction according to the extracted printing parameter information, and converting the printing template file into a target printing file; and printing and producing the target printing file according to the target printing control command.
According to the technical scheme, the target printing control instruction is generated according to the extracted printing parameter information, so that the hidden danger of the artificially set control instruction in the related technology is effectively avoided, the template file is converted into the target printing file, the target printing file is printed and produced according to the target printing control instruction, and the content and the quality of the finally printed finished product can meet the requirements.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print management apparatus comprising: the device comprises an acquisition unit, a printing unit and a printing unit, wherein the acquisition unit is used for acquiring a source electronic file to be printed; the processing unit is used for generating a printing template file according to the source electronic file, and the printing template file contains printing parameter information related to the source electronic file; and the sending unit is used for sending the printing template file to a printing terminal so that the printing terminal performs printing production according to the printing parameter information and the printing template file.
According to the technical scheme, the source electronic file to be printed is acquired, the printing template file is generated according to the source electronic file, the printing template file comprises printing parameter information associated with the source electronic file, and the printing template file is sent to the printing terminals, so that the source electronic file is subjected to unified standardization processing before the file is sent to each printing terminal, the printing template file comprising the printing parameter information is generated, the printing terminals can perform printing production according to the printing template file and the printing parameter information when receiving the unified printing template file, manual interference is not needed, one-time standardization and multiple-time printing are achieved, and the quality of a printed finished product is ensured.
In the foregoing technical solution, preferably, the processing unit is specifically configured to: acquiring the printing parameter information; converting the source electronic file into a standard printed file; performing rasterization processing on the standard printing file to obtain a rasterized image file; and vectorizing the image file, and combining the vectorized image file with the printing parameter information to obtain the printing template file.
In the technical scheme, the printing parameter information is used for abstractly describing printing parameters of the source electronic file, such as resolution, paper size, binding parameters, overprint control parameters and the like (for example, an extensible markup language is used for abstract description), the source electronic file is converted into a standard printing file, preferably, the standard printing file can be converted into a PDF file, certainly, the standard printing file can also be a type file, and a printing template file after multiple processing is a vectorized image file.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing management apparatus comprising: the system comprises an acquisition unit, a processing unit and a processing unit, wherein the acquisition unit is used for acquiring a printing template file which contains printing parameter information related to a source electronic file to be printed; the extracting unit is used for extracting the printing parameter information from the printing template file; and the processing unit is used for performing printing production according to the printing parameter information and the printing template file.
According to the technical scheme, the printing parameter information is extracted from the printing template file by acquiring the printing template file, so that the printing terminal can perform printing production based on the printing parameter information and the printing template file without manual interference, and the quality of a printed finished product is ensured.
In the foregoing technical solution, preferably, the processing unit is specifically configured to: generating a target printing control instruction according to the extracted printing parameter information, and converting the printing template file into a target printing file; and printing and producing the target printing file according to the target printing control command.
According to the technical scheme, the target printing control instruction is generated according to the extracted printing parameter information, so that the hidden danger of the artificially set control instruction in the related technology is effectively avoided, the template file is converted into the target printing file, the target printing file is printed and produced according to the target printing control instruction, and the content and the quality of the finally printed finished product can meet the requirements.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a server comprising: the print management apparatus according to any one of the above aspects.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing terminal comprising: the print management apparatus according to any one of the above aspects.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing management system comprising: a server as described in the above technical solution, and at least one printing terminal as described in the above technical solution.
Through the technical scheme, when any source electronic file has a printing requirement, the corresponding printing template file is generated, one-time standardization and multiple times of printing are realized, and the quality of a printed finished product is ensured.
Detailed Description
In order that the above objects, features and advantages of the present invention can be more clearly understood, a more particular description of the invention will be rendered by reference to the appended drawings. It should be noted that the embodiments and features of the embodiments of the present application may be combined with each other without conflict.
In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention, however, the present invention may be practiced in other ways than those specifically described herein, and therefore the scope of the present invention is not limited by the specific embodiments disclosed below.
FIG. 2 shows a schematic flow diagram of a print management method according to one embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in fig. 2, a printing management method according to an embodiment of the present invention includes:
step 202, acquiring a source electronic file to be printed;
step 204, generating a printing template file according to the source electronic file, wherein the printing template file comprises printing parameter information associated with the source electronic file;
and step 206, sending the printing template file to a printing terminal so that the printing terminal performs printing production according to the printing parameter information and the printing template file.
According to the technical scheme, the source electronic file to be printed is acquired, the printing template file is generated according to the source electronic file, the printing template file comprises printing parameter information associated with the source electronic file, and the printing template file is sent to the printing terminals, so that the source electronic file is subjected to unified standardization processing before the file is sent to each printing terminal, the printing template file comprising the printing parameter information is generated, the printing terminals can perform printing production according to the printing template file and the printing parameter information when receiving the unified printing template file, manual interference is not needed, one-time standardization and multiple-time printing are achieved, and the quality of a printed finished product is ensured.
In the foregoing technical solution, preferably, the step of generating a printing template file according to the source electronic file specifically includes: acquiring the printing parameter information; converting the source electronic file into a standard printed file; performing rasterization processing on the standard printing file to obtain a rasterized image file; and vectorizing the image file, and combining the vectorized image file with the printing parameter information to obtain the printing template file.
In the technical scheme, the printing parameter information is used for abstractly describing printing parameters of the source electronic file, such as resolution, paper size, binding parameters, overprint control parameters and the like (for example, an extensible markup language is used for abstract description), the source electronic file is converted into a standard printing file, preferably, the standard printing file can be converted into a PDF file, certainly, the standard printing file can also be a type file, and a printing template file after multiple processing is a vectorized image file.
Fig. 3 shows a schematic flow diagram of a print management method according to another embodiment of the invention.
As shown in fig. 3, a printing management method according to another embodiment of the present invention includes:
step 302, acquiring a printing template file, wherein the printing template file comprises printing parameter information associated with a source electronic file to be printed;
step 304, extracting the printing parameter information from the printing template file;
and step 306, performing printing production according to the printing parameter information and the printing template file.
According to the technical scheme, the printing parameter information is extracted from the printing template file by acquiring the printing template file, so that the printing terminal can perform printing production based on the printing parameter information and the printing template file without manual interference, and the quality of a printed finished product is ensured.
In the above technical solution, preferably, the step of performing printing production according to the printing parameter information and the printing template file specifically includes: generating a target printing control instruction according to the extracted printing parameter information, and converting the printing template file into a target printing file; and printing and producing the target printing file according to the target printing control command.
According to the technical scheme, the target printing control instruction is generated according to the extracted printing parameter information, so that the hidden danger of the artificially set control instruction in the related technology is effectively avoided, the template file is converted into the target printing file, the target printing file is printed and produced according to the target printing control instruction, and the content and the quality of the finally printed finished product can meet the requirements.
Fig. 4 shows a schematic block diagram of a print management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in fig. 4, a printing management apparatus 400 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: an acquisition unit 402, a processing unit 404 and a sending unit 406.
The acquiring unit 402 is configured to acquire a source electronic file to be printed; a processing unit 404, configured to generate a printing template file according to the source electronic file, where the printing template file includes printing parameter information associated with the source electronic file; a sending unit 406, configured to send the printing template file to a printing terminal, so that the printing terminal performs printing production according to the printing parameter information and the printing template file.
According to the technical scheme, the source electronic file to be printed is acquired, the printing template file is generated according to the source electronic file, the printing template file comprises printing parameter information associated with the source electronic file, and the printing template file is sent to the printing terminals, so that the source electronic file is subjected to unified standardization processing before the file is sent to each printing terminal, the printing template file comprising the printing parameter information is generated, the printing terminals can perform printing production according to the printing template file and the printing parameter information when receiving the unified printing template file, manual interference is not needed, one-time standardization and multiple-time printing are achieved, and the quality of a printed finished product is ensured.
In the foregoing technical solution, preferably, the processing unit 404 is specifically configured to: acquiring the printing parameter information; converting the source electronic file into a standard printed file; performing rasterization processing on the standard printing file to obtain a rasterized image file; and vectorizing the image file, and combining the vectorized image file with the printing parameter information to obtain the printing template file.
In the technical scheme, the printing parameter information is used for abstractly describing printing parameters of the source electronic file, such as resolution, paper size, binding parameters, overprint control parameters and the like (for example, an extensible markup language is used for abstract description), the source electronic file is converted into a standard printing file, preferably, the standard printing file can be converted into a PDF file, certainly, the standard printing file can also be a type file, and a printing template file after multiple processing is a vectorized image file.
Fig. 5 shows a schematic block diagram of a print management apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in fig. 5, a printing management apparatus 500 according to another embodiment of the present invention includes: an acquisition unit 502, an extraction unit 504, and a processing unit 506.
The acquiring unit 502 is configured to acquire a printing template file, where the printing template file includes printing parameter information associated with a source electronic file to be printed; an extracting unit 504, configured to extract the printing parameter information from the printing template file; and the processing unit 506 is configured to perform printing production according to the printing parameter information and the printing template file.
According to the technical scheme, the printing parameter information is extracted from the printing template file by acquiring the printing template file, so that the printing terminal can perform printing production based on the printing parameter information and the printing template file without manual interference, and the quality of a printed finished product is ensured.
In the foregoing technical solution, preferably, the processing unit 506 is specifically configured to: generating a target printing control instruction according to the extracted printing parameter information, and converting the printing template file into a target printing file; and printing and producing the target printing file according to the target printing control command.
According to the technical scheme, the target printing control instruction is generated according to the extracted printing parameter information, so that the hidden danger of the artificially set control instruction in the related technology is effectively avoided, the template file is converted into the target printing file, the target printing file is printed and produced according to the target printing control instruction, and the content and the quality of the finally printed finished product can meet the requirements.
Fig. 6 shows a schematic block diagram of a server according to an embodiment of the invention.
As shown in fig. 6, a server 600 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: such as the print management apparatus 400 shown in fig. 4.
FIG. 7 shows a schematic block diagram of a printing terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in fig. 7, the printing terminal 700 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: such as the print management apparatus 500 shown in fig. 5.
FIG. 8 shows a schematic block diagram of a print management system according to one embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in fig. 8, a printing management system 800 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: such as server 600 shown in fig. 6 and printing terminal 700 shown in fig. 7. The number of the printing terminals 700 may be plural.
The technical solution of the present invention is further explained with reference to fig. 9 and 10.
Fig. 9 shows a schematic flow diagram of a print management method according to yet another embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in fig. 9, the print management method includes:
step 902, standardizing the electronic file, converting the electronic file for printing into a standard printing file format, and generally selecting a portable printing document such as a PDF (Portable document Format) file;
and step 904, determining the printing control characteristic parameter information corresponding to the electronic file. Including resolution, paper size, binding parameters, overprinting control parameters, and the like;
step 906, the electronic file is converted into a raster file, and the raster result is an image file which is described by vectorization and pixelation in a mixed mode.
Step 908, the Image file in step 906 is standardized for the second time, and the standardized result is a vectorized Image Portable Document Format (VIPDF for short).
The VIPDF is a simplified PDF file, which simplifies complex description parts (such as characteristics of transparency, overprinting and the like) in a PDF imaging model, imaging contents in the VIPDF are vectorized after the PDF is converted into a flat image, for a low-resolution image in the original PDF, a non-superposed part is selected to keep original image characteristics, wherein the image characteristics mainly comprise but are not limited to resolution and pixel (8-bit or 1-bit) representation, the file size of the VIPDF file corresponding to a specific PDF file is equivalent to the size of the PDF file, and is far smaller than the size of an 8-bit pixel file after the PDF file is rasterized.
The VIPDF file includes an abstract description of print control characteristic parameters (i.e., impression parameter information), and is not directly expressed as a characteristic specific to a specific digital printer, that is, it means a representation independent of a specific digital printer, and this embodiment is described as follows in an XML (Extensible Markup Language) format:
and step 910, distributing the secondarily standardized VIPDF file to a printing point.
Step 912, render the VIPDF file into an 8-bit or 1-bit image file, extract the printing control characteristic parameters from the VIPDF, and convert them into printer specific instructions.
In step 914, the image file and print instructions generated in the package 912 are packaged into a formatted print file.
916, printing is completed.
FIG. 10 shows a schematic block diagram of a print management system according to another embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in fig. 10, the print management system includes: a POD control system (Web)102, a resource standardization system 104, an electronic file distribution system 106, and an output control system 108.
The resource standardization system 104 further includes an electronic file standardization subsystem 1042, a monochrome image vectorization subsystem 1044, and a vipf standardization subsystem 1046.
Output control system 108 includes a VIPDF rendering subsystem 1082 and an output control subsystem 1084.
A POD management control system (Web)102, which is a unified portal for external users to access the entire system, and users can access the system through the internet to use various functional services provided by the system;
the resource standardization system 104 converts electronic files in various formats into formatted files in a unified standard according to a unified specified standard, and in this embodiment, PDF files are used.
The electronic file standardization subsystem 1042 is used for converting files in various formats into PDFs;
and the monochromatic image vectorization module 1044 is used for vectorizing a plurality of color planes for printing respectively, and then organizing the color planes together according to the order of the designated color planes and storing the color planes.
And a VIPDF standardization subsystem 1046, configured to combine the vectorized image and the print control feature parameter abstract description file together to generate a VIPDF format file.
The electronic document distribution system 106 is used for transmitting the standardized document vipf to an actual digital printer through a communication method such as a network or a satellite, and may also transmit the PDF standardized document at the same time.
The output control system 108, which is disposed at the same physical location as the digital printer or at a logically similar location, is typically disposed within the same subnet as the digital printer in view of the large amount of data transferred between the output control system 108 and the digital printer. Used for rendering the VIPDF into a pixel file format required by the digital printer, sending data and a printing control instruction to the digital printer and controlling the digital printer to finish printing
The VIPDF rendering subsystem 1082 is configured to extract an abstract printing control feature parameter included in the VIPDF file, and render the VIPDF file into a common 8-bit or 1-bit pixel lattice file with a specific resolution according to the printing control feature parameter;
and the output control subsystem 1084 is responsible for converting the output result of the VIPDF into a specific data format of the digital printer, mapping the abstract printing control characteristic parameters into a specific printing control instruction of the digital printer, and controlling the digital printer to print and output.
Through the embodiment, the problems that the printed finished product is unqualified and the like due to the fact that the printed points cannot be automatically detected in the related technology are effectively solved, one-time standardized processing and multiple times of printing of the electronic file can be achieved, and the correct content and the printing quality are ensured to meet the requirements.
The technical scheme of the invention is explained in detail in the above with the help of the attached drawings, and the invention provides a new printing management scheme, when any source electronic file has printing requirements, the corresponding printing template file is generated, so that one-time standardization and multiple-time printing are realized, and the quality of a printing finished product is ensured.
The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention, and various modifications and changes may be made by those skilled in the art. Any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.