JP2000318254A - Apparatus and method for managing print text - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To save the labor for selection operation at printing by selecting a part of a plurality of texts. SOLUTION: A printing select control part reads out a select information file 105 for printing from a recording medium-reproducing apparatus. The select information 105 for printing includes a page layout information 201 and a plurality of select image informations 202. The page layout information 201 specifies in which layout photographic images are to be printed. The select image informations regulate file names of images selected as objects to be printed, and printing attributes related to the images (for example, an image pickup place, an image pickup year, month and day). The printing select control part 22 determines a printing format on the basis of the select information 105 for printing, takes out data of images to be printed, further reads out additional attribute information and supplies desired printing data to a printing engine.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a print document management technique for selecting and printing a desired document such as a photographic image or the like managed together.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With regard to construction works directly under the control of the Ministry of Construction, the progress of the works is photographed and submitted together with relevant explanatory texts. With the recent digitization of paperwork, it has been proposed to replace these submitted documents with a recording medium such as an MO (magneto-optical disk). However, the contents of the computerized recording medium itself cannot be grasped unless it is reproduced by a driving device, and the handling may be complicated. Therefore, in practice, it is desirable to submit a computerized recording medium and a printout of a predetermined subset of documents and explanatory texts together.

By the way, in a conventional printer, an MO
When an electronic medium such as the above is received from the outside, all the contained images are to be printed, or a screen for selecting an image to be printed is displayed on the screen at the time of printing to allow the user to make a selection.
With such a conventional printer only,
In the case of selective printing, there is a problem that a user takes too much work, or the entire image is printed even when the user wants to print a part of the image. Further, even if an image is selected on the screen for selecting an image to be printed, when the user tries to print the same image again to create a document at a later date, it is necessary to remember what was selected before.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and eliminates the need to select an image or the like to be printed at the time of printing, and facilitates processing when reprinting. It aims to provide a simple print document management technology.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided a print document management apparatus comprising: a plurality of documents; and print selection information for specifying a document to be printed among the documents. A recording medium driving device that reads and drives at least the recording medium; and a unit that retrieves and prints the document to be printed based on the printing selection information read from the recording medium driving device. Is provided.

According to this configuration, in an environment in which a part of a plurality of documents is selected and printed, it is not necessary to select a document at the time of printing, and printing processing can be performed smoothly. This is particularly useful when the place where the document is prepared is different from the place where the document is printed. Further, even when printing is performed again, there is no need to repeat the selection process.

In this configuration, the recording medium can be a recording medium that is detachable from the recording medium driving device. For example, an MO (magneto-optical disk) or a data CD (compact disk) can be used. Further, the plurality of documents may include a photo image document.

Further, the above configuration can be realized as a method, and a part can be realized as software.

According to another aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, a print document management apparatus stores a plurality of documents in association with print selection information for specifying a document to be printed among the documents. Means; means for extracting and printing the document to be printed based on the printing selection information.

[0010] The document and the print selection information can be received in association with each other via a recording medium or via a communication channel or a broadcast channel. As a method of association, a folder structure may be used, a shelf file may be used, or a structured document may be used.

In addition to the above-described printing process, a file is automatically selected in connection with various processes such as a browsing process, a program execution process, and a file transfer process, and the process is selectively executed. Is also good.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 shows a document (image file) to be printed.
The document processing apparatus 10 is capable of selectively designating the document processing apparatus. In this figure, the document processing apparatus 10 generates a recording medium for recording the progress of construction work under construction directly under the Ministry of Construction. Of course, it can be used for other purposes.

Referring to FIG. 1, a document creation apparatus 10 includes an image input unit 11, a document processing unit 12, an image selection unit 13, a recording device drive control unit 14, and a recording device 15 such as an MO. This document creation device 10 can be realized as, for example, a normal personal computer and software. The image input unit 11 constitutes, for example, an interface with a digital camera (not shown) and inputs image data captured by the digital camera. Document processing unit 1
Reference numeral 2 is for creating a structured document, for example, an XML (Extensible Markup Language) format document. According to XML, an attribute of a document component can be defined by an arbitrary tag. The image selection unit 13 specifies an image to be printed later among the input images. The specific operation can employ any method, for example, by selecting from a list or by performing a drag-and-drop process on an image thumbnail. The recording device drive control unit 14 stores the input image data, the document in the XML format, the selection information by the image selection unit 13, and the like.
5 is recorded on a recording medium (MO or the like) 15a.

FIG. 2 shows a folder structure of information recorded on the recording medium 15a. In this figure, the PHOTO folder 1 is located immediately below the electronic medium root folder 100.
01, a photo attribute information file (PHOTO.XML file) 102 and a construction photo folder (PIC folder) 10 immediately below the PHOTO folder 101.
3. A reference diagram folder (DRA folder) 104 and a print selection information file 105 are provided. A plurality of construction photograph files 106 are arranged in the PIC folder 103, and a plurality of reference drawing files 1 are stored in the DRA folder 104.
07 is arranged. Except for the print selection information file 105, the folder configuration is the same as that described in "Determination of Digital Photo Management Information Standards (Draft) for Construction Work Ordered by the Ministry of Construction" (March 11, 1999). Can be configured.

PHOTO. The XML file 102 describes attributes of a photograph, and includes basic information, construction information,
Photo information is described. Basic information is P
This is basic information on information managed in the HOTO folder 101, and describes the version of the information, the name of the created software, the name of the construction photo folder 103, and the name of the reference drawing folder 104. Construction information
Details about the construction are described. The photo information describes details about the photo.

The print selection information file 105 has a structure as shown in FIG.
One and a plurality of pieces of selected image information 202 are included. The page layout information 201 specifies the layout of a photo image to be printed. For example, a so-called three-sheet form for printing three photos on one page can be selected. The selected image information defines a file name of an image selected as a print target and attributes (for example, a shooting location and a shooting date) of the image to be printed. This print selection information file 105 is used to specify an image to be printed,
Additional attribute information can be selected and printed in a predetermined format.

FIG. 4 shows the configuration of the printing apparatus 20. The printing apparatus 20 includes a printing apparatus capable of performing full-color printing, a copying machine, and the like. Further, the printing apparatus 20 includes a print engine 21, a print selection control unit 22, and a recording medium reproducing apparatus 23. The recording medium reproducing device 23 is, for example, an MO driving device. Recording medium reproducing device 2
Reference numeral 3 denotes a recording medium 15 prepared by the document creating apparatus 10 in FIG.
a, and reproduces the information. Print selection control unit 22
Determines the print format based on the information in the print selection information file 105 read from the recording medium playback device 23, extracts the image data to be printed, and reads additional attribute information to read the desired print data. Is supplied to the print engine 21. The print engine performs printing by, for example, a full-color electrostatic printing technique. The selected image and the related attribute information are output by the print engine 21 in, for example, a three-sheet form method.

FIG. 5 illustrates the use of the document processing apparatus 10 and the printing apparatus 20 according to this embodiment. In this figure, first, for example, a construction company or the like prepares a document and performs steps S11 to S11. Perform S14. A photograph of the construction site is taken with a digital camera (S11), and the photographed image is selected and processed (S12). Thereafter, an electronic medium for submission is created (S13). In this step, various necessary files are stored in a folder structure. Then, the printing target information and the attached attribute information are selected to create the printing selection information file 105. Thereafter, a paper document to be submitted to the Ministry of Construction is printed with reference to the print selection information file 105 (S14). If there is a print selection information file, store the photographs taken at each construction site in electronic media, send them to the headquarters department or other department that performs batch management, and collectively submit them to the Ministry of Construction at the headquarters department. It can be printed in sheet form. Conventionally, it has been necessary to prepare an instruction sheet for instructing which photograph is to be printed in which format and send it to the printing department.

The electronic medium and paper document created as described above are submitted to the Ministry of Construction (S15). In the Ministry of Construction,
The electronic medium and the paper document are stored, and if necessary, the paper document is reprinted (S16). Conventionally, when the submitted documents become illegible due to aging etc.,
The construction company had to resubmit the documents on request. In this embodiment, the Ministry of Construction can easily reprint the submitted print using the print selection information file. Therefore, the burden on both the construction company and the Ministry of Construction is reduced.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be variously modified. For example, instead of recording and submitting it on an electronic medium, it may be transmitted via a network. In this case, for example, the print selection information file can be stored together with another document file or folder in the archive file and transmitted, or can be integrated by associating with a structured document. The content to be selectively processed is not limited to the printing process, but includes various processes such as a browsing process, a news distribution process, and a program file execution.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a part of files is selected from a plurality of predetermined files and a process such as printing is executed, the plurality of files and the selection information are previously stored. Since the files are held together, it is possible to automatically select a file and execute processing such as printing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a document processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the document processing apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a print selection information file of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a printing apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining an operation performed in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 document creation device 11 image input unit 12 document processing unit 13 image selection unit 14 recording device drive control unit 15 recording device 15 15a recording medium 20 printing device 21 print engine 22 print selection control unit 23 recording medium playback device 23 100 electronic medium route Folder 101 PHOTO folder 102 Photo attribute information file 103 Construction photo folder 104 Reference diagram folder 105 Selection information for printing 106 Construction photo file 107 Reference diagram file 201 Page layout information 202 Selected image information

Continuation of the front page F term (reference) 2C087 BA14 BB10 BB17 BC14 BD53 CA02 CB03 5B021 AA01 BB02 9A001 HH33 KK53

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A recording medium that stores a plurality of documents, printing selection information that specifies a document to be printed among the documents, a recording medium driving device that reads and drives at least the recording medium, and the recording medium Means for taking out and printing the document to be printed based on the printing selection information read from the drive device. 2. The print document management device according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium is a recording medium that is detachable from the recording medium driving device. 3. The print document management device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of documents include a photographic image document. Reading out the printing selection information from a recording medium storing a plurality of documents and printing selection information for specifying a document to be printed out of the documents using a recording medium driving device; Printing the document to be printed based on the printing selection information read from the recording medium driving device. 5. A removable recording medium storing a plurality of documents and printing selection information for specifying a document to be printed among the documents. 6. A means for storing a plurality of documents in association with printing selection information for specifying a document to be printed out of the documents, and extracting the document to be printed based on the printing selection information. A print document management device, comprising: means for printing. 7. A means for storing a plurality of files in association with processing target selection information for specifying a processing target file among the files, and extracting the processing target file based on the processing target selection information. Means for executing a predetermined process.