JP2001209634A - Printing data preparation device and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simply and quickly prepare printing data by continuously preparing and outputting printing data for pop advertisements and price labels. SOLUTION: The printing data preparation device is constituted so as to previously set printing data including contents and their layout to be printed on each pop advertisement and prices labels in each plural kinds of pop advertisements and price labels, add a printing condition including information including the size of paper to be used for printing to the printing data and set the printing of a required pop advertisement or price label. The printing condition can be individually set and registered in relation with plural printing data and the registered plural printing data and printing condition can be continuously outputted by one output specification.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a print data generating apparatus and a recording medium for printing on a pop advertisement or a price label.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a store such as a supermarket or a store or at a store, a pop (POP) advertisement is widely used to introduce a product or advertise sale contents. In recent years, print data including the print content and print layout of such a pop advertisement is edited by a computer, and the print data is output to a printer, and the pop advertisement is often printed by the printer. When creating and outputting print data using such a computer, pop advertisements for many stores are often performed in one place.
The type and number of pop advertisements to be printed are enormous. Therefore, it is important to be able to create print data simply and quickly.

[0003]

On the other hand, recently, when printing is performed by changing the size of the printing paper or setting the size of the printing paper freely even with the same printing content and printing layout. There is. In such a case, for example, in order to reduce the A4 size print layout on the B5 print paper, it is necessary to separately create and register a B5 print layout corresponding to the B5 print paper size. In addition, for example, when performing the division printing shown in FIG. 4 or performing the layout printing shown in FIG. 5, unless the division printing or the layout printing of the pop advertisement is completed,
There was an inconvenience that the next print setting could not be made. Such inconvenience also occurs for a price label inserted in a display shelf of a convenience store or the like.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to set various printing conditions in association with print data of a pop advertisement and a price label before printing so that printing can be performed continuously by one output designation. An object of the present invention is to enable easy and quick data printing.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print data creating apparatus comprising: a content to be printed on a pop advertisement or a price label; a layout of the content; and a mark based on the layout. A plurality of print data including a layout paper size to be printed can be registered in advance, and a print condition including a size of a print paper to be used for printing can be associated with the print data, and a necessary pop advertisement or price label print setting can be performed. In the print data creation device, the print conditions can be individually set for each of the plurality of print data, and the set print data and print conditions can be continuously output by a single output designation. .

In the case where a plurality of types of pop advertisements and the like are continuously set for printing at one time, for example, selection of printing data and selection of printing conditions associated with the printing data are repeatedly performed, so that each printing data is printed. Repeat the task of associating conditions with each other. After this setting, a large number of print data are output and set together with the print conditions, so that the printer continuously prints various pop advertisements.

[0007] In the present invention, "pop advertisement" refers to an advertisement that is prominently provided in these places in order to introduce merchandise or advertise sale contents in a store or in a store. The “price label” is a card-shaped label that is inserted into a display shelf of a convenience store or the like and displays the price of a product, and is generally printed with the name of the product and barcode data on the product. “Print data” refers to characters, graphics, or symbols displayed in pop advertisements or the like, or a combination thereof, or a combination of these with a color (hereinafter referred to as a “mark”), a layout of the mark, and the layout of the mark. The size of the paper on which the mark is to be placed is replaced by computer data. The “print condition” is a condition associated with the print data, and includes information on a print paper size, and information such as the number of prints and a scaling factor.

[0008] On the other hand, the first invention of the present storage medium is capable of registering in advance a plurality of print data including the content to be printed on a pop advertisement or a price label, the layout thereof, and the layout paper size on which the mark is arranged based on the layout. A recording medium that records a printing operation program including a printing condition including a size of a printing paper used for printing, in association with the printing data, and enabling printing setting of a required pop advertisement or a price label, Display processing for displaying print data and print conditions on a display unit, first storage processing for storing print conditions associated with print data selected from a plurality of data, and after performing the first storage processing, While retaining the stored contents, the print condition is associated with the print data selected from the plurality of data and stored. And second storage processing is obtained by recording a program for realizing the output process of outputting the content stored by the storage processing in the printer in a predetermined trigger, to the computer.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a plurality of print data including a content to be printed on a pop advertisement or a price label, a layout thereof, and a layout paper size for arranging a mark based on the layout can be registered in advance.
In a print data creating apparatus in which a printing condition including a size of a printing paper used for printing is associated with the printing data and a printing setting of a required pop advertisement or a price label can be performed, the printing condition is set for each layout paper. By associating the print data, the print condition can be set in association with the print data, and the set print data and print condition set can be continuously output by one output designation.

On the other hand, according to the second aspect of the present storage medium, a plurality of print data including a content to be printed on a pop advertisement or a price label, a layout thereof, and a layout paper size for arranging a mark based on the layout can be registered in advance. A recording medium that records a printing operation program that enables printing settings of a required pop advertisement or price label to be associated with the printing data, including printing paper size used for printing, in association with the printing data, By associating the printing conditions with the paper size, a storage process of storing the printing conditions in association with the printing data, and an output process of outputting a plurality of sets of printing data and printing conditions stored by the storing process to a printer with a predetermined trigger. ,
Is recorded on a computer for realizing the program on a computer.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 8 show a first embodiment. Hardware The print data creation device according to the present invention can be realized by a computer system having a CPU inside. For example, FIG. 1 shows a device configuration when a personal computer is used.

As shown in FIG. 1, a personal computer includes a hard disk drive 4, a floppy disk drive 5 together with a CPU 1, a ROM 2, and a RAM 3.
And an external device such as a CD-ROM drive 6. The floppy disk drive 5 and the CD-
The ROM drive 6 reads data and programs recorded on a storage medium (floppy disk) and a storage medium (CD-ROM medium), respectively. A program according to the present invention is recorded on the recording medium, and can be installed on a hard disk via the hard disk drive 4 and executed on the computer system.

The computer includes, for example, a liquid crystal display 7 together with input devices such as a keyboard 8 and a mouse 9.
Is connected. The display 7 displays a print setting screen shown in FIG. On the other hand, the computer of FIG.
N, etc., and are connected to a plurality of printers Pn via communication means. The printer Pi prints, for example, a pop advertisement shown in FIGS. 4 to 6 and a price label shown in FIG.
1 are connected to one another via an interface (not shown).

Print Settings In the printer Pi, one or two or more kinds of predetermined size printing papers are set for each printer Pi, and pop advertisements of various sizes can be printed. In this print data creation apparatus, one size is selected from a plurality of types of print paper sizes for each print data including one type of print content and print layout and a layout paper size on which a mark is arranged based on the layout. The printing is performed in association with the printing conditions. Specifically, the size and the like of the mark to be printed are determined as follows.

[Standard] If the layout paper size matches the print paper size, the layout paper size is determined as the size of the mark to be actually printed. [Enlargement / Reduction] When the layout paper size and the print paper size are different, the size of the mark is enlarged or reduced according to the ratio of the different size, and the size of the mark to be actually printed is determined. [Division] When one mark is divided and printed on a plurality of printing papers, the layout of one mark is divided into two or more printing paper sizes. For example, when a pop advertisement having a layout paper size of A3 shown in FIG. 4A is used by connecting two A4 print papers as shown in FIG. 4B, the mark is divided into two. Then, each of the divided marks is printed on two sheets of A4 printing paper. [Assignment / Mirror] When a plurality of marks are printed on one print sheet, one mark is assigned to each small area obtained by dividing one print sheet into a plurality of areas. For example, when laying out a pop advertisement with a layout paper size of B6 shown in FIG. 5A on a printing paper of B5 shown in FIG. 5B, the printing paper of B5 is placed in two small B6 size areas. The B6 size mark is allocated and printed for each of the small areas. In addition, as shown in FIG. 6B, so-called mirror printing is performed by allocating marks to two small B6 size areas in different directions.

[Separation] The print data contains color information of a plurality of colors. When printing under a printing plate used for multicolor offset printing or gully plate printing, the printing data is converted into an ink used for printing. Each color is color-coded, and a pop advertisement is printed separately for each color and used as a composition. For example, when a four-color offset printing press is used, the print data is color-separated for each color (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) of the ink used for printing, and each color is printed in black suitable for the plate making process. . In addition, printing such as cut lines (register marks) is also performed at the same time.

Storage Unit Next, each storage unit (storage area) constructed on the hard disk and RAM 3 by the installation and the like.
Will be described. A layout storage unit 3a, a print condition association storage unit 3b, and a magnification storage unit 3c (FIG. 3) shown in FIG. 2 are constructed in the RAM 3 of the personal computer shown in FIG.

In the layout storage section 3a shown in FIG. 2A, layout conditions and the layout paper size are stored in association with each other for each layout number. The layout condition item stores an image such as a figure in addition to the position (layout) and size of a character to be printed, the character type (font), color information, and the like. That is, the layout of the content to be displayed in the pop advertisement in FIG. 4A or FIG. 5A is stored. In the printing condition association storage unit 3b shown in FIG. 2B, printing conditions corresponding to the printing data to be printed by the printer Pi are stored in association with each other. The print data includes, for each print data No., a print content such as a product name, a maker name, and a price, and a layout N indicating the layout conditions and layout paper size of the layout storage unit 3a.
o. The printing conditions include items such as a printing paper size, the number of prints, division / enlargement / reduction, cut-off lines, allocation / mirror, separation, and printer number corresponding to the print data. The magnification storage unit 3c shown in FIG. 3 stores in advance the layout paper size and the print paper size, as well as the magnification for scaling the layout paper size to the print paper size, in association with each other.

Function of CPU The CPU 1 shown in FIG. 1 has a print setting mode for associating the print data with print conditions. In the print setting mode, the CPU 1 performs a storage process described later.

Display Screen Next, a display screen displayed by the display processing will be described. As shown in FIG. 7, a print setting screen is displayed on the display 7 in the print setting mode. On the print setting screen, a print data display section 70 and a plurality of image display sections 71 to 75 are displayed together with a print start button 7h for designating print output, display sections and selection buttons corresponding to the print conditions, and the like. You.

The print data display section 70 displays a print data No., a product name, a maker name, a price, and the like corresponding to the print data of the pop advertisement. On the image display units 71 to 75, an image visually representing the above-described layout and mirror printing is displayed, and the layout paper size of the print data is displayed in an area with one surface (no layout). . The printing conditions are set in a printing condition setting unit 7.
Along with c, a printer selection button 7e for selecting a printer number and a printer number display section 7f for displaying the number of the selected printer are displayed. The printing condition setting section 7c displays a cassette selection button for determining a printing paper size, a button for setting the division, enlargement, reduction, separation, and the like, a number setting section, and the like.

Operation of the Print Data Creation Apparatus Next, the operation of the print data creation apparatus according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The contents corresponding to each item of the print data are stored and registered in advance in the layout storage unit 3a and the association storage unit 3b in FIG. In this state, the CPU 1 is set to the print setting mode. When the print setting mode starts, the process proceeds to step S1 in FIG. 8, and in step S1, the CPU 1 causes the display 7 to display the print setting screen shown in FIG. 7, and then proceeds to step S2 in FIG.

In step S2, when the operator selects print data, the CPU 1 causes the layout storage unit 3a to
The print data is called from the association storage unit 3b, the print data is displayed on the print data display unit 70 shown in FIG. 7, and the layout paper size of the print data is displayed on the image display unit 71. Proceed to step S4. If you do not select the print data,
Proceeding to step S3, another process is performed.

In step S4, print settings for print conditions associated with the print data are made. The operator selects the print paper size and the number of prints to be actually printed in the print condition setting section 7c of the print setting screen shown in FIG. 7, and selects the image display sections 71 to 75 as necessary, and And mirror printing, and "split"
Select “enlarge / reduce”, “separation printing”, etc. On the other hand, a printer number for printing is set by the printer selection button 7e. When these print settings are made, as shown in FIG. 7, the print condition setting unit 7c and the printer unit display unit 7f
Are displayed, and the process proceeds to step S6 in FIG. If the setting items are not set, the process proceeds to step S5, and another process is performed.

In step S6, the CPU 1 associates the print data with the set print condition by a predetermined operation of the operator, and stores the relationship in the association storage unit 3b shown in FIG. Storage processing), and then proceeds to step S7 in FIG. If the next association is to be performed in step S7, the process returns to step S2. On the other hand, when printing is performed in step S7, the print start button 7h in FIG. 7 is clicked, and the process proceeds to step S8.

Next, a description will be given of the print data selection, print setting and association storage from the second and subsequent steps S2 to S7. When the operator selects the print data in step S2, the print data to be associated this time is displayed on the print data display section 70, and the layout paper size of the print data is displayed on the image display sections 71 to 75. After the print setting is performed in step S4 of FIG. 8, the process proceeds to step S6.
The CPU 1 associates the print data with the set print conditions and causes the association storage unit 3b shown in FIG. 2B to additionally store (second storage processing), and then proceeds to step S7. Therefore, in the association storage unit 3b, the data that has been associated this time is additionally stored while retaining the previous storage content.

When the print start button is clicked in step S7 in FIG. 8, the process proceeds to step S8. In step S8, the CPU 1 associates the print data with the print data from the storage in the layout storage unit 3a and the association storage unit 3b. In addition to reading out the printing conditions obtained, the output processing for reading out the corresponding magnification from the magnification storage unit 3c based on the layout paper size and the printing paper size, expanding or reducing the print data as necessary, and causing the printer Pi to print. Do. If there are a plurality of sets of print data and print conditions associated with the association storage unit 3b, C
PU1 continuously performs the output processing for a plurality of sets. In the case where the divided print command, the automatic layout command, the mirror command or the separation command is stored in the association storage unit 3b of FIG. 2B, the division, the layout or the separation is performed based on the command. Do.

As described above, after setting each print data and the print conditions in association with each other and repeating the setting, the print start button 7h is clicked to specify the output, whereby a variety of pop advertisements are continuously output to the printer Pi. Printing. Therefore, a plurality of sets of print data and printing conditions can be printed by a single output designation, so that pop advertisement printing can be performed easily and quickly.

Further, since the printing conditions can be set while the printing data is displayed on the image display sections 71 to 75 of the printing setting screen shown in FIG. 7, the setting operation of the association is simplified.

In the above-described first embodiment, printing conditions are individually set for each of a plurality of print data. However, in the second embodiment described below, printing conditions are associated with each layout sheet, thereby enabling printing. Set the printing conditions in association with each data. Hereinafter, an example will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 9, the RAM 3 of the personal computer has a print condition storage unit 3d, a print data storage unit 3e, a print condition association storage unit 3f, and a magnification storage unit 3c (FIG. 3).
Is constructed. As shown in FIG. 9A, the print condition storage unit 3d stores items such as print paper size, number of prints, division / enlargement / reduction, cutoff line, allocation / mirror, plate separation, and printer number for each print paper number. Are stored in association with each other. As shown in FIG. 9B, the print data storage unit 3e stores a product name,
Print data such as maker name, price and layout number are stored in association with each other. As shown in FIG. 9C, the print condition association storage unit 3f stores a layout
The layout condition, the layout paper size, and the print paper number are stored in association with each other for each No. Other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment, and the same or corresponding portions are denoted by the same reference characters, and detailed description and illustration thereof are omitted.

Next, the operation of the print data creating apparatus according to the second embodiment will be briefly described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The printing condition association storage unit 3f stores layout conditions and layout paper sizes in advance for each layout number. On the other hand, the content corresponding to each item of the print data is stored in the print data storage unit 3e in advance. In this state, the CPU 1
Set to print setting mode. When the print setting mode starts, the process proceeds to step S10 in FIG. In step S10, the operator performs a predetermined operation to store the printing conditions in the printing condition storage unit 3d, and stores the printing conditions in association with the layout conditions and the layout paper size of the association storage unit 3f.
Proceed to 11. With this association, among the print data in the print data storage unit 3e, the same print condition (the same print paper No.) is associated with the print data having the same layout condition and layout paper size (the same layout No.). .

In step S11, if the next association is to be performed, the process returns to step S10 to associate print data with printing conditions. On the other hand, when performing printing, the operator performs a predetermined operation and proceeds to step S12. In step S12, the CPU 1 reads out the print data from the print data storage unit 3e, and
From f, the layout conditions and layout paper size associated with the print data are read. On the other hand, CPU
Reference numeral 1 reads output printing conditions associated with the printing data from the printing condition storage unit 3d, performs scaling of the printing data as necessary, and performs output processing for printing on the printer Pi.

As described above, the preferred embodiments have been described with reference to the drawings. However, those skilled in the art will easily envisage various changes and modifications within the obvious scope by referring to the present specification. Would. For example, as the printer Pi, a printer that can automatically discharge printed printing paper to a tray according to the size of the printing paper may be used. Also,
The pop advertisement (under the copy) corresponding to each color after the separation may be directly printed on a plate making film or the like. Further, the magnification may be calculated based on the layout paper size and the printing paper size at the time of printing without providing the magnification storage unit 3c. Further, printing can be similarly performed on a price label as shown in FIG. Accordingly, such changes and modifications are to be construed as being within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

[0035]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since a plurality of sets of print data and printing conditions are set to be associated with each other and can be printed out continuously or simultaneously by one or more printers by one output designation, pop advertisements and price labels can be printed. Printing can be performed easily and quickly.

In particular, if the print condition is selected and the setting of the association can be performed while the print data and the print condition are displayed on the display, the setting operation is simplified.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating a print data creation device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a table showing storage contents of a layout storage unit and a storage unit of association of printing conditions.

FIG. 3 is a table showing storage contents of a magnification storage unit.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a pop advertisement.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a pop advertisement.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a pop advertisement.

FIG. 7 is a front view showing a print setting screen.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing stored in a recording medium of the present invention.

FIGS. 9A to 9C are tables showing storage contents of a layout storage unit, a printing condition storage unit, and a storage unit for associating printing conditions according to the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a process stored in a medium.

FIG. 10 is a plan view showing a price label.

[Explanation of symbols]

 7: Display 71-75: Image display section

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Kenichi Nakaoka 959 Shimogaku, Ritto-cho, Kurita-gun, Shiga F-term in Ishida Shiga Office (reference) 2C087 AA07 AA14 AA15 AB01 AB05 AB08 BD53 BD57 CA03 CB20 5B009 NA03 RC11 5B021 AA01 AA02 AA12 BB01 KK02 LE00 9A001 HH33 JJ35 KK42 KK57

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of print data including a content to be printed on a pop advertisement or a price label, a layout thereof, and a layout paper size for arranging a mark based on the layout can be registered in advance, including a print paper size used for printing. In a print data creating apparatus in which a print condition is associated with the print data and a required pop advertisement or price label print setting can be performed, the print condition can be individually set for each of a plurality of the print data. A print data generating apparatus capable of continuously outputting a plurality of sets of print data and print conditions set by one output designation. 2. The print data creating device according to claim 1, wherein the print condition associated with the print data can be selected while the print data is displayed on the display. 3. The print data creation device according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of display areas for displaying the selected print data are provided on one screen. 4. The printing method according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of printing conditions are displayed on the display together with the printing data, and a printing condition to be associated can be selected from the displayed printing conditions. Data creation device. 5. A plurality of print data including a content to be printed on a pop advertisement or a price label, a layout thereof, and a layout paper size for arranging a mark based on the layout can be registered in advance, including a size of a print paper used for printing. In a print data creating device that associates a print condition with the print data and enables a print setting of a required pop advertisement or a price label, the print data is associated with the print data by associating the print condition with each of the layout sheets. Print conditions can be set in association with each other, and multiple sets of print data and print conditions
A print data creation device that enables continuous output according to the output specification. 6. The printing method according to claim 1, wherein, when printing the print data, if the size of the printing paper of the printing conditions is different from the size of the layout paper,
A print data creation device wherein the size of a mark to be actually printed is automatically determined from the relationship between the two sizes. 7. The printing method according to claim 1, wherein a divided print command for dividing and printing one mark on a plurality of printing papers is included in the printing condition. A print data creation device in which chapters are automatically divided and printed on two or more printing papers. 8. The printing condition according to claim 1, wherein an automatic layout command for allocating and printing one mark for each small area obtained by dividing one print sheet into a plurality of areas is included in the printing conditions. In such a case, a print data generating apparatus is configured to print one mark for each small area in accordance with the automatic assignment command. 9. The print data creating device according to claim 1, wherein when print data includes a plurality of colors, a mark is printed for each designated color. 10. A plurality of print data including a content to be printed on a pop advertisement or a price label and a layout thereof and a layout paper size for arranging a mark based on the layout can be registered in advance, including a print paper size used for printing. In a recording medium in which a printing operation program in which a printing condition of a required pop advertisement or a price label can be set by associating printing conditions with the printing data is recorded, the printing data and printing conditions are displayed on a display unit. A display process, a first storage process of storing print conditions associated with print data selected from a plurality of data, and after performing the first storage process, a plurality of storage A second storage process for storing print conditions associated with print data selected from the data, A storage medium recording a program for realizing an output process of outputting to the printer the stored contents a predetermined trigger, to the computer by the processing. 11. A plurality of print data including a content to be printed on a pop advertisement or a price label and a layout thereof and a layout paper size for arranging a mark based on the layout can be registered in advance, including a size of a print paper used for printing. By associating the printing conditions with the printing data, and by associating the printing conditions with the layout paper size, in a recording medium that records a printing operation program that enables the necessary pop advertisement or price label printing setting to be performed,
A storage process for storing print data in association with print conditions, and an output process for outputting a plurality of sets of print data and print conditions stored by the storage process to a printer with a predetermined trigger. The storage medium on which it was recorded.