JP2001265557A - Printer driver, print control method and information recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer driver with a means to calculate starting positions of reduced print of each of the front and rear surfaces, a print control method and an information recording medium in double-sided reduced print of a print object document the print request of which is made from an application program. SOLUTION: The printer driver is provided with a print starting position calculating means to calculate the starting positions of the reduced print of each of the front and rear surfaces to perform the double-sided reduced print in which a reduced print part on the perspective rear surface coincides with a reduced print part on the front surface and each reduced print has compatibility on the front and rear surface of required paper based on required information of the double-sided reduced print. The printer driver is characterized by calculating the starting position of the reduced print on the front surface and the starting position of the reduced print on the rear surface as relative positions from a prescribed print standard position in the print start position calculating means.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a printer driver, a printing control method, and an information recording medium. In particular,
The present invention relates to a printer driver, a print control method, and an information recording medium having means for calculating a reduced print start position on each of front and back sides in double-sided reduced printing of a print target document requested to be printed by an application program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an information processing apparatus such as a computer, an operating system centrally manages and controls resources commonly used by various application programs. Each of such resources is associated with a driver constructed by software, and can be operated as a device (driver) for managing resources by operating a driver program in the information processing device.

For example, a printer is one of such resources.
When an application program operating on the information processing apparatus wants to print from a printer, the following procedure is taken.

(1) An application program issues a print request to an operating system including information on a document to be printed. More specifically, a system call of the operating system is called by designating parameters such as the address in the memory where the information of the document to be printed is stored and the size of the information.

(2) The operating system calls a service routine provided by the printer driver by designating information parameters of the document to be printed.

(3) The service routine of the printer driver displays the current printer setting information on a monitor display or the like connected to the information processing apparatus, and requests confirmation from the user. In many cases, paper size, orientation, and the like can be specified as setting information.

(4) When the setting is confirmed, the service routine generates a print command for the printer from the information of the document to be printed and the setting information of the printer, and transmits the print command to the printer.

[0008] As described above, the printer driver performs the function of relaying the print setting of the printer and the command to print from the application to the printer. Therefore,
In the case of a printer driver, for example, a program that realizes the function functions as a control component that performs the function.

By incorporating a program for a printer driver into an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer, the information processing apparatus functions as a printer driver as an apparatus.

[0010] By using such a printer driver, a user can set the printer main body using a common interface regardless of which application program is used.

[0011]

However, in a printer capable of performing double-sided reduced printing, for example, in an operation mode for printing A4 size paper, when performing double-sided reduced printing to B5 size, the upper end side of the surface of the paper is required. And then printing from the lower end of the back side of the paper. Occasionally, there is a case where it is desired to cut a document to be printed in B5 size, which has been double-sided reduced-printed on A4 size paper, in order to shape it into B5 size. However, since the B5 size reduced printing portion on the front side of the paper and the B5 size reduced printing portion on the back side of the paper are displaced, cutting at the B5 size reduced printing portion on the front side of the paper causes the B5 size reduced printing portion on the back side of the paper. However, there was a problem that was disconnected on the way.

FIG. 5A, FIG. 5B, FIG.
FIGS. 7B and 7C are diagrams for explaining the operation when duplex printing of a B5 size print target document is performed on A4 size paper. FIG. 5A is a sheet operation diagram of surface reduction printing, and FIG.
6B is a sheet operation diagram of the backside reduced printing, FIG. 6A is a front side reduced printing sheet drawing, FIG. 6B is a back side reduced printing sheet drawing, and FIG. It is the figure which superimposed the part from the front surface to the back surface.

The operation of the printing paper in the surface reduction printing is as follows.
It is as follows. That is, as shown in FIG. 5A, first, the paper 507 (the surface facing the paper feed tray 501 is set as the front surface) mounted on the paper feed tray 501 moves according to the paper feed direction arrow 506 for printing. The leading edge 507a of the sheet is detected by the sheet edge sensor 502. Next, the paper 507 is transported and enters the ink jet head 503 according to the paper transport path (arrow 506). FIG. 6A shows the ink jet head 503.
Is printed on the front side with reference to the front side print start position 512 of the sheet shown in FIG. 5, is sent out onto the sheet discharge tray 504, is held by the rollers 510, and is temporarily held. The paper 507 temporarily held (temporarily placed) faces the paper discharge tray 504 on the back side, and the printed surface is the paper discharge tray 50
It is the upper side opposite to 4. As shown in FIG. 6A, when the first printed side is viewed as the front side, the reduced printing portion on the surface of the paper or the printable area that can be printed by the reduced printing is a portion surrounded by a solid line 514. Becomes

On the other hand, the operation of the printing paper in the back side reduced printing is as follows. That is, as shown in FIG. 5B, the paper 507 temporarily placed on the paper discharge tray 504 is
The sheet is returned to the printing unit again along the sheet reversing path (arrow 508) by reversing the rollers 510 and 505 and rotating the reversing roller 511, and the sheet end sensor 509 detects the trailing end 507 b of the sheet. Next, ink jet
The back side is printed by the head 503 on the basis of the back side reduced printing start position 513 of the sheet shown in FIG.
It is sent to 04. In this case, in backside printing, printing is performed from the rear end of the document to be printed.

The paper 507 on which double-sided printing has been performed
The side facing 04 is the front side printed side, and the back side printed side is the upper side opposite to the paper discharge tray 504. When the back surface is viewed with the rear end 507b at the top as shown in FIG. 8B, the reduced printing portion on the back surface of the paper or the effective printable area is a portion surrounded by a solid line 515.
When the printing start side at the time of each printing is viewed as the upper side, the front reduced printing start position 512 and the back reduced printing start position 513 for the paper coincide with each other.

Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 6 (c), when the print portion subjected to double-sided reduced printing as described above is made to see through the back-side reduced print portion with reference to the front side of the sheet, the front-side reduced print portion 514 and the back-side reduced print portion are displayed. Since the printing portion 515 is shifted from each other, that is, for both-side reduced printing in which each reduced printing on the front and back sides is inconsistent, cutting along the front reduced printing portion 514 of the paper causes the back reduced printing portion 515 of the paper to be halfway. There is a problem that the paper is cut and desired double-sided reduced printing is not performed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and in the two-sided reduced printing of a document to be printed for which a print request has been made from an application program, the reduction printing of each of the front and back sides is started. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printer driver, a print control method, and an information recording medium having means for calculating a position.

[0018]

Means for Solving the Problems The present inventor has conducted studies to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems. As a result, in double-sided reduced printing, a reduced printing start position when printing on the front side of the sheet and a reduced printing start position when printing on the back side of the sheet are calculated and set in the printer driver. It has been found that printing can be performed such that each reduced printing on the front and back sides is reduced double-sided printing with consistency.

Based on the above research results, the following invention is provided.

According to a first aspect of the printer driver of the present invention, based on required information for double-sided reduced printing, a transparent back side reduced printing portion matches a front side reduced printing portion on the front and back surfaces of a required sheet; The printer driver includes a print start position calculating unit that calculates a reduced print start position on each of the front surface and the back surface so that each reduced print performs consistent double-sided reduced printing. For example, when performing double-sided reduced printing on A4 size paper at a reduced printing size of B5 size, the back side reduced printing portion and the front side reduced printing portion that are seen through from the front side of the sheet match (the back side reduced printing portion 515 in FIG. 6C). The printer driver includes means for calculating a front-side reduced printing start position and a back-side printing start position in order to perform double-sided reduced printing in which the front side reduced printing portion 514 is printed.

According to a second aspect of the printer driver of the present invention, the print start position calculating means calculates the front reduced print start position and the back reduced print start position as relative positions from a predetermined print reference position. It is a printer driver that is a feature. For example, if the upper left corner of the sheet (point A in FIG. 6A, point D in FIG. 6B) is set as the printing reference position, the coordinates of the printing reference position are set to (0, 0), and the surface reduction is performed. A printer driver that calculates a print start position and a back side reduced print start position.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, a printer driver includes: a front side reduced printing portion printed in accordance with a predetermined paper feeding direction on a back side sheet; and a back side reduced printing portion printed following the front side reduced printing. The printer driver calculates a back-side reduced printing start position from a front-side reduced printing start position using a deviation between the two as a correction amount. For example, the start position of the backside reduced printing is the difference between the backside reduced printing portion and the frontside reduced printing portion viewed from the front side of the sheet (the difference between the backside reduced printing portion 515 and the frontside reduced printing portion 514 in FIG. 6C). , Which is calculated as a correction amount from the surface reduction printing start position.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printer driver for calculating a surface reduction printing start position in the third aspect of the printer driver as a relative position from a predetermined printing reference position. is there.

A fifth aspect of the printer driver according to the present invention is a printer driver further comprising the following means. (A) A print request receiving unit that receives a print request including information on a document to be printed from an application program, and a unit that receives, as a print request, the contents of the document to be printed and setting information such as A4-size horizontal writing on both sides. (B) setting information display control means for selecting and displaying printer setting information in accordance with the print request received by the print request receiving means, and (c) inputting required information for double-sided reduced printing in a document to be printed Input control means for inputting a specification to print a document to be printed on A4-size paper at a B5 reduced print size on both sides, and (d) the setting information of the printer. , The required information for double-sided reduced printing, and the reduced printing opening for each of the front and back sides calculated by the printing start position calculating means. Based on the position, the print data generating unit that generates print data, transmitting means for transmitting a print output command and (e) the print data to the printer.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the printer driver, the front side reduced printing start position and the back side reduced printing start position in the fifth aspect of the printer driver are calculated as relative positions from a predetermined printing reference position. Is a printer driver.

A seventh aspect of the printer driver of the present invention is to prepare a front side reduced printing start position and a back side reduced printing start position as table values in advance based on various paper sizes and various reduced printing rates in double-sided reduced printing, The printer driver is characterized by searching a table value information for a front-side reduced printing start position and a back-side reduced printing start position corresponding to required information for double-sided reduced printing.

An eighth aspect of the printer driver according to the present invention is a printer driver characterized in that a predetermined printing reference position can be selected at an arbitrary position with respect to a required sheet. For example, the upper left portion of the sheet (point A in FIG.
It is also characterized in that the point D) in (b) can be selected as the printing reference position, and that the upper right part of the sheet (point B in FIG. 6A, point C in FIG. 6B) can be selected as the printing reference position. Printer driver.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the printing start position calculating means, the front side and the printing direction of the back side reduced printing are determined according to whether the reversing direction and the printing direction are perpendicular or parallel to each other. The printer driver calculates a reduced print start position and a back reduced print start position. For example, FIG. 5 shows a case where the reverse direction of the paper and the printing direction in the back side reduced printing are perpendicular to each other in the operation of duplex printing of the B5 size print target document on the A4 size paper.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the printer driver, the input control means requests the user to selectively input a reduced printing paper size as required information for double-sided reduced printing. Driver.

An eleventh aspect of the present invention is a printer driver characterized in that the input control means requests the user to input an arbitrary reduced printing rate as required information for double-sided reduced printing. is there.

The first aspect of the printing control method of the present invention is as follows.
Based on the required information of double-sided reduced printing, on the front and back sides of the required paper, the see-through reduced-side printing portion matches the front-side reduced printing portion, and each reduced-size printing performs consistent two-sided reduced printing. This is a print control method including a print start position calculating step of calculating a reduced print start position for each of the front surface and the back surface.

A second aspect of the print control method according to the present invention is as follows.
In a printing start position calculation step, a front side reduced printing start position and a back side reduced printing start position are calculated as relative positions from a predetermined printing reference position.

According to a third aspect of the printing control method of the present invention,
The deviation between the front side reduced printing portion printed in accordance with the predetermined paper feeding direction on the back side paper and the back side reduced printing portion printed subsequent to the front side reduced printing is used as a correction amount, from the front side reduced printing start position. A print control method comprising calculating a backside reduced print start position.

A fourth aspect of the print control method of the present invention is as follows.
A printing control method according to a third aspect of the printing control method, wherein the surface reduction printing start position is calculated as a relative position from a predetermined printing reference position.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing control method comprising:
The printing control method further includes the following steps. (A) a print request receiving step for receiving a print request including information on a document to be printed from an application program; and (b) setting information for selecting and displaying printer setting information in accordance with the print request received in the print request receiving step. A display step; (c) an input step of controlling input of required information for double-sided reduced printing in a document to be printed; (d) the setting information of the printer;
A print data generating step of generating print data based on the required information of double-sided reduced printing and the reduced print start positions of the front and back sides calculated by the print start position calculating step; And transmitting a print output command to the printer.

A sixth aspect of the print control method of the present invention is as follows.
A print control method according to a fifth aspect of the print control method, wherein a front side reduced print start position and a back side reduced print start position are calculated as relative positions from a predetermined print reference position.

A seventh aspect of the print control method according to the present invention is as follows.
The front side reduced printing start position and the back side reduced printing start position are prepared in advance as table values based on various paper sizes and various reduced printing rates in double-sided reduced printing, and the front side corresponding to the required information of double-sided reduced printing is obtained from the table value information. A print control method characterized by searching for a reduced print start position and a back reduced print start position.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print control method comprising:
The printing control method is characterized in that the predetermined printing reference position can be selected at an arbitrary position on a required sheet.

A ninth aspect of the print control method according to the present invention is as follows.
In the print start position calculating step, the front side reduced print start position and the back side reduced print start position are calculated according to whether the sheet reversing direction and the printing direction in the back side reduced printing are perpendicular or parallel to each other. Is a print control method.

A tenth aspect of the print control method according to the present invention is characterized in that, in the input step, an input request is made to selectively input a reduced printing paper size as necessary information for double-sided reduced printing. It is a control method.

An eleventh aspect of the print control method according to the present invention is characterized in that, in the input step, an input request is made to input an arbitrary reduced print ratio as required information for double-sided reduced printing. It is.

The present invention is an information recording medium on which a program having the steps of the above-described print control method is recorded.

The information recording medium of the present invention is compact
It is a disk, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a hard disk, a magneto-optical disk, a digital video disk, or a magnetic tape.

[0044]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiments described below are for explanation, and do not limit the scope of the present invention. Therefore, those skilled in the art can adopt embodiments in which each of these elements or all elements are replaced with equivalents, and these embodiments are also included in the scope of the present invention.

First, a description will be given of a printer driver which performs a function of relaying a print setting of a printer and a command for printing from an application to a printer, in a computer system including a printer and a computer. FIG.
1 is a block diagram of a computer system including a printer (printing apparatus) and a computer (information processing apparatus).

In the computer system 101, a computer 111 and a printer 151 are connected via a communication line 161. In the communication line 161, a serial cable, a parallel cable, a network
Cable, USB (Universal Serial)
Bus) or other communication protocols provided by various communication modes.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an outline of the computer 111 included in the block diagram shown in FIG.

The computer 111 has an interface 112 for connecting to the communication line 161 and a CD-ROM (Compact Disk) in which software is recorded.
Read Only Memory (CD)
A ROM drive 113 and a CPU (Central
Processing Unit (Central Processing Unit) 11
4 and a RAM (R) used as a storage area for storing programs executed by the CPU 114 and temporary work contents.
and Random Access Memory) 115,
A hard disk 116 for storing programs executed by the CPU 114 and various data, a display device such as a monitor display 117 for notifying a user of various messages, and an FD (Flopp
y Dick), an input device 119 such as a keyboard or a mouse for receiving an input from a user, and a bus 120 for connecting these devices.

The printer driver program of the present invention is provided on a CD-ROM or FD and is installed on the hard disk 116.

The CPU 114 functions as a print request receiving unit, a print position calculating unit, and a print data generating unit in cooperation with the RAM 115 that stores information on a document to be printed and print setting information. The input device 119 functions as input control means in cooperation with the RAM 115 that stores printer setting information, the input device 119 functions as input control means,
In cooperation with the CPU 114, it functions as a transmission unit.

The CD-ROM mounted on the CD-ROM drive 113, the FD mounted on the FD drive 118, and the hard disk 116 function as information recording media for recording software programs of the printer driver of the present invention.

According to the printer driver of the present invention, based on the required information of the two-sided reduced printing, the front and back sides of the required paper have the see-through reduced-side printing portion coincident with the front-side reduced printing portion, and each reduced-size printing is consistent. Print start position calculating means for calculating each reduced print start position on the front surface and the back surface for performing double-sided reduced printing with a certain size.

That is, when performing double-sided reduced printing on A4 size paper at a reduced print size of B5 size, the back side reduced printing portion and the front side reduced printing portion seen through from the front side of the paper match (the back side reduced printing portion in FIG. 6C). In order to perform double-sided reduced printing in which the print portion 515 and the front reduced print portion 514 coincide with each other, a means for calculating a front reduced print start position and a back print start position is provided.

The printer driver of the present invention further includes the following means. (A) A print request receiving unit that receives a print request including information on a document to be printed from an application program, and a unit that receives, as a print request, the contents of the document to be printed and setting information such as A4-size horizontal writing on both sides. (B) setting information display control means for selecting and displaying printer setting information in accordance with the print request received by the print request receiving means, and (c) inputting required information for double-sided reduced printing in a document to be printed Input control means for inputting a specification to print a document to be printed on A4-size paper at a B5 reduced print size on both sides, and (d) the setting information of the printer. , The required information for double-sided reduced printing, and the reduced printing opening for each of the front and back sides calculated by the printing start position calculating means. Based on the position, the print data generating unit that generates print data, transmitting means for transmitting a print output command and (e) the print data to the printer.

The above-described printer driver of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG.
6 is a flowchart illustrating control processing of the printer driver according to the present invention.

First, the printer driver software
When a program is registered in the RAM 115 as a part of the operating system in advance, the CPU 11
No. 4 waits for a print request from the application program (step S301). In the operating system currently used, multitask processing is realized by transferring the control of the CPU 114 to another program in such a standby state. However, illustration of such transition of control is omitted.
Therefore, the end of step S301 means that a print request has been issued from the application program.

Upon receiving a print request, the CPU 114
Displays the printer setting information stored in the RAM 115 on the monitor display 117 (step S3).
02).

Further, the CPU 114 checks what kind of input operation (for example, double-sided printing, reduced printing paper size, reduced printing rate, etc.) of the input device 119 is performed by the user (step S303). The user refers to the printer setting information displayed on the screen, and operates the input device 119 such as a keyboard and a mouse as necessary, thereby
Printer setting information can be changed.

When the user inputs double-sided printing (step S303; double-sided printing), information of double-sided printing is stored in the RAM 11
5 (step S304) and step S302
Return to

When the user selectively inputs the reduced print paper size (step S303; reduced print paper size), the information on the reduced print paper size is stored in the RAM 115 (step S305), and the process returns to step S302.

When the user inputs the reduced printing rate (step S303; reduced printing rate), the information on the reduced printing rate is stored in RA.
M115 (step S306), and
Return to 302.

When other setting information is input (step S303; other), the corresponding processing is performed (step S320), and the process returns to step S302.

When the setting is completed and the user clicks the displayed OK button (step S303; O
K), the display of the printer setting information ends, and the routine goes to the next step S307.

When the user finishes the setting, the CPU 114
Checks the RAM 115 to determine whether a reduced print paper size has been input (step S307). If the reduced print paper size has been input (step S30)
7; Yes) collects print image reduction information with respect to the information of the print target document received in step S301 (step S309). If the reduced printing paper size has not been input (step S307; No), it is checked whether a reduced printing rate has been input (step S3).
08).

If the reduced print rate has been input (step S308; Yes), print image reduced information is collected with respect to the information of the document to be printed received in step S301 (step S309). On the other hand, when the reduced print rate is not input (Step S308; No)
Moves to the next step S310.

Next, based on the information of the document to be printed received in step S301, a print start position for reducing the front side of the paper is calculated (step S310).

Image data for front side reduced printing of a document to be printed is generated in the RAM 115 from the calculated front side reduced printing start position and information of the document to be printed (step S311).

Next, it is determined whether or not double-sided printing has been input (step S312). If double-sided printing has been input (step S312; Yes), a back-side reduced printing start position of the sheet is calculated (step S313).

Based on the calculated back side reduced printing start position and information on the document to be printed, image data for back side reduced printing of the document to be printed is generated in the RAM 115 (step S314). On the other hand, if double-sided printing has not been input (step S312; No), the next step S315
Move on to

Finally, the CPU 114 transmits the print data and the print command generated in the RAM 115 to the printer according to the above-mentioned contents (step S31).
5). Further, the process returns to step S301 and waits until a new print request is issued from the application program.

In the printer driver of the present invention, the print start position calculating means can calculate the front reduced print start position and the back reduced print start position as relative positions from a predetermined print reference position. For example, if the upper left corner of the sheet (point A in FIG. 6A, point D in FIG. 6B) is set as the printing reference position, the coordinates of the printing reference position are set to (0, 0), and the surface reduction is performed. The print start position and the back side reduced print start position can also be calculated.

Further, the printer driver of the present invention provides a method for controlling a position between a portion in which a front-side reduced printing portion printed according to a predetermined sheet feeding direction is seen through a back side sheet and a back-side reduced printing portion printed subsequent to front side reduced printing. Using the deviation as the correction amount, the backside reduced printing start position can be calculated from the frontside reduced printing start position. For example, the start position of the back side reduced printing portion is the difference between the back side reduced printing portion and the front side reduced printing portion seen through the front side of the sheet (the back side reduced printing portion 5 in FIG. 6C).
15 and the reduced surface print portion 514) can be calculated as a correction amount from the start position of the reduced surface print.

Further, the printer driver of the present invention can calculate the surface reduced printing start position as a relative position from a predetermined printing reference position.

With reference to FIG. 4, the method of calculating the front reduced print start position and the back reduced print start position in the print start position calculating means of the printer driver will be specifically described. FIG. 4 shows a method of calculating the front reduced print start position and the back reduced print start position when printing a B5 size print target document on A4 size paper shown in FIG. This is a description of a case in which the sheet reversing direction and the printing direction in backside reduction printing are perpendicular to each other.

FIG. 4A shows reduced-side printing when both-side reduced printing is performed on B4 size paper on A4 size paper. A4 size paper 405 is square ABC
D, B5 size print part (or B5 effective print area) 4
03 is a square EFGH, and the paper feed direction 406 is indicated by an arrow.

The B5 effective print area 403 when reduced to the B5 size is secured in the upper left of the drawing with reference to the corner of the point A. At this time, if the actual paper size is A4 and the specified reduced printing rate is B5 / A4 ≒ 0.86, the dimensional difference y3 between the A4 size and the B5 size in the paper feeding direction, that is, the vertical direction is y3 = y1-y2 ≒ 29.5
−25.5 ≒ 4 (cm). This y3 ≒ 4cm,
This is the additional amount of the bottom margin when printing B5 size paper on A4 size paper.

Further, the dimensional difference x3 in the horizontal direction is x3 = x1−
x2 = 21−0.86 × 21 ≒ 3 (cm), which is the additional amount of the right margin in the horizontal direction.

This margin addition amount is added to the actual print data obtained by converting the document data into coordinates and reducing the
The data is sent to the printer as print data of the size.

For example, the triangular figure T1 shown in the figure is a figure to be printed almost in the center on an A4 size sheet. This triangular figure is reduced at a designated reduced printing rate = 0.86, and B5 effective. Similarly, a triangular figure t1 is printed at the center of the print range 403.

FIG. 4B shows reduced-side back printing when double-sided reduced printing is performed on B4 size paper on A4 size paper. Square DCBA is A4 size paper 40
5 The paper feed direction 417 is indicated by an arrow.

In this case, the B5 effective print area 415 is a square hgfe. The printing start reference position of the B5 size is the point h, and the above calculated y3 is the additional amount of the upper end margin at the time of back side printing. In other words, it is not possible, but when printing a dot at the corner of the point h of the B5 size, the paper transport amount of y3 is set in advance.

After that, the print data of the A4 size is converted into coordinates, reduced and expanded, and the print data obtained by adding the right end margin of x3 is transmitted to the printer as the A4 size data.

Further, since margins (upper margin, lower margin, right margin, left margin, etc.) generally set at the time of printing are also included in the document data, the respective printing start positions are determined by the margins. Is calculated. As a result, if the original A4 size document data includes a blank portion, the document data is reduced including these portions. For example, printing is performed from the A4 size to the B5 size at a reduced printing rate of approximately 0.86 times. At this time, if the original document data has a top margin of 2 cm, A
In 4-B5 reduced printing, a top margin of 1.72 cm is set, and in front side printing, printing is performed with this top margin.

If the bottom margin of the back side printing is 4 cm in A4 size document data, the margin of the B5 reduced size at this time is 3.44 cm, which is equal to y3.
The print start position is calculated by adding ≒ 3 cm.

As described above, in the printer driver of the present invention, the print start position calculating means can calculate the front reduced print start position and the back reduced print start position as relative positions from the print reference position.

In the above-described embodiment, the front-side reduced printing start position and the back-side reduced printing start position in double-sided reduced printing are calculated in accordance with the reduced printing rate. However, based on various paper sizes and various reduced printing rates (or various reduced printing sizes). In addition, the front side reduced printing start position and the back side reduced printing start position in double-sided reduced printing are stored in advance in the RAM 11 as table values.
5, the front-side reduced printing start position and the back-side reduced printing start position are searched from the set setting information of the two-sided reduced printing, so that the front-side reduced printing start position and the back-side reduced printing start position in the two-sided reduced printing are determined. You can also ask.

FIG. 5 shows a method of calculating the front-side reduced printing start position and the back-side reduced printing start position in double-sided reduced printing.
Based on the operation of double-sided reduced printing shown in the above, the case where the sheet reversing direction and the printing direction in the back side reduced printing are perpendicular to each other has been described, but the case where the sheet reversing direction and the printing direction are parallel to each other may also be used. Similarly, the front reduced print start position and the back reduced print start position can be calculated as relative positions from the print reference position.

Further, the program function of the printer driver described above is based on the required information of the two-sided reduced printing. A print start position calculation step is provided for calculating reduced print start positions for the front and back sides for performing double-sided reduced printing with consistent printing. The program function of the printer driver further includes the following steps. (A) a print request receiving step for receiving a print request including information on a document to be printed from an application program; and (b) setting information display for selecting and displaying printer setting information according to the print request received in the print request receiving step. (C) an input step of controlling input of required information for double-sided reduced printing in the document to be printed; (d) the setting information of the printer; the required information of double-sided reduced printing; A print data generation step for generating print data based on the reduced print start positions of the front and back sides calculated by the position calculation means; and (e) a transmission step of transmitting print data and a print output command to the printer.

When the program function of the printer driver is associated with the flowchart of the control process of the printer driver shown in FIG.
In step 301, a setting information display step 301 is performed.
The input step includes steps S305 and S306.
The print start position calculation step includes steps S310 and S3.
13, the print data generation step mainly corresponds to steps S311 and S314, and the transmission step mainly corresponds to step S315.

By incorporating such a printer driver program into a computer, it is possible to realize a printing control method that can be realized for general purposes.

The printer driver is an information recording medium as a program, such as a compact disk, floppy disk, hard disk, magneto-optical disk, digital video disk, or magnetic tape, and an Internet site. And the user can incorporate it into a desired computer.

[0092]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The following effects are obtained.

In double-sided reduced printing, based on printer setting information together with a print target document for which printing has been requested from an application program, respective reduced printing start positions for reduced printing on the front and back sides of a sheet are calculated. Accordingly, it is possible to provide a printer driver and a print control method capable of realizing consistent double-sided reduced printing in which the reduced-side reduced printing portion and the front-side reduced printed portion viewed from the front side of the sheet in double-sided reduced printing match.

Further, the information recording medium on which the program is recorded can be easily distributed or sold as a software product of a printer driver independently of an information processing apparatus such as a computer or a printer. If the program recorded on the information recording medium of the present invention is executed by an information processing device such as a computer, the print control method according to the present invention can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a computer system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an outline of a computer.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating control processing of a printer driver according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 (a) is a front side sheet diagram in double-sided reduced printing,
FIG. 6B is a back side sheet diagram in double-sided reduced printing.

5A is a sheet operation diagram of front side reduced printing in double-sided reduced printing, and FIG. 5B is a sheet operation diagram of back side reduced printing in double-sided reduced printing.

FIG. 6A is a diagram of a front-side reduced printed paper in double-sided reduced printing, FIG. 6B is a diagram of a back-side reduced printed paper in double-sided reduced printing, and FIG. It is the figure which made it see through and overlapped.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 Computer Network 111 Computer 112 Interface 113 CD-ROM Drive 114 CPU 115 RAM 116 Hard Disk 117 Monitor Display 118 FD Drive 119 Input Device 120 Bus 151 Printer 161 Communication Line 403 B5 Effective Print Range 405 A4 Size Paper 406 Paper Feed Direction 415 B5 Effective Printing range 417 Paper feed direction 501 Paper feed tray 502 Paper edge sensor 503 Ink jet head 504 Paper discharge tray 505 Roller 506 Paper feed direction 507 Paper 508 Paper feed direction 509 Paper edge sensor 507a Paper leading edge 507b Paper trailing edge 510 Roller 511 Reverse roller 512 Front reduced print start position 513 Back reduced print start position 514 Front reduced print Part 515 Back side reduced printing part

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (Reference) H04N 1/393 B41J 3/12 L

Claims (24)

[Claims] 1. Based on required information for double-sided reduced printing,
On the front and back sides of the required paper, the see-through back side reduced printing portion matches the front side reduced printing portion, and the respective reduced printing start positions of the front side and the back side for performing reduced side printing with consistency for each reduced printing. A printer driver including a print start position calculating unit for calculating. 2. The print start position calculation unit according to claim 1, wherein the print start position and the print start position on the back side are calculated as relative positions from a predetermined print reference position. Printer driver. 3. A deviation between a portion in which the front-side reduced printing portion printed in accordance with a predetermined sheet feeding direction is seen through a back-side paper and the back-side reduced printing portion printed subsequent to front-side reduced printing is used as a correction amount. 2. The printer driver according to claim 1, wherein a back side reduced printing start position is calculated from the front side reduced printing start position. 4. The printer driver according to claim 3, wherein the surface reduction printing start position is calculated as a relative position from a predetermined printing reference position. 5. The printer driver according to claim 1, further comprising: (A) print request receiving means for receiving a print request including information on a document to be printed from an application program; and (b) setting information for selecting and displaying printer setting information in accordance with the print request received by the print request receiving means. Display control means, (c) input control means for controlling input of required information for double-sided reduced printing in a document to be printed, (d) the setting information of the printer, and the required information of double-sided reduced printing. Print data generating means for generating print data based on the reduced print start positions of the front and back sides calculated by the print start position calculating means; and (e) sending the print data and a print output command to a printer. Transmission means to transmit. 6. The print start position calculating unit according to claim 5, wherein the print start position of the front side and the print start position of the back side are calculated as relative positions from a predetermined print reference position. Printer driver. 7. The front side reduced printing start position and the back side reduced printing start position are prepared as table values in advance based on various paper sizes and various reduced printing rates in double-sided reduced printing, and the two-sided reduced size is prepared based on the table value information. 7. The printer driver according to claim 1, wherein the front-side reduced printing start position and the back-side reduced printing start position corresponding to required printing information are searched. 8. 8. The printer driver according to claim 2, wherein the predetermined printing reference position can be selected at an arbitrary position with respect to the required paper. 9. The print start position calculating unit according to claim 1, wherein the print start position calculating unit calculates the front surface reduced print start position and the back surface reduced print according to whether the sheet reversing direction and the print direction in the back surface reduced printing are perpendicular or parallel to each other. 9. The method according to claim 1, wherein a start position is calculated.
Printer driver described in section. 10. The printer driver according to claim 5, wherein the input control unit requests the user to selectively input a reduced printing paper size as the required information for the double-sided reduced printing. 11. The printer driver according to claim 5, wherein the input control unit requests the user to input an arbitrary reduced printing ratio as the required information for the double-sided reduced printing. 12. Based on required information for double-sided reduced printing, on the front and back sides of a required sheet, a see-through reduced-side printing portion matches the front-side reduced printing portion, and each reduced-size printing has consistency. And a print start position calculating step of calculating a reduced print start position of each of the front side and the back side. 13. The print start position calculating step, wherein the front reduced print start position and the back reduced print start position are
13. The print control method according to claim 12, wherein the calculation is performed as a relative position from a predetermined print reference position. 14. A portion in which the front reduced print portion printed in accordance with a predetermined paper feed direction is seen through a back paper,
13. The backside reduced printing start position is calculated from the frontside reduced printing start position using the deviation between the backside reduced printing portion printed subsequent to the frontside reduced printing as a correction amount. Print control method. 15. The print control method according to claim 14, wherein the surface reduction printing start position is calculated as a relative position from a predetermined printing reference position. 16. The print control method according to claim 12, further comprising the following steps. (A) a print request receiving step for receiving a print request including information on a document to be printed from an application program; and (b) a setting for selecting and displaying printer setting information in accordance with the print request received in the print request receiving step. An information display step, (c) an input step of controlling input of required information for duplex reduced printing in a document to be printed, (d) the setting information of the printer, and the required information of duplex reduced printing, A print data generating step of generating print data based on the reduced print start positions of the front and back sides calculated by the print start position calculating step; and (e) transmitting the print data and a print output command to a printer. Sending step. 17. In the print start position calculating step, a front reduced print start position and a back reduced print start position are determined.
17. The printing control method according to claim 16, wherein the calculation is performed as a relative position from a predetermined printing reference position. 18. The front side reduced printing start position and the back side reduced printing start position are prepared in advance as table values based on various paper sizes and various reduced printing rates in double-sided reduced printing, and the double-sided reduced printing is performed based on the table value information. 18. The print control method according to claim 12, wherein the front side reduced printing start position and the back side reduced printing start position corresponding to required information for printing are searched. 19. The print control method according to claim 13, wherein the predetermined print reference position can be selected at an arbitrary position with respect to the required paper. 20. The print start position calculating method according to claim 19, wherein in the print start position calculating step, the front-side reduced print start position and the back-side reduced print are set according to whether the sheet reversing direction and the print direction in the back side reduced print are perpendicular or parallel to each other. 20. A start position is calculated.
The print control method according to any one of the preceding claims. 21. The print control method according to claim 16, wherein in the inputting step, an input request is made to selectively input a reduced printing paper size as the required information for the double-sided reduced printing. 22. The print control method according to claim 16, wherein in the inputting step, an input request is made to input an arbitrary reduced printing rate as information required for the double-sided reduced printing. 23. An information recording medium on which a program having the steps of the print control method according to claim 12 is recorded. 24. The program according to claim 23, wherein the information recording medium is a compact disk, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magneto-optical disk, a digital video disk, or a magnetic tape. Information recording medium.