JP2002215355A - Printer language conversion program, computer-readable recording medium recording printer language conversion program, printer language converter, and printer language converting method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To output a document added with information, independently of the type of an application. SOLUTION: A printer language conversion program, run by a computer, comprises a step for receiving a document prepared by the application (S2), a step for receiving header information and footer information added to the received document (S4), a step for multiplying the document with a variable multiple according to a region to which the header information and footer information added are outputted to simultaneously output the received document and the added header information and footer information (S8), and a step for combining the multiplied document with the added header information and footer information (S9).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer language conversion program, a computer-readable recording medium on which the printer language conversion program is recorded, a printer language conversion device, and a printer language conversion method. The present invention relates to a printer language conversion program to which information can be added, a computer-readable recording medium storing the printer language conversion program, a printer language conversion device, and a printer language conversion method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printer driver is incorporated in a personal computer to control a printer connected to the personal computer or the like. This printer driver is installed in the personal computer for each printer connected to the personal computer. Then, the document created by the application executed on the personal computer can be output from the connected printer. As described above, the printer driver is installed in order to flexibly correspond to the model of the printer connected to the personal computer.

The printer driver has a function of outputting a document output from an application as it is. Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-258380 discloses a technique for giving a series of page numbers to a material when printing one material from a plurality of document files created by a plurality of application programs. I have.

[0004]

However, according to the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-258380, a document created by an application program is used in a printer-printable area (hereinafter referred to as an "effective print area"). If the page number is created by using, the page number cannot be assigned.

[0005] The printer cannot print on the entire area of the paper to be printed, and the printable area on the paper is predetermined. The effective printing range is stored in advance in the printer driver as information on the capability of the printer, and information on the effective printing range is given to the application from the printer driver. In the application, it is possible to create a document in the received effective print area. Therefore, when a document is created by using the entire effective print area in the application, the area to which the page number is assigned disappears, and the page number cannot be assigned.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printer language converter capable of adding information to a document and outputting it regardless of the type of application. It is an object of the present invention to provide a computer-readable recording medium storing a program, a printer language conversion program, a printer language conversion device, and a printer language conversion method.

[0007]

According to one aspect of the present invention, a step of receiving a document created by an application and a step of receiving information to be added to the received document are provided. Scaling the document at a scaling factor corresponding to the area in which the added information is output, in order to simultaneously output the received document and the added information; And a step of synthesizing the combined information with a printer language conversion program for causing a computer to execute the steps.

According to the present invention, in order to simultaneously output the received document and the added information, the document is scaled at a scaling factor corresponding to the area where the added information is output, and the document is scaled. The added document and the added information are combined. Therefore, it is possible to provide a printer language conversion program capable of adding information to a document and outputting the document regardless of the type of application, and a computer-readable recording medium storing the printer language conversion program.

Preferably, the step of receiving the document includes the step of receiving the size of the sheet on which the document is to be output together with the document, and the step of changing the magnification includes the step of: And a step of determining a scaling factor based on the above.

According to the present invention, the magnification is determined based on the size of the received sheet, the size of the area where the added information is output, and the like. Therefore, all can be output without damaging the document.

Preferably, in the conversion step of the printer language conversion program, the scaling ratio is determined based on an effective print area in the received document.

According to the present invention, the magnification is determined based on the effective print area in the received document. Therefore, the contents of the document can be output as effectively as possible.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a printer language conversion apparatus includes: a document receiving unit for receiving a document created by an application; an additional information receiving unit for receiving information to be added to the received document; In order to simultaneously output the received document and the added information, scaling means for scaling the document at a scaling factor corresponding to the area where the added information is output, And synthesizing means for synthesizing the information.

According to the present invention, in order to simultaneously output the received document and the added information, the document is scaled at a scaling factor corresponding to the area where the added information is output, and the document is scaled. The added document and the added information are combined. For this reason, it is possible to provide a printer language conversion apparatus capable of adding information to a document and outputting the information regardless of the type of application.

[0015] According to still another aspect of the present invention, a printer language conversion method includes a step of receiving a document created by an application, a step of receiving information to be added to the received document, and a step of receiving the document. Step of scaling the document at a scaling factor corresponding to the area where the added information is output, and combining the scaled document and the added information in order to simultaneously output the added information and the added information. Steps.

According to the present invention, in order to simultaneously output the received document and the added information, the document is scaled at a scaling factor corresponding to the area where the added information is output, and the document is scaled. The added document and the added information are combined. Therefore, it is possible to provide a printer language conversion method capable of adding information to a document and outputting the document regardless of the type of application.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The same reference numerals in the drawings denote the same or corresponding members, and description thereof will not be repeated.

The printer language conversion device according to the embodiment of the present invention comprises a personal computer or the like.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printer language conversion device according to one embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, a printer language conversion device 100 includes a control unit 101 for controlling the entire printer language conversion device 100.
An input unit 103 for inputting predetermined commands and data to the printer language conversion apparatus 100; an output unit 105 for displaying or printing data according to an instruction from the control unit 101; and storing predetermined information. And an external input / output device 111.

The input unit 103 is a pointing device such as a keyboard or a mouse. The user of the printer language conversion device 100 can input a predetermined instruction command to the control unit 101 using a keyboard or a mouse. Furthermore, commands required to operate an application executed by the control unit 101, or
You can enter the information needed to create a document. Further, the input unit 103 may use a digital camera, a digital video camera, an image scanner, or the like. By using these,
Image data can be input to the printer language conversion device 100.

The output unit 105 is a display such as a CRT or a liquid crystal display. According to an instruction from the control unit 101, predetermined information can be displayed. The storage unit 107 is a magnetic storage device such as a hard disk device. Further, a magneto-optical storage device may be used instead of the magnetic storage device.

The external input / output device 111 is a magneto-optical storage device. The external input / output device 111 reads a program to be executed by the control unit 101 recorded on the recording medium 113 and document data created by another application.
Data can be written to the recording medium 113 in accordance with the instruction from.

Recording media include tapes such as magnetic tapes and cassette tapes, magnetic disks (flexible disks and hard disks), and optical disks (CD-
Discs such as ROM / MO / MD / DVD), I
Card system such as C card (including memory card) and optical card, or mask ROM, EPROM, EEPROM
It is also possible to use a medium that fixedly carries a program, such as a semiconductor memory such as an M or flash memory. Alternatively, the medium may be a medium that carries the program fluidly so that the program or data is downloaded from the network.

The content stored in the recording medium 113 is not limited to a program but may be data.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram schematically showing the functions of the printer language conversion apparatus according to the present embodiment.
In printer language conversion device 100 according to the present embodiment, control unit 101 executes an application. By executing the application, the document created by the user is stored in the storage unit 107. Further, in order to output the document created by the application to the printer 120, the document is converted into a printer language by a printer driver.
Sent to 0. The application 140 and the printer driver 130 are stored in the storage unit 107,
In step 01, the application 140 and the printer driver 130 are read from the storage unit 107 and executed.

Note that there may be a plurality of types of applications 140. That is, a plurality of types of applications are stored in the storage unit 107, and the printer driver 130 receives a document from one of the applications 140 executed by the control unit 101. Further, the application 140 receives a paper size for printing the document.

Referring to FIG. 2, in the printer language conversion apparatus, application 140 and printer driver 130
Are executed by the control unit 101. Printer driver 13
0 indicates a user interface 137 that displays a predetermined input screen to the user and prompts the user to input data, and a setting data storage unit 13 that stores header information or footer information input via the user interface as setting data.
9, a printer language conversion unit 131 for converting the document received from the application 140 or the setting data stored in the setting data storage unit 139 into a printer language, and expanding or reducing the document converted into the printer language. Scaling section 133 for synthesizing, and a synthesizing section 135 for synthesizing the scaled document and the setting data.
And

The user interface 137 displays a screen prompting the input unit 105 to input setting data. Then, data input by the user from the input unit 103 is received as setting data, and stored in the setting data storage unit 139. Here, the setting data refers to header information and footer information.

Here, the header information refers to information to be put in a margin (header) at the top of the sheet when printing a text created by the application 140. For example,
Document name, company name, author name, date, number of pages, etc. In addition, when the document is to be inserted in a margin (footer) at the bottom of the document, it is called footer information. The setting data includes information to be put in the header and information to be put in the footer. The setting data may use image data in addition to characters and symbols.

The printer language conversion unit 131 converts the document received from the application 140 and the setting data stored in the setting data storage unit 139 into a printer language.

The application 140 sends a printer 120 to the printer driver 130 in addition to the document.
The size of the paper to be printed is received. The scaling unit 133 obtains a document area in which a document can be printed when the setting data converted into the printer language is printed on a sheet based on the sheet size received from the application 140. Then, the document is enlarged or reduced so that the document converted into the printer language is included in the document area.

When scaling the document by the scaling unit 133, the magnification is determined using the effective print area of the printer 120. The printer driver 130 stores an effective print area for each sheet size. The effective print area is
You may make it memorize | store in the memory | storage part 107.

The effective print area is an area where the printer 120 can print. The magnification is determined so that the effective print area fits in the remaining area where the header information is printed above the effective print area and the footer information is printed below the effective print area. Since the header information and the footer information are set at the top and bottom of the effective print area, the effective print area shrinks in the vertical direction. This means that the effective printing area shrinks in the vertical direction regardless of the direction of the paper to be printed (long in the vertical direction and long in the horizontal direction).

On the other hand, from the user interface 137, the user can input the size of the paper to be output by the printer 120. When the size of the paper received from the application 140 is different from the size of the paper specified by the user interface 137, for example, the size of the paper received from the application 140 is “B5”.
When the size of the sheet input from the user interface 137 is “A4”, the document received from the application 140 is enlarged. In this case, if the size of the remaining area obtained by adding the header information and the footer information to the effective print area of the A4 size paper is larger than the effective print area of the “B5” size paper, the scaling unit 133 is used. Will enlarge the document.

The synthesizing unit 135 synthesizes the document converted into the printer language and the setting data converted into the printer language, and transmits the synthesized data to the printer 120. At this time, the document converted into the printer language is transmitted to the scaling unit 133.
Therefore, the synthesizing unit 135 can store the information obtained by synthesizing the document and the setting data in the effective print area of the paper output by the printer 120.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of the information adding process performed by the printer language conversion apparatus according to the present embodiment. The information adding process is performed by the control unit 101, and is particularly a process performed by the control unit 101 executing a printer driver.

In the information adding process, first, it is determined whether or not a print command has been received from the application 140. It is in a standby state until it is received, and if it is received, it proceeds to step S2. Step S1 is usually performed by an interrupt process, and if an interrupt occurs, step S2 is disclosed. In step S2, the application 14
From 0, the document and paper size are received.

Next, it is determined by the user interface 137 whether header information and footer information have been designated (step S3). If the designation has been made, the process proceeds to step S4; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S7. The designation of the header information and the footer information is detected by the user interface 137. On the user interface 137, a screen for inquiring whether to specify header information and footer information is displayed on the output unit 105. When the user of the printer language conversion apparatus 100 inputs a command from the input unit 103 according to the screen displayed on the output unit 105, it is determined whether or not header information and footer information have been specified according to the influential command.

In step S4, the user enters the input unit 103
The input of the header information and the footer information to be input is accepted. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a header / footer designation screen for inputting header information and footer information. Referring to FIG. 4, header / footer designation screen 150
Are a header information input field 151 for inputting the content of the header information, a footer information input field 152 for inputting the content of the footer information, and a font input field 153 for specifying the font of the header information and the footer information. And a character size input field 154 for inputting a character size;
Paper size input field 15 for displaying paper size
5, 156, an OK button 157 for approving the specified content, and a cancel button 158 for canceling the specified content.

The header information input field 151 and the footer information input field 152 are input by the user operating the input section 103, for example, a page number, date and time, a user name, a title, and the like. When the document spans a plurality of pages, the header information and the footer information have contents common to each page. Different page numbers are assigned to different pages.

The paper size input field 155 displays the paper size received from the application 140, and the paper size input field 156 is used to input the size of the paper output by the printer 120. If the user positions the mouse pointer on the arrow button on the right end of the paper size input field 156 and clicks the mouse button, a paper size option is displayed in a pop-up window. it can.

Font input field 153 and size input field 15
4, the font and the character size of the characters displayed in the header information input field 151 and the footer information input field 152 are respectively input. By clicking the arrow on the right end of the font input field 153 with a mouse, a list of fonts that can be printed by the printer is displayed in a pop-up window, and a desired font can be selected from the list.

When the OK button 157 is clicked on with a mouse, a header information input field 151 and a footer information input field 151 are clicked.
2. Data input to the font input field 153, the size input field 154, and the paper size input fields 155 and 156 are stored in the setting data storage unit 139 as setting data.

It is not always necessary to input the header information or the footer information in the header information input field 151 and the footer information input field 152. Either one of the header information or the footer information may be input, or it may be input at all. Instead, only the paper size may be specified. Further, the input of the header information and the footer information into the header information input field 151 and the footer information input field 152 is performed by displaying a plurality of header information and footer information registered in advance, and from among a plurality of displayed candidates. You may make it input by selecting.

Returning to FIG. 3, when the input of the header information and the footer information is completed, the process proceeds to step S5. Step S
In 5, the printer language conversion unit 131 converts the header information and the footer information stored in the setting data storage unit 139 into a printer language.

Then, in step S6, the size of the document area is calculated. This processing is performed by the scaling unit 1
33. The principle of calculating the document area size will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining the principle of the process of scaling a document performed by the printer language conversion apparatus according to the present embodiment. FIG. 5A is a diagram illustrating a relationship between A4 size paper and an effective print area. FIG. 5B is a diagram illustrating a relationship among a header area, a footer area, and a document area included in A-size paper. Referring to FIG. 5A, a printer 120 is provided on A4 size paper 160.
4 shows an effective print area 161 indicating the maximum range in which printing can be performed. The area outside the effective print area 161 cannot be printed by the printer 120.

The information on the effective print area for each sheet is included in the printer driver 130 and transmitted to the application 140. Therefore, application 1
At 40, the document is created such that the document is contained within the effective print area for each sheet.

Referring to FIG. 5B, a header area 171 is defined at the uppermost end of the effective print area of A4 size paper 170, and a footer area 173 is defined at the bottom of the effective print area. The sizes of the header area 171 and the footer area 173 are determined based on the header information and the footer information. In inputting the header information and the footer information, the header information, the footer information, the font, and the font size were input. Therefore, the size of the header area and the footer area is determined by the number of lines of the header information or the footer information and the font size. The header area 171 and the footer area 173 obtained in this manner are arranged at the uppermost end and the lowermost end of the effective print area, and the remaining effective print area is set as a document area.

The header area 171 and the footer area 17
3 may be determined by specifying the sizes of the header area and the footer area when the header information and the footer information are input. In this case, the font sizes of the header information and the footer information are determined based on the sizes of the header area and the footer area and the amounts of the header information and the footer information.

The document area 172 is arranged in the effective print area 161, and the positions of the upper end and the lower end are determined by the header area 171 and the footer area 173. The position in the left-right direction is an area having the same size as the effective print area 161.

The magnification of the document is the effective print area 1
The magnification is set so that 61 falls within the document area 172. In the example shown in FIG.
Is the same as the effective print area 161 in the horizontal direction, but shorter than the effective print area 161 in the vertical direction. Therefore, a value obtained by dividing the vertical length of the document area by the vertical length of the effective print area 161 is set as the magnification.
In the example shown in FIG. 5, the size is reduced.

In this embodiment, the header area and the footer area are provided at the uppermost end or the lowermost end of the effective print area. However, the present invention is not limited to this.
A region to be added may be provided at the right end or the left end.

Returning to FIG. 3, when the size of the document area is determined, the process proceeds to step S7, where the document is converted into a printer language by the printer language conversion unit 131. Then, in the scaling section 133, the document converted into the printer language is scaled based on the size of the document area and the size of the effective print area determined in step S6 (step S8). Then, the header information, the footer information, and the document, which have been converted into the printer language, are combined in the combining unit 135 (step S9), and the combined data is transmitted to the printer 120 (step S10).

It is determined whether there is a document to be printed next. If yes, the process proceeds to step S7; otherwise, the process ends. The case where there is a document to be printed next in step S11 is a case where the document received from the application 140 covers a plurality of pages. Therefore, steps S7 to S
The processes up to 10 are performed for each page of the document.

As described above, the printer language conversion apparatus according to the present embodiment combines header information and footer information with a document received from an application, so that predetermined information is added to a document regardless of the type of application. It is possible to output.
Further, the area where the document is printed is determined based on the size of the area where the header information and the footer information are printed, and the document is scaled according to the area, so that the document is not wasted. All can be output. Furthermore, since the scaling ratio for scaling the document is determined based on the effective print area, the contents of the document can be output as effectively as possible.

Although the printer language conversion apparatus has been described in the present embodiment, the invention may be grasped as a computer-readable recording medium in which a program for causing a computer to execute the processing shown in FIG. 3 is described. it can. Further, it goes without saying that the invention can be grasped as a method for executing the processing shown in FIG.

The embodiments disclosed this time are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a printer language conversion device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram schematically illustrating functions of a printer language conversion device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of an information adding process performed by the printer language conversion device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a header / footer designation screen for inputting header information and footer information.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining the principle of processing for scaling a document performed by the printer language conversion apparatus according to the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 printer language conversion device, 101 control unit, 10
3 input unit, 105 output unit, 107 storage unit, 111
External input / output device, 113 recording medium, 120 printer,
130 printer driver, 131 printer language conversion unit, 133 scaling unit, 135 synthesis unit, 137 user interface, 139 setting data storage unit, 140
Application, 150 footer designation screen, 151
Header information input field, 152 Footer information input field, 153
Font input field, 154 character size input field, 155
156 paper size input field, 160 paper, 161 effective print area, 170 paper, 171 header area, 17
2 Document area, 173 footer area.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2C087 AA18 AB05 BA06 BA09 BB02 BB10 BD06 BD07 CA04 CA05 DA17 2C187 CC02 5B009 RB02 RC06 RC11 RC13 TA06 TB11 5B021 AA02 BB01 BB04 BB08 CC05 LL08

Claims (6)

[Claims] Receiving a document created by an application; receiving information to be added to the received document; and simultaneously outputting the received document and the added information. Causing the computer to execute the steps of: scaling the document at a scaling factor corresponding to an area where the added information is output; and synthesizing the scaled document and the added information. Printer language conversion program. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of receiving the document includes receiving a size of a sheet on which the document is output together with the document.
The printer language conversion program according to claim 1, further comprising a step of determining a scaling factor based on a size of an area to which the added information is output. 3. The printer language conversion program according to claim 1, wherein said scaling step determines a scaling factor based on an effective print area of said received document. 4. A computer-readable recording medium in which the printer language conversion program according to claim 1 is recorded. 5. A document receiving means for receiving a document created by an application, an additional information receiving means for receiving information to be added to the received document, and the received document and the added information. Scaling means for scaling the document at a scaling factor in accordance with the area where the added information is output, for simultaneous output; and synthesizing the scaled document and the added information. Printer language conversion device comprising: 6. Receiving a document created by an application; receiving information to be added to the received document; and outputting the received document and the added information simultaneously. Printer language conversion, comprising: scaling the document at a scaling factor corresponding to an area in which the added information is output; and synthesizing the scaled document and the added information. Method.