JP2003162407A - Document processing method and apparatus thereof, and printing control method and apparatus thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simplify exception setting operations for each predetermined unit of documents for setting the printing style of the documents. <P>SOLUTION: A document processing method for setting printing style of document comprising steps of setting the printing style of the entire documents (S701), setting printing styles for each unit of predetermined attributes for each predetermine unit of the documents, included in the documents (S702, S703 or S702, S704) and giving higher priority on printing style for each unit of the set predetermined attributes as a printing style for each predetermined unit of the documents than the printing style set with respect to the entire documents, when preparing the printing style of the documents, based on the printing style which is set in the manner described (S703, S704). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a document processing method, an apparatus thereof, a printing control method and an apparatus capable of individually setting a chapter or page for a document including chapters or pages.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Different types of data such as characters, tables, and images have different data structures that define the data and different editing operations on the data. Therefore, various application programs are provided according to the type of data. There is. Therefore, the user must edit a character by using a character processing program, a table by a spreadsheet program,
In order to edit an image, an application is properly used according to the type of data, such as an image editing program, and the data is created or edited.

As described above, a user generally uses an application program for each type of data. However, a document to be created by the user is not limited to a document composed of one type of data such as only characters, only a table, or only an image, and may be a plurality of types of data such as a character and a table or a character and an image. Structured documents are more common. Therefore, in order to create a document including these multiple types of data, the user uses the print function of each application to print the data corresponding to each application and print the printed matter with a scanner or the like. It was necessary to read in and combine in the desired order.

[0006] Alternatively, some programs, which are so-called office suites, that form one integrated application by various applications provide a function of combining data generated by each application to form one document. When using this integrated application, the user can combine the data created by each application into one target document by the specific application included in this integrated application.

When an instruction to print a document created in this manner is given on an information processing device such as a personal computer, various printing styles can be set for the document, so that the user can freely set it. I have been able to perform high-quality printing. Also, if the document to be printed has chapters or pages, it is possible to set an exceptional print format for that chapter or page, which is different from the entire document.
We have made it possible to set printing style with a higher degree of freedom.

[0006]

However, when a user combines printed materials from various applications to create one target document, for example, in order to assign a page number to each page, once the necessary data is provided. It is necessary to print out everything, compile it as a document, and then decide the page number to be given. Then, each application must write the determined page number for each page (called a logical page or a document page) of the document created by the application.

Even if the application program has a function of assigning page numbers, if there are discontinuous portions, the user still has to specify the page numbers. Also, when the pages of the document are rearranged, the page numbers must be reassigned accordingly. In addition, multiple original pages are combined into one page as a printed matter (this is called a physical page or a printed page), or simplex printing is changed to double-sided printing. Even in such a case, the data needs to be edited and reprinted by the application.

[0008] As described above, since the application that can manage each type of data that constitutes one document is different, the user himself / herself must manually perform the interface between the applications when handling the document. . This requires a great deal of labor for the user, which causes a decrease in productivity.
In addition, since many people are involved, an error is likely to occur.

On the other hand, when a document is created using the above-mentioned integrated application, various data can be arranged in the data state without printing out. For this reason,
The labor of the user is not required as much as the case of combining the printed materials to create the target document. However, the application for editing / creating various data is limited to the application included in the integrated application, and thus the application desired by the user may not be usable.

Further, the document created by the integrated application is one document file, and the editing and output of the document are managed in units of this document file. Therefore, even if a format is set for a part of a document file, there are many restrictions due to the function of the application, and, for example, it is necessary to change the format setting for each part where the format is changed or to reprint. For this reason, much labor is required, and in terms of low productivity, there is no difference from the method described above.

Further, in the conventional exceptional print format setting method, the print format can be specified exceptionally for each chapter or each page. But with this traditional method,
In order to make a trivial exception setting (zoom for each page, angle specification, layout position specification for chapter, etc.), it is necessary to reset all attributes including the exception settings. Also, if the settings for the entire document and the settings specified as exceptions for chapters or pages happen to be the same, whether the settings for chapters or pages should follow the settings for the entire document, or whether they should remain as exception settings Confusing. Further, if the method of following the setting of the entire document to the setting of this chapter or each page is used, it becomes impossible to give the meaning of the setting unique to the chapter or page.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a document processing method and apparatus, and a printing control method and apparatus that enhance the operability of document creation and editing to improve the productivity of document editing. The first purpose is to do so.

Further, in setting a print format of a document, it is possible to provide a document processing method and apparatus, and a print control method and apparatus that can easily set an arbitrary print format for each predetermined unit of the document. The purpose is 2.

[0014]

In order to achieve the above object, the document processing apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration.
That is, a document processing apparatus for setting the print format of a document, including first setting means for setting the print format of the entire document, printing for each predetermined unit of the document, and for each predetermined attribute unit included in the document. Second setting means for setting the appearance, and the first
And a conversion unit for adjusting the print format of the document based on the setting by the second setting unit, wherein the conversion unit sets the print format of the predetermined attribute unit set by the second setting unit, As a print format for a predetermined unit of the document, the print format set by the first setting unit is prioritized.

In order to achieve the above object, the print control apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, first setting means for setting the print format of the entire document, second setting means for setting the print format for each predetermined attribute unit included in the document for each predetermined unit of the document, and the first and second setting means. A conversion unit for adjusting the print format of the document based on the setting by the second setting unit, wherein the conversion unit sets the print format of the predetermined attribute unit set by the second setting unit. As a print format for a predetermined unit of the document, the print format set by the first setting unit is prioritized.

In order to achieve the above object, the document processing method of the present invention comprises the following steps. That is, a document processing method for setting the print format of a document, including a first setting step for setting the print format of the entire document, and printing for each predetermined unit of the document, for each predetermined attribute unit included in the document. There is a second setting step for setting the appearance, and a conversion step for adjusting the print appearance of the document on the basis of the print appearances set in the first and second setting steps. The print format of the predetermined attribute unit set in the second setting step is prioritized as the print format of the predetermined unit of the document over the print format set in the first setting step.

In order to achieve the above object, the printing control method of the present invention comprises the following steps. That is, a first setting step of setting a print appearance of the entire document, a second setting step of setting a print appearance for each predetermined attribute unit included in the document for each predetermined unit of the document, and the first and second And a conversion step of adjusting the print format of the document based on the setting by the second setting step, and the conversion step includes converting the print format of the predetermined attribute unit set by the second setting step. The print format for the predetermined unit of the document is prioritized over the print format set in the first setting step.

[0018]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<System Outline> An outline of the document processing system according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. In this document processing system, a data file created by a general application is converted into an electronic manuscript file by an electronic manuscript writer. The bookbinding application provides a function of editing the electronic manuscript file. The details will be described below.

<System Configuration and Operation> FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the software configuration of the document processing system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, this document processing system is realized by a digital computer 100. The general application 101 is an application program that provides functions such as word processing, spreadsheet, photo retouching, drawing or painting, presentation, and text editing, and has a printing function. These applications 101 use a predetermined interface provided by an operating system (OS) when printing data such as created document data and image data. That is, the application 101 transmits an output command in a predetermined OS-dependent format to an output module of the OS that provides a predetermined interface in order to print the created data. The output module that receives this output command converts the command into a format that can be processed by an output device such as a printer, and outputs it.
The format that can be processed by this output device differs depending on the type, manufacturer, and model of the device, so a device driver is provided for each device, and the OS uses the device driver to convert commands. To do. Here, for example, when using Windows (Windows (registered trademark)) of Microsoft Corporation as the OS, the output module described above is GDI (Graphic).
The module called Device Interface) is equivalent.

The electronic manuscript writer 102 is a software module provided as one of the above-mentioned device drivers to realize the document processing system according to the present embodiment. However, the electronic manuscript writer 102 is not intended for a specific output device, and converts the output command into a format that can be processed by the bookbinding application 104 and the printer driver 106 described later. The format after conversion by the electronic manuscript writer 102 (hereinafter, “electronic manuscript format”)
Is not particularly limited as long as a manuscript in page units can be expressed in a detailed format. Among substantial standard formats, for example, PDF format by Adobe Systems, S
The GML format or the like can be adopted as the electronic manuscript format. When the electronic document writer 102 is used by the application 101, the electronic document writer 102 is designated as a device driver used for output and then printing is executed. However, the electronic original file created by the electronic original writer 102 does not have a complete format as an electronic original file. Therefore, it is the bookbinding application 104 that specifies the electronic manuscript writer 102 as a device driver, and the conversion of the application data into the electronic manuscript file 103 is executed under the management thereof.

The bookbinding application 104 completes the new incomplete electronic manuscript file generated by the electronic manuscript writer 102 as an electronic manuscript file 103 having a format described later. Hereinafter, when it is necessary to clearly identify this point, a file created by the electronic manuscript writer 102 is called an electronic manuscript file, and an electronic manuscript file given a structure by the bookbinding application 104 is called a book file. .

In this way, the electronic original writer 102 is designated as the device driver, and the general application 101
The application data is converted into electronic manuscript format data in units of a page defined by the application 101 (hereinafter referred to as “logical page” or “manuscript page”) by printing the data.
The electronic original file 103 is stored in a storage medium such as a hard disk. Note that this hard disk is a computer 1 that implements the document processing system of the present embodiment.
00 may be a local drive,
If it is connected to a network, it may be a drive provided on the network.

The bookbinding application 104 provides the user with a function for reading the electronic manuscript file or the book file 103 and editing the file. However, the bookbinding application 104 does not provide the function of editing the content of each page, but provides the function of editing the structure of a chapter or a book, which will be described later and is configured with the page as a minimum unit. .

When printing the book file 103 edited by the bookbinding application 104, the bookbinding application 104 is used by the electronic original despooler 10 to print.
5 is activated. The electronic manuscript despooler 105 reads out a specified book file from the hard disk, generates an output command suitable for the output module of the OS described above in order to print each page in the format described in the book file, and outputs it. Output to the output module shown. At that time, the printer driver 106 for the printer 107 used as the output device is designated as the device driver. As a result, the output module becomes the printer driver 10 of the designated printer 107.
6 is used to convert the output command received into a device command that the printer 107 can interpret and execute. And
This device command is transmitted to the printer 107, and the printer 107 prints an image according to the command.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the computer 100 according to this embodiment.

In FIG. 2, the CPU 201 is a ROM 2
03 stored in the program ROM or loaded from the hard disk 211 into the RAM 202, the general application 101, the bookbinding application 1
A program such as 04 is executed to realize the software configuration of FIG. 1 and the procedure of the flowchart described later, and further, collectively controls each device connected to the system bus 204. Also, the ROM 203 for the font
Alternatively, the hard disk 211 stores font data and the like used when executing the bookbinding application 104 and the like. The RAM 202 functions as a main memory, a work area, etc. of the CPU 201. A keyboard controller (KBC) 205 controls key inputs from the keyboard 209 and a pointing device (not shown). The CRT controller (CRTC) 206 is a CR
The display of the T display 210 is controlled. The disk controller (DKC) 207 is a hard disk (HD) 211 for storing a boot program, various applications, font data, user files, an edit file described later, a printer control command generation program (hereinafter, printer driver), and the like (not shown). It controls access to a floppy (registered trademark) disk (FD) or the like.
A printer controller (PRTC) 208 controls the exchange of signals with the connected printer 107 (see FIG. 1). The network controller (NC) 212 is connected to a network and executes communication control processing with other devices connected to this network.

The CPU 201 is, for example, the RAM 20.
The outline font is expanded (rasterized) to the display information RAM set on the screen 2 and the CRT21
It enables WYSIWYG on 0. Also, CP
The U201 opens various registered windows and executes various data processes based on a command designated by a mouse cursor or the like (not shown) on the CRT 210. When executing printing, the user can open a window relating to print settings and make printer settings and print processing method settings for the printer driver, including print mode selection.

<Format of Electronic Manuscript Data> Before referring to the details of the bookbinding application 104, the data format of the book file will be described.

This book file has a three-layer structure imitating a paper medium book. The upper layer is called a "book" and imitates one book. It is defined. The intermediate layer below it corresponds to the chapter in the book and is also called the "chapter". Attributes can be defined for each chapter. The lower layer is a “page”, which corresponds to each page defined by the application program. Attributes can be defined for each page.
A book may contain multiple chapters, and a chapter may contain multiple pages.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams schematically showing an example of the format of this book file. The books, chapters, and pages in the book file of this example are indicated by the corresponding nodes. One book file contains one book. Since the book and the chapter are concepts for defining the structure as a book, the defined attribute values and links to lower layers are included. The page has, as an entity, data for each page output by the application program. Therefore, the page includes, in addition to its attribute value, the substance of the manuscript page (manuscript data) and a link to each manuscript data. The print page when output to a paper medium or the like may include a plurality of original pages. This structure is not displayed by the link, the book,
It is displayed as an attribute in each hierarchy of chapter and page.

In FIG. 3A, reference numeral 301 defines a book attribute, and chapter attributes 302A, which indicate two chapters,
302B is linked. This link displays that the two chapters corresponding to these chapter attributes 302A and 302B are included in the book defined by this book attribute 301. The chapter attribute 302A is linked with page attributes 303A and 303B, and it is shown that pages corresponding to these page attributes are included. An attribute value is defined in each of the page attributes 303A and 303B, and a link to the document data (1) and (2) which is the substance thereof is included. These links point to the original data (1) and (2) of the original data 304 shown in FIG. 3 (B),
The fact that the page attributes 303A and 303B are document data (1) and (2) is displayed. Similarly, page attributes 303C and 303D are linked to the chapter attribute 302B, and it can be seen that the manuscript data sets are the manuscript data sets (3) and (4) shown in FIG. 3B.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a concrete example of the book attribute 301. Among these attribute items, the attribute value of the lower layer is preferentially adopted for the attribute item that can be defined redundantly with the lower layer. Therefore, for an item included only in the book attribute, the value defined in the book attribute is a valid value throughout the book. However, items that overlap with the lower layer have the meaning as default values when they are not defined in the lower layer. It should be noted that each attribute item shown does not specifically correspond to one item but may include a plurality of related items.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining chapter attributes, and FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining specific examples of page attributes. Note that the relationship between the chapter attribute and the page attribute is the same as the relationship between the book attribute and the lower layer attribute described above.

As is apparent from these figures, the attribute items unique to the book attribute 301 are "printing method", "bookbinding details", "cover / back cover", "index sheet", "interleaf sheet", and "sheet". The six items are chapter breaks. These attribute items are items defined through the book. Here, as the attribute of “printing method”, three values of “single-sided printing”, “double-sided printing”, and “bookbinding printing” can be designated. “Bookbinding printing” is a method of printing in a format that enables bookbinding by bundling a separately specified number of sheets, folding the sheets in two, and binding the bundles. Further, in the "bookbinding details", when "bookbinding printing" is designated, the spread direction, the number of sheets to be bundled, and the like are designated.

The "front cover / back cover" includes designation of adding sheets to serve as a front cover and a back cover when printing electronic document files that are put together as a book, and designation of print contents on the added sheets. . "Index paper" is
The chapter division includes designation of insertion of index paper with ears, which is separately prepared in the printing apparatus, and designation of print contents on the index (ears) portion. This attribute is provided when the printing device used by an inserter that has an insert function that inserts a paper prepared separately from the printing paper into a desired position, or a plurality of paper feed cassettes can be used. Effective in some cases. The same applies to "interleaving paper". The "interleaving paper" includes, as chapter breaks, designation of insertion of paper fed from the inserter or paper feed cassette, and designation of a paper feed source when inserting interleaving paper.

"Chapter break" means the chapter break
This includes designation of whether to use a new paper, a new print page, or do nothing in particular. In single-sided printing, using a new sheet has the same meaning as using a new print page. "Use new paper" when printing on both sides
If you specify, continuous pages will not be printed on one sheet of paper, but if you specify Use new print page, consecutive pages will be printed on the front and back of one sheet of paper. Can be.

Next, with regard to the chapter attributes of FIG. 5, there are no items unique to the chapter, and all of them overlap with the book attributes. Therefore, if the definition in the chapter attribute and the definition in the book attribute are different, the value defined in the chapter attribute takes precedence. Attribute items common only to book attributes and chapter attributes are "paper size",
"Paper orientation", "N-up print designation", "Enlargement / reduction",
There are five items of "paper discharge method". Among them, the attribute of “N-up print designation” is an item for designating the number of original pages included in one print page. Arrangements that can be specified here include 1 × 1, 1 × 2, 2 × 2, 3 × 3, and 4 × 4. The “paper ejection method” is an item for designating whether or not to perform the stapling process on the ejected paper, and the effectiveness of this attribute depends on whether or not the printer to be used has a stapling function.

Next, items unique to the page attributes shown in FIG. 6 include "page rotation", "zoom", "arrangement position", "annotation", and "page division". “Page rotation” is an item for designating a rotation angle when a document page is arranged on a print page. “Zoom” is an item for designating the scaling factor of a document page. The scaling factor for this zoom is 1 for the size of the virtual logical page area.
Specified as 00%. The virtual logical page area is an area occupied by one original page when the original pages are arranged according to the designation such as N-up. For example, if it is 1 × 1, the virtual logical page area is an area corresponding to one print page, and if it is 1 × 2, each side of one print page is reduced to about 70%.

"Watermark" and "header / footer" are attribute items common to the book attribute, chapter attribute and page attribute. What is a "watermark"?
An image or character string that is specified separately and that is printed over the data created by the application. The "header / footer" is a watermark printed on the upper and lower margins of each page. However, "Header
In the "footer", items that can be specified by variables such as page number and date and time are prepared. The contents that can be specified in the “watermark” and the “header / footer” are common to the chapter attribute and the page attribute, but different from them in the book attribute. In book attributes,
You can set the content of the watermark and header / footer, and you can specify how to print the watermark / header / footer throughout the book. On the other hand, in the chapter attribute or page attribute, it is possible to specify whether or not to print the watermark or the header / footer set in the book attribute in the chapter or page.

Here, a method of designating an exception in print format setting in the document processing system according to the present embodiment will be described.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the flow of the overall processing of print format setting in the document processing system according to this embodiment. Before the exception is designated in the present embodiment, the print format of the entire book is set in the operation window shown in FIG. 8 in step S701.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a “book detail setting” window of the bookbinding application 104. This window is displayed on the CRT 210 by being activated from the "book detail settings" (not shown) in the edit menu on the application operation screen of FIG. 9 or the "book detail settings" button (not shown) on the toolbar. It The "detailed settings for book" window is a window for setting attributes that affect the entire book. As shown in Fig. 8, this window displays "Page Setup", "Finishing",
It consists of four sheets, "Edit" and "Paper feed".
FIG. 8 shows a state in which the “page setting” sheet is displayed. On this "page setting" sheet, settings relating to the layout of the document can be mainly performed.

If the print format has already been set and it is not necessary to make further settings such as changes, the process proceeds to step S702, and it is determined whether or not the print format of the chapter or page is set. If not, the process ends. When setting the print format of the chapter, step S703
Proceed to. The process of step S703 is shown in FIG. 10 and FIG.
It will be described later with reference to FIG. If the print format of the page is set, the process advances to step S704. This step S
The processing of 704 will be described later with reference to FIG.
After setting the chapter or page print format, step S
At 705, the changed print format is saved.

Next, the process of changing a part of the attributes of a certain chapter out of the set attributes of the entire book to a different attribute (step S703 in FIG. 7) will be described with reference to FIG.
And FIG. 11 will be described.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the chapter print format setting processing in step S703 of FIG.

When the print format designation process of the chapter is instructed,
In step S1101, a "detailed chapter setting" window shown in FIG. 5 in which chapter attributes can be set is displayed. Note that the instruction to specify the print format of the chapter is given by "Detailed setting of chapter" (not shown) in the edit menu on the application operation screen of FIG.
It is activated from a button (not shown).

FIG. 10 shows the “detailed setting of chapter” window of the bookbinding application 104. This "Detailed Settings for Chapter" window is similar to the "Detailed Settings for Book" window shown in FIG. 8, and "Page Setup", "Finishing", "Edit",
It is composed of four sheets of "paper feed".
It shows a state in which a "page setting" sheet is displayed. Basically, the "detailed setting of chapter" is the same as the information that can be set by the page setting of "detailed setting of book" in FIG. 8, but the following three functions are added.

Book of settings relating to output paper, that is,
It is adjusted to "Detailed setting of document" (801).

The function relating to page layout is adjusted to the book (802).

Match the settings for the layout of the document to the book (803).

As described above, by checking the check box 800 in FIG. 8, the setting relating to the output paper of the chapter can be matched with the book attribute. Similarly, by checking the check box 801, the settings related to the page layout of the chapter can be matched with the book attributes, and the check box 802 can be set.
By checking, the setting relating to the layout of the manuscript of the chapter can be matched with the book attribute. Here, to match with the book means to match the settings of the entire book.

Next, in step S1102, it is determined whether the chapter attribute has been changed. If it has not been changed, the process is terminated as it is, and if it has been changed, the process advances to step S1103 to check whether the changed setting is set to be the same as the book attribute setting. Here, it is confirmed whether the changed setting is designated as "fit to book". If "fit to book" is set here (YES in step S1103), no matter how the setting items belonging to the relevant function group are set, the setting items set in the detailed setting of the book attribute are Applied (step S110)
5).

On the other hand, if "fit to book" is not set (NO in step S1103), step S1
Proceeding to 104, the exception designation set in the chapter attribute is reflected in the setting item belonging to the relevant function group. The function group mentioned here is a group of print appearance items having the same attributes. For example, the page layout function is composed of three functions of the same page layout attribute, page layout, arrangement order, and boundary line.
Therefore, by performing exception designation in units of functional groups in this manner, it is possible to perform exception designation in units that have a meaningful attribute. Therefore, chapter-specific settings different from the settings for the entire book are retained.

Further, in the same way that the attribute information peculiar to the chapter can be set for the book information, the attribute information peculiar to the page included in the chapter can be set. The flow of this processing (step S704 in FIG. 7) is shown in FIG.
2 shows. This process is similar to the detailed setting window for books and chapters, "Detailed page settings" (not shown) in the edit menu on the application operation screen in Fig. 9 or "Detailed page settings" button (not shown) on the toolbar. )
Is started from.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a page print format setting process in the document processing system according to the present embodiment, which corresponds to the process of step S704 in FIG.

When the detailed page setting is activated, the flow advances to step S1201 to have the same configuration as the "detailed chapter setting" window, and the detailed page setting window shown in FIG. (Shown) is displayed. The "Detailed page settings" window is basically the same as that shown in FIG. 8, but "Adjust to book" in FIG.
Instead of, the "Detailed settings for page" window has a function of "Fit to chapter", and corresponding check boxes are provided.

Next, in step S1202, it is determined whether the page print format setting has been changed. If it has not been changed, the process is terminated as it is, and if it has been changed, the process advances to step S1203 to check whether the changed setting is the same as the chapter setting. Here, it is confirmed whether the changed setting is the specification of "match with chapter". If the "Match to chapter" check box is checked (YES in step S1203), the flow advances to step S1205 to set the detailed settings of the chapter no matter how the setting items belonging to the function group are set. The set items are applied to the settings. In addition, when this "Match to chapter" is specified, if "Match to book" is specified in the detailed settings of the corresponding chapter of the page, finally the book attribute is applied to the page. Will be done.

On the other hand, if this function is not set (NO in step S1203), the flow advances to step S1204, and the exception items set in the chapter are reflected in the setting items belonging to the corresponding function group. Therefore, here, by performing the exception designation in units of function groups, it is possible to perform the exception designation in units meaningful as an attribute. Therefore, it is possible to set an attribute specific to the page, which is different from the setting of the book attribute and the chapter attribute.

<Book File Generation Procedure> The book file has the structure and contents described above. Next, the bookbinding application 104 and the electronic manuscript writer 1
A procedure of creating a book file by 02 will be described. The creation of the book file is realized as a part of the book file editing operation by the bookbinding application 104.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the procedure for opening a book file by the bookbinding application 104.

First, in step S1301, it is determined whether the book file to be opened is a new file to be created or an existing one. In the case of new creation, the flow advances to step S1302 to create a new book file that does not include chapters. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the newly created book file has only the book attribute 301, and has no book attribute node with a link to the chapter attribute node. Note that a set of attributes prepared in advance for new creation is applied to this book attribute. The process advances to step S1304 to display a user interface (UI) screen for editing the new book file.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a UI screen when a new book file is created in this way. In this case, since the book file has no substantial content, nothing is displayed on the UI screen 1400.

On the other hand, if there is an existing book file, the flow advances to step S1303 to open the specified book file and display the user interface (UI) screen in accordance with the structure, attributes and contents of the book file.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of this UI screen. This UI screen 900 has a tree portion 901 showing the structure of a book and a preview portion 9 for displaying a printed state.
02 and. In the tree portion 901, chapters included in the book and pages included in each chapter are displayed in a tree structure as shown in FIG. Pages displayed in the tree portion 901 are original pages. In the preview section 902,
The content of the printed page is reduced and displayed. The display order reflects the structure of the book.

Now, the application data converted into the electronic manuscript file by the electronic manuscript writer 102 can be added as a new chapter to the book file thus opened. This function is called an electronic manuscript import function. By using this function, an electronic manuscript is imported into a book file newly created by the procedure of FIG. 13, so that the book file is given a substance. This function is activated by dragging and dropping application data on the screen shown in FIG.

FIG. 15 is a flow chart showing the procedure of the electronic document import.

First, in step S1501, the application program that generated the specified application data is activated, the electronic document writer 102 is specified as the device driver, and the application data is printed out to be converted into electronic document data. When the conversion is completed, the process proceeds to step S1502, and it is determined whether the converted data is image data. This decision is
For example, under the Windows (registered trademark) OS, it can be performed based on the file extension of application data. For example, if the extension is "bmp", it is bitmap data, and if it is "jpg", it is jpeg.
Compressed image data, tiff if "tiff"
It can be determined that the image data has a format.

If it is not image data, step S
Proceeding to 1503, the electronic document file generated in step S1501 is added as a new chapter to the book of the currently open book file. Here, as the chapter attribute, the value of the book attribute is copied for the one common to the book attribute, and the specified value is set for the other attributes.

If the image data is image data in step S1502, the process proceeds to step S1504. In principle, no new chapter is added and the designated chapter is added to step S15.
Each manuscript page included in the electronic manuscript file generated in 01 is added. However, if the book file is a newly created file, a new chapter is created and each page of the electronic document file is added as pages belonging to that chapter. The page attribute is given the attribute value for the attribute common to the upper layer, and the value is given for the attribute inherited in the application data to the electronic document file. For example,
When N-up designation or the like is made in the application data, the attribute value is inherited. In this way, a new book file is created, or
New chapter added.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a procedure for generating an electronic document file by the electronic document writer 102 in step S1501 of FIG.

First, in step S1601, a new electronic manuscript file is created and opened. Next in step S16
In step 02, the application corresponding to the specified application data is activated, and the electronic original writer 102 is used as a device driver to transmit an output command to the output module of the OS. This output module
The received output command is converted by the electronic manuscript writer 102 into data in the electronic manuscript format and output. The output destination in this case is the electronic original file opened in step S1601. Next, in step S1602, it is determined whether the conversion is completed for all the designated data, and if completed, the process proceeds to step S1604, and the electronic document file is closed. Here, the electronic document file generated by the electronic document writer 102 is a file including the document page data entity shown in FIG. 3B.

<Editing Book File> As described above, a book file can be created from application data. With respect to the book file generated in this way, the following editing operations can be performed on chapters and pages. (1) Add new (2) Delete (3) Copy (4) Cut (5) Paste (6) Move (7) Change chapter name (8) Renumber page numbers (9) Insert cover page (10) Insert sheet Insert (11) Insert index paper (12) Page layout for each original page.

In addition to this, it is possible to perform an operation of canceling an editing operation that has been performed once, and an operation of redone the canceled operation. These editing functions allow you to combine multiple book files, rearrange chapters and pages in the book file, delete chapters and pages in the book file, change the layout of original pages, insert slip sheets and index sheets, etc. Operation becomes possible. When these operations are performed, the operation results are reflected in the attributes shown in FIGS. 4 to 6 or the book file structure. For example, when a new blank page addition operation is performed, a blank page is inserted at the specified location. This blank page is treated as an original page. In addition, if you change the layout of the manuscript page, the contents of the change are "printing method", "N-up printing", "cover / back cover", "index sheet", "interleaf sheet", "chapter break". It is reflected in the attribute.

<Output of Book File> The book file created and edited as described above is intended for print output. When the user selects the file menu from the UI 900 of the bookbinding application shown in FIG. 9 and selects print from the file menu, the specified device, for example, the printer 1
It is printed out according to 07). At this time, the bookbinding application 104 first sets a chapter attribute from the book attribute of the currently opened book file, and then sets a page attribute located below the chapter attribute from the chapter attribute. Here, if there is an exception setting in the chapter attribute, an exception setting value of the chapter attribute is set in the page attributes below the chapter attribute. When the page attribute has an exception setting, the exception setting value defined by the page attribute is set regardless of the book and chapter attributes of the upper layer.

As described above, the bookbinding application 104 according to this embodiment can set attributes for each book, chapter, and page in the book file. Further, the book file has a hierarchical structure as described above with reference to FIG. 3, and if the book attribute is set to a certain value, the chapter attribute located in the lower layer of the book attribute has the same set value. Is changed to. Similarly, if the chapter attribute is changed, the page attribute located below the chapter attribute is also changed. However, in the bookbinding application 104, it is possible to make exception settings for chapter attributes and page attributes. If an exception setting is made to the chapter attribute or page attribute, even if the book attribute or the chapter attribute above it is changed, the setting above that attribute will not be reflected in the attribute of the lower layer The value will be applied.

For example, a case where an exceptional setting is made in the book attribute 301 having the structure of two chapters and four pages as shown in FIG. 3 will be described. At this time, when the output paper size “A4” is set in the book attribute 301, the attributes of all pages included in the book are “A4” size. Further, even if the output paper size of the book attribute 301 is changed to another value, all chapter and page attributes are
This is the same as the book attribute 301.

However, if an exception setting of output paper size "A3" is made in chapter attribute (2) 302B included in this book attribute, page attributes 303C and 303D located below the chapter attribute 302B. Similarly, the output paper size of is also "A3". Further, even if the book attribute 301 is changed here, the chapter attribute (2) 3
02B and the page attribute of the lower layer of this chapter attribute 302B do not reflect the change of the book attribute 301.

When the attribute value of each page is fixed as described above, the book file job ticket is created using the fixed attribute value of each page. The job ticket created as described above is passed to the electronic original despooler 105. The electronic document despooler 105 converts the job ticket into an output command of the OS, for example, a GDI command of Windows (registered trademark), and sends it to an output module, for example, GDI. The output module generates a command suitable for the printer 107 by the designated printer driver 106, and the printer 10
Send to 7.

FIG. 17 is a diagram for explaining an example of this job ticket.

In the figure, 1700, 1701, 170
Each of 2 defines information for printing the first, second and third pages, and 1710 is the paper size (the first and second pages are A4 size, the third is A3 size). Size) and 1711 represent image data to be printed there, and detailed contents thereof are represented by 1703 to 1705, which correspond to the image data of the first, second, and third sheets, respectively. .

This job ticket is data having a structure in which the manuscript page is the minimum unit. The data structure of this job ticket defines the layout of the original page on the paper. One job ticket is issued for each job. Therefore, there is a document node at the top level (not shown in FIG. 17).
Attributes of the entire document, such as double-sided printing / single-sided printing, are defined therein. Below that, the paper node shown in FIG. 17 belongs, and here includes attributes such as the identifier of the paper to be used and the designation of the paper feed port in the printer. Each sheet node belongs to a node of a sheet printed with the sheet, and one sheet corresponds to one sheet. A print page (physical page) belongs to each sheet. Here, in the case of single-sided printing, one physical page belongs to one sheet, and in the case of double-sided printing, two physical pages belong to one sheet. A manuscript page (Signature Name = "") arranged on the physical page belongs to each physical page. The layout of the manuscript page is included as the attribute of the physical page.

The electronic original despooler 105 converts the above-mentioned job ticket into an output command to the output module.

<Other System Configuration> The outline of the document processing system of the present embodiment is as described above.
Although this is a stand-alone system, a book file is created and edited with substantially the same configuration and procedure in a server / client system that is an extension of this system. However,
The book file and print processing are managed by the server.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing the structure of a server / client type document processing system.

Client Document Processing System 1800
Includes a DOMS (Document Output Management Service) driver 109 and a DOMS print service module 11 which are client modules in a stand-alone system.
0, DS (Document Service) Client Module 10
It has a configuration in which 8 is added. A document management server 1801, a centralized print management server 1802, and a print server 1803 are connected to the client document processing system 1800. These servers 1802 and 1803 are
Usually connected to a client by a network, but when the server also functions as a client at the same time, it is connected by an interprocess communication that simulates communication between networks. In FIG. 18, both the document management server 1801 and the print centralized management server 1802 are connected to the client, but it is possible that only one of them exists on the network. If the currently connected server is the document management server 1801, the document management server / client system 1801SC including the client module thereof is the central print management server 1802, and the print management server client system 1802S including the client module thereof.
Each C is added to the stand-alone document management system.

The document management server 1801 is a server for storing book files created / edited by the bookbinding application 104. This document management server 1801
When the book file is managed by the book file, the book file is stored in the database 1811 of the document management server 1801 instead of or in addition to the local HD of the client PC. Bookbinding application 10
4 and the document management server 1801 save and read the book file by the DS clients 108 and D.
This is performed via the S core 1812.

The print centralized management server 1802 is a server for managing printing of book files stored in the client document management system 1800 or stored in the document management server 1801. The print request in the client is transmitted to the DOMSWG server module 1821 of the central print management server 1802 via the DOMS driver 109 and the DOMS print service module 110. When printing with the printer 107 of the client, the centralized print management server 1802 passes the electronic document data to the electronic document despooler 105 via the DOMS print service module 110 of the client. On the other hand, when printing by the print server 1803,
It is transmitted to the DOMS print service module 1831 of the print server 1803. Centralized print management server 18
02 performs a security check on the qualification of the user who issued the print request to the saved book file, and saves the log of the printing process. As described above, the document processing system according to the present embodiment can be realized as a stand-alone system or a client / server system.

<Contents of Preview Display> As described above, when the book file is opened by the bookbinding application, the user interface screen 90 shown in FIG.
0 is displayed. In the tree portion 901, a tree showing the structure of an open book (hereinafter, referred to as “book of interest”) is displayed. Further, the preview portion 902 is provided with three display methods according to the user's designation.
The first is a mode called original view in which original pages are displayed as they are. In this document view mode, the content of document pages belonging to the book of interest is reduced and displayed. The layout is not reflected on the display of the preview portion 902. The second is the print view mode. In the print view mode, the preview section 902 displays the manuscript page in a form in which the layout of the manuscript page is reflected. The third is a simple print view mode. In the simple print view mode, the content of each original page is displayed in the preview section 90.
2 is not reflected, but only the layout is reflected.

Even when the present invention is applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (eg, host computer, interface device, reader, printer, etc.), a device composed of one device (eg, copying machine, facsimile device, etc.) ) May be applied.

Another object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium (or recording medium) recording a program code of software for implementing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus, and to supply a computer (or computer) of the system or apparatus. It is also achieved by the CPU or MPU) reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium. In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention. Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also an operating system (OS) running on the computer is executed based on the instruction of the program code. This also includes a case where a part or all of the actual processing is performed and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written in the memory provided in the function expansion card inserted into the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instruction of the program code. , The CPU provided in the function expansion card or the function expansion unit performs some or all of the actual processing,
The case where the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing is also included.

[0094]

As described above, according to the present invention, exception setting of chapter and page attributes can be set for each setting group. Therefore, common setting is used for attributes for which exception setting is not performed. be able to.

As a result, when setting the print format of the document, it is possible to simplify the exceptional setting operation for each predetermined unit of the document.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a stand-alone document processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a host computer that realizes the document processing system according to the present embodiment.

3A and 3B are diagrams showing an example of the structure of a book file according to the present embodiment, FIG. 3A is a diagram schematically showing an example of the format of a book file, and FIG. 3B is a structure of original data. FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a book attribute according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of chapter attributes according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of page attributes according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an overall processing flow of print format setting in the document processing system according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a user interface for making detailed settings for a book according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a user interface screen when an existing book file is opened.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a user interface for making detailed chapter settings according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing chapter exception setting processing (S703 in FIG. 7) according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing page exception setting processing (S704 of FIG. 7) according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for opening a book file in the document processing system according to this embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a user interface screen when a new book file is opened.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for importing an electronic document file into a book file in the document processing system according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a procedure for converting application data into an electronic document file by the document processing system according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example of a job ticket according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram of a client-server type document processing system according to the document processing system according to the present embodiment.

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Yasuo Mori             3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo             Non non corporation F term (reference) 2C061 BB10 HL01 HN05 HN17 HN18                       HN19                 2C187 BF42 CD07 CD13 CD15 CD17                       CD19 DB27 DC06                 5B009 RC01 RC11                 5B021 AA01 CC07 LE00

Claims (27)

[Claims] 1. A document processing method for setting the print format of a document, comprising a first setting step for setting the print format of the entire document, and a predetermined attribute unit included in the document for each predetermined unit of the document. And a conversion step of adjusting the print format of the document on the basis of the print formats set in the first and second setting steps. The print format of the predetermined attribute unit set in the second setting step is prioritized over the print format set in the first setting step as a print format for a predetermined unit of the document. How to process documents. 2. The document processing method according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined unit of the document is a chapter or a page. 3. The document processing according to claim 1, wherein the second setting step includes a chapter setting step of setting in chapter units and a page setting step of setting in page units. Method. 4. In the conversion step, the print format of a predetermined attribute unit set in the page setting step is prioritized as the print format of the page over the print format set in the chapter setting step. The document processing method according to claim 3. 5. The predetermined attribute unit includes one or more print format items having the same attribute.
5. The document processing method according to any one of items 4 to 4. 6. The document processing method according to claim 1, wherein the second setting step includes a step of setting the print format set by the first setting step. . 7. A document processing apparatus for setting the print appearance of a document, comprising: first setting means for setting the print appearance of the entire document; and a predetermined attribute unit included in the document for each predetermined unit of the document. A second setting unit that sets the print format of each document; and a conversion unit that adjusts the print format of the document based on the settings made by the first and second setting units, and the conversion unit has the second setting. A document processing apparatus, wherein the printing style of the predetermined attribute unit set by the means is prioritized over the printing style set by the first setting means as a printing style for a predetermined unit of the document. 8. The document processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the predetermined unit of the document is a chapter or a page. 9. The document according to claim 7, wherein the second setting unit has a chapter setting unit that sets in chapter units and a page setting unit that sets in page units. Processing equipment. 10. The conversion unit prioritizes the print format set by the page setting unit in the predetermined attribute unit as the print format of the page over the print format set by the chapter setting unit. The document processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein 11. The predetermined attribute unit includes one or more print format items having the same attribute.
11. The document processing apparatus according to any one of items 1 to 10. 12. The document processing according to claim 7, wherein the second setting unit has a unit for setting the print format set by the first setting unit. apparatus. 13. A first setting unit for setting a print format of the entire document, a second setting unit for setting a print format for each predetermined attribute unit included in the document for each predetermined unit of the document, And a conversion unit that adjusts the print format of the document based on the settings by the first and second setting units, the conversion unit having the predetermined attribute unit set by the second setting unit. A print control apparatus, wherein a print format is given priority over the print format set by the first setting unit as a print format for a predetermined unit of the document. 14. The print control apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the predetermined unit of the document is a chapter or a page. 15. The print control according to claim 13, wherein the second setting unit includes a chapter setting unit that sets in chapter units and a page setting unit that sets in page units. apparatus. 16. The conversion unit prioritizes the print format of the predetermined attribute set by the page setting unit as the print format of the page over the print format set by the chapter setting unit. The print control apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the print control apparatus is a print control apparatus. 17. The predetermined attribute unit includes one or more print format items having the same attribute.
The print control device according to any one of 3 to 16. 18. The print control according to claim 13, wherein the second setting unit has a unit for setting the print format set by the first setting unit. apparatus. 19. A first setting step of setting a print format of an entire document; a second setting step of setting a print format of each predetermined attribute unit included in the document for each predetermined unit of the document; A conversion step for adjusting the print appearance of the document based on the settings by the first and second setting steps, wherein the conversion step is performed in the predetermined attribute unit set by the second setting step. A print control method, wherein a print style is given priority over the print style set in the first setting step as a print style for a predetermined unit of the document. 20. The print control method according to claim 19, wherein the predetermined unit of the document is a chapter or a page. 21. The print control according to claim 19, wherein the second setting step includes a chapter setting step of setting in chapter units and a page setting step of setting in page units. Method. 22. In the conversion step, the print format of the predetermined attribute unit set in the page setting step is prioritized as the print format of the page over the print format set in the chapter setting step. 22. The print control method according to claim 21, wherein the print control method is a print control method. 23. The predetermined attribute unit includes one or more print format items having the same attribute.
23. The print control method according to any one of 9 to 22. 24. The print control according to any one of claims 19 to 23, wherein the second setting step includes a step of setting the print format set by the first setting step. Method. 25. A program executable by an information processing apparatus, comprising a program code for realizing the document processing method according to claim 1. Description: 26. A program executable by an information processing apparatus, comprising a program code for realizing the print control method according to claim 19. 27. A storage medium having the program according to claim 25 or 26 stored therein.