JP2003167702A - Image processor, control method for image processor, program, and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make color information displayed by preview in application the same as color information displayed on a preview screen and perform color compensation processing at a high speed when specifying no preview display. <P>SOLUTION: When the generation for an image for preview is not specified, a printer driver 103 performs color compensation processing for compensating color information included in drawing information into a color for a printer when performing spool processing for storing a drawing command delivered from the application 101 in an HDD 107 once. When the generation for the image for preview is specified, the printer driver 103 performs color compensation processing of the drawing command delivered from the application and stored in the HDD 107 once by spool processing without performing color compensation processing for color information included in the drawing command read from the HDD 107 when preparing an image for printing on each page. <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 an image processing apparatus having a preview function, a control method for the image processing apparatus, a program, and a storage medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printer driver performs the following processing in order to print with a printer.

First, when a user gives an instruction to execute printing by an application, a plurality of input drawing commands are passed from the application to the printer driver via the OS. The printer driver analyzes the input drawing command and stores the drawing command information in the spool file as spool data for printing from the information necessary for drawing.

Further, in this saving process, a process of converting the color information included in the input drawing command into color information matching the characteristics of the printing apparatus, that is, a color correction process is performed, and the color information subjected to the color correction process is saved. To do.

At the time of despooling for actual printing, drawing command information stored in this spool file is taken out to create a high resolution image for printing, color processing and halftone processing are performed for this image, and the image is sent to the printer. Actual printing is performed by creating a print command to be sent and sending the created print command to the printer.

For example, in order for an application to print a character, a character code string indicating a character string to be printed, a print position, a font name, a font size, character modification information, etc. are passed to the character string print function.

The character string print function of the OS is called by this function call, the print information of the character string set by the application is analyzed, and the scalable font designated in consideration of the resolution and the paper size information of the printer is specified for each character. It is expanded to the bitmap data of, the information such as the print position accompanying it is created, and the character string print function of the printer driver is called.

At this time, the OS also transfers to the printer driver the information used by the printer driver among the information transferred from the application. The printer driver acquires information necessary for the printing process from the information such as bitmap data and printing position information passed from the OS, and saves it in the spool file as drawing command information.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of a spool file in this type of image processing apparatus.

As shown in the figure, the spool file is composed of two files, a management file 200 for managing the entire print job and a page file 210 (the number of which is the number of pages) for storing information for each page.

The management file 200 includes print job information 2
01 and page information 202. The print job information 201 stores information about the entire job, and the page information 202 created for each page stores information about the page file 210 created for each page. One page file 210 is created for each page and is composed of a plurality of drawing data records 211. One drawing data record 211 stores one drawing command information.

Further, at the time of despooling for actual printing, the spool data for printing stored in this spool file is read to extract information such as a bitmap and printing position, and high resolution printing is performed based on these information. Create an image for use. Then, a print command is created from this print image and sent to the printer for actual printing.

Normally, the printer driver can specify the paper size for printing. When loading paper in the printer, the user must load paper of the size specified by the printer driver. For example, the paper size is A4 size (vertical 297 m
If m × width 210 mm) is specified, it is necessary to set A4 size paper so that the printer feeds the paper in the longitudinal direction.

Further, in the normal printer driver, the orientation of the paper can be set to be vertical or horizontal. When portrait is set as the paper orientation, the printer prints according to the paper size specified separately for the paper size, but when landscape is specified, the printer rotates 90 degrees with respect to the paper.

Specifically, if A4 size (height 297 mm × width 210 mm) is specified as the paper size,
When the user obtains the print result, the print is performed so that the orientation of the paper is portrait if the orientation is vertical, and is landscape if the orientation is horizontal.

Conventionally, the printer driver has a preview function in order to confirm the print result without printing on a sheet of paper. The preview function is realized as follows.

When the preview process is performed, the paper size information is taken out from the print spool data stored in the page file created by the print process, and a bitmap memory for creating the preview image is secured. The drawing command information of the page to be previewed is sequentially extracted from the page file and analyzed, and drawing is performed while performing resolution conversion on the bitmap memory.
The preview function is realized by displaying the low-resolution preview image thus created in the preview image display window.

For example, in the character preview, the spool data for printing stored in the spool file is read and information such as a bitmap and a print position is extracted,
A low-resolution preview image is created based on these pieces of information. The preview function is realized by creating a preview image display window on the display device and displaying the preview image.

The preview function of the printer driver can confirm the print result on the paper even when the paper orientation and the layout printing are set. When the orientation of the paper is set to landscape, the preview function is realized by swapping the vertical and horizontal lengths of the bitmap memory for creating the preview image in the preview processing.

In case of the layout printing, the paper size information is taken out from the spool data for printing stored in the page file created by the above printing process, and the bitmap memory for creating the preview image is secured.

With respect to this bitmap memory, drawing command information is sequentially extracted from the page file and analyzed for all pages laid out on the paper to be previewed, and drawing is performed while performing resolution conversion on the bitmap memory. I do. The preview function is realized by displaying the low-resolution output image for preview thus created in the preview image display window.

Further, in the preview image display window, it is possible to change the displayed page by operating a menu or the like and to specify whether or not printing can be performed for each page.

By instructing the end of the preview display, the user can print the print document on the printer according to the print permission / prohibition state set for each page. Alternatively, the user can instruct to cancel the printing, and in this case, the preview display is immediately terminated, and the printing of all pages is not performed regardless of the printability set for each page.

Further, since it takes a certain amount of processing time to create a preview image, it is not possible to instantaneously switch the display even if the page or the like is switched. Therefore, by displaying a progress bar and recognizing the waiting time, anxiety and irritation of the user are reduced. The progress bar indicates the progress of the process as a percentage of the total process, and the progress bar extends from the state where no process is displayed at the start of the process to the progress of the process. Then, at the end of the process, the entire progress bar area is filled. By looking at this display, the user can recognize the progress of the process and predict the time until the end of the process.

[0025]

However, the conventional method has the following problems.

When the printer driver processes the drawing command passed from the application and prints on the paper,
It is necessary to perform conversion processing of color information included in the input drawing command into color information that matches the characteristics of the printing apparatus, that is, color correction processing. This is to match the tint of the display on the application with the actual print result, and in order to perform this color correction processing, bit map expansion is performed on the drawing command expansion memory based on the drawing command. After that, it is conceivable to perform a color correction process on the entire bitmap.

However, such a process has a problem that the number of pixels to be subjected to the color correction processing increases as the resolution of the printing apparatus increases, and the time required for the color correction processing increases.

In order to solve this problem, the conventional image processing apparatus performs the above-described color correction processing when processing the drawing command for handling color information, which increases the resolution of the printing apparatus. However, the processing speed of the entire drawing process could be improved without increasing the time required for the color correction process.

However, in this method, since the color correction processing is performed when the drawing command passed from the application is stored in the spool file, in the processing for generating the preview image, the color subjected to the color correction processing for this printing device is used. The information was used to display a preview image on the display. Therefore, the preview image is displayed using the color information different from the color information displayed on the application (that is, the color information that is color-corrected to the characteristics of the printing device that does not match the characteristics of the display device is displayed. The preview image is displayed when used, and as a result, the color tone is different from the display on the application or the actual print result).

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to temporarily draw a drawing command passed from an application when a preview image is not specified to be generated. In the spool processing for storing in the storage device, color complement processing for correcting the color information included in the drawing information into a color for the printing apparatus is performed, while if a preview image is designated to be generated, , A drawing command read from the storage device when a print image of each page is created, and the drawing command passed from the application and temporarily stored in the storage device by the spool process without performing the color correction process. By performing color correction processing on the color information included in the preview image, the preview image can be displayed using the same color information as the color information displayed on the application. In addition, when the preview display is not performed, the color correction processing can be performed at high speed as in the past, and the image processing is well balanced in both the color identity of the application display and the preview display and the printing speed. An object of the present invention is to provide a control method for an apparatus and an image processing apparatus, a program, and a storage medium.

[0031]

A first aspect of the present invention is an image processing apparatus having a preview function, in which an application (application 1 shown in FIG. 1) is passed through an operating system (OS 102 shown in FIG. 1).
01), the spooling means (the CPU 108 executing the printer driver 103 shown in FIG. 1) for temporarily storing the drawing command passed to the storage device (the HDD 107 shown in FIG. 1);
A despooling unit (CPU 108 for executing the printer driver 103 shown in FIG. 1) that reads the drawing command stored in the storage device by the spooling unit, and a preview image of each page is created from the drawing command read by the despooling unit. Preview image expansion means (CPU 108 that executes the printer driver 103 shown in FIG. 1)
And a print image developing means for creating a print image of each page from the drawing command read by the despool means (a CPU for executing the printer driver 103 shown in FIG. 1).
108), and if the instruction to generate the preview image is not specified, after performing the color complement process of correcting the drawing command passed from the application to the color for the printing device from the color information included in the drawing command. When the spooling control is performed so that the image is temporarily stored in the storage device, and when a preview image is designated to be generated, the drawing command passed from the application is spooled without performing the color correction process. Control means for controlling the color correction processing so that the color correction processing is temporarily stored in a storage device (a CPU that executes the printer driver 103 shown in FIG. 1).
108) and are included.

In a second aspect of the present invention, when the control means is designated to generate a preview image, when the print image of each page is created by the print image expanding means, It is characterized in that control is performed so that the color correction processing is performed on the color information included in the drawing command read by the despool means.

A third invention according to the present invention is, in a control method of an image processing apparatus having a preview function, a spool process for temporarily storing a drawing command passed from an application via an operating system in a storage device (step of FIG. 2). S105) and a despooling process for reading the drawing command stored in the storage device (step S4 in FIG. 5).
04, step S802) of FIG. 9, a preview image expansion step of creating a preview image of each page from the read drawing command (step S405 of FIG. 5), and each page from the read drawing command. A print image development step (step S805 in FIG. 9) of creating a print image of
Only when the instruction to generate the preview image is not specified, when the drawing command passed from the application by the spooling process is temporarily stored in the storage device, the color information included in the drawing information is changed to the color for the printing device. A first color processing step (step S1 in FIG. 2) for performing color compensation processing for correction.
04) and are included.

In a fourth aspect of the present invention, only when a preview image is designated to be generated, the image is passed from the application and temporarily stored in the storage device by the spooling process without performing the color correction process. A second color for performing a color correction process on the color information included in the drawing command read by the despool process when the print image of each page is created by the print image expanding process It is characterized by having a processing step (step S804 in FIG. 9).

The fifth invention according to the present invention is defined in claims 3, 4
It is a program for executing the method for controlling an image processing apparatus described in 1.

A sixth invention according to the present invention is defined by claims 3, 4
The program for executing the method for controlling an image processing apparatus described in 1. is stored in a storage medium in a computer-readable manner.

[0037]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION An image processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a system to which an image processing apparatus showing one embodiment of the present invention can be applied.

In the figure, reference numeral 100 is a host computer, for example, a printer 105 such as an ink jet printer.
And a display 106, a keyboard 111, and the like are connected.

The host computer 100 has application software 101 such as a word processor, a spreadsheet and an internet browser. Various drawing processing command groups (image drawing command, text drawing command, and graphics drawing command) indicating the output image issued by the application software 101 are input to the display driver 104 via the operating system (OS) 102.

When printing is performed, the drawing command group is input to the printer driver 103 via the OS 102. The printer driver 103 is software for processing the input drawing command group to create print data and causing the printer 105 to print, and the display driver 104 is software for displaying an image on the display 106.

In addition, the host computer 100 stores the CPU 1 in order to store and function the above various software.
08, hard disk drive (HDD) 107, RA
It has hardware such as M109 and ROM 110. Furthermore, the host computer 100 includes a keyboard 111 and a pointing device (not shown) such as a mouse for inputting from the user.

The host computer 10 shown in FIG.
A personal computer of an AT compatible machine of IBM, which is widely used, is used as 0, and Mi is used as the OS 102.
It is conceivable to use Windows 98 (registered trademark) of Microsoft Corporation, use a personal computer such as Macintosh of Apple Computer as the host computer 100, and use MacOS of Apple Computer as the OS 102. Or use U on the workstation
Other configurations using NIX (registered trademark) or the like may be used.

Then, such a host computer 1
It is conceivable that any application software having a printing function is installed on the printer 00 and the display 106 and the printer 105 are connected.

Further, in the host computer 100, based on the image displayed on the display 106, the application software 101 causes the text data classified into text such as characters, the graphics data classified into graphics such as graphics, and the photographic image. The output image data is created using the image image data classified into.

When printing an image based on the output image data, the application software 101
A print output request is issued to the OS 102, and a drawing command group including a text drawing command for the text data part, a graphics drawing command for the graphics data part, and an image drawing command for the image image data part is issued to the OS 102.

When the OS 102 receives a print output request from the application software 101, the printer 10
The drawing command group is passed to the printer driver 103 corresponding to No. 5. The printer driver 103 processes the print output request and the drawing command group passed from the OS 102, creates print data that can be printed by the printer 105, and sends the print data to the printer 105.

When the printer 105 is a raster printer, the printer driver 103 sequentially rasterizes the drawing command group into, for example, a page memory having 8-bit depth for each of RGB, rasterizes all the drawing commands, and then the page memory. The content is converted into a data format printable by the printer 105, for example, CMYK data and sent to the printer 105. The page memory is, for example, RAM1.
09 are assigned.

2 to 10, the printer driver 10 of the host computer 100 to which the image processing apparatus showing the embodiment of the present invention can be applied will be described below.
The print information processing procedure in 3 will be described.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing an example of the first control processing procedure of the image processing apparatus of the present invention. The printer driver 1 of the host computer 100 shown in FIG.
03 corresponds to the print information processing procedure. The process of this flowchart is performed by the ROM 110 shown in FIG.
It is assumed that it is executed by the CPU 108 based on a program loaded into the RAM 109 from a storage medium such as the HDD 107 or a CD-ROM (not shown). In addition, S
101-S109 show each step.

When the user instructs the print processing, the application 101 creates print data (S101).
The OS 102 creates an input drawing command from the print data created by the application 101 according to the capability of the printer driver 103 and passes it to the printer driver 103 (S
102).

The printer driver 103 determines whether or not the user has designated the preview display (S10).
3). The printer driver 103 executes the step S10.
If it is determined in step 3 that the user has designated the preview display, the color correction process (the color correction process for correcting the color information included in the drawing command to the color for the printing apparatus) is not performed and the step is directly performed. It proceeds to S105.

On the other hand, when the printer driver 103 determines in step S103 that the user has not designated the preview display (only when the preview display is not designated), the color information included in the drawing command is changed. The color correction process (the color correction process for correcting the color information included in the drawing command to the color for the printing device) is performed with reference to the color correction process (S10
4) and proceeds to step S105.

Next, in step S105, the printer driver 103 stores the drawing command in the HDD 107 as a spool file.

Then, the printer driver 103 determines whether or not the user has designated the preview display (S106).

If the printer driver 103 determines in step S106 that the user has not designated to perform the preview display, the printer driver 103 directly proceeds to step S1.
Go to 08.

On the other hand, in step S106, when the printer driver 103 determines that the user has designated the preview display, the printer driver 103 performs the preview process (S107), and proceeds to step S108.

Next, in step S108, print processing is performed. Finally, the spool file saved in step S105 is deleted (S109), thereby ending the preview and print processing.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing an example of the second control processing procedure of the image processing apparatus of the present invention, which corresponds to the drawing instruction saving processing procedure shown in step S105 of FIG. The process of this flowchart is performed by the ROM 110, the HDD 107 shown in FIG.
-It is executed by the CPU 108 based on a program loaded into the RAM 109 from a storage medium such as a ROM. Note that S201 to S207 indicate each step.

First, the page counter (PAG
E) is initialized to "1" (S201), and the page setting information of the page indicated by the page counter is written to the spool file (similar to the spool file shown in FIG. 12 in the section of the related art) (S202).

Next, the input drawing command passed from the OS 102 is analyzed (S203), and the necessary information is written to the spool file (S204), which is repeated until all the drawing commands for the page are completed (S205).

If it is determined in step S205 that all page drawing commands have been completed, the page counter (PAGE) is incremented by "1" (S20).
6).

The process of steps S202 to S206 is repeated for all pages (S207) to save the drawing command.

If it is determined in step S207 that all pages have been completed, the process is returned and the process proceeds to step S106 in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of a third control processing procedure of the image processing apparatus of the present invention, which corresponds to the preview processing procedure shown in step S107 of FIG. The process of this flowchart is performed by the ROM 110, the HDD 107 shown in FIG.
It is assumed that it is executed by the CPU 108 based on the program loaded into the RAM 109 from a storage medium such as OM. Note that S301 to S307 indicate each step.

First, the variable PAPER indicating the output paper number for previewing is initialized to "1", and the print flags of all output papers are set to "ON" (S301).

The preview image of the output paper number indicated by the variable PAPER is used as a bitmap in the RAM 1
Created in the image memory for preview secured on 09 (S
302), display the preview image on the display 105 via the display driver 104 (S303),
The system waits until a user input is made from the keyboard 111 or the like, and when the user input is received, the process branches according to the input (S304).

When it is determined that the user input received in step S304 is the designation of the paper number, the variable PAPE
Set the designated paper number to the output paper number indicated by R (S
305) and the process returns to step S302.

If it is determined that the user input received in step S304 is the printable setting for the paper number displaying the preview, the printing of the output paper number indicated by the variable PAPER indicating the output paper number is performed. The flag is set to "ON" (S306), and the process returns to step S304.

If it is determined that the user input received in step S304 is the print-disabled setting, the print flag of the output paper number indicated by the variable PAPER indicating the output paper number is set to "OFF" (S307). It returns to the process of step S304.

Preview processing is performed by repeating the processing of steps S302 to S307 until print execution is designated (until the user input received at step S304 is print execution).

If it is determined in step S304 that the received user input is a print execution designation, the process returns and the process proceeds to step S108 of FIG.

As described in the section of the prior art,
When layout printing is set in the printer driver, multiple pages on the application are printed on one output sheet. Since the preview function is a function of displaying the print result on the output paper on the screen, the paper to be preview-displayed is designated by the output paper number indicating the paper order output from the printer.

The preview image is created as a bitmap on the preview image memory. At this time,
When the preview image is large and cannot be secured as one continuous memory, the printer driver divides the output paper into a plurality of bands, and secures a preview image memory for each band. This process is called banding.

When this banding process is performed, in step S303, the preview image is displayed by displaying the bands side by side on the screen.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of a fourth control processing procedure of the image processing apparatus of the present invention, which corresponds to the preview bitmap creation processing procedure shown in step S302 of FIG. It should be noted that the process of this flowchart is performed by using the storage medium such as the ROM 110, the HDD 107 shown in FIG.
It is assumed that it is executed by the CPU 108 based on the program loaded in 9. Note that S401 to S414
Indicates each step.

First, the output paper size of the page for which a preview image is created is acquired from the spool file stored in the HDD 107, and a preview image memory corresponding to the output paper size is secured in the RAM 109 (S40).
1). As described above, banding is performed when the preview image size is large. When there is a page whose paper orientation is set to be horizontal in the layout print setting, one band of horizontal image memory is secured as a work area for drawing a horizontal page.

Next, the number of steps required for the preview image creating process is counted and set in the variable TOTAL (S40).
2) Initialize by substituting "0" for the variable COUNT indicating the number of processed steps (S403).

Then, the drawing data record is read from the page file to acquire drawing command information (S40).
4) The acquired drawing command information is analyzed and developed (drawn) in the preview image memory as a preview bitmap (S405).

Then, "1" is added to the variable COUNT to increase the number of processed steps (S406), and the progress bar is filled with the length calculated by "COUNT / TOTAL" out of the entire length of the progress bar. The display is updated (S407), and the process advances to the next drawing record (S408).

By repeating the processes of steps S404 to S408 until all the drawing records in the current page are drawn (S409), the drawing process of one page on the application is performed.

If it is determined in step S409 that all the drawing records in the page have been drawn, the preview image of the drawn page is rotated (S).
410) and go to the next page (S411).

By repeating the processes of steps S404 to S411 until the drawing of all pages is completed (S412), data of all pages on the application is drawn for one band.

If it is determined in step S412 that all pages have been completed, the process proceeds to the next band (S41
3) By repeating the processing of steps S404 to S413 until the drawing of all bands is completed (S414),
A preview image of the entire output paper is created as a bitmap in the preview image memory.

If it is determined in step S414 that all bands have ended, the process returns, and the process proceeds to the bitmap display process shown in step S303 of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing an example of the fifth control processing procedure of the image processing apparatus of the present invention. The “number of steps necessary for the preview image creation processing shown in step S402 of FIG. 5 is counted. Procedure for setting the variable TOTAL ”. It should be noted that the process of this flowchart is performed by using the storage medium such as the ROM 110, the HDD 107 shown in FIG.
It is assumed that it is executed by the CPU 108 based on the program loaded in 9. Note that S501 to S510
Indicates each step. The number of steps is the total of the number of records processed to draw the entire sheet and the number of rasters that must be processed to rotate the created preview image.

First, the variable TOTAL is set to "0" for initialization (S501). Then, the total number of records in the page is acquired from the management file (S502),
Add the total number of records to the variable TOTAL (S503)
By repeating this process until all pages are finished (S504), the number of records to be processed for drawing one band can be obtained. Then, when it is determined that all pages are finished, the process proceeds to step S505.

Then, the value of the variable TOTAL obtained in steps S502 to S504 is multiplied by the number of bands to obtain the number of processed records on the entire output sheet (S505).

Then, the number of steps required for the rotation processing is obtained. First, the paper orientation of the current page is acquired from the page file, and it is checked whether the paper orientation is horizontal (S50
6) If it is determined to be vertical, then step S
Proceed to 510.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S506 that the paper orientation is horizontal, the rectangular area in which the current page is drawn is acquired from the page file and converted into coordinates on the preview image (S507), and the vertical direction is set. The height of the corresponding rectangular area on the preview image is obtained by obtaining the difference between the coordinate values of S (S508), and this is added to the variable TOTAL (S
509), and proceeds to step S510. This step S5
By repeating the processing from 06 to S509 until the end of all pages (S510), the number of rasters that must be processed for rotation can be added to the variable TOTAL.

If it is determined in step S510 that all pages have been completed, the process is returned as it is,
It progresses to step S403 of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing an example of the sixth control processing procedure of the image processing apparatus of the present invention, and corresponds to the preview image rotation processing procedure shown in step S410 of FIG. The processing of this flowchart is assumed to be executed by the CPU 108 based on a program loaded into the RAM 109 from a storage medium such as the ROM 110, the HDD 107 shown in FIG. 1, or a CD-ROM (not shown). Note that S601 to S611 indicate each step.

First, it is checked whether or not the paper orientation of the current page is horizontal (S601). If it is determined that the current page is not horizontal, the process directly returns and the process proceeds to step S411 of FIG.

On the other hand, when it is determined that the paper orientation of the current page is horizontal, the coordinates of the rectangular area of the current page in the landscape image memory are obtained (S602), and variables X and Y are set to the upper left of the rectangular area. The coordinates of (S60
3).

Then, it is determined whether or not page data is included in the landscape image memory (S604). If it is determined that the page data is not included, the process directly returns to the process of step S411 of FIG. move on.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step S604 that the page image data is included in the horizontal image memory, the color of the point (X, Y) is acquired from the horizontal image memory (S605), and the vertical color is acquired. The acquired color is drawn in the corresponding pixel of the image memory for orientation (S606), and "1" is added to the variable X (S607) (S605 to S60).
7) is repeated until the processing for one raster is completed (S
608).

If it is determined in step S608 that the rotation processing for one raster has been completed, the variable COUNT
Increase T by 1 to update the progress bar display (S609),
"1" is added to the variable Y and the variable X is returned to the initial value set in step S603 (S610) (S605 to S6).
10) is repeated until the rotation of all rasters is completed (S
611).

If it is determined in step S611 that the rotation of all rasters has been completed, the process is returned,
The process proceeds to step S411 in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing an example of the seventh control processing procedure of the image processing apparatus of the present invention, which corresponds to the preview image rotation processing procedure shown in step S108 of FIG. Note that the processing of this flowchart is assumed to be executed by the CPU 108 based on the program loaded into the RAM 109 from a storage medium such as the ROM 110, the HDD 107 shown in FIG. 1, or a CD-ROM not shown. Note that S701 to S708 indicate each step.

First, the variable PAPER for storing the output paper number for printing is initialized to "1" (S70).
1) Then, it is checked whether or not the print flag is "ON" (S702), and when it is determined that the print flag is not "ON", the process directly proceeds to step S707.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S702 that the print flag is "ON", the variable BAND for storing the band number for printing is initialized to "1" (S703).

Then, the band is processed (S70
4), the variable BAND is increased by "1" (S605) (S704, S705) for all bands (S7).
06), if it is determined in step S706 that all bands have ended, the process proceeds to step S707.

Then, in step S707, the variable PA
PER is increased by “1” and the above steps S702 to S70 are performed.
The process of 7 is repeated until all the output sheets are finished (S70).
In step 8), print processing is performed.

If it is determined in step S708 that the printing of all sheets has been completed, the process returns and the process proceeds to step S109 in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing an example of the eighth control processing procedure of the image processing apparatus of the present invention, which corresponds to the band processing procedure shown in step S704 of FIG. The process of this flowchart is performed by the ROM 110, the HDD 107 shown in FIG.
It is assumed that it is executed by the CPU 108 based on the program loaded into the RAM 109 from a storage medium such as OM. Note that S801 to S812 indicate each step.

First, the band memory for printing is initialized (S801). Then, the corresponding drawing data record is acquired (despooled) from the management file (S802). Then, the printer driver 103 determines whether or not the user has designated to perform preview display (S803), and when the user has designated not to perform preview display, the printer driver 103 directly proceeds to step S80.
Go to 5.

On the other hand, when the printer driver 103 determines that the user has designated the preview display (only when the preview display is designated), color correction is performed by referring to the color information included in the drawing data record. Processing (color correction processing for correcting the color information included in the drawing data record to the color for the printing apparatus) is performed (S804).

Then, in step S805, it is developed as a bitmap in the band memory, the process proceeds to the next drawing record (S806), and the processes of steps S802 to S806 are repeated until all drawing records are completed (S8).
07).

If it is determined in step S807 that all drawing records have been completed, the rotation processing of the print band memory is performed (S808), and the process proceeds to the next page (S80).
9) (S802 to S809) is repeated until all pages on this output sheet are completed (S810).

If it is determined in step S810 that the drawing processing for all pages has been completed, RGB to CM
Performs color conversion processing to YK and halftone processing (S
811), creates a command and sends it to the printer 105 (S812), returns the process, and proceeds to step S of FIG.
Proceed to the processing of 705.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing an example of the ninth control processing procedure of the image processing apparatus of the present invention.
This corresponds to the band rotation processing procedure shown in step S808. The process of this flowchart is performed by the ROM 110, the HDD 107 shown in FIG.
-It is executed by the CPU 108 based on a program loaded into the RAM 109 from a storage medium such as a ROM. Note that S901 to S910 indicate each step.

First, it is checked whether or not the paper orientation of the current page is horizontal (S901). If it is determined that the current page is not horizontal, the process directly returns to step S809 in FIG.

On the other hand, when it is determined that the paper orientation of the current page is horizontal, the coordinates of the rectangular area of the current page in the landscape image memory are obtained (S902), and variables X and Y are set to the upper left of the rectangular area. The coordinates of (S90
3).

Then, it is determined whether or not page data is included in the landscape image memory (S904). If it is determined that the page data is not included, the process directly returns to the process of step S809 of FIG. move on.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S904 that the page image data is contained in the horizontal image memory, the color of the point (X, Y) is acquired from the horizontal image memory (S905), and the vertical color is acquired. The acquired color is drawn in the corresponding pixel of the image memory for orientation (S906), and "1" is added to the variable X (S907) (S905 to S90).
7) is repeated until the processing for one raster is completed (S
908).

If it is determined in step S908 that the rotation processing for one raster is completed, "1" is added to the variable Y and the variable X is returned to the initial value set in step S903 (S910) ( S905 to S909)
Is repeated until the rotation of all rasters is completed (S91
0).

If it is determined in step S910 that the rotation of all rasters has been completed, the process is returned,
The process proceeds to step S809 in FIG.

According to the present embodiment described above, when displaying a preview image, the color correction process is not performed at the time of spooling, but a bitmap is stored in the drawing instruction expansion memory based on the spooled drawing instruction. By performing the color correction processing at the time of expansion, it becomes possible to display the preview image using the same color information as the color information displayed on the application.

Further, only when the preview display is performed, the color correction processing is performed when the bitmap expansion is performed on the drawing instruction expansion memory based on the spooled drawing instruction. Therefore, when the preview display is not performed, As in the conventional case, the color correction process can be performed at high speed.

In this embodiment, the printer driver 103 of the host computer 100 performs the print information processing shown in the flowcharts of FIGS.
The case where the image processing apparatus of the present invention is applied to a host computer has been described, but the present invention may be configured to be applied to a copying machine or the like that includes a large-capacity storage device and the like and can execute an electronic file function and the like. .

As described above, when the preview print is not designated, the color correction process is performed based on the color information in the image drawing command, and then the spool process for saving the drawing command is performed. If it is specified to perform, spool processing is performed without performing the color correction, a preview image is generated based on the color information that has not been color-corrected, and then it is included in each drawing command at the timing of printing processing. In order to speed up the color correction process, the color correction process is performed on the preview image in order to speed up the color correction process when the drawing command passed from the application is saved. The problem with the conventional image processing device that the color displayed on the screen is different from the color displayed on the application has been specified for preview printing. Is solved by changing the timing of the color correction processing, it is possible to display on the screen in a faithful color data created on the application.

The structure of the data processing program readable by the image processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the memory map shown in FIG.

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining a memory map of a storage medium that stores various data processing programs that can be read by the image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

Although not particularly shown, information for managing the program group stored in the storage medium, such as version information, creator information, and the like, and information dependent on the OS and the like on the program reading side, such as the program, are stored. In some cases, an icon or the like for identification display may be stored.

Further, the data dependent on various programs are also managed in the directory. Also, if the program or data to be installed is compressed,
A program for decompressing may be stored.

The functions shown in FIGS. 2 to 10 in the present embodiment are installed by an externally installed program.
It may be performed by the host computer. And in that case, CD-ROM, flash memory, FD
The present invention can be applied to a case where an information group including a program is supplied to the output device from a storage medium such as the above or from an external storage medium via a network.

As described above, the storage medium recording the program code of the software that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to the system or apparatus, and the computer (or CPU or MP of the system or apparatus is supplied.
It goes without saying that the object of the present invention can also be achieved by U) 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 novel function of the present invention, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, C
D-ROM, CD-R, DVD-ROM, magnetic tape,
A non-volatile memory card, ROM, EEPROM, silicon disk or the like can be used.

Further, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by executing the program code read by the computer, but also the OS (operating system) running on the computer based on the instructions of the program code. It goes without saying that this also includes the case where the above) performs a part or all of the actual processing, 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 board inserted into the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instruction of the program code, The CPU or the like provided in the function expansion board or function expansion unit performs a part or all of the actual processing,
It goes without saying that the processing includes the case where the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized.

Further, even if the present invention is applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (for example, host computer, interface device, reader, printer, etc.), a device composed of one device (for example, copying machine, facsimile). Device). Further, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to the case where it is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus. In this case, by reading a storage medium storing a program represented by software for achieving the present invention into the system or apparatus, the system or apparatus can enjoy the effects of the present invention. .

Further, by downloading and reading a program represented by software for achieving the present invention from a database on a network by a communication program, the system or apparatus can be
It is possible to enjoy the effects of the present invention.

[0134]

As described above, the first aspect of the present invention
According to the inventions of 6 to 6, when the generation of the preview image is not designated, the color information included in the drawing information at the time of the spool process for temporarily storing the drawing command passed from the application in the storage device. Is corrected to the color for the printing device. On the other hand, if it is specified to generate a preview image, it is passed from the application and temporarily stored by spool processing without performing the color correction processing. Drawing commands saved in the device
When the print image of each page is created, color correction processing is performed on the color information included in the drawing command read from the storage device, so that the color information previewed on the application and the preview are displayed. The color information displayed on the screen can be the same, and high-speed color correction processing can be performed when preview display is not designated.

Therefore, only when the preview display is performed,
Performs a color correction process when expanding a bitmap in the drawing command expansion memory based on the spooled drawing command, and uses the same color information as the color information displayed on the application to preview the image. When the application display and the preview display are not performed, the color correction processing can be performed at high speed as in the past, and both the color identity of the application display and the preview display and high-speed printability can be displayed. This has effects such as being able to build a well-balanced image processing environment.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a system to which an image processing apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of a first control processing procedure of the image processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of a second control processing procedure of the image processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of a third control processing procedure of the image processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of a fourth control processing procedure of the image processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of a fifth control processing procedure of the image processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of a sixth control processing procedure of the image processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of a seventh control processing procedure of the image processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of an eighth control processing procedure of the image processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of a ninth control processing procedure of the image processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a memory map of a storage medium that stores various data processing programs that can be read by the image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of a spool file in this type of image processing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 host computer 101 application 102 Operating system (OS) 103 printer driver 104 display driver 105 printer 106 display 107 Hard Disk Drive (HDD) 108 CPU 109 RAM 110 ROM 111 keyboard

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) G06T 11/60 120 G06T 11/60 120A 5C079 H04N 1/46 H04N 1/40 D 1/60 1/46 Z F-term (reference) 2C187 BF10 CD13 CD19 DB33 GA01 5B021 AA01 CC06 PP05 5B050 AA09 BA16 CA07 EA09 EA12 FA02 FA03 FA05 5B057 AA11 BA26 CA01 CA08 CA12 CB01 CB08 CB12 PP37 PP05 PP02 PP25 PP25 PP02 PP25 PP02 PP25 PP02 PP25 PP02 PP25 PPQ PP HB03 HB12 LB01 MA17 MA19 MA20 NA11 PA03

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. In an image processing apparatus having a preview function, spool means for temporarily storing a drawing command passed from an application via an operating system in a storage device, and reading the drawing command stored in the storage device by the spool means. Despooling means, a preview image developing means for creating a preview image of each page from the drawing command read by the despooling means, and a printing image of each page from the drawing command read by the despooling means If neither the print image expansion means nor the instruction to generate the preview image is specified, the drawing command passed from the application is subjected to color complementing processing to correct the color information contained in the drawing command to the color for the printing device. And then temporarily store it in the storage device by the spool means. On the other hand, when it is designated to generate a preview image, the drawing command passed from the application is temporarily stored in the storage device by the spool means without performing the color correction processing. An image processing apparatus comprising: a control unit that controls color correction processing. 2. The control means reads out by the despool means when creating the print image of each page by the print image expanding means, when the preview image is specified to be generated. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image processing apparatus is controlled to perform the color correction processing on color information included in a drawing command. 3. A method of controlling an image processing apparatus having a preview function, comprising: a spooling step of temporarily storing a drawing command passed from an application via an operating system in a storage device; and a drawing command stored in the storage device. A despool process, a preview image developing process for creating a preview image of each page from the read drawing command, a print image expanding process for creating a print image of each page from the read drawing command, Only when the instruction to generate the preview image is not specified, when the drawing command passed from the application by the spooling process is temporarily stored in the storage device, the color information included in the drawing information is changed to the color for the printing device. A first color processing step of performing color compensation processing for correction; Method of controlling the location. 4. Only when a preview image is designated to be generated, a drawing command which is passed from the application and temporarily stored in a storage device by the spooling process without performing the color correction process is executed. A second color processing step of performing color correction processing on the color information included in the drawing command read out by the despooling step when the printing image of each page is created by the expansion step. The method of controlling the image processing apparatus according to claim 3. 5. A program for executing the control method of an image processing apparatus according to claim 3. 6. A storage medium in which a computer-readable storage medium storing a program for executing the image processing apparatus control method according to claim 3 or 4.