JP2003211786A - Print system, printer and print controller - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a print system for acquiring the data of an image corresponding to an image printed on one side of a print medium automatically and printing that data on the other side of the print medium. <P>SOLUTION: An address 111 and a bar code 112 including an address ID for identifying the address are printed on the surface 110 of a postcard 100. When the postcard is inserted into a printer provided with a bar code reader at the time of printing on the rear surface of the post card, the bar code reader reads outs the bar code 112 and notifies the address ID to a printer host. The printer host acquires image data corresponding to the address ID and delivers it to the printer. <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 printing system, and more particularly to a printing system that prints on both sides of a printing medium.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION When performing double-sided printing, the images to be printed on each side are predetermined, and there is a case where there is some correspondence between them. For example, when printing on both sides of a postcard, it may be desirable to print the destination on the front side and change the image on the back side according to the destination.

In such a case, in a conventional printing system using a printer that cannot perform double-sided printing, after printing one side, the user needs to print the other side while confirming the correspondence. Therefore, it is troublesome for the user, and there are many printing mistakes in which the correspondence is incorrect.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a technique for automatically acquiring image data corresponding to an image printed on one surface of a printing medium and printing the other surface. .

[0005]

A printing system according to one aspect of the present invention is based on reading means for reading an image printed on a first side of a print medium and information indicated by the image read by the reading means. And a printing unit that prints on the second side of the print medium based on the image data selected by the selecting unit.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing apparatus, a reading means for reading an image printed on the first side of a print medium, and an output for outputting information indicated by the image read by the reading means to a print control apparatus. Means and print data corresponding to information indicated by the image read by the reading means,
The image forming apparatus includes a receiving unit that receives from the print control device, and a printing unit that prints on the second surface of the print medium based on the image data selected by the receiving unit.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print control device, a receiving unit that receives information indicated by an image printed on the first surface of a print medium, which is transmitted by the printing device, and the receiving unit that receives the information. The image forming apparatus includes a selecting unit that selects image data to be printed on the second surface of the print medium based on information indicated by the image, and an output unit that outputs the image data selected by the selecting unit to the printing apparatus.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A print system according to an embodiment to which the present invention is applied prints an image corresponding to an image printed on one surface of a print medium on the other surface. For example, first, using the printer 6, the postcard 10
A front (front) surface (address printing surface) 110 of 0 is printed.
As shown in FIG. 1, on the front surface 110, in addition to the address and address of the destination 111, a barcode 11 for identifying the destination is provided.
2 is printed. Then, the image associated with the identification information indicated by the barcode 112 is printed on the back surface of the destination printing surface 110. The print system of this embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 2, the print system of the present embodiment is a printer which is a host computer (hereinafter referred to as “host”) 1 and a printing device for printing the print data output from the host 1. 6 and 6.

The host 1 comprises a host main body 11, a display device 12, and a keyboard 13. The host main body 11 is a CPU 20 that executes various programs and the like.
And various data and various programs are stored in R
The OM 21, the RAM 22 that temporarily stores various data and various programs, the display controller 23 that controls the display device 12, the keyboard controller 24 that controls the keyboard 13, the flexible disk drive 25, and the hard disk drive 26.
A CD-ROM drive 27, a printer interface 28, and a net interface 29.

The printer 6 is, for example, an ink jet printer capable of color printing, and when receiving print data from the host 1, executes a predetermined print process to form an image on a print medium. The printer 6 may be a printer capable of printing only one side or a printer capable of double-sided printing. Examples of print media include postcards, envelopes, and the like, in addition to ordinary print paper. In this embodiment, a case of printing on a postcard will be described.

The printer 6 has a printing mechanism 68 for actually printing and a printing control section 61 for controlling these. The print control unit 61 executes C that executes various programs and the like.
PU62, various data and various programs, EE
PROM 63, RAM 64 for temporarily storing various data and various programs, host 1 or printing mechanism 6
Interfaces 65 and 6 for exchanging data with 8
6 and 6. The print mechanism 68 includes a print head 80, a paper feed mechanism (not shown), and the like, and creates a print image and controls paper feed based on print data sent from the host 1. The printing mechanism 68 further includes a bar code reader 90 which is a sensor for detecting an image printed on a printing medium. The barcode reader 90 will be described later.

Next, internal functions of the host 1 and the printer 6 will be described. FIG. 3 shows a host 1 and a printer 6.
3 is a functional configuration diagram of FIG.

FIG. 3A is a diagram showing the functional configuration of the host main body 11. The host main body 11 has a communication control unit 51.
, Front / back correspondence table 52, and image data selection unit 53
And an application (AP) 54 and an image data storage unit 55 that stores image data for printing. Each of these functions is realized, for example, by executing the computer program using the hardware that constitutes the host main body 11.

The communication controller 51 controls communication with the printer 6. For example, the printer 6 receives the information read by the barcode reader 90 from the printer 6 and transmits the print data to the printer 6.

The image data storage section 55 stores image data for printing on a postcard. For example, the image data of the destination for printing the address and the address of the destination on the front surface and the image data for printing on the back surface are stored. The image data for printing on the front surface includes data for printing a destination 111 including an address and an address as shown in FIG. 1 and a barcode 112 corresponding to the destination.

The front-to-back correspondence table 52 is the front surface 1 of the postcard.
10 is a table in which an image to be printed on 10 and an image to be printed on the back side are stored in association with each other. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the front / back correspondence table 52 associates the destination ID 521, the front image file name 522, and the back image file name 523 with each other. The destination ID 521 identifies the front image file name 522 and the corresponding back image file name 523. The front image file name 522 and the back image file name 523 are file names of the images stored in the image data storage unit 55.

The image data selection unit 53 acquires print data from the image data storage unit 55 based on an instruction from the application 54, and transmits the print data to the printer 6 via the communication control unit 51. Specifically, when printing the front side 110, the application 54 notifies the image data selection unit 53 of the front side image file name. Image data selection unit 53
Acquires the notified image data file from the image data storage unit 55, and the printer 6 via the communication control unit 51.
Send to. When printing the back surface 120, the application 54 notifies the image data selection unit 53 that the back surface is printed. The image data selection unit 53 informs the printer 6 via the communication control unit 51 that the back side printing is performed.
(The processing by the printer 6 at this time will be described later). Then, the image data selection unit 53 receives information regarding the destination ID indicated by the barcode 112 printed on the front surface 110 from the printer 6 via the communication control unit 51. Here, the image data selection unit 53 searches the front-back correspondence table 52, acquires the image data of the back-side image file name 523 corresponding to the destination ID 521, and transmits it to the printer 6 via the communication control unit 51. When the printer 6 does not detect the barcode, the image data selection unit 53 receives a barcode absence notification, but at this time, the image data is not transmitted to the printer 6.

FIG. 3B is a diagram showing the functional configuration of the print controller 61. The print control unit 61 is a communication control unit 71.
A printing mechanism control unit 72 and a bar code reader control unit 7
3 and 3. Each of these functions is realized, for example, by executing the computer program by using the hardware configuring the print control unit 61.

The communication controller 71 controls communication with the host 1. For example, the print data is received from the host 1 and the information read by the barcode reader 90 is read by the host 1
Notify to.

The bar code reader control unit 73 controls the bar code reader 90 to cause the bar code reader 90 to read the bar code 112 printed on the destination printing surface 110. Detailed processing of the barcode reader control unit 73 will be described later.

The print mechanism controller 72 controls the print mechanism 68 to execute printing based on the print data received from the host 1. The control of the paper feeding and the like performed by the printing mechanism control unit 72 when the back side printing notification is received from the host 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing the positional relationship among the print head 80, the bar code reader 90 and the postcard 100 when printing on the postcard. FIG. 5 shows a postcard 100.
The case where the destination 111 and the barcode 112 are printed on the front surface 110 of FIG. A paper feeding mechanism (not shown) feeds the postcard 100 from right to left (forward direction) in the drawing when performing printing.

When the back side printing notification is received from the host 1,
The printing mechanism control unit 72 sends a postcard 100 to a predetermined position so that the barcode reader 90 can read the barcode 112 by controlling a sheet feeding mechanism (not shown). At this time,
The print head 80 does not eject ink. Then, if the barcode 112 exists, the barcode reader 90 reads the barcode 112. If the barcode 112 does not exist, the barcode reader 90 detects the absence of the barcode.

When the bar code is detected, a paper feeding mechanism (not shown) is provided with a postcard 1 in preparation for printing on the back side 120.
00 is sent from left to right (reverse direction) in the figure.

The bar code reader control section 74 receives the information read by the bar code reader 90 and decodes the information contained in the bar code 90. Here, the barcode reader control unit 73 determines the destination I indicated by the barcode 90.
Extract D. The barcode reader control unit 73 notifies the printer host 11 of the detected destination ID. Also,
If the bar code does not exist, the bar code reader control unit 7
3 notifies the printer host 11 to that effect and ejects the postcard. Accordingly, even if the insertion direction of the postcard is wrong, the top and bottom are not printed in reverse.

The print head 80 prints by ejecting ink based on the print data of the back surface 120 corresponding to the destination of the front surface 110 sent from the host 1.

Thus, based on the image printed on the front surface, the image corresponding to the image printed on the front surface can be printed on the back surface.

The above-described embodiments of the present invention are examples for explaining the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention only to those embodiments. Those skilled in the art can implement the present invention in various other modes without departing from the gist of the present invention.

For example, the above-described bar code and bar code reader can be realized by substituting an image showing other identification information and its reading means, respectively.

[0031]

According to the present invention, it is possible to automatically obtain data of an image corresponding to an image printed on one surface of a print medium and print the other surface.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a printing example of a postcard surface according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3A is a functional configuration diagram of a host main body,
FIG. 7B is a configuration diagram of the print control unit 61 yesterday.

FIG. 4 is an example of a front-back correspondence table.

FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing a positional relationship among a print head 80, a barcode reader 90, and a postcard 100.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Host computer 6 ... Printer 11 ... Host body 51 ... Communication control unit 52 ... Front and back compatible table section 53 ... Image data selection section 54 ... Image data storage unit 61 ... Print control unit 68 ... Printing mechanism 72 ... Printing mechanism control unit 73 ... Bar code reader control unit 80 ... Print head 90 ... Bar code reader 100 ... postcard 110 ... surface 112 ... Bar code 120 ... back side

Front page continuation (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) G06F 3/12 B41J 3/00 SF term (reference) 2C061 AP01 AR03 HH03 HJ06 HK04 HN02 HN09 HN15 2C062 RA06 2C087 AB05 BB11 BD01 BD41 BD46 CB12 5B021 AA01 BB01 QQ01

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A reading unit for reading an image printed on a first side of a print medium, and image data to be printed on a second side of the print medium based on information indicated by the image read by the reading unit. A printing system comprising: a selection unit that selects the item, and a printing unit that prints on the second surface based on the image data selected by the selection unit. 2. A reading unit that reads an image printed on the first surface of a print medium, an output unit that outputs information indicated by the image read by the reading unit to a print control device, and a reading unit that reads the information. A receiving unit that receives print data corresponding to the information indicated by the image from the print control device, and a printing unit that prints on the second surface of the print medium based on the image data selected by the receiving unit. Equipped printing device. 3. The printing medium is a postcard, the first surface is the front surface of the postcard, the second surface is the back surface of the postcard, and the image printed on the first surface is on the front surface. It is a bar code showing the identification information of the printed destination, and the reading means is a bar code reader.
The printing device described. 4. A print medium based on information received by the printing apparatus, which receives information indicated by the image printed on the first surface of the print medium, and information indicated by the image received by the receiving unit. A printing control apparatus comprising: a selection unit that selects image data to be printed on the second surface of the printer; and an output unit that outputs the image data selected by the selection unit to the printing apparatus. 5. Receiving means for receiving information indicated by the image printed on the first side of the print medium, which is transmitted by the printing device when executed by the computer, and information indicated by the image received by the receiving means. As a print control device comprising: a selection unit that selects image data to be printed on the second surface of the print medium; and an output unit that outputs the image data selected by the selection unit to the printing device. A computer program to operate. 6. An image printed on a first side of a print medium is read, image data to be printed on a second side of the print medium is selected based on information indicated by the read image, and the selection is performed. Selective printing method for printing on the second side based on the image data.