JP2003256410A - Variable form data creation system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a variable data creation system capable of printing the combination of a plurality of components without mismatch between processes by collectively handling the art work, overlay, image and text. <P>SOLUTION: This system comprises a text processing means, a forms designing means, and a printing image data creation means for creating the variable form data wherein the printing contents are different from each other, the forms designing means is provided with a bozzetto creating means for designing the art work form and the overlay every layout and outputting the art work data and the overlay data, and a bozzetto displaying means for reading the art work data and the overlay data, and displaying the printing image of the art work form and the overlay on an image plane. <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 printing a variable form for printing personal information on a direct mail or the like, and more particularly to designing a form.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, when printing personal information such as direct mail or billing details, variable form printing is performed in which digitized personal information is received and printed by a high-speed printer without using a plate. There is.

In such variable form printing,
Tools such as text processing means for editing submitted text data, form design means for designing forms that are print layouts, print image data generation means for creating variable form data that can be interpreted by an output machine from text data and forms Is generally used.

In such variable form printing, characters, ruled lines, images and the like common to every page may be printed by using a block copy form or overlay. Conventionally, in the form design, as shown in an example in FIG. 6, only the print contents of the form are designed, and the block copy form and the overlay are individually designed and created by using dedicated tools.

However, there are the following problems in the prior art. In other words, since the work is performed by a tool having a different form making tool and a form design means, there is a case where the column layout is inconsistent between the form making form and the form.

The form design means captures the block copy form, overlay, and image created by different tools as image data using a scanner or the like. Therefore, it is difficult to display each element at the same time on one screen and check the contents, such as the area where the images overlap is not transparently displayed and the text data cannot be overlapped.

[0007] Further, the block making tool and the form design means are
In many cases, there are differences in the fonts that are installed, and when converting the block copy image, there were problems such as garbled characters due to the font difference.

Further, conventionally, since there is no text data or form data which enables combination of all pages,
The print image data generating means needs to divide the work for each combination of the block copy form, the overlay, the image, and the text.

Further, since the work is divided, the number of files to be handled increases, the data capacity increases, and accidents such as mistakes and loss of data occur.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to uniformly treat a block copy, an overlay, an image, and a text, and The present invention provides a variable data generation system capable of printing a combination of a plurality of constituent elements without any mismatch.

[0011]

In order to solve the above problems, a first aspect of the present invention is provided with a text processing means, a form designing means, and a print image data generating means, and the print contents are printed one by one. In a system for generating different variable form data, a sketch design means for designing a layout form and an overlay for each layout and outputting the layout data and the overlay data to the form design means, and the layout data and the overlay data are read. A graphic display means for displaying a print image of the block copy form and the overlay on the screen is provided.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the variable form data generating system according to the first aspect, the form design means displays the block copy data and the overlay data on the screen as a design sketch. A layout design means for designing the layout of the form is provided on the design sketch.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the variable form data generating system according to the first or second aspect, the layout designing means is provided with a sketch switching means for switching and displaying different design sketches for each page. It is a thing.

A fourth aspect of the present invention relates to the above first to third aspects.
In the variable form data generation system according to the above, the layout design means internally records the attribute information of the columns of the print data, the text information such as the environment setting of the output machine, the block copy data, the overlay data, and the image data. A definition output means for outputting the form definition data is provided.

A fifth aspect of the present invention is the above first to fourth aspects.
In the variable form data generating system according to the above, the definition output means has a single archive containing attribute information of columns of print data, text information such as environment setting of an output machine, the block copy data, the overlay data, and image data. A compression means for compressing and storing in a file is provided.

A sixth aspect of the present invention is the above-mentioned first to fifth aspects.
In the variable form data generation system according to the third aspect, the definition output unit is provided with an encryption unit that encrypts the form definition data.

A seventh aspect of the present invention is the above-mentioned first to sixth aspects.
In the variable form data generation system according to the third aspect, the definition output means is provided with a password setting means for setting a password for the form definition data.

An eighth aspect of the present invention is the above-mentioned first to seventh aspects.
In the variable form data generating system according to the present invention, the print image data generating means is provided with an expanding means for expanding the form definition data which is compressed and stored in one archive file.

A ninth aspect of the present invention is the above-mentioned first to eighth aspects.
In the variable form data generating system according to the present invention, the print image data generating means is provided with a decrypting means for decrypting the encrypted form definition data.

A tenth aspect of the present invention is, in the variable form data generating system according to the first to ninth aspects, a password for canceling the password set for the form definition data in the print image data generating means. The releasing means is provided.

An eleventh aspect of the present invention is the variable form data generating system according to any one of the first to tenth aspects, wherein the print image data generating means is based on the layout information described in the form definition data. A layout switching means for switching the layout when outputting data is provided.

[0022]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will be described below with reference to illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of a variable form data generation system 1 of the present invention.
The variable form data generation system 1 includes a text data processing unit 2, a form design unit 3, and a print image data generation unit 4.

The text data processing means 2, which is actually a computer system, inputs text data according to various purposes and uses accumulated by a company, and processes such as elimination of error data, sorting, and change of column position. And then
Print data 5 is output.

Further, the text data processing means 2 decomposes the columns in the record of the text data into individual columns, and constructs the structure of the corresponding column of the text data such as channel, record length, column name, column length, and type. The column layout data 6 in which the information indicating is written is output.

Further, when the text processing means 2 outputs the print data 5, the text processing means 2 adds to the print data 5 an identifier for designating block copy data and overlay data used for outputting the text data.

The form designing means 3 is also actually composed of a computer system that handles CAD data, and includes a draft drawing means 7, a draft display means 8, a layout design means 9, a draft switching means 10, a definition output means 11, Compression means 12,
It is provided with an encryption unit 13 and a password setting unit 14, and outputs form definition data 15.

The sketch drawing means 7 creates a block copy form and an overlay to be used for each layout, and outputs it as a file for each of the block copy data 16 and the overlay data 17. Block copy data 16 and overlay data 17
Is not the conventional image data but the CAD data handled by the form designing means 3.

The sketch display means 8 reads the block copy data 16 and the overlay data 17 output from the sketch creation means 7, eliminates design control codes, and displays the form image on the screen in a recognizable state. .

The layout design means 9 reads the block copy data 16 and the overlay data 17 used by the page and displays them on the screen as a design sketch.

The sketch switching means 10 switches the design sketch for each page to be designed by re-reading and displaying the artwork data 16 and the overlay data 17 required by the page.

The definition program output means 11 internally records column attribute information of the print data 5, text information such as environment setting of the output machine, block copy data 16, overlay data 17, image data such as images, and the like. The form definition data 15 is output.

At this time, the compression means 12 causes the text information,
And, the block copy data 16, overlay data 17, image data, etc. are compressed and stored in one archive file,
The encryption means 13 encrypts the form definition data 15 and
The password setting means 14 sets a password in the form definition data 15.

The print image data generating means 4 is also actually constituted by a computer system, and comprises a developing means 18, a decrypting means 19, a password releasing means 20, a layout switching means 21, a print data 5 and a form definition body. The data 15 is input, and variable form data 22 describing the print contents in page units is output.

The decompressing means 18 compresses and stores the text information, the block copy data 16 and the overlay data 1 stored in the archive.
7. Extract image data etc. into original multiple files. The decryption unit 19 decrypts the encrypted form definition data 15 and the password releasing unit 20 releases the password set in the form definition data 15.

The layout switching means 21 uses the print data 5
The variable form data 22 is output while switching the form layout related to the text data with reference to the identifiers such as the block copy data 16 and the overlay data 17 used therein.

The variable form data 22 has a different content depending on the output machine, but it is a so-called page description language, and the output machine can read and analyze the variable form data 22 to generate a bitmap to be actually printed. Data.

Next, the operations of the form design means 3 and the variable form data generation means 4 will be described in detail.

Conventionally, the form designing unit 3 arranges elements called fields such as subareas such as columns and detail fields on the screen as shown in FIG. 6 and specifies the attribute of the field separately. Design the form.

By providing the sketch designing means 7 in the form design means 3, as shown in FIG. 2, the form designing means 3 also designs the block copy form and overlay, and each of the block copy data 1
6. It becomes possible to output the overlay data 17 as CAD data.

The sketch display means 8 reads the artwork data 16 and the overlay data 17 created by the sketch creation means 7 to make the control codes necessary for the form design invisible.
Display the form image on the screen so that it can be confirmed. You can proceed with the form design while checking the form image.

The layout design means 9 reads and displays the block copy data 16 and the overlay data 17 used in the page, and as shown in FIG. It is possible to create a form layout while checking the consistency of the column layout of.

In FIG. 3, thick characters are characters input for designing a form. For characters of normal thickness, ruled lines, logo marks, etc., CAD data of the block copy data 16 and overlay data 17 is transparent. It is what is displayed as a symbol.

In one variable form printing,
For example, different block forms and overlays may be used depending on the page whose print result is shown in FIG.
In this case, by designing the rough sketches by the number of different layout types, and by loading the respective rough drafts by the rough sketch switching means 10, the design work can be performed on a plurality of different rough drafts for design.

The layout design means 9 may switch the draft by a method such as CAD software that selectively uses a working hierarchy called a layer, in addition to switching the block copy data 16 and the overlay data 17 on a file-by-file basis as described above. It is possible.

Further, the form designing means 3 has a printing environment, a column layout, a character size of a field, a character pitch, a number of digits, and a model for designating a sheet, a typeface, a used directory, etc., as shown in the schematic structure of FIG. The form definition data 15 that describes the contents that can be interpreted by the output machine, such as text information such as, and the block copy data 16, overlay data 17, image data such as images, is output to a predetermined directory.

At this time, the text information and the block copy data 16
By compressing and storing the overlay data 17, the image data and the like into one archive file by the compression means 12, the data capacity is further compressed, and all the data necessary for composing each page are always collected together. It becomes possible to handle.

Further, when the form definition data 15 and the like are sent to the next process through the network, the encryption means 13 is used for encryption, and the password setting means 1 is used.
By setting the password according to 4, it is possible to prevent accidents such as the form definition data 15 being decompressed and expanded carelessly, resulting in data misplacement or loss.

The print image data generation means 4 has the form definition data 15 encrypted by the decryption means 19.
Or the password is released by the password releasing means 20. Further, the expansion means 18 expands the form definition data 15 and restores the original compression to extract a plurality of data.

Further, the print image data generating means 4
Reads the print data 5 and the form definition data 15,
The variable form data 22 that can be interpreted by an output machine that prints is output.

At this time, the layout switching means 21 outputs the variable form data 22 while switching the plurality of block forms, overlays, images, etc. to be used based on the designation in the print data 5.

The present invention has been described in detail above based on the embodiments. However, the variable form data generation system according to the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and the gist of the present invention is not limited. It goes without saying that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope.

[0052]

As described above, according to the variable form data generation system according to the present invention, the form design means can design the composition form and the overlay in addition to the conventional form design. It is possible to design a form on a draft without the need to import by.

Further, the form definition data is text information,
Since it is a single file that contains block copy data, overlay data, image data, etc., it is possible to prevent accidents such as misplacement or loss of data.

Further, since the identification information of the block copy form and the overlay is incorporated in the print data and the block copy data, the overlay data, the image data and the like used by the form definition data are recorded together with the layout information and the like, It is possible to generate variable form data that has a plurality of combinations.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a variable form data generation system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an example of a screen for designing a block copy form and overlay according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an example of a screen for performing layout design according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an example of variable form printing for explaining that the block copy form and the overlay are different depending on the page.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a structure of form definition data according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an example of a screen for performing conventional form design.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Variable form data generation system 2 Text processing means 3 Form design means 4 Print image data generation means 5 print data 6 column layout data 7 Drafting means 8 Draft display means 9 Layout design means 10 Draft switching means 11 Definition output means 12 compression means 13 Encryption means 14 Password setting means 15 Form definition data 16 block copy data 17 Overlay data 18 Deployment means 19 Decoding means 20 Password unlocking means 21 Layout switching means 22 Variable form data

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Shinichiro Mori             1-1-1, Ichigaya-Kagacho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo             Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 2C087 BA14 BD08 CB20                 5B009 NA04 NA14 ND01                 5B021 AA01 LA01

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A system, comprising text processing means, form design means, and print image data generation means, for generating variable form data with different print contents one by one, wherein the form design means is a version for each layout. Designing a lower form and an overlay, and preparing a draft for outputting the composition data and the overlay data, and a draft display means for reading the composition data and the overlay data and displaying a print image of the composition form and the overlay on the screen. A variable form data generation system comprising: 2. The variable form data generation system according to claim 1, wherein the form design means displays the block copy data and the overlay data as a design sketch on a screen, and A variable form data generation system comprising: a layout design means for designing a layout of a form. 3. The variable form data generation system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the layout designing means includes a rough sketch switching means for switching and displaying different design rough sketches for each page. Variable form data generation system. 4. The variable form data generation system according to claim 1, wherein the layout design means includes attribute information of columns of print data, text information such as environment setting of an output machine, and the like. A variable form data generation system, comprising: definition data output means for outputting one form definition data in which the block copy data, the overlay data, and image data are recorded. 5. The variable form data generation system according to claim 1, wherein the definition output unit is text information such as attribute information of a column of print data and environment setting of an output machine. And a compression means for compressing and storing the block copy data, the overlay data, and the image data in one archive file. 6. The variable form data generation system according to claim 1, wherein the definition output unit includes an encryption unit that encrypts the form definition data. Variable form data generation system. 7. The variable form data generation system according to claim 1, wherein the definition output unit includes a password setting unit that sets a password for the form definition data. A variable form data generation system characterized in that 8. The variable form data generation system according to claim 1, wherein the print image data generation unit expands the form definition data compressed and stored in one archive file. A variable form data generation system, comprising: 9. The variable form data generation system according to claim 1, wherein the print image data generation means decrypts the encrypted form definition data. A variable form data generation system comprising: 10. The variable form data generation system according to claim 1, wherein the print image data generation means cancels a password set for the form definition data. A variable form data generation system comprising: 11. The variable form data generation system according to claim 1, wherein the print image data generation means is based on the layout information described in the form definition data. A variable form data generation system, comprising: a layout switching unit that switches a layout when outputting.