JP2003312071A - Method of printing and printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To print on paper sheets having various sizes by a simple setting by a printer having a cutter in a direction perpendicular to a conveyance direction of a roll of paper. <P>SOLUTION: A print setting section 103 can set a condition that a cutting position perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the roll of paper is automatically judged based on template data or a condition that data attributed to the template data is used. A vertical cutting position judging section 104 determines a vertical cutting position in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the roll of paper irrespective of automatic detection or manual detection set by the print setting section 103 based on the template data edited by a template editing section 101. A print data producing section 105 includes the vertical cutting position information set by the vertical cutting position judging section 104 and produces print data to be sent to a printer based on the template data. A print data transmitting section 106 transmits the print data produced by the print data producing section 105 to the printer. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing method and a printing apparatus, and more particularly to a printer or a printer having a function of receiving paper cutting position information generated on a host computer and cutting the paper at a predetermined position. The present invention relates to a printing apparatus including a printer to which a cutting function can be added and a method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the spread of flatbed scanners, film scanners, and digital cameras, printing equipment that can easily output digital images from a personal computer is also expanding. Against this background, it is expected that the diversification of print sizes by utilizing digital processing will increase. In printing equipment, output using standard size paper or roll paper is used properly according to the application. The roll paper output is excellent in maintainability or total output speed, and by adding a cutter function, it is possible to realize various paper sizes with one roll width.

A conventional printer using roll paper cuts in the roll paper transport direction. In this case, the paper size variation in the carrying direction size is limited to that which can be realized by the cutting position in the carrying direction. If you do not have a cutter function for the transport direction and the vertical direction, in order to realize a different size of paper, print the cut position register marks in the transport direction and the vertical direction, and then cut the roll paper in the transport direction by scissors or a cutter. Alternatively, it was necessary to manually cut using a cutting machine. Alternatively, it is necessary to load roll papers having different roll widths into the printer before printing to start printing.

[0004]

As described above, when it is attempted to obtain various output paper sizes in the output using roll paper by the conventional printing apparatus and its method, paper cut or roll by hand is performed. This involved manual work of the operator such as loading paper. In addition, even if a vertical cutter is added, the cutting position cannot be flexibly set from the application on the host computer, such as setting the cutting position with the device each time. Therefore, when attempting to provide print services of various output sizes in a laboratory store or a print shop, it is necessary to consider the time cost and labor cost in addition to the cost of paper and ink costs.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printer having a printer to which a cutter perpendicular to the roll paper conveyance direction is added and which can be set with various settings easily. An object of the present invention is to provide a printing method and a printing apparatus that can realize various paper sizes.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve such an object, the present invention according to claim 1 is a printer having a function of carrying a roll paper and a function of cutting in a direction perpendicular to the carrying direction. Is a printing method for performing printing by using a vertical cut position determination step of determining a cut position in a direction perpendicular to the roll paper conveyance direction from template data which is the print source data, and a vertical cut position determination step. It is characterized by comprising a print data generation step of generating vertical cut position information as print data, and a transmission step of transmitting the vertical cut position information generated by the print data generation step to a printer.

The invention described in claim 2 is the same as claim 1
In the invention described in (1), the template data can store vertical cut position information in a direction perpendicular to the roll paper conveyance direction as data.

The invention described in claim 3 is the same as claim 1
In the invention described in above, the vertical cut position determining step has a function of determining the vertical cut position by determining an overlapping portion of the data area of the template data.

The invention according to claim 4 is the same as claim 1
In the invention described in claim 3, the vertical cut position determining step has a function of determining the vertical cut position by the method according to claim 3 when the vertical cut position information does not exist in the template data according to claim 2. It is characterized by having.

The invention described in claim 5 is the same as claim 1
In the invention described in, when editing the vertical cut position information of the template data capable of storing the vertical cut position information in the roll paper transport direction and the vertical direction as data, the vertical cut position is set by the position edit operation of only the vertical direction operation. It is characterized by having a function to do.

The invention according to claim 6 is the same as claim 1.
The invention according to any one of claims 1 to 5 is characterized in that the printing method is executed by a host computer.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing program for performing printing using a printer having a function of carrying the roll paper in the carrying direction and a direction perpendicular to the carrying direction, and a template serving as printing source data. A vertical cut position determination step of determining a cut position in a direction perpendicular to the roll paper conveyance direction from the data, a print data generation step of generating vertical cut position information detected by the vertical cut position determination step as print data, and the print And a transmission step of transmitting the vertical cut position information generated by the data generation step to the printer using a computer.

Further, the invention according to claim 8 is a recording medium readable by a computer, which stores a program for printing using a printer having a function of carrying the roll paper and cutting in the direction perpendicular to the carrying direction. The vertical cut position determination step of determining the cut position in the vertical direction with respect to the roll paper conveyance direction from the template data which is the print source data, and the vertical cut position information detected by the vertical cut position determination step is used as print data. The recording medium is characterized by causing a computer to execute a print data generating step for generating and a transmitting step for transmitting the vertical cut position information generated by the print data generating step to a printer.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing apparatus which performs printing by using a printer having a function of cutting the roll paper in the transport direction and a direction perpendicular to the transport direction.
The template data as the print source data, the vertical cut position determination means for determining the cut position in the direction perpendicular to the roll paper conveyance direction from the template data, and the vertical cut position information detected by the vertical cut position determination means are the print data. And a transmission unit for transmitting the vertical cut position information generated by the print data generation unit to the printer.

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration for explaining an embodiment of a printing apparatus of the present invention. The printing apparatus of the present invention comprises a host computer 111 and a printer 112.

The host computer 111 comprises a template editing unit 101, a print setting unit 103, a vertical cut position judging unit 104, a print data generating unit 105, and a print data transmitting unit 106.

The template editing unit 101 has a function of editing the edit data 102 including image data and text data, and has vertical cut position information perpendicular to the roll paper conveyance direction. The print setting unit 103 has a function of setting whether to automatically determine the cut position perpendicular to the roll paper conveyance direction from template data or to use data attached to the template data.

The vertical cut position determination unit 104 performs vertical cuts in the direction perpendicular to the roll paper conveyance direction from the template data edited by the template editing unit 101, regardless of whether automatic or manual detection is set by the print setting unit 103. It has the function of determining the position.

The print data generation unit 105 has a function of generating the print data to be sent to the printer from the edited template data including the vertical cut position information set by the vertical cut position determination unit 104. The print data transmission unit 106 has a function of transmitting the print data generated by the print data generation unit 105 to the printer.

On the other hand, the printer 112 comprises a print data receiving section 107, a printing section 108, a conveyance direction cutting section 109, and a conveyance vertical direction cutting section 110.

The print data receiving unit 107 has a function of receiving the print data transmitted from the print data transmitting unit 106. The printing unit 108 has a function of printing the print data received by the print data receiving unit using roll paper. The carrying direction cutting unit 109 has a function of cutting the roll paper printed by the printing unit 108 into a paper size designated in the carrying direction. The conveyance vertical direction cutting unit 110 has a function of further cutting the sheet cut by the conveyance direction cutting unit 109 in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, each of the template editing unit 101 to the print data transmitting unit 106 is configured on the host computer 111, and each unit of the print data receiving unit 107 to the cutting unit 110 is the printer 112.
Is shown as an example.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the printing apparatus of the present invention. Reference numeral 201 in the figure denotes a central processing unit (CPU) for calculation and control. 202
Is a ROM in which programs for template editing and printing are stored. Reference numeral 203 denotes an R for which an execution area in which the program is loaded and a work area for the program are secured when the template editing and printing program is executed.
AM. Reference numeral 204 is a keyboard having keys for the operator to perform operations and data input. 205
Is a pointing device such as a mouse that clicks an instruction icon displayed on the 206 display or moves a cursor to instruct an operation. 207 is
The storage device (hard disk) stores image data, template data, programs, or print spool data. Reference numeral 208 denotes a removable medium such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk or a magneto-optical disk (MO) that stores data such as data exchange with an external image processing device and image data, template data, and programs.

Reference numeral 209 denotes a printing device (printer) capable of printing on the roll paper for printing the edited template data. The printer 209 has a roll-conveying direction cutting device 212 and a cutting function in the direction perpendicular to the roll-paper conveying. A printer that has a cutting device 213 that includes a printer or that can be connected as a peripheral device.

Reference numeral 210 is a digital image input device such as a film scanner or a digital camera for inputting a digital image. A bus 211 is connected to each device in the printing apparatus.

FIGS. 3A to 3C are views showing the cut state of the roll paper according to the embodiment of the present invention. Figure 3
3A is a roll paper conveyance direction, and FIG. 3B and FIG.
FIG. 6C is a diagram showing a state of a roll cut position in the vertical direction.

In the figure, reference numeral 301 is a roll paper loaded in the printer 209 and printed with print data, and 302 is a transport direction cutting position where the print data is printed by the printer 209 and then cut by the transport direction cutting device 212. . Reference numerals 303 and 306 denote sheets that have been cut in the transport direction after the roll sheet 301 has been cut at the cutting position 302. For example, the paper 30 that has been cut in the transport direction
3 is cut at the positions 304 and 305 in the direction perpendicular to the transport direction to obtain two printed outputs. Alternatively, the sheet 306 that has been cut in the carrying direction is cut in the direction perpendicular to the carrying direction at the positions 307 and 308 to obtain two printed outputs.

4 (a) and 4 (b) are shown in FIG. 3 (b),
It is a figure which shows the example of the template data which shows by what kind of template data the roll cut information of the vertical direction shown to (c) is implemented.

Reference numeral 401 in the figure corresponds to 303, and 403
Are templates corresponding to 306. In the template 401, 402 and 403 indicate that data areas can be inserted with images and texts, and in the template 403, 404 and 405 indicate data areas that can be inserted images and texts. In the template 401, there is a blank space between the data areas 402 and 403, and 304, 3
The template 403 is cut at the position indicated by 05, and the upper side of the data area 404 in the template 403 is a margin, and the template 403 is cut at the positions indicated by 307 and 308.

FIGS. 5 (a) and 5 (b) are shown in FIG.
It is a figure which shows the mode of the actual data structure of the template data shown to (b). In this example, document is 1
One template data, page indicates each page, and slot indicates an image or text data area.

Reference numeral 501 in the figure denotes template data of size = 127.0x210.0 mm corresponding to the template 401,
502 shows an example of template data of size = 127.0x210.0 mm corresponding to 403. The template data 501 has coordinates (left, top, right, bottom) = (0.0, 0.0, 127.0, 89.
0) mm position and coordinates (left, top, right, bottom) = (0.0, 121.0,
IMAGE = image data is set in a rectangle at 127.0, 210.0) mm position, and the template data 502 has coordinates (left,
Top, right, bottom) = (0.0, 32.0, 127.0, 121.0) mm Position and coordinates (left, top, right, bottom) = (0.0, 121.0, 127.0, 21
IMAGE = image data is set in the rectangle at the 0.0) mm position.

Further, in the page shown in the template data 501, vcut = 89.0, 121.0 is set at two cut positions, and in the page shown in the template data 502, vcut = 32.0, 121.0 is set at two cut positions. Indicates that it has been done. This is manually set, and an example of the setting method is shown in FIGS. 7 and 8.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of the edit and print processing executed by the template edit and print program on the host computer shown in FIG. When editing is started (step 601), the operator has 40
Templates 1 and 403 are created and images and text information are inserted into the data areas 402 and 403 (step 602).

Next, in the case where the vertical cut designation in the direction perpendicular to the roll paper conveyance direction is manually performed with this template, as shown in FIG.
The vertical cut information is set by the vertical cut setting method shown in FIG. 8 (step 603). Next, in order to start printing, print settings are made (step 604). In step 604 print setting, a setting is made as to whether the vertical cut position designation (vertical cut position) in the vertical direction with respect to the roll paper conveyance direction is performed automatically or manually.

When printing is executed after the print settings, the document printing process is started (step 605). Next, the page printing process for each page is started (step 606). In step 607, it is determined whether or not the vertical cut information set in step 604 is automatically detected. If it is set to automatic, the process proceeds to step 608. In step 608, it is determined whether or not the edit data has vertical cut position information, and if it has vertical cut position information, it is set as print data (step 611).

If the vertical cut position information is not found in step 608, the vertical cut position information is detected from the edit data (step 610). Step 6
An example of the detection procedure in 10 is shown in FIGS. 9 and 10.
In step 609, when the vertical cut position is manually set, it is determined whether or not the edit data has the vertical cut position information, as in step 608. If the edit data has the vertical cut position information, it is set as the print data.

If the vertical cut position information is not found, the process proceeds to the next step 612. In step 612,
Page data drawing of the edited template data is performed, and the page printing process ends (step 613). Next, it is determined whether there is a next page (step 61).
4) If there is a next page, return to step 606 to start processing the next page. If there is no next page, the document print processing ends (step 615).

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an embodiment of GUI operation for setting the vertical cut position information. Reference numeral 70 in the figure
Reference numeral 1 is an area in which page data for one page is displayed, 702 is a scale, 703 and 704 are lines showing vertical cut positions, 705 is a vertical cut position add button, and 706 is a vertical cut position delete button. .

FIG. 8 is a flow chart for operating the vertical cut position setting shown in FIG. First, when the vertical cut position editing is started (step 801), it is determined whether or not the vertical cut position is added (step 802). Step 802 corresponds to the operation of the add button 705.
If it is additional, the cut line is moved along the scale 702 only in the vertical direction by using the mouse or the keyboard to specify the cut position (step 803).

In the case of deletion in step 802, the cut position is specified by using the mouse or keyboard, and the [Delete] button 706 is executed to delete the cut position. Next, it is judged whether or not the vertical cut position editing is completed (step 806), and if it is completed, the vertical cut position editing function is completed (step 807).

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the vertical cut position automatic detection method shown in step 610 of FIG.
When automatic detection is started (step 901), the total number N of data areas (corresponding to 402 and 403 in FIG. 4) in the edit page data is acquired (step 902).

Next, the first data area (i = 1) is acquired (step 903), and the boundary area in the direction perpendicular to the roll paper conveyance direction is searched from this data area (step 90).
4) Add to the area detection list of the boundary area (step 905). It is judged whether there is the next data (step 906), and if there is, the steps 903 to 9
05 is similarly executed.

When a boundary area in the direction perpendicular to the roll paper conveyance direction is added to the area detection list for all data areas, the area detection list detects a non-overlapping portion as a vertical cut position (step 907). ) Next, the vertical cut position information is set (step 908), and the cut position automatic detection process ends (step 909). Step 908
The vertical cut position information set in step 6 is used for step 6 in FIG.
At 11, the print data is set.

FIGS. 10A to 10C are views showing an example of editing data virtually viewed from the side in the roll paper conveyance direction in order to illustrate the area overlap determination (step 907) in FIG. is there. In the figure, reference numeral 1001 indicates a page, and 100
Reference numerals 2 and 1003 denote data areas, similarly 1004 denotes pages, 1005 and 1006 denote data areas, 1011 denotes pages, 1012 and 1013 denote data areas.

Reference numeral 1015 indicates the overlap of the data areas 1012 and 1013. The vertical cut position detection sets a boundary line that does not overlap the data areas.
On 01, 1007 and 1008, but on 1004,
Only 1009, 1010 and 1014 are detected on 1011.

The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of one device. For example, it may be a template editing and printing application executed on a PC, or an editing and printing unit of a digital lab system that performs digital printing.

Needless to say, the present invention can also be applied to the case where it is achieved by supplying a program to a system or an apparatus. In this case, the storage medium that stores the program represented by the software for achieving the present invention is read into the system or the device, so that the system or the device can enjoy the effects of the present invention.

In this embodiment, the program module having the functions shown in the flow charts of FIGS. 6, 8 and 9 is stored in the ROM 202 of FIG. The storage medium for supplying the program is not limited to the ROM, but may be, for example, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD.
-R, DVD, magnetic tape, non-volatile memory card, etc. can be used.

[0049]

As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a printing apparatus for performing printing using a printer having a roll paper conveyance direction and a function of cutting in the conveyance direction and a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction. Template data, vertical cut position determination means for determining the cut position in the direction perpendicular to the roll paper conveyance direction from the template data, and vertical cut position information detected by the vertical cut position determination means for generating print data as print data. Since it has a means and a transmitting means for transmitting the vertical cutting position information generated by the print data generating means to the printer, the cutting position can be set in the printer with the roll paper vertical cutter by an easy operation,
1 roll width size can easily realize various paper sizes.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration for explaining an embodiment of a printing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a printing apparatus of the present invention.

3A and 3B are diagrams showing a cut state of roll paper according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG.
FIG. 6C is a diagram showing a state of a roll cut position in the vertical direction.

4 (a) and 4 (b) are diagrams showing what template data is used to implement the roll-cut information in the vertical direction shown in FIGS. 3 (b) and 3 (c).

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an actual data structure of the template data shown in FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b).

6 is a diagram showing a flowchart for explaining editing and printing processing executed by a template editing and printing program on the host computer shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a GUI operation when setting vertical cut position information.

8 is a diagram showing a flowchart for explaining a case of operating the vertical cut position setting shown in FIG. 7. FIG.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a flowchart for explaining a case of automatically detecting a cut position in a direction perpendicular to a roll paper conveyance direction from template data showing an embodiment of the present invention.

10A to 10C are diagrams showing a detection example in the case of automatically detecting a cut position in a direction perpendicular to a roll paper conveyance direction from template data showing an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 Template editor 102 edit data 103 print setting section 104 Vertical cut position determination unit 105 print data generation unit 106 print data transmission unit 107 print data receiving unit 108 Printing Department 109 Transport direction cutting unit 110 Transport vertical cutting section 111 Host computer 112 printer 201 Central processing unit (CPU) 202 ROM 203 RAM 204 keyboard 205 mouse 207 Storage device (hard disk) 208 removable media 209 Printing device (printer) 210 input device 211 bus 212 Roll transport direction cutting device 213 cutting device 301 roll paper 701 area 702 scale 703, 704 A line indicating the vertical cut position 705 Add button for vertical cut position 706 Delete button for vertical cut position

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A printing method for performing printing using a printer having a roll paper conveyance direction and a function of cutting in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction, wherein template data, which is print source data, is printed in a direction perpendicular to the roll paper conveyance direction. Vertical cut position determining step for determining the cut position of the vertical cut position, a print data generating step for generating vertical cut position information detected by the vertical cut position determining step as print data, and a vertical cut position generated by the print data generating step. A transmitting step of transmitting the position information to the printer. 2. The printing method according to claim 1, wherein the template data can store vertical cut position information in a direction perpendicular to a roll paper conveyance direction as data. 3. The print according to claim 1, wherein the vertical cut position determining step has a function of determining a vertical cut position by determining an overlapping portion of a data area of template data. Method. 4. The vertical cut position determining step has a function of determining the vertical cut position by the method according to claim 3, when the vertical cut position information does not exist in the template data according to claim 2. Claim 1 characterized by the above.
The printing method described in. 5. When editing vertical cut position information of template data capable of storing vertical cut position information in the vertical direction with respect to the roll paper conveyance direction as data, the vertical cut position is set by a position edit operation of only the vertical direction operation. The printing method according to claim 1, which has a function. 6. The printing method according to claim 1, wherein the printing method is executed by a host computer. 7. A printing program for printing using a printer having a roll paper carrying direction and a function of cutting in a direction perpendicular to the carrying direction, wherein template data, which is original data to be printed, is applied to the roll paper carrying direction and the vertical direction. Vertical cut position determining step for determining the cut position of the vertical cut position, a print data generating step for generating vertical cut position information detected by the vertical cut position determining step as print data, and a vertical cut position generated by the print data generating step. A printing program, characterized in that a transmission step of transmitting position information to a printer is realized using a computer. 8. A computer-readable recording medium in which a program for performing printing using a printer having a function of carrying the roll paper in the carrying direction and a direction perpendicular to the carrying direction is stored, and serves as print source data. A vertical cut position determination step of determining a cut position in a direction perpendicular to the roll paper conveyance direction from the template data; a print data generation step of generating vertical cut position information detected by the vertical cut position determination step as print data; A recording medium for causing a computer to execute a transmitting step of transmitting the vertical cut position information generated by the print data generating step to a printer. 9. A printing apparatus for performing printing using a printer having a function of cutting a roll paper in the carrying direction and a direction perpendicular to the carrying direction, wherein template data to be print source data and roll paper from the template data. A vertical cut position determining means for determining a cut position in the transport direction and a vertical direction, a print data generating means for generating vertical cut position information detected by the vertical cut position determining means as print data, and a print data generating means. A printing device comprising: a transmission unit that transmits the generated vertical cut position information to a printer.