JP2004104161A - Image processing method, image processing apparatus, storage medium, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that a user inevitably performs a magnification or reduction operation of an illustration every time the user inserts a plurality of illustrations to determine the initial size of a inserted illustration depending on the size information of image data or the size of an entire pattern editing screen in an application program. <P>SOLUTION: An image processing method for printing a plurality of images on a predetermined printing region includes a first magnification changing step of changing the size of a first image while arranging the first image to be printed in the printing region, a step of designating the second image to be printed and newly inserted into the printing region, and a second magnification changing step of automatically changing the size of the second image to be newly inserted. The second magnification changing step performs magnification changing operation according to the size of the first image after subjected to the magnification changing operation of the first magnification changing step. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an image processing method, an image processing apparatus, and a storage medium for printing out an image on a predetermined print area such as a printable disc such as a CD-R or DVD-R printable on the back side of an information recording surface.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, apparatuses for printing an image directly on the surface of a printable disc such as a CD-R are widely known. As this type of device, there is a device in which a printer capable of printing on a printable disc and a personal computer (PC) are connected, and an application program for editing and printing symbols is operated on the PC.
[0003]
When inserting an image image as an illustration while creating a design with the application program in these devices, the size of the inserted image initially displayed on the design editing screen depends on the number of pixels and resolution of the image data, or the design. It is determined by the size of the entire editing screen.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The printable area of the printable disc medium is a donut-shaped area usually sandwiched between double concentric circles. For example, in the case of a CD-R medium having a diameter of 120 mm, the diameter of the outer circumference of the printable area is about 115 mm, and a medium having a characteristic shape in which a non-printable area having a diameter of slightly more than 40 mm is provided at the center thereof. It is a target.
[0005]
It is easy to imagine that the user will try to insert an illustration as large as possible in the printable area when creating the design, but for that purpose, as shown in FIG. It is necessary to arrange the image size after changing the image size to a size close to a certain fixed size.
[0006]
However, in the conventional application program, the initial size of the inserted illustration is determined based on the size information of the image data and the size of the entire design editing screen. For this reason, when inserting a plurality of illustrations, there is a problem that the user is forced to perform an enlargement or reduction operation of the illustrations each time to make the illustrations substantially the same size.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above problem, the present invention is an image processing method for printing a plurality of images in a predetermined print area, wherein the first image to be printed is arranged in the print area while the first image is to be printed. A first scaling step of changing the size of an image, a designation step of designating a second image to be newly inserted in the print area to be printed, and a second step of automatically scaling the second image to be newly inserted A scaling step, wherein the second scaling step performs a scaling process according to the size of the first image after the scaling in the first scaling step.
[0008]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0009]
[System configuration]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the image forming system according to the present embodiment. The image forming system according to the present embodiment includes a host computer 100 that generates print data (including a control command), and a printer 180 that forms an image based on the print data.
[0010]
The host computer 100 includes a CPU 110, a ROM 120, a RAM 130, a hard disk controller (HDC) 140 and a hard disk (HD) 141 connected thereto, a display controller 150 and a display device 151 connected thereto, a keyboard / mouse controller 160 and the like. A keyboard / mouse 161 to be connected and an input / output (I / O) controller 170 are provided.
[0011]
The CPU operates based on various software in the ROM 120 and the RAM 130.
[0012]
The ROM 120 stores a program 121 for controlling the HDC 140, the display controller 150, the keyboard / mouse controller 160, the I / O controller 170, data 122 used therein, and the like. When the power of the host computer 100 is turned on, the host computer 100 boots by the program 121, loads the OS 142 from the HD 141 into the RAM 130, and starts the OS. Thereafter, the application program is similarly loaded and executed under the management of the OS, so that the present system functions as an image forming system.
[0013]
An operating system (OS) 131, an application 132 for controlling image editing in the present invention, and a printer driver 133 that is software for generating print data corresponding to the printer 170 are read from the HD 141 into the RAM 130, and executed by the CPU 110. Is done. A work area 134 for operating these programs is also secured on the RAM 130.
[0014]
The HD 141 stores an OS 142, an application 143, and a printer driver 144, and sets a spooler area 145 for spooling print data to be supplied to the printer 170.
[0015]
The display controller 150 displays an image for the user of the host computer 100 through the display device 151 under the control of the CPU 110. The keyboard / mouse controller 160 receives an input by the user of the host computer 100 through the keyboard / mouse 161 according to the control of the CPU 110. Using the display device 151 and the keyboard / mouse 161, the user of the host computer 100 performs an interactive operation of the host computer 100. As the display device 151, a CRT, a liquid crystal display device (LCD), or the like can be used. In addition, other pointing devices such as a touch panel and a trackball can be used instead of the mouse. The I / O controller 170 performs bidirectional communication processing with the printer 170 under the control of the CPU 110.
[0016]
On the other hand, the printer 180 has an interface (I / F) 181 for receiving print data from the host computer 100 and transmitting various status data to the host computer 100. And an image recording unit 183 that receives the bitmap image data output from the printer control unit 182 and actually forms an image. Although not shown, an operation panel and the like are also provided. The image recording section may use any method such as an ink jet method and a thermal transfer method as long as it can record an image on a printing surface of a printable disc such as a CD-R or a DVD-R. Further, the image recording unit may be of a cartridge type that can be replaced by a user for printing purposes.
[0017]
In the above configuration, when the printer 180 is connected to the host computer 100, at the first stage, it is necessary to install a printer driver 144 for generating printer data corresponding to the printer 180. This installation only needs to be done once unless you have a good reason to do so.
[0018]
FIG. 2 is a view for explaining the host computer 100 of the image forming system shown in FIG. 1 from the viewpoint of a software configuration.
[0019]
A keyboard / mouse 161 is connected to the host computer 100 as an input device, and a display device 151 and a printer 180 are connected as output devices.
[0020]
Inputs made using a keyboard or mouse are processed by a keyboard / mouse driver 191 and passed to the OS 131. The host computer 100 has application software 132 such as a word processor, a spreadsheet, and an Internet browser. The printer driver 133 is software that processes the drawing command group to create print data and causes the printer 180 to print, and the display driver 190 is software that causes the display device 151 to display an image. The application software 132 creates output image data using text data classified as text such as characters, graphics data classified as graphics such as figures, image image data classified as photographic images, and the like. When printing an image based on the output image data, the application software 132 sends a print output request to the OS 131, and the text data portion is a text drawing command, the graphics data portion is a graphics drawing command, and the image image data portion. Issues a drawing command group composed of image drawing commands to the OS 131.
[0021]
When receiving the print output request from the application software 132, the OS 131 passes a drawing command group to the printer driver 133 corresponding to the printer 180. The printer driver 133 processes the print output request and the drawing command group passed from the OS 131, creates print data that can be printed by the printer 180, and sends the print data to the printer 180.
[0022]
When the printer 180 is a raster printer, the printer driver 133 sequentially rasterizes the drawing command group into, for example, a band memory having a depth of 8 bits for each of RGB. Then, after rasterizing all drawing commands, the contents of the band memory are converted into a data format printable by the printer 180, for example, CMYK data, and sent to the printer 180. This band memory is allocated to the RAM 130, for example.
[0023]
1 and 2 may be a commonly used IBM AT compatible personal computer, and the OS 131 may be Microsoft Windows (registered trademark) XP. Further, by connecting the display device 151, the printer 180, and the keyboard / mouse 161 to such a personal computer and executing a print processing application described below, the print system of the present embodiment is realized.
[0024]
[About the print processing application]
Next, a print processing application according to the present embodiment that can operate as the application 132 will be described. The print processing application according to the present embodiment specifies a printable disc to be printed by its manufacturer name and product model number, creates a design to be printed on the printable disc, and uses the printer 180 to print the design on the printing surface of the printable disc. Print directly on top. Hereinafter, the operation and function of the print processing application according to the present embodiment will be described in detail.
[0025]
When the print processing application according to the present embodiment is started, a dedicated application window is displayed. The application window includes a start screen (see FIG. 3), a paper (media) selection screen (see FIG. 4-A), an edit screen (see FIG. 5-A), a database update screen (see FIG. 6), and a print screen (see FIG. 6). 7) and a printer setting screen (see FIG. 8), but a screen for realizing other functions may be provided. In this print processing application, the editing screen is the main screen, and other screens are displayed so as to overlap the editing screen as necessary, and the startup screen is displayed when the application starts, but it is not limited to these It is not done.
[0026]
The general printing procedure by the print processing application is as follows.
-After selecting "New" on the startup screen, select a printable disc to be used for printing on the paper (media) selection screen.
・ In the edit screen, insert, move, and change the size of the illustration to create a design to be printed.
-Output the created symbols on a print screen with a printer.
[0027]
Hereinafter, the operation will be described in detail for each screen.
[0028]
First, with reference to FIG. 3 and FIG. 9, a description will be given of an application startup process performed by displaying a startup screen. When the application is started, the editing screen shown in FIG. 5 is displayed, and the starting screen shown in FIG. 3 is displayed so as to overlap the editing screen. At this time, the user can perform an operation on the start screen, but cannot operate an edit screen that is under the start screen. FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a process executed when the startup screen shown in FIG. 3 is displayed.
[0029]
In step S101, it is determined whether the “create new” button has been clicked. If the “new creation” button is clicked, the process proceeds to step S102, where the startup screen is erased and the processing of the paper selection screen is performed. Details of the processing will be described later. Then, in step S103, the process proceeds to the editing screen processing. Details of the processing will be described later.
[0030]
If it is determined in step S101 that the "new" button has not been clicked, the flow advances to step S104 to determine whether the "open" button has been clicked. When the "open" button is clicked, the process proceeds to step S105, in which the application opens a previously saved design data file. In this process, the startup screen is erased, and a file selection pop-up window (not shown) is displayed, and the user selects a desired symbol data file using this pop-up window. Then, in step S103, the process proceeds to the editing screen processing.
[0031]
The design data file includes image information, output position, and output size information of zero or more illustrations. Also, information on paper (media) and printer setting information on which the symbols are to be printed is recorded. Details of the sheet (media) information and the printer setting information will be described later. In the present embodiment, the symbols are constituted only by the illustrations. However, even if graphics and texts are additionally included, the object of the present invention is still achieved.
[0032]
If it is determined in step S104 that the “open” button has not been clicked, it is determined in step S106 whether the “end” button has been clicked. When the “end” button is clicked, the process proceeds to step S107, and the application ends. This is a process for a case where the user starts the application by an erroneous operation. If it is determined in step S106 that the "end" button has not been clicked, the process returns to step S101, and the above processing is repeated until any button is clicked.
[0033]
Next, a media selection process performed by displaying a paper (media) selection screen will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a process executed when the sheet (media) selection screen illustrated in FIG. 4-A is displayed. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a format of a paper (media) database used in the application according to the present embodiment. FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating a display example of a paper (media) selection screen when a media recommended by a printer maker described later is displayed.
[0034]
In step S201, the current media selection information is obtained. The media selection information includes a media manufacturer name, a media product model number, a printer model name used for printing, a diameter of a circle (hereinafter referred to as an inner circle) at a media print area inner boundary, and a media print area outer boundary. (Hereinafter, referred to as an outer circle). Also, information on whether or not each medium is recommended by a printer maker is included. If the paper (media) selection screen is opened immediately after the start of this application in step S102 of the startup screen processing, since the media has not been selected yet, the default media (manufacturer name and product model number), the default printer model The name is selected, and the paper (media) information database shown in FIG. 11 is searched to obtain the diameter of the inner circle and the diameter of the outer circle.
[0035]
In step S202, the paper (media) selection screen shown in FIG. 4 is displayed, and the maker name (media maker column), product model number (media name column), and printer model name (printer column) of the currently selected media are displayed. . By clicking the triangle button on the right end in the media maker column, a list of media maker names registered in the paper (media) information database is displayed and can be selected. Similarly, in the printer column, a list of model names of printers registered in the paper (media) information database and having a printer driver installed in the host computer 100 can be displayed and selected. In the media name column, a list of records matching the maker name and the printer model name among the media registered in the paper (media) information database is displayed, and any one of them can be selected and operated. Can be.
[0036]
In the maker name column, a printer maker recommendation can be selectively displayed in addition to the media maker name. When the printer maker recommendation is selected, among the media corresponding to the selected printer model, those having printer maker recommendation information are displayed in the media name column as shown in FIG. 4-B.
[0037]
In step S203, it is determined whether the user has performed a maker name selection operation using the keyboard and mouse. If a maker name selection operation has been performed, the maker name currently selected is updated in step S204.
[0038]
In step S205, it is determined whether the user has performed a selection operation of the printer model name using the keyboard and the mouse. If a printer model name selection operation has been performed, the currently selected printer model name is updated in step S206.
[0039]
In step S207, it is determined whether the user has performed a media name (product model number) selection operation using the keyboard and mouse. If a product model number selection operation has been performed, the currently selected product model number is updated in step S208.
[0040]
In step S209, it is determined whether the OK button has been clicked. If the OK button has been clicked, the media selection information is updated to the value currently selected on the screen in step S210, and the corresponding printer setting information is obtained. The printer setting information includes the paper size, paper type, print quality, and printer name to be notified to the printer driver. Of these, the paper size, paper type, and print quality are obtained by searching the paper (media) information database using the manufacturer name, product model number, and printer model name as keys. The printer name is selected from the printer drivers installed in the host computer 100, and the printer driver whose model name matches the printer model name is selected and displayed. If there is more than one match, one of them is selected.
[0041]
If it is determined in step S209 that the OK button has not been clicked, it is determined in step S211 whether the cancel button has been clicked. When the cancel button is clicked, and when the processing of step S210 is completed, the processing of the paper (media) selection screen ends, and the paper (media) selection screen is erased. If the cancel button is clicked, the process of step S210 is not performed, so that the selection operation performed on the paper (media) selection screen becomes invalid.
[0042]
If it is determined in step S211 that the cancel button has not been clicked, the process returns to step S202, redraws the screen according to the current selection items, and continues the paper (media) selection processing.
[0043]
Here, the paper (media) information database shown in FIG. 11 will be described. The paper (media) information database is recorded on the hard disk of the host computer 100 as data attached to the application in the form of a data file different from the application program file, and has a tabular data structure shown in FIG. . Further, by a database update operation described later, it is possible to update to newer information without changing programs such as an application program and a printer driver.
[0044]
The paper (media) information database records the diameters of the inner circle and the outer circle and whether or not the printer maker is recommended, using the maker name, the product model number (media name) and the model name of the printer to be used as keys. In addition, the optimum setting value of the printer driver when printing with the printer of the model name on the medium is recorded. The setting values of the printer driver include the cartridge type, paper size, paper type, and print quality of the image recording unit in the printer used for printing. The printer model name is used as a key in addition to the manufacturer name and product model number (media name) when the optimal printer driver settings differ depending on the printer model used when printing on the same media. Because there is.
[0045]
Here, the relationship between the settings of the printer driver and the print data transmitted to the printer will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 16 is a diagram showing the relationship between the settings of the printer driver and the print data transmitted to the printer.
[0046]
In the printable disc, the ink absorbing ability of the ink receiving layer is greatly different depending on the product. Therefore, even if the printing method is to form an appropriate image for a specific product, if printing is performed on another product, problems may occur such as unabsorbed ink remaining on the media surface. .
[0047]
Therefore, the relative value of the maximum amount of ink applied to the unit area of the media printing surface is referred to as “ink ejection amount”, and the number of times the image recording unit of the printer scans a specific position on the media printing surface is referred to as “the number of passes”. A plurality of printing methods as shown in FIG. 16 are defined. Generally, the printing method differs depending on the printer model, but a common printing method may be used between different models.
[0048]
Then, as shown in FIG. 16, the plurality of printing methods are associated with the combination of the paper type and the printing quality, which are the setting items of the printer driver, and print data that instructs the printer at the time of printing is printed data Send. For example, when the type of paper is set to “printable disk (recommended product)” and the print quality is set to “standard”, print data that instructs printing in 120% of the ejection amount and four passes is transmitted to the printer.
[0049]
By selectively using the print data illustrated in FIG. 16, a recommended printing method that enables printing with the best quality for each model number of a printable disc with a printer of a specific model is stored in a paper (media) information database. Can be recorded.
[0050]
Next, the symbol editing process performed by displaying the editing screen will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating processing executed when the editing screen shown in FIG. 5-A is displayed.
[0051]
In step S301, symbol information is acquired, and an editing screen is displayed. When the editing screen is displayed for the first time after the start of the application after the paper selection processing, since no pattern has been created yet, a blank editing screen as shown in FIG. 5-A is displayed. The edit screen shows a donut-shaped area simulating the print area of a printable disc. The width of the donut-shaped area is displayed corresponding to the diameters of the inner and outer circles of the selected medium.
[0052]
In step S302, it is determined whether a paper selection operation has been performed. The paper selection operation is performed by clicking a “paper selection” button or by specifying a “paper selection” item (not shown) from a menu arranged at the top of the screen. If it is determined that the paper selection operation has been performed, a paper (media) selection screen is displayed in step S303, and the series of processing starting from step S201 is performed.
[0053]
In step S304, it is determined whether a new creation operation has been performed. The new creation operation is performed by clicking a “new” button or designating a “new creation” item (not shown) from a menu. If it is determined that the new creation operation has been performed, all the symbol information is deleted in step S305. As a result, the next time step S301 is executed, the editing screen is displayed as a blank page.
[0054]
In step S306, it is determined whether an illustration insertion operation has been performed. The illustration insertion operation is performed by clicking an "illustration" button or designating an "illustration" item (not shown) from a menu. If it is determined that the illustration insertion operation has been performed, an illustration insertion process described later is performed in step S307.
[0055]
In step S308, it is determined whether the illustration has been resized or moved. The operations of changing the size and moving the illustration are performed by selecting the illustration on the editing screen by clicking with the mouse, and then enlarging, reducing, or moving the illustration by dragging the mouse. On this editing screen, a print area based on the paper selected in the paper setting is displayed. The user operates the arrangement and size of the illustration on the print area. If it is determined that the illustration has been resized or moved, the symbol information is updated in step S309, and the horizontal and vertical lengths of the operation target illustration at the time after the operation are set as variables Ws and Hs, respectively. Record. Here, the length refers to the length when the operation target illustration is recorded on a medium when it is output by the printer 180 in the printing process described later.
[0056]
In step S310, it is determined whether a printing operation has been performed. The printing operation is performed by clicking a “print” button or designating a “print” item (not shown) from a menu. If it is determined that a print operation has been performed, a print screen is displayed in step S311, and print processing described later is performed.
[0057]
In step S312, it is determined whether a save operation has been performed. The saving operation is performed by clicking a "save" button or designating a "save" item (not shown) from a menu. If it is determined that the saving operation has been performed, a pop-up window for specifying a file name (not shown) is displayed in step S313, and the user specifies a desired file name using the pop-up window. Record the symbol data being edited. Thereafter, when the application is started, by specifying the file name when "open" is selected on the start screen, the symbol data can be called.
[0058]
In step S314, it is determined whether a database update operation has been performed. The database update operation is performed by designating a “paper information update” item (not shown) from the menu. If it is determined that the database update operation has been performed, a database update screen as illustrated in FIG. 6 is displayed in step S315, a communication connection with a separately prepared server site is established, and And updates the existing paper (media) information database with the updated paper (media) information database. Thereafter, the communication connection with the server site is released.
[0059]
As a communication line with the server site, the Internet may be used via a dial-up line or ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line), but is not limited thereto. In addition, as a communication procedure for acquiring a database from the server site, HTTP (Hyper Text Transport Protocol) can be used, but not limited to this.
[0060]
In step S316, it is determined whether an end operation has been performed. The end operation is performed by designating an “end” item (not shown) from the menu. If it is determined that the end operation has been performed, the editing screen is erased and the operation of this application ends. If it is determined that the end operation has not been performed, the process returns to step S301, updates the editing screen, and continues the processing.
[0061]
Next, the illustration insertion processing will be described with reference to FIG. 13 and FIG. FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a process executed when an illustration insertion operation is performed while the editing screen is displayed. FIG. 5B is a diagram showing a display example of an editing screen during symbol editing.
[0062]
In step S401, a pop-up window for selecting a file (not shown) is displayed. Using this, the user selects a desired illustration file. Here, the illustration file refers to a file including rectangular image information such as JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group), TIFF (Tagged Image File Format), and BMP (Windows (registered trademark) bitmap). Other than that may be used. In addition, those that handle a specific color as a transparent color are also included. The pop-up window for file selection preferably has a preview function that allows the user to check the image in the file through reduced display (thumbnail display).
[0063]
In step S402, the input of the user is accepted, and the illustration file name is determined.
[0064]
In step S403, the illustration file designated in step S402 is read, and the number of pixels in the horizontal and vertical directions of the image is obtained. For the acquired number of pixels, values in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction are recorded in variables We and He, respectively.
[0065]
In step S404, the variables Ws and Hs recorded in the processing step S309 during the display of the edit screen are called, and the larger value of these is stored in the variable L. If the step S309 has never been executed after the start of this application, the diameter of the outer circle of the currently selected medium is used as the initial value of Ws and Hs.
[0066]
In step S405, the values of the variables We and He are compared, and the process branches depending on the result. When it is determined that We is larger than He, the process proceeds to step S406. This is a case where the image of the illustration file is horizontally long. At this time, L is stored in the variable w and w × HeＨWe is stored in the variable h.
[0067]
On the other hand, when it is determined in step S405 that We is not greater than He, the process proceeds to step S407, where L is stored in the variable h and h × WeＷHe is stored in the variable w.
[0068]
In step S408, the image of the illustration file is added to the design information, the position is set at the center of the editing screen, and the horizontal and vertical sizes are set to the values of variables w and h, respectively. With the above processing, the newly inserted illustration maintains the original aspect ratio, and the length of the long side of the illustration is the length of the long side of the existing illustration that was last subjected to an operation such as resizing. Scaled to a size that matches
[0069]
The scaled image is automatically arranged in a print area different from the image already arranged in the print area. This makes it possible to save the trouble of having to perform the moving process afterwards by arranging the objects one above another or always arranging them at the same position.
[0070]
By performing the above-described size setting processing at the time of inserting the illustration, if the user performs the size changing operation of step S309 on the editing screen only once at the time of inserting the first illustration, even if the operation is not repeated, as shown in FIG. A preferred function is provided when arranging a plurality of illustrations in a donut-shaped region, such that a plurality of illustrations can be positioned at the same size. It should be noted that the design of the portion protruding from the donut-shaped region between the inner and outer circles is not printed in the printing process described later.
[0071]
In steps S401 and S402, an illustration to be inserted is selected from an existing file by displaying a pop-up window. However, this may be read from an external device (not shown) such as an image scanner at the time of execution of step S401. Good.
[0072]
Next, a print setting process performed by displaying a print screen will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a process performed when the print screen illustrated in FIG. 7 is displayed.
[0073]
In step S501, the current printer settings are obtained. This is set in step S210 of the paper (media) selection process. In addition, if the print processing has been performed one or more times after the activation of the application, the print setting may be reset in step S505 described later.
[0074]
In step S502, it is determined whether a print setting change operation has been performed. When the print setting change operation is performed, the input of the print setting by the user is received in step S503. The print settings include the print density, the print position fine adjustment, and the number of print copies shown in the screen example of FIG.
[0075]
In step S504, it is determined whether a printer setting operation has been performed. The printer setting operation is performed by clicking a “printer setting” button shown in the screen example of FIG. If it is determined that the printer setting operation has been performed, a printer setting screen shown in FIG. 8 is displayed in step S505, and a printer setting process described later is performed.
[0076]
In step S506, it is determined whether a print start operation has been performed. The print start operation is performed by clicking a “print start” button shown in the screen example of FIG. If it is determined that the print start operation has been performed, the process advances to step S507.
[0077]
In step S507, the application initializes a printer driver via the OS in accordance with the printer settings, issues an image drawing command to the OS based on the created symbol information and the print settings, and specifies The printer driver creates print data to be transmitted to the printer. When the printer receives the print data, the printer inhales the printable disc mounted on the media tray, and prints an image on the printable disc by the image recording unit. The print mode and the like applied at this time are determined by the printer settings used when the printer driver is initialized.
[0078]
In step S508, it is determined whether a cancel operation has been performed. The cancel operation is performed by clicking a cancel button shown in the screen example of FIG. If it is determined that the cancel operation has not been performed, the process returns to step S502, and the processing of the print screen is continued. If the cancel operation has been performed, the print screen is erased, and the processing of the print screen ends.
[0079]
Next, the printer setting process performed by displaying the printer setting screen will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a process executed when the printer setting screen shown in FIG. 8 is displayed.
[0080]
In step S601, the current printer settings are displayed. This is obtained in step S501 in the print screen processing.
[0081]
In step S602, it is determined whether a printer setting change operation has been performed. When the operation for changing the printer setting is performed, the input of the printer setting by the user is accepted in step S603. The printer settings include the cartridge, paper type, and print quality shown in the screen example of FIG.
[0082]
In step S604, it is determined whether the OK button has been clicked. When the OK button is clicked, in step S605, the value of the printer setting item is updated to the current value on the printer setting screen. After that, the printer setting screen is erased, and the process ends.
[0083]
In step S606, it is determined whether the cancel button has been clicked. When the cancel button is clicked, the printer setting screen is deleted without performing the processing in step S605 described above, and the processing ends. As a result, the operation on the printer setting screen is invalidated, and the existing printer setting values are maintained.
[0084]
If it is determined in step S606 that the cancel button has not been clicked, the process returns to step S602 to continue the processing on the print setting screen.
[0085]
Through a series of these processes, the user can perform printing on a printable disc with a preferable ink ejection amount only by specifying the maker name and product model number of the medium on the paper (media) selection screen. By performing an operation on the printer setting screen, the setting of the ink ejection amount can be changed without calling the setting screen of the printer driver. Since the printer setting screen is displayed by the application, many printer driver setting items unrelated to image quality adjustment are not displayed, and the user may be confused about operations or make inappropriate printer driver setting changes. I'm preventing.
[0086]
Also, since the paper (media) information database is a file separate from the application itself, it is possible to easily cope with the release of new media. In addition, when a higher-quality print mode is realized, such as by increasing the amount of ink shot by upgrading the printer driver, or when changing the printer driver to change the ink used in the printer, a new printer model At the time of release, it is possible to easily cope with the update operation of the database without upgrading the application itself.
[0087]
The present invention can be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.) or to an apparatus composed of one device (for example, a copying machine, a facsimile machine). You may.
[0088]
In order to operate various devices so as to realize the functions of the above-described embodiments, software programs for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments are stored in a device or a computer in a system connected to the various devices. The present invention also includes those which are supplied and executed by operating the various devices according to a stored program in a computer (CPU or MPU) of the system or the apparatus.
[0089]
In this case, the program code itself of the software realizes the function of the above-described embodiment, and the program code itself and a unit for supplying the program code to the computer, for example, the program code is stored. The storage medium constitutes the present invention.
[0090]
As a storage medium for storing such a program code, for example, a floppy (R) disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM or the like can be used.
[0091]
When the computer executes the supplied program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also the program code is stored in an operating system (OS) running on the computer or another application. Needless to say, even when the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized in cooperation with software or the like, such program codes are included in the embodiments of the present invention.
[0092]
Further, the supplied program code is stored in a memory provided in a function expansion board of the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, and then, based on an instruction of the program code, a CPU or the like provided in the function expansion board or the function storage unit. It is needless to say that the present invention includes a case where the functions of the above-described embodiments are implemented by performing a part or all of the actual processing.
[0093]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, when the user changes the size of an illustration on the editing screen, the changed size is stored, and when the new illustration is selected and inserted, the changed size is used. Insert or enlarge or reduce the new illustration according to. Therefore, when arranging a plurality of illustrations in a donut-shaped print area characteristic of a printable disc, it is possible to eliminate the trouble of repeatedly performing an operation of changing the illustration size to the same size.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a host computer of the image forming system illustrated in FIG. 1 from a viewpoint of a software configuration.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display example of a startup screen.
FIG. 4A is a diagram showing a display example of a paper (media) selection screen.
FIG. 6B is a diagram illustrating a display example of a paper (media) selection screen when displaying media recommended by a printer maker.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of an editing screen.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example of a database update screen.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a print screen.
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a printer setting screen.
FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a process executed when a startup screen is displayed.
FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a process performed when a paper (media) selection screen is displayed.
FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a format of a paper (media) database used in an application according to the present embodiment.
FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a process executed when an editing screen is displayed.
FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a process executed when an illustration selection screen is displayed.
FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a process performed when a print screen is displayed.
FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a process executed when a printer setting screen is displayed.
FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between settings of a printer driver and print data transmitted to a printer.
[Explanation of symbols]
100 Host computer
110 CPU
120 ROM
130 RAM
131 OS
132 Application
133 Printer Driver
140 Hard Disk Controller (HDC)
141 Hard Disk (HD)
170 input / output (I / O) controller
180 Printer

Claims (7)

An image processing method for printing a plurality of images in a predetermined print area,
A first scaling step of changing a size of the first image while arranging the first image to be printed in the print area;
A designation step of designating a second image to be printed to be newly inserted in the print area;
A second scaling step of automatically scaling the second image to be newly inserted,
The image processing method according to claim 2, wherein the second scaling step performs a scaling process according to the size of the first image after the scaling in the first scaling step. The image is a rectangular image image,
The second scaling step includes changing the aspect ratio of the illustration so that the long side of the second image to be newly inserted matches the length of the long side of the first image after scaling. The image processing method according to claim 1, wherein the image is enlarged or reduced. The image processing according to claim 1, wherein the second image is automatically arranged in an area where the first image is not arranged in the print area. Method. The image processing method according to claim 1, wherein the print area corresponds to a print surface of a printable disc. An image processing apparatus that prints a plurality of images in a predetermined print area,
First scaling means for arranging a first image to be printed in a print area and changing the size of the first image;
Designation means for designating a second image to be newly printed to be inserted into the print area;
Second scaling means for automatically scaling the second image to be newly inserted,
The image processing method according to claim 2, wherein the second scaling unit performs scaling processing according to the size of the first image after scaling by the first scaling unit. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for executing an image processing method for printing a plurality of images in a predetermined print area,
A first scaling step of changing a size of the first image while arranging the first image to be printed in the print area;
A designation step of designating a second image to be printed to be newly inserted in the print area;
A second scaling step of automatically scaling the second image to be newly inserted,
The storage medium according to claim 2, wherein the second scaling step stores a program for causing a computer to perform a scaling process according to the size of the first image after the scaling in the first scaling step. A program for executing an image processing method for causing a computer to read and execute a plurality of images in a predetermined print area,
A first scaling step of changing a size of the first image while arranging the first image to be printed in the print area;
A designation step of designating a second image to be printed to be newly inserted in the print area;
A second scaling step of automatically scaling the second image to be newly inserted,
The second scaling step causes a computer to perform a scaling process according to the size of the first image after the scaling in the first scaling step.

Images