JP2004192323A - Printer driver and information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer driver which outputs print data while switching a plurality of print data creating parts from one to another for use with each page, and which can unify the use of a hatch brush and a style pen for all the print data creating parts. <P>SOLUTION: When a despooler 215 registers drawing attributes with which patterns such as a hatch brush and a style pen are expressed into image-type print data creating parts, the drawing attributes built into the printer 100 are obtained in advance and registered as the drawing attributes of the image-type print data creating parts. Thereby the drawing attributes of the hatch brush and the style pen used for the print data creating parts 205-208 are unified, and even if print data are created using the different print data creating parts for different pages, unified output results for all the pages are obtained. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a printer driver and an information processing apparatus that generate print data for an image forming apparatus such as a printer in accordance with a print instruction such as application software.
[0002]
[Prior art]
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a conventional printing system including a printer as an image forming apparatus and a host computer as an information processing apparatus for controlling the printer.
[0003]
As shown in the figure, the host computer 200 is connected to the printer 100 via a Centronics interface, a parallel interface such as IEEE1284, a serial interface such as USB and IEEE1394, and a network interface 600 such as 10 / 100BASE-T. The host computer 200 is connected to a display monitor 300 such as a CRT and an LCD, and a keyboard 400 and a mouse 500 as input devices.
[0004]
In the host computer 200, application software 201 (hereinafter referred to as an application) such as a word processor or a spreadsheet, which can use the printer 100 on so-called basic software (OS) such as Windows (registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation). Abbreviation) is working. When the user of these applications instructs printing, the application performs printing using the function of the graphic subsystem 202 among several subsystems provided by the basic software.
[0005]
This graphics subsystem is called a GDI (Graphic Device Interface) 203 when the basic software is Windows (R), for example, and is responsible for rendering processing on a display or a printer. The GDI (203) dynamically links a module called a device driver corresponding to an output device specified by an application in order to absorb the dependence of each device such as a display and a printer, and outputs an output to each device. Perform processing.
[0006]
A device driver for a printer is called a printer driver. The printer driver 204 has a function group called DDI (Device Driver Interface) that is determined in advance to be implemented in a device driver according to the capabilities and functions of the corresponding printer, and the GDI (203) Printing processing is performed by using this DDI.
[0007]
That is, in the example of FIG. 9, when there is a print instruction (an API (Application Programming Interface) call to the GDI (203)) from the application, the GDI (203) dynamically links the printer driver 204 corresponding to the printer 100. At the same time, it converts the API call from the application into a format using a DDI function group included in the printer driver 204. Then, a predetermined print process is executed by calling the DDI function group from the GDI (203). As described above, the GDI (203) sequentially processes print requests from applications using the printer driver 204.
[0008]
The printer driver 204 generates and outputs data in a format printable by the printer 100 from the data passed from the GDI (203) via the DDI. At this time, print data is generated using a plurality of print data generation units corresponding to the capabilities and functions of the printer 100, and output to the printer 100 via the spool subsystem 210.
[0009]
The print data format to be output to the printer 100 is roughly classified into two types: a control command called PDL (Page Description Language) and image data (bitmap). The despooler 250 included in the printer driver 204 selects one of a plurality of print data generation units (205 to 208) each of which outputs data in a predetermined format, and executes print processing.
[0010]
In FIG. 9, print data generation units (205 to 208) output a PDL (hereinafter referred to as PDL type) first print data generation unit 205 and output image data (hereinafter referred to as image type) second. To fourth print data generation units (206 to 208). The second image data generator 206 among the second to fourth print data generators (206 to 208) that output image data outputs monochrome (mono 1BPP: 1 bit per pixel) image data to the third print data generator. The image data generator 207 outputs 1-bit YMCK (YMCK 4BPP) color image data of each color, and the fourth image data generator 208 outputs 8-bit RGB (RGB 24 BPP) image data of each color.
[0011]
The first print data generation unit 205 can be used when the printer 100 is equipped with a controller capable of processing PDL. When the first print data generation unit 205 is used, the despooler 250 uses the GDI (203) Is transferred to the first print data generation unit 205, and is sent to the printer 100 via the spool subsystem 210 as soon as it is converted into a PDL command. In this case, the process of the despooler 250 is a light process because it simply passes the data received via the DDI to the first print data generation unit 205 and generates a PDL command.
[0012]
When a PDL type print data generation unit is used, data with a high degree of abstraction can be received from the GDI (203) and transmitted in the form of a PDL command, so that the print data size to be transferred can be reduced in normal page printing. It is.
[0013]
On the other hand, the image-type print data generation units (206 to 208) develop the print image in the memory space secured by the host computer 200 by the printer driver 204 so that the printer 100 does not need to perform advanced drawing processing. Then, it is converted into an image data format that can be directly printed by the printer 100, and then transferred to the printer 100.
[0014]
Specifically, similarly to the PDL type print data generation unit, the despooler 250 included in the printer driver 204 converts the data passed from the GDI (203) via the DDI into the image type print data generation unit (206 to 208). ). Then, the print data generation unit performs a drawing process on the band memory 209 based on the received data, and when the drawing process for one band is completed, sends the bitmap data to the printer 100 via the spool subsystem 210. The printer 100 directly outputs the received bitmap data.
[0015]
When an image-type print data generation unit is used, the host computer 200 needs to perform drawing processing, and when a PDL-type print data generation unit is used, the printer 100 needs to perform drawing processing. To perform the drawing process, it is necessary to secure a memory space. However, a memory space required for performing a drawing process for 600 DPI (dot per inch) and A4 full page with 8 bits for each color of RGB requires 96 MBytes. At present, it is difficult to secure both the host computer 200 and the printer 100.
[0016]
Therefore, in general, in a drawing process of a color printer in which a data amount is particularly large, a drawing process is performed in a unit of a band obtained by dividing one page into a plurality in the horizontal direction, and a memory used for the drawing process is called a band memory.
[0017]
The data format finally transferred to the printer 100 is not the RGB (luminance) format used in the display device, but the YMCK format representing the toner density used by the printer 100. In the YMCK format, one bit is used for each color. Since the data amount is often 2 bits (or 4 bits), the amount of data is smaller than that of the 8-bit RGB format for each color. In the processing after the printer driver 204, data is generally handled in the YMCK format. It is. Some image-type print data generating units transfer 1-bit, 2-bit, or 4-bit data of each color of YMCK to the printer 100, thereby reducing the transfer data size and reducing the load on the printer 100. .
[0018]
For example, when performing a printing process of a polygonal figure, the PDL type print data generating unit transfers vertex coordinates and line width of the polygon, line color information, paint color information in the figure, and the like as commands, This command is analyzed by using the memory space for one band corresponding to 1-bit, 2-bit or 4-bit data for each color of YMCK provided inside the printer, and is developed into bitmap data in an output form. .
[0019]
When the PDL type print data generation unit is used, the data transferred to the printer is a PDL command, and generally has a smaller size than the data generated by the image type print data generation unit. However, there is no limit on the number of PDL commands per page, and theoretically, the transfer data may be larger than that of the image-type print data generation unit. When a PDL-type print data generation unit is used, it is necessary to perform drawing processing on the printer side. However, even for drawing processing for the band memory, it is necessary to receive all PDL commands for one page. Drawing process cannot start. In recent years, the number of print commands output by applications has been steadily increasing, and the number of PDL commands constituting one page has also increased, which causes a reduction in processing speed in printers with a small memory capacity.
[0020]
In such a case, the printer driver 204 operating on the host computer 200, which has more memory capacity than the printer, secures a drawing memory for each band or a full page, and draws using the image-type print data generation unit. Performing the processing and transferring the bitmap data to the printer improves the overall throughput of the printing processing. In the example of FIG. 9, a band memory 209 is used.
[0021]
As described above, the print data generation unit performs the rendering processing on the output device-dependent color space of 1, 2, and 4 bits for each YMCK color to save memory for both the PDL type and the image type. ) Calls the DDI function group at the time of the logical operation drawing process, since the color format used is not the YMCK format but the RGB format, drawing irregularities may occur. For this reason, when logical operation processing is performed in order to avoid illegal drawing, data converted to the YMCK format in the printer driver 204 is returned to an RGB value (inverse UCR (Under Color Remove) processing), and then the logical operation processing is performed. However, this does not guarantee complete drawing processing, but also causes a reduction in processing speed.
[0022]
As described above, the time required for the entire printing process varies depending on many factors such as the content to be printed, the type of the print data generation unit used by the printer driver 204, and hardware resources on the printer side.
[0023]
However, a method of automatically selecting an appropriate processing method in consideration of such factors has not been realized at present. Therefore, the user of the application usually selects a PDL type print data generation unit that is likely to be processed at high speed (actually, “speed priority” is selected by the application or a GUI provided by the printer driver 204). , By selecting a printing mode such as “high-speed printing”, the despooler 250 selects and processes the first print data generation unit 205 of the PDL type). If the output takes too long, Similarly, the mode is switched to the high-speed image mode (the despooler 250 selects the second print data generation unit that outputs 1-bit image data of each color of YMCK) and outputs the image again. If an incorrect output result is output, a print mode such as “image quality priority” or “high definition” is selected in the same manner (the despooler 250 selects the third print data generation unit that outputs image data of 8 bits for each color of RGB). ) And output it again.
[0024]
In other words, under the present circumstances, the selection of the print data generation unit used by the printer driver 204 is left to the user of the application, and the user can determine the optimal print mode for the document or the like to be printed by the user. Therefore, the optimum mode cannot be known unless printing is actually performed in all modes and output materials or output times are compared. When printing a document or the like having a plurality of pages, pages of different types, such as a page suitable for the PDL type and a page suitable for the image type, may be included in the same document. When printing such a document, if all pages are processed in the same print mode (print data generation unit), a problem such as a long output time or a mixture of incorrect output pages may occur.
[0025]
In order to solve such a problem, as shown in FIG. 6, according to the advantages and disadvantages of each print data generation unit that can be used by the printer driver 204, print processing is performed using only the advantages of each print data generation unit. There is a need for a technology for automatically switching the print mode (print data generation unit) that can perform the print job.
[0026]
A printer driver capable of realizing the print mode automatic switching needs at least the following functions.
[0027]
1) Spool driver function
To realize the automatic switching of the print mode, it is necessary to determine the optimal processing mode after knowing the drawing information for one page, and then execute the despooling process. Therefore, a function of spooling one page of DDI function call information in a data format that can be processed by any print data generation unit held by the despooler.
[0028]
2) Print mode determination function
A function to check the DDI function call for one page and determine which print data generation unit held by the despooler should generate print data optimally.
[0029]
3) Despooler function
A function for processing drawing information for one page spooled by the spool driver function using the optimum print data generation unit determined by the print mode determination function.
[0030]
FIG. 5 shows a configuration example of a host computer 200 having a printer driver having such functions. 5, a spool driver 211, a print mode determination unit 212, and a despooler 215 implement the above-described functions 1) to 3), respectively. The PDF storage unit 213 is an area where the spool driver 211 spools one page of drawing information. The PCF storage unit 214 is an area where the print mode determination unit 212 temporarily stores the features of one page of the DDI function call. is there.
[0031]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By using the printer driver 260 having the configuration as shown in FIG. 5, the print processing can be performed by automatically switching a plurality of print data generation units. Is performed, a new problem arises regarding drawing. The new problem will be described with reference to FIG.
[0032]
When drawing with a hatch brush or a style pen, a pattern of a specific style is predetermined by the basic OS, and a DDI function group is called from the basic OS with the ID of the pattern type.
[0033]
A list of hatch brushes and style pens already registered in the case of Windows (R) is shown below.
・ Hatch brush
VERTICAL: vertical hatch
HORIZONTAL: Horizontal hatch
FDIAGONAL: A hatch that rises 45 degrees to the right (diagonal line from upper right to lower left)
BDIAGNAL: A hatch that rises 45 degrees to the left (diagonal line from upper left to lower right)
CROSS: Horizontal and vertical cross hatch
DIAGCROSS: 45 degree cross hatch (diagonal from upper right to lower left and upper left to lower right)
・ Style pen
DOT: dotted line
DASH: broken line
DASHDOT: dashed line
DASHDOTDOT: Two-dot chain line
The PDL type print command generation device 205 generates a command including an ID of a drawing attribute such as a hatch brush pattern and a style pen pattern registered in the printer 100 in advance and performs drawing. By generating a PDL command using the drawing attribute ID already registered in the printer 100, there is no need to transfer actual pattern data representing a hatch brush or a style pen as a command. It is possible to reduce the transfer host command size during the transfer.
[0034]
However, the definition of the pattern predetermined by the basic OS described above is merely an abstract concept, and the actual default information in units of dots such as the width of the vertical hatch pattern and the interval between the solid lines forming the broken lines. Does not exist.
[0035]
The PDL-type print data generation means 205 draws with the drawing attributes of the printer defined inside the printer, and the image-type print data generation means (206 to 208) draws with the drawing attributes of the printer driver specified by the printer driver. You. For this reason, if the definition of the drawing attribute in each print data generating means (205 to 208) is different, the appearance may be remarkable as shown in FIG. In a printer driver that outputs print data by using a print data generation unit by switching every page, the difference in appearance between pages becomes a problem.
[0036]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems of the related art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printer driver that outputs print data by using a print data generating unit by switching every page. To provide a unified printer driver.
[0037]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The gist of the present invention is to provide a data processing device capable of communicating with a printer via a predetermined communication medium and a print processing device constituted by the printer in a page description language in a format capable of storing a drawing command passed from basic software. Spool driver means for conversion, print mode determination means for analyzing page description language and generating print mode determination information, page description storage means for holding the page description language generated by the spool driver means, and print mode determination means Print mode determination storage means for storing print mode determination information generated by the printer driver, and print data printable by the printer from a page description language generated by the spool driver means, which corresponds to the print mode on a one-to-one basis. A print mode is determined using a plurality of print data generation means and print mode determination information. And a despooler for supplying a page description language to the corresponding print data generating means, wherein the despooler means draws a printer-dependent drawing attribute, that is, a patch brush pattern or a style pen pattern, from the printer to a communication medium. The print data generating means is configured to obtain and manage the print data by using the managed drawing attribute when detecting the drawing attribute depending on the printer from the drawing information in the page description language. Exists to control.
[0038]
Further, the gist of the present invention is to provide a data processing device capable of communicating with a printer via a predetermined communication medium and a page description language in a format capable of storing a drawing command passed from basic software in a print processing device configured by the printer. Spool driver means for converting the page description language, print mode determination means for analyzing the page description language and generating print mode determination information, page description storage means for holding the page description language generated by the spool driver means, and print mode determination Means for storing print mode judgment information generated by the means, and print data printable by the printer from a page description language generated by the spool driver means, one-to-one corresponding to the print mode. Print mode using a plurality of print data generating means and print mode determination information. Determined, in a printer driver comprising a despooler means for supplying a page description language to the corresponding print data generation means, when the despooler means detects a printer-dependent drawing attribute from drawing information in the page description language, The present invention resides in controlling the print data generation means to generate print data by registering a common drawing attribute managed via a communication medium to a printer.
[0039]
Another aspect of the present invention resides in an information processing apparatus using the printer driver of the present invention.
[0040]
Another aspect of the present invention resides in a computer program for causing a computer device to implement the printer driver of the present invention.
[0041]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on preferred embodiments with reference to the drawings.
[0042]
FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a printing system to which the printer driver according to the present invention can be applied. As described above, the printer system of FIG. 5 includes the host computer 200 and the printer 100, and both are communicably connected to each other.
[0043]
The printer driver 260 according to the present embodiment is formed over the graphics subsystem 202 and the spool subsystem 210, which are subsystems provided by the basic software and can be developed by each printing device manufacturing vendor. It has an element for automatic switching.
○ In the graphics subsystem 202:
Spool driver 211
Print mode determination unit 212
○ In the spool subsystem 210:
Despooler 215
Print data generation units 205 to 208
Next, respective means necessary for realizing the automatic switching of the print mode, which is the background of the present invention, will be described.
[0044]
1) Spool driver 211
In order to realize the automatic switching of the print mode, it is necessary to determine the optimum processing mode after knowing the drawing information for one page, and then execute the despooling process. For this purpose, the data passed to the DDI function must be spooled in a data format that can be processed no matter which print data generating unit is used at the time of despooling, for one or more pages, and in page units.
[0045]
Therefore, in the present embodiment, a format (referred to as a PDF format) shown in FIG. 7 is used as a data format at the time of spooling. The spool data 900 in PDF format has, as a header, a PageInform (902) that holds a page size, a data size, the number of stored objects, and the like, following a pageID (901) for specifying a page.
[0046]
The field 903 following the header stores information indicating the drawing function called by the DDI function. In FIG. 7, the name of a drawing function CopyBits for performing a simple bitmap copy is stored.
[0047]
Also, datasize (904) is the size of the spool of CopyBits stored in 903, and BoundRect (905) is the transfer destination surface information indicating the surface information of the drawing destination passed to CopyBits, and SoSrc (906) is the CopyBits. Transfer source image information indicating the transferred source surface information is stored.
[0048]
The transfer source image data 907 is a bit string of the transfer source image data. co (908) stores the clip information of the drawing destination passed to CopyBits. If there are a plurality of clip data, the clip data 909 is stored behind the clip data. xlo (910) indicates color conversion information between the transfer source and transfer destination surfaces, rclDest (911) indicates information indicating a rectangular range on the drawing destination surface, and ptlSrc (913) indicates transfer source origin information on the transfer source surface. Are respectively stored.
[0049]
Thereafter, one page of spool data required for each drawing function is stored.
[0050]
At the time of despooling, the despooler 215 returns to the state of the DDI function, and then passes it to the print data generation unit determined by the print mode determination unit. As a result, the print data generation unit may receive the DDI function as in the related art, and keep the specification for generating the print data.
[0051]
2) Print mode determination unit 212
The print mode determination unit 212 checks a drawing command (drawing function) passed from the GDI (203), which is spooled by the spool driver 211 to the PDF storage unit 213, and generates a plurality of print data from data content of one page. The optimum one is determined.
[0052]
Specifically, in this determination, the spool driver 211 monitors the data to be spooled in the PDF storage unit 213, and stores information for determination such as the type and frequency of the drawing function included in the data of one page. It is based on the results.
[0053]
In the present embodiment, the print mode determination unit 212 stores the determination information in a PCF (pre-check file) storage unit 214. At this time, the data is stored as a data structure as shown in FIG.
[0054]
In FIG. 8, the PCF 1000 is a structure starting with a job number (JobID) 1001 and a page number (PageNo) 1002 to which the file belongs, and the corresponding page can be specified by these two values.
[0055]
Then, VbandSize (1004) representing the size of the band obtained by dividing the page in the Y-axis direction, bandCnt (1005) storing the number of band information BandInfo stored in the PCF1000, and determination information in each band are stored. BandInfo [0] (1006) to BandInfo [n] are stored. Each BandInfo has a configuration as shown by a structure 1030. That is, the PCF 1000 virtually defines an area in which the virtual band of the size indicated by VbandSize (1004) is spread in the pageSize (1003) by bandCnt (1005).
[0056]
BandInfo is a structure that starts with BandRectL (1010) that holds the virtual band area as rectangular information. This structure 1030 stores drawing processing information related to the area represented by BandRectL (1010). Used to record.
[0057]
Details of the structure 1030 are as follows.
[0058]
The maximum outline rectangular area DrawRectL1011 of the drawing processing drawn in the virtual band, the chromatic area ColorRectL1012 in the drawing area drawn in the band, the area ROPRectL1013 in which illegal printing occurs in YMCK printing, the drawing processing area ImgRectL1014 by the image system function, A drawing area GraphicRectL1014 and a text-based drawing area TextRectL1016 based on graphics functions.
[0059]
The BandInfo structure 1030 also collects information for each DDI function in the fields 1017 to 1020 in addition to the above.
[0060]
The information of StretchBlt (1019), which is a DDI function capable of specifying enlargement / reduction of a bitmap, will be described as an example. StretchBlt (1019) includes a plurality of fields 10191 to 10196. In other words, 4BPP, 24BPP including 1BPPTotalSize10193 storing the total data size of 1BPCnt10192 storing the number of 1BPP (1 bit per pixel) images, callcnt10191 storing the number of calls of the StretchBlt function relating to the virtual band area, and 1BPPTotalSize10193 storing the total data size of 1BPP image. Similar information can be stored for an image. Like the StretchBlt function, the other DDI functions are constituted by data structures that hold information passed to the respective function I / Fs.
[0061]
3) Despooler 215
Based on the features of each print data generation unit shown in FIG. 6, the print mode determination unit 212 analyzes the PCF stored in the PCF storage unit 214 and determines a print mode considered to be optimal. Then, the contents of the page description storage unit 213 are printed and reproduced using the print data generation units 205 to 207 corresponding to the determined print mode. Specifically, the PDL mode (first print data generation unit 205) is used when the absolute number of instructions is small, and the monochrome image mode (second print data generation unit 206) is used for a monochrome image with many instructions. If the number of instructions is large and the image is a color image, the device color mode (third print data generation unit 207) is used. If the number of instructions is large and drawing error occurs in the YMCK format, the RGB color mode (the fourth print data generation unit 207) is used. For example, the print data generation unit 208) can be selected.
[0062]
Since the data spooled by the spool driver 211 in the PDF storage unit 213 has a reversible PDF format for the DDI function, the despooler 215 uses the same print data generation units 205 to 208 as the conventional print data generation unit shown in FIG. Can be used.
[0063]
Next, a method for unifying drawing attributes in the printer driver 260 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
[0064]
1 differs from the conventional configuration (and operation) shown in FIG. 3 in that the despooler 215 generates the print data before the despooler 215 uses the print data generation means (205 to 208). In this case, the drawing attribute held in the printer is acquired, and the drawing attribute information of the printer is registered in the image type print data generating means (206 to 208).
[0065]
That is, the drawing attribute information held in the printer is used by the image-type print data generating means (206 to 208), so that the drawing attribute information among the print data generating units is unified. Therefore, even if the print data generation unit used for each page is changed, the hatch brush and the style pen output by the print data generation unit have a common appearance.
[0066]
The overall processing in the printer driver of the present invention described above will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
[0067]
Upon receiving the call of the DDI function from the GDI (203), the spool driver 211 converts the content into a PDF format and spools it to the PDF storage unit 213 (step S100). On the other hand, the print mode determination unit 212 monitors data spooled by the spool driver 211 in the PDF storage unit 213, and stores the PCF in the PCF storage unit 214 (step S110). The spooling process of the PDF and the storing process of the PCF are continuously performed at least until the process for one page of the document to be printed is completed (step S120).
[0068]
When the storage of the PDF and PCF for one page is completed, the despooler 215 requests the printer to obtain the drawing attribute, and obtains the drawing attribute information held in the printer (step S130). Next, the despooler 215 registers the drawing attribute acquired in step S130 in the image-type print data generating means (206 to 208) (step S140). Subsequently, the despooler 215 refers to the PCF stored in the PCF storage unit 214 and determines a print mode that is optimal for the printing process of the page (Step S150).
[0069]
Then, the data in the PDF format spooled in the PDF storage unit 213 is returned to the form of the DDI function and delivered to the print data generation unit (step S160). The image-type print data generation unit generates print data that is image data using the received DDI function and the drawing attribute registered in step S140, and the PDL-type print data generation unit sets the drawing attribute. The PDL data is generated using the passed DDI function including the ID to represent (step S170). The generated print data is transferred to the printer 100 via the interface 600 of the spool subsystem 210 without passing through the band memory 209 if the print data is image data and not via the band memory 209 if the PDL command is a PDL command. Is done.
[0070]
In the flowchart of FIG. 2, processing for one page is described in chronological order to facilitate understanding. However, spooling (storage) processing in steps S100 to S120, determination in step S130 and subsequent steps, and printing processing And can be performed independently. That is, the spooling of the PDF data by the spool driver 211 and the storage of the PCF data by the print mode determination unit 212 are performed continuously until the processing for all pages of the document to be printed is completed irrespective of the processing after step S130. On the other hand, in the processing after step S130, the processing after the print mode determination can be repeatedly performed by referring to the PCF corresponding to the next page when the processing for one page is completed.
[0071]
(Other embodiments)
In the above-described embodiment, the despooler 215 acquires and manages a hatch brush pattern and a style pen pattern from the printer 100 by using a communication medium, and applies the hatch brush pattern and the style pen pattern to the image type print data generating means (206 to 208) as drawing attributes. Met.
[0072]
As another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, when the printer 100 supports a drawing attribute registration command for an arbitrary hatch brush pattern and style pen pattern to the printer, the despooler 215 uses the image-type print data generation unit (206). To 208), there is a second embodiment in which the drawing attribute used in the drawing attribute registration command is registered.
[0073]
Although not specifically described, in a printer having a plurality of drawing resolutions, it is usually necessary to manage drawing attributes of a hatch brush and a style pen corresponding to each resolution. Since the drawing attributes of hatch brushes and style pens are composed of ON / OFF information in pixel units, the actual size of the unit pixel changes depending on the resolution at the time of drawing. Management is necessary for each case.
[0074]
In the above-described embodiment, the processing for unifying the drawing attributes is performed when the despooler 215 starts the printing operation. However, the processing may be performed when the printer driver 260 is installed or when the drawing with the actual drawing attributes occurs. In other words, before the PDF with the actual drawing attribute is processed by the print data generation unit, there is no problem in the present invention at the time when the process for unifying the drawing attribute is started.
[0075]
In addition, even if the present invention is applied to a system including a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, and the like), the present invention is applied to an apparatus (for example, a copying machine, a facsimile device, and the like) including one device. May be applied.
[0076]
Another object of the present invention is to provide a storage medium storing a software program code called a printer driver for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or an apparatus, and to provide a computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus. Needless to say, the above can also be achieved by reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium.
[0077]
In this case, the program code event read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.
[0078]
As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy (R) disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD-R, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, or the like is used. Can be.
[0079]
When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS (Operating System) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that a part or all of the actual processing is performed and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.
[0080]
Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided on a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion is performed based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that a CPU or the like provided in the board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.
[0081]
When the present invention is applied to a storage medium, the storage medium stores program codes corresponding to the flowcharts described above.
[0082]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, in a printer driver that outputs print data by using a plurality of print data generating units by switching each page, a print data generating unit is used for drawing using a hatch brush and a style pen. Can realize a unified printer driver.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration outline of a printer driver according to an embodiment of the present invention and a drawing attribute acquisition management operation.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the printer driver of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an outline of a configuration of a printer driver according to another embodiment of the present invention and a drawing attribute acquisition management operation.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration outline of a conventional printer driver and a drawing result using a drawing attribute for each print type.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a printing system to which a printer driver according to the present invention can be applied.
FIG. 6 is a diagram comparing characteristics of each print mode.
FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a data structure of a PDF format used in the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing a data structure of a PCF format used in the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a conventional printing system in a fixed printing mode.
[Explanation of symbols]
100 printer
200 Host computer
201 Application Software
202 Graphic Subsystem
203 GDI
260 Printer Driver
205 1st print data generation unit (PDL type)
206 1st print data generation unit (monochrome 1BPP image type)
207 First print data generation unit (YMCK4BPP image type)
208 First print data generation unit (RGB24BPP image type)
209 band memory
210 Spool subsystem
211 Spool driver
212 print mode determination unit
213 PDF storage unit
214 PCF storage unit
215 Despooler
300 display monitor
400 keyboard
500 mice
600 external interface

Claims (4)

In an information processing device capable of communicating with a printer via a predetermined communication medium and a print processing device configured by the printer,
Spool driver means for converting a drawing command passed from the basic software into a page description language in a format capable of being stored;
A print mode determining unit that analyzes the page description language and generates print mode determination information;
Page description storage means for holding a page description language generated by the spool driver means;
A print mode determination storage unit that holds print mode determination information generated by the print mode determination unit;
A plurality of print data generating means which correspond to the print mode one by one and are capable of generating print data printable by a printer from a page description language generated by the spool driver means;
A printer driver configured to determine a print mode using the print mode determination information and a despooler unit that supplies the page description language to the corresponding print data generation unit;
When the despooler unit detects a drawing attribute depending on the printer from drawing information in the page description language, the print data generating unit generates the print data using common information as the drawing attribute. A printer driver and an information processing apparatus characterized by controlling. 2. The printer driver and information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a common management as the drawing attribute includes a patch brush pattern and a style pen pattern. 3. The printer driver and information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the despooler acquires the drawing attribute from the printer via a communication medium. 3. The printer driver and information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the despooler registers the drawing attribute to the printer via a communication medium.

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