JP2004341686A - Image forming system and method for forming character string - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming system and a method for forming a character string which can eliminate wasteful blanks without causing information to be omitted when adding print job information as a character string, and forming and outputting images. <P>SOLUTION: The system includes: a setting means for setting priority in forming a character string for a plurality of items of information about a print job; a character string information creating means; a comparison means for comparing the length of a character string with the length of an image; a deleting means which, if the comparison result indicates that the character string is longer than the image, deletes items of information about the print job, starting with items lower in the set priority, from the character string information created in such a way that the character string is as long as or shorter than the image; and an image formation control means which makes control to form a character string. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an image forming system and a character string forming method each including an image forming apparatus that forms an image, and a control device that controls the image forming apparatus so as to form image data and character strings.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a printing system that connects a printer to a printer server connected to a network and receives and prints jobs from a plurality of work terminals connected to the network via the printer server has been used.
[0003]
In such a print system, since a plurality of jobs are output by the same printer, it is not easy for each worker to identify the output of each job.
[0004]
In view of this, there is a technology that facilitates identification of an output product by adding information about each job, for example, a terminal name, a job input date and time, a document name, and the like as a character string when a print is output (for example, Patent Document 1) reference.).
[0005]
On the other hand, in the printing process, a color proof creating device that creates a color proof for proof for checking a pattern, a color tone, a text character, etc. so as to reproduce an image to be printed is used. Is also configured to output jobs from a plurality of work terminals via a network as described above. Also in such a color proof creating apparatus, there is a color proof creating apparatus in which information about a job is added together with an image as a character string and output in the same manner as the above-described printer to identify an output product.
[0006]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-2002-358178 (paragraphs [0014] to [0070], FIGS. 1 to 6)
[0007]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the color proof creating apparatus, it is required to output the image in addition to the information for identifying the output, so that the output condition of the image can be further confirmed so that the output condition can be confirmed.
[0008]
For example, the output condition includes the type of ink used for printing. Ink used for printing includes, in addition to process inks (C (cyan), M (magenta), Y (yellow), and K (black)), inks called spot colors, and a color proof that reproduces the spot colors. Is created, the display of the process ink and the name of the special color are added and output.
[0009]
However, there are some special color names that are long, and the special color is not limited to a single color and may be used in multiple colors.If such a special color name is added, the character string length is longer than the image size. It can be.
[0010]
In such a case, if the character string in a portion longer than the size of the image is deleted, necessary information will not be output. Also, if it is added long, the margin is large and the recording paper is wasted. In particular, when a color proof is prepared by exposing a silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material with an LED or a laser beam or the like, the light-sensitive material is expensive, so that a large margin is not preferable.
[0011]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and has as its object the purpose of forming an image by adding job information as a character string and outputting the image. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming system and a character string forming method capable of eliminating a useless blank portion without causing a loss of information in a case where the error occurs.
[0012]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 controls an image forming apparatus for forming an image and the output apparatus to receive a print job including at least image data and output an image based on the image data. And an image forming system that forms an image based on the image data and a plurality of items of information regarding the print job in a character string, wherein the image forming system includes: A setting unit configured to receive an input for giving a priority order to be formed as a character string and to set a priority order for each of the items based on the input; and create character string information indicating information of a plurality of items relating to the print job. Character string information creating means, a character string length of a character string based on the created character string information, and Comparing means for comparing the image length of the image in the direction in which the character string is formed, and comparing the character string length with the image length when the character string length is longer than the image length. A deletion unit that deletes information of the items related to the print job from the created character string information in the order of the set low-priority items so as to be equal to or shorter than the length, and Image forming control means for controlling the character string to be formed based on the character string.
[0013]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus that forms an image, and a control device that receives a print job containing at least image data and controls the output device to output an image based on the image data. An image forming system for forming, as a character string, information on a plurality of items related to the print job together with an image based on the image data, wherein priority is given to forming each of the items of information on the plurality of items related to the print job as the character string Setting means for receiving an input for giving an order and setting a priority order for each of the items based on the input; and character string information creating means for creating character string information indicating information on a plurality of items relating to the print job Data conversion means for converting the image data and the created character string information into bitmap data; and Comparing means for comparing the data length of the character string information converted into the bitmap data in the direction in which the character string is formed with the data length of the image data converted into the bitmap data in the direction in which the character string is formed. When the comparison result by the comparing means is such that the data length of the character string information is longer than the data length of the image data, the data length of the character string information is the same as or shorter than the data length of the image data. A deletion unit that deletes information of the items related to the print job from the created character string information in the order of the set items having the lowest priority and inputs the character string information to the data conversion unit; Image forming control means for controlling to form the character string based on the deleted character string information converted into bitmap data. It is characterized in that.
[0014]
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus that forms an image, a control device that receives a print job including at least image data, and controls the image forming apparatus to form an image based on the image data. A character string forming method in an image forming system comprising: a step of receiving an input for giving a priority to form each of a plurality of items of information relating to the print job as the character string; and Setting a priority order for each of the items, generating character string information including information on a plurality of items relating to the print job, a character string length based on the generated character string information, Comparing the image length of the image based on the image data in the direction in which the character string is formed; and When the comparison result indicates that the character string length is longer than the image length, the information of the item relating to the print job is extracted from the created character string information so that the character string length is the same as or shorter than the image length. The method is characterized by including a step of deleting the set items in the order of the lower priority, and a step of performing control to form a character string based on the deleted character string information.
[0015]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
First, a feature of the present invention is that, when forming image data included in a print job as an image based on the print job, a character string of information on a plurality of items relating to the print job is added and formed, and the character string is formed. Compare the character string with the image size so that it fits in the image size.If the character string length is long, delete the character string indicating the information of the lower priority item set for each item. The point is to edit.
[0016]
A print job is composed of image data and a job ticket. The job ticket specifies attribute information such as the job name and terminal name, and specifies the color of the recording paper material, recording paper size, and output color to be printed. And other output conditions. The print job is executed such that the image data forms an image based on the output condition of the job ticket.
[0017]
Here, the above-described color channel will be described. When an image based on image data is printed by a printing machine, printing is performed using ink. The color channel is used to reproduce colors when printing with the ink in the image forming apparatus 2 described below. Yes, they are prepared according to the combination of inks used for printing. Each of the color channels has a basic color (C, M, Y) of the image forming apparatus 2 in which a single color of the used ink or a color obtained by overlapping a plurality of the colors is used in accordance with a combination of inks used for the color channel. A characteristic value of a basic color of the image forming apparatus 2, for example, a combination of densities is determined for each of a single color of ink or a color in which a plurality of inks are overlapped so as to be reproduced. In addition, the designation of the color channel can be selected and designated by referring to the index file 111 in which the combinations of the inks are collected for each color channel. For example, in the index file 111, as shown in FIG. 4, combinations of inks used for color channels 1 to 16 are shown. For example, when CMYK ink is used for printing, the color channel 1 is specified. For example, when CMYK ink, LightGreen is used as the special color 1, and DarkBlue is used as the special color 2, color channel 5 is specified.
[0018]
Further, the information on the print job includes, for example, a job name and a terminal name as attribute information of the print job, a material of the recording paper as output conditions, a recording paper size, a designated color channel and its color channel. A page as attribute information relating to image data such as set ink and the like, and the date and time when the print job is transmitted to the control device 1 described later, the date and time when the control device 1 receives the print job, or the output at the image forming device 2 It contains information on various items related to the print job such as date and time. Also, priorities are set for each item, for example, as in a priority table 112 shown in FIG. 6 (the setting method will be described later).
[0019]
Hereinafter, an embodiment of an image forming system according to the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.
[0020]
(Constitution)
First, a control configuration of the image forming system according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of the present image forming system. As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming system creates a work terminal 3 (in FIG. 1, 3a, 3b, 3c) that transmits a print job for creating image data and outputting the image data by the image forming apparatus 2. 3) and a print job transmitted from the work terminal 3 via the network N to form an image based on print job output conditions, and form a character string indicating information about the print job. The image forming apparatus 2 includes a control device 1 that controls the image forming device 2 so as to perform the image forming operation, and an image forming device 2 that forms an image on a recording sheet based on the control of the control device 1.
[0021]
The control device 1 is a so-called computer, which functions as a controller for controlling image formation control of the image forming device 2 and, as shown in FIG. 1, a HDD (Hard Disk Drive) that stores programs, print jobs, and the like. Storage unit 11, a plurality of items of job information, and a setting unit 17 for setting the priority of each item. The image forming apparatus 2 is configured to form a character string indicating an image and information about the print job based on the print job. A control unit 10 having a control function is provided. Although not shown, it includes a display such as a CRT, display means such as a mouse and a keyboard, and input means.
[0022]
The storage unit 11 stores a print job transmitted from the work terminal 3, the above-described color channel for controlling the color of an image output from the image forming apparatus 2, and an index file 111 in which a combination of inks for each color channel is collected. A priority table 112 in which priority of each item of a plurality of items of information relating to a print job is set, a program for controlling the entire control device 1, and a program for controlling image formation in the image forming device 2. The program or the like is stored in a specific directory. Further, the print job is not limited to the one transmitted from the work terminal 3, and may be, for example, one in which application software is stored in the storage unit 11 of the control device 1, and the application software is executed and created by the control device 1. It may be.
[0023]
For example, the setting unit 17 displays the priority setting screen shown in FIG. 5 on the display of the control device 1, receives the input of the priority performed using the mouse, the keyboard, and the like, and creates the above-described priority table 112. Then, the order of priority of a plurality of items of information about the job is set. In FIG. 5, as an example, a plurality of items for setting the priority order are a job name, a date and time when the job is received, a process ink name to be reproduced, and a spot color name to be reproduced. This is the same as the information item regarding the print job created by the creating unit 12.
[0024]
The control unit 10 includes a CPU or the like and has a function of controlling the entire control device 1 based on a program stored in the storage unit 11. In addition, information on a print job is extracted for items described in advance in a program or for items set and input by an input unit (not shown), and the extracted information is converted into predetermined character attributes (font (font), character size, double-byte / Character string information creating means 12 for creating character string information having half-width and character pitch); bitmap creating means 13 for converting the created character string information and image data included in the print job into bitmap data (data converting means) Comparing means 14 for comparing the length of the bitmap data of the character string information in the direction in which the character string information is formed as a character string with the length of the bitmap data of the image data; If the length is long, delete information about the print job from the character string information in the order of items with lower priority. The image forming control unit 15 controls the image forming apparatus 2 to transfer the image data and the character string information converted into the bitmap data to the image forming apparatus 2 to form the image and the character string. Have. In addition, the image forming control unit 15 performs, for example, the recording sheet material and the recording sheet size specified in the job ticket so that the image forming performed by the image forming apparatus 2 is performed based on the output condition of the job ticket. The image forming apparatus 2 is controlled so as to output using the selected color channel.
[0025]
Although not shown, the image forming apparatus 2 includes a paper feeding unit that feeds recording paper, an image forming unit that forms an image on recording paper fed from the paper feeding unit, and a user who performs various operations and inputs. It is configured to include an operation panel as an interface, a control unit for controlling the entire image forming apparatus 2, and the like, and receives image data converted into bitmap data, character string information, and output conditions transmitted from the control apparatus 1. Then, an image and a character string are formed based on the output condition.
[0026]
The work terminal 3 is a so-called PC (Personal Computer), which includes application software, executes the application software to create image data, and displays a screen for forming an image of the image data in the image forming apparatus 2. It has a function of designating the material of the recording paper, the recording paper size, the color channel, and the like, and transmitting it as a print job to the control device 1 via the network N. The color channel can be designated by acquiring the information described in the above-mentioned index file 111 and displaying it in a selectable manner on a screen for performing image formation.
[0027]
The network N connects computer systems, terminals, and data communication equipment to each other, and may be a wired connection such as a dedicated line or a public line, or may be a wireless connection via a communication satellite or the like. Also, this includes the so-called Internet.
[0028]
(Character string formation method)
Next, a character string forming method in the image forming system configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a character string forming method in the image forming system.
[0029]
First, a plurality of items of information on a job and the priority of each item are set. In this setting, the control device 1 displays the priority setting screen shown in FIG. 5 on the display as described above, inputs the priority using a mouse, a keyboard, or the like, and receives this input by the setting means 17. To create the priority order table 112. Here, in this example, the items of information relating to the print job are the job name, the date and time when the job was accepted, the name of the process ink to be reproduced, and the name of the spot color, and as shown in FIGS. Set in the order of spot color name and process ink name. Of course, the information on the print job is not limited to this.
[0030]
Next, for example, a screen for performing image formation is displayed on the work terminal 3, a desired recording paper material, a recording paper size, a color channel, etc. are designated using the screen, and the created image data and job The ticket is transmitted to the control device 1 as a print job. The control device 1 accepts this job (Step S101 in FIG. 2, hereinafter abbreviated as “S101”), adds the accepted date and time as an attribute to the job, and stores it in a specific directory of the storage unit 11. I do. Further, the received date and time may be written in the job ticket.
[0031]
Further, the character string information creating unit 12 creates character string information indicating information on the print job (S102). The items of information relating to the print job are the job name, the date and time when the job was received, the name of the process ink to be reproduced, and the name of the spot color. For example, the character attributes are font "Gothic", character size "12 points", "full-width". It is assumed that character string information is created by narrowing the character pitch between characters. The job name “JobName”, the “date and time” added at the time of storage, and the ink name of the designated color channel are extracted with reference to the index file 111. If the color channel is designated as “5” shown in FIG. 4, the ink name is “process color: CMYK, spot color 1: Light Green, spot color 2: DarkBlue”, and the character string information is “JobName”. / 2003-02-28, 10: 00 / CMYKLightGreenDarkBlue ".
[0032]
Next, the bitmap generator 13 converts the character string information and the image data into bitmap data (S103). Here, FIG. 3A shows a state in which a character string and an image are formed on recording paper based on character string information converted into bitmap data and image data. The character string is hm [dot] × Based on the character string information converted into bitmap data of wm [dot], the image is formed based on the image data converted into bitmap data of Hg [dot] × Wg [dot], for example, as shown in FIG. It is formed on the recording paper so that the upper left is aligned.
[0033]
Here, the comparing means 14 compares the length wm [dot] of the bitmap data of the character string information in the direction in which the character string is formed with the length Wg [dot] of the bitmap data of the image data (S104). .
[0034]
If wm is longer than Wg (S105, Y), that is, if the character string is formed so as to protrude from the image as shown in FIG. 3A, the deletion unit 16 determines at least wm-Wg [ The information on the item is deleted from the character string information in the order of the item having the lower priority by referring to the priority table 112 so that the character string information is shortened by only [dot], and the deleted character string information is converted into a bitmap. The data is converted into bitmap data by the means 13 (S106).
[0035]
The deletion unit 16 extracts “CMYK” of information of the item “process ink name” having the lowest priority from the character string information, estimates how many dots “CMYK” corresponds to from the character attribute, and calculates wm−Wg [ Dot], "CMYK" is deleted and the processing is terminated. If it is smaller than wm-Wg [dot], extraction / estimation / deletion is performed for the item "special color name" having the next lowest priority, that is, "LightGreenDarkBlue". In this manner, the information of the item having the lower priority is deleted so that wm [dot] is equal to or shorter than Wg [dot]. In the example shown in FIG. 3A, by deleting “CMYK”, wm [dot] becomes shorter than Wg [dot], and the character string is formed so as to fit in the image as shown in FIG. 3B. Will be.
[0036]
When wm is shorter than Wg (S105, N), that is, when the character string is formed to fit in the image as shown in FIG. 3C, the above-described deletion is not performed. .
[0037]
Then, the bitmap data of the image data and the character string information is transferred to the image forming apparatus 2, and the image forming apparatus 2 is controlled to form an image and a character string based on the transferred bitmap data (S107).
[0038]
By comparing the length of the bitmap data of the character string information in the direction in which the character string information is formed as a character string with the length of the bitmap data of the image data (image size), By deleting the information, the character string of the information about the print job can be formed so as to fit in the size of the image. Can be eliminated.
[0039]
FIG. 3 shows an example in which the character string is arranged inside the upper end of the image. However, the character string may be arranged inside the lower end of the image or outside the upper end and lower end of the image.
[0040]
In the above description of the character string forming method, the image data and the character string are converted into bitmap data by the bitmap generating means 13 at the time of the comparison by the comparing means 14, but the comparison is performed based on the character string information and its character attribute. The character string length when formed on paper is obtained by calculating the image length in the character string direction when formed on recording paper from image data using dots or inch, and comparing the two. Good. In this case, the conversion of the character string information and the image data into bitmap data may be performed after the deletion by the deletion unit 16 or after the comparison by the comparison unit 14 when the deletion is not performed. Further, the image forming apparatus 2 may convert the data into bitmap data.
[0041]
In the above description, the priority order of a plurality of items of information relating to a job is displayed on the display of the control device 1 by displaying the priority order setting screen shown in FIG. However, when a screen for performing image formation is displayed on the work terminal 3 and a desired recording paper material, recording paper size, color channel, and the like are designated using the screen, the priority order can be input. , And inputting the print job, transmitting the print job as a print job to the control device 1 via the network N, and receiving the print job, setting the priority according to the job received by the setting unit 17. .
[0042]
Further, a configuration in which the functions of the control device 1 described above are provided in the image forming apparatus 2 and a part of the functions of the control unit 10 described above, for example, the setting unit 17, the bitmapping unit 13, the comparison unit 14, the deletion unit 16 The function of the image forming control unit 15 is provided in the image forming apparatus 2, and the control unit 1 transfers the function as a character string information creating unit that creates character string information and the character string information and image data to the image forming apparatus 2. A configuration that has a function of performing
[0043]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, when the character string based on the created character string information is longer than the image length in the direction in which the character string is formed, each of the plurality of An image forming system and an image forming control capable of eliminating useless margins without deleting necessary information having a high priority by deleting information on items having a low priority according to the priority of the items. A method can be provided.
[0044]
Further, in the case of an image forming apparatus in which an image is formed by using an expensive material such as a silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material for the recording paper, it is possible to suppress wasteful cost caused by wasting the recording paper.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of an image forming system according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a character string forming method according to the present embodiment.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a state in which an image based on image data and a character string based on character string information are formed on recording paper.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of an index file stored in a storage unit shown in FIG.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen related to input of a priority displayed on the control device of the image forming system illustrated in FIG.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of a priority order table stored in a storage unit shown in FIG.
[Explanation of symbols]
REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 control device 10 control unit 12 character string information creation unit 13 bitmapping unit 14 comparison unit 15 image formation control unit 16 deletion unit 17 setting unit 11 storage unit 111 index file 112 priority table 2 image formation device 3 work terminal N network

Claims (3)

An image forming apparatus for forming an image,
A control device that receives the print job including at least the image data and controls the output device so as to output an image based on the image data. An image forming system that forms in rows,
Setting means for receiving an input for giving a priority to form each of the items of information on the print job as the character string, and setting a priority for each of the items based on the input;
Character string information creating means for creating character string information indicating information of a plurality of items related to the print job;
Comparison means for comparing the character string length of the character string based on the created character string information with the image length in the direction in which the character string of the image based on the image data is formed,
When the result of comparison by the comparing means is such that the character string length is longer than the image length, an item related to the print job from the created character string information so that the character string length is the same as or shorter than the image length. Deleting means for deleting the information of the items in the order of the set lower priority,
An image forming system comprising: an image forming control unit that controls the character string to be formed based on the deleted character string information. An image forming apparatus for forming an image,
A control device that receives the print job including at least the image data and controls the output device so as to output an image based on the image data. An image forming system that forms in rows,
Setting means for receiving an input for giving a priority to form each of the items of information on the print job as the character string, and setting a priority for each of the items based on the input;
Character string information creating means for creating character string information indicating information of a plurality of items related to the print job;
Data conversion means for converting the image data and the created character string information into bitmap data,
The data length of the character string information converted into the bitmap data in the direction in which the character string is formed is compared with the data length of the image data converted into the bitmap data in the direction in which the character string is formed. Means of comparison;
When the comparison result by the comparing means is such that the data length of the character string information is longer than the data length of the image data, the data length of the character string information is equal to or shorter than the data length of the image data. Deleting means for inputting the character string information to the data converting means by deleting the information of the items related to the print job from the created character string information in the order of the set lower priority items;
An image forming system comprising: an image forming control unit that controls the character string to be formed based on the deleted character string information converted into bitmap data by the data conversion unit. An image forming apparatus for forming an image,
A character string forming method in an image forming system, comprising: a control device that receives a print job including at least image data and controls the image forming device to form an image based on the image data.
Accepting an input for giving a priority to form each of the items of information related to the print job as the character string;
Setting a priority for each of the items based on the input;
Creating character string information including information on a plurality of items related to the print job;
Comparing the character string length of the character string based on the created character string information with the image length in the direction in which the character string of the image based on the image data is formed;
When the comparison result obtained by the comparison is that the character string length is longer than the image length, an item related to the print job is determined from the created character string information so that the character string length is the same as or shorter than the image length. Deleting information in the order of the set lower priority items,
Controlling the character string to be formed based on the deleted character string information.

Images