JP2005196679A - Printing method and its device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten a processing time from reception of a file to termination of printing. <P>SOLUTION: This printing device comprises an interpreter 502 for reading setting information relating to printing, interpreting contents of a document, creating intermediate data 1 suitable for editing processing in a case when the setting information includes the setting needing the editing of the document, and creating intermediate data 2 suitable for laster image conversion when the setting information is the setting not needing the editing of the document, and a processing module 504 inputting both of the intermediate data 1 and the intermediate data 2, and expanding the printing data. The intermediate data 1 created by the interpreter may comprise an intermediate data editing module 503 performing the edition on the basis of a printing instruction command. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing method and an apparatus therefor, and more particularly to a printing method and an apparatus for printing at high speed after accepting a document submission and checking the content of the submitted document.

  Conventionally, a document generated by an application such as a personal computer is printed by a printing device connected via a network. As applications diversify, the types of documents increase dramatically, and various data processing is performed in printing apparatuses.

  For example, the printing device accepts submission of a PDF (Portable Document Format) file, a PS (PostScript) file, or an SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) file, and performs a preflight check of the file to determine that there is no problem in printing. In some cases, printing is performed. Preflight check refers to managing the quality of a document by checking a file before output. In the preflight check, the suitability of the font, the imperfect update of the image link, the color mode, etc. are checked. Here, the preflight check process and the print process are separate processes, and after the preflight check is finished and it is determined that there is no problem, the print process is executed.

  In the preflight check process, an interpreter is executed on the PDF file, PS file, or SVG file, and the check is performed after interpreting the contents of the document data. On the other hand, since the interpreter is also executed in the printing process, there is a problem that the process is duplicated, and the processing time from when the file is received until the printing is finished becomes long.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object of the present invention is to generate intermediate data according to the print settings at the time of the preflight check and to shorten the processing time until the printing is finished. An object of the present invention is to provide a printing method and apparatus capable of performing the same.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, the invention described in claim 1 checks the content of a document read by a printing apparatus, and checks the content of the document in a printing method for printing the document. Therefore, when the setting information includes a first reading step for reading setting information related to printing and the setting information that needs to edit the document, first data for generating intermediate data 1 suitable for editing processing is generated. Generation step, a second generation step for generating intermediate data 2 suitable for raster image conversion, and the intermediate data 1 and the intermediate data when the setting information does not require editing of the document. A development step for inputting both of the data 2 and expanding the print data is provided.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the printing method according to the first aspect, a second reading step of reading a flag indicating whether or not the content of the document has been checked, and that the flag has executed the check. A search step for searching and extracting the intermediate data 1 or the intermediate data 2 stored at the time of checking, and in the case of the setting indicating that the flag is not checked, The first and second generation steps are performed.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the expansion step according to the first or second aspect, the intermediate data 1 is converted into intermediate data 2, and the intermediate data 2 converted from the intermediate data 1 and the second data Both of the intermediate data 2 generated in the generation step are input, and the print data is expanded.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing apparatus that checks the contents of a read document and prints the document. In order to check the contents of the document, reading means for reading setting information relating to printing; and the setting information Includes settings that require editing of the document, a first generation unit that generates intermediate data 1 suitable for editing processing, and a setting that does not require the setting information to edit the document. In this case, the apparatus includes second generation means for generating intermediate data 2 suitable for raster image conversion, and expansion means for inputting both the intermediate data 1 and the intermediate data 2 and expanding print data. It is characterized by.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the content of the read document is checked, and in the printing apparatus that prints the document, setting information relating to printing is read, the content of the document is interpreted, and the setting information is stored in the document. If the setting that needs to be edited is included, intermediate data 1 suitable for editing processing is generated. If the setting information is a setting that does not require editing of the document, it is suitable for raster image conversion. An interpreter that generates intermediate data 2 and a processing module that inputs both the intermediate data 1 and the intermediate data 2 and develops print data are provided.

  The invention according to claim 6 is the printing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the intermediate data 1 generated by the interpreter is edited based on a print instruction command, and the edited intermediate data 1 is stored in the processing module. An intermediate data editing module is provided.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, a first reading step of reading setting information relating to printing in order to check the contents of the document and to check the contents of the document in a printing apparatus that prints the document. When the information includes a setting that requires editing of the document, a first generation step for generating intermediate data 1 suitable for editing processing, and a setting that does not require the setting information to edit the document In this case, a second generation step for generating intermediate data 2 suitable for raster image conversion, and a development step for developing both print data by inputting both the intermediate data 1 and the intermediate data 2 are executed. It is a computer-readable recording medium which records the program for this.

  As described above, according to the present invention, since two types of intermediate data are generated according to the print setting at the time of the preflight check, it is possible to shorten the processing time from when the document is received until the printing is finished. It becomes possible.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a document printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The document printing system includes a plurality of personal computers (hereinafter referred to as client personal computers) X and Y, one file server FS, one Web server WS, one print server PS, and at least one print server PS. The printer A has a configuration connected by a network N. A mobile terminal M such as a portable information terminal is directly connected to the printer A through IrDA, RS-232C, Centronics, etc. without being connected to the network N.

  Instead of the client personal computers X and Y, an information processing device such as a word processor, a workstation, or a portable information terminal can be connected. Further, the client personal computers X and Y and the file server FS store font data groups, Web data, image data, and the like related to a plurality of types of fonts.

  In such a configuration, the mobile terminal M or the client personal computers X and Y outputs a print request to the printer A. The print request includes print instruction information such as a URL of a Web page to be printed, a storage location of a document such as PDF data, and the number of copies. The printer A requests the data constituting the web page from the web server WS. The Web server WS collects necessary document data, font data, and the like from the file server FS and transfers them to the print server PS. The print server PS expands the transferred data and sends the expanded data to the printer A. .

  FIG. 2 shows the configuration of a computer applied to the document printing system according to the embodiment of the present invention. 2 shows a schematic configuration of the client personal computers X and Y, the file server FS, the Web server WS, and the print server PS described above. The CPU 101 is a central processing unit, and performs control and arithmetic processing of the entire device. The ROM 102 is a read-only memory, and stores a system activation program, a basic I / O program, character pattern data (font data) for converting a character code into a bit pattern, and the like. A RAM 103 is a random access memory, and temporarily stores data used for calculation by the CPU 101, calculation results, character pattern data strings converted from character codes for display, graphic data, image data, and the like.

  The KBC 104 is a keyboard control unit, receives key input data (such as a character code or a control code) from the KB 105, that is, the keyboard, and transmits it to the CPU 101. The CRTC 106 is a display control unit, reads a character pattern data string stored in the RAM 103, and transfers it to the CRT 107. A CRT 107 is a display device that receives a character pattern data string, graphic data, and image data from the CRTC 106 and displays them on a display screen.

  The DKC 108 is a disk control unit and controls access to the external storage device 109. The external storage device 109 is a storage device such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk device (FD), a hard disk device (HD), or a CD-ROM. The HD stores character pattern data (font data), a character expansion processing program that reads font data and converts it into bitmap data, a graphic expansion processing program that processes graphic data, an image data processing program that processes image data, and the like. ing. The application program and related data for executing the printing method according to the present invention are supplied from a floppy (registered trademark) disk device or an external storage device such as a CD-ROM.

  The NTC 110 is a network control unit and controls the operation of the network device (NT) 111. The system bus 112 performs data transfer between the above-described components.

  FIG. 3 shows a memory map of the RAM 103 when executing the printing method according to the present invention. The basic I / O program 301 is read into the RAM 103 by a system activation program stored in the ROM 102. An application program and related data are installed in the hard disk device from a floppy (registered trademark) disk device or CD-ROM as the external storage device 109. The application program 303 can be loaded from the hard disk device to the RAM 103 and executed when the computer is turned on. Note that the application program 303 may be directly loaded from the floppy (registered trademark) disk device or CD-ROM into the RAM 103 and executed without being installed in the hard disk device.

  In the RAM 103 of the file server FS, a printer information table (to be described later) is further formed in the related data 304 area.

  FIG. 4 shows a configuration of the printer A according to the embodiment of the present invention. The printer A may be any type such as a laser beam printer, a bubble jet (registered trademark) printer, or a thermal transfer printer. The printer A has a CPU 211, ROM 212, RAM 213, printer controller (PRTC) 215, disk controller (DKC) 217, and network controller (NTC) 219, which are connected via a system bus 214. A printer engine (PRT) 216 is connected to the printer controller (PRTC) 215, a hard disk device (HD) 218 is connected to the disk controller (DKC) 217, and a network controller (NTC) 219 is connected to the network device (NT ) 220. Note that the DKC 217 and the HD 218 may not exist depending on the type of printer.

  The CPU 211 is a central processing unit that controls the entire apparatus, and executes various processes necessary for printing according to a program stored in the ROM 212 while using the RAM 213 as a work area or the like. The system bus 214 is a communication path for exchanging data and control signals between the above-described components. The ROM 212 stores character pattern data (font data) and the like. Document data, image data, font data, etc. requested to the Web server WS are downloaded from the Web server WS and stored in the RAM 213 or HD 218. In some cases, the output data expanded into an image from the print server PS is downloaded and stored.

  The CPU 211 generates character pattern data and image data (bitmap data) from the document data, image data, or font data supplied from the Web server WS or the print server PS according to a program in the ROM 212, and Expand to print buffer. The printer controller 215 outputs a print control signal generated based on the bitmap data to the printer engine 216.

  The network controller 219 controls the operation of the network device (NT) 220 when transmitting / receiving data to / from the client personal computers X and Y or the file server FS and the print server PS via the network N.

  FIG. 5 shows the configuration of the RIP module of printer A. A RIP (Raster Image Processing) module converts character pattern data and image data (bitmap data) into a set of printable points, that is, a raster image. The RIP manager 501 receives PDF file and PS file documents and a print instruction command, and manages a document expansion process in accordance with the print instruction command. The interpreter 502 interprets the contents of the document data of the PDF file and the PS file, and generates the intermediate data 1 or the intermediate data 2.

  In the case of a PDF file as an example, when printing of a PDF file is designated, a print instruction command is 2 in 1 (a document for two pages is printed on one page of the print medium. ). The RIP manager 501 executes the interpreter 502 for all pages of the document and generates intermediate data 1. Next, the intermediate data 1 is reduced to ½ using the intermediate data editing module 503 to generate new intermediate data 1. The intermediate data 1 for two pages is pasted on the right and left sides of one page, and 2in1 new one page data is generated. When 2-in-1 data is created for all data, the RIP processing module 504 is activated to convert the intermediate data 1 into the intermediate data 2. Further, the RIP processing module 504 converts the intermediate data as print data into image data or GDI (Graphic Device Interface) format data.

  Here, the difference between the intermediate data 1 and the intermediate data 2 will be described. As shown in FIG. 6A, the intermediate data 1 is vector level data in terms of graphics. For fonts, only the character code and size before expansion are retained. The intermediate data 1 is suitable for editing processing such as enlargement / reduction. As shown in FIG. 6B, the intermediate data 2 is information such as the fill start point and end point of each scan line, and is close to the drawing level. As for the font, it becomes the data of the developed bitmap image. Accordingly, the intermediate data 2 is not flexible and is not suitable for enlargement / reduction or the like. However, since the intermediate data 2 is closer to the drawing level than the intermediate data 1, the RIP process can be executed at high speed.

  As an interface between the RIP manager 501 and the interpreter 502, an input 505 is a document such as PDF, PS, or SVG, an output 506 is intermediate data 1, and an output 507 is intermediate data 2. When it is necessary to perform editing such as enlargement / reduction at the intermediate data level such as Nup and booklet processing, the intermediate data 1 of the output 506 is returned, and when there is no such editing, the RIP processing can be performed at high speed. The intermediate data 2 of the output 507 is returned. The preflight check is also processed by the interpreter 502 and returns the contents such as the font list, the resolution of the image data, or the color profile as an output 508. Since the preflight check and the intermediate data generation process during printing are performed by the same interpreter 502, the intermediate data 1 of the output 506 and the preflight result of the output 508 can be returned simultaneously. Similarly, the intermediate data 2 of the output 507 and the preflight result of the output 508 can be returned simultaneously.

  As an interface between the RIP manager 501 and the intermediate data editing module 503, an input 509 is intermediate data 1, and the intermediate data editing module 503 performs various editing processes in the form of intermediate data 1. The intermediate data 1 after editing such as enlargement / reduction or shaping of data such as trapping is returned as an output 510.

  As an interface between the RIP manager 501 and the RIP processing module 504, an input 511 is intermediate data 1 and an input 512 is intermediate data 2. When the intermediate data 2 is input, the intermediate data 2 is received directly from the interprinter 502 without going through the intermediate data editing module 503. In this case, editing processing such as Nup is not performed. The RIP processing module 504 performs intermediate data expansion processing, outputs image data as an output 513, and outputs GDI format data as an output 514.

  FIG. 7 shows a preflight check according to an embodiment of the present invention. In step S701, the printer A receives a preflight check request. For example, when a button for preflight check is pressed in the user interfaces of the client personal computers X and Y, the request is accepted by the print instruction information included in the print request to the printer A. In step S702, as described above, the document is read by requesting data constituting the web page from the web server WS. The document is a PDF file, a PS file, an SVG file, or the like.

  In step S703, the user confirms setting information for printing the target document. If it is determined in step S704 that the intermediate data 1 needs to be created and edited, such as Nup or trapping, the process proceeds to step S706. If the setting does not require editing, the process proceeds to step S705.

  In step S705, the interpreter 502 interprets the contents of the document data of the input PDF file, PS file, or SVG file. Next, the intermediate data 2 is generated and stored as the output 507, and the result of the preflight check is returned as the output 508.

  Step S706 is a case where editing is performed in post-processing. After the input PDF file, PS file, or SVG file is generated and stored as output 506, intermediate data 1 that can be edited is stored, the output 508 is pre-processed. Returns the result of the flight check. In step S707, the result of the preflight obtained in step S705 or step S706 is notified to the user, and the preflight check process is terminated.

  FIG. 8 shows a printing method according to an embodiment of the present invention. The flow of the printing method after the preflight check will be described. In step S801, a print request is accepted. For example, in the user interfaces of the client personal computers X and Y, when a file name is specified and a print button is pressed, the request is accepted by the print instruction information included in the print request to the printer A. . In step S802, as described above, the document is read by requesting data constituting the web page from the web server WS. The document is a PDF file, a PS file, an SVG file, or the like.

  In step S803, it is checked whether or not the preflight check according to the flowchart shown in FIG. In this determination method, for example, when the print manager that manages the preflight check and the print process performs the preflight check process, the preflight check completed flag is set in the document, and this flag is checked. If the flag is set, it is determined that the preflight check has been performed, and the process proceeds to step S804. If the flag has not been set, it is determined that the preflight check has not been performed, and step S804 is performed. The process proceeds to S813.

  In steps S804 to S812, the designated document has already been subjected to the preflight check, and the data saved at the time of the preflight check is effectively used to realize the printing process at high speed. In step S804, setting information when the user intends to print the target document is confirmed. The contents to be checked are whether or not settings such as Nup, trapping, etc. that require creation and editing of the intermediate data 1 are included. If a setting that needs to be edited is included, the process proceeds to step S807. If a setting that does not require editing is performed, the process proceeds to step S805.

  In step S805, since the data created at the time of the preflight check is the intermediate data 2, the target intermediate data 2 is searched. Here, the intermediate data 2 is managed with an extension indicating file name + page number + intermediate data 2. Next, a search is performed to determine whether or not intermediate data 2 of the page to be printed exists (S806). In step S802, the update date and time of the read document is checked. If the update date of the target intermediate data 2 is older than the update date of the document, the document is updated after the intermediate data 2 is created even if the target intermediate data 2 exists. There is a possibility. Therefore, when the update date / time of the target intermediate data 2 is older, it is not determined that the data of the intermediate data 2 exists.

  In step S806, if the target intermediate data 2 exists and the update date / time is newer than the base document data, the process proceeds to step S811, and if not, the process proceeds to step S814.

  In step S807, since the data created at the time of the preflight check is the intermediate data 1, the target intermediate data 1 is searched. Here, the intermediate data 1 is managed with an extension indicating file name + page number + intermediate data 1. Next, a search is performed to determine whether there is intermediate data 1 data for the page to be printed (S808). In step S802, the update date and time of the read document is also checked. If the update date of the target intermediate data 1 is older than the update date of the document, the document is updated after the intermediate data 1 is created even if the target intermediate data 1 exists. There is a possibility. Therefore, when the update date / time of the target intermediate data 1 is older, it is not determined that the data of the intermediate data 1 exists.

  In step S808, if the target intermediate data 1 exists and the update date / time is newer than the base document data, the process proceeds to step S809, and if not, the process proceeds to step S815. In step S809, Nup, trapping, or the like is designated in the print settings, and the intermediate data 1 is edited in accordance with the designation. For example, in the case of trapping processing, data necessary for trapping is extracted from the intermediate data 1, and trapping data is created after performing trapping processing through a trapping function. This trapping data is also converted into the intermediate data 1 format. These processes are performed by the intermediate data editing module 503.

  In step S810, the RIP processing module 504 receives the format of the intermediate data 1 as the input 511 and converts it into the format of the intermediate data 2. In step S811, actual expansion processing is performed using the intermediate data 2 searched in step S805 or the intermediate data 2 converted from the intermediate data 1 in step S810. This process outputs image data for one page or data in GDI format. In step S812, if there are more pages to be expanded, the process returns to step S804, and if there is no data to be expanded, the process is terminated.

  In steps S813 to S819, the designated document is not subjected to the preflight check, and the data stored at the time of the preflight check cannot be used. In step S813, setting information when the user intends to print the target document is confirmed. The contents to be checked are whether or not settings such as Nup, trapping, etc. that require creation and editing of the intermediate data 1 are included. If settings that need to be edited are included, the process proceeds to step S815. If settings that do not require editing are performed, the process proceeds to step S814.

  In step S814, since intermediate data 2 of the page to be printed has not been created, the interpreter 502 executes processing to generate intermediate data 2. In step S815, since intermediate data 1 of the page to be printed has not been created, the interpreter 502 executes processing to generate intermediate data 1. In step S816, Nup, trapping, or the like is designated in the print settings, and the intermediate data 1 is edited in accordance with the designation. For example, in the case of trapping processing, data necessary for trapping is extracted from the intermediate data 1, and trapping data is created after performing trapping processing through a trapping function. This trapping data is also converted into the intermediate data 1 format. These processes are performed by the intermediate data editing module 503.

  In step S817, the RIP processing module 504 receives the format of the intermediate data 1 as the input 511 and converts it into the format of the intermediate data 2. In step S818, an actual expansion process is performed using the intermediate data 2 generated in step S814 or the intermediate data 2 converted from the intermediate data 1 in step S817. This process outputs image data for one page or data in GDI format. In step S819, if there are more pages to be expanded, the process returns to step S813. If there is no data to be expanded, the process ends.

1 is a configuration diagram illustrating a document printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the computer applied to a document printing system. It is a figure which shows the memory map of RAM. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the RIP module of a printer. It is a figure which shows an example of the intermediate data 1 and the intermediate data 2. FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the preflight check concerning one Embodiment of this invention. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a printing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

211 CPU
212 ROM
213 RAM
214 System bus 215 Printer controller (PRTC)
216 Printer Engine (PRT)
217 Disk Controller (DKC)
218 Hard disk device (HD)
219 Network Controller (NTC)
220 Network equipment (NT)
501 RIP manager 502 interpreter 503 intermediate data editing module 504 RIP processing module

Claims (7)

In a printing method for checking the contents of a document read by a printing device and printing the document,
A first reading step of reading setting information relating to printing in order to check the contents of the document;
A first generation step of generating intermediate data 1 suitable for editing processing when the setting information includes settings that require editing of the document;
If the setting information is a setting that does not require editing of the document, a second generation step of generating intermediate data 2 suitable for raster image conversion;
An expansion step of inputting both the intermediate data 1 and the intermediate data 2 and expanding the print data. A second reading step for reading a flag indicating whether or not the content of the document has been checked;
A search step for searching and extracting the intermediate data 1 or the intermediate data 2 stored at the time of the check when the flag is set to indicate that the check has been executed;
2. The printing method according to claim 1, wherein when the flag is set to indicate that the check is not executed, the first and second generation steps are executed.   The expansion step converts the intermediate data 1 into intermediate data 2, inputs both the intermediate data 2 converted from the intermediate data 1 and the intermediate data 2 generated in the second generation step, and prints The printing method according to claim 1, wherein the data is expanded. In the printing device that checks the contents of the read document and prints the document,
Reading means for reading setting information relating to printing in order to check the contents of the document;
When the setting information includes a setting that requires editing of the document, first generation means for generating intermediate data 1 suitable for editing processing;
If the setting information is a setting that does not require editing of the document, second generation means for generating intermediate data 2 suitable for raster image conversion;
A printing apparatus comprising: an expansion unit that inputs both the intermediate data 1 and the intermediate data 2 and expands print data. In the printing device that checks the contents of the read document and prints the document,
Read setting information related to printing, interpret the contents of the document, and if the setting information includes settings that require editing of the document, generate intermediate data 1 suitable for editing processing, and If the information is set so as not to edit the document, an interpreter that generates intermediate data 2 suitable for raster image conversion;
A printing apparatus comprising: a processing module that inputs both the intermediate data 1 and the intermediate data 2 and expands print data.   6. The intermediate data editing module according to claim 5, further comprising: an intermediate data editing module that edits the intermediate data 1 generated by the interpreter based on a print instruction command and passes the edited intermediate data 1 to the processing module. Printing device. Check the contents of the document and print it to the printing device.
A first reading step of reading setting information relating to printing in order to check the contents of the document;
A first generation step of generating intermediate data 1 suitable for editing processing when the setting information includes settings that require editing of the document;
If the setting information is a setting that does not require editing of the document, a second generation step of generating intermediate data 2 suitable for raster image conversion;
A computer-readable recording medium on which a program for inputting both the intermediate data 1 and the intermediate data 2 and executing a developing step for developing print data is recorded.

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