JP2006259996A - Form overlay control method, control device, printer driver, and output device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To select a form overlay process according to resource information about a host device or an output device, thereby distributing processing loads, and reducing the processing time of an entire system. <P>SOLUTION: When a command for form overlay is provided in order to output print data subjected to a form overlay process for all objects (S1), resource information about the host device and/or the output device 2 is acquired (S2) and is compared and checked (S3). The comparison of the resource information involves comparing the resource information about the host device with the resource information about the output device, and selecting the device with the greater processing capability. If the resource information about the output device 2 is greater (Yes:S3), an instruction is given to perform the form overlay process at the output device 2 and the form overlay process is performed (S4). If the resource information about the host device is greater (No:S3), an instruction is given to perform the form overlay process at the host device and the form overlay process is performed (S5). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a form overlay control method, a control device, a printer driver, and an output device for distributing a load of a form overlay process for superimposing created data and form data.

  Conventionally, a form overlay printing process is often used for printing creation data created in an application such as a form creation. Form overlay printing is a function for printing created data superimposed on previously registered form data. For example, form printing is performed by calling up form data at the time of printing and printing it with the form data. As shown in FIG. 6, print data is created by superimposing creation data and specific form data.

  Therefore, if the form data to be subjected to form overlay processing is created in advance and registered in the storage means for printing output for printing, for example, it is troublesome to create the form data when overlaying each page. Can be omitted. In particular, as described above, this is frequently used in a form creation application.

  Regarding this form overlay processing, in Patent Document 1, it is necessary to incorporate a function for substituting overlay printing of a data processing apparatus into a printer driver, and a dedicated printer driver must be prepared for each printer model to be used. In order to solve the problem that has not been achieved, it is described that form overlay printing can be easily performed without depending on the model attribute of the printer.

Further, in Patent Document 2, information such as a distribution destination, a use time, and a use purpose of a document to be printed in advance is input, so that print information is output in order to output a desired document to a specified time and a specified place. It describes a function of storing and managing connection of printing means based on function information provided in each means and apparatus.
JP 2004-178383 A JP-A-10-233863

  In processing such as form creation, form overlay processing for superimposing form data for all objects is often performed in a host device that creates data such as printing and controls output. However, even a host device capable of high-speed processing cannot perform processing while occupying all resources owned by itself. For this reason, in particular, when form overlay processing is performed on complex object form data, more processing time is required as the amount of data processing increases.

  In contrast, an output device such as a printer that outputs print data that has undergone form overlay processing can perform processing exclusively by owning resources due to its specialized functions. Can be processed quickly.

  Therefore, the present invention not only allows the host device to perform all form overlay processing, but also causes the output device to perform form overlay processing, thereby distributing the processing load and reducing the processing time of the entire processing system. An object of the present invention is to provide a form overlay control method, a control device, a printer driver, and an output device.

  In order to achieve the above object, a form overlay control method according to claim 1 of the present invention describes an object created by an application program of a host device and selected for input to an output device in a page description language. A form overlay control method for performing a form overlay process for superimposing generated form data and created data created for output, and acquiring resource information of the host device and / or the output device before the form overlay process And a determination step for determining whether to perform form overlay processing in either the host device or the output device based on the resource information, and selecting the host device or the output device based on the result of the determination step, the form overlay processing It is characterized by performing.

  Further, the form overlay control method according to claim 2 is the form overlay control method according to claim 1, wherein the object described in the page description language is any one of graphic, gradation, image, text, and line. The acquisition step is characterized in that any one or more of a CPU clock frequency, a usable memory capacity, and a disk rotation speed of a hard disk drive are acquired as resource information.

  The form overlay control device according to claim 4 is created by an application program of the host device, and is created to output the object selected for input to the output device and the form data described in the page description language. A form overlay control device for performing a form overlay process for superimposing the created data, an acquisition unit for acquiring resource information of the host device and / or the output device before the form overlay processing, and a host device and an output based on the resource information Determining means for determining whether or not to perform form overlay processing in any of the apparatuses, and performing form overlay processing by selecting a host device or an output device based on the result of the determining means.

  A printer driver according to claim 5 has the function of the form overlay control method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, and is created data that is created for installation and output on a host device. And a device for performing form overlay processing of the form data.

  An output device according to a sixth aspect includes the function of the form overlay control method according to any one of the first to third aspects, and forms overlay processing of the created data and form data created for output. It is characterized by selecting an apparatus for performing the above.

  According to the control method, the control device, the printer driver, and the output device, the form overlay processing of all target objects is determined based on the acquired resource information, and either the host device or the output device is selected. It is possible to improve the processing efficiency by distributing the load.

  According to the present invention, the processing time in the entire system that performs processing by distributing the load by selecting either the host device or the output device based on the acquired resource information for the form overlay processing of all objects to be processed As a result, the processing efficiency of this function can be improved.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a form overlay control device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is a host device (for example, PC: personal computer), 2 is an output device (for example, a printer) (Image forming apparatus), 3 is a form overlay control apparatus, 4 is a communication I / F (interface) for exchanging information with the host apparatus 1 and the output apparatus 2, and 5 is resource information of the host apparatus 1 and the output apparatus 2 ( Acquisition means for acquiring CPU clock frequency, usable memory capacity, disk rotation speed of the hard disk drive, etc., 6 indicates either the host device 1 or the output device 2 that performs form overlay processing based on the resource information of the acquisition means The determination means 7 for determining and receiving a form overlay processing instruction from the host device 1 and determining each means. Control means for to control, 8 is a storage unit such as a hard disk drive for storing form data or the like for the form overlay process created beforehand.

  Now, a case will be described as an example in which an instruction to perform form overlay processing is given to creation data desired to be printed out created by an application program of the host device 1.

  Form overlay processing performed on the host device 1 side is for each page of a job that prepares a command for form overlay when creating a command for page description language (PDL) of creation data and prints out the creation data. In addition, a form overlay command is used to superimpose the data on the form data, and the print data is transmitted to the output device 2.

  Further, as form overlay processing performed on the output device 2 side, form data is registered in advance in the storage means 8 such as a hard disk drive (HDD) in the output device 2 and the created data transmitted from the host device 1 is added to the created data. Therefore, before and after creating the print data for each page, the created data that has been sent is superimposed on the page on which the form data registered in the storage means is drawn, not on a blank new page on which nothing is drawn. It is conceivable that print data is created by performing an alignment process.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a control method of the form overlay control apparatus. The form overlay control method will be described based on FIG. 2 with reference to FIG.

  In the form overlay control device 3 shown in FIG. 1, for example, a command for form overlay is instructed to output print data subjected to form overlay processing using form data of an object (graphic, gradation, image, text, line, etc.). Then, the resource information of the host device 1 and / or the output device 2 is acquired (S2), and the resource information of the host device 1 and the output device 2 is compared and confirmed (S3).

  As comparison confirmation of the resource information, for example, in the comparison of the resource information of the host device 1 and the resource information of the output device 2, a device having a large processing capability as a resource is determined and selected. Here, when the resource information of the output device 2 is large (Yes in S3), the output device 2 instructs the form overlay process to perform the form overlay process (S4). If the resource information of the host device 1 is large (No in S3), the host device 1 instructs the form overlay process to perform the form overlay process (S5).

  In the present embodiment, the comparison of the resource information in the process S3 of the flowchart of FIG. 2 is performed by, for example, the resource information included in each device suitable for graphic, gradation, image, text, and line objects that are form data for performing form overlay processing. The threshold value may be used as the threshold value, and the smallest resource information in the information that can acquire the resource information of each device in step S2 may be used as the threshold value. In particular, when a request for form overlay processing occurs in the host device 1, resource information (memory usable area, etc.) changes according to the processing status in the host device 1. As a result, the processing efficiency can be improved.

  As described above, the resource information of the host device 1 and the output device 2 is acquired by the acquisition means 5, and the host device 1 and the output device 2 that perform the form overlay processing are determined based on the resource information, and the form overlay processing is performed. By selecting the host device 1 or the output device 2 to perform and performing the form overlay processing, the load related to the form overlay processing of all objects can be optimally distributed by any host device 1 or output device 2 Can be processed efficiently.

  Further, as a method for acquiring resource information, for example, resource information on the system, device, and application implemented in the infrastructure of WMI (Windows (registered trademark) Management Instrumentation) in Windows (registered trademark) (remaining free disk space) Resource, current CPU usage status, etc.) and management event sets can be accessed and resource information can be queried and acquired by applications and services.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the form overlay control apparatus in Example 1 of the present embodiment. Here, the same processing as shown in FIG. 2 is given the same step number, and the same applies to the following drawings. In the flowchart showing the control method of the form overlay control device in FIG. 2, the resource information of the output device 2 is acquired as the resource information for determining the device that performs the form overlay processing (S12), and the CPU clock frequency is used as the determination condition ( S13), where the threshold is based on the resource information of the host device 1. It is a flowchart which shows the process which selects the output apparatus 2 (Yes of S13) or the host apparatus 1 (No of S13) as the apparatus which performs a form overlay process.

  Generally, the CPU clock frequency, which increases in proportion to the processing speed, is acquired from the output device 2 as resource information by the acquisition means 5 and load distribution is performed as a criterion for efficiently performing form overlay processing. it can.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control method of the form overlay control apparatus in Example 2 of the present embodiment. As in the first embodiment, the resource information of the output device 2 is acquired as the resource information for determining the device that performs the form overlay process (S12), the usable capacity of the memory is used as the determination condition (S23), and the form overlay process is performed. It is a flowchart which shows the process which selects the output apparatus 2 (Yes of S23) or the host apparatus 1 (No of S23) as the apparatus to perform.

  Similar to the CPU clock frequency described above, the form overlay process can be efficiently performed by using the available memory capacity that can be expected to improve the processing speed in proportion.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a control method of the form overlay control apparatus in Example 3 of the present embodiment. As in the first and second embodiments, the resource information of the output device 2 is acquired as the resource information for determining the device that performs the form overlay process (S12), and the disk rotation speed of the hard disk drive that is the storage means provided in the output device 2 Is a flowchart showing a process for selecting the output apparatus 2 (Yes in S33) or the host apparatus 1 (No in S33) as a determination condition (S33).

  For example, by acquiring the disk rotation speed of a hard disk drive that is a storage means for storing previously created form data such as a watermark, it is determined whether or not processing can be efficiently performed from the read processing of the form data.

  Since the disk rotation speed depends on the seek time for reading and writing data in the hard disk drive, the processing efficiency will affect the processing efficiency. Can do.

  In addition, as each determination condition of the above-described first to third embodiments, any one of the CPU clock frequency, the usable memory capacity, and the disk rotation speed of the hard disk drive is taken as an example. Or you may make it determine by acquiring all and the combination. Further, the condition is that the resource information of the output device 2 is compared with a threshold value (in this example, set from the resource information of the host device 1). May be compared from the resource information.

  Further, the function of the form overlay control method according to the present embodiment may be provided in a printer driver or the like that operates in the host device 1, and in this case, the storage unit 8 shown in FIG. A part of may be used. Similarly, the output device 2 may be provided with the function of the form overlay control method. As a result, the resource information of the host device 1 and the output device 2 is acquired, and the load is distributed and the processing efficiency is improved by designating the device that performs the form overlay processing according to the capability determined from the resource information. can do.

  The form overlay control method, the control device, the printer driver, and the output device according to the present invention select either the host device or the output device based on the acquired resource information for the form overlay processing of all target objects. By distributing the load, the processing time can be reduced in the entire processing system, the processing efficiency can be improved, and it is useful for the load distribution of the process of superimposing created data and form data.

The figure which shows schematic structure of the form overlay control apparatus in embodiment of this invention The flowchart which shows the control method of the form overlay control apparatus in this Embodiment The flowchart which shows operation | movement of the form overlay control apparatus in Example 1 of this Embodiment. The flowchart which shows operation | movement of the form overlay control apparatus in Example 2 of this Embodiment. The flowchart which shows operation | movement of the form overlay control apparatus in Example 3 of this Embodiment. Diagram showing print data that is output for each page after form overlay processing of created data and form data

Explanation of symbols

1 Host device 2 Output device 3 Form overlay control device 4 Communication I / F
5 Acquisition means 6 Determination means 7 Control means 8 Storage means

Claims (6)

Form overlay control that performs form overlay processing that overlays the form data created for output with the object data created in the application program of the host device and described in the page description language for the object selected for input to the output device A method,
An acquisition step of acquiring resource information of the host device and / or the output device before the form overlay processing, and whether to perform the form overlay processing in either the host device or the output device based on the resource information A form overlay control method, wherein the form overlay process is performed by selecting the host device or the output device based on a result of the determination step.   2. The form overlay control method according to claim 1, wherein the object described in the page description language is any one of graphic, gradation, image, text, and line.   2. The form overlay control method according to claim 1, wherein the acquisition step acquires one or more of a CPU clock frequency, a usable memory capacity, and a disk rotation speed of the hard disk drive as resource information. . Form overlay control that performs form overlay processing that overlays the form data created for output with the object data created in the application program of the host device and described in the page description language for the object selected for input to the output device A device,
An acquisition means for acquiring resource information of the host device and / or the output device before the form overlay processing, and whether to perform the form overlay processing by either the host device or the output device based on the resource information A form overlay control apparatus for performing form overlay processing by selecting the host device or the output device based on a result of the determination means.   A function that has the function of the form overlay control method according to any one of claims 1 to 3 and that is installed in a host device and selects a device that performs form overlay processing of the created data and the form data created for output. A printer driver characterized by that.   An output device comprising the function of the form overlay control method according to any one of claims 1 to 3 and selecting a device that performs form overlay processing of created data and form data created for output .

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