JP2006309790A - Information processor, its method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem of conventional printing in index paper in which a user is requred to set index paper information printed on a tab of the index paper for each page and a layout of a character string printed on the index paper cannot be designated by the user. <P>SOLUTION: In receipt of a document drawing output created by an arbitrary application via an operating system, document information is generated, an insert sheet having a tab part is inserted between printing paper sheets, on which print data of the document information is printed, and a character string is printed in the tab part of the insert sheet. When a format of the character string to be printed in the tag part of the insert sheet is set, a printer driver corresponding to the printer is designated. According to the set format, the drawing output of the character string is carried out in the operating system so as to be printed in the tag part of the insert sheet (S2707), and the drawing output of the document information is carried out on the operating system so as to be printed in the print sheet. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and method for providing a print setting function for document data generated by, for example, a document processing program.

  Different types of data such as characters, tables, and images have different structures for defining the data and editing operations on the data. Therefore, various application programs corresponding to various types of data are provided. Therefore, a user who uses these data, such as a character processing program for editing characters, a spreadsheet program for editing tables, an image editing program for editing images, etc. It is necessary to use different applications for each type.

  As described above, a user generally uses an application program corresponding to each type of data. However, there are a plurality of documents that the user intends to create, such as characters and tables, characters and images, etc., rather than a document composed of only one type of data such as characters only, tables only, and images only. It is more common to handle documents composed of different types of data. Therefore, in order to create a document including multiple types of data, the user uses each application to print each data using the printing function provided in each application, and the printed matter in the desired order. In combination, it was necessary to create a desired document.

  Alternatively, for example, according to a program called an office suite that forms one integrated application by various applications, a function of configuring one document by combining data generated by each application is provided. By using this integrated application, the user can combine the data created by each application into one document by a specific application included in the integrated application.

  However, when a user creates a target document by combining printed materials from various applications, for example, in order to assign a page number to each page, all the necessary data is once printed out and printed out. It is necessary to determine the page number to be attached after collecting the printed matter as a document. Even if the application program has a function of assigning page numbers, if there is a discontinuous part, the user must also specify the page number for that part. Also, when the document pages are rearranged, the page numbers must be reassigned accordingly. Or, it is not a change related to the contents of data, such as combining a plurality of manuscript pages into one page as a printed matter (this is called a physical page or a print page), or changing from single-sided printing to double-sided printing. Even when the format is changed, editing and printing must be performed again by the application.

  As described above, since the application that can manage the data is different for each type of data, the user must provide an interface between the applications manually. This means that a great deal of labor is required for the user, resulting in a decrease in productivity. In addition, since many people are involved, errors are likely to occur.

  On the other hand, when a document is created using an integrated application, various data can be arranged in a data state using a print preview or the like without actually printing. If such a function is used, labor is not required as much as when a document is created by combining printed materials. However, applications for editing and creating various data are limited to those included in the integrated application, and an application desired by the user cannot always be used. A document created by the integrated application is one document file, and management such as editing / output is performed in units of files. Therefore, there are many restrictions due to the function of the application even when trying to set the format for a part of the document file. For example, it is necessary to change the format setting for each portion where the format is changed and to reprint. For this reason, in the point that much labor is required and productivity is low, it was not different from the method mentioned above.

  As described above, the functions of integrated applications are increasing, but in recent years, users have desired an environment in which all DTP (desktop publishing) can be executed on a computer. For example, as a user's usage method, an environment in which another page, for example, an index sheet is inserted into a part of a document file and printed can be considered. Currently, index sheets cannot be inserted into documents as an integrated application. Further, when an index sheet with tabs (also referred to as tab sheet) is used as the index sheet, the index sheet information printed on the tab of the index sheet is one page as the document data page by the user using the application. There was a trouble of having to create one by one. However, the index sheet information created using the application is actually one page of the document data. In order to change the insertion position of the index sheet, the document page (index sheet information) is changed to the changed position again. It needs to be added and takes time and effort from the user. Also, since the user creates index paper as a document page, the tab position may be slightly shifted, or the character string layout printed at the tab position of the index paper ( ”And“ Left Alignment ”cannot be specified).

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional example, and enables printing of document information in which data created by an application program desired by a user is collected and print data of the document information is printed. To provide an information processing apparatus and method and program for enabling generation of print data using a printer driver by inserting an insertion sheet for printing a character string on a tab portion during a simple operation. Objective.

In order to achieve the above object, an information processing apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention has the following arrangement. That is,
Document information generating means for receiving a drawing output of a document created by an arbitrary application via an operating system and generating document information;
Inserting an insertion sheet having a tab portion between print sheets on which print data of document information is printed, printing a character string on the tab portion of the insertion sheet, and printing a character string on the tab portion of the insertion sheet Tab formatting means to set the format of,
Specifying a printer driver corresponding to the printing device, and performing drawing output of the character string to the operating system so as to print on the tab portion of the insertion sheet according to the format set by the tab format setting unit, And drawing output means for performing drawing output of the document information to the operating system so as to print on the printing paper;
Print data generating means for receiving drawing output by the drawing output means via an operating system and operating the printer driver to generate print data that can be interpreted by the printing apparatus.

In order to achieve the above object, an information processing method according to an aspect of the present invention includes the following steps. That is,
An information processing method in an information processing apparatus having a control unit and a display unit,
The control unit receives a drawing output of a document created by an arbitrary application via an operating system, and generates a document information generation step,
The control unit inserts an insertion sheet having a tab portion between print sheets on which print data of document information is printed, prints a character string on the tab portion of the insertion sheet, and a tab portion of the insertion sheet. A tab formatting process to format the text to be printed on
The operating system designates a printer driver corresponding to a printing apparatus, and causes the operating system to output the character string drawing output so as to print on the tab portion of the insertion sheet according to the format set in the tab format setting step. And a drawing output step of performing drawing output of the document information to the operating system so as to print on the printing paper,
The control unit includes a print data generation step of receiving a drawing output from the drawing output step via an operating system and operating the printer driver to generate print data that can be interpreted by the printing apparatus. It is characterized by.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to create document information in which data created by an application program desired by a user is collected, and a character string in a tab portion between print sheets on which print data of document information is printed. By inserting the insertion sheet for printing the image with a simple operation, it is possible to generate print data using a printer driver.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following embodiments do not limit the present invention according to the claims, and all combinations of features described in the present embodiments are essential to the solution means of the present invention. Not exclusively.

<System overview>
An outline of the document processing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In this document processing system, a data file created by a general application is converted into an electronic document file by an electronic document writer. The bookbinding application provides a function for editing the electronic document file. Details will be described below.

<System configuration and operation>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a software configuration of a document processing system suitable for the information processing system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  This document processing system is realized by a digital computer 100 which is a preferred embodiment of the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment. The general application 101 is an application program that provides functions such as word processing, spreadsheet, photo retouching, drawing or painting, presentation, and text editing, and has a printing function. These application programs use a predetermined interface provided by an operating system (OS) when printing application data such as created document data and image data. In other words, the application 101 transmits a predetermined output command (GDI function) depending on the OS to the output module of the OS providing the interface in order to print the created data. Upon receiving this output command, the output module converts the command into a format that can be processed by an output device such as a printer, and outputs the converted command (DDI function). Since the format that can be processed by this output device varies depending on the type, manufacturer, model, etc., a device driver is provided for each device, and the OS uses that device driver to convert commands. The print data is generated by, and a print job is generated by enclosing with JL (Job Language). For example, when using Windows (registered trademark) of Microsoft Corporation as the OS, a module called GDI (Graphic Device Interface) corresponds to the output module described above.

  The electronic document writer 102 is an improvement of the above-described device driver, and is a software module provided for realizing the document processing system. However, the electronic document writer 102 is not intended for a specific output device, and generates an electronic document file 103 by converting an output command into a format that can be processed by a bookbinding application 104 or a printer driver 106 described later. The format converted by the electronic document writer 102 (hereinafter referred to as “electronic document format”) is not particularly limited as long as a document in units of pages can be expressed in a detailed format. Among substantial standard formats, for example, a PDF format by Adobe Systems, an SGML format, or the like can be adopted as an electronic document format. When the application 101 uses the electronic document writer 102, the electronic document writer 102 is designated as a device driver used for output, and printing is executed. However, the electronic document file as created by the electronic document writer 102 does not have a complete format as an electronic document file. Therefore, the bookbinding application 104 designates the electronic document writer 102 as a device driver, and conversion of application data into an electronic document file is executed under the management of the bookbinding application 104. The bookbinding application 104 completes the new incomplete electronic document file generated by the electronic document writer 102 as an electronic document file having a format to be described later. Hereinafter, when it is necessary to clearly identify this point, a file created by the electronic manuscript writer 102 will be referred to as an “electronic manuscript file”, and an electronic manuscript file given a structure by the bookbinding application 104 will be referred to as a “book”. Called “File”. If there is no need to distinguish between them, a document file, an electronic manuscript file, and a book file generated by an application are all referred to as a document file (or document data).

  In this way, by designating the electronic document writer 102 as a device driver and printing the data by the general application 101, the application data is called a page defined by the application 101 (hereinafter referred to as “logical page” or “document page”). ) And is stored in a storage medium such as a hard disk as the electronic document file 103. The hard disk may be a local drive provided in a computer that implements the document processing system according to the present embodiment, or may be a drive provided on the network when connected to the network. good.

  The bookbinding application 104 reads the “electronic document file” or “book file” 103 and provides a user with a function for editing the file. However, the bookbinding application 104 does not provide a function for editing the contents of each page, but provides a function for editing the structure of a chapter or book, which will be described later, configured with a page as a minimum unit.

  When the book file 103 edited by the bookbinding application 104 is printed, the bookbinding application 104 activates the electronic document despooler 105. The electronic manuscript despooler 105 reads out a designated book file from the hard disk and generates an output command suitable for the OS output module described above in order to print each page in the format described in the book file. Output to the output module shown. At that time, the printer driver 106 for the printer 107 used as the output device is designated as the device driver. Then, the output module uses the printer driver 106 of the designated printer 107 to convert the received output command into a device command that can be interpreted and executed by the printer 107. The device command is transmitted to the printer 107, and an image corresponding to the command is printed by the printer 107.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the digital computer 100 shown in FIG.

  2, the CPU 201 executes programs such as the OS, the general application 101, and the bookbinding application 104 that are stored in the program ROM of the ROM 203 or loaded from the hard disk 211 to the RAM 202, and the software configuration in FIG. The procedure of the flowchart is realized. A RAM 202 functions as a main memory, work area, and the like for the CPU 201. A keyboard controller (KBC) 205 controls key input from a keyboard 209 or a pointing device (not shown). A CRT controller (CRTC) 206 controls display on the display unit 210. The display unit 210 is not limited to the CRT, and may be a liquid crystal, plasma, or the like. A disk controller (DKC) 207 is connected to a hard disk (HD) 211 that stores a boot program, various applications, font data, user files, an editing file to be described later, a floppy (registered trademark) disk (FD) (not shown), and the like. Control access between them. The PRTC 208 controls the exchange of signals with the connected printer 107. The NC 212 is connected to the network and executes communication control processing with other devices connected to the network.

<Electronic manuscript data format>
Before referring to details of the editing application 104, the data format of the “book file” described above will be described.

  This book file has a three-layer structure imitating a paper medium book. The upper layer is called a “book”, imitating one book, and attributes related to the whole book are defined. The middle layer below it corresponds to the chapter in the book and is also called “chapter”. For each “chapter”, attributes for each chapter can be defined. The lower layer is a “page” and corresponds to each page defined by the application program. For each “page”, attributes for each page can be defined. One “book” may include a plurality of “chapter”, and one “chapter” may include a plurality of “pages”.

  FIG. 3A is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of a book file format. In the book file of this example, “book”, “chapter”, and “page” are indicated by corresponding nodes. One book file contains one “book”. Since “book” and “chapter” are concepts for defining a structure as “book”, the defined attribute values and links to lower layers are included as entities. The “page” has data for each “page” output by the application program as an entity. Therefore, the “page” includes a document page entity (document page data) and a link to each document page data in addition to the attribute value. Note that a print page when outputting to a paper medium or the like may include a plurality of document pages. This structure is not displayed by a link but is displayed as an attribute in each hierarchy of “book”, “chapter”, and “page”.

  In FIG. 3A, a book 301 has a book attribute defined therein, and two chapters 302A and 302B are linked. By this link, it is displayed that chapters 302A and 302B are included in book 301. Furthermore, pages 303A and 303B are linked to chapter 302A, and it is shown that these pages are included. Each page 303A, 303B is defined with an attribute value of the page, and includes links to the original page data (1) and (2). These links indicate the original data (1) and (2) of the original page data 304 shown in FIG. 3 (B), and the entities of the pages 303A and 303B are the original page data (1) and (2). Display that there is.

  Similarly, the chapter 302B includes pages 303C and 303D, and includes links to the original document page data (3) and (4). These links indicate the original data (3) and (4) of the original page data 304 shown in FIG. 3B, and the entities of the pages 303C and 303D are the original page data (3) and (4). It is displayed.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the book attribute 301 according to the present embodiment.

  Here, for items that can be defined redundantly with the lower layer, the attribute value of the lower layer is preferentially adopted. Therefore, for an item included only in the book attribute 301, the value defined by the book attribute 301 becomes a valid value throughout the book. However, items that overlap the lower layer have meanings as default values when they are not defined in the lower layer. Each illustrated item does not specifically correspond to one item, but may include a plurality of related items.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining chapter attributes according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining page attributes according to the present embodiment. Here, the relationship between these chapter attributes and page attributes is the same as the relationship between the book attributes and lower layer attributes described above.

  In FIG. 4, items unique to the book attribute 301 are six items of “printing method”, “bookbinding details”, “cover / back cover”, “index sheet”, “insert sheet”, and “chapter break”. These items are items defined throughout the book.

  As the “printing method” attribute, three values “single-sided printing”, “double-sided printing”, and “bookbinding printing” can be designated. Here, “bookbinding printing” is a method of printing in a format that enables bookbinding by bundling a separately designated number of sheets into two and folding the bundle. As the “bookbinding details” attribute, when “bookbinding printing” is designated in the “printing method”, “opening direction”, “number of sheets to be bundled”, and the like can be designated.

  The attribute of “front cover / back cover” includes designation of adding sheets to be a front cover and a back cover when printing an electronic manuscript file collected as a book, and designation of print contents on the added sheets. The attribute of “index paper” includes designation of insertion of index paper with ears separately prepared in the printing apparatus as chapter breaks and designation of print contents in the index (ear) portion. This attribute can be used when an inserter with an insert function for inserting paper prepared separately from the printing paper into a desired position is provided in the printing apparatus to be used, or a plurality of paper feeding cassettes can be used. It becomes effective when it is. The same applies to the attribute of “interleaf”. The attribute of “interleaf” includes designation of insertion of paper supplied from an inserter or a paper cassette as a chapter break, and designation of a paper feed source when inserting interleaf. .

  The “chapter break” attribute includes designation of whether to use a new sheet, use a new print page, or do nothing in particular at the chapter break. In “one-sided printing”, the use of a new sheet and the use of a new print page have the same meaning. In “duplex printing”, if “use new paper” is specified, continuous chapters will not be printed on one sheet, but if “use new print page” is specified, continuous chapters will not be printed. May be printed on the front and back of a sheet of paper.

  Next, as for the chapter attributes shown in FIG. 5, there are no items unique to the chapters, and all items overlap with the book attributes. Therefore, if the definition in the chapter attribute is different from the definition in the book attribute, the value defined in the chapter attribute has priority. Items common only to the book attribute and chapter attribute described above are five items of “paper size”, “paper orientation”, “N-up printing designation”, “enlargement / reduction”, and “discharge method”. Among these, the attribute “N-up print designation” is an item for designating the number of document pages included in one print page. Arrangements that can be specified here include 1 × 1, 1 × 2, 2 × 2, 3 × 3, and 4 × 4. The attribute of “paper discharge method” is an item for designating whether or not stapling is performed on the discharged paper, and the validity of this attribute depends on whether or not the printing apparatus to be used has a stapling function. .

  Next, in the page attributes shown in FIG. 6, items unique to the page attributes include “page rotation designation”, “zoom”, “arrangement designation”, “annotation”, “page division”, and the like. “Page rotation designation” is an item for designating a rotation angle when an original page is arranged on a print page. The “zoom” attribute is an item for designating the scaling factor of the original page. This scaling factor is designated with the size of the virtual logical page area as 100%. The virtual logical page area is an area occupied by one original page when the original page is arranged in accordance with designation of N-up or the like. For example, if it is 1 × 1, the virtual logical page area is an area corresponding to one print page, and if it is 1 × 2, each side of one print page is an area reduced to about 70%.

  As attributes common to the “book”, “chapter”, and “page” described above, there are a “watermark” attribute and a “header / footer” attribute. A “watermark” is a separately designated image or character string that is printed over data created by an application. “Header / Footer” is a watermark printed on the upper and lower margins of each page. However, the “header / footer” includes items that can be specified by variables, such as a page number and date / time. The contents that can be specified in the “watermark” attribute and the “header / footer” attribute are common to “chapter” and “page”, but different in the case of “book”. In "Book", you can set the contents of "Watermark" and "Header / Footer", and specify how "Watermark" and "Header / Footer" are printed throughout the book. it can. On the other hand, in “chapter” and “page”, it is only possible to specify whether or not to print “watermark” and “header / footer” set in the book in the chapter or page.

<Book file generation procedure>
The “book file”, which is an electronic document file given a structure by the bookbinding application 104, has the structure and contents as described above. Next, a procedure for creating a book file by the bookbinding application 104 and the electronic document writer 102 will be described. The creation of the book file is realized as part of the book file editing operation by the bookbinding application 104.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining a procedure for opening a book file by the bookbinding application 104 according to this embodiment.

  First, in step S701, it is determined whether the book file to be opened is to be newly created or is an existing one. In the case of new creation, the process advances to step S702 to create a new book file that does not include chapters. This newly created book file, as shown in the example of FIG. 3, is a book node having only the book node 301 and having no link to the chapter node. As a book attribute in this case, a set of attributes prepared in advance for new creation is applied. In step S704, a user interface (UI) screen for editing a new book file is displayed.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a UI screen when a book file is newly created. In this case, since the book file has no substantial content, nothing is displayed on the UI screen 1100.

  On the other hand, if there is an existing book file in step S701, the process proceeds to step S703, where the designated book file is opened, and a user interface (UI) screen is displayed according to the structure, attributes, and contents of the book file.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the displayed UI screen.

  The UI screen 1100 includes a tree portion 1101 that shows the book structure and a preview portion 1102 that displays the printed state. In the tree portion 1101, chapters included in the book and pages included in each chapter are displayed in a tree structure as shown in FIG. A page number is displayed in the tree portion 1101, and this page number indicates the number of the original page. In the preview area 1102, the contents of the print page are reduced and displayed. The display order reflects the structure of the book.

  Now, application data converted into an electronic manuscript file by the electronic manuscript writer 102 can be added to the opened book file as a new chapter. This function is called “electronic document import function”. By importing this electronic manuscript into a newly created book file according to the procedure shown in the flowchart of FIG. 7 described above, an entity is given to the book file. This function is activated by dragging and dropping application data on the screen of FIG.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the procedure of electronic document import according to the present embodiment.

  First, the application program that generated the specified application data is activated, and the electronic document writer 102 is specified as a device driver, and the application data is printed to be converted into electronic document data (step S801). When the conversion to the electronic document data is completed, the process proceeds to step S802, and it is determined whether or not the converted data is image data. This determination can be made based on the file extension of the application data under the Windows OS. For example, if the extension is “bmp”, it can be determined as Windows bitmap data, if “jpg”, it can be determined as JPEG-compressed image data, and if “tiff”, it can be determined as image data in the tif format. In the case of such image data, since it is possible to generate an electronic document file directly from the image data without starting an application as in step S801, the processing in step S801 can be omitted. is there.

  If the image data is not image data in step S802, the process advances to step S803, and the electronic document file generated in step S801 is added as a new chapter to the book of the currently opened book file. In this case, as the chapter attribute, the value of the book attribute is copied for those that are common to the book attribute, and for those that are not, the preset value is set in advance.

  If it is image data in step S802, the process proceeds to step S804. In principle, no new chapter is added, and each original page included in the electronic original file generated in step S801 is added to the designated chapter. To do. However, if the book file is a newly created file, a new chapter is created, and each page of the electronic document file is added as a page belonging to the chapter. Here, the page attribute is given an attribute value for an attribute common to the upper layer attribute, and is given for an attribute that inherits the attribute defined in the application data in the electronic document file. For example, when “N-up printing designation” or the like is set in the application data, the attribute value is inherited. In this way, a new book file is created or a new chapter is added.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a procedure for generating an electronic document file by the electronic document writer 102 in step S801 of FIG.

  First, in step S901, a new electronic document file is created and opened. In step S902, an application corresponding to the designated application data is activated, and an output command is transmitted to the OS output module using the electronic document writer 102 as a device driver. The output module converts the received output command into data in an electronic document format by an electronic document writer and outputs the data. Here, the output destination is the electronic document file opened in step S901. In step S903, it is determined whether or not the conversion has been completed for all the designated data. If completed, the process proceeds to step S904, and the electronic document file is closed. The electronic document file generated by the electronic document writer 102 in this way is a file including the document page data entity shown in FIG.

<Edit book file>
As described above, a book file can be created from application data. With respect to the book file generated in this way, the following editing operations can be performed on chapters and pages.
(1) New addition (2) Delete (3) Copy (4) Cut (5) Paste (6) Move (7) Rename chapter (8) Rename page number (9) Insert cover (10) Insert paper Insert (11) Insert index paper (12) Page layout for each document page.

  In addition, an operation for canceling an editing operation once performed and an operation for redoing the canceled operation are possible. Using these editing functions, for example, integration of multiple book files, rearrangement of chapters and pages in the book file, deletion of chapters and pages in the book file, layout change of manuscript pages, insertion of slip sheets and index sheets, etc. Operation becomes possible. When these operations are performed, the search results are reflected in the attributes shown in FIGS. 4 to 6 or in the structure of the book file. For example, if a blank page new addition operation is performed, a blank page is inserted at a designated location. This blank page is treated as a manuscript page. If the layout of the original page is changed, the changed content is reflected in attributes such as a printing method, N-up printing, front / back cover, index paper, slip sheet, and chapter break.

<Output book file>
The book file created and edited as described above has the final purpose of print output. When the user selects a file menu from the UI screen 1100 of the bookbinding application shown in FIG. 10 and selects print from the menu, printing is performed by the designated output device. At this time, the bookbinding application 104 first creates a job ticket from the currently opened book file and passes it to the electronic document despooler 105. As a result, the electronic document despooler 105 converts the job ticket into an OS output command, for example, a Windows GDI command, and transmits it to an output module, for example, GDI. The output module uses the designated printer driver 106 to generate a command suitable for the output device, and transmits the command to the output device.

  Here, the job ticket is data having a structure in which the original page is a minimum unit. The data structure in the job ticket defines the layout of the original page on the paper. One job ticket is issued per job. For this reason, there is a document node at the top, and attributes of the entire document, such as double-sided printing / single-sided printing, are defined. Below that, a paper node belongs, and includes attributes such as an identifier of a paper to be used and designation of a paper feed port in the printer. Each paper node includes a node of a sheet printed on the paper. One sheet corresponds to one print sheet, and a print page (physical page) belongs to each sheet. For single-sided printing, one physical page belongs to one sheet, and for double-sided printing, two physical pages belong to one sheet. Each physical page has an original page arranged thereon. The physical page attribute includes the layout of the original page.

  The electronic document despooler 105 converts the above-described job ticket into an output command to the output module.

<Other system configurations>
The outline of the document processing system according to the present embodiment is as described above. This is a stand-alone system, but a book file is created and edited in almost the same configuration and procedure even in an extended server / client system. However, the book file and print processing are managed by the server.

  FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a server / client type document processing system according to the present embodiment.

  The client document processing system 1200 is configured by adding a DOMS (Document Output Management Service) driver 109, a DOMS print service module 110, and a DS (Document Service) client module 108, which are client modules, to a stand-alone system. Have. To this client document processing system 1200, a document management server 1201, a centralized print management server 1202, and a print server 1203 are connected. These servers are usually connected to the client document processing system 1200 via a network. However, when the servers simultaneously function as clients, they are connected by inter-process communication that simulates communication between networks. In FIG. 12, both the document management server 1201 and the print central management server 1202 are connected to the client, but only one of them may exist on the network. If the connected server is a document management server, the document management server client system 1201SC including the client module is the stand-alone print management server client system 1202SC including the client module. Added to document management system.

  The document management server 1201 is a server that stores book files created and edited by the bookbinding application 104. When a book file is managed by the document management server 1201, the book file is stored in the database 1211 of the document management server 1201 instead of or in addition to the local HD of the client PC. Saving and reading of book files between the bookbinding application 104 and the document management server 1201 are performed via the DS client 108 and the DS core 1212.

  The print central management server 1202 is a server that manages printing of book files stored in the client document management system 1200 or stored in the document management server 1201. The print request in the client is transmitted to the DOMSWG server module 1221 of the print central management server 1202 via the DOMS driver 109 and the DOMS print service module 110. When printing by the client printer 107, the print central management server 1202 passes the electronic document data to the electronic document despooler 105 through the client's DOMS print service module 110.

  On the other hand, when printing is performed by the print server 1203, it is transmitted to the DOMS print service module 1231 of the print server 1203. The print central management server 1202 performs a security check on the qualification of the user who issued the print request, for example, for a saved book file, and saves a print processing log. Thus, this document processing system can be realized as a stand-alone or a client-server system.

<Contents of preview display>
As already described, when the book file is opened by the bookbinding application, the user interface screen 1100 shown in FIG. 10 is displayed. Here, the tree portion 1101 displays a tree showing the structure of an open book (hereinafter referred to as “target book”). The print preview unit 1102 is provided with three display methods according to the user's designation. The first is a “document view mode” in which a document page is displayed as it is. In this “original view mode”, the contents of original pages belonging to the book of interest are displayed in a reduced size. In this case, the display of the preview unit 1102 does not reflect the layout of the document. The second is the “print view mode”. In the “print view mode”, the preview unit 1102 displays the manuscript page in a form that reflects the layout of each manuscript page. The third is the “simple print view mode”. In the “simple print view mode”, the contents of each original page are not reflected in the display of the preview unit 1102 but only the layout thereof.

  Next, before describing features of the embodiment of the present invention, a configuration of a document processing system having a host computer 100 (corresponding to the information processing apparatus of the present invention) and a printer 107 applicable to the present embodiment. explain. Note that the configuration of the host computer 100 (hereinafter also referred to as a client) is as described with reference to FIG. 2 described above. Is omitted. The printer 107 is applicable to either a local printer connected to a client or a printer 1204 (FIG. 12) connected to a server.

  FIG. 13 is a block diagram for explaining the configuration of the document processing system according to the embodiment of the present invention. As long as the function according to the present embodiment is executed, a connection is made through a network such as a LAN or a WAN, regardless of whether it is a single device or a system composed of a plurality of devices. The present invention can be applied to a system that is implemented. Here, the configuration of the host computer 100 is the same as that shown in FIG.

  The printer 107 is controlled by the CPU 12. The CPU 12 outputs to a printing unit (printer engine) 17 connected to the system bus 15 based on a control program stored in the program ROM of the ROM 13 or a control program stored in the external memory 14 and loaded into the RAM 19. An image signal as information is output. Further, a control program for the CPU 12 is stored in the program ROM of the ROM 13. The font ROM of the ROM 13 stores font data used when generating the output information. In the case of a printer in which the ROM 13 data ROM is not provided with the external memory 14 such as a hard disk, Information used by the host computer 100 is stored.

  The CPU 12 can perform communication processing with the host computer 100 via the input unit 18 and can notify the host computer 100 of information on the printer 107 and the like. The RAM 19 is a RAM that functions as a main memory, a work area, or the like for the CPU 12, and is configured such that its memory capacity can be expanded by an optional RAM connected to an expansion port (not shown). The RAM 19 is used as an output information expansion area, environment data storage area, NVRAM, and the like. Access to the external memory 14 such as the hard disk (HD) and IC card described above is controlled by a memory controller (MC) 20. The external memory 14 is connected as an option and stores font data, an emulation program, form data, and the like. The operation panel 21 is provided with switches for operation, LED indicators, and the like.

  The external memory 14 described above is not limited to one, and a plurality of external memories 14 are provided. In addition to the built-in font, a plurality of external memories storing an option card and a program for interpreting a printer control language having a different language system can be connected. May be. Further, an NVRAM (not shown) may be provided to store printer mode setting information from the operation panel 21.

  Here, it is assumed that the host computer 100 includes the file, application, despooler, driver, and the like described above with reference to FIG. An electronic document file 103 is generated by passing the document file (application data) generated by the application 101 through the electronic document writer 102. As described above, the electronic original file 103 can be opened by the bookbinding application 104, and the bookbinding application 104 causes the display unit 210 to display an operation screen as shown in FIG. A major difference between the bookbinding application 104 and the general-purpose general application 101 is that the bookbinding application 104 has a print setting function that the normal printer driver 106 should provide. With this print setting function, the bookbinding application 104 is different from the general-purpose application 101 in addition to editing functions such as changing the page order of documents, copying (copying), and deleting, as well as function settings in the printer 107 such as stapling and punching holes. Can be performed on an electronic document file, and printing can be performed using a designated printer. Note that the bookbinding application 104 described in this embodiment is also referred to as a print setting application.

  FIG. 14 shows an electronic document file using the “paper insertion setting” function (one of the unique print setting functions not found in the general application 101) of the bookbinding application 104 of the document processing system according to the present embodiment. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing processing in the case of instructing insertion of a cover sheet or index sheet into a document and performing setting for printing a chapter name on the tab of the index sheet. In the present embodiment, this index sheet is inserted at a chapter break.

  Before describing the flowchart of FIG. 14, an example of “paper insertion setting” will be described with reference to FIGS. 15 and 16. FIG.

  FIG. 15 shows an example of a “paper insertion setting” window display by the bookbinding application 104 according to the present embodiment.

  In FIG. 15, reference numeral 1500 denotes an area for instructing a combination of sheets to be inserted. Here, an instruction is made to insert a cover sheet and an index sheet, and “front cover + index sheet” is displayed. In addition to this, it is possible to set all of “front cover, index paper, slip sheet, and back cover”, or any combination thereof, or only one of these. The “cover”, “index paper”, “interleaf”, and “back cover” specified in this dialog box do not exist as actual document data in the electronic manuscript file, but are managed as print setting information in the electronic manuscript file. Yes. Therefore, it is possible to insert and delete index sheets simply by changing the print settings in this dialog box (deselecting the check box or changing the tag), which greatly improves the user's operability. effective.

  Also, “print chapter name on index sheet tab” is checked by a check box 1501. As a result, the names of the chapters displayed in the tree section 1101 (stored in advance as setting information for each chapter (FIG. 22)) are printed on the tabs of the index sheets inserted for each chapter. Can be specified.

  FIG. 16 sets the details of the character string (chapter name) to be written on the tab portion of the index sheet opened by instructing the “detailed text settings” 1502 of FIG. 15 provided on the screen by the bookbinding application 104. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the window for.

  In the window of FIG. 16, the character font, size, etc. of the text used when entering the chapter name in the tab part can be selected. The candidates for the layout designation column are automatically changed depending on whether the horizontal writing font or the vertical writing font is selected in the font designation column of the window of FIG. When the horizontal font is selected, the window is changed as shown in FIG. 17, and when the vertical font is selected, the window is changed as shown in FIG. 17 and 18 are enlarged views of these windows.

  The bookbinding application 104, which is a print control program according to the present embodiment, provides a tab setting screen as shown in FIG. 16, thereby making it easy to set characters to be printed on tab sheets (index sheets) to be attached to documents. It can be carried out. Therefore, it is not necessary to generate data for index sheets as document pages as in the prior art. Further, when it is desired to change the insertion position of the index sheet into the document, it is only necessary to change the page position of the index sheet on the page preview screen of the bookbinding application 104, so that the operation can be facilitated. Furthermore, even when adding an index sheet, it is only necessary to give an instruction to add an index sheet, so that the usability is greatly improved.

  Here, since the horizontally written font “MS Mincho” is selected, the user can select a favorite layout from the choices in the column 1606 as shown in FIG. In the case of FIG. 17, “Left-side <1>” indicated by 1605 is selected, so that the layout has a character string on the left side of the tab (1607), and the chapter name is displayed with the tab on the index sheet facing upward. Printing is performed. Furthermore, if “Left side <2>” is selected, the chapter name is printed with the character layout close to the left side of the tab and with the tab of the index sheet facing down. As described above, when the horizontal font is selected, it is possible to cope with the case where the index sheet is printed with the tabs on the upper side and the case where the tabs are printed on the lower side.

  1602 is an area for designating a style (here, standard), 1603 is an area for setting a character size (here, 10 points), 1604 is a character color, and 1605 is a layout selected in the field 1606. It is displayed. Reference numeral 1607 denotes the form of characters actually printed on the tab (here, the left side).

  FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a window display example illustrating an example in which a vertically written font is selected in a window for setting details of a character string to be entered on a tab of an index sheet.

  Here, in the font designation area 1601, the vertically written font “@MS Gothic” is selected. In this case, “upward”, “centerward”, and “lower” are displayed in the field 1606, and a favorite layout can be selected from these. In FIG. 18, since “upward” is selected in the field 1606, “upward” is displayed in 1605, and a tab “upward” layout is displayed in 1607, and the index sheet tab is on the right side. It is shown that the setting for printing the chapter name is made. In FIG. 18, any one of “upward”, “centered”, and “downward” is selected as the layout on the tab of the index sheet, but “left” is set as the opening direction of the printed material in the print setting of the bookbinding printing application 104. When "Open" and "Right Open" are specified, and "Left Open" is selected as the opening direction, the layout is selected as shown in FIG. 18, and "Right Open" is selected. Although not shown, "upward <2>", "centered <2>", and "lower <2>" may be selected. The layout <2> corresponds to a layout in which chapter names are printed with the tab of the index sheet on the left side.

  Based on the above assumption, the flowchart of FIG. 14 will be described.

  First, in step S1401, the bookbinding application 104 determines whether it is set to write a chapter name on a tab based on whether the check box 1501 is checked. If the check box 1501 is checked and the chapter name is set to be written on the tab, the process advances to step S1402 to select a font to be used for printing the chapter name or number on the tab. The bookbinding application 104 determines whether the selected font is a vertical font. This is determined according to the type of the selected font. If it is a vertically written font, the process advances to step S1403, and the bookbinding application 104 performs a process for setting a vertical writing tab part. In this vertical writing tab part setting process, as shown in the display screen example of FIG. 18, the bookbinding application 104 displays a display screen in which the character style, character size, character color, character alignment, and the like are set. Provided and controlled to display on the display unit 210 via the OS. As described above, the bookbinding application 104 further determines whether the opening direction is “right-open” or “left-open”, and according to the opening direction, layout candidates for index sheet tabs are determined. May be changed. If a horizontal font is selected, the process advances to step S1404, and the bookbinding application 104 performs a horizontal writing tab setting process. In this horizontal writing tab part setting process, as shown in the display screen example of FIG. 17, the bookbinding application 104 provides a display screen in which the character style, character size, character color, character alignment, and the like are set. Then, the display unit 210 is controlled to display via the OS.

  FIG. 19 is a diagram for explaining the data structure of a document file handled by the application 101 according to this embodiment. This document file corresponds to the electronic manuscript file 103 in FIG. 1, and is stored in, for example, the external memory 211 in FIG. 13, but may be stored in the database 1211 of the document management server 1201 in FIG. .

  In FIG. 19, document structure information 701 stores information related to the structure of the document displayed in the tree view 1101 of the application operation screen shown in FIG. The detailed document setting information 702 is an area for storing information that can be set for the entire document. The chapter detailed setting information 703 is an area for storing information that can be set for each chapter. The page detailed setting information 704 is an area for storing information that can be set for each page. The document information 705 stores drawing information of each document page, and information used for display on the print preview 1102 on the right side of FIG. 10 is stored in units of pages. The document file includes other necessary information for each document, but the description thereof is omitted here.

  FIG. 20 is a diagram for explaining the data structure of the detailed document setting information 702 in FIG. 19 in more detail.

  801 is document page setting information, 802 is document finishing information, 803 is document editing information, 804 is document feeding information, 805 is index sheet information, and these pieces of information are stored as document detailed setting information 702. Has been. Further, when the index sheet is set using the operation screen shown in FIG. 15, the setting information is added to the index sheet information 805.

  FIG. 21 is a diagram for explaining the information stored in the index sheet information 805 in FIG. 20 in more detail.

  In the figure, the index sheet information (903 to 905) is stored in a continuous area until the last chapter, such as 901 is index sheet information of one chapter and 902 is index sheet information of two chapters. For example, as shown in FIG. 15, when an index sheet is set to be used, an index sheet is inserted at the beginning of each chapter. Will be secured.

  FIG. 22 is a diagram showing the data structure of the detailed setting information 703 of the chapter shown in FIG. 19 in more detail.

  Here, detailed setting information (1001 to 1005) of each chapter from the first chapter to the last chapter is stored. The detailed setting information of each chapter also stores the name of the chapter to be printed on the tab portion of the index sheet described above.

  FIG. 23 is a diagram for explaining the data structure of the detailed setting information (1001 to 1005) of each chapter shown in FIG.

  23, reference numeral 2101 denotes chapter page setting information, in which the chapter name is stored. 2102 is chapter finishing information, 2103 is chapter editing information, and 2104 is chapter feeding information. These pieces of information are stored as detailed setting information of each chapter.

  FIG. 24 is a diagram for explaining a case where detailed editing of an index sheet is performed after “index sheet insertion setting” in FIG.

  Here, all the index sheets (five sheets in the example of FIG. 24) are displayed on the editing screen in a state where they are overlapped. Here, the tab of the index sheet to be edited is instructed using, for example, the mouse cursor indicated by the mouse that is the pointing device, and when the mouse is clicked, the indicated index sheet is displayed on the first page. Thus, the index sheet becomes editable. For example, in the initial screen shown on the left side of FIG. 24, since the index sheet of the first chapter is in an editable state, the index sheet with the tab 2201 is active, and the index sheet can be edited. In this state, for example, when a tab 2205 is clicked, for example, as shown on the right side of FIG. 24, the index sheet (fifth sheet) to which the tab 2205 is attached is displayed at the top, and this index is displayed. Editing to paper becomes active. Thus, the tab of the index sheet and the contents of the index sheet that have become active can be edited.

  FIG. 25 is a flowchart showing details of index sheet setting and preview display processing by the application 101 in the document processing system according to the present embodiment.

  If the application 101 has set the index paper in the in-disk paper insertion setting dialog (FIG. 15), the area for recording the index information for the number of chapters included in the document is shown in FIG. Has been ensured.

  Therefore, if the index sheet is set for the first time in step S2301, the index sheet information 805 includes the index sheet information area of each chapter by the number (N) of chapters as shown in FIG. Reserve the default value of the index sheet information. Next, by performing this index sheet editing operation, in step 2302, information for obtaining effective coordinates of the tab area of the index sheet is calculated. Here, as an example, the X coordinate range (X1, X2) of the tab position when the upper right coordinate (X0, Y0) of the index paper is used as the origin, the height H of the index paper, and the tab height J are obtained in advance. Keep it.

  In step S2303 and subsequent steps, if an event occurs due to an editing operation by the user, processing corresponding to the event is performed. For example, when an index sheet selection event to be edited is clicked on the index sheet with a mouse as a pointing device, the process advances from step S2304 to step S2309, and the clicked coordinate values (XX, YY) are read using the mouse cursor. . In step S2310, the coordinate value (XX, YY) on the screen clicked by the mouse is converted into a coordinate value (X, Y) with the upper right coordinate value (X0, Y0) of the index sheet as the origin. Then, based on the converted coordinate values (X, Y), it is confirmed whether or not the effective coordinate range of the tab area is designated by the mouse. Here, if the X and Y values of the converted coordinate values (X, Y) satisfy the condition of X1 <X <X2, Y0 <Y <(Y0 + H), either one is selected by the mouse cursor. Therefore, the index sheet corresponding to the instructed tab is obtained. Here, by obtaining the integer part of {(Y−Y0) / J}, it is possible to obtain the number of the designated index sheet when the number of the first index sheet is “0”. That is, this number is a chapter number for the area for storing the editing information, that is, the index sheet information storage area shown in FIG.

  If NO in step S2304, the flow advances to step S2305 to check whether a tab edit event has occurred. If a tab edit event has occurred, the flow advances to step 2308 to print the name of the chapter to be written on the tab of the index sheet. Switch to the edit screen. The character format set using this screen is stored in the index sheet information (FIG. 21) of the chapter designated by the chapter number obtained in step 2310. Details of the processing in step S2308 are shown in the flowchart of FIG.

  If NO in step S2305, the flow advances to step S2306 to check whether an index paper editing event has occurred. If so, the flow advances to step S2307 to switch to the index paper editing screen, and the chapter obtained in step 2310. The information edited in step S2307 is stored in the index sheet information (FIG. 21) indicated by the number.

  Finally, in step S2303, when an editing end event occurs, the process advances to step S2311 to end the index sheet setting process based on the information edited by the previous operation.

  In this way, the user can set the arrangement of the character string of the tag of the index sheet in an arbitrary direction according to the direction of the index sheet.

  FIG. 26 is a flowchart collectively showing the index sheet information input processing described above.

  First, in step S2601, when index sheet setting processing is started using the screen of FIG. 15, the process advances to step S2602, and the bookbinding application 104 uses the set number of index sheets as shown in FIG. In addition, a storage area for index sheet information corresponding to the number of necessary chapters is secured. In step S2603, the bookbinding application 104 determines whether the check box 1501 is instructed to print the chapter name on the tab portion of the index. If printing is instructed, the process advances to step S2604 to specify the font, style, size, color, and character alignment of the character to be printed on the tab (FIGS. 16 to 18). The process advances to step S2605 to store the index sheet information together with the set tab information as index sheet information of the corresponding chapter. If it is determined in step S2603 that printing on a tab is not set, the process advances to step S2605 to store the index sheet information.

  FIG. 27 is a flowchart showing a document information printing process according to this embodiment.

  First, in step S2701, the electronic manuscript despooler 105 reads the detailed document setting information 702 in the document information shown in FIG. 19, and then in step S2702, takes out index sheet information 805 (FIG. 20) included therein. Based on this information 805 (FIG. 21), it is checked whether or not index sheet information is set for the current chapter. If it is set, the process advances to step S2704, and the electronic document despooler 105 extracts the index sheet information of the chapter and prints the index sheet. In step S 2705, it is determined whether an instruction to print the chapter name on the tab of the index sheet is issued. If printing is instructed, the process advances to step S2706 to read the name of the chapter corresponding to the chapter from the detailed setting information of the corresponding chapter. In step S2707, the electronic document despooler is stored as the corresponding index sheet information. The GDI function is output to the graphic engine (GDI), which is the drawing means of the OS, so as to print on the tab of the index sheet according to the designated font, character size, character alignment, and the like. As a result, the graphic engine converts the drawing function into a drawing function (DDI function) that can be interpreted by the printer driver 106. As described above, the printer driver 106 can interpret the printer 107 according to the drawing function passed from the graphic engine. A tab sheet printing process is executed by generating print data in a printer control language.

  On the other hand, if no index sheet information is set for the chapter in step S2703, or if tab printing is not instructed in step S2705, the process advances to step S2708, and the electronic original despooler 105 is included in the chapter. Based on the information on the manuscript page, the GDI function is output to the graphic engine so as to print each manuscript page, thereby executing the printing process. When the printing process for all the manuscript pages of the chapter is completed, the process advances to step S2709 to check whether the chapter is the final chapter. If it is not the last chapter, the process returns to step S2702, and the electronic original despooler 105 takes out the index sheet information 805 (FIG. 20) of the next chapter, and executes the same processing as described above. In this way, when the printing process of all the manuscript pages of all chapters of the document and the attached index sheet is finished, the printing process is finished.

  When the print preview of the document information is displayed, in the flowchart of FIG. 27, “print” is set to “expanded and displayed in the print preview” in the flowchart of FIG. A print preview of the page can be displayed.

  FIG. 28 is a diagram showing an example of the print preview displayed in this way.

  In FIG. 28, index sheets 2800 and 2801 are inserted at the beginning of each chapter, and a print preview 1102 is displayed. Each of the index sheets 2800 and 2801 is displayed with a tab attached to the index sheet, and the character string on the tab is also displayed according to the set character size, character font, character alignment, and the like. . As a result, the page position in which the index sheet is inserted can be determined at a glance, and the tab position of the index sheet is displayed while being shifted downward from the first index sheet 2800 in order. The paper shape can be seen at a glance.

  By this processing, it is possible to print a character string according to the index sheet information designated from the window shown in FIG. 16 on the tab of the index sheet.

  In this index sheet information, the character size can be specified, but if the character string to be printed on the tab is long, the entire character string may not be printed in the tab with the specified character size. In this case, it is possible to expand the index sheet information so as to perform the process of fitting the character string in the tab by performing the character size adjustment process and the line feed process.

  Hereinafter, an extended process for storing a character string in a tab will be described.

  FIG. 29 is a diagram showing an example in which a window for setting details of a character string (chapter name) to be written on the tab portion of the index sheet shown in FIGS. 16 and 17 is expanded, and is common to FIGS. 16 and 17. Parts to be shown are indicated by the same symbols.

  In the figure, if the check box 2901 for “automatic adjustment of size” is checked (turned on) as shown in the figure, if the specified character string does not fit in the tab with the character size specified in “size” 1603, Processing that automatically adjusts the size of the character string to a character size that fits in the tab is effective. That is, the size specified by “size” 1603 is different from the above-described embodiment in which the size is always printed, and when the character string does not fit in the tab at the specified size, the character size is changed. The setting is automatically changed.

  In addition, when the “automatic size adjustment” check box 2901 is turned on, the check box 2902 for “permit line feed” can be specified. When this check box 2902 is turned on, if the automatically adjusted character size is smaller than the predetermined character size, the process of printing the character string in two lines by line feed becomes effective. This predetermined character size is held in the program, and is a character size that is a threshold value for determining that printing should be performed in two lines rather than printing in one line with a character size smaller than that, and printing in two lines A size that is less than the maximum possible character size and that is not too small for a person to identify a character is maintained. The predetermined character size is an example of holding a fixed value in the program, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a user interface (UI) for specifying the character size on the window shown in FIG. ) And can be controlled as a variable value.

  FIG. 30 is a flowchart showing adjustment processing and line feed processing for the character size to be printed in the tab according to the present embodiment. Hereinafter, this process will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, in step S3001, the electronic document despooler 105 checks whether or not the “automatic size adjustment” check box 2901 is turned on. If it is off, the electronic document despooler 105 proceeds to step S3008 and proceeds to step S3008. The GDI function of the drawing information to be printed on the tab sheet portion is printed on the tab portion to print the designated character.

  On the other hand, if the check box 2901 is on in step S3001, the process advances to step S3002, and the electronic document despooler 105 determines the font, character size, and other attributes specified in 1601, 1602, and 1603 in FIG. Check the length of the specified string (chapter name). In step S3003, it is checked whether the length of the character string obtained in step S3002 fits in the tab.

  FIG. 31 is a diagram for explaining a printable area of the tab portion.

  Here, the printable area is indicated by a width W and a height H. Accordingly, if the calculated character string length is equal to or shorter than W, it is determined that the character string can be accommodated in the printable area of the tab, and if it exceeds the length, it is determined that it does not fit.

  If it is determined that the tab fits within the printable area of the tab, the process advances to step S3008, and the electronic document despooler 105 prints the set character string on the tab portion with the character size specified in “Size” 1603. Output is performed as a drawing function, and the printer driver 106 proceeds to print data generation processing.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S3003 that the character string does not fit in the printable area of the tab, the process advances to step S3004, and the electronic document despooler 105 obtains a character size for accommodating the character string in one line of the tab. That is, the character size with the character string length being W or less is obtained. The process advances to step S3005 to check whether the “permit line feed” check box 2902 in FIG. 29 is turned on. If it is off, the process advances to step S3008 to print on the tab portion with the character size obtained in step S3004. Accordingly, output is performed as a drawing function, and the printer driver 106 proceeds to print data generation processing. In this case, the designated character string is printed on the tab in one line, and the character size may be extremely small depending on the length of the character string.

  On the other hand, if the “Allow line feed” check box 2902 is checked in step S3005, the process advances to step S3006, and the electronic document despooler 105 determines that the character size obtained in step S3004 is the predetermined character size described above, Check if the size is less than the maximum character size that can be printed in two lines and is not too small for a person to identify the character. If it is larger than the predetermined character size, the process advances to step S3008, and the electronic document despooler 105 outputs as a drawing function to print on the tab portion with the character size obtained in step S3004. Also in this case, the designated character string is printed on the tab in one line, and the character size of the character string becomes appropriate.

  On the other hand, if it is less than the predetermined character size in step S3006, the process proceeds to step S3007, where the electronic document despooler 105 obtains the character size for storing the character string in two lines, and the character to be printed with the character size. The column is divided into two lines, and a character string drawing function is output to be printed on the tab portion in step S3008. Here, the character size to fit in the two lines obtained in step S3007 is that the character string length is the length of two lines, that is, the character size that is the value represented by (W × 2) in FIG. The height is the size that fits in two lines in the tab portion, that is, the smaller size of the character size that becomes the value represented by (H / 2) in FIG.

  In addition, when a character string is divided into two lines, division including a prohibition process according to the language used is normally performed, but this process may also be executed in the present embodiment. In step S3008, when the print is divided into two lines, the divided character string is printed based on the designated character alignment for each of the print areas divided into the two areas shown in FIG. I do. The process of printing such a character string by dividing it into two lines is well known, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

[Embodiment 2]
In the first embodiment, the character format to be printed on the tab of the index sheet is an example in which the character alignment is changed according to whether the font specified in the font specification field of the window in FIG. 16 is a horizontal font or a vertical font. Explained. On the other hand, in the second embodiment, for example, a European font that only has a horizontally written font originally can be used to print vertically. Since the document processing system according to the second embodiment is basically the same as the hardware configuration according to the first embodiment, the description thereof is omitted.

  FIGS. 32 to 35 are diagrams showing examples of windows for designating characters to be printed on the tab according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The parts common to FIGS. 16 to 18 are denoted by the same symbols. Yes.

  In FIG. 32, a horizontally written Japanese font “MS Mincho” is selected in the font designation area 1601. In this case, “Left side”, “Center side”, and “Right side” are displayed in the column 1606, and a favorite layout can be selected from these. In FIG. 32, “Left side <1>” is selected in the field 1606, so “Left side <1>” is displayed in 1605. Is set to print horizontally. In the second embodiment, a “perform vertical printing” column 3301 for instructing to print in vertical writing forcibly is provided. However, in the example of FIG. 32, since a horizontally written Japanese font is selected, the column 3301 is displayed in gray out so that this “perform vertical printing” cannot be selected.

  Next, in FIG. 33, a vertically written Japanese font “@MS Gothic” is selected in the font designation area 1601. In this case, “upward”, “centerward”, and “lower” are displayed in the field 1606, and a favorite layout can be selected from these. In FIG. 33, since “upward” is selected in the field 1606, “upward” is displayed in 1605, and “upward” layout of tabs is displayed in 1607, and the index sheet tab is on the right side. The chapter name “Ah” is set to be printed vertically. In FIG. 33, “upward”, “centered”, or “downward” is selected as the layout on the tab of the index sheet. However, in the print setting of the bookbinding printing application 104, “left When "Open" and "Right Open" are specified, and "Left Open" is selected as the opening direction, the layout is selected as shown in FIG. 18, and "Right Open" is selected. Although not shown, "upward <2>", "centered <2>", and "lower <2>" may be selected. The layout <2> corresponds to a layout in which chapter names are printed with the tab of the index sheet on the left side.

  As described above, the check box in the column 3301 can be selected only when the European font is selected in the font designation area 1601, and when the Japanese font is selected, as shown in FIG. 32 and FIG. The check box is grayed out and cannot be selected.

  In FIG. 34, in the font designation area 1601, a European font “Times New Roman” that is not printed in normal vertical writing is selected. In this case, “Left side”, “Center side”, and “Right side” are displayed in the column 1606, and a favorite layout can be selected from these. In FIG. 34, since “Left side <1>” is selected in the field 1606, “Left side <1>” is displayed in 1605, and the chapter name “AAA” is displayed in 1607 in the “Left side” layout of the tab. Is set to print horizontally. In this case, since it is possible to specify in the “perform vertical printing” column 3301, the column 3301 and its check box are displayed so as to be specified.

  FIG. 35 is a diagram showing a state in which the check box in the column 3301 is checked from the state of FIG.

  That is, this is a display example when the European font is selected in the column 1601 and the check box in the “Perform vertical printing” column 3301 is checked. In this case, “upward”, “centerward”, and “lower” are displayed in the field 1606, and a favorite layout can be selected from these. Reference numeral 1607 indicates that the chapter name “AAA” is set to be printed vertically in the “upward” tab layout.

  FIG. 36 is a flowchart for explaining writing of a character string to a tab in the document processing system according to the second embodiment. This processing flowchart is basically the same as that shown in FIG. The difference is that printing is possible.

  First, in step S3601, the bookbinding application 104 determines whether it is set to write a chapter name on a tab, based on whether the check box 1501 is checked. If the check box 1501 is checked and the chapter name is set to be written on the tab, the process advances to step S3602 to select a font to be used for printing the chapter name or number on the tab. Then, the bookbinding application 104 determines whether or not the selected font is a Japanese font. If it is a Japanese font, the process advances to step S3603 to determine whether a vertical font is selected. When the vertical writing font is selected, the process advances to step S3604, and the bookbinding application 104 performs setting processing of the vertical writing tab part. If a horizontally written font is selected in step S3603, the process advances to step S3606, and the bookbinding application 104 performs setting processing for a horizontally written tab portion. These processes are the same as steps S1401 to S1404 in FIG.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S360 that the font selected in the font designation field 1601 is not a Japanese font, the flow advances to step S3605 to determine whether the vertical printing check box indicated by 3301 is checked. The process advances to step S3607 to perform setting processing for vertically printing on the tab with the specified European font. If it is not checked in step S3605, the process advances to step S3606 to perform normal horizontal writing setting processing.

  Next, the vertical tab setting process using the European font executed on the figure tape 3607 will be described in detail.

  If you want to print the chapter name on the tab in vertical writing in Japanese font, as shown in Fig. 33, if the user selects vertical writing Japanese font, the printed character string has already been rotated 90 degrees to the left Since it is a vertical writing font, it can be automatically printed vertically on a tab without any special processing.

  However, when printing on a tab with a European font, there is no vertical font in the European font. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 35, the check box of “Perform vertical printing” 3301 is checked, and the vertical font is used. Instructs the user to print the writing.

  FIG. 37 is a diagram illustrating an example of printing in vertical writing using a European font.

  In this example, a setting example of the tab part performed by the bookbinding application 104 when the chapter name “ABCD” of the European font is printed vertically on the tab part is shown.

  The bookbinding application 104 obtains the origin coordinates (X0, Y0) of the character area of the first character string to be printed on the tab portion, the width W of the area for one character, and (the height of one character + the space between characters) H. Then, with reference to the origin coordinates (X0, Y0) of the first character “A”, the origin coordinates of the second and subsequent characters are (X1, Y1) = (X0, Y0 + H), (X2, Y2) = (X0, Y0 + 2H), (X3, Y3) = (X0, Y0 + 3H). In this way, the origin coordinates of the character serving as a reference for printing each character are obtained in order, and the coordinate information of each character obtained here is index sheet information 805 shown in FIG. 21 as index sheet information. To remember.

  In this way, it is possible to print in vertical writing even in the case of a European font having only horizontal font.

  Note that the present invention can be applied to a system (for example, a copier, a facsimile machine, etc.) composed of a single device even if it is applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, interface device, reader, printer, etc.). May be.

  Another object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium (or recording medium) in which a program code of software that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is recorded to a system or apparatus, and the computer (or CPU or CPU) of the system or apparatus. (MPU) can also be achieved by reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium. In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention. Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an operating system (OS) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. A case where part or all of the actual processing is performed and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing is also included.

  Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written in a memory provided in a function expansion card inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function is determined based on the instruction of the program code. The case where the CPU of the expansion card or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing is also included.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the user can arbitrarily specify, for example, a chapter name to be written on the tab of the index sheet. Thereby, the user can save the trouble of setting a tab for each chapter for each set of index sheets.

  In addition, the user can write the tab information by selecting the layout of the character string to be written on the tab from the options corresponding to the selected font. Thereby, it is possible to set index information in consideration of the direction of the index sheet and the size of the tab.

It is a block diagram for demonstrating the structure of the stand-alone type document processing system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the host computer of the document processing system which concerns on this Embodiment. FIG. 3A is a diagram illustrating an example of the structure of a book file according to the present embodiment, FIG. 3A is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of the format of a book file, and FIG. 3B is a diagram illustrating a configuration of document data. is there. It is a figure which shows an example of the book attribute which concerns on this Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the chapter attribute which concerns on this Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the page attribute which concerns on this Embodiment. It is a flowchart explaining the procedure which opens the book file which concerns on this Embodiment. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for importing an electronic document file into a book file according to the present embodiment. It is a flowchart explaining the procedure which converts the application data into an electronic document file based on this Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the user interface screen at the time of opening the existing book file. It is a figure which shows an example of the user interface screen at the time of opening a new book file. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a client server type document processing system according to the present embodiment. FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining a configuration of a host computer and a printer in the document processing system according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart explaining writing of the character string to the tab in the document processing system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the user interface screen for performing the insertion setting of an index sheet based on this Embodiment. , , It is a figure which shows an example of the user interface screen for setting the character string to the tab of an index paper based on this Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of the document file which concerns on this Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the data structure example of the detailed setting information of the document which concerns on this Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the information of the index paper for every chapter based on this Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the detailed setting information of each chapter based on this Embodiment. It is a figure explaining the data structure of the page setting information of each chapter. It is a figure explaining the example of a display at the time of editing the tab information of an index sheet. It is a flowchart which shows the process which controls the edit and preview display of the index paper information which concern on this Embodiment. 6 is a flowchart illustrating index sheet setting processing according to the present embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the printing process of the document information containing the index paper which concerns on this Embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a preview display including an index sheet on a document page when the index sheet and tab print setting according to the present embodiment are performed. It is a figure which shows the example which provided the automatic adjustment setting of a character size, and the line feed setting on the user interface screen for setting the character string to the tab of the index paper which concerns on this Embodiment. It is a flowchart explaining the adjustment process and the line feed process of the character size printed in the tab which concerns on this Embodiment. It is a figure explaining the printable area | region in the tab part of the index paper which concerns on this Embodiment. , , It is a figure which shows an example of the user interface screen for setting the character string to the tab of an index paper based on other embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the user interface screen designated so that the character string of a European font might be printed to a tab in the vertical direction based on other embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart explaining the writing process of the character string to the tab in the document processing system which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining the tab setting process for printing the Western font on the tab of an index paper by vertical writing based on other embodiment.

Claims (12)

Document information generating means for receiving a drawing output of a document created by an arbitrary application via an operating system and generating document information;
Inserting an insertion sheet having a tab portion between print sheets on which print data of document information is printed, printing a character string on the tab portion of the insertion sheet, and printing a character string on the tab portion of the insertion sheet Tab formatting means to set the format of,
Specifying a printer driver corresponding to the printing device, and performing drawing output of the character string to the operating system so as to print on the tab portion of the insertion sheet according to the format set by the tab format setting unit, And drawing output means for performing drawing output of the document information to the operating system so as to print on the printing paper;
Print data generating means for receiving drawing output by the drawing output means via an operating system and operating the printer driver to generate print data interpretable by the printing apparatus;
An information processing apparatus comprising: The document information generation means generates the document information with a drawing output of a plurality of pages generated by the application as one chapter,
When the tab format setting unit is set to print a character string on the tab portion of the insertion sheet, the drawing output unit prints on the tab portion of the insertion sheet at the beginning of the chapter of the document information. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a character string drawing output is performed on the operating system.   3. The document information includes a chapter name for each chapter, and the character string printed on the tab portion of the insertion sheet uses the name of the chapter. Information processing device.   4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein drawing information of a plurality of documents generated by the application is generated as a plurality of chapters and is generated as one document file. 5. An information processing method in an information processing apparatus having a control unit and a display unit,
The control unit receives a drawing output of a document created by an arbitrary application via an operating system, and generates a document information generation step,
The control unit inserts an insertion sheet having a tab portion between print sheets on which print data of document information is printed, prints a character string on the tab portion of the insertion sheet, and a tab portion of the insertion sheet. A tab formatting process to format the text to be printed on
The operating system designates a printer driver corresponding to a printing apparatus, and causes the operating system to output the character string drawing output so as to print on the tab portion of the insertion sheet according to the format set in the tab format setting step. And a drawing output step of performing drawing output of the document information to the operating system so as to print on the printing paper,
The control unit receives a drawing output from the drawing output step via an operating system, operates the printer driver, and generates print data that can be interpreted by the printing device; and
An information processing method characterized by comprising: In the document information generation step, the control unit generates the document information with a drawing output of a plurality of pages generated by the application as one chapter,
When it is set in the tab format setting step that a character string is printed on the tab portion of the insertion sheet, the control unit in the drawing output step, at the head of the chapter of the document information, The information processing method according to claim 5, wherein a drawing output of a character string to be printed on a copy is performed on the operating system.   7. The document information is provided with a chapter name for each chapter, and a character string printed on the tab portion of the insertion sheet uses the name of the chapter. Information processing method.   In the document information generation step, the control unit generates document information as a plurality of chapters, and generates a single document file as drawing outputs of a plurality of documents generated by the application. Item 8. The information processing method according to Item 6 or 7. A program executed by an information processing device,
Document information generating means for receiving a drawing output of a document created by an arbitrary application via an operating system and generating document information;
Inserting an insertion sheet having a tab portion between print sheets on which print data of document information is printed, printing a character string on the tab portion of the insertion sheet, and printing a character string on the tab portion of the insertion sheet Tab formatting means to set the format of,
Specifying a printer driver corresponding to the printing device, and performing drawing output of the character string to the operating system so as to print on the tab portion of the insertion sheet according to the format set by the tab format setting unit, And drawing output means for performing drawing output of the document information to the operating system so as to print on the printing paper;
Print data generating means for receiving drawing output by the drawing output means via an operating system and operating the printer driver to generate print data interpretable by the printing apparatus;
A program that causes an information processing apparatus to function as an information processing apparatus. The document information generation means generates the document information with a drawing output of a plurality of pages generated by the application as one chapter,
When the tab format setting unit is set to print a character string on the tab portion of the insertion sheet, the drawing output unit prints on the tab portion of the insertion sheet at the beginning of the chapter of the document information. The program according to claim 9, wherein a character string drawing output is performed on the operating system.   11. The document information is provided with a chapter name for each chapter, and a character string printed on the tab portion of the insertion sheet uses the name of the chapter. program.   12. The program according to claim 10, wherein the drawing output of the plurality of documents generated by the application generates document information as a plurality of chapters and generates a single document file.

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