JP2007141160A - Printing controller, method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform printing by taking advantage of characteristics of a printer. <P>SOLUTION: An analysis processing part 13 of a printing controller 10 generates print data including a printing instruction based on print data generated by application software and a printing instruction set by a user interface 12. The printer 20 performs printing, based on the print data transmitted from the printing controller 10. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a print control apparatus, method, and program, and more particularly, to a print control apparatus, method, and program suitable for use in a printer driver.

  Currently, it is very difficult for software creators to create application software by making use of the characteristics of the printer itself. The reason is, for example, that there are restrictions on the software creation language, the method of using the software creation language is difficult, and the software creator does not understand the characteristics of the printer. In particular, in a system environment such as Windows (registered trademark), the functions of the application software and the printer driver are separated from each other.

In view of this, an image recording apparatus that can increase the resolution of a printing result of a printing apparatus has been proposed so as to make use of the characteristics of the printer (see, for example, Patent Document 1). An image forming apparatus that shortens the printing time per page has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
JP-A-10-151816 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-175587

  However, the technique described in Patent Document 1 only reduces the burden on the controller by reducing the amount of data transferred between the controller (control device) and the printing device, and cannot fully utilize the characteristics of the printing device. . The technique described in Patent Document 2 prints a text image portion at high speed with respect to image data in which text and a natural image are mixed, but can only switch the printing speed between the natural image and the text image. .

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides a printing control apparatus, a method, and a program that can perform printing by utilizing the characteristics of a printing apparatus.

  The present invention is a print control apparatus that transmits print data to a printing apparatus, and adds a print instruction setting means for setting a print instruction and a print instruction set in the print instruction setting means to the first print data. And print data generating means for generating second print data to be transmitted to the printing apparatus.

  The above invention adds the print instruction set in the print instruction setting means to the first print data and generates the second print data to be transmitted to the printing apparatus, thereby The second print data to which the print instruction is added can be transmitted to the printing apparatus without setting any print instruction at the transmission source.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print control apparatus that transmits print data to a printing apparatus, a transmission unit that transmits an operation condition of the printing apparatus to a transmission source of the first print data, and a first one from the transmission source. Print data generation means for generating second print data to be transmitted to the printing apparatus by adding the operating conditions of the printing apparatus as attached information to the print data.

  In the above invention, the operating condition of the printing apparatus is transmitted to the transmission source of the first print data, the operating condition of the printing apparatus is added to the first print data from the transmission source as attached information, and the printing By generating the second print data to be transmitted to the apparatus, the print data including the print instruction can be transmitted to the printing apparatus without setting any print instruction at the transmission source.

  The present invention can also be applied to a print control method and program.

  The print control apparatus, method, and program according to the present invention can transmit print data including a print instruction to the printing apparatus without setting any print instruction at the transmission source.

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

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a print control apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The print control apparatus 10 is configured by, for example, a computer, adds a print instruction to the first print data generated by application software, and outputs the second print data to which the print instruction is added to the printing apparatus 20. To supply. In the present embodiment, the first print data is generated by application software, but the first print data is not limited to this.

  The print control apparatus 10 includes a reception unit 11 that receives first print data, a user interface 12 for inputting a print condition and an operation of the print apparatus 20 that matches the print condition, and a first print. An analysis processing unit 13 that analyzes data and performs a process for a print instruction, and a hard disk drive 14 that temporarily stores second print data to which the print instruction is added are provided.

  The receiving unit 11 receives first print data generated by application software, and supplies the received first print data to the analysis processing unit 13.

  The user interface 12 exchanges information with the user. In this embodiment, the user interface 12 is, for example, a display, a keyboard, or a pointing device. Note that the user interface 12 is not limited to those described above, and may be a so-called touch panel or the like.

  The analysis processing unit 13 analyzes the first print data received by the receiving unit 11, adds the print instruction set by the user interface 12 to the first print data, and adds the print instruction to the second print data. Are stored in the hard disk drive 14. The second print data stored in the hard disk drive 14 is supplied to the printing apparatus 20 at a predetermined timing.

  When the character size is larger than 10 points, the printing apparatus 20 performs printing at a preset speed (normal printing), and when the character size is 10 points or less, printing is performed at a faster speed than normal printing (high-speed printing). ) Has the characteristics that can be.

  The print control apparatus 10 configured as described above can automatically set a print instruction for the first print data generated by the application software as follows. Here, in consideration of the characteristics of the printing apparatus 20, the user interface 12 indicates that “when the character size is 10 points or less” (printing conditions) “print at high speed” (operation) as a print instruction. It is assumed that an instruction to represent is input. It is also possible to set the printing speed by specifying the number of lines.

  When the following first print data is supplied from the receiving unit 11, the analysis processing unit 13 adds a print instruction to the first print data.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a printed matter represented by the first print data. In FIG. 2, bold indicates 12 points and thin indicates 8 points. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the contents of the first print data. The first print data indicates what characters are to be printed or not printed for each of the first to fifteenth lines. That is, the first print data does not include information indicating which character is to be printed at high speed.

  The analysis processing unit 13 converts the print data shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 into second print data (code), and adds a print instruction set by the user interface 12 to the second print data.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the contents of the second print data. The “LF code” represents one line feed. As shown in the figure, the analysis processing unit 13 performs “normal print designation” as an initial setting, generates an LF code for a line without a print instruction, and converts a character into a kanji code for a line with a character. . As a result, print data indicating that characters from the first line to the fifth line are printed at the normal printing speed is generated.

  The analysis processing unit 13 performs “designation of high-speed printing” after processing the fifth line, generates an LF code for a line without a print instruction, and converts a character into a kanji code for a line with a character. As a result, print data indicating that characters from the sixth line to the tenth line are printed at a high-speed printing speed is generated.

  Further, the analysis processing unit 13 performs “designation of normal printing” again after the processing of the 10th line, generates an LF code for a line without a print instruction, and converts a character into a kanji code for a line with a character. . Accordingly, second print data indicating that characters from the 11th line to the 15th line are printed at the normal printing speed is generated.

  The second print data is temporarily stored in the hard disk drive 14 and then read at a predetermined timing and supplied to the printing apparatus 20. As a result, the printing apparatus 20 performs printing based on the second print data.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the printed matter printed by the printing apparatus 20 and the printing speed for each line. As shown in the figure, normal printing is performed from the first line to the fifth line, high-speed printing is performed from the sixth line to the tenth line, and high-speed printing is performed from the eleventh line to the fifteenth line.

  As described above, the print control apparatus according to the present embodiment adds the print instruction preset by the user to the print data even if the print instruction of the application software does not include the print instruction. Data is supplied to the printing apparatus 20. Thus, the user of the application software does not need to set a print instruction every time printing is performed, and printing can be performed without performing troublesome operations.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it is needless to say that the present invention can also be applied to a design modified within the scope of the claims.

  For example, the printing control apparatus may simply transmit the operating conditions of the printing apparatus 20 to the application software instead of the printing instruction. Specifically, a computer (application computer) in which application software is installed inquires the printing control apparatus about the operating conditions of the printing apparatus 20, and the printing control apparatus sends the operating conditions (for example, printing speed setting information) to the application computer. You may answer. At this time, the application computer may transmit the print data and the operation conditions to the print control apparatus 10. The print control apparatus 10 adds the operation condition to the print data as a print instruction and transmits it to the printing apparatus 20. As a result, the printing apparatus 20 can print at a speed that matches the operating conditions.

  Here, for example, unidirectional printing may be performed on some lines, such as barcode printing, or the density may be reduced only on some lines, for example, thinning printing, or only some lines. You may print with color. Furthermore, the application computer and the print control apparatus 10 may be configured by different computers or may be configured by the same computer.

  In the above-described embodiment, the print speed is described as the target of the print instruction. However, the target of the print instruction is not limited to this. For example, a character font, a character point, a character interval, a line An interval, a character color, etc. may be sufficient. The user interface 12 and the analysis processing unit 13 may be configured by a computer in which a program is installed.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a print control apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the printed matter represented by 1st print data. It is a figure which shows the content of the 1st print data. It is a figure which shows the content of the 2nd print data. It is a figure which shows the printed matter printed by the printing apparatus, and the printing speed for every line.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Print control apparatus 11 Reception part 12 User interface 13 Analysis processing part 14 Hard disk drive 20 Printing apparatus

Claims (12)

A print control device that transmits print data to a printing device,
A print instruction setting means for setting a print instruction;
Print data generation means for generating the second print data to be transmitted to the printing apparatus by adding the print instruction set in the print instruction setting means to the first print data;
A printing control apparatus. The print data generation unit converts the first print data into a predetermined code, adds the print instruction to the predetermined code, and generates the second print data. The printing control apparatus according to 1. A print data analyzing means for analyzing the first print data;
The print data generation unit generates the second print data based on an analysis result of the print data analysis unit and a print instruction set by the print instruction setting unit. The printing control apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. A print control device that transmits print data to a printing device,
Transmitting means for transmitting the operating condition of the printing apparatus to the transmission source of the first print data;
Print data generating means for adding operating conditions of the printing apparatus to the first print data from the transmission source as attached information and generating second print data to be transmitted to the printing apparatus;
A printing control apparatus. A print control method for transmitting print data to a printing apparatus,
A print instruction setting step for setting a print instruction;
A print data generation step of adding the print instruction set in the print instruction setting step to the first print data and generating second print data to be transmitted to the printing apparatus;
A printing control method comprising: The print data generating step converts the first print data into a predetermined code and adds the print instruction to the predetermined code to generate the second print data. 5. The printing control method according to 5. A print data analysis step of analyzing the first print data;
The print data generation step generates the second print data based on an analysis result of the print data analysis step and a print instruction set in the print instruction setting step. 5. The printing control method according to 5. A print control method for transmitting print data to a printing apparatus,
A transmission step of transmitting the operating condition of the printing apparatus to the transmission source of the first print data;
A print data generation step of generating second print data to be transmitted to the printing apparatus by adding operating conditions of the printing apparatus as attached information to the first print data from the transmission source;
A printing control method comprising: A print control program that functions to send print data to a printing device,
Computer
A print instruction setting means for setting a print instruction;
Print data generation means for generating the second print data to be transmitted to the printing apparatus by adding the print instruction set in the print instruction setting means to the first print data;
Print control program to function as. The print data generation unit converts the first print data into a predetermined code, adds the print instruction to the predetermined code, and generates the second print data. The printing control program according to 9. The computer,
Further functioning as print data analysis means for analyzing the first print data;
The print data generation unit generates the second print data based on an analysis result of the print data analysis unit and a print instruction set by the print instruction setting unit. The printing control program according to claim 9 or claim 10. A print control program that functions to send print data to a printing device,
Computer
Transmitting means for transmitting the operating condition of the printing apparatus to the transmission source of the first print data;
Print data generating means for adding operating conditions of the printing apparatus to the first print data from the transmission source as attached information and generating second print data to be transmitted to the printing apparatus;
Print control program to function as.

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