JP2007148578A - Printer for executing rendering suitable for operation system or application program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer for executing the optimal rendering even to print data generated by a different application program or operation system. <P>SOLUTION: This printer for executing image formation by executing image processing including rendering according to supplied print data is provided with: an image processing unit (32) for analyzing the print data, and for deciding at least one of an application program and an operating system which has generated the print data, and for the print data by rendering predetermined according to the decided application program or operating system; and a print engine (42) for executing image formation on the basis of the image data rendered by the image processing unit. Thus, it is possible to quicken the print job by executing the optimal rendering corresponding to at least one of the operation system and the application program which has generated the print data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus such as a printer, and more particularly, to a printing apparatus that performs drawing processing suitable for an operation system or application program that generates print data.

  A printing device such as a printer receives print data generated by a specific application program and operating system from a host computer, performs image processing including necessary drawing processing on the print data, and forms an image using a print engine. The print data includes drawing commands for image formation. The printing device performs image drawing processing according to the drawing commands, and performs necessary color conversion and binarization processing on the drawn image data. , Image formation is performed by the print engine.

  There are many different operation systems and application programs installed on the host computer, and the description of the drawing command differs depending on the combination of them. For example, there is a description of a drawing command for instructing to draw a plurality of character objects together in a predetermined color, and a description of a drawing command for instructing to draw each character object in a predetermined color. Regardless of the description, if each drawing command can be processed by the printer, the drawing result will be the same. Further, although there is an optimum drawing processing method according to the description of the drawing command, the drawing processing method optimum for the description of a certain drawing command is not necessarily suitable for the description of different drawing commands. Rather, in the case of describing different drawing commands, the number of drawing processing steps increases, and the processing time in the printing apparatus may become longer.

In order to optimize the above processing, the printer driver installed on the host computer generates a drawing command optimal for the printer according to the type of application program that issued the print request, and the drawing command It has been proposed to send print data including a printer to a printer. For example, it is as described in the following Patent Documents 1 and 2.
JP-A-11-327825 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-327846

  In the conventional example described above, the drawing request received from the application program by the printer driver is converted into a drawing command that is most suitable for the processing of the printer, which is a printing apparatus, and transmitted to the printer. Therefore, the drawing request received from the application program cannot always be converted into an optimized drawing command. In some cases, a drawing request received from an application program is converted into a drawing command corresponding to the drawing command, and a drawing process optimal for the drawing command is performed more efficiently. Even in such a case, the conventional drawing method employs a drawing command description method suitable for the drawing process of the printer, so that the optimum drawing process is not always performed.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus that can perform optimal drawing processing even for print data generated by different application programs or operation systems.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to a first aspect of the present invention, in a printing apparatus that performs image processing including drawing processing according to supplied print data and forms an image, the print data is analyzed. An image processing unit that determines at least one of an application program and an operating system that have generated the print data and draws the print data by a drawing process that is predetermined according to the determined application program or operating system And a print engine for forming an image based on the image data drawn by the image processing unit.

  According to the above printing apparatus, the optimum drawing process corresponding to at least one of the operating system and the application program that generated the print data is executed, so that the print job can be speeded up.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. However, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, but extends to the matters described in the claims and equivalents thereof.

  FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a host computer and a printer (printing apparatus) in the present embodiment. In the host computer 10, a central processing unit 12, a memory 14, an input device KB such as a keyboard, and a display unit DISP are connected via an internal bus 22. The host computer 10 is installed with an operation system 16, a plurality of application programs 18 such as a word processor and a drawing tool, and a printer driver 20.

  Output data generated by a specific application program 18 is transferred to the printer driver 20 via a drawing interface of an operation system (hereinafter referred to as OS), and the print data having drawing commands that the printer driver 20 can interpret to the printer 30. Is generated. The drawing command is described in a description method that can be interpreted by the printer. Therefore, in general, the description method of the drawing command differs depending on the type of OS and the application program that generated the print data.

  The printer 30 is controlled by the interface IF that communicates with the printer driver 20, the image processing control unit 32 that controls image processing for print data supplied from the printer driver, the internal memory 34, and the image processing control unit 32. Based on the binarized data, a rendering processing unit 36 that performs rendering processing in response, a color conversion unit 38 that performs color conversion processing of image data, a binarization unit 40 that binarizes image data, and the binarized data. And a print engine 42 for forming an image. The image processing control unit 32 is realized by a central processing unit and an image processing control program. The drawing processing unit 36, the color conversion unit 38, and the binarization unit 40 may be realized by dedicated hardware or may be realized by software.

  The image processing control unit 32 analyzes the print data supplied from the printer driver 20 and extracts drawing commands necessary for image formation. The extracted drawing command is given to the drawing processing unit 36 to perform image drawing processing. In the drawing process, for example, an image outline is registered, the inside of the outline is set as a clip area, and a color process for giving color data to the clip area is performed to form a color or monochrome image. Further, in another drawing process, for example, a predetermined color calculation process is repeated for a predetermined area to form an image. In any drawing process, by processing a plurality of drawing commands, image data composed of bitmap data having color data for each pixel of the image to be formed is generated.

  The image processing control unit 32 analyzes the supplied print data and makes an optimum drawing process determination. That is, the drawing processing unit 36 can perform a plurality of types of drawing processing, and processes drawing commands based on the drawing processing designated by the image processing control unit 32.

  The image processing control unit 32 causes the color conversion unit 38 to perform color conversion from, for example, RGB to CMYK on the formed image data, and performs binarization processing on the color-converted image data. To do. Then, the binarized image reproduction data is supplied to the print engine 42, and an image is formed on the print medium.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart of drawing process determination by the image processing control unit in the present embodiment. The image processing control unit 32 (FIG. 1) determines the OS and application program that generated the print data from the received print data. In the case of a general-purpose OS such as Windows (registered trademark), the print data includes information on the OS and application programs. Therefore, the image processing control unit 32 extracts the information and determines which OS and application program generated the information.

  The image processing control unit 32 refers to the drawing processing table in which the optimum drawing processing type is registered in advance corresponding to the OS and application program, and if the determined OS and application program have been registered (YES in S12). , The corresponding drawing process registered in the drawing process table is selected (S14). If not registered, a predetermined default drawing process is selected (S16).

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a drawing processing table. In this table, drawing processes 1 and 2 are registered in association with each other according to the combination of the OS types OS1 and OS2 and the application program types APL1 and APL2. The drawing processes 1 and 2 may be registered in correspondence with at least one of the OS and the application program.

  If the determined OS and application program are not registered in the drawing process table, and the unregistered OS and application program are determined N times a predetermined number of times (YES in S18), the drawing process is performed by the default drawing process. When the image processing including the image processing is in an idle state, the drawing processing is re-examined for the same print data by different drawing processing (S20). Then, the most suitable drawing process (for example, the highest speed and the smallest memory usage) is selected from the plurality of drawing processes and registered in the drawing process table (YES in S22, S24). In the example of FIG. 3, the drawing process 1 is registered corresponding to the combination of the determined OSx and the application program APLx.

  If the image processing control unit 32 cannot determine the OS and the application program from the supplied print data, after performing N times of processing of the indistinguishable print data (YES in S18), a different drawing is performed. An additional test is performed to select an optimum drawing process, and the OS and application program that cannot be identified (UK in FIG. 3) are registered in the drawing process table. In the example of FIG. 3, the drawing process 2 is registered corresponding to the indistinguishable UK.

  As described above, for a combination of general-purpose OSs and application programs, which drawing process is optimal can be determined in advance at the design stage, and is registered in the drawing process table. . Then, information on the OS and application program included in the supplied print data is extracted, and an optimum drawing process is selected. For combinations of OSs and application programs that are not general-purpose, after identifying them, a plurality of types of drawing processes are tried, the most suitable drawing process is verified, and dynamically added to the drawing process table. Further, when the OS and application program information cannot be obtained from the supplied print data, the optimum drawing process found by a plurality of drawing process trials is dynamically handled corresponding to the OS and application program that cannot be discriminated. Add to the drawing process table. As a result, the optimum drawing process can always be selected and processed.

  4 to 8 are diagrams for explaining an example of the drawing processing in the present embodiment. A drawing process suitable for different drawing commands will be described with reference to these drawings.

  FIG. 4A shows a figure in which the character “Terminal Server” is gradually changed from red to yellow, green, and purple to give a gradation. The print data for printing such characters has, for example, the following three commands. That is, as shown in FIG. 4B, first, a command for registering the outline (subpath) 50 of each character starting with “T”, and second, the area surrounded by the outline is set as a clip area 52. As shown in FIG. 4C, a third command is a command for coloring a character by drawing a rectangle 54 whose color changes on the character clip area 52.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the drawing process of FIG. First, the first command is executed to register a character, that is, a contour (subpath) of a figure (S30). Then, the second command is executed to divide the figure into small figure elements, for example, trapezoid elements (S32), and each trapezoid element is databased as a clip area (S36, S38). Finally, the third command is executed to color the color rectangle in the trapezoidal element overlapping the color rectangle 54 (S40). The third command is a coloring process, for example, a logical operation command for overwriting the color data of the color rectangle 54 on the trapezoidal element area constituting the clip area 52.

  In the above drawing processing, trapezoidal element database processing can be performed in two processes: a tree structure database (S36) or a list structure database (S38).

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a database of a tree structure and a list structure in the drawing process. FIG. 6A shows a relational database having a tree structure. In the tree structure, a node having a value larger than the value of the node is linked to the right side of each node, and a node having a value smaller than the value of the node is linked to the left side. In the figure, each node is given a number corresponding to its value. Thus, the value “1” is linked to the left side of the node of value “2”, and the node of value “3” is linked to the right side. The same applies to other cases. The advantage of such a database is that, for example, when searching for a node having a certain value from the node having the highest value “4”, if the search target is random, the number of steps required to reach the target node is reduced. For example, when searching for a node having a value “3”, the node having the value “3” is reached after checking the nodes having the values “4” and “2”. Also, when adding a certain value of node, if the value of the node to be added is random, the number of steps required to reach the position to be added is reduced. For example, when adding a node with a value “3.5”, after checking a value “4”, a value “2”, and a value “3”, the node is added to the right side of the node with a value “3”.

  In this way, in the case of a tree structure, the man-hours required for searching and adding nodes are limited to checking the number of nodes in the depth direction of the tree structure, so even if the values of the search and additional nodes are random, There is an advantage that the average man-hour can be reduced.

  FIG. 6B shows a relational database having a list structure. In the list structure, each node is serially linked in ascending / descending order. As shown in the figure, nodes having values “1” to “7” are serially linked. In such a list-structured database, if the value of the node to be added becomes larger or smaller in order, the next node is linked to the node added immediately before. is there. For example, when nodes with values “1” to “4” are sequentially added and a node with a value “5” is added next, the current pointer is set to the node with the value “4” added immediately before. Since the node with the value “5” is added in the set state, a comparison check with the node with the current pointer value “4” is performed, and the node with the new value “5” is linked next to the node. Just do it. In the node search, if the value of the node to be searched increases or decreases in order, the number of processing steps can be reduced for the same reason.

  As described above, in the case of the list structure, the man-hours required for searching and adding nodes can be processed very efficiently when the values of the nodes increase or decrease in order.

  As described above, when a node search or addition occurs at random, the database is efficient in the tree type, and in the ascending / descending order, the list structure is efficient. Due to the characteristics of such a database, the processing efficiency varies depending on whether the trapezoidal elements are converted into a tree structure (S36) or a list structure (S38) in the drawing process of FIG.

  7 and 8 are diagrams showing an example of creating an element figure database of figures. According to this example, the advantages and disadvantages of creating a database of tree structure and list structure will be described. 7 and 8 are examples in which three graphics 60, 61, 62 are printed side by side in the horizontal direction. In the processing for the third command described with reference to FIG. 4C, processing for detecting the clip area 52 that overlaps the color rectangle 54 is required. In that case, the figures 60 to 62 are divided into trapezoidal elements as shown in FIG. 7, and are arranged in a database based on the X coordinate and Y coordinate of the print area. Then, the overlap with the color rectangle 54 is checked in correspondence with the arrangement order in the database.

  The arrangement rule is a rule that precedes the smaller the Y coordinate, and precedes the smaller the X coordinate if the Y coordinate is the same. The area of the color rectangle 54 is moved in the raster scan direction. In other words, the X coordinate is increased from small to large for the line with a small Y coordinate and moved in the line direction, and the line with the increased Y coordinate is moved in the line direction in the same manner. In other words, according to the above arrangement rules, it is possible to check whether or not the area of the color rectangle 54 overlaps the trapezoid element that is the clip area in the order in which the database is arranged. Efficiency can be increased.

  Therefore, depending on the description of the command, the question is which database structure is efficient for database construction processing. When describing the first, second, and third commands for a plurality of characters in the command description (first description) and when describing the first, second, and third commands for each character ( A second description). In the case of the first description, it is necessary to register a clip area of a plurality of characters in a single database for the second command. On the other hand, in the case of the second description, it is necessary to register a single character clip area in the database for the second command.

  With reference to FIG. 7, database formation in the case of the first description will be described. The figures 60 to 62 are decomposed into a plurality of trapezoids (including triangles). As shown in FIG. 7 (1), the four trapezoid elements of the figure 60 are arranged in the order of the numbers in the figure. Next, as shown in FIG. 7B, three trapezoidal elements of the figure 61 are added to the database. According to the arrangement rule described above, a total of seven trapezoid elements of the figures 60 and 61 are arranged in the order of the numbers in the figure. That is, three trapezoid elements of the figure 61 are added. Then, as shown in FIG. 7 (3), the six trapezoid elements of the trapezoid 62 are added to the database and rearranged in the order of the numbers in the figure.

  In this way, when each command is described for a plurality of characters, additional node values (Y coordinate and X coordinate in the above example) are randomly generated in the database processing of graphic elements for the second command. . Therefore, in such a case, a database having a tree structure is preferable as described above. That is, in the case of the drawing command according to the first description, it is preferable to create a database with a tree structure from the viewpoint of processing efficiency.

  On the other hand, with reference to FIG. 8, database formation in the case of the second description will be described. According to the second description, the first to third commands are described for each character. Therefore, processing for the first to third commands is performed for each character. As shown in FIG. 8A, since three commands are processed for the graphic 60, the four trapezoid elements of the graphic 60 are made into a database based on the above-described arrangement rules. In this case, four trapezoid elements of the graphic 60 are added in order from the top. After the three commands for graphic 60 are processed, three commands for graphic 61 are processed. As shown in FIG. 8 (2), three trapezoidal elements are added to the graphic 61 in order from the top and are made into a database. Finally, three commands are processed for the graphic 62, and as shown in FIG. 8 (3), six trapezoidal elements of the graphic 62 are added in order from the top to form a database.

  As described above, in the case of the second description in which three commands are described for each character, the value of the additional node is generated in the ascending / descending order in the database processing of the graphic elements for the second command. Therefore, in this case, it is preferable to create a database with a list structure from the viewpoint of processing efficiency.

  Returning to FIG. 5, in the drawing process 1, as shown in FIG. 7, the drawing command is associated with the OS or application program described in the first description, and the graphic element of the figure (character) is registered in the clip area of the second command. Is databased in a tree structure. In the drawing process 2, as shown in FIG. 8, the drawing command is associated with the OS or application program described in the second description, and is databased in a list structure. Therefore, when the drawing process 1 is associated with the OS or application program determined with reference to the drawing process table of FIG. 3, the process of creating a database of graphic elements in the tree structure is selected. When the drawing process 2 is associated, a process for creating a database of graphic elements in a list structure is selected.

  The first and second descriptions are description examples of drawing commands, and various other description examples are expected. Accordingly, whether each of the tree structure database and the list structure database can be processed more efficiently can be verified by processing each drawing command. Therefore, as described with reference to FIG. 2, if the drawing command is not registered in advance in the drawing processing table, the drawing command is executed in a plurality of processes to verify which processing can be efficiently performed, and if the optimum processing can be detected, drawing is performed. It is additionally registered in the processing table.

  Returning to FIG. 4, in the processing of the third command, while scanning the rectangle 54 whose color changes in the raster direction, the trapezoid element database is searched to extract the trapezoid element overlapping the color rectangle 54, and the extracted trapezoid is extracted. Color rectangle color data is expanded on the pixels in the element. Since the database is arranged based on the above-described arrangement rules, trapezoid elements are detected in the order in which the databases are arranged in the search process for detecting the overlap with the color rectangles 54 sequentially scanned in the raster direction. Can be processed automatically.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the OS and application program can be identified from the print data and the optimum drawing process can be executed. Therefore, the processing time for the print job can be reduced and the time until the completion of printing can be shortened. it can. Even if the OS or application program does not anticipate, the drawing command can be processed by a plurality of processing methods, the optimum drawing processing can be verified and registered in the drawing processing table, and the subsequent print job can be optimized. .

1 is a configuration diagram of a host computer and a printer (printing apparatus) in the present embodiment. It is a flowchart figure of the drawing process determination by the image processing control unit in this Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of a drawing process table. It is a figure explaining an example of the drawing process in this Embodiment. FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the drawing process of FIG. 4. It is a figure which shows the database of the tree structure and list structure in a drawing process. It is a figure which shows the example which makes the database of the element figure of a figure. It is a figure which shows the example which makes the database of the element figure of a figure.

Explanation of symbols

10: Host computer 30: Printing device (printer)
32: Image processing control unit 42: Print engine

Claims (4)

In a printing apparatus that forms an image by performing image processing including drawing processing according to supplied print data,
The print data is analyzed to determine at least one of an application program and an operating system that generated the print data, and the print data is subjected to drawing processing determined in advance according to the determined application program or operating system. An image processing unit for drawing processing;
A printing apparatus comprising: a print engine that forms an image based on image data drawn by the image processing unit. In claim 1,
The image processing unit stores a drawing processing table that defines drawing processing corresponding to at least one of the application program and operating system, and corresponds to the application program and operating system determined by analyzing the print data. If the drawing process is not registered in the drawing process table, a plurality of drawing processes are executed on the print data, and the drawing process is performed in accordance with the determined application program and operating system. A printing apparatus newly registered in a table. In claim 2,
When the image processing unit cannot analyze the print data and determine an application program and an operating system, the image processing unit executes a plurality of drawing processes on the print data and cannot determine the optimum drawing process. A printing apparatus that newly registers in the drawing processing table corresponding to the above. In claim 1,
In the drawing process, a figure constituting an image is decomposed into a plurality of graphic elements, the plurality of graphic elements are registered in a relational database according to their X and Y coordinates, and the relational database is searched and positioned in a predetermined area. A coloring process for providing color data in the graphic element
A printing apparatus comprising: a first drawing process having a tree structure for the relational database; and a second drawing process having a list structure.

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