JP2007156630A - Printer driver - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer driver for performing rimless printing with the desired width of a roll sheet. <P>SOLUTION: This printer driver is provided with a roll sheet width enumeration means having the width list of a supported roll sheet and a rimless printing validating width list to be referenced when the width and height of the sheet size is matched with the rimless printing validating width of the device in the case of designating rimless printing and a rimless printing automatic rotation means for rotating an image at an angle of 90 degrees or 270 degrees as long as the width of the selected roll sheet is matched with the height of the sheet size when the width and height of the sheet are matched with the rimless printing validating width in the case of executing rimless printing. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus that controls a device that can communicate via a predetermined communication medium, and a storage medium that stores a device driver, and in particular, an information processing apparatus and device having means for controlling borderless printing. The present invention relates to a storage medium in which a driver is stored.

  Currently, borderless printing can be easily performed using a printer in the same way as a silver halide photograph in which a normal film is developed, due to improvements in image quality and speed of the printer, widespread use of digital cameras, borderless printing functions, etc. ing.

In borderless printing, the printer receives image data slightly larger than the paper size from the printer driver, ejects ink to this data, and sets the ink that did not hit the edge of the paper to a specific width on the platen. A technique has been put to practical use in which printing is performed so that the platen is not soiled and white edges due to paper feed errors and cutting errors are not generated by receiving the ink through the ink receiving holes. (See Patent Document 1)
Creation of the extended area at this time is performed by the printer driver when the user specifies the paper size and the borderless printing of the printer driver. Specifically, there are two methods by the printer driver, and one is a method of notifying the application of enlarged images having a predetermined width on the top, bottom, left and right of the selected paper size when borderless printing is designated. . The other is to register a paper with an expanded area in advance as a borderless paper separately from the paper with margins, and when this paper is selected, the print area can be set in the normal operation without scaling. By notifying the application, the extended area is actually notified.

Upon receiving this notification, the application generates drawing data for the notified paper size (slightly large drawing area) and passes it to the printer driver. The printer driver performs predetermined processing on the received drawing data, thereby generating print data for the printer and transmitting it to the printer. The printer that has received this print data performs borderless printing by receiving the ink that has not hit the edge of the paper through an ink receiving hole provided at a specific width on the platen, as described above, in accordance with the print data. Yes.
JP-A-8-169155

  Depending on the borderless printable width and the paper size, there are cases where both the width and the height match, but the conventional technology cannot flexibly cope with such a case. In conventional printer drivers, in this case, either the width or the height is regarded as a borderless printable width, and the processing is fixed. Therefore, the user wants to print on a roll paper having a width different from that of the printer driver. In some cases the data had to be recreated.

  Therefore, by using the present invention, if both the height direction and the width direction of the sheet specified by the user are borderless printable widths, the width of the roll sheet is selected to match the width direction of the sheet. When the width is selected, the user can change the printer driver processing so that the roll paper width that matches the paper height direction is selected and the image is rotated 90 degrees or 270 degrees. Can provide a printer driver capable of borderless printing with a desired roll paper width.

  In order to solve the above object, the present invention has the following configuration. An information processing device that is connected to an external device capable of borderless printing and performs various settings for controlling the external device using a GUI, and internally maintains a roll paper width list supported by the target device. A borderless printable width list supported by the target device is stored internally, and the width and height of the paper size match the borderless printable width of the device when borderless printing is specified. If the width and height of the roll paper to be referred to are the same as the borderless printable width when executing borderless printing, the width of the selected roll paper matches the height of the paper size. In this case, a borderless printing automatic rotation means for rotating the image 90 degrees or 270 degrees is provided.

  The external device is a printer, and various settings include the size of data created by the application, borderless printing with no margins around it, and the setting of the width of the roll paper set in the printer.

  Another invention according to the present application is to realize the above-described invention by a method and a program stored in a program storage medium.

  According to the present invention, if both the height direction and the width direction of the sheet specified by the user are borderless printable widths, the width of the roll sheet that matches the width direction of the sheet is selected by selecting the width of the roll sheet. If the roll paper width that matches the paper height direction is selected, the printer driver processing can be changed so that the image is rotated 90 degrees or 270 degrees. A printer driver capable of borderless printing with a desired roll paper width can be provided.

  Hereinafter, a printing system including an information processing apparatus suitable for applying the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a system according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, a printing apparatus such as an ink jet printer is connected to a host computer such as a PC via an interface circuit.

  The host computer executes a document in which graphics, images, characters, tables, etc. are mixed based on a document processing program stored in a ROM or external memory, and comprehensively controls each device connected to the system bus. Stores the CPU and operating system (hereinafter referred to as OS), which is the control program for the CPU, and functions as a ROM or external memory for storing various data used for the above document processing, and the main memory or work area for the CPU RAM, keyboard controller (KBC) that controls input from a keyboard or pointing device (not shown), display controller (DISPC) that controls display, boot program, various applications, user files, printer control commands Generation program (hereinafter printer driver), etc. Communication control processing with a printer connected to a printer via a predetermined bidirectional interface and a disk controller (DKC) that controls access to an external memory such as a hard disk (HDD) or flexible disk (FDD) A printer controller (PRTC).

  The printer is composed of a printing mechanism and a printing controller for controlling these. The print controller receives the print data from the CPU that executes various programs and the host computer, and stores programs and various data that control the print mechanism such as the head, carriage, and ink supply to achieve optimal printing. ROM, RAM for temporarily storing various data and various programs, and an interface (I / FC).

  The printing mechanism includes a print head (PHD), a carriage (CRG) that moves the print head, a platen disposed at a position facing the print head, and a roll paper holder that holds the roll paper so that it can be pulled out. (HRL), a paper feed roller (IRL) that pulls out the roll paper held in this roll paper holder and feeds it onto the platen, a paper discharge roller (ORL) that discharges the printed paper, and paper And a paper discharge tray (TRY) for receiving the rolled paper.

  6 rows that eject ink of each color, specifically C (cyan), M (magenta), Y (yellow), K (black), c (light cyan), m (light magenta) Nozzles are provided side by side in the scanning direction.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the platen is formed with a plurality of ink receiving vertical openings extending in a direction parallel to the paper feeding direction and a plurality of ink receiving horizontal openings extending perpendicular to the paper feeding direction. Yes. The ink receiving vertical openings are arranged in pairs so that the left and right ends of a specific width (A4, B3, etc.) pass directly above each other. In addition, as the ink receiving side opening, there are a paper feeding side ink receiving opening and a paper discharging side ink receiving opening, and an ink adsorbing material is put in each of these openings.

  With these mechanisms, the printing apparatus receives image data slightly larger than the paper size from the print control device of the host computer, ejects ink to this data, and ink that does not hit the edge of the paper is placed on the platen. It has a function of performing borderless printing so that it does not stain the platen and does not produce white borders due to paper feed errors or cutting errors by being received by the ink receiving lateral opening provided at a specific width.

  FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of typical print processing in a host computer to which a printing apparatus such as a printer is directly connected or connected via a network.

  An application, a graphic engine, a printer driver, and a system spooler exist as files stored in an external memory, and are programs that are loaded into the RAM and executed by the OS and modules used when executed.

  Applications and printer drivers can be added to the external disk HD via an external memory FD, a CD (not shown), or a network (not shown). Applications stored in external memory are loaded into RAM and executed, but when printing from this application to the printer, a graphic engine that is also loaded into RAM and executable is used. To output (draw). The data that the application launches to the graphic engine varies depending on the type of OS. For example, a GDI function is output to the GDI that is the graphic engine as a drawing command.

  Similarly, the graphic engine loads the printer driver prepared for each printing device from external memory into RAM, converts the GDI (Graphic Device Interface) function, which is the output of the application, into a DDI (Device Driver Interface) function, Output to the driver.

  Based on the DDI function received from the GDI, the printer driver converts the printer control command to PDL (Page Description Language) or low-level image data that can be interpreted by the printer. The converted printer control command is output to the printer via the interface via the system spooler loaded into the RAM by the OS.

  First, the system flow in this embodiment will be described. The printer driver in the external memory in the host computer displays a user interface as shown in FIG. 4 by a GUI using a display device such as a display, and the user uses various controls such as buttons and combo boxes on the sheet. You can change settings such as paper size and print mode. Then, rasterization is performed based on the changed print setting and a drawing command from the application, and then color conversion is performed according to the paper type and color setting selected by the user, and print data and a print command are transmitted to the printer. The printer executes printing of print data according to the received print command. The printer driver of the present invention further includes roll paper width enumeration means and borderless print automatic rotation means as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 in addition to such general print control means.

  Details of each function will be described below with reference to the drawings.

<When printing is set>
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an outline of the print setting screen in the present embodiment. This screen is one screen of the user interface of the printer driver.

  The user can arbitrarily select the size of data created by the application using the “original size” combo box. By listing the paper sizes that are basically supported by the printer, the user can specify printing without being aware of the paper that is supported by the printer.

  Further, a “borderless printing” check box can be used to switch between borderless printing and normal printing with margins.

  In addition, the “roll paper width” combo box can be used to select which one is adopted when the width and height of the paper match the borderless printable width. Here, the options of the roll paper width listed in the “roll paper width” combo box are limited by the states of the “original size” combo box and the “borderless printing” check box. Therefore, when the user interface of the printer driver is opened, the state of the borderless printing check box is changed, or the “original size” combo box is changed, the displayed list is updated by the roll paper width enumeration means. .

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the roll paper width listing means. First, in step 1, a width list of all roll papers of the target model held in the printer driver is acquired. Next, in step 2, the current state of the “borderless printing” check box is confirmed. When ON is designated, processing for restricting the choices from step 3 to step 8 is performed. If OFF is specified, the width list of all roll papers acquired in step 9 is copied to the display list.

  If the “borderless printing” check box is set to ON in step 2, first, in step 4, a borderless possible width list of the target model held in the printer driver is acquired. Next, in step 5, it is confirmed whether the target width in the current borderless width list (the first width at the top of the list) matches the width or height of the paper selected in “Original Size”. . If they match, the target width is added to the display list in step 6. In step 7, the target width is advanced to the next width in the borderless possible width list. The processes in steps 4 to 7 are repeated until the end of the borderless possible width list.

  Then, by registering the display list created in steps 1 to 9 in the combo box, enumeration of roll paper widths in consideration of the restriction on borderless printing is completed.

<When printing>
The user performs desired settings through the user interface shown in FIG. 5 and then executes printing from the application. If borderless printing has been designated by the user at this time, borderless printing is appropriately controlled by the borderless automatic rotation means.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a borderless print automatic rotation means when printing is executed by an application. First, when printing is executed, in step 1, rasterization is performed based on a drawing command from an application to create image data. Next, in step 2, the print setting is confirmed, and it is confirmed whether or not borderless printing is designated. If borderless printing is designated, the borderless printing automatic rotation processing in steps 3 and 4 is performed. If borderless printing is not designated, the print data generation process of step 6 is performed as usual.

  If borderless printing is specified in step 2, first, it is confirmed whether the height of the paper size set in step 3 “Original size” matches the width set in “roll paper width”. . If they do not match, the print data generation process of step 5 is performed without doing anything. If they match, it can be determined that the width of the roll paper matched to the height has been selected by the user. Therefore, after the image is rotated 90 degrees or 270 degrees in step 4, the print data generation process in step 5 is performed.

  Note that the present invention may be applied to a device driver portion of a system including a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a printer, etc.).

  Another object of the present invention is to store a recording medium storing a program code of software such as a printer driver that implements the functions of the above-described embodiments, in which a computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus is stored in the recording medium. It is also achieved by reading and executing the program code.

  In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the recording medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

  As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a flexible disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD, DVD, magnetic tape, MO, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, or the like can be used.

  In addition, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but the OS running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code performs the actual processing. This includes a case where the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized by performing a part of the processing.

It is the figure which showed the outline of the system in this invention. FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the vicinity of a platen of the printer. FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a typical print data generation method in a host computer. 3 is an example of a user interface included in the printer driver according to the present invention. It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the print setting screen in this invention. 6 is a flowchart illustrating roll paper width enumeration means on a print setting screen. It is a flowchart which shows the borderless printing automatic rotation means when printing is performed by the application.

Claims (4)

  An information processing device that is connected to an external device capable of borderless printing and performs various settings for controlling the external device using a GUI, and internally maintains a roll paper width list supported by the target device. A borderless printable width list supported by the target device is stored internally, and the width and height of the paper size match the borderless printable width of the device when borderless printing is specified. If the width and height of the roll paper to be referred to are the same as the borderless printable width when executing borderless printing, the width of the selected roll paper matches the height of the paper size. In this case, an information processing apparatus comprising: a borderless print automatic rotation unit that rotates an image by 90 degrees or 270 degrees.   The external device is a printer that supports roll paper, and the various settings are the size of the data created by the application, borderless print settings that do not have margins around, and the roll paper set in the printer. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a width setting.   An information processing device that is connected to an external device capable of borderless printing and performs various settings for controlling the external device using a GUI, and internally maintains a roll paper width list supported by the target device. A borderless printable width list supported by the target device is stored internally, and the width and height of the paper size match the borderless printable width of the device when borderless printing is specified. If the width and height of the roll paper to be referred to are the same as the borderless printable width when executing borderless printing, the width of the selected roll paper matches the height of the paper size. In this case, a storage medium storing a computer-readable program, comprising: a borderless print automatic rotation unit that rotates an image by 90 degrees or 270 degrees.   The external device is a printer that supports roll paper, and the various settings are the size of the data created by the application, borderless print settings that do not have margins around, and the roll paper set in the printer. The storage medium according to claim 3, further comprising a width setting.

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