JP2007334720A - Data processor, printing controller, printing system, data processing method, data processing program and recording medium having the program recorded thereon - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a data processor capable of accelerating the processing of generating image data from data described by a markup language such as an XML, a printing controller, a printing system, a data processing method, a data processing program and a recording medium having the program recorded thereon. <P>SOLUTION: For a drawing instruction acquired by interpreting an XML document by an XML parsing part 220, when the same drawing instruction is not registered yet, a rendering execution part 231 generates development data developed to an object image by drawing according to the drawing instruction, arranges the object image and develops it to the image data, and a development data registration part 232 registers the development data of the drawing instruction in a cache area 22b. On the other hand, when the same drawing instruction is already registered, the rendering execution part 231 reads the development data from the cache area 22b, arranges the object image of the read development data and executes rendering. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a data processing device, a print control device, a printing system, a data processing method, a data processing program, and a program for generating image data in a bitmap format from data described in a markup language such as XML. Relates to the recording medium.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an XML printer that can process data described in XML (Extensible Markup Language), which is one of markup languages (hereinafter referred to as “XML document”), is known.

  For example, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, a printer driver expands the contents of an XML document, generates image data expressed in a language or bitmap format that can be interpreted by the printer, and transmits the image data to the printer. This realizes printing of an XML document.

  Further, in the technique described in Patent Document 2, when address information on the network is included in the XML document, communication is performed with a server to which address information is specified on the network, data such as an object is acquired, and communication is performed. The image data is generated by interpreting and rendering the XML document in which the acquired data is incorporated. In this way, printing of an XML document including address information is realized. In addition, a technique is described in which an object acquired through communication is cached so that duplicate communication of the same object is eliminated and processing is accelerated.

JP 2000-330908 A JP 2002-91726 A (see page 7, paragraph (0061) and page 8, paragraph (0072))

  However, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, when processing an XML document, first, the XML document is language-interpreted to obtain drawing commands, and then the obtained drawing commands are developed one after another. When the drawing command is repeatedly drawn, the drawing processing of the same drawing command is repeatedly performed. Thus, since an XML document cannot be processed efficiently, there exists a subject that processing time will be taken.

  Further, with the technique described in Patent Document 2, even if the time required for communication for acquiring data from a network can be reduced, the processing time required for generating image data by developing an XML document can be reduced. I can't.

  Therefore, the present invention provides a data processing device, a print control device, a printing system, a data processing method, a data processing program, and a data processing device capable of speeding up processing for generating image data from data described in a markup language such as XML. And a recording medium on which the program is recorded.

  In order to solve the above problems, a data processing apparatus according to the present invention receives input data in which drawing contents are described in a markup language, interprets the input data, and sequentially obtains drawing commands from the input data. Interpreting means and drawing processing by developing drawing commands into developed images and arranging the developed images one after another for the obtained drawing commands to obtain image data representing an image in which a plurality of developed images are arranged. A developing unit for generating and a registering unit for registering the developed image in the storage unit, wherein the developing unit has registered in the storage unit a developed image having the same drawing command as the drawing command to be processed in the drawing process; In addition, with respect to the drawing command to be processed, the developed image of the same drawing command is read from the storage means, and the drawn processing is performed by arranging the read developed image. That.

  According to this configuration, the drawing command obtained by interpreting the input data is developed into a developed image, and image data is generated in such a manner that drawing processing for arranging the developed image is performed one after another. The developed image is registered in the storage means. If the developed image of the same drawing command as the processing target rendering command has already been registered in the storage means, the developed image registered in the storage means is read out, and the read processing image is arranged to perform the drawing process. Thus, the drawing process can be performed without developing the drawing command to be processed. As a result, it is possible to speed up the process of generating image data from input data described in a markup language.

  In the data processing device of the present invention, the interpreting means interprets the input data to obtain the drawing position of the drawing command, and drawing commands that differ only in the drawing position are set as the same drawing command, and the expanding means draws the processing target drawing. It is preferable to perform the drawing process by reading out a developed image of the same drawing command as the command from the storage unit and arranging the read-out developed image in accordance with the drawing position of the drawing command to be processed.

  According to this configuration, the rendering image of the rendering command that differs only in the rendering position from the rendering command to be processed is read from the storage unit, and the rendered image is arranged in accordance with the rendering position of the rendering command to be processed. Drawing processing that reproduces can be performed. Thereby, the probability that the registered developed image is read and the drawing process is performed is increased, and the process can be further speeded up.

  In the data processing device of the present invention, the interpreter may calculate the appearance frequency in the input data for each acquired drawing command, and determine a drawing command to be registered as a developed image according to the frequency of the appearance frequency. preferable.

  According to this configuration, since the drawing command to be registered is determined according to the appearance frequency by determining the drawing command to be registered according to the appearance frequency of the drawing command in the input data, it is more efficient. Can be processed.

  Further, in the data processing device of the present invention, the interpreting means calculates the number of tag lines included in a portion corresponding to the drawing command in the input data for each drawing command, and the number of tag lines is calculated as the appearance frequency of the drawing command. It is preferable to do.

  According to this configuration, the drawing command to be registered can be determined by simple processing by setting the appearance frequency for the number of lines of the tag described in the markup language to the appearance frequency of the drawing command.

  Further, in the data processing apparatus of the present invention, when the interpreting unit acquires a drawing command in which a synthesis condition for synthesizing the background image expressed by the already deployed deployed image and the developed image is set, the developing unit Preferably, the same drawing command including the combining condition is treated as the same drawing command, the combining condition is reflected in the developed image of the drawing command, and the registering unit registers the expanded image reflecting the combining condition in the storage unit. .

  According to this configuration, for rendering commands having the same composition condition, rendering is performed by reading out a developed image reflecting the composition condition from the storage unit, so that the image data is obtained while realizing the expression according to the set composition condition. It is possible to speed up the process to be generated.

  In the data processing apparatus of the present invention, when generating image data for each band having a predetermined rectangular area from input data, it is preferable that the interpretation means and the expansion means process for each band.

  According to this configuration, it is possible to efficiently generate image data for each band.

  In the data processing apparatus of the present invention, it is preferable that the markup language is any one of XML, HTML, and XHTML.

  According to this configuration, it is possible to obtain a data processing device that generates image data from input data in the format of XML, HTML, or XHTML.

  Another aspect of the present invention is a print control apparatus that supplies image data for printing to a printing apparatus, an input unit that accepts input data in which drawing contents are described in a markup language, and interprets the input data. , Interpreting means for acquiring drawing commands one after another from input data, and drawing processing by expanding drawing commands into expanded images and arranging the expanded images one after another for the acquired drawing commands A developing unit that generates image data representing an image in which the image is arranged; and a registering unit that registers the developed image in the storage unit. The developing unit develops the same drawing command as a drawing command to be processed in the drawing process. When the image has been registered in the storage unit, for the drawing command to be processed, the developed image of the same drawing command is read from the storage unit, and the read developed image is arranged. And performing rendering processing by the.

  According to this configuration, it is possible to reduce the amount of processing required for developing the drawing command, so that it is possible to speed up the process of generating image data for printing from input data described in a markup language. Accordingly, it is possible to supply image data for printing to the printing apparatus at an earlier timing, and to shorten the time required for printing.

  Furthermore, another aspect of the present invention is a printing system including a printing apparatus and a printing control apparatus that controls the printing apparatus, and the printing control apparatus receives input data that describes a drawing content in a markup language. The printing apparatus includes an input unit that accepts and an interpretation unit that interprets input data and sequentially obtains drawing commands from the input data, and the printing apparatus develops the drawing commands into a developed image and arranges the developed image. Are executed one after another for the acquired drawing command to generate image data for printing representing an image in which a plurality of developed images are arranged, and registration means for registering the developed images in the storage unit. , When the developed image having the same drawing command as the drawing command to be processed is registered in the storage unit, the developing unit uses the same drawing command for the processing target drawing command. It reads the expanded image from the storage unit, and performs drawing processing by placing the read expanded image.

  According to this configuration, it is possible to obtain a printing system that can speed up the process of generating image data from input data described in a markup language and can further reduce the time required for printing. .

  The present invention can also be a method invention. That is, the data processing method of the present invention includes an input step for receiving input data in which drawing contents are described in a markup language, an interpretation step for interpreting the input data and obtaining drawing commands one after another from the input data, and a drawing command A development process for generating image data representing an image in which a plurality of development images are arranged, by performing drawing processing by deploying the development images into a developed image and executing the drawing process by arranging the developed images one after another; A registration step of registering the developed image in the storage means, and in the development step, when the developed image of the same drawing command as the drawing processing target of the drawing process has been registered in the storage means, With respect to the drawing command, the developed image of the same drawing command is read from the storage means, and the drawn processing is performed by arranging the read developed image.

  Furthermore, the present invention can be a program and a recording medium on which the program is recorded. That is, the data processing program of the present invention includes a computer, an input unit that accepts input data in which drawing contents are described in a markup language, an interpretation unit that interprets the input data, and obtains drawing commands from the input data one after another, a drawing Expansion means for expanding an instruction into a developed image and executing drawing processing by arranging the developed image one after another with respect to the acquired drawing command to generate image data representing an image in which a plurality of developed images are arranged; The development means functions as a registration means for registering the developed image in the storage means, and the development means performs processing when the developed image having the same drawing command as the drawing processing target is registered in the storage means. With respect to the drawing command, the developed image of the same drawing command is read from the storage means, and the read processing is performed by arranging the read developed image. The features.

  As the recording medium on which the data processing program is recorded, various computer-readable media such as a flexible disk, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, an IC card, or a memory card can be used.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing system according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the printing system 1 includes a host computer (printing control device) 2 and a printer (printing device) 3.

  The host computer 2 is a general-purpose personal computer. As shown in FIG. 1, the CPU 20, ROM 21, RAM 22, hard disk (HD) 23, CD-ROM drive 24, network interface (network I / F) 25, and communication interface ( Communication I / F) 26 is provided. The communication I / F 26 is connected to the printer 3 via a cable, and the host computer 2 and the printer 3 can perform data communication with each other. The network I / F 25 is connected to the network server 4 via a LAN cable or the like, and the host computer 2 can be connected to the Internet by communicating with the network server 4 according to a predetermined protocol.

  The CPU 20 is a part that controls each component of the host computer 2. The ROM 21 is a non-volatile memory in which a predetermined program for controlling the host computer 2 is recorded, and the RAM 22 is a general-purpose memory used as a working memory. In addition, a working area used for general-purpose processing and a cache area for registering data after development of a rendering command, which will be described later, are secured on the storage area of the RAM 22. The cache area is managed by the CPU 20 using a known method such as FIFO, LIFO, or hash.

  The HD 23 records application programs and data processing programs according to the present invention. The data processing program may be recorded in advance on the HD 23 or supplied in a form recorded on a recording medium such as the CD-ROM 5, and the CPU 20 reads the program from the CD-ROM 5 by the CD-ROM drive 24 and reads it out. The recorded program may be recorded on the HD 23.

  Then, under the control of a predetermined operation system, the CPU 20 executes the application program recorded on the HD 23, thereby causing the application 100 to function, and reading and executing the data processing program causes the printer driver 200 to function (see FIG. 2).

  The application 100 is a print request source for the printer 3 such as document creation software or a web browser. The application 100 prints an XML document created by the document creation software, an XML document acquired from the Internet so that the web browser communicates with the network server 4, and a predetermined format including the print request and the XML document. The print data is transferred to the printer driver 200.

  When the printer driver (data processing apparatus) 200 receives the print data from the application 100, the printer driver (data processing apparatus) 200 interprets the XML document (input data) and performs drawing processing to generate image data in a format that can be processed by the printer 3, This is a part for transmitting the image data for printing to the printer 3 via the communication I / F 26. In order to perform these processes, the printer driver 200 includes a control unit 210, an XML parsing unit (interpretation unit) 220, and a rendering unit 230, as shown in FIG.

  The control unit 210 is a part that controls the XML parsing unit 220 and the rendering unit 230 to perform various processes on the XML document, and an XML document input unit that performs input processing on the XML document delivered from the application 100 ( Input means) 211, and a data control unit 212 that controls data exchange with the XML parsing unit 220 and the rendering unit 230.

  The XML parsing unit 220 is a part that interprets the XML document, acquires a drawing command representing the drawing contents of the XML document, converts the drawing command obtained by the interpretation into a predetermined format, and passes it to the control unit 210.

  The rendering unit 230 develops the drawing command received from the control unit 210 into an object image (development image) in a bitmap format, and arranges the developed object image in a predetermined image area so as to arrange the image in the bitmap format. It has a rendering execution unit (developing unit) 231 that executes rendering processing for generating image data, and a development data registration unit (registration unit) 232 that registers development data representing an object image in a cache area.

  In addition, when the decompressed data corresponding to the rendering command to be rendered is registered in the cache area, the rendering execution unit 231 reads the decompressed decompressed data from the cache area, and the read decompressed data Rendering is performed using the object image.

  In other words, the printer driver 200 according to the present embodiment reads out development data representing a developed image from the cache area without developing the drawing command when rendering processing is performed on the registered drawing command. It is characterized by performing rendering processing.

  Next, detailed processing performed by the printer driver 200 when an XML document is input will be described in order according to the flowcharts of FIGS. 4 to 6 with reference to FIG. 3 is a diagram showing data movement among the control unit 210, the XML parsing unit 220, and the rendering unit 230. FIG. 4 shows the control unit 210, FIG. 5 shows the XML parsing unit 220, and FIG. 6 shows the rendering. The processing procedure which the part 230 performs is shown.

  When the control unit 210 receives the XML document from the application 100, the control unit 210 starts the processing illustrated in FIG. When the processing is started, first, in step S100, the XML document input unit 211 recognizes that the input data is an XML document and performs input processing (see FIG. 3A).

  Next, in step S110, the data control unit 212 delivers the input XML document to the XML parsing unit 220 (see FIG. 3B).

  Here, in actuality, after delivering the XML document, the control unit 210 performs the process of step S120 described later. For convenience of explanation, hereinafter, for the XML document delivered from the control unit 210, The processing performed by the XML parsing unit 220 will be described.

  When the XML document is transferred from the data control unit 212, the XML parsing unit 220 starts the processing shown in FIG. When the process is started, in step S200, it is determined whether or not there is an unprocessed description in the data constituting the delivered XML document. If there is an unprocessed description (step S200: Yes), Proceed to step S210. If there is no unprocessed description (step S200: No), the process proceeds to step S230.

  When the processing proceeds to step S210, the XML parsing unit 220 obtains a drawing command by interpreting (parsing) the description of the XML document, and stores the obtained drawing command in the working area 22a (see FIG. 3 (3)). ). Note that the parsing performed here is processing performed in units of drawing commands, and the description of the XML document is processed in order, and when one drawing command is acquired, the process proceeds to step S220.

  Processing performed at the time of parsing will be described using the XML document shown in FIG. 7 as an example. As shown in FIG. 7, the XML document is configured by describing rendering contents in a tag described for each line and a portion surrounded by the tag. In the example of FIG. 7, according to the line numbers shown at the left end, the “3” and “4” lines include the description of the drawing contents. When parsing, the tags from the first line are interpreted in order, and the drawing commands are acquired one by one from the line in which the drawing contents are described.

  Specifically, according to the XML document shown in FIG. 7, the drawing start position A (x = 50, y = 50) is specified by the description of the line number “3”, and the drawing start is performed by the description of the line number “4”. The drawing content for drawing one object consisting of a line returning from the position A to the drawing start position A in order through the positions B (150, 50), C (150, 150), and D (50, 150) is acquired. (See FIG. 8).

  In this way, the XML parsing unit 220 parses the XML document to obtain a drawing command and a drawing start position for drawing the drawing contents including one object.

  In the examples of FIGS. 7 and 8, an example of drawing a graphic object has been described. However, the drawing contents of an XML document are not limited to this, and the drawing contents of an XML document include text and bitmap formats. It may be an image.

  Next, in step S220, the XML parsing unit 220 transfers the drawing command stored in the working area 22a to the control unit 210 (see FIG. 3 (4)). The drawing command delivered here is data specifying an address at which the drawing command is stored in the working area 22a. That is, the drawing command delivered by the XML parsing unit 220 is not in the actual data of the drawing command but in an address designation format.

  When the drawing command is transferred to the control unit 210 in step S220, the process returns to step S200, and the next drawing command is acquired from the unprocessed data included in the XML document and transferred to the control unit 210 is repeated. . When all the descriptions of the delivered XML document have been processed (step S200: No), the process proceeds to step S230, and the XML parsing unit 220 delivers a data end notification to the control unit 210.

  In this way, the XML parsing unit 220 interprets the received XML document and performs a process of passing an addressed drawing command to the control unit 210.

  Next, returning to the flowchart of FIG. 4, a processing procedure performed when the control unit 210 receives data from the XML parsing unit 220 will be described.

  The control unit 210 starts the process of step S120 at the timing when the XML document input process (steps S100 and S110) is completed. In step S120, the data control unit 212 continues to determine whether data has been received from the XML parsing unit 220 by monitoring the data delivered from the XML parsing unit 220. If data has not been received (step S120: No), monitoring is continued by performing the process of step S120 again. When data is received from the XML parsing unit 220 (step S120: Yes), the process proceeds to step S130.

  When the process proceeds to step S130, the data control unit 212 determines whether the received data is a drawing command. If the received data is a drawing command (step S130: Yes), the process proceeds to step S140. If it is not a drawing command (step S130: No), the process proceeds to step S150.

  When the processing proceeds to step S140, the data control unit 212 accesses the working area 22a of the address designation destination indicated in the drawing command, reads the actual data of the drawing command (see FIG. 3 (5)), and displays the drawing command. The actual data is transferred to the rendering unit 230 (see FIG. 3 (6)).

  When the drawing command is transferred to the rendering unit 230 in step S140, the data control unit 212 continues to monitor the data transmitted from the XML parsing unit 220 next so that the process returns to step S120.

  If the data received in the process of step S130 is not a drawing command (step S130: No), the process proceeds to step S150 to determine whether the received data is a data end notification. If the received data is not a data end notification (step S150: No), the process returns to step S120 to continue monitoring the data. If it is a data end notification (step S150: Yes), the process proceeds to step S160, and a data end notification is notified to the rendering unit 230. Then, the process shown in FIG. 4 performed by the control unit 210 for the input XML document is terminated.

  As described above, when the control unit 210 receives a drawing command from the XML parsing unit 220, the control unit 210 reads the addressed drawing command and transfers the actual data of the drawing command to the rendering unit 230. .

  Next, the processing procedure performed by the rendering unit 230 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  When the process shown in FIG. 6 is started, in step S300, the rendering unit 230 determines whether or not data has been received from the control unit 210. If no new data has been received (step S300: No), the rendering unit 230 performs a predetermined time. After the elapse of time, the determination in step S300 is performed again, and if new data has been received, the process proceeds to step S310 (step S300: Yes).

  When the process proceeds to step S310, the rendering unit 230 determines whether the received data is a drawing command. If it is a drawing command (step S310: Yes), the process proceeds to step S320. If it is not a drawing command (step S310: No), the process proceeds to step S370.

  When the process proceeds to step S320, the rendering unit 230 determines whether the received drawing command is unregistered. A specific determination method is performed by referring to a drawing command registered in the cache area 22b and searching for the same drawing command as the received drawing command. If a command whose drawing command type and its drawing contents match the received drawing command is registered, it is determined that it has been registered, and a command whose drawing command type and its drawing content match must be registered. If not, it is determined that it is not registered.

  Here, when determining the same drawing command, a drawing command having the same relative drawing content with respect to the drawing start position, that is, a drawing command having different drawing content only in the drawing start position is determined to be the same command. If the drawing command further includes an alpha value, ROP function, or color that defines the overlapping expression (alpha blending) of the drawing content, the matching drawing command including these conditions is the same drawing command. It is desirable to judge.

  If the received drawing command is not registered (step S320: Yes), the process proceeds to step S330, and drawing according to the received drawing command is performed to develop an object image in a bitmap format. In step S340, the development data registration unit 232 registers development data representing the developed object image in the cache area 22b (see FIG. 3 (7)).

  If the received drawing command has been registered (step S320: No), the process proceeds to step S350, and the expanded data corresponding to the received drawing command is read from the cache area 22b and obtained (see FIG. 3 (8)). ).

  When the process of step S340 or step S350 is completed, the process proceeds to step S360, and the rendering execution unit 231 sets the drawing position of the read development data object image so that it matches the drawing start position of the received drawing command. Coordinate conversion is performed so that the object image is arranged at the drawing start position of the received drawing command, and processing for embedding the object image in the bitmap format image data is performed. By this rendering process, bitmap format image data reflecting the rendering command to be processed is obtained. When the process of step S360 is completed, the process returns to step S310 to process the next received data.

  If the data received in step S310 is not drawing data (step S310: No), the process proceeds to step S370, and the rendering unit 230 determines whether it is a data end notification. If it is not a data end notification (step S370: No), the process returns to step S310 and the next received data is processed.

  If the received data is a data end notification (step S370: Yes), the processing from step S320 to step S360 is sequentially performed on the drawing data received from the control unit 210 one after another, and the entire XML document is handled. Since the image data has already been generated, the generated image data is transferred to the data control unit 212 (step S380), and then the processing shown in FIG. 6 ends. The control unit 210 transmits the received image data to the printer 3 via the communication I / F 26 so that the host computer 2 causes the printer 3 to print the content of the XML document.

  Note that the processes in steps S100 and S110 correspond to the input process, the processes in steps S200 to S220 correspond to the interpretation process, the processes in steps S310 to S330 and steps S350 and S360 correspond to the development process, and the process in step S340 corresponds to the registration process. To do.

  As described above, if the rendering command acquired from the XML document is not registered, the rendering unit 230 registers the object image in which the rendering command is expanded in the cache area 22b. If development data of the same drawing command has been registered, rendering is performed using the object image of the development data read from the cache area 22b.

  Hereinafter, effects of the present embodiment will be described.

  (1) When the rendering command has been registered, the rendering unit 230 reads the decompressed data representing the decompressed object image from the RAM 22 without rendering according to the rendering command, and renders the object image to be arranged. Processing can be performed. Therefore, if the XML document includes a plurality of rendering commands that are the same as the interpretation result, the processing efficiency of developing the XML document into image data is improved, and the processing can be performed at higher speed.

  (2) Interpreting an XML document and registering drawing commands with the same drawing contents even if the drawing positions are different as the same drawing command is registered, so that the probability that the registered drawing command is read and the rendering process is performed is increased, and the speed is increased. It becomes possible to process.

  Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment, and can be implemented in various forms without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Hereinafter, a modification will be described.

  (Modification 1) In the above embodiment, the development data registration unit 232 registers the developed object image for all unregistered drawing commands. However, the appearance frequency of the drawing command is determined by determining the appearance frequency of the drawing command. Only high drawing commands may be registered. For example, for a plurality of tags included in an XML document, the number of lines surrounded by tags for each drawing command (in the example of FIG. 7, the number of lines from the third row to the m-th row with respect to the drawing command of the fourth row) "M-3") is calculated. Then, a rendering command in which the appearance frequency of the number of lines in the XML document is a predetermined number or a ratio is set as a registration target. In this way, when processing an XML document including a plurality of types of commands enclosed by tags, registration is performed from drawing commands having a high appearance frequency. This increases the probability of using the registered drawing command so that it can be read out. Therefore, it is possible to realize higher-speed processing than conventional methods while improving the usage efficiency of the cache area 22b through simple processing. If the appearance frequency is highly dispersed, the possibility of using the registered drawing command is reduced, so that it may not be registered.

  (Modification 2) When a rendering command that interprets an XML document is set with an alpha value or ROP function or the like for defining an overlapping expression (alpha blend) such as a watermark of an object image, A drawing command to be registered may be determined with reference to the ROP function. For example, by registering a drawing command in which a certain alpha value is set for a developed object image as a registration target, by removing from the registration command a drawing command whose alpha value changes according to the position in the object image It is possible to perform a rendering process that reproduces the overlapping expression more quickly by simply determining the target drawing command.

  (Modification 3) In the above embodiment, one developed image is registered for one drawing command. However, one developed image obtained by developing a plurality of drawing commands may be registered. Good. That is, the development data registration unit 232 searches for a drawing command group including a plurality of drawing commands that are repeatedly used, and registers development data for one image obtained by developing each drawing command of the drawing command group. . When the rendering execution unit 231 receives the same drawing command group, the rendering execution unit 231 performs drawing processing so as to read the registered development data. In this way, since a plurality of drawing commands that repeatedly appear can be processed together, it is possible to realize faster processing.

  (Modification 4) In the above embodiment, the printer driver 200 on the host computer side as the print control apparatus performs the parsing and rendering processing, but the present invention is not limited to this mode. For example, a parsing process may be performed on the host computer side and a rendering process may be performed on the printer side. That is, as shown in FIG. 9A, the printing system 1 includes a host computer 2 including a printer driver 200 having a control unit 210 and an XML parsing unit 220, a rendering unit 230, a print processing unit 300, and a print engine. And a printer 3 having 310.

  In this printing system 1, the control unit 210 delivers the drawing command from the XML parsing unit 220 to the printer 3 via the communication I / F, and the rendering unit 230 on the printer 3 side receives the unregistered drawing command in the printer 3. Development data is registered in the memory (not shown). The rendering unit 230 generates image data using expanded data obtained by expanding the received drawing command or expanded data read from the memory. The print processing unit 300 converts the image data into an image signal corresponding to the print engine 310, and the print engine 310 performs printing according to the image signal. Thereby, the printing system which produces the same effect as the above-mentioned embodiment can be obtained.

  Also, a system having a data processing device on the printer side may be used. That is, as shown in FIG. 9B, the printer 3 includes an XML parsing unit 220, a rendering unit 230, a print processing unit 300, and a print engine 310. In this case, the host computer 2 transmits print data including an XML document to the printer 3, and the data processing apparatus on the printer side having the XML parsing unit 220 and the rendering unit 230 performs parsing and rendering.

  (Modification 5) The data format after expansion is not limited to the bitmap format. For example, in a printing system that delivers intermediate code data indicating a rendering content command for each band, the rendering unit 230 may develop the rendering command into intermediate code data (image data).

  (Modification 6) In the above embodiment, an example of processing XML format data has been described. However, data described in a markup language such as HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) or XHTML (Extensible Hypertext Markup Language) is processed. You may do it.

  (Modification 7) The present invention is not limited to a printer, but can also be applied to a copying machine or a fax machine. Further, as long as the XML document is processed into image data such as a bitmap, the present invention is not limited to the above-described device, and can be used for various purposes.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing system according to an embodiment. The block diagram which showed the functional structure of the host computer. Explanatory drawing explaining the movement of the data in a printer driver. The flowchart which showed the process sequence which a control part performs. The flowchart which showed the process sequence which an XML parsing part performs. The flowchart which showed the process sequence which a rendering part performs. The figure which showed an example of the XML document. The figure which showed the example of drawing according to a drawing command. Explanatory drawing for demonstrating a 4th modification, (a), (b) is a figure showing an example of a modification.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printing system, 2 ... Host computer as printing control apparatus, 3 ... Printer as printing apparatus, 4 ... Network server, 5 ... CD-ROM as recording medium, 20 ... CPU, 21 ... ROM, 22 ... Storage means RAM, 22a ... working area, 22b ... cache area, 23 ... hard disk, 24 ... CD-ROM drive, 25 ... network interface, 26 ... communication interface, 100 ... application, 200 ... printer driver as data processing device, 210 ... Control unit 211... XML document input unit as input means 212... Data control unit 220. XML parsing unit as interpretation means 230. Rendering unit 231 Rendering execution unit as development means 232. As an exhibition Data registration unit, 300 ... printing section, 310 ... print engine.

Claims (12)

An input means for receiving input data in which the drawing content is described in a markup language;
Interpreting means for interpreting the input data and successively obtaining drawing commands from the input data;
The drawing command is developed into a developed image, and a drawing process by arranging the developed image is sequentially executed for the acquired drawing command to generate image data representing an image in which a plurality of developed images are arranged. Deployment means to
Registration means for registering the developed image in a storage means,
The expansion unit expands the same drawing command for the processing target drawing command when a developed image of the same drawing command as the processing target of the drawing process has been registered in the storage unit. A data processing apparatus that performs drawing processing by reading an image from the storage unit and arranging the read developed image. The data processing apparatus according to claim 1,
The interpretation means interprets the input data to obtain a drawing position of the drawing command, and draw commands that differ only in the drawing position as the same drawing command,
The unfolding unit reads a unfolded image of the same drawing command as the drawing command to be processed from the storage unit, and arranges the read unfolded image according to the drawing position of the drawing command to be processed to perform the drawing process. A data processing apparatus that performs the processing. The data processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The interpretation unit calculates an appearance frequency in the input data for each of the acquired drawing commands, and determines a drawing command to be registered in the developed image according to the frequency of the appearance frequency apparatus. The data processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein
The interpreter calculates the number of tag lines included in a portion corresponding to the drawing command in the input data for each drawing command, and sets the number of tag lines as the appearance frequency of the drawing command. A data processing device. In the data processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
When the interpreting unit obtains a drawing command in which a synthesis condition for synthesizing the developed image with the background image represented by the deployed image already arranged is set,
The expanding means treats the same drawing command including the combining condition as the same drawing command, and reflects the combining condition in the expanded image of the drawing command,
The data processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the registration unit registers a developed image reflecting the synthesis condition in the storage unit. The data processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
When generating image data for each band having a predetermined rectangular area from the input data,
The data processing apparatus characterized in that the interpreting means and the expanding means perform processing for each band. The data processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
The data processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the markup language is one of XML, HTML, and XHTML. A printing control device that supplies image data for printing to a printing device,
An input means for receiving input data in which the drawing content is described in a markup language;
Interpreting means for interpreting the input data and successively obtaining drawing commands from the input data;
The drawing command is developed into a developed image, and a drawing process by arranging the developed image is sequentially executed for the acquired drawing command to generate image data representing an image in which a plurality of developed images are arranged. Deployment means to
Registration means for registering the developed image in a storage means,
The expansion unit expands the same drawing command for the processing target drawing command when a developed image of the same drawing command as the processing target of the drawing process has been registered in the storage unit. A printing control apparatus that performs drawing processing by reading an image from the storage unit and arranging the read developed image. A printing system comprising a printing device and a printing control device for controlling the printing device,
The print control device includes:
An input means for receiving input data in which the drawing content is described in a markup language;
Interpretation means for interpreting the input data and sequentially obtaining drawing commands from the input data;
The printing apparatus includes:
An image for printing representing an image in which a plurality of developed images are arranged by executing drawing processing by expanding the drawing command into a developed image and arranging the developed image one after another for the acquired drawing command. Expansion means for generating data;
Registration means for registering the developed image in a storage means,
The expansion unit expands the same drawing command for the processing target drawing command when a developed image of the same drawing command as the processing target of the drawing process has been registered in the storage unit. A printing system that performs drawing processing by reading an image from the storage unit and arranging the read developed image. An input process for receiving input data in which a drawing content is described in a markup language;
Interpreting the input data and sequentially obtaining drawing commands from the input data;
The drawing command is developed into a developed image, and a drawing process by arranging the developed image is sequentially executed for the acquired drawing command to generate image data representing an image in which a plurality of developed images are arranged. Deployment process to
A registration step of registering the developed image in a storage means,
In the expanding step, when a developed image of the same drawing command as the drawing command to be processed in the drawing process has been registered in the storage unit, the same drawing command is expanded for the processing target drawing command. A data processing method comprising: performing drawing processing by reading an image from the storage unit and arranging the read developed image. Computer
An input means for receiving input data in which the drawing content is described in a markup language;
Interpreting means for interpreting the input data and sequentially obtaining drawing commands from the input data;
The drawing command is developed into a developed image, and a drawing process by arranging the developed image is sequentially executed for the acquired drawing command to generate image data representing an image in which a plurality of developed images are arranged. Deployment means,
Function as registration means for registering the developed image in the storage means,
The expansion unit expands the same drawing command for the processing target drawing command when a developed image of the same drawing command as the processing target of the drawing process has been registered in the storage unit. A data processing program for performing drawing processing by reading out an image from the storage means and arranging the read out developed image. A computer-readable recording medium on which the data processing program according to claim 11 is recorded.

Images