JP2008054110A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the convenience of a document with an attached file by simultaneously printing text and the attached file in an electronic document with the attached file during direct printing and further attaching attached file print page information to a file attachment position in the text. <P>SOLUTION: This image forming apparatus is composed of an attached information simultaneous printing processing means for simultaneously printing information added by an annotation adding means for adding to the original electronic document, attached files in various formats as an annotation which is not printed usually together with the original electronic document. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming system for an electronic document, and more particularly to an image forming system capable of directly receiving an electronic document and performing a printing process.

  Currently, text and attached files can be added as annotations to electronic documents. Additional information such as text and memos could be changed in print form according to the user's purpose (see Patent Document 1), but when attached files are added, electronic documents can be viewed and edited. Although it was possible to develop and browse on the host computer using the application software, there was no means for obtaining additional printed information as a print result along with the text of the electronic document when the information was printed. In the text, only marks (icons) for identifying them were printed at locations where annotations of attached files were attached (FIG. 2).

  Conventionally, when printing an electronic document, the electronic document is directly sent to the image forming apparatus and printed without using application software such as Document Viewer as a data file browsing means of the electronic document or Document Editor as an editing means. However, in that case, there was no means for selecting whether or not to print a file attached as an annotation.

  Annotation attachments that can be viewed with Document Viewer have a variety of file formats. When there are multiple attachments, it is difficult to read the relationship with the text from the print result. In the text, annotations can be displayed as icons.

As a similar technique to the case where a file format that cannot be interpreted by the image forming apparatus is attached, regarding the attached data of the e-mail, a proposal has been made to print the attached data that cannot be interpreted by the image forming apparatus together with the e-mail. Yes. (See Patent Document 2)
JP2004-50722 (P2004-50722A) JP2003-169183A (P2003-169183A)

  In the past, when an attached file was added to an annotation in an electronic document, it was possible to expand the attached file on the host terminal and browse the contents by using application software that can view and edit the data file of the electronic document However, there has been no means for obtaining additional print information as a result of expanding the additional information of the attached files in various file formats together with the text of the electronic document. Therefore, even when a mark (icon) for identifying an attached file is displayed in the text, it is necessary to print the additional information by the attached file and take measures accordingly, which is not convenient and the significance of attachment. Was not fully utilized.

Multiple computers and image forming devices are connected via a network line.
In an image forming apparatus having an electronic document direct printing unit that directly inputs a print process by directly inputting from a computer without processing any electronic data of the electronic document,
Additional information simultaneous printing processing means for printing information added by annotation adding means for adding attachment files in various formats as annotations, which are usually non-printing items, to the original electronic document simultaneously with the original electronic document Have

  According to the present invention, the electronic document transmitted from the host terminal to the image forming apparatus is added to the electronic file in which an attached file in a file format that cannot be interpreted by the image forming apparatus is added as an annotation by using a print control unit that analyzes the image forming apparatus. Even when printing of a document is executed, an electronic document in the body and an attached file can be obtained simultaneously as a print result.

(Example 1)
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of an embodiment of the present invention, where 100 is an image forming apparatus, 200 is a host computer, and 300 is a network line connecting the host computer and the image forming apparatus.

  Further, the printer controller unit 110 in FIG. 1 conceptually illustrates functional blocks. The printer controller 110 and the host computer 200 include hardware such as a central processing unit (CPU), read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), hard disk drive (HDD), and various input / output control units (I / O). Under software, software called basic software controls the network, and under the basic software, network communication processing and electronic document transmission / reception processing (for example, built-in commands such as the COPY command and 1pr command) In addition, each application software such as image development processing of a print job and job control is configured to operate.

  According to the present invention, in the above configuration, the image forming apparatus main body side print processing in the system that directly transmits the electronic document 201 existing in the host computer 200 to the image forming apparatus via the application 202 for sending to the image forming apparatus main body. To be implemented.

  According to the present invention, the additional information print processing means for performing print processing in association with the original electronic document is added to the information added by the annotation addition means for adding an attached file, which is normally a non-print item, to the electronic document as an annotation. In addition to the document printing means, additional information reading means for reading the annotation information from the electronic document data, the printing that requests the file format that cannot be analyzed by the image forming apparatus again, and associates the electronic document and the attached file as the same document. This is realized by the control means and the additional information drawing means for drawing the additional information of the attached file on the rendering result of the electronic document.

  First, the configuration of a laser beam printer (hereinafter referred to as “LBP”) responsible for printing in a printing system to which the present invention is applied will be described.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 denotes an LBP main body, which is an electronic document supplied from a host computer or the like connected to the outside via a network or the like, or print data converted into a PDL code (from character code, image data, and control code). Print information) is input and stored, and a corresponding character pattern, print image, or the like is created in accordance with the information, and an image is formed on recording paper as a storage medium.

  Reference numeral 120 denotes an operation panel on which switches for operation and an LED display are arranged, and 110 denotes a printer controller for controlling the LBP main body 100 and analyzing character information supplied from a host computer and performing printing processing. The print information developed in the printer controller unit 110 is converted into a video signal of a corresponding pattern, and the electrostatic drum is scanned and exposed by laser light emitted from the semiconductor laser according to the input video signal. An electrostatic latent image is formed, and the latent image is developed by a developing unit disposed around the electrostatic drum and then transferred to a recording sheet.

  The printing apparatus to which the present invention can be applied is not limited to LBP, and may be a color LBP or a printer of another printing system such as an ink jet printer, and has a composite function such as a digital copying machine. Needless to say, the image forming apparatus may include the image forming apparatus.

  In the image forming apparatus 100, the printer controller unit includes a network interface (I / F) unit 111 serving as a connection means with a host computer, a reception buffer 1121 for temporarily storing and managing received data, and transmission data. A transmission buffer 1122 for temporarily storing and managing the print data, an electronic document analysis unit or PDL analysis unit 113 that manages print data analysis, a print control process execution unit 114, a drawing process execution unit 115, a page memory 116, and the like ing.

  The network interface (I / F) unit 111 is a communication unit that transmits and receives print data to and from the host computer 200 via the network line 300, and enables communication conforming to various network protocols such as TCP / IP as a communication protocol. To do. The print data received through the network interface unit 111 is sequentially accumulated in a reception buffer 1121 that is a storage means for temporarily storing the data, and if necessary, an electronic document analysis unit or a PDL analysis unit 113 or a drawing process execution unit. It is read and processed by 115.

  The electronic document analysis unit or PDL analysis unit 113 includes an electronic document analysis program for directly analyzing an electronic document or a control program according to each PDL command system and a print job control language. PDL data is processed by giving an instruction to the drawing processing execution unit 115 for analysis of print data related to drawing of characters, graphics, images, etc. Commands other than drawing, such as paper feed selection and reset commands, are printed control processing An instruction is given to the execution unit 114 for processing.

  The drawing processing execution unit 115 sequentially develops each object of characters and images on the page memory 116. In addition, when the encoded image data is decoded and expanded in the page memory, the drawing processing execution unit 115 performs a data decoding process. The page memory 116 may be managed by tracking the expansion process and video signal shipping to the printer engine, that is, banding control. If there is enough memory, an area that can be expanded for one page is secured. You may do it. The printer controller unit 110 may have a configuration in which dedicated controller hardware is prepared for each function and processed independently.

  The operation panel 120 is for setting and displaying various states of the printing apparatus. The output control unit 130 converts the contents of the page memory 116 into a video signal and transfers the image to the printer engine unit 140. The printer engine unit 140 is a printing mechanism unit for forming a received video signal on a recording sheet as a permanent visible image.

  The hard disk 150 in the image forming apparatus includes a temporary area 1501 and a box area 1502 as shown in FIG. The temporary area 1501 is, for example, electronically sorted in order to change the output order of image data, can be output in a single scan when outputting a plurality of copies, or temporarily stored before the data is stored in a box area or the like. This is a storage area that is used when temporarily saving image data obtained by saving or developing PDL data or image data from a scanner. After both processes are completed, the image data saved in the temporary area Erased. The temporary area 1501 is further divided into tmpBox 1504˜, and each has a file management table called a file list 1507.

  The file list 1507 is for entering the file name of each file, the file format, whether or not the image forming apparatus can interpret the file, the tmpBox storage state to be described later, and the presence or absence of rendering. The box area 1502 is a storage area for using the box function, and is further divided into a plurality of smaller storage areas 1502. These small storage areas are called boxes. The boxes 1502 to 1502 are assigned to individual users or departments, and the user can specify a box for storing data and store a PDL job or a scan job in the specified box.

  Next, FIG. 4 shows an example of the configuration of an electronic document. A data file of an electronic document is roughly divided into a header 401, a catalog 402, an object 403, and a trailer 404.

  The header 401 includes header information that is a key for specifying the electronic document. For example, a PDF includes a character string such as “medium% PDF-1.4 medium”. The catalog 402 corresponds to a table of contents of a document, and is defined as a cross-reference table (referred to as an Xref table) that stores the positions in the file of all indirect objects in the file.

  Object 403 consists of drawing objects such as fonts, text, graphics, and images used in the document, a Catalog object that is the root of the tree structure of the entire PDF file, and a tree structure of the page that appears in the outline table of contents. It consists of a Page object that creates a pointer to the page, a Page object that describes the individual page to be drawn, and the like.

  For example, one text object has information such as a text character string, a text layout position, a font name, a character size, and a character color. Furthermore, these attributes can be objects that can be shared with other objects. For example, several text objects can refer to the same font object. The trailer 404 defines the number of elements in the Xref table and the start address of the cross reference table.

  For example, when an annotation is added, an Annotation object as shown in FIG. 5 is added as an additional object as a file structure.

  An Annotation object has a structure as shown in FIG. 5, an object Type identifier 501 indicates that the object is an Annotation object, and a sub-object Type identifier 502 defines the type of Annotation. Here, a subtype of file is defined, but graphics, images, audio, and moving images may be used. Rect 503 is layout information of the Annotation object in the document.

  Reference numeral 504 denotes owner information indicating who added the annotation. Reference numeral 505 denotes the content of an actual annotation. Finally, a terminator indicating the end of the object is entered as 506. In the above, each component which comprises this invention was demonstrated based on FIG.1, FIG.3, FIG.4 and FIG.

  Next, an outline of the flow of processing for the operation of the present invention will be described. 6, FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 are flowcharts showing the flow of processing in the first embodiment. 6 and 7 show processing performed on the image forming apparatus side, and FIG. 8 shows processing performed on the host computer side.

  First, the flow of FIG. 6 will be described.

  It is determined whether or not a file is attached from the trailer 404 (S1002).

  If the file exists, any tmpBox in the temporary area of the hard disk in the image forming apparatus to be used for processing is set (S1003), and a file list in the set tmpBox is created (S1004). As shown in FIG. 10, the file list specifies the number, the file name of each file, the file format, whether the image forming apparatus can interpret the file, the tmpBox storage state (to be described later), and whether or not to render. When creating the file list, the file name of each file, the file format, and whether or not the image forming apparatus can interpret the file are entered, and the tmpBox storage state and rendering are set to “not yet”. This file list includes the text. As described above, this file list exists in each tmpBox in the temporary area of the hard disk.

  If the interpretation of the file list of all files is “Yes”, the created file list is deleted (S1013), and printing of all the files is executed (S1015).

  If there is at least one file whose interpretation of the file list is “impossible”, each file is checked from the top of the file list. If the image can be analyzed by the image forming apparatus, the file list is entered as “completed” and the rendering as “not yet” (S1010), and stored in the tmpBox set above (S1011).

  If the file format cannot be interpreted by the image forming device, enter “not yet” for the file list and “not yet” for rendering (S1008), and send the file to the host computer together with the tmpBox number set above. A conversion process is requested (S1009). The image forming apparatus repeats the processing from S1007 to S1011 until it is executed for all the files described in the file list (S1012).

  Next, processing on the host computer side will be described using the flow of FIG.

  The host computer waits for the processing to come anytime since the conversion (S1102).

  After the conversion process, the file is converted into PDL data (S1103), and the PDL data is transmitted to the tmpBox set in the image forming apparatus (S1104). The host computer repeats this process for the number of files in a file format that cannot be interpreted by the image forming apparatus. The host computer described here may be a host computer that has requested printing or another computer connected via a network. As a method for storing data in a predetermined storage area in the image forming apparatus, an existing technique is used. At this time, the storage item of the file list is changed to “Done”.

  Finally, the subsequent processing on the image forming apparatus side will be described using the flow shown in FIG.

  Renders the files in tmpBox one after another. First, focus on the first file in the file list. For items for which the file list storage item is “done” and rendering is “uncompleted”, rendering is performed (S1021), and rendering of the file list is changed to “done” (S1022). The rendered file is stored in the tmpBox set above (S1023).

  If the file list storage item is “not yet”, the file advances to the next file in the file list to indicate that the conversion process is being requested (S1025). The processes from S1019 to S1023 are repeated until the file list is completed (S1024). The file is always communicated between the computer and the image forming apparatus with the file list number, and the conversion request file sent to the computer and the converted file received from the computer must match using the file list number. And

  Finally, since the file list was not yet stored, even if the rendering process was skipped, in order to perform the rendering process, until the items in the file list were all “done” The process is repeated (S1026).

  When rendering of all files is completed, printing is started (S1027). This makes it possible to print all documents in the same way. After printing, all documents are deleted from tmpBox (S1028). If necessary, you can copy it to any Box in the box area and save it.

  A specific example will be described by direct file printing shown in FIG. The file format of the text is PDF, the file format of attached file 1 is PDF, and the file format of attached file 2 is Word.

  First, in the flow of FIG. 6, since an attached file is attached in S1002, the process proceeds to S1003, and a tmpBox to be stored is set. Here, tmpBox1. Next, create a file list. An example of the created file list is shown in FIG. Here, a to f are “not yet”.

  Since the image forming device cannot analyze all the files, pay attention to the first file in the file list (S1006), and store “text” in tmpBox1 because it can be analyzed. Rewrite as “not yet”.

  Pay attention to the next file list (S1014). Since “Attachment 1” can be analyzed, it is stored in tmpBox1, and c in the file list is rewritten as “done” and d is rewritten as “not yet”.

  Further, pay attention to the next file (S1014). Since “attached file 2” cannot be analyzed, it is transmitted to the host computer together with the information of “tmpBox1” storing other files (S1009). At this time, “e” in the file list is rewritten as “not yet”, and “f” is rewritten as “not yet”.

  Next, the flow proceeds to the flow of FIG.

  The host computer receives a request for conversion processing of “attached file 2” (S1102). “Attachment 2” is converted into PDL data (S1103), and PDL data is transmitted to “tmpBox1” (S1104). As a method for storing data in a predetermined storage area in the image forming apparatus, an existing technique is used. At this time, the storage item of the file list of “attached file 2” is changed to “done”.

  Finally, the flow proceeds to the flow of FIG.

  Attention is paid to the first file in the file list (S1018), and since the stored item of the “text” file list is “completed”, the process proceeds to S1020. Since the rendering item is “not yet”, rendering is performed (S1021), and b in the file list is rewritten as “done” (S1022). Since all the files in the file list have not been checked, the process proceeds to S1025.

  Paying attention to the next file list (S1025), the storage item of the file list of “attached file 1” is “done”, so the process proceeds to S1019. Since the item of rendering is “not yet”, rendering is performed (S1021), and d in the file list is rewritten as “done” (S1022). Since all the files in the file list have not been checked, the process proceeds to S1025.

  Further, pay attention to the next file list (S1025).

  If the storage item of the file list of “attached file 2” is “not yet”, the conversion process is still in progress, and the process proceeds to S1026. Since all the rendering processes have not been completed, the process returns to S1019. S1019 to S1026 are repeated until the stored item in the file list of “attached file 2” is changed to “done”.

  When the storage item of the file list of “attached file 2” becomes “done”, rendering is performed (S1021), and f in the file list is rewritten as “done”.

  Since all the files in the file list have been rendered, printing starts here.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, even when a file that cannot be analyzed by the image forming apparatus is attached to an electronic document, the text and the attached document can be output simultaneously by waiting in tmpBox. In addition, by rendering the document in tmpBox at the time of requesting the conversion process, it can be output as soon as the files are ready, so the printing time can be shortened.

(Example 2)
In the following embodiment, in addition to the first embodiment, control related to the output order of attached files is performed.

  An outline of the flow of processing will be described for the operation of the second embodiment. 6 and 8 are the same as those in the first embodiment, and the changed points are the portions corresponding to FIG. This flow is shown in FIG. As the file list, the file list shown in FIG. 13 in which the rendering portion in FIG. 10 is changed to intermediate data is used.

  Since the attached file sorting process of the image forming apparatus and the host computer conversion process are the same as those in the first embodiment, the subsequent flow will be described below.

  Processing on the image forming apparatus side will be described using the flow shown in FIG.

  The files in tmpBox are converted to intermediate data such as UDL sequentially. First, focus on the first file in the file list. If the file list storage item is “completed” and the intermediate data is “uncompleted”, intermediate data conversion processing is performed (S2021), and the intermediate data in the file list is changed to “completed” (S2022). . The file converted to the intermediate data is stored in the tmpBox set above (S2023).

  If the file list storage item is “not yet”, the file advances to the next file in the file list to indicate that the conversion process is being requested (S2025). The processes from S2019 to S2023 are repeated until the file list is completed (S2024).

  Finally, since the file list was not yet stored, even if the rendering process was skipped, in order to perform the rendering process, until the items in the file list were all “done” The process is repeated (S1026).

  When rendering of all the files is completed, the page number on which the attached file is printed is described in the footer or the like of the page in which the attached file is annotated in the body, and the body is associated with the attached file (S2027). In addition, the bookbinding and other documents are processed according to the print settings of the entire document.

  When the document processing is completed, rendering is performed (S2028), and printing is executed (S2029). After printing, all documents are deleted from tmpBox (S1030). If necessary, you can copy and save it to any Box in the box area.

  FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a document for direct printing.

  FIG. 15 shows an example of the print result when FIG. 14 is directly printed.

  If file 1 is attached to the first page of the body and file 2 is attached to the third page, first, the number of pages through all the files is allocated. Then, the page 1 of the file 1 is printed on the first page of the footer, and the page 2 of the file 2 is printed on the third page of the footer.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment of the present invention, even when a file that cannot be analyzed by the image forming apparatus is attached to an electronic document, the text and the attached document can be output simultaneously by waiting in tmpBox. In addition, since the file is stored as tmpBox with intermediate data, the data can be processed even after all the documents are prepared, and a more convenient output result for the user can be obtained.

2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the image forming apparatus 100. FIG. It is a figure which shows the example which attached the attached file as an annotation in an electronic document. 2 is a diagram illustrating details of a hard disk existing in the image forming apparatus 100. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of a structure of an electronic document. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a file configuration when an annotation is added. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of attached file sorting processing performed by the image forming apparatuses according to the first and second embodiments. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of in-box check and print processing performed by the image forming apparatus according to the first exemplary embodiment. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of conversion processing performed by the computer according to the first and second embodiments. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of in-box check and print processing performed by the image forming apparatus according to the second exemplary embodiment. It is a figure which shows the file list used in Example 1. FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a direct-printed document used in a specific example of Example 1. It is a figure which shows the file list of the original document shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the file list used in Example 2. FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a direct-printed document used in a specific example of Example 2. It is a figure which shows the printing result of the original document shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Image forming apparatus 110 Printer controller part 111 Network I / F part 1121 Reception buffer 1122 Transmission buffer 113 Electronic document analysis part PDL analysis part 114 Print control process execution part 115 Drawing process execution part 116 Page memory 120 Operation panel 130 Output control part 140 Printer engine 150 HDD
1501 Temporary area 1502 Box area (Box1)
1503 Box area (Box2)
200 Host Computer 201 Electronic Document 202 Application 203 Network I / F Unit 300 Network Line

Claims (11)

Multiple computers and image forming devices are connected via a network line.
In an image forming apparatus having an electronic document direct printing unit that directly inputs a print process by directly inputting from a computer without processing any electronic data of the electronic document,
Additional information simultaneous printing processing means for printing information added by annotation adding means for adding attachment files in various formats as annotations, which are usually non-printing items, to the original electronic document simultaneously with the original electronic document An image forming apparatus comprising: In claim 1,
Means for determining whether the attached file is in a format that can be interpreted by the image forming apparatus; if the determining means determines that the file format of the attached file cannot be interpreted by the image forming apparatus, a connection is made via a network line An image forming apparatus, wherein a printing process is executed by requesting a conversion process to a printable format from any one of the computers. In claim 2,
An image forming apparatus comprising: means for waiting for a document in a storage unit in the image forming apparatus until conversion processing of all files included in the same document is completed during the printing process. In claim 3,
An image forming apparatus, wherein all documents in the storage unit are rendered and prepared in a printable state while waiting for documents in the storage unit. In claims 1 to 4,
The image forming apparatus comprising means for transmitting data to the computer and means for receiving data from the computer. In claim 1,
An image forming apparatus comprising: additional information association print processing means for performing print processing by adding information indicating association between an original electronic document and an attached file. In claim 6,
When an attached file in a file format that cannot be interpreted by the image forming apparatus is added, the printing process is executed by requesting a conversion process to a printable format from any of the computers connected via the network line. An image forming apparatus. In claim 7,
Requesting conversion processing of a file format that cannot be interpreted by the image forming apparatus to a format that can be printed by any of the computers connected via a network line During the printing processing, conversion processing for all files included in the same document is completed. An image forming apparatus having means for waiting for a document in a storage unit in the image forming apparatus until the image is received. In claim 8,
An image forming apparatus characterized in that while waiting for a document in a storage unit, all the documents in the storage unit are converted to intermediate data one stage before printing. In claim 9,
An image forming apparatus that performs rendering processing after processing data for associating an original electronic document with an attached file for all documents converted into intermediate data. In claims 6 to 10,
The image forming apparatus comprising means for transmitting data to the computer and means for receiving data from the computer.

Images