JP2008090356A - Print system, print control device and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily assign an unfilled space region on a paper as a print region. <P>SOLUTION: Document data of a document to be printed are accepted, the unfilled space region of the paper on which the accepted document data is printed is extracted by an unfilled space region extraction part 522, the document data are assigned onto the unfilled space region extracted by a print start position control part 524, and the document data assigned to the unfilled space region are printed on the paper by a printer 70. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing system that prints a document by allocating a printing area on a medium.

  When a document is printed on a sheet or the like using an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a printing position and a printing direction on the sheet are set from a terminal device such as a personal computer (PC) connected to the image forming apparatus. Thus, it is possible to freely assign a document on a sheet (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2000-132369 A (page 2-3)

Here, in general, a document has already been printed in some areas on the paper, but when there are printable margins in other areas, the margins are used from the viewpoint of effective use of the paper. New printing may be performed. For example, such margins are often used for trial printing.
However, in that case, it has been extremely troublesome for the user himself to grasp the position of the margin area on the paper and to accurately assign the margin area as the print area.

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the technical problems as described above, and an object thereof is to make it possible to easily allocate a blank area on a sheet as a print area. .

  For this purpose, the printing system of the present invention includes a document receiving unit that receives document data of a document to be printed, a blank region extracting unit that extracts a blank region of a medium on which the document data is printed, and a blank region extracting unit. The document allocating means for allocating the document data to the blank area extracted in step (1), and the printing means for printing the document data allocated by the document allocating means on a medium.

Here, print history storage means for storing, as print history information, information relating to the area where the document data on the medium is printed is further provided, and the blank area extraction means is based on the print history information stored in the print history storage means. Thus, a blank area of the medium can be extracted.
In particular, the apparatus further comprises identification information generating means for generating identification information for identifying the medium, instructing the printing means to print the identification information, and identification information receiving means for receiving input of the identification information printed on the medium, The print history storage means stores the print history information in association with the identification information, and the margin area extraction means is the print history information stored in the print history storage means, the identification information received by the identification information reception means. The margin area is extracted based on the print history information corresponding to. In addition, when document data is newly printed on the medium by the printing unit, the print history information update unit updates the print history information by adding information about the area where the new document data is printed to the print history information. Can be further provided.

Further, the image reading device further includes an image reading unit that reads a document image on the medium, and the blank area extracting unit extracts a blank region of the medium based on the document image read by the image reading unit. it can.
Further, the document allocating means may perform a coordinate conversion process for moving the coordinates of the document data received by the document receiving means to the blank area extracted by the blank area extracting means.

  Further, the printing system of the present invention includes a document receiving unit that receives document data of a document to be printed, a document size receiving unit that receives an input of a document size, and a medium that receives an input of a size of a medium on which the document data is printed Size accepting means, printable area extracting means for extracting a printable area of the document on the medium based on the document size accepted by the document size accepting means and the medium size accepted by the medium size accepting means And document allocating means for allocating document data to the area extracted by the printable area extracting means, and printing means for printing the document data allocated by the document allocating means on a medium.

  Further, the present invention is regarded as a print control apparatus, and the print control apparatus of the present invention includes a document reception unit that receives document data of a document to be printed, and a blank area extraction unit that extracts a blank area of a medium on which the document data is printed. And document allocating means for allocating document data to the margin area extracted by the margin area extracting means.

  Here, whether the document of the size accepted by the document size accepting means can be allocated to the margin size extracted by the document size accepting means for accepting the input of the size of the document to be printed and the margin area extracting means. And a document allocation unit that allocates the document data of the document to a blank area when it is determined by the printability determination unit that the document can be allocated. It can be. In addition, when a plurality of margin areas are extracted by the margin area extracting means, the apparatus further comprises a margin area specifying means for accepting designation of one or a plurality of margin areas by the user, and the document allocation means is the margin area specifying means. The document data can be assigned to the designated margin area. Further, the document receiving means converts the document data into bitmap data after receiving the document data, and the blank area extracting means extracts the blank area based on the bitmap data converted by the document receiving means. Can be a feature.

Further, the present invention is regarded as a program, and the program of the present invention has a function of accepting document data of a document to be printed on a computer, a function of extracting a margin area of a medium on which the document data is printed, and an extracted margin. It is characterized by realizing a function of assigning document data to an area.
Here, such a program can further be characterized by further realizing a function of storing information relating to an area where document data on a medium is printed in a memory as print history information. Further, it is possible to further realize a function of determining whether or not document data can be allocated to the extracted blank area.

  Note that this program may be executed by loading a program stored in a reserved area such as a hard disk into the RAM, for example. In addition, there is a form that is executed by the CPU in a state stored in the ROM in advance. Further, when a rewritable ROM such as an EEPROM is provided, only a program may be provided and installed in the ROM after the device is assembled. In providing this program, it is also conceivable that the program is transmitted to a computer having a data recording device via a network such as the Internet and installed in a ROM of the data recording device.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to easily assign the margin area on the paper as the print area.
According to claim 2 of the present invention, it is possible to grasp the margin area on the already printed paper.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, it is possible to easily identify a sheet that has already been printed based on the identification information, and quickly grasp the blank area on the sheet.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to grasp the margin area on the paper on which printing has been performed a plurality of times.
According to claim 5 of the present invention, it is possible to easily grasp a blank area on a sheet on which a printing history when printing has been performed in the past is not recorded.
According to claim 6 of the present invention, a document can be automatically assigned to a blank area.

  According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, the user can perform printing in a blank area desired by the user while visually confirming the output paper to be used and grasping the position of the printed area.

According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to easily allocate the margin area on the paper as the print area.
According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, the user can easily grasp whether or not the document can be printed in the blank area, and can select an appropriate sheet.
According to the tenth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to freely set a margin area corresponding to the document size and the like.
Further, according to the eleventh aspect of the present invention, the margin area can be set by being subdivided, and the use efficiency of the paper can be further increased.

According to the twelfth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to easily allocate the margin area on the paper as the print area.
According to the thirteenth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to grasp the margin area on the already printed paper.
According to the fourteenth aspect of the present invention, the user can easily grasp whether or not a document can be printed in the blank area, and can select an appropriate sheet.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[Embodiment 1]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of a printing system 1 to which the exemplary embodiment is applied. The printing system 1 shown in FIG. 1 is a medium that receives a print instruction from a user, such as a document, and transmits the print job as a print job, and receives a print job from the terminal device 10. A printer 70 as an image forming apparatus (printing unit) that performs printing on a sheet is connected to each other via a communication cable 60.

The terminal device 10 generates document data such as a document (document) in accordance with a predetermined application software, and issues a print instruction for the generated document data and stored document data. A document data generation unit 30 to perform, a storage unit 40 realized by, for example, a hard disk (Hard Disk Drive) in which document data, a program, and the like are stored. And a printer driver 50 that generates print data as a print job. Here, as the terminal device 10, for example, a personal computer (PC) is used.
In this specification, the term “document” is used. This “document” includes, in addition to text, for example, an image such as a photograph or a graphic.

  Note that the above-described functional units of the terminal device 10 are realized by cooperation of software and hardware resources. Specifically, a CPU (not shown) of the terminal device 10 reads a predetermined program from the storage unit 40 to a main storage device (for example, ROM), and performs functions of the control unit 20, the document data generation unit 30, and the printer driver 50. Perform the process to be realized.

  The printer 70 is constituted by an image forming mechanism (printer engine) made of, for example, an electrophotographic system, and prints document data on a sheet. Note that the printer 70 may use any other type of printer engine such as an inkjet method.

Next, the configuration of the printer driver 50 provided in the terminal device 10 according to the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the printer driver 50. As shown in FIG. 2, the printer driver 50 receives various instruction inputs from the user, displays predetermined information to the user, a user interface (UI) unit 51, print data as a print job, A print processing unit 52 to be generated is included.

The UI unit 51 includes a document size input unit (document size receiving unit) 511 that receives designation from the user for the size of the document created by the document data generation unit 30, and a specific sheet used for printing by the printer 70. A sheet identification information input unit (identification information receiving unit) 512 that receives designation from the user of sheet identification information (sheet identification information will be described later) attached to, and a document of a size designated by the document size input unit 511 A printable area display unit 513 for displaying an area that can be allocated on the sheet designated by the sheet identification information input unit 512 (if there are a plurality of such areas, all of the plurality of areas); When there are multiple areas on the paper to which a document of the specified size can be assigned, the user specifies the area (print area) to which the document is assigned. A printing area input unit 514 is provided as an example of the margin area specifying means.
The UI unit 51 is realized by, for example, a liquid crystal display provided in the terminal device 10.

  Here, as the paper identification information (also referred to as output paper identification information), a document is printed on a new paper (an unused paper on which nothing is printed) by the printer 70 in the printing system 1 of the present embodiment. In this case, for example, the identification information is printed in the lower right corner of the paper and used to individually identify the paper. Therefore, one sheet identification information for identifying the sheet from other sheets is printed on the sheet printed by the printer 70.

  The print processing unit 52 includes a print history storage unit (print history storage unit) 521 that stores coordinate data and paper identification information of a region where a document is printed on paper as print history data (print history information), and paper identification information. A blank area extracting unit (margin area extracting unit) 522 that reads the print history data of the sheet corresponding to the sheet identification information designated by the user in the input unit 512 from the print history storage unit 521, and extracts information regarding the margin area, document size A printability determination unit (printability determination unit) 523 that determines whether or not a document having a size specified by the input unit 511 can be printed in the blank area extracted by the blank area extraction unit 522 is provided. ing.

Furthermore, the print processing unit 52 determines a position coordinate to start printing in response to the designation of the print area in the print area input unit 514, and is an example of a document allocation unit that assigns a document to the designated print area. A print output unit 525 that generates print data based on a print instruction from the print start position control unit 524 and the document data generation unit 30 and position coordinate information for starting printing determined by the print start position control unit 524. It has.
In addition, based on the print data generated by the print output unit 525, a print history data update unit (print history information update unit) that updates the print history data stored in the print history storage unit 521 for the printed paper. ) 526.

Next, the printing process in the printing system 1 of the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a print processing procedure in the printing system 1 according to the embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, in the printer driver 50 of the terminal device 10, first, the document data generation unit 30 issues a print instruction for the document generated by the document data generation unit 30 or the document stored in the storage unit 40. (S101). When the document print instruction is received, the UI unit 51 of the printer driver 50 displays the display screen shown in FIG. 4 (S102).
The display screen shown in FIG. 4 includes a field for inputting the number of copies for printing (copy number input field), and a field for specifying a zoom ratio (enlargement / reduction ratio) for enlarging / reducing a document for printing (zoom designation field). ), A field for inputting the size of a document (original) (document size input field: document size input unit 511), and a field for inputting output paper identification information of paper used as output paper (paper identification information input field: paper identification information) The input unit 512) includes an input field relating to print setting information, such as a field for inputting a paper size to be used as an output paper (output paper size input field: medium size receiving unit).

Here, FIG. 4A shows an input example of print setting information (property) in each input field when using unused paper, and FIG. 4B is already used. 7 shows an example of input of print setting information in each input field when using a certain paper. For example, in FIG. 4A, “postcard” (A6 size) is entered in the document size input field (document size input part 511), and unused paper is placed in the paper identification information input field (paper identification information input part 512). “A4” is entered in the meaning “new paper” and paper size input fields. For example, in FIG. 4B, “postcard” (A6 size) is input to the document size input field (document size input unit 511), and output paper is input to the paper identification information input field (paper identification information input unit 512). “ID-00008-1”, which is an example of output sheet identification information of a sheet to be used, is input. When the output paper identification information is input, the paper to be used is specified by the output paper identification information. Therefore, it is not necessary to input the paper size, and the paper size input field is set to disable input. . Here, it is assumed that the size of the sheet specified by the output sheet identification information “ID-00008-1” is also A4.
Then, when the input to each input field of the display screen shown in FIG. 4 is completed, “OK” is clicked by the user. When “OK” is clicked, the UI unit 51 of the printer driver 50 sends various print setting information input on the display screen to the print processing unit 52 (S103).

The print processing unit 52 that has received various print setting information input from the UI unit 51 on the display screen executes the following print processing.
The print processing unit 52 prints a document to be printed based on the document size information input from the document size input field (document size input unit 511) and the zoom ratio (enlargement / reduction ratio) input from the zoom designation field. The size of the area (print area) necessary for this is calculated (S104). Here, the size of the print area is calculated by the print availability determination unit 523, and the size information of the print area is held.
For example, “postcard” (A6 size) is input from the document size input field (document size input unit 511) shown in FIG. 4 and 100% is specified in the zoom specification field, so the printability determination unit 523 In this case, an area of 100 mm × 148 mm is calculated and held as the size information of the print area.

Next, the print processing unit 52 generates margin area information of the paper used for printing (S105).
The margin area extraction unit 522 generates the margin area information of the sheet. Hereinafter, generation of blank area information performed by the blank area extraction unit 522 will be described.
The blank area extraction unit 522 acquires information input in the paper identification information input field (paper identification information input unit 512) illustrated in FIG. For example, as shown in FIG. 4A, when “new paper” indicating an unused paper is designated in the paper identification information input field (paper identification information input unit 512), the blank space is displayed. The area extraction unit 522 sets the entire area of the sheet having the size specified in the sheet size input field as a margin area without referring to the print history data stored in the print history storage unit 521, and the margin area information Is generated. For example, in the case of FIG. 4A, since “A4” is designated, blank area information including the entire area of A4 size paper is generated.

Here, FIG. 5A is a diagram showing the coordinate position that is the basis of the margin area information when the entire A4 size paper is set as the margin area, and FIG. 5B is the margin area information in this case. FIG. As shown in FIG. 5A, the four edge positions of the A4 size paper are represented by coordinates (x, y) with the upper left edge position as the origin (0, 0). Then, as shown in FIG. 5B, margin area information is generated by a set of coordinates in which the coordinates of the four edge positions are arranged in order, for example, clockwise.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5A, in A4 size paper, the coordinates (origin) of the first edge is (0,0), the coordinates of the second edge are (210,0), Since the coordinates of the three edges are (210,297) and the coordinates of the fourth edge are (0,297), as shown in FIG. 5 (b), the margin area information is 1: (0 , 0), 2: (210, 0), 3: (210, 297), 4: (0, 297).

  On the other hand, when the information input in the paper identification information input field (paper identification information input unit 512) is “ID-00008-1” which is an example of output paper identification information, the margin area extraction unit 522 The blank area extraction unit 522 refers to the print history data of the paper identification information “ID-00008-1” stored in the print history storage unit 521, and prints area information of the paper of “ID-00008-1”. To get. Then, margin area information is generated based on the acquired printed area information.

Here, FIG. 6A is a diagram showing the coordinate position of a printed area in A4 size paper, and FIG. 6B is a print history stored in the print history storage unit 521 of this paper. It is the figure which showed data. As shown in FIG. 6A, the printed region in the A4 size paper is specified by the coordinates (x, y) of the four edge positions. Here, the coordinates (x, y) are similarly set to the origin at the upper left edge position. Then, as shown in FIG. 6B, the printed area information is formed by a set of coordinates in which the coordinates of the four edge positions of the printed area are arranged in order, for example, clockwise.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6A, when an A6 size printed area exists in the upper left part of the A4 size paper, the coordinates (origin of the first edge of the printed area) ) Is (0,0), the coordinates of the second edge are (100,0), the coordinates of the third edge are (100,148), and the coordinates of the fourth edge are (0,148). As shown in b), the printed area information is clockwise as follows: 1: (0,0), 2: (100,0), 3: (100,148), 4: (0,148). Become. Note that the print history data includes paper identification information “ID-00008-1”.

Based on the acquired printed area information, the margin area extraction unit 522 obtains an area obtained by removing the upper left A6 size printed area from the A4 size paper area, that is, the A area and the B area shown in FIG. The margin area information is set as the margin area, and the margin area information about the A area and the B area is generated.
In the example in FIG. 6, the case where the margin area is set with priority given to taking a large dimension in the vertical direction (y direction) is shown, but priority is given to taking a large dimension in the horizontal direction (x direction). Then, the factor that is prioritized when setting the margin area, such as setting the margin area, can be freely set according to the shape and application of the document to be printed.

  FIG. 7A is a diagram showing the coordinate position that is the basis of the margin area information when the A area and the B area shown in FIG. 6 are set as the margin areas, and FIG. It is the figure which showed the margin area | region information. As shown in FIG. 7A, in the blank area of the A area, the coordinates of the first edge are (100, 0), the coordinates of the second edge are (210, 0), and the coordinates of the third edge are (210 , 297) and the coordinates of the fourth edge are (100, 297). In the blank area of the B area, the coordinates of the first edge are (0,148), the coordinates of the second edge are (100,148), the coordinates of the third edge are (100,297), and the coordinates of the fourth edge. Is (0,297). Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7B, the blank area information generated by the blank area extraction unit 522 is a set of coordinates arranged in order clockwise with respect to the A area, 1: (100, 0), 2: (210, 0), 3: (210, 297), 4: (100, 297). Similarly, the B area is 1: (0,148), 2: (100,148), 3: (100,297), and 4: (0,297).

  Subsequently, in the printability determination unit 523 of the print processing unit 52, based on the size information of the print area calculated in step 104 and the margin area information generated in step 105, the document to be printed Determines whether printing is possible in the margin area of the designated paper (S106).

If it is determined in step 106 that the document to be printed cannot be printed in the margin area of the designated paper (S107), for example, the message shown in FIG. The property designated on the display screen 4 is displayed again (S108). As a result, the user is prompted to adjust the property of the zoom designation field to set the document size to a smaller size, or to designate another sheet having a sufficiently large margin area in the paper size input field. .
When the user again inputs new print setting information on the display screen of FIG. 4 (S109), the input various print setting information is sent to the print processing unit 52 (S103), and after step 104 The process is executed again.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 106 that the document to be printed can be printed in the margin area of the designated paper (S107), for example, as shown in FIG. A printable blank area (print positions 1 to 3 in the figure) in the blank area is displayed on the UI unit 51 (S110). Here, the print start position control unit 524 of the print processing unit 52 acquires the margin area information from the print availability determination unit 523 and sends it to the printable area display unit 513 of the UI unit 51. Then, the printable area display unit 513 of the UI unit 51 displays a printable blank area.
Then, the user selects, for example, one margin area by placing the cursor on one of the displayed printable margin areas and clicking, and clicks “OK”. Thereby, a margin area in which a document to be printed is printed is designated (S111). Here, the print area input unit 514 of the UI unit 51 receives the specification of the margin area, and sends information related to the specified margin area to the print start position control unit 524.
In this case, the print region may be automatically determined by the print processing unit 52 without specifying the blank region from the user by the print region input unit 514.

When a margin area is specified in step 111, print processing is started, and the print output unit 525 of the print processing unit 52 generates print data as a print job based on a print instruction from the document data generation unit 30. (S112). The print data includes document data and various attribute data. Here, the print output unit 525 functions as a document receiving unit.
Here, when generating the print data in step 112, the print start position control unit 524 sets the print start position of the document to be printed based on the information regarding the margin area specified in step 111. Then, the document is allocated to the designated margin area (S113). That is, when the document data generation unit 30 issues a print instruction for drawing objects such as text, graphics, and images, the print origin of the paper (here, the edge position on the upper left of the paper is set to the print origin (0, 0)). The coordinates of the print position are set with reference to For this reason, the print start position control unit 524 sets, for the print data (document data) generated in step 112, the upper left edge position of the blank area specified in step 111 as the print origin. I do. Thereby, the document is allocated to the designated margin area.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining the coordinate conversion processing performed by the print start position control unit 524 for setting the upper left edge position of the blank area specified in step 111 as the print origin. As shown in FIG. 10, the print position instructed by the document data generation unit 30 is, for example, coordinates (20, 20), (60, 20), (60, 70), and an area surrounded by (20, 70).
On the other hand, the coordinates of the upper left edge position of the blank area specified in step 111 are (100, 148). Then, the print start position control unit 524 performs a coordinate conversion process for translating the printing origin (0, 0) of the sheet to the coordinates (100, 148) of the upper left edge position of the blank area. Specifically, the coordinate conversion is performed to (x + 100, y + 148) with respect to the print position (x, y) designated by the document data generation unit 30 for printing. Accordingly, the area surrounded by the coordinates (20, 20), (60, 20), (60, 70), and (20, 70), which are areas instructed to be printed by the document data generation unit 30, is determined in step 111. By adding the specified margin area, printing is performed in an area surrounded by coordinates (120,168), (160,168), (160,218), and (120,218).

Then, the print data subjected to the coordinate conversion process in step 113 is transmitted to the printer 70 via the communication cable 60 (S114).
At the same time, information relating to the area (printed area) on the paper on which the print data subjected to the coordinate conversion process in step 113 is printed is sent to the print history data update unit 526 as printed area information. Then, the print history data update unit 526 newly adds the printed area information to the print history data and stores it in the print history storage unit 521 (S115).

FIG. 11 shows the printed area information when the B area that has been newly printed and added to the A area that is the already printed area shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the original coordinate position, (b) is the figure which showed the printed area | region information in this case. As shown in FIG. 11A, in the printed area of the B area, the area where printing has actually been performed (the area indicated by hatching) is a part of the B area, and the blank area also remains. . However, if the remaining blank area (the area indicated by the grid) is smaller than the minimum paper size supported by the printer 70, the remaining blank area is avoided in order to avoid a decrease in the efficiency of the printability determination in step 106. The entire B area including the image is stored as a printed area.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 11B, the print history data stored in the print history storage unit 521 has a set of coordinates in the clockwise order regarding the A area as the printed area information. , 1: (0, 0), 2: (100, 0), 3: (100, 148), 4: (0, 148), and 1: (100, 148), 2: (210, 148), 3: (210, 297), and 4: (100, 297).

In step 103, the property of “new paper” specified in the paper identification information input field (paper identification information input unit 512) is sent from the UI unit 51 to the print processing unit 52, and printing is performed on an unused paper. In step S116, the print output unit 525 generates new sheet identification information for specifying an unused sheet to be printed, and transmits it to the printer 70 as a sheet header or footer. Here, the new sheet identification information is set so that the sheet can be specified as the only one using a random number, the printing date and the like. Here, the print output unit 525 functions as identification information generating means.
Further, the print output unit 525 sends the generated new sheet identification information to the print history data update unit 526, and the print history data update unit 526 associates the printed area information with the newly generated sheet identification information. The data is stored in the print history storage unit 521 (S117).
Therefore, when the user uses this sheet next time, the sheet identification printed on the sheet header or footer in the sheet identification information input field (sheet identification information input unit 512) is displayed on the display screen shown in FIG. Enter information. As a result, the processes in steps 103 to 115 described above are executed, and printing is performed in the blank area.

  As described above, in the printing system 1 of the present embodiment, when a document is printed on a sheet, the area used for printing on the sheet is stored as print history data. Then, when printing on the paper again, margin area information is generated from the stored print history data. Further, the margin area of the paper is designated based on the generated margin area information. The document is assigned to the designated margin area and printed. As a result, the use efficiency of the paper can be increased, and the paper can be effectively used.

  For example, when a test print such as a New Year's card (A6 size) is performed on A4 size paper, the print position is determined based on the upper left edge position of the paper, for example, according to a print instruction from the document data generation unit 30. Each time printing is finished, the paper transport direction is changed, and the front and back sides are changed. For this reason, only trial printing was possible in four A6 size areas, two A6 size areas each on the front and back sides. However, in the printing system 1 of the present embodiment, the entire front and back areas of A4 size paper can be used, so that it is possible to perform test printing in a total of eight A6 size areas, each of the four A6 size areas on the front and back sides. It becomes.

[Embodiment 2]
In the printing system 1 according to the first embodiment, when a document is printed on a sheet, the printed area used for printing on the sheet is stored as print history data, and the print history data is referred to. The configuration for grasping the margin area of the paper and performing printing in the margin area has been described. In the printing system according to the present embodiment, the print history data is not managed as in the first embodiment, and the user is presented with an area obtained by dividing the paper into a plurality of areas, and one or more of the presented areas are displayed. A description will be given of a configuration in which printing is performed in the designated area by the designation by the user. In addition, the same code | symbol is used about the structure similar to Embodiment 1, and the detailed description is abbreviate | omitted here.

The printing system of the present embodiment has a system configuration similar to that shown in FIG.
The printer driver 50 of the terminal device 10 in the printing system according to the present embodiment will be described below. FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the printer driver 50 of the terminal device 10 according to the present embodiment.
In the printer driver 50 shown in FIG. 12, unlike the printer driver 50 of the first embodiment, the print history storage unit 521, the print availability determination unit 523, and the print history data update unit 526 are not arranged.
In the printer driver 50 configured as described above, the blank area extraction unit 522 includes the document size input from the document size input field (document size input unit 511) on the display screen illustrated in FIG. Then, print setting information regarding the size of the paper to be used as the output paper input from the paper size input field (paper size input unit 515) is acquired. The margin area extraction unit 522 then prints the document to be printed on the output paper regardless of the past print history on the output paper, based on the print setting information regarding the acquired document size and the size of the output paper to be used. Generates information about the area divided into printable sizes.
In the printing system according to the present embodiment, the display screen shown in FIG. 4 does not require or display a column (paper identification information input column) for inputting the output sheet identification information of the sheet used as the output sheet.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a print processing procedure in the printing system according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 13, in the printing system of the present embodiment, the processing in steps 201 to 204 is performed in steps 101 to 104 of the processing flow (see FIG. 3) in the printing system 1 of the first embodiment. The same processing is performed.
Here, in the printer driver 50 of the present embodiment, the margin area extraction unit 522 calculates the size of the print area in step 204. That is, the margin area extraction unit 522 uses the document size input from the document size input field (document size input unit 511) shown in FIG. 4 and the zoom ratio (enlargement / reduction ratio) input from the zoom designation field. The size information of the area (print area) necessary for printing the document to be printed is calculated and held.
Next, the margin area extraction unit 522 has information on the size of the print area calculated in step 204, information on the size of the paper used as the output paper input from the paper size input field (paper size input unit 515), and Based on the information, information (printable area information) relating to an area (printable area) divided into a minimum printable size on the output paper is generated (S205). Here, when generating the printable area information, the blank area extraction unit 522 does not consider any past print history on the output paper.
Here, the blank area extraction unit 522 functions as a printable area extraction unit.

Then, the margin area extraction unit 522 sends the printable area information to the printable area display unit 513 of the UI unit 51. The printable area display unit 513 displays the printable area on the output paper based on the acquired printable area information (S206).
Here, FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the printable area of the output paper displayed on the printable area display unit 513 when an A4 size paper is used as the output paper and the document size is A6 size. is there. The margin area extraction unit 522 according to the present embodiment converts an A4 size sheet as an output sheet into a document, as shown in FIG. 14, regardless of what area is already printed on the sheet to be used. The image is displayed in a state of being divided into A6 size areas (printable areas A to D).

Accordingly, the user visually recognizes the used paper (output paper), grasps the position of the printed area, and is displayed on the printable area display unit 513 of the UI unit 51, for example, the printable area shown in FIG. One or more printable areas used for printing are designated from A to D (S207). For example, by clicking on a printable area to be used, one or more printable areas are designated.
Information regarding the printable area on the designated output paper is sent from the print area input unit 514 of the UI unit 51 to the print start position control unit 524. Thereafter, the processing of Step 208 to Step 210 in the processing flow of the present embodiment, which is the same processing as Step 112 to Step 114 of the processing flow shown in FIG. 3 of Embodiment 1, is performed. As a result, the document is printed in the printable area on the output paper designated by the user.

  As described above, the printing system according to the present embodiment presents one or a plurality of areas obtained by dividing the output sheet only from the viewpoint of the printable size of the document without managing the print history data, When the user designates one or more of the presented areas, printing is performed in the designated area. As a result, the user can perform printing in a blank area desired by the user while viewing the output paper to be used and grasping the position of the printed area. Further, since complicated processing is not performed, the apparatus can be simply configured.

[Embodiment 3]
In the printing system 1 according to the first embodiment, a configuration has been described in which document data of a document is handled in units of pages when calculating the size of a print area and generating print history data. In the printing system according to the present embodiment, a configuration in which document data of a document is handled as bitmap data when calculating the size of a print area and generating print history data will be described. In addition, the same code | symbol is used about the structure similar to Embodiment 1, and the detailed description is abbreviate | omitted here.

The printing system of the present embodiment has a system configuration similar to that shown in FIG.
The printer driver 50 of the terminal device 10 in the printing system according to the present embodiment will be described below. First, the printer driver 50 of the present embodiment is configured to have a decompression function, and the document data output from the document data generation unit 30 to the printer driver 50 is a print output unit that has received the document data. In 525, it is converted into bitmap data. Here, the print output unit 525 functions as a document receiving unit.
The printer driver 50 according to the present embodiment adds the printed area information as print history data to the print history storage unit 521 at step 115 of the processing flow (see FIG. 3) according to the first embodiment. Alternatively, when printing is performed on an unused sheet in step 117, a bitmap is used when the printed area information is stored in the print history storage unit 521 in association with the newly generated sheet identification information. Printed area information composed of data is used.

Thereby, when generating blank area information in step 105 of the processing flow according to the first embodiment, blank area information can be generated from bitmap data. For this reason, the margin area information can be generated without being limited to the unit of the page, so that the margin area can be subdivided and set. As a result, the use efficiency of the paper can be further increased.
Similarly, bitmap data can be used when calculating the size of the print area in step 104 of the processing flow in the first embodiment. Accordingly, the print area can be set more finely, and the margin area can be selected without being limited to the unit of the page, so that the range of the margin area can be selected. As a result, the use efficiency of the paper can be further increased.

[Embodiment 4]
In the printing system 1 according to the first embodiment, when a document is printed on a sheet, the printed area used for printing on the sheet is stored as print history data, and the print history data is referred to. The configuration for grasping the margin area of the paper and performing printing in the margin area has been described. In the printing system 2 of the present embodiment, a configuration will be described in which a sheet on which a document is printed is read by an image reading device such as a scanner, and printed area information is generated from the read image. In addition, the same code | symbol is used about the structure similar to Embodiment 1, and the detailed description is abbreviate | omitted here.

  FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of the printing system 2 to which the exemplary embodiment is applied. The printing system 2 shown in FIG. 15 is a medium that receives a print instruction from a user such as a document (document) and transmits the print job as a print job, and receives a print job from the terminal device 10 as a medium. A printer 70 as an image forming apparatus that prints on a sheet is connected to each other via a communication cable 60. Further, an image scanner 80 as an image reading device (image reading means) capable of reading a document is connected to the terminal device 10 via a communication cable 90.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the printer driver 50 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 16, the printer driver 50 according to the present embodiment does not include the print history storage unit 521 and the print history data update unit 526 unlike the printer driver 50 according to the first embodiment.
In the printer driver 50 having such a configuration, the margin area extraction unit 522 acquires image data read by the image scanner 80 and generates margin area information of paper used for printing based on the acquired image data. To do.

Below, the printing process in the printing system 2 of this Embodiment is demonstrated. In the printing system 2 according to the present embodiment, processing similar to that of the printing system 1 according to the first embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3 is performed.
Here, in the printing system 2 of the present embodiment, when the blank area extraction unit 522 generates blank area information in step 105 of the processing flow of the first embodiment (see FIG. 3), the image scanner 80 The read image data is used. That is, the image on the output paper is directly read by the image scanner 80 without using the print history data stored in the print history storage unit 521 as in the first embodiment, and the print has already been performed on the output paper. An area is detected from the read image data.

That is, first, the user places a sheet to be used as an output sheet on the image scanner 80. Then, the image scanner 80 is activated. Thereby, the image scanner 80 reads an image on the output sheet and generates image data as raster data. The generated image data is sent to the blank area extraction unit 522.
The blank area extraction unit 522 analyzes the acquired image data and separates an area where an image is formed (area where image data exists) and an area where no image is formed (area where no image data exists). To do. Then, an area where no image is formed is set as a margin area, and margin area information including coordinate data of the margin area is generated.

The margin area information generated as described above is used to execute other processes in the process flow of FIG. At that time, the paper placed on the image scanner 80 is installed in the printer 70 and used for printing a document.
As described above, in the printing system 2 of the present embodiment, the area used for printing the paper is read by the image scanner 80, and blank area information is generated. When a document is printed on the paper, the paper margin area is designated based on the generated margin area information, and printing is performed on the designated margin area. As a result, it is possible to effectively use paper even for paper for which print history data is not stored.

  In the printing system 2 of the present embodiment, the image scanner 80 and the printer 70 and the printer driver 50 of the terminal device 10 can be configured as a single unit so as to be configured as a copying machine.

1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of a printing system according to the present invention. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of a printer driver. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure of a printing process in the printing system. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a display screen displayed on a UI unit of a printer driver. FIG. (A) is a figure which shows the coordinate position used as the origin of blank area information when the whole A4 size paper is set as a blank area, and (b) is a figure which shows blank area information in this case. (A) is a diagram showing the coordinate position of a printed area in A4 size paper, and (b) is a diagram showing print history data stored in the print history storage unit of this paper. (A) is a figure which shows the coordinate position used as the origin of blank area information when the A area | region and B area shown in FIG. 6 are set as a blank area, (b) shows the blank area information in this case FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a message screen displayed when it is determined that a document cannot be printed in a margin area of a designated sheet. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the display screen which displays the printable margin area in the margin area of the designated paper. It is a figure explaining the coordinate conversion process performed in a printing start position control part. (A) is the coordinates that are the basis of the printed area information when the B area that has been newly printed and added to the A area that has already been printed is added to the A area shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows a position, (b) is the figure which showed the printed area information in this case. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of a printer driver. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure of a printing process in the printing system. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a printable area of an output sheet displayed on a printable area display unit when an A4 size sheet is used as an output sheet and a document size is set to an A6 size. It is a figure which shows the whole structure of the other printing system of this invention. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of a printer driver. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,2 ... Printing system, 10 ... Terminal device, 20 ... Control part, 30 ... Document data generation part, 40 ... Memory | storage part, 50 ... Printer driver, 51 ... User interface (UI) part, 52 ... Print processing part, 60, 90 ... Communication cable, 70 ... Printer, 80 ... Image scanner, 521 ... Print history storage unit, 522 ... Margin area extraction unit, 523 ... Print availability determination unit, 524 ... Print start position control unit, 525 ... Print output unit 526... Print history data update unit

Claims (14)

Document accepting means for accepting document data of a document to be printed;
Margin area extracting means for extracting a margin area of a medium on which the document data is printed;
Document assigning means for assigning the document data to the margin area extracted by the margin area extracting means;
A printing system comprising: printing means for printing the document data assigned by the document assignment means on the medium. Printing history storage means for storing information on an area where the document data on the medium is printed as printing history information;
The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the margin area extracting unit extracts the margin area of the medium based on the printing history information stored in the printing history storage unit. Identification information generating means for generating identification information for identifying the medium and instructing the printing means to print the identification information;
An identification information receiving means for receiving an input of the identification information printed on the medium;
The printing history storage means stores the printing history information in association with the identification information, and the margin area extraction means is the printing history information stored in the printing history storage means, and receives the identification information reception 3. The printing system according to claim 2, wherein the margin area is extracted based on the print history information corresponding to the identification information received by the means.   Printing in which, when the document data is newly printed on the medium by the printing unit, information related to the area where the new document data is printed is added to the print history information to update the print history information 3. The printing system according to claim 2, further comprising history information updating means. Image reading means for reading a document image on the medium,
The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the blank area extracting unit extracts the blank area of the medium based on the document image read by the image reading unit.   2. The document assigning unit performs a coordinate conversion process of moving the document data received by the document receiving unit to the margin area extracted by the margin area extracting unit. Printing system. Document accepting means for accepting document data of a document to be printed;
Document size receiving means for receiving an input of the size of the document;
Medium size receiving means for receiving an input of a size of a medium on which the document data is printed;
Printable area extraction for extracting a printable area of the document on the medium based on the size of the document received by the document size receiving means and the size of the medium received by the medium size receiving means Means,
Document assigning means for assigning the document data to the area extracted by the printable area extracting means;
A printing system comprising: printing means for printing the document data assigned by the document assignment means on the medium. Document accepting means for accepting document data of a document to be printed;
Margin area extracting means for extracting a margin area of a medium on which the document data is printed;
A print control apparatus comprising: a document allocating unit that allocates the document data to the margin area extracted by the margin area extracting unit. Document size accepting means for accepting input of the size of the document to be printed;
A printability determination unit that determines whether or not the document having the size accepted by the document size acceptance unit can be allocated to the margin area extracted by the margin region extraction unit;
9. The document assigning unit according to claim 8, wherein the document assigning unit assigns the document data of the document to the margin area when the printability determining unit determines that the document can be assigned. Print control device. When a plurality of the margin areas are extracted by the margin area extracting means, further comprising a margin area specifying means for receiving specification of one or a plurality of the margin areas by the user,
9. The print control apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the document allocating unit allocates the document data to the margin area specified by the margin area specifying unit.   The document receiving means converts the document data into bitmap data after receiving the document data, and the blank area extracting means converts the blank area based on the bitmap data converted by the document receiving means. The print control apparatus according to claim 8, wherein: On the computer,
A function for receiving document data of a document to be printed;
A function of extracting a margin area of a medium on which the document data is printed;
A program for realizing a function of assigning the document data to the extracted blank area.   The program according to claim 12, further realizing a function of storing information relating to an area where the document data on the medium is printed in a memory as print history information.   The program according to claim 12, further realizing a function of determining whether or not the document data can be allocated to the extracted blank area.

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