JP2009086709A - Program and image print system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a printing progress in a device other than a printer. <P>SOLUTION: When printing is instructed by a user, a progress of drawing image data to be printed is detected, and the detection result is displayed on a display part according to the progress. Thereby, the user can obtain the progress of the drawing process as one of the print processing in the device (computer) other than the printer. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a program and a computer applied to a computer that executes drawing processing for drawing data in a drawing memory and then converts the drawn data into a data format that can be analyzed by an output device, and the computer. The present invention relates to an image printing system including a printer that receives data and prints the data.

For example, in the invention described in Patent Document 1, the progress status of the printing process executed by the printer is displayed.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-297819

Incidentally, in printing image data (including character data), there are some which are executed as follows.
That is, when a print command is issued by a user of an image printing system including a computer and a printer, first, image data to be printed, which is data created by application software, is drawn in a drawing memory (expanded and stored as image data). Is done. Thereafter, the rendered data is converted into a data format that can be executed (analyzed) by a printer such as PDL (Page Description Language). Thereafter, the converted data is transmitted to the printer, and the printer forms an image on the recording paper in accordance with the transmitted data.

As described above, there is a process other than the process executed by the printer in the print process, and in the invention described in Patent Document 1, the user grasps the progress status of the print process executed by other than the printer. Can not do it.
SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it is possible to grasp a progress status of a printing process that is being executed by a printer other than the printer.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, after the drawing process for drawing the data in the drawing memory is executed, the drawn data is converted into a data format that can be analyzed by the output device. A program applied to a computer to be converted, wherein the computer functions as a detection unit that detects a progress of drawing processing and a display unit that displays a detection result by the detection unit.

Thus, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the user can grasp the progress of the drawing process, which is one of the printing processes executed by other than the printer.
The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the display means displays the detection result as a message including at least characters.

Thus, in the invention according to claim 2, the user can easily grasp the progress of the drawing process.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, the display means displays the detection result in a message including an image based on the data drawn by the drawing process.

Thus, in the invention according to claim 3, the user can easily grasp the progress of the drawing process.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image printing system comprising a computer and a printer that receives data transmitted from the computer and prints the data, and the computer performs a drawing process for drawing the data in a drawing memory. A computer comprising: a drawing means to be executed; a detecting means for detecting a progress of the drawing process; a display means for displaying a detection result by the detecting means; and a converting means for converting the data drawn by the drawing means into a data format for printing. Is characterized in that the converted data can be transmitted to the printer without accumulating the data converted by the converting means.

  As a result, in the invention according to claim 4, as in the invention according to claim 1, the user can grasp the progress status of the drawing process which is one of the printing processes executed by other than the printer. .

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
(First embodiment)
1. DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1A is a schematic diagram of an image printing system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of a computer 10, and FIG. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a printer 20.

  2 and 3 are conceptual diagrams showing an outline of printing processing executed by the computer 10, FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing control of the printer driver according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 5 shows display process control. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a display example displayed by display process control.

2. Overview of Printing System As shown in FIG. 1A, an image printing system 1 is a computer 10 and a printer 20 connected via a network line such as Ethernet (registered trademark), a serial port or a parallel port. It is.

  As shown in FIG. 1B, the computer 10 includes a storage unit such as a CPU 11, a RAM 12, a ROM 13, an HDD 14, a network interface such as a NIC (Network Interface Card) 15, a display unit 16 including an LCD and a CRT. And an operation unit 17 operated by the user.

  The computer 10 incorporates (installs) a program (printer driver) and a display process control program that are activated when printing is executed. The printer driver and the display process control program are stored in the computer 10. Operates in cooperation with OS (Operating System).

  In the present embodiment, Windows (registered trademark) is used as the OS, and hereinafter, terms having no particular explanation (definition) are used in a general meaning in Windows (registered trademark).

  Further, as shown in FIG. 1C, the printer 20 includes a recording unit 21 that forms an image on a recording medium such as recording paper, a network interface such as a NIC (Network Interface Card) 22, a recording unit 21, and the like. The control circuit 24 is configured to control the above.

  The control circuit 24 is configured by a known microcomputer including a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, and the like, and controls the recording unit 21 and the like according to a program stored in the ROM.

  By the way, when printing is performed by the user when printing is performed via the computer 10, normally, as shown in FIG. 2, the printer driver is a printing target using a drawing program (drawing engine). The image data being drawn is drawn on a drawing memory (drawing buffer) (hereinafter, this processing is referred to as drawing processing).

  Incidentally, in the computer 10 using Windows (registered trademark), the drawing engine is usually called GDI (Graphic Device Interface), and is installed in the OS instead of the printer driver.

  Next, the printer driver converts the data rendered by the rendering engine into a print data format (print file) such as a PDL (Page Description Language) format (hereinafter, this process is referred to as a conversion process). The converted print file is transmitted to the printer 20 via the port (hereinafter, this process is referred to as a transmission process). Then, the printer 20 that has received the print file sequentially prints the received print file.

  When a print file is transmitted to the printer 20, the printer driver normally stores and stores the print file temporarily in a specific area (spooler) secured on the HDD 14.

  Then, the printer driver transmits a print file to the printer 20 in response to a print file transmission request transmitted from the printer 20 according to the printing progress status of the printer 20. Thereafter, the print file transmitted to the printer 20 is deleted from the spooler.

  However, in the printer driver according to the present embodiment, in addition to the print file transmission control described above, the print file may be transmitted to the printer 20 according to the printing progress of the printer 20 without accumulating the print file in the spooler. it can.

  When the print file is transmitted to the printer 20 without accumulating in the spooler, the printer driver is the timing for drawing the image data to be printed by the drawing engine, that is, the print target. The timing for transferring the image data to the drawing engine is controlled in accordance with the printing progress status of the printer 20.

3. Characteristic operation of the image printing system according to the present embodiment 3.1. Outline of Operation In the present embodiment, when a printing instruction is given by the user, as shown in FIG. 3, the progress of the drawing process for the image data to be printed is detected, and FIGS. 6 (f), the detection result is displayed on the display unit 16 in accordance with the progress status.

  That is, when the image data to be printed is large, or when a sufficiently large drawing buffer cannot be secured on the RAM 12, the printer driver usually divides the image data into a plurality of areas (hereinafter, this time). The number of divisions is referred to as the number of bands), and drawing processing, conversion processing, and transmission processing are sequentially executed for each of the divided image data regions.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 6A to 6F, information indicating whether the image data is “drawing” or “sending” for each area of the divided image data. (Status) and the portion of the image data for which the drawing process has been completed are displayed on the display unit 16. Since the conversion process and the transmission process are performed almost simultaneously, in this embodiment, the status information “converting” is not displayed.

The above operation will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.
3.2. Printer driver control (see Fig. 4)
When a user gives a print instruction via the display unit 16 or the operation unit 17 and the printer driver is activated, an area for a drawing buffer is first stored in a storage device such as the RAM 12 based on data to be printed and print settings. Secured above (S1). At this time, for example, if a color print setting is set, a larger drawing buffer is secured as compared with a monochrome print setting.

  Next, based on the secured drawing buffer, the number of bands N and image information are determined (S5), and after the number of print pages P is initialized (S10), display process control described later (see FIG. 5). Is determined (S15). If it is determined that the display process control is not activated (S15: NO), the display process control is activated (S20).

Incidentally, the image information refers to information including size information (vertical x horizontal) and color information (monochrome or full color) written in the drawing buffer.
Then, after the image information and the number of bands determined in S5 are passed to the display process control (S25), it is determined whether or not there is a print request currently in the printer driver (S30), and it is determined that there is a print request. If it is determined (S30: YES), after the number of printed pages P is increased by 1 (S35), a band counter value B for counting the number of bands is initialized (S40).

  Next, after the display process control is notified of the “drawing” information (status) (S45), the printer driver finishes the drawing process for the area of the image data currently being drawn. It will be in a standby state until it does (S50).

  When the drawing process for the image data area to be drawn is completed, the data written in the drawing buffer, the print page number P, and the band counter value B are transferred to the display process control (S55). Information (status) indicating “being transmitted” is notified to the display process control (S60).

  Next, conversion processing (PDL conversion) of data for which drawing processing has been completed is performed, and when the converted print file is transmitted to the printer 20 (S65), after the band counter value B is increased by 1 ( In S70, it is determined whether or not the current band counter value B is smaller than the number N of bands (S75).

  When it is determined that the band counter value B is smaller than the number of bands N (S75: YES), S45 is executed again, while when it is determined that the band counter value B is equal to or greater than the number of bands N. (S75: NO), it is again determined whether or not there is a print request to the printer driver now (S30).

  At this time, if it is determined that there is no print request (S30: NO), the information (status) indicating “printing completed” and the display process control is notified that the printing has been completed (S80, S85), this control is finished.

3.3. Display process control (see Figure 5)
When the display process control is activated in S20 of FIG. 4, it is first determined whether or not the image information passed from the printer driver has been acquired (S100), and if it is determined that the image information has been acquired. (S100: YES), a display memory area for displaying data (hereinafter referred to as drawing data) written in the drawing buffer according to the acquired image information is secured in a storage device such as the RAM 12 (S105).

  Next, after the display page number D, which is the number of pages of drawing data to be displayed, is initialized (S110), the contents of the display memory, the number of display pages, and a printer driver such as “drawing” or “sending” A display screen (see FIG. 6A, etc.) for displaying the status notified from is displayed on the display unit 16 (S115).

  For example, in FIG. 6A, the contents of the display memory are displayed in an area surrounded by a broken line (hereinafter, this area is referred to as a drawing data display area). The status notified from the printer driver is displayed in the “Processing Process” column.

  Then, it is determined whether the status notified from the printer driver has been acquired (S120). If it is determined that the status has been acquired (S120: YES), the acquired status is displayed on the display screen. The display content is updated (S125).

  Next, it is determined whether drawing data, that is, data written in the drawing buffer has been acquired (S130). If it is determined that drawing data has been acquired (S130: YES), the display page number D is It is determined whether or not it is the same as the number of printed pages P passed from the printer driver (S135).

  At this time, if it is determined that the display page number D and the print page number P are not the same (S135: NO), after the print page number P is substituted for the display page number D (S140), the display memory And the contents displayed in the drawing data display area are deleted (S145).

  After the contents of the display memory and the contents displayed in the drawing data display area are erased (S145), or when it is determined that the display page number D and the print page number P are the same ( (S135: YES), the display position of the drawing data determined to have been acquired in S130 is determined according to the band counter value B passed from the printer driver (S150).

  In the present embodiment, the band counter value B means the number of divisions of image data, and since it is known how the original image data was divided, display of drawing data based on the band counter value B The position can be determined uniquely.

  Next, after the drawing data determined to have been acquired in S130 is written in the display memory in accordance with the display position determined in S150 (S155), the content written in the display memory is the drawing data. It is displayed in the display area (S160).

  Then, after the contents written in the display memory are displayed in the drawing data display area (S160) or when it is determined in S130 that drawing data has not been acquired (S130: NO), the printer driver It is determined whether or not the status indicating “printing complete” has been notified (S165).

  At this time, if it is determined that the status indicating “printing finished” is notified (S165: YES), “printing finished” is displayed in the “processing process” column (S170), It is determined whether or not there has been an instruction from the user to end display process control (S175).

  If it is determined that the status indicating “printing completed” is not notified (S165: NO), the display process control is terminated by the user without changing the “processing process” column. It is determined whether there is an instruction to that effect (S175).

  If it is determined that an instruction to end the display process control is given from the user via the operation unit 17 (S175: YES), this control ends, while the display process control ends. If it is determined that there is no instruction (S175: NO), S100 is executed again.

4). Features of the image printing system according to the present embodiment When a printing instruction is given by the user, the progress of the drawing process for the image data to be printed is detected, and the detection result is displayed according to the progress. 16, the user can grasp the progress status of the drawing process which is one of the printing processes executed by the computer 10.

  That is, in FIG. 6A, drawing processing is being executed for the first divided area divided for the drawing buffer in one page of image data to be drawn. Can be grasped by the user.

  In FIG. 6B, the first divided area divided for the drawing buffer in one page of the image data to be drawn, that is, the image portion displayed in the drawing data display area. The drawing process is completed, and the user can grasp that the print file corresponding to the drawing data displayed in the drawing data display area is currently being converted and transmitted.

  In FIG. 6C, the drawing process is being executed for the second divided area divided for the drawing buffer in one page of the image data to be drawn. Can be grasped by the user.

  Further, in FIG. 6D, among one page of image data to be drawn, the second divided area divided for the drawing buffer, that is, the image newly displayed in the drawing data display area. For the portion, the drawing process is completed, and the user can grasp that the print file corresponding to the drawing data newly displayed in the drawing data display area is currently being converted and transmitted.

  In FIG. 6E, the drawing process is being executed for the third divided area divided for the drawing buffer in one page of the image data to be drawn. Can be grasped by the user.

  Further, in FIG. 6F, among the one page of image data to be drawn, the third divided area divided for the drawing buffer, that is, the image newly displayed in the drawing data display area. For the portion, the drawing process is completed, and the user can grasp that the print file corresponding to the drawing data newly displayed in the drawing data display area is currently being converted and transmitted.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 6A to 6F, the user can grasp the progress of the drawing process, which is one of the printing processes executed by the computer 10. Therefore, the present invention is particularly effective when used in an image printing system that transmits a print file to the printer 20 in accordance with the printing progress status of the printer 20 without accumulating the print file in a spooler.

  That is, when the print file is transmitted to the printer 20 without accumulating in the spooler, since the progress of the drawing process corresponds to the print progress of the printer 20, if the progress of the drawing process can be grasped, the printer 20 The progress of printing can also be grasped.

5). Correspondence between Invention Specific Items and Embodiment In this embodiment, the printer driver (FIG. 4) corresponds to the detecting means and the converting means described in the claims, and the display process control (FIG. 5) is claimed. It corresponds to the display means described in the range, and the drawing engine (see FIG. 3) corresponds to the drawing means described in the claims.

(Second Embodiment)
In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, among the drawing data displayed in the drawing data display area, it is possible to easily identify a portion that has already been transmitted and a portion that is currently being transmitted. It is what I did. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a display example in the present embodiment corresponding to FIG.

In other words, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 7 (c) to 7 (e), a message to that effect is displayed at the portion where transmission has already been completed.
In FIG. 7, a character string is used to indicate that in a portion where transmission has already been completed. However, the present embodiment is not limited to this. For example, the color of a portion in which transmission has already been completed. The display form such as a pattern may be different from the display form of the part currently being transmitted.

(Other embodiments)
In the above-described embodiment, the number N of bands has been described as two or more. However, the present embodiment is not limited to this, and can be applied even when the number of bands N is one.

  In the above-described embodiment, the progress of the drawing process is displayed by a message including characters (status) and images (drawing data). However, the present invention is not limited to this, and any of characters and images is displayed. The progress of the drawing process may be displayed with a message consisting of only these.

In the above-described embodiment, the progress of the drawing process is displayed using an image based on the drawing data. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and other images may be used.
Further, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as long as it matches the gist of the invention described in the claims.

(A) is a schematic diagram of the image printing system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention, (b) is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of the computer 10, and (c) is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of the printer 20. FIG. FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an outline of a printing process executed by a computer 10. FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an outline of a printing process executed by a computer 10. 6 is a flowchart illustrating control of a printer driver according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the display process control which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a display displayed by the display process control which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a display displayed by the display process control which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Image printing system, 10 ... Computer, 16 ... Display part, 20 ... Printer,
21: Recording unit, 24: Control circuit.

Claims (4)

A program applied to a computer that executes a drawing process for drawing data in a drawing memory and then converts the drawn data into a data format that can be analyzed by an output device,
The computer,
A program that functions as a detection unit that detects a progress status of the drawing process, and a display unit that displays a detection result of the detection unit.   The program according to claim 1, wherein the display means displays the detection result as a message including at least characters.   The program according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the display unit displays the detection result by a message including an image based on the data drawn by the drawing process. An image printing system comprising a computer and a printer that receives data transmitted from the computer and prints the data,
The computer
Drawing means for executing drawing processing for drawing data in a drawing memory;
Detecting means for detecting the progress of the drawing process;
Display means for displaying a detection result by the detection means, and conversion means for converting the data drawn by the drawing means into a data format for printing,
The image printing system, wherein the computer can transmit the converted data to the printer without accumulating the data converted by the converting means.

Images