JP2009277189A - Print control unit in automatic layout printing - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a print control unit for automatic layout printing used in performing imposition processing such as covered-binding printing, saddle stitching printing and left binding printing, in particular, a print control unit automatically performing page layout including a designated page in automatic layout printing performing imposition processing. <P>SOLUTION: The print control unit capable of automatic layout printing includes: an imposition print instruction means for instructing to perform imposition print of print data of a plurality of pages; a page print instruction means for instructing to print a portion of pages of the print data of the plurality of pages; a print page data reading means for reading from the print data, data of print pages corresponding to the pages instructed on print processing by the page print instruction means; and a print processing means for performing print processing on the basis of the print data read by the print page data reading means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a print control apparatus in automatic layout printing when performing imposition printing such as bag binding printing, saddle stitching, left binding, and right binding printing.

  A host device such as a personal computer (PC) connected to the printing apparatus has a printer driver corresponding to the printing apparatus. For example, printing when performing imposition processing such as bag binding printing, saddle stitching, and left binding printing is performed. Take control. In addition to the print control as described above, the printer driver also performs a control for designating a specific page from the document file and performing a print process.

For example, in the printing apparatus of Patent Document 1, when only the information desired to be printed is printed out of the description content of the original, character data is extracted from the original, and the information desired by the user (for example, character If there is a matching part, a printing range corresponding to the matching character data is determined, and printing processing for the designated range is performed.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-6208

However, in the invention of the above-mentioned patent document 1, a print range including desired information is specified and print processing in this range is performed. When the above-described automatic layout print processing is performed at the same time, the corresponding page is processed. Cannot easily determine the number of prints to be printed.
That is, for example, even in the case of print data for the third page, the print page differs depending on the imposition method. For example, in the case of bag binding printing, the print data of the third page is printed on the left side of the second sheet, and in the case of left binding printing, the user can easily determine the printing position. Can not do.

  Therefore, the present invention provides a print control apparatus that automatically performs page layout including a specified page in automatic layout printing that performs imposition processing.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an imposition print instruction means for instructing imposition printing for a plurality of pages of print data, and a print instruction for a part of the pages of the plurality of pages of print data. A page print instruction means to perform, a print page data read means for reading out the print page data corresponding to the page instructed to be printed by the page print instruction means from the print data, and a read by the print page data read means. This can be achieved by providing a print control device having print processing means for performing print processing based on the issued print data.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an imposition print instruction means for instructing imposition printing for a plurality of pages of print data, a storage means for storing print history data, and the plurality of pages of print data. Search means for comparing print history data stored in the storage means and searching for pages containing different data, and printing for reading out print page data corresponding to the pages obtained from the search results from the print data This can be achieved by providing a print control device having page data reading means and print processing means for performing print processing based on the print data read by the print page data reading means.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print control apparatus in which the print instruction means, the page print instruction means, and the print page data reading means are provided in a host device, and the print processing means is provided in a printing apparatus. Can be achieved.
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the imposition printing instruction can be achieved by providing a print control device that is bag binding printing, saddle stitch printing, left binding printing, or right binding printing.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an imposition print instruction process for instructing imposition printing for a plurality of pages of print data, and a print instruction for a part of the pages of the plurality of pages of print data. A page print instruction process to be performed, a print page data read process for reading out the print page data corresponding to the page instructed for the print process by the page print instruction process, and a read by the print page data read process. This can be achieved by providing a print control method for performing print control processing for performing print processing based on the output print data.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an imposition printing instruction process for instructing imposition printing for a plurality of pages of print data, a process for storing print history data in a storage means, and the printing of a plurality of pages. A search process for comparing the data with the print history data stored in the storage means to search for pages including different data, and print page data corresponding to the page acquired based on the search results from the print data This can be achieved by providing a print control method for performing a print page data read process to be read and a print control process for performing a print process based on the print data read by the print page data read process.

  According to the present invention, when performing extraction printing designating a page, or when performing print processing of print data including a page that has a change in the past print data history, the layout based on imposition is considered. The corresponding page data can be automatically printed.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a print control apparatus used in the present embodiment.
In the figure, the print control apparatus of this example is composed of a printing apparatus 1 and a personal computer (PC) 2 which is a host device connected to the printing apparatus 1 via a network such as a LAN (local area network). Yes. A main storage device 3 is constructed in the personal computer 2, and the main storage device 3 includes a printer driver 4, a print spooler 5, and a print monitor 6. An input device 7 such as a keyboard is also connected to the personal computer 2, print data is generated according to an application program based on an operation signal from the input device 7, and is supplied to the printer driver 4.

  The printer driver 4 converts the print data into an intermediate code corresponding to the printing apparatus 1 and sends it to the print spooler 5. Further, the printer driver 4 sets layout printing based on an operation signal from the input device 7. The print monitor 6 performs layout printing status setting and layout printing monitoring, which will be described later.

The print data stored in the print spooler 5 is transmitted to the printing apparatus 1 and sent to the control unit 11 via the receiving unit 10 of the printing apparatus 1. In addition to the receiving unit 10 and the control unit 11, the printing apparatus 1 further includes a printing mechanism unit 12, an auxiliary storage unit 13, a display unit 14, and an input operation unit 15. The print data input to the control unit 11 is a command. After being analyzed and converted into, for example, bitmap data, it is printed out according to the driving of the printing mechanism unit 12. The display unit 14 and the input operation unit 15 are installed on the front surface of the printing apparatus 1 as an operation panel, for example.
In the above configuration, a process for printing only a page including a specific page when performing imposition printing will be described.

  FIGS. 2A and 2B are diagrams showing examples of setting screens using the print monitor 6 and the input device 7. First, as shown in the setting screen 1, a printer property main tab is designated, and settings such as paper size, printing direction, duplex printing, and imposition printing are performed. In this example, as shown in FIG. 5A, the sheet size is “A4”, the printing direction is the vertical direction, and the designation for performing the imposition process on two sides is performed. Also, as shown in the setting screen 2, the printer property option tab is designated, and printing of only the page including the designated page is designated. For example, three pages are designated as designated pages (FIG. 5B).

  The above settings are recorded in the main storage device 3, and then the printer driver 4 performs processing according to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. First, the printer driver 4 starts print processing according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 3, and first performs normal print processing (step (hereinafter referred to as S) 1). Next, the printer driver 4 shifts to processing for each page (the flowchart shown in FIG. 4), and determines whether or not to perform extraction printing (S2).

Here, the extraction printing is a printing process for only the page including the specific page described with reference to FIG. 2B. When the extraction printing is not designated (NO in S2), normal printing control is performed. . For example, the specified two-sided imposition printing is performed on all pages.
On the other hand, if extraction printing is designated (S2 is YES), page information is stored in a table (S4). Further, page data corresponding to this page information is buffered in the print spooler 5 (S5). The page information is information indicating how many pages the page corresponds to in imposition layout printing, and the page data indicates drawing data of the page.

  Next, when the above process is completed, the printer driver 4 proceeds to an end process (the flowchart shown in FIG. 5), and determines whether the above-described extraction printing is set (S6). If extraction printing is set (S6 is YES), data including the designated page is transmitted to the printing apparatus 1 from the page data buffered in the print spooler 5 (S7). As described above, the printing apparatus 1 performs command analysis on the print data supplied by the control unit 11 and drives the printing mechanism unit 12 to print out only the corresponding page.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a specific example of the above printing process. FIG. 6A shows original print data (document data), and a document set in the order of a cover, a table of contents, one page,. It is data. As the document data, only the page data shown in (b) or (c) of FIG.

  For example, FIG. 5B shows the case of two-sided printing (bag binding printing). When there is no designation of extraction printing in this example, the cover page, the table of contents, the first page (introduction), the second page (outline), and the third page. Printing is performed in the order of page (detail) -4 page (detail), page 5 (appendix) -back cover. On the other hand, when extraction printing is specified in this example, page data that forms a pair based on the specified page information is also transmitted to the printing apparatus 1 and printed out. For example, in the case of “page 3” described above, page data for page 4 is also transmitted to the printing apparatus 1, and printing processing for page 3 (details) to page 4 (details) is performed.

  FIG. 6C shows a case of weekly magazine binding printing (saddle binding printing). When there is no designation of extraction printing in this example, back cover-cover, table of contents-5 pages (appendix), 3 pages (details) ) -2 pages (outline), 1 page (introduction) and 4 pages (details) in this order. On the other hand, when extraction printing is specified in this example, page data that forms a pair based on the specified page information is also transmitted to the printing apparatus 1 and printed out. For example, in the case of “page 3” described above, page data of page 2 is also transmitted to the printing apparatus 1, and printing processing of page 3 (details) −2 pages (outline) is performed.

As described above, according to this example, when performing extraction printing specifying a page, the printer driver 4 simply inputs the page information desired for extraction printing without considering the layout based on the set imposition. The corresponding page data is automatically transmitted to the printing apparatus 1, and only the pages necessary for replacement can be easily printed out.
In the above description of the embodiment, the designated page information is a single page. However, a configuration may be adopted in which a plurality of pages are designated or a range is designated.
(Embodiment 2)

Next, Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described.
In the description of the second embodiment, the system configuration shown in FIG. 1 is used. Therefore, the print control apparatus of this example is composed of the printing apparatus 1 and a personal computer 2 which is a host device connected to the printing apparatus 1 via a network such as a LAN, and is constructed in the main storage device 3 of the personal computer 2. The processing of this example is performed under the control of the printer driver 4 that has been performed. This will be specifically described below.

  FIGS. 7A and 7B show examples of the setting screen of this example using the print monitor 6 and the input device 7. First, as shown in the setting screen 3, the printer property main tab is designated, and settings such as paper size, printing direction, duplex printing, imposition printing, and the like are performed. In this example, as shown in FIG. 5A, the paper size is “A4”, the printing direction is the vertical direction, duplex printing is designated, and weekly binding printing is designated. Also, as shown in the setting screen 4, the option tab of the printer property is designated, printing of only changed pages is designated, and the upper limit of the number of jobs to be stored is set ((b) in the figure).

  The above settings are recorded in the main storage device 3, and then the printer driver 4 performs processing according to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. First, the printer driver 4 starts printing processing according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 8, and first determines whether to perform comparative printing processing (step (hereinafter referred to as ST) 1).

  If comparative printing is not performed (ST1 is NO), the comparative printing flag is set to OFF (ST2). On the other hand, when comparative printing is performed (YES in ST1), a matching document name is searched from past print logs (ST3). This search process is a comparison based on job names. When printing the same document from the same application, the same job name is often assigned and the print process is executed, which is effective for document determination. .

Here, when a matching document name is retrieved from the past print log (YES in ST4), the comparative print flag is set to ON (ST5). If no matching document name is searched (NO in ST4), the comparative printing flag is set to OFF (ST2).
Next, the printer driver 4 performs processing for each page, and determines whether the comparative printing flag is on (ST6). If the comparative printing flag is not on (ST6 is NO), normal printing control is performed (ST7).

  On the other hand, if the comparative printing flag is on (YES in ST6), the page information is stored in a table (ST8). Further, page data corresponding to the page information is buffered in the print spooler 5 (ST9).

  Next, the saved page data is compared with past page data (ST10). That is, the stored page data is compared with the page data of the same page in the past, and if the page data does not match (YES in ST11), it is stored as a replacement page number (ST12). That is, page data different from the past history data is extracted and stored as a replacement page number.

  Next, when the above process is completed, the process proceeds to the end process of the printer driver 4 (flowchart shown in FIG. 10), and it is determined whether the above-described comparative print flag is on (ST13). (NO in ST13), the document name is saved in the log, and all page data of the document is saved in the log (ST14, ST15).

  On the other hand, when the comparative printing flag is on (YES in ST13), data including the replacement page is transmitted from the buffered page data to the printing apparatus 1 (ST16). Then, the corresponding page data in the log is replaced (ST17).

  FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a specific example of the print processing. For example, after printing the document data 2 shown in FIG. 11A, the document data 3 shown in FIG. is there. In such a case, it is a part of the difference between the two documents. For example, a part of page 5 (appendix) of document data 2 may be changed to page 5 (appendix) of document data 3.

  In this case, in the case of two-sided printing (bag binding printing) shown in FIG. 8C, only the document data 3 shown in FIG. That is, the printer driver 4 detects the difference between the two document data 2 and 3 by performing comparative printing, and automatically detects the page data paired with the changed page data of 5 pages (appendix). (Appendix)-Print data of only the back cover is transmitted to the printing apparatus 1, and the printing apparatus 1 performs print output of only 5 pages (appendix)-back cover.

  As described above, according to this example, it is possible to print only the difference from a document printed in the past, and to automatically perform layout printing by setting and imposition. Accordingly, printing of the same page without change is not performed, so that paper can be saved.

It is a figure which shows the system configuration | structure of the printing control apparatus used for this embodiment. (A), (b) is a figure which shows the example of the setting screen using a print monitor and an input device. 3 is a flowchart for explaining processing of the first embodiment. 3 is a flowchart for explaining processing of the first embodiment. 3 is a flowchart for explaining processing of the first embodiment. It is a figure explaining the process result of Embodiment 1. FIG. (A), (b) is a figure which shows the example of the setting screen using a print monitor and an input device. 10 is a flowchart illustrating processing of the second embodiment. 10 is a flowchart illustrating processing of the second embodiment. 10 is a flowchart illustrating processing of the second embodiment. It is a figure explaining the process result of Embodiment 2. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printing device 2 ... Personal computer 3 ... Main storage device 4 ... Printer driver 5 ... Print spooler 6 ... Print monitor 7 ... Input device 10 ... Reception unit 11 -Control unit 12-Printing mechanism unit 13-Auxiliary storage unit 14-Display unit 15-Input operation unit

Claims (6)

Imposition printing instruction means for instructing imposition printing for print data of a plurality of pages;
Page printing instruction means for instructing printing of a part of the plurality of pages of print data;
Print page data reading means for reading out print page data corresponding to the page instructed to be printed by the page print instruction means from the print data;
Print processing means for performing print processing based on the print data read by the print page data reading means;
A printing control apparatus comprising: Imposition printing instruction means for instructing imposition printing for print data of a plurality of pages;
Storage means for storing print history data;
Search means for comparing the print data of the plurality of pages with print history data stored in the storage means and searching for pages including different data;
Print page data reading means for reading out print page data corresponding to the page obtained from the search result from the print data;
Print processing means for performing print processing based on the print data read by the print page data reading means;
A printing control apparatus comprising:   3. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print instruction unit, the page print instruction unit, and the print page data reading unit are provided in a host device, and the print processing unit is provided in a printing apparatus. .   The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instruction for imposition printing is bag binding printing, saddle stitch printing, left binding printing, or right binding printing. Imposition printing instruction processing for instructing imposition printing for print data of a plurality of pages;
A page print instruction process for instructing to print a part of the plurality of pages of print data;
A print page data read process for reading print page data corresponding to the page instructed for the print process by the page print instruction process from the print data;
A print control process for performing a print process based on the print data read by the print page data read process;
And a printing control method. Imposition printing instruction processing for instructing imposition printing for print data of a plurality of pages;
A process of storing print history data in a storage means;
A search process for comparing the print data of the plurality of pages with the print history data stored in the storage unit and searching for pages including different data;
A print page data read process for reading print page data corresponding to the page obtained from the search result from the print data;
A print control process for performing a print process based on the print data read by the print page data read process;
And a printing control method.