JP2011248398A - Print control program, information processor, storage medium, printing device, and printing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a print control program, etc., capable of reducing the data size of page description language (PDL) data that is transmitted to a printer by decreasing influence of object arrangement within a page.SOLUTION: The print control program causes an information processor 100 to execute; a print target data analyzing step S1 for reading data of a predetermined format generated by an application 32, and analyzing print target data included in the data; a converting step S2 for converting the print target data in the data into image data representing an area which surrounds the print target data; and a print data generating step S3 for converting the image data into print data.

Description

  The present invention relates to a print control program for converting application data into PDL data, an information processing apparatus, a storage medium, a printing apparatus, and a printing system.

  When printing a document such as word processing software or spreadsheet software, the user designates the document by operating a personal computer (PC) and transmits the document to a printer connected over the network. Before transmission, the document data is passed from the application to the GDI driver and converted into an intermediate file (for example, an EMS (extended metafile) file), and then passed from the GDI driver to the printer driver and converted into bitmap data. In general. The printer driver further converts the bitmap data into PDL data and transmits it to the printer. Such a data conversion procedure at the time of printing is called “GDI Print Path”.

  Thus, since the PDL data transmitted from the PC to the printer includes a bitmap format, there is a problem that the data size becomes too large.

  Therefore, a technique for reducing the data size of PDL data transmitted from a PC to a printer has been considered (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In Patent Document 1, bitmap data for one page is divided into a predetermined bandwidth in the sub-scanning direction, and if a drawing area is included in the band, the intermediate file is expanded into bitmap data. A drawing system is disclosed.

  However, in the banding process disclosed in Patent Document 1, since the presence / absence of a drawing area is determined only in the sub-scanning direction (that is, only in the one-dimensional direction), there is a problem in that there is a restriction in reducing the data size. .

  FIG. 19 is an example of a diagram for explaining the problems of the prior art. In FIG. 19A, two objects exist in the bitmap data of one page, and when viewed from the sub-scanning direction, the drawing area extends over almost the entire page. In FIG. 19B, there is a line-shaped object that reaches from the top to the bottom of one page, and the drawing area extends over almost the entire page when viewed from the sub-scanning direction. Although the proportion of objects on a page is only a part, the banding process of Patent Document 1 transmits PDL data for almost the entire page, and thus it is difficult to reduce the data size.

  It is also conceivable to specify the position of an object on a two-dimensional plane using the above-described conventional “GDI Print Path”. However, since the intermediate file passed from the GDI driver to the printer driver is described by the GDI command, it is difficult for the printer driver to analyze the intermediate file. For example, when an EMF file is used as an intermediate file, the specification of the EMF file is not disclosed, so that the analysis is practically difficult. Even if it can be analyzed, it cannot cope with future changes in specifications.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, the present invention provides a print control program, an information processing apparatus, a storage medium, a printing apparatus, and a print that can reduce the influence of the arrangement of print target data in a page and reduce the data size of print data transmitted to the printer. The purpose is to provide a system.

  The present invention reads out data in a predetermined format (for example, an XPS file) generated by an application to an information processing apparatus and analyzes print target data (for example, an object) included in the data; A conversion step for converting the print target data of the data into image data (for example, bitmap data) in an area surrounding the print target data, and a print data generation step for converting the image data into print data (for example, PDL data) And a print control program for executing the above.

  It is possible to provide a print control program capable of reducing the data size of print data to be transmitted to a printer by reducing the influence of the arrangement of print target data in a page.

1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a printing system. It is an example of the hardware block diagram of PC. 2 is an example of a hardware configuration diagram of an MFP. FIG. It is an example of the software block diagram of PC. It is an example of the figure which illustrates an XPS file typically. It is an example of the figure explaining the rasterization by a rasterizer. FIG. 6 is an example of a flowchart illustrating a procedure until a print control unit generates PDL data. It is a figure which shows an example of the hierarchical structure of an XPS file. It is an example of the figure explaining the circumscribed rectangle of the object of a figure and the object of a character. It is an example of the figure explaining the circumscribed rectangle of the object of a character. It is an example of the figure explaining the overlap of an object. It is an example of the figure explaining the overlap of an object. It is an example of the figure which illustrates the circumscribed rectangle of the object of a long line typically. It is an example of the figure which illustrates the circumscribed rectangle of a white object typically. It is an example of the flowchart figure which shows the production | generation procedure of the circumscribed rectangle when the other object overlaps completely in one object. It is an example of the flowchart figure which shows the production | generation procedure of the circumscribed rectangle when some objects overlap with each other. It is an example of the flowchart figure which shows the production | generation procedure of the circumscribed rectangle of a long line-shaped object. It is an example of the flowchart figure which shows the production | generation procedure of the circumscribed rectangle of a white object. It is an example of the figure explaining the subject of a prior art.

Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a printing system 400. A PC (Personal Computer) 100 and an MFP (Multi Function Peripheral) 200 are connected via a network 300.

  The PC 100 accepts a user operation, and for example, some application requests the printer driver to print document data (entire data file or a part of the data file). At this time, one of the features is that the PC 100 creates an intermediate file in a form that can identify the position of the object in the document.

  In this embodiment, an intermediate file is generated in such a way that the position of an object can be specified using a data conversion procedure at the time of printing called “XPS Print Path”. The intermediate file generated by the “XPS Print Path” is hereinafter referred to as an “XPS (XML Paper Specification) file”.

  The printer driver analyzes the XPS file and specifies the object and its position for each page. By doing so, the printer driver can rasterize only a rectangle (hereinafter referred to as a circumscribed rectangle) 50 that is slightly larger than the object, including the entire object. The printer driver rasterizes the circumscribed rectangle including the object, generates bitmap data of the circumscribed rectangle, converts it into PDL (Page Description Language) data, and transmits it to the MFP 200.

  According to such a PDL data generation method, the area to be converted into bitmap data in the page can be limited to the circumscribed rectangular area, so that the data size is greatly increased compared to the case where the entire page is converted into bitmap data. Can be reduced.

  In the present embodiment, the XPS file is described as an intermediate file. However, as long as the XPS file is an intermediate file in a predetermined format that can analyze an object (including its position), PDL data generation according to the present embodiment is generated. The method can be applied.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration diagram of the PC 100. The PC 100 includes a CPU 11, a ROM 12, a RAM 13, an external I / F 14, a communication device 15, an input device 16, a display control unit 17, and a storage device 18 that are mutually connected by a bus. The CPU 11 reads out an OS (Operating System) 10, an application program 31, and the printer driver 30 from the storage device 18, and executes them using the RAM 103 as a working memory.

  The application program 31 may be any application program that makes a print request to the MFP 200 and corresponds to almost all application programs that can be executed on the PC 100. Typically, for example, word processor software, spreadsheet software, Web browser, and the like.

  The RAM 13 is a working memory (main storage memory) for temporarily storing necessary data, and the ROM 12 stores BIOS, initially set data, and programs.

  The external I / F 14 is an interface for mounting a cable such as a USB cable or a portable storage medium 20. The storage medium 20 is a flash memory such as a USB memory, an optical storage medium such as a CD-ROM, or the like.

  The communication device 15 is called a LAN card or an Ethernet (registered trademark) card, and transmits packet data (mainly PDL data in this embodiment) to the MPF 200 in accordance with an instruction from the CPU 11.

  The input device 16 is a user interface that accepts various user operation instructions such as a keyboard and a mouse. A touch panel or a voice input device can be used as the input device. The display control unit 17 controls the drawing on the display 19 with a predetermined resolution, number of colors, and the like based on screen information instructed by the application program 31. The display 19 is an FPD (Flat Panel Display) such as a liquid crystal or an organic EL.

  The storage device 18 has a nonvolatile memory such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or a flash memory as an entity, and stores an OS 10, an application program 31, and a printer driver 30.

  The storage medium 20 is a non-volatile memory such as an SD card or a USB memory, for example. The application program 31 and the printer driver 30 are distributed in a state recorded in the storage medium 20 or downloaded from a server (not shown).

  FIG. 3 shows an example of a hardware configuration diagram of the MFP 200. The MFP 200 only needs to have an image forming function, and may be a printer, a copier, or a FAX apparatus. The MFP 200 includes a CPU 51, a ROM 52, a RAM 53, an external I / F 54, a communication card 55, a panel control unit 56, a scanner engine control unit 57, a plotter engine control unit 58, a FAX engine control unit 59, and a storage device connected via an internal bus. 61.

  The CPU 51 controls the entire MFP 200 by executing a program stored in the storage device 61 or the ROM 52 using the RAM 53 as a working memory. The external I / F 54 is an interface for mounting a cable such as a USB or the storage medium 20. The storage medium 20 is a flash memory such as a USB memory, an optical storage medium such as a CD-ROM, or the like.

  The communication card 55 is called a LAN card or an Ethernet (registered trademark) card, and transmits packet data to the PC 100 according to an instruction from the CPU 51 and receives packet data from the PC 100.

  The panel control unit 56 displays a UI on the operation panel 62 and accepts operations of UI soft keys and hardware keys. The scanner engine control unit 58 receives reading conditions such as resolution set by the user from the operation panel 62, and controls the scanner engine 63 based on the reading conditions. The scanner engine 63 optically scans a document placed on the contact glass, A / D converts the reflected light, performs image processing, and outputs digital data having a predetermined resolution (hereinafter referred to as image data). Generate.

  The plotter engine control unit 58 receives printing conditions such as the number of prints set by the user from the operation panel 62, and controls the plotter engine 64 based on the printing conditions. The plotter engine 64 has, for example, a tandem type photosensitive drum, modulates a laser beam based on the image data and the PDL data received from the PC 100, and scans the photosensitive drum to form a latent image. The image for each page, developed by attaching toner to the latent image, is transferred to a sheet with heat and pressure.

  The FAX engine control unit 59 receives transmission conditions such as a destination (FAX number, e-mail address, etc.) set by the user, and controls the FAX engine 65 based on the transmission conditions. The FAX engine 65 is connected to the network 300 via a communication card and connected to a public communication network via a communication procedure corresponding to, for example, T.37 and T.38 standards or an NCU (Network Control Unit), for example, G3. The image data is transmitted and received according to the communication procedure corresponding to the G4 standard. Even if image data is received when the power of the MFP 200 is OFF, the plotter engine 64 can be activated to print the image data on paper.

  The storage device 61 is a rewritable nonvolatile memory such as an HDD or a flash memory. The storage device 61 stores a program executed by the CPU, font data, image data, and PDL data.

  The storage device 61 stores a printer driver 30. The printer driver 30 is the same as that stored in the PC 100. In other words, even if the XPS file is transmitted to the MFP 200 when the XPS file is generated on the PC 100 side, the printer driver 30 of the MFP 200 can generate PDL data in the same manner as the PC 100. The printer driver 30 may be stored in the storage device 61 at the time of shipment of the MFP 200, or may be distributed from a server (not shown) on the network 300 after being shipped from the MFP 200.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of a software configuration diagram of the PC 100. This software configuration diagram includes an application program 31, a drawing control system 32, an XPS file storage unit 33, and a print control unit 40. The processing features of this embodiment are mainly included in the print control unit 40.

  The application program 31 sends document data and printing conditions generated by the application program 31 to the drawing control system 32 in accordance with a user's printing operation. The printing conditions are, for example, the number of copies, the document direction, the paper size, and the like.

  The drawing control system 32 generates an XPS file based on the document data and the printing conditions. Specifically, the drawing control system 32 can use a program called “XPS document writer” in “XPS Print Path”. In general, the user does not need to recognize the presence of the drawing control system 32. The “XPS document writer” is attached to a predetermined OS (for example, Windows (registered trademark) 7, Vista, etc.), or is commercially available for free or for a fee. The drawing control system 32 can be regarded as an integral part of the OS or as an application different from the OS.

  The XPS file generated by the drawing control system 32 is stored in the XPS file storage unit 33 having the RAM 13 as an entity, for example.

  The print control unit 40 analyzes the XPS file, generates bitmap data, and uses the printer driver 30 that converts the bitmap data into PDL data. The print control unit 40 is called an XPS driver in “XPS Print Path”, which is also attached to a predetermined OS, or is commercially available for free or for a fee.

  However, the print control unit 40 of the present embodiment includes the following features (for example, the object determination unit 34) that are not present in at least the general-purpose XPS driver. The print control unit 40 may be generated by a predetermined manufacturer based on a commercially available XPS driver, or may be generated without using any commercially available XPS driver.

  First, the XPS file will be described with reference to FIG. XPS is a specification of an electronic document format described in XML format. Therefore, the XPS file is a file described according to this specification. In XPS, all document information is described in XML, and a plurality of files for each description content are packaged into one by ZIP compression. FIG. 5 corresponds to “1f.page” of FIG. 8 in one of these files. Note that a part of the XPS file in FIG. 5 is simplified for explanation.

  In the XPS file, one document is referred to as a document, and one document is referred to as a page, and printing conditions can be described for each document and each page. The printing condition is called a print ticket, which is not shown in the figure.

  "<FixedPage Width =" 1122.56 "Height =" 793.76 "xmlns =" http://schemas.microsoft.com/xps/2005/06 "xml: lang =" und ">" describes the size of a page It is. “Width = 1122.56, Height = 793.76” indicates the width and height of the page.

  "<!-Microsoft XPS Document Converter (MXDC) Generated! Version: 0.3.7600.16385->" describes the version information of the "XPS Document Converter" (corresponding to the above XPS document writer) that created the XPS file. is doing.

  "<Path Data =" M 530,440 L 850,440 850,690 530,690 z "Fill =" # ffff0000 "/>" draws a line from (530,440) to (850,440) indicating the page position in pixels (M), then The command is to draw a line to (850,690) and further to (530,690). The same is true for "<Path Data =" M 528.8,100.48 L 280.8,332.48 281.6,333.28 529.6,101.28 z "Fill =" # ff000000 "/>". This is a command to draw a line (M), then (281.6,333.28), and further to (529.6,101.28).

  Note that “Fill =“ # ffff0000 ”and“ Fill = “# ff000000” ”are descriptions that specify the fill color inside the line. The line color is described as “Stroke = Black”, for example. Thus, the tag “Path Data” means that a line object exists on the page.

  "<Glyphs Fill =" # ff000000 "to UnicodeString =" ABCDE "/>" is a character (glyph) drawing command. "FontUri =" / Documents / 1 / Resources / Fonts / 5A67CD7B-71C3-44BD-8FE4-12190CD35A84.odttf "" specifies font data, "FontRenderingEmSize =" 14 "" specifies the font size, and "StyleSimulations =" None “” Indicates that there is no bold designation, and “OriginX =“ 120 ”OriginY =“ 200 ”” is an instruction for designating the position of the first character of the character string “ABCDE”.

  Thus, the tag “Glyphs” means that a character object exists on the page. In addition, graphic objects such as rectangles and circles, and objects of image data in a predetermined format are also specified by predetermined tags.

  Returning to FIG. 4, the print control unit 40 includes an object determination unit 34, a rasterizer 35, a Bitmap storage unit 36, and a PDL conversion unit 37. The object determination unit 34 reads the XPS file as shown in FIG. 5 for each page, and specifies the position where the object exists. The object of the present embodiment refers to an image such as a line (Path), a character / symbol / number (Glyphs), a figure (vector figure), a tiff format, or the like in which a drawing command is described in the XPS file. That is, the object (data) is data to be printed.

  As described with reference to FIG. 5, since the type and position of the object are specified in the XPS file, the object determination unit 34 can specify the type and position of the object by analyzing the XPS file.

  FIG. 6 is an example for explaining the generation of the circumscribed rectangle 50 of the object by the object determining unit 34. In FIG. 6, three objects 1 to 3 are arranged on the page. The object determination unit 34 according to the present exemplary embodiment determines a rectangle (for example, a circumscribed rectangle) surrounding the object as a bitmap data generation region. Although it is not always necessary to use a circumscribed rectangle, bitmap data can be minimized by using a circumscribed rectangle. Also. When the circumscribed rectangle is not used, for example, a rectangle provided with a margin of about 5 to 10% in the vertical and horizontal directions is set as a bitmap data generation region.

  Rasterization will be described using object 1 as an example. The object determination unit 34 specifies the leftmost, rightmost, topmost, and bottommost outermost points based on the position of the object acquired from the XPS file. The outermost points are the endpoints of the line for a line object, the vertices of a figure for a graphic object, the character position, the number of characters and the character size for a character object, and the image position for an image object. Each can be specified from the arrangement position and size.

  A closed rectangle formed by four lines, that is, a perpendicular line passing through the leftmost, a perpendicular line passing through the rightmost, a horizontal line passing through the top, and a horizontal line passing through the bottom, is a circumscribed rectangle. As shown in the figure, since the area where the bitmap data is generated becomes small enough to cover the size of the object, the processing load of rasterization can be reduced, and further the data size of the bitmap data can be reduced.

  The object determination unit 34 sends the positions of four vertices specifying the circumscribed rectangle 50 or the position and size of one vertex of the circumscribed rectangle 50 (hereinafter simply referred to as position information) to the rasterizer 35.

  The rasterizer 35 rasterizes objects included in the XPS file. The present embodiment is characterized in that the rasterizer 35 does not generate bitmap data of the entire page, but generates bitmap data of only the circumscribed rectangle 50.

  Bitmap data is a kind of very general-purpose image data. Further, the rasterizer 35 can use “XPS Rasterize Service” included in the “XPS driver” or obtained in the same manner as the “XPS driver” as the rasterizer 35. “XPS Rasterize Service” is called through the API.

  The rasterizer 35 interprets the description corresponding to the object 1 of the XPS file and generates bitmap data of the circumscribed rectangle 50 (that is, develops a bitmap in the circumscribed rectangle). Since the rasterizer 35 develops the bitmap data only in the circumscribed rectangle, even if the object reaches a larger area, the bitmap data outside the circumscribed rectangle 50 is discarded.

  The rasterizer 35 interprets the description corresponding to the objects 2 and 3 of the XPS file for the other two objects 2 and 3 and generates bitmap data of each circumscribed rectangle 50.

  As general processing of the printer driver 30, the print control unit 40 performs color space conversion from RGB data to CMYK data, dither processing using a dither pattern suitable for the type of object, and the like.

  Each bitmap data is associated with each other and stored in, for example, the Bitmap storage unit 36 having the storage device 18 as an entity. Here, since the bitmap data of the circumscribed rectangle 50 is generated, the position of the bitmap data (object) in the page is not fixed, so the rasterizer 35 positions one or more vertices of each bitmap data. Information is associated with each bitmap data.

  Returning to FIG. 4, the PDL conversion unit 37 converts the bitmap data into PDL data that can be interpreted by the MFP 200. The PDL data includes printing conditions, bitmap data for each object, and position information. In the present embodiment, the PDL data is an example of print data that the MFP 200 interprets.

  FIG. 7 is an example of a flowchart illustrating a procedure until the print control unit 40 generates PDL data.

・ S1
First, the object determination unit 34 that has received the XPS file expands the ZIP-compressed XPS file. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hierarchical structure of an XPS file. A part of the hierarchical structure is omitted for explanation. The hierarchical structure of the XPS file is determined by the specification, and “_rels”, “Documents”, “Resources”, and the like are in the first hierarchy under <Root>. “_Rels” includes reference information to FixedDocumentSequence.fdsep.rels in which configuration information of one document data is described.

  “Documents” includes configuration information “FixedDocument.fdoc” of each document of one document data. Here, reference information of each page below the hierarchy of the “Pages” folder is described.

  One page information is described in “1f.Page” and “2f.Page”. Here, reference information to Resources is described as necessary.

  The object determination unit 34 refers to various pieces of configuration information and analyzes the “1f.page” file in the “Pages” folder. Since the XPS file in FIG. 5 is an excerpt of “1f.page”, by analyzing “1f.page”, it is possible to specify at which position of the page the object exists.

  The object determination unit 34 extracts each end point of the line object, each vertex of the graphic object, the character position of the character object, the number of characters and the character size, and the arrangement position and size of the image. Then, the position information of the circumscribed rectangle 50 is notified to the rasterizer 35.

・ S2
The rasterizer 35 rasterizes the XPS file by interpreting the description of the XPS file and rasterizing each object into a circumscribed rectangle 50.

・ S3
The PDL conversion unit 37 converts the bitmap data generated by rasterization into PDL data that the MFP 200 supports.
・ S4
The print control unit 40 transmits the PDL data to the MFP 200.
・ S5
The object determination unit 34 determines whether or not another object still exists in the page, and if it exists, the process of steps S1 to S4 is performed on the object.
・ S6
If there is no other object in the page, the print control unit 40 determines whether there is still another page. If it exists, the process returns to S1 and repeats a series of processes. If there is no next page, the process ends.

[Generation example of circumscribed rectangle of object]
An example of generating some objects will be described.

<The circumscribed rectangle of a circular object>
FIG. 9 is an example for explaining the circumscribed rectangle 50 of the graphic objects 4 and 5 and the character object 6. The generation of the circumscribed rectangle 50 of the objects 5 and 6 among the objects in FIG. 9 has been described.

  Generation of the circumscribed rectangle 50 of the object 4 will be described. Object 4 is an ellipse. The description of the XPS file when the object is an ellipse is, for example, a pair of diagonal vertex coordinates and a circle drawing command. As a result, an ellipse inscribed in a quadrangle defined by a pair of diagonal vertices is drawn. Accordingly, the pair of diagonal vertices is the outermost point, and the object determination unit 34 can easily generate the circumscribed rectangle 50. The same applies when the perfect circle is an object.

  Also, when a drawing command for a perfect circle is given by the center and radius of the circle, the object determination unit 34 draws a perpendicular line and a horizontal line from the center, and sets the length of the radius in the vertical and horizontal directions from the center. Identify endpoints. A closed rectangle formed by a straight line (horizontal line or vertical line) passing through these four end points is a circumscribed rectangle 50.

<The circumscribed rectangle of objects of different sizes>
FIG. 10 is an example for explaining a circumscribed rectangle 50 of the character objects 7 and 8. In such a character object, one circumscribed rectangle 50 including the shaded portion in the figure can be generated, but the data size of the bitmap data can be further reduced by excluding the shaded portion from the bitmap data. Can do.

  As described in the XPS file, since a character object is a series of character strings having the same size, it is treated as one object. Therefore, if the character size is different, a plurality of character objects exist. Therefore, the object determination unit 34 can generate two circumscribed rectangles 50 for each of the objects 7 and 8 from the character position, the number of characters, and the character size.

<A circumscribed rectangle when the other object completely overlaps one object>
FIG. 11 is an example of a diagram illustrating overlapping of objects. In FIG. 11, a graphic object and a character object overlap. In such a case, it is possible to prevent the data size of the bitmap data from increasing by setting one area to be rasterized.

  In order to cope with such an object arrangement, the process of step S1 is modified as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 15 is an example of a flowchart showing a procedure for generating the circumscribed rectangle 50 when the other object completely overlaps with one object. First, the object determination unit 34 obtains a circumscribed rectangle 50 for each object as described above (S110).

  Next, the object determination unit 34 obtains the area of each circumscribed rectangle 50 and sorts it in descending order of area (S120). This is because the area of one object needs to be larger in order for the other object to completely overlap within one object. In the figure, they are sorted into circumscribed rectangles A to D.

  Next, the object determination unit 34 identifies the circumscribed rectangle with the largest area (S130). First, the circumscribed rectangle A becomes the focused circumscribed rectangle.

  Next, the object determination unit 34 specifies the remaining circumscribed rectangles in descending order (S140). First, the circumscribed rectangle B is specified.

  Then, the object determination unit 34 determines whether or not the circumscribed rectangle completely overlaps with the circumscribed rectangle of interest (S150). There are several methods for this determination. For example, it is determined whether or not the upper left vertex of the circumscribed rectangle is inside the target circumscribed rectangle and the lower right vertex of the circumscribed rectangle is inside the target circumscribed rectangle. judge.

  When the circumscribed rectangle completely overlaps with the circumscribed rectangle of interest (Yes in S150), the object determining unit 34 records the superposition relationship (S160). For example, “circumscribed rectangle A >> circumscribed rectangle B” is recorded.

  Next, the object determination unit 34 determines whether or not there is no remaining circumscribed rectangle (S170). When there is a remaining circumscribed rectangle (No in S170), the object determination unit 34 specifies the next remaining circumscribed rectangle (S140). Therefore, the circumscribed rectangle C is specified.

  Here, the object determining unit 34 reads out the superposition relationship for the circumscribed rectangle A of interest, and first determines whether or not the circumscribed rectangle C completely overlaps the circumscribed rectangle B in the superposed relationship (S150). In this way, the nesting relationship can be detected. In the present embodiment, it is not necessary to consider the nesting relationship, and it is only necessary to determine whether or not the circumscribed rectangle C completely overlaps with the circumscribed rectangle A of interest.

  When the circumscribed rectangle C completely overlaps the circumscribed rectangle B in the superimposing relationship, the object determination unit 34 records the superimposing relationship (S160). For example, “circumscribed rectangle A >> circumscribed rectangle B >> circumscribed rectangle C” is recorded.

  Next, the object determination unit 34 determines whether or not there is no remaining circumscribed rectangle (S170). When there is a remaining circumscribed rectangle (No in S170), the object determination unit 34 specifies the next remaining circumscribed rectangle (S140). Therefore, the circumscribed rectangle D is specified.

  Similarly, the object determination unit 34 reads out the superposition relationship for the circumscribed rectangle A of interest, and determines whether or not the circumscribed rectangle D completely overlaps from the smaller circumscribed rectangle in the superposed relationship (S150). As shown in the figure, the circumscribed rectangle D does not completely overlap the circumscribed rectangle C and B, but is determined to overlap the target circumscribed rectangle A.

  The object determination unit 34 records the superposition relationship (S160). For example, “circumscribed rectangle A >> circumscribed rectangle B >> circumscribed rectangle C and circumscribed rectangle A >> circumscribed rectangle D” is recorded. From this superposition relationship, the object determination unit 34 can determine that the area of the circumscribed rectangles B, C, and D can be covered by the circumscribed rectangle A.

  Therefore, the largest circumscribed rectangle to be superimposed so as to include several circumscribed rectangles can be specified, and bitmap data can be generated efficiently.

  When there are no remaining circumscribed rectangles (Yes in S170), the object determination unit 34 determines whether or not all circumscribed rectangles are focused (S180), and when all the circumscribed rectangles are not focused (S180). No) and the next largest circumscribed rectangle of interest is specified (S190). By doing so, it is possible to extract the superimposition relationship for all the objects on the page. The object determination unit 34 sends the position information of the circumscribed rectangle A to the rasterizer 35.

  Note that the object determination unit 34 does not need to make the circumscribed rectangle in which the superimposition relation has already been recorded, such as the circumscribed rectangles B to D, the target circumscribed rectangle, but only the circumscribed rectangle of the object in which the superimposition relation is not recorded. A rectangular shape may be used. When attention is paid to all circumscribed rectangles (Yes in S180), the process ends.

  For example, referring to FIG. 11, the rasterizer 35 rasterizes two objects (triangles and characters) in a circumscribed rectangle 50 that surrounds a triangular object, and generates one bitmap data.

<A circumscribed rectangle when some objects overlap each other>
FIG. 12 is an example of a diagram illustrating overlapping of objects. In FIG. 12, the graphic object partially overlaps the graphic object. In such a case, the object determining unit 34 converts one whole circumscribed rectangle 50 into one circumscribed rectangle 50, and the other circumscribed rectangle 50 cut out by one circumscribed rectangle 50 into several small rectangles 50S. To generate bitmap data. Since it is not necessary to transmit the overlapping portion of the bitmap data a plurality of times, the data size can be reduced.

  In order to generate the circumscribed rectangle 50 of such an object, the process of step S1 is modified as shown in FIG. FIG. 16 is an example of a flowchart illustrating a procedure for generating the circumscribed rectangle 50 when some of the plurality of objects overlap each other.

  First, the object determination unit 34 obtains a circumscribed rectangle 50 for each object as described above (S210).

  Next, the object determination unit 34 identifies one focused circumscribed rectangle A in the upper left (S220). The upper left is for explanation, and any circumscribed rectangle may be extracted first.

  The object determination unit 34 extracts all circumscribed rectangles that partially overlap the target circumscribed rectangle A (S230). For example, another circumscribed rectangle in which any of the four vertices of the target circumscribed rectangle A overlaps is extracted. In the figure, circumscribed rectangles B and D are extracted.

  The object determining unit 34 determines whether there is a circumscribed rectangle that overlaps with the circumscribed rectangle in a chained manner (S240). The extraction method is the same as in step S230. In the figure, a circumscribed rectangle B and a part of the circumscribed rectangle C are overlapped. In this way, all circumscribed rectangles that partially overlap can be extracted.

  Then, the object determination unit 34 records all circumscribed rectangles that are partially overlapped (S250). For example, “circumscribed rectangle A> circumscribed rectangle B> circumscribed rectangle C, circumscribed rectangle A> circumscribed rectangle D” is recorded.

Then, the object determination unit 34 decomposes the circumscribed rectangle to be superimposed into a rectangle (S260). In the figure, there are 8 parts. An example of the decomposition method will be described.
First, the object determination unit cuts out the other circumscribed rectangle superimposed on the circumscribed rectangle, starting from the uppermost circumscribed rectangle. The circumscribed rectangle as the starting point is determined according to, for example, the position, area, extraction order, etc. of the circumscribed rectangle. In the figure, the circumscribed rectangle A is used.
Next, another circumscribed rectangle superimposed on the cut circumscribed rectangle is cut out by the cut circumscribed rectangle. By repeating this, a quadrangle (the second rectangle in the figure) or a hexagon (the polygons 3 to 5 in the figure and the polygons 6 to 8 in the figure) are obtained.
-The square is used as it is as one small rectangle 50S. The hexagonal polygon is separated into three quadrangles by extending the cut line that is the outer edge of the circumscribed rectangle. Thereby, circumscribed rectangles that overlap each other can be decomposed into small rectangles 50S.
The object determining unit 34 sends the position information of the circumscribed rectangle A and each small rectangle 50S as the starting point to the rasterizer 35.

  Next, the object determination unit 34 determines whether or not there is a circumscribed rectangle in which the superposition relationship is not recorded (S270). If there is a circumscribed rectangle in which no superposition relationship is recorded (Yes in S270), one of the circumscribed rectangles is set as a circumscribed rectangle of interest, and the processing from step S230 is repeated (S280).

  The rasterizer 35 rasterizes the circumscribed rectangle as the starting point, the object included in the circumscribed rectangle as the starting point, and the object included in the circumscribed rectangle as the starting point among the cut out circumscribed rectangles, and generates bitmap data of one rectangle. Generate. In addition, the rasterizer 35 rasterizes the remaining objects not included in the circumscribed rectangle that is the starting point of the cut circumscribed rectangles into the small rectangle 50S, and generates bitmap data of one rectangle.

  In the example of FIG. 12, the rasterizer 35 rasterizes the entire ellipse object and a part of the triangular object cut into the circumscribed rectangle 50 into the circumscribed rectangle 50 surrounding the ellipse object. The remaining part of the triangle object that is not cut into the circumscribed rectangle 50 is rasterized into a small rectangle 50S surrounding the remainder of the triangle.

<The circumscribed rectangle of a long line object>
FIGS. 13A to 13C are examples of diagrams schematically illustrating a circumscribed rectangle 50 of a long line object. Thus, when one line is drawn diagonally on the page, when the circumscribed rectangle 50 is generated, one sheet of paper becomes the circumscribed rectangle 50.

  Therefore, when an object with an oblique line is detected, the object determination unit 34 obtains the circumscribed rectangle 50 of the object after banding the page.

  In FIG. 13B, the page is banded into six bands in the longitudinal direction of the page (for example, the main scanning direction). The object determination unit 34 specifies the position of the object for each band within each band, and generates a circumscribed rectangle 50. For this reason, the object determination unit 34 specifies the position of the line for each band. The end point of the line in the band is the intersection of the dividing line (the dotted line in the figure) and the line object in the banding process. The object determination unit 34 calculates the intersection using an equation for obtaining the intersection.

  By doing so, as shown in the figure, the data size of the bitmap data can be greatly reduced as compared with the case where one page is a circumscribed rectangle 50.

  FIG. 17 is an example of a flowchart showing a procedure for generating a circumscribed rectangle 50 for a long line-shaped object. First, the object determination unit 34 determines whether or not there is an oblique line object having a predetermined length or more in the XPS file (S310).

  The diagonal is detected because the X coordinate of the start point and the end point of the line drawing command is different. That it is more than a predetermined length is detected by calculating the length between two points of the start point and the end point. The predetermined length is, for example, about 2 bands. It is considered that the data size of the bitmap data can be greatly reduced by performing the banding process in the case of two or more bands.

  When there is an object with an oblique line longer than the predetermined length (Yes in S310), the object determination unit 34 performs banding processing on the page in several parts in the longitudinal direction (S320). Next, the object determination unit 34 generates a circumscribed rectangle 50 for each band (S330). The object determination unit 34 sends the position information of the circumscribed rectangle 50 to the rasterizer 35.

  Taking FIG. 13 as an example, the rasterizer 35 rasterizes the lines in each band into six circumscribed rectangles 50.

<The circumscribed rectangle of the white object>
FIG. 14 is an example of a diagram schematically illustrating a circumscribed rectangle 50 of a white object. A white object is a white object whose color is designated even if line, figure, and character drawing commands are in the XPS file. In this case, even if the user visually observes the printed matter printed by the MFP 200, the object remains in the background color of the paper (recording member), and the object cannot be determined.

  Therefore, the white object does not need to be rasterized by the print control unit 40. Therefore, the object determination unit 34 does not generate the circumscribed rectangle 50 when the color information of the object is white. Alternatively, the object determination unit 34 may prohibit the rasterizer 35 from rasterizing this object.

  Since the rasterizer 35 does not rasterize white objects, the processing load on the print control unit 40 can be reduced, and the data size of bitmap data can be reduced.

  FIG. 18 is an example of a flowchart showing a procedure for generating a circumscribed rectangle 50 for a white object. First, the object determination unit 34 determines whether or not there is an object whose color information is white in the XPS file (S410). The color information is specified in the XPS file.

  When there is an object whose color information is white (Yes in S410), the object determining unit 34 prohibits the rasterizer 35 from rasterizing the object (S420). For example, an object may be specified by a tag or the like to notify that rasterization is prohibited.

  As described above, since the print control unit 40 of the present embodiment uses only the circumscribed rectangle 50 of each object as a bitmap data area in the page, the entire page is converted into bitmap data. Compared to this, the data size can be greatly reduced.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 31 Application program 32 Drawing control system 33 XPS file memory | storage part 34 Object judgment part 35 Rasterizer 36 Bitmap memory | storage part 37 PDL conversion part 40 Print control part 100 PC (Personal Computer)
200 MFP
300 network 400 printing system

JP 2001-047671 A

Claims (11)

In the information processing device,
A print target data analysis step of reading data in a predetermined format generated by the application and analyzing the print target data included in the data;
A conversion step of converting the print target data of the data into image data of an area surrounding the print target data;
A print data generation step for converting the image data into print data;
Print control program to execute. In the print target data analyzing step,
Determining whether or not the positions of the areas of two or more print target data overlap,
If it is determined that the positions of two or more of the regions overlap, identify the outermost region of the two or more regions of overlapping positions;
In the converting step, all the print target data surrounded by two or more of the regions having overlapping positions is rasterized into image data of the outermost region.
The printing control program according to claim 1. In the print target data analyzing step,
Determining whether or not a part of the area of two print target data overlaps each other;
When it is determined that a part of two or more of the regions overlap each other, one overlapping first region;
Specify the remaining small area of the second area cut out to the first area, or a plurality of small areas obtained by dividing the remaining of the second area,
The converting step converts a part of the print target data in which the first region surrounds the whole and a part of the print target data in which the second region surrounds the whole into the image data of the first region,
The remaining part of the print target data surrounding the entire second area is converted into a plurality of small area image data, respectively.
The printing control program according to claim 1. The print target data analysis step specifies a plurality of the areas for each character size from print target data of a plurality of characters of different sizes,
The conversion step converts the print target data of the character into image data of the region for each character size.
The printing control program according to claim 1. The print target data analyzing step includes:
Determining whether the print data includes hatched print target data having a predetermined length or more;
When hatched print target data of a predetermined length or more is detected, one page is divided into a plurality of bands, and the area surrounding the hatched print target data divided by bands for each band is specified,
The converting step converts a part of the data to be printed with diagonal lines into image data of the area for each band.
The printing control program according to claim 1. The print target data analyzing step includes:
Determining whether the print data includes print target data whose color information is white;
When the print target data whose color information is white is detected, the conversion of the print target data is prohibited.
The printing control program according to claim 1. An information processing apparatus that generates print data,
Print target data analysis means for reading data in a predetermined format generated by the application and analyzing print target data included in the data;
Conversion means for converting the print target data of the data into image data of an area surrounding the print target data;
Print data generating means for converting the image data into print data;
An information processing apparatus comprising:   A computer-readable storage medium storing the print control program according to claim 1.   A printing apparatus comprising: a computer-readable storage device storing the print control program according to claim 1. Receiving means for receiving data in a predetermined format generated by an application of the information processing apparatus;
Print target data analyzing means for reading the data and analyzing the print target data included in the data;
Conversion means for converting the print target data of the data into image data of an area surrounding the print target data;
Print data generating means for converting the image data into print data;
Printing means for interpreting the print data and printing on a recording medium;
A printing apparatus comprising: A printing system having an information processing apparatus for generating print data and a printer for receiving and printing the print data,
The information processing apparatus includes:
Print target data analysis means for reading data in a predetermined format generated by the application and analyzing print target data included in the data;
Conversion means for converting the print target data of the data into image data of an area surrounding the print target data;
Print data generating means for converting the image data into print data, and the printer interprets the print data and prints it on a recording medium.
A printing system characterized by that.

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