JP2013228774A - Printing system and output method for print data file in printing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an output method of a print data file in a printing system.SOLUTION: The output method of a print data file in a printing system including: application software for generating image data and print data including a print parameter; a storage area for outputting the print data file of the generated print data; and a user interface for performing printing to a recording medium on the basis of the print data file stored in the storage area includes: a step of generating a new print data file; a determination step of determining whether or not a folder of the print data file having the same file name as that of the new print data file is present in the storage area; and a file processing step of making the user interface display the determination result of the determination step, and performing the following output processing of the print data file to the storage area by an operation on the user interface.

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing system and a method for outputting a print data file in the printing system.

Car exteriors such as automobiles and various home appliances are decorated with patterns and coloring such as scales and letters. As a method for decorating, a well-known screen printing, a digital printing method such as a laser printer electrophotographic method, a thermal transfer method, an ink jet method or the like can be used.
In recent years, in the field of decorative printing, textures rich in design such as a three-dimensional effect and a high-class feeling have been demanded. Among the digital printing technologies described above, printing using an ink jet system that performs printing by ejecting ink droplets from the nozzles of an electronically controlled ink jet head has a simple structure and a low initial cost. In addition, due to advantages such as high-resolution image formation, it has been attracting attention as a decorative printing technique capable of forming a desired texture.

In decorative printing using an inkjet printing method, print data including image data and print parameters is generated by application software, and multilayer printing is performed based on the print data. A major feature of the inkjet printing method is the ease of switching between models that can form a variety of decorative prints by selecting print data software without using a print mask or the like.
The generated print data file is output and stored in the storage area of the printing system, and when performing decorative printing, the desired print data file is called to perform decorative printing. For this reason, many print data files for decorative printing are stored in the storage area of the printing system. When the generated new print data file is output to the storage area, the new print data file and There are cases where a print data file with the same name exists.
As a data file output method that can handle such a case, for example, in Patent Document 1, when a data file is output to a storage area (storage unit), if there is a file with the same name, overwriting is avoided. If an output method (upload method) is defined and set in the flow definition data, and there is a file with the same name when the data file is output, there is a method to output the data file according to the data file output method defined in the flow definition data. It is disclosed.

JP 2010-074393 A

  However, the data file output method in the processing control method described in Patent Document 1 can only control data output processing based on predetermined flow definition data. For this reason, when it is desired to change the data output processing method to a desired method, there is a problem that the flow definition data has to be reset and the versatility is low and inefficient.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is to solve at least a part of the problems described above, and the invention can be implemented as the following forms or application examples.

  Application Example 1 A print data file output method in a printing system according to this application example outputs application software that generates print data including image data and print parameters, and a print data file of the generated print data. An output method of the print data file in a printing system that includes a storage area and a user interface and performs printing on a recording medium based on the print data file stored in the storage area, the application A step of generating a new print data file by software, a determination step of determining whether or not a folder of a print data file having the same file name as the new print data file exists in the storage area, and a determination in the determination step Previous result Causes display on the user interface, and performing output processing to the storage area of the print data file after the operation on the user interface.

  According to this application example, the output of the generated print data file to the storage area is performed by the user operating the user interface according to the determination result of whether or not the print data file with the same name exists in the storage area. You can create or specify any output folder.

  Application Example 2 In the print data file output method in the printing system according to the application example described above, it is determined in the determination step that there is no folder of the print data file having the same name as the new print data file in the storage area. A folder for the new print data file is created and output to the storage area, and if there is a folder for the print data file having the same name as the new print data file in the storage area in the determination step, Create a sequential print data file folder in the new print data file and output it to the storage area, overwrite the new print data file in the print data file folder with the same name, or cancel the output of the new print data file File processing And performing the operation on Eisu.

  According to this application example, the user can arbitrarily output the new print data file to the storage area according to the determination result of whether or not the print data file having the same name as the generated new print data file exists in the storage area. This can be done in a clear flow to create or specify an output destination folder or cancel output.

  Application Example 3 A printing system according to this application example includes application software that generates print data including image data and print parameters, a storage area that outputs a print data file of the generated print data, a user interface, A print system that prints on a recording medium based on the print data file stored in the storage area, and a folder of the print data file having the same file name as the new print data file is included in the storage area The new print data when there is a folder of the print data file having the same name as the new print data file in the storage area as a result of determination by the determination unit; Create a folder for sequential print data files in the file and File processing means for outputting to an area, overwriting and saving the new print data file in a folder of the print data file of the same name, or canceling the output of the new print data file by an operation on the user interface It is characterized by having.

  According to this application example, the user can arbitrarily output the new print data file to the storage area according to the determination result of whether or not the print data file having the same name as the generated new print data file exists in the storage area. It is possible to provide a print data output method that can be performed in a clear flow of creating or specifying an output destination folder or canceling output.

The block diagram which shows an example of the outline of a structure of the decoration molding system which is one Embodiment of the image processing system containing a printing system. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a print data file output method in the printing system. Explanatory drawing which shows an example of the user interface screen in the printing data file output method. Explanatory drawing which shows an example of the user interface screen in the printing data file output method. Explanatory drawing which shows an example of the user interface screen in the printing data file output method.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following drawings, the scale of each layer and each member is made different from the actual scale so that each layer and each member can be recognized.

(1) Image processing system FIG. 1: is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the decoration molding system 10 which is one Embodiment of the image processing system containing the printing system of this invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, the decorative molding system 10 of the present embodiment draws the recording medium S from a roll 36 in which the recording medium S such as a resin sheet (for example, a polyfilm) is wound into a roll shape, and displays an image. A printer 20 that forms (prints) an image by ejecting ink as a forming agent for forming, and a molding apparatus 40 that three-dimensionally shapes the recording medium S after the image is formed (printed) into a desired three-dimensional shape. And a general-purpose personal computer (PC) 50 having a function of an image processing apparatus that is communicably connected to the printer 20 and that inputs an image to be formed on the recording medium S, processes the print data, and outputs the print data. Note that the printing system of the present invention corresponds to the PC 50 and the printer 20 including the input device 57 and the display 58.

  The printer 20 includes a controller 21 that controls the entire apparatus, a printing mechanism 25 that ejects ink onto the recording medium S, and a conveyance mechanism 32 that conveys the recording medium S while being pulled out from a roll 36. The controller 21 is configured as a microprocessor centered on the CPU 22, and includes a flash memory 23 that stores various processing programs and can rewrite data, and a RAM 24 that temporarily stores data and stores data. I have. This controller 21 receives the print data from the PC 50 and controls the printing mechanism 25 and the conveyance mechanism 32 so as to execute the printing process. The printing mechanism 25 includes a carriage 26 that reciprocates left and right (main scanning direction) along a carriage shaft 30 by a carriage belt 31, a print head 28 that applies pressure to ink and ejects ink droplets from nozzles 27, and inks of various colors. And a cartridge 29 containing the cartridge. The print head 28 is provided at the lower part of the carriage 26. By applying a voltage to the piezoelectric element and pressurizing the ink while deforming the piezoelectric element, the print head 28 is supplied with each color from the nozzle 27 provided on the lower surface of the print head 28. Ink is ejected to form dots on the recording medium S. The mechanism for applying pressure to the ink may be based on the generation of bubbles due to the heat of the heater. The cartridge 29 is mounted on the main body side and individually stores inks of cyan (c), magenta (m), yellow (y), and black (k) cmyk, and the stored ink is not illustrated. It supplies to the print head 28 through a tube. The transport mechanism 32 includes a transport roller 35 that is driven by a drive motor 33 to transport the recording medium S.

  The molding apparatus 40 includes an upper mold part 41 disposed on the upper side of the recording medium S and a lower mold part 42 disposed on the lower side of the recording medium S. A mold (not shown) is set in the upper mold section 41 and the lower mold section 42, and the recording medium S is formed into a three-dimensional shape by sandwiching the recording medium S with upper and lower molds. Note that the deformation method by the molding apparatus 40 may be a heating method or a pressurization method. In addition, the mold set in the molding apparatus 40 can be replaced with a plurality of different molds. The recording medium S is cut into a predetermined length by a cutting machine 37 disposed between the printer 20 and the molding apparatus 40 before or after molding.

  The PC 50 is a network interface for inputting / outputting data to / from an external device such as a printer 51, a controller 51 that controls the entire apparatus, an HDD 55 that is a large-capacity external storage device that stores various application programs and various data files, and the like. (I / F) 56, and an input device 57 such as a keyboard and a mouse for inputting various commands by the user, and a user interface 75 including a display 58 for displaying various information to the user. The controller 51 includes a CPU 52 that executes various controls, a flash memory 53 that stores various control programs, a RAM 54 that temporarily stores data, and the like. The PC 50 has a function of executing an operation corresponding to the input operation when the user performs an input operation on the cursor or the like displayed on the display 58 via the input device 57. The controller 51, the HDD 55, the I / F 56, the input device 57, the display 58, and the like are electrically connected by a bus 59 so that various control signals and data can be exchanged.

The HDD 55 of the PC 50 has application software 69 for generating image data generated by the modified image processing program 60 and print data including print parameters, a print driver 70 for outputting the print data to the printer 20, or a storage area. The data output unit 67 is stored.
The deformed image processing program 60 detects a shape shift or a color shift that occurs in an image (including characters and patterns) formed on the surface of the molded product (the recording medium S after molding) due to the deformation accompanying the molding of the recording medium S. This is a program used for correction. The modified image processing program 60 includes a data input unit 61 for inputting various data, a calculation unit 62 for calculating a value necessary for processing from the input data, and a 3D picture for editing a three-dimensional image (picture) model. The editing unit 63 includes a shape compensation unit 64 that compensates for a shape shift associated with molding, and a color compensation unit 65 that compensates for a color shift associated with molding. The processed data is output to the data output unit 67 and stored.
The data input unit 61 has a function of inputting shape information before and after forming the recording medium S and inputting an image to be formed on the recording medium S. The calculation unit 62 has a function of calculating the strain direction and the strain amount of each part of the recording medium S based on the shape information before and after the molding input by the data input unit 61 and calculating the area change before and after the molding. doing. The 3D picture editing unit 63 has a function of executing editing of an image formed on the recording medium S before molding and editing of an image formed on the recording medium S after molding based on the shape information input by the data input unit 61. Have. The shape compensation unit 64 has a function of executing shape compensation that corrects the shape of the image to reflect the change in the shape of the image caused by deformation during the formation of the recording medium S. The color compensation unit 65 executes color compensation for correcting to a target color using a color compensation conversion look-up table (LUT) 66 in order to reflect a change in image color caused by deformation at the time of forming the recording medium S. It has a function.
The data output unit 67 has a function of storing and storing print data files such as corrected image data and print parameters in which shape shift and color shift are compensated, and outputting the print data to the print driver 70 and the like. ing.
The data input unit 61, the calculation unit 62, the 3D picture editing unit 63, the shape compensation unit 64, the color compensation unit 65, and the data output unit 67 are respectively a data input module, a calculation module, a 3D picture editing module, and a shape compensation module. These are incorporated in the modified image processing program 60 as a color compensation module and a data output module. Each of these modules is executed by the controller 51 so that the functions described above are expressed. The print driver 70 is a program that converts a print job into print data that can be directly printed by the printer 20 and outputs (transmits) the print job to the printer 20. The print driver 70 has a function of outputting print data generated by the modified image processing program 60 to the printer 20.

(2) Print Data File Output Method Next, a print data file output method in an image processing system including the above-described printing system of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a print data file output method in the printing system of this embodiment. 3 to 5 are explanatory diagrams showing examples of user interface screens in the print data file output method.
In FIG. 2, in the print data file output method in the printing system of the present embodiment, first, as shown in step S1, the application software 69 of the decorative molding system 10 as an image processing system including the printing system performs image processing. Generate print data including data and print parameters.
Next, as shown in step S2, a folder for the generated new print data file is created. In this embodiment, the folder name of the new print data file is “C: ¥ test ¥ A”.

Next, it is determined whether or not a folder of the print data file having the same name as the folder name of the new print data file exists in the data output unit 67 as a storage area by a determination unit (not shown) provided in the decorative molding system 10.
If it is determined in the determination step that there is no print data file folder having the same name as the new print data file in the data output unit 67 (NO in step S3), a new print data file folder is created (step S8). The new print data file is output to the data output unit 67 and stored (step S12).

  In the determination step, if there is a print data file folder having the same name as the new print data file in the data output unit 67 (YES in step S3), the print data file information of the same name folder is displayed on the user interface 75 ( Step S4), file processing is performed by the file processing means.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a screen of the user interface 75 that displays information about the folder of the print data file having the same name as the new print data file existing in the data output unit 67.
Here, on the screen of the user interface 75, a message “A folder with the same name exists” is displayed in the data output unit 67, indicating that a folder with the same name as the folder name of the new print data file exists. In addition, the user interface 75 screen includes the creator information of the print data file, image information such as the number of print layers (in this embodiment, multi-layer printing) and print resolution, and output application information. indicate.

  In the print data file output method of the present embodiment, in the file processing of confirming the contents of the folder information of the print data file having the same name as the new print data file displayed on the user interface 75, first, the new print data file Is to be copied to the data output unit 67. When copying a new print data file to the data output unit 67, the print data file having the same name as the new print data file is left in the data output unit 67, and the sequential number of the existing folder name is added to the new print data file. It means to output and save with the attached folder name. If it is determined that a new print data file is to be copied (YES in step S5), first, a folder name with a sequential number that does not exist in the same name folder as the folder name of the existing print data file to be left in the data output unit 67 is searched. (Step S9). Then, as shown in step S10, a folder for sequential print data files for a new print data file is created (in FIG. 4, "C: \ test \ A_ (1)" Is touched on the touch panel button “copy” on the screen of the user interface 75 shown in FIG. 4, the data is output to the data output unit 67 and stored (step S12 in FIG. 2).

In the file processing according to the present embodiment, when it is determined that the new print data file is not copied (NO in step S5), first, as shown in step S6, the file is stored in the existing folder with the same name in the data output unit 67. It is determined whether to overwrite the new print data file. If it is determined that a new print data file is to be overwritten in the same name folder (YES in step S6), the existing print data file in the same name folder is deleted (step S11), and then the user interface 75 screen shown in FIG. When the touch panel button “overwrite” is touched, a new data file is output and stored in the folder having the same name (step S12 in FIG. 2).
If it is determined not to overwrite the new print data file (NO in step S6), that is, if the existing print data file in the data output unit 67 is the same as the new print data file, it is shown in FIG. By touching the “cancel” touch panel button on the screen of the user interface 75, a print data file output canceling process (step S7 in FIG. 2) is performed.
As described above, the new print data file is output to the data output unit 67 and stored, or the output cancel process is performed, and the output of the print data file in the printing system of the present embodiment is terminated.

  According to the print data file output method in the decorative molding system 10 as an image processing system including the print system of the present embodiment, a print data file having the same name as the new print data file generated by the application software 69 is used as the storage area. The user creates or designates an arbitrary output destination folder by operating the user interface 75 to output the new print data file to the data output unit 67 according to the determination result of whether or not the data output unit 67 exists. Or a clear flow of canceling the output.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention made by the inventor have been specifically described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and modifications thereof, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. It is possible to make changes.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the decorative molding system 10 that forms after printing on the recording medium S has been described as a specific example of the image processing system including the printing system. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and printing is performed on the recording medium. In the printing system, the present invention can provide a print data file output method that exhibits the same effect as the above-described embodiment.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Decorative molding system as an image processing system including a printing system, 20 ... Printer, 21 ... Controller, 22 ... CPU, 23 ... Flash memory, 24 ... RAM, 25 ... Printing mechanism, 26 ... Carriage, 27 ... Nozzle, 28 ... print head, 29 ... cartridge, 30 ... carriage shaft, 31 ... carriage belt, 32 ... transport mechanism, 33 ... drive motor, 35 ... transport roller, 36 ... roll of recording medium S, 37 ... cutting machine, 40 ... molding Device: 41 ... Upper mold part, 42 ... Lower mold part, 50 ... PC, 51 ... Controller, 52 ... CPU, 53 ... Flash memory, 54 ... RAM, 55 ... HDD, 56 ... Network interface (I / F), 57 ... input device 58 ... display 59 ... bus 60 ... deformed image processing program 61 ... data Input unit 62 ... Calculation unit 63 ... 3D picture editing unit 64 ... Shape compensation unit 65 ... Color compensation unit 66 ... LUT 67 ... Data output unit as storage area 69 ... Application software 70 ... Print Driver, 75 ... User interface.

Claims (3)

Application software for generating print data including image data and print parameters;
A storage area for outputting a print data file of the generated print data;
A user interface, and
An output method of the print data file in a printing system that performs printing on a recording medium based on the print data file stored in the storage area,
Generating a new print data file by the application software;
A determination step of determining whether a folder of a print data file having the same file name as the new print data file exists in the storage area;
A determination result in the determination step is displayed on the user interface, and a subsequent output process of the print data file to the storage area is performed by an operation on the user interface. output method. The output method of the print data file in the printing system according to claim 1,
When it is determined in the determination step that there is no folder of the print data file having the same name as the new print data file in the storage area, a folder of the new print data file is generated and output to the storage area,
If the print data file folder having the same name as the new print data file exists in the storage area in the determination step, a sequential print data file folder is created in the new print data file and output to the storage area In the printing system, the file processing for overwriting and saving the new print data file in the folder of the print data file with the same name or canceling the output of the new print data file is performed by an operation on the user interface. Print data file output method. Application software for generating print data including image data and print parameters;
A storage area for outputting a print data file of the generated print data;
A user interface, and
A printing system that performs printing on a recording medium based on the print data file stored in the storage area,
Determining means for determining whether a folder of a print data file having the same file name as the new print data file exists in the storage area;
If the result of determination by the determining means is that there is a folder of the print data file having the same name as the new print data file in the storage area, a folder of serial print data files is created in the new print data file. File processing capable of performing file processing to output to the storage area, overwrite the new print data file in a folder of the print data file with the same name, or cancel output of the new print data file by operation on the user interface And a printing system.

Images