JP2839139B2 - Document processing method - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a document processing method, and more particularly to a document processing method for editing displayed document information and printing out the document information. 2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, when a document or image displayed on a display screen of a device represented by a word processor or the like is printed out, the document or image is displayed or printed in a fixed character pitch or line pitch. In many cases, the degree of freedom in display and printing was limited by lines and columns. In recent years, a high-resolution display device called a bitmap display and a high-resolution printing device such as a laser beam printer or an LED printer have appeared, and 4 dot / mm on a display screen or on a print output.
It has become possible to output at a high resolution of 16 dots / mm. [0004] However, in printing devices that are currently in widespread use, printing on paper cannot be actually performed due to restrictions imposed by the paper transport system and restrictions on electrical timing. There is an area or an area where printing can be performed, but an area where printing is not normally performed (hereinafter, both areas are referred to as an unprintable area) due to a problem such as soiling of a paper conveyance belt. In addition, there is a problem that these are different depending on the printing apparatus. [0005] Therefore, when the operator prints out,
When setting the format so that the output data does not protrude from these non-printable areas, since the security is estimated as the greatest common divisor of the non-printable areas of each printing device, there is a drawback that the degree of freedom for paper is significantly reduced. Atsuta. In addition, even when printing is performed by another printing apparatus, the size of the non-printable area changes, so that such a measure is not sufficient. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-described problems, and it is intended that a document intended by an operator is developed before printing in an unprintable area where printing cannot be performed due to mechanical restrictions of a printing apparatus. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a document processing method which makes it possible to prevent unnecessary printing and to prevent waste of a recording medium. [0007] In order to solve this problem, for example, a document processing method of the present invention has the following arrangement. That is, a document processing method for causing a printing device to print a document based on document information edited by an editing unit, wherein the document based on the document information edited by the editing unit is printed due to a mechanical limitation of the printing device. A determining step of determining whether or not the image is developed in a non-printable area where printing cannot be performed; and
A display step for displaying so that an operator can recognize that a document based on the document information edited by the editing unit is expanded in the non-printable area. An embodiment according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of an image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a display device of a raster scan display system, and 2 denotes a video RAM (VRAM), which corresponds to the display screen of the display device 1 on a one-to-one basis and stores pattern development information for one screen. Reference numeral 3 denotes a display control unit that controls pattern development to the VRAM 2 and pattern reading to the display device 1. Reference numeral 4 denotes a microprocessor (MPU) for controlling the entire apparatus, which controls each peripheral device according to a control program (flow charts in FIGS. 7 to 9) stored in a ROM 5a in a main memory 5 and a RAM 5b. The information writing and reading for data processing are performed in the work area. The page processing unit 29 in the MPU 4 controls the development position of the character data input by the control unit 28 for each page. Reference numeral 6 denotes an external magnetic disk device, which comprises a storage area 32 for storing a document file or an image file, a paper table 30, and a non-printable area table 31. The details in the sheet table 30 and the non-printable area table 31 will be described later. Reference numeral 13 denotes a data source, which is a pointing device (hereinafter referred to as PD).
7) and a keyboard 8. PD
Reference numeral 7 denotes a position designation input operation on the display screen and selection operation by a menu or the like, and a keyboard 8 is used for inputting various information. An I / O bus 9 connects each peripheral device to the MPU 4. Reference numeral 10 denotes a printing device including a printer such as a laser beam. Reference numeral 11 denotes an image memory in which document data is developed under the control of the MPU 4 at the time of printout, and the developed contents are to be printed by the printing apparatus 10.
Reference numeral 12 denotes a direct memory access controller (DMAC) serving as a development control unit according to the present embodiment, which prints the contents of the image memory 11 by a command from the MPU 4 to the printing apparatus 10.
Transfer to FIG. 2 is a view showing a printing paper size table 30. The numerical values in the figure are expressed in units. When the paper size is fed with the short side perpendicular to the paper transport direction, that is, in the case of so-called vertical feeding, “1R” is added and stored as a sheet of another size. Now, as a method of specifying the size of the non-printable area of each sheet size in the printing apparatus 10, the following method is conceivable. I. 4) A case where four rectangular areas are designated by the width and the height from the upper left corner of the unprintable area on the printing paper. That is, as shown in FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b), this is a case where the coordinates of the upper left corner of each unprintable area and its width and height are also shown. In the drawing, reference numeral 31 denotes a table indicating a non-printable area for one print sheet, which is represented by a partial non-printable area such as a rectangular area having a width w1 and a height h1 from coordinates (x1, y1). . II. ) In the case where it is expressed in an area excluding the printable area on the printing paper. That is, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, there is a case where a printable area of one print sheet is designated and the other area is designated as a non-printable area. Reference numeral 31 'in the drawing denotes a table indicating a non-printable area for the one print sheet, which has a width w0 from a coordinate (x0, y0).
This is indicated by designating a printable area of height h0. In any case, the non-printable area table corresponding to each paper size unique to the printing apparatus is stored in the magnetic disk device 6. Since the non-printable area differs depending on the type of the printing apparatus, a plurality of tables are similarly stored for each printing apparatus. In the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment having the above-described configuration, for example, when the paper size at the time of printing is set to “A4”, first, a non-printable area table corresponding to the printing apparatus 10 is set. 31 to “A4
The information on the unprintable area having the size of “size” is read in. Next, an area for “A4” is secured on the display screen of the display device 1 and how the unprintable area is distributed on the area. Is displayed so that a printable area (printable area) and an unprintable area in the area secured for display can be distinguished from each other, for example, as shown in FIG. Is provided with a boundary line (broken line in the illustrated case) 19 so that characters and the like cannot be developed in the non-printable area 20. Accordingly, the operator can grasp the printed image in the print area 21 while grasping the printed output image.
It becomes possible to develop images (including documents and figures) in the inside. In the figure, reference numeral 10 'denotes a display screen of the display device 1, and reference numeral 17 denotes an area for displaying icons for designating various kinds of processing with the graphic cursor 18. There are two types of non-printable areas. One is a case in which printing cannot be performed on that portion due to a mechanical limitation of the printing apparatus itself, for example, a limitation of a transport system (hereinafter, referred to as an unprintable area). Another one
First, when printing is performed in an area where printing can be performed but is not normally output, for example, in that area, there is a possibility that a printing material such as toner adheres to the transport belt and contaminates the sheet as a result (hereinafter, a printing suppression area It is). When the former printing apparatus is connected, even if characters and graphics are developed and printed out in an unprintable area, they are not actually printed, but are printed by the latter printing apparatus. In the case of printing out, if it is desired by the operator, it is possible to develop and print out.
Therefore, if the operator wants to print out in the print suppression area, it is conceivable to permit the image to be developed in the non-printable area on the display screen. Therefore, in the present embodiment, a flag is provided only in the print suppression area so that whether or not to develop an image in that area can be set. That is, when information indicating that the image is permitted to be developed in the non-printable area on the display screen is input by the keyboard 8 or the like, the CPU 4 determines whether the non-printable area of the currently connected printing apparatus is the print suppression area. Set the flag to "1". Also, if the image is not developed from the beginning in the unprintable area or the information of the development permission is input, but it is determined that the area is not printable,
This flag is reset to "0". Therefore, it is necessary to know whether the non-printable area in the currently connected printing apparatus 10 is a non-printable area or a print suppression area. Therefore, information indicating whether the area is a non-printable area or a print suppression area is added to the non-printable area table 31 stored in the magnetic disk device 6. FIG. 6 shows a case where a line is drawn on the display screen.
This will be described using (a) to (c). Now, consider a work 22 of drawing a straight line as the start point 22a and the end point 22b by linking the graphic cursor 18 and a work 23 of drawing a straight line as the start point 23a and the end point 23b (FIG. 6).
(A)). When the flag is "0", development in the non-printable area is prohibited, so that only the operation 22 is validated,
Operation 23 is invalidated. Accordingly, the drawing of the line segment at this time is as shown in FIG. When the flag is "1", the start point 2
Since the coordinates of 3a are valid, operations 22 and 23
Becomes effective with the companion. Accordingly, a line segment can be displayed as shown in FIG. Note that the line segment of operation 23 when the flag is “0” is not necessarily invalidated. For example, it is conceivable that only the line segment in the non-printable area 20 is not displayed. The operation of the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. First, after turning on the power to the apparatus, step S
Initial setting is performed with 1. At this time, the flag is also reset to "0". Next, in step S2, the paper size for print output is determined. At step S3, the currently connected printing apparatus or, if a plurality of printing apparatuses are connected, one of them is selected and determined. In step S4, based on the determined printing device and paper size, the table (30, 31) relating to the printing area is referred to and displayed on the display device so that the unprintable area and the printing area can be distinguished. Next, at step S5, the keyboard 8
Alternatively, information is inputted by the PD 7, and the process branches to each process in steps S 6 to S 10 according to the information. If the input information is information relating to the reading of a document, the process proceeds to step S11 to read a document desired by the operator from the magnetic disk device 6 into the RAM 5b, but save the created or edited document. If so, the process proceeds to step S12 where the data is stored and recorded in the magnetic disk device 6. On the other hand, if the information indicates that write permission is to be given to the non-printable area, the process proceeds to step S13, where
The table 3 in the magnetic disk device 6 determines whether or not the unprintable area of the connected printing apparatus 10 is a print suppression area.
1 to make a decision. If it is determined that the area is a print suppression area, the flag is set to "1" in step S14. If not, it is meaningless to expand the character or image in that area. The process returns to step S5 while keeping "0". If the input information is information relating to printing, the processing from step S15 is performed. In step S15, the document information to be printed is read from the magnetic disk device 6 for one page into the RAM 5b.
Each character constituting the document is converted into a pattern in the image memory 11 and developed in the image memory 11. Next, the MPU 4 outputs a command to the DMAC 12 and causes the printing device 10 to output and print the data expanded in the image memory 11. In step S18, it is determined whether or not the entire document has been output. If the printing process is not completed, the process returns to step S15, and thereafter, until printing is completed for all pages. S15
Step S18 is repeated. If it is determined that the information input in step S5 is character data relating to document editing (step S9), it is determined whether the destination of the character data input in step S19 is a non-printable area. It is first determined whether or not it is not.
If the destination of the input character data is the print area, the process proceeds to step S21, where the character data is output to the page processing unit. If not, that is, if the input is performed in the non-printable area, step S20 is performed. And the flag is "1"
Is determined. When the flag is “1”,
Since this non-printable area is a print suppression area, the process in step S21 is performed. If the flag is "0", the process returns to step S5. In step S22, the page processing section stores the input character data in the RAM 5.
is stored in the VRAM 2 through a character generator (not shown) in step S23, and is displayed on the display screen (step S24). Based on the processing described above, the operator can edit / create a document or image while being aware of the unprintable area and the print area of the currently connected printing apparatus. Therefore, it is not necessary to set a printable area of the greatest common denominator one by one as in the related art, and the work efficiency can be improved. Further, by preventing information such as characters and images from being developed in the non-printable area, characters and the like are prevented from being inadvertently lost in the printout result. Although the non-printable area table 31 covers all printing devices, the non-printable area can be read and displayed flexibly. Further, information on whether or not the non-printable area is a print suppression area is added to the table, and the operator can develop information such as characters in the print suppression area and print as necessary. To In the present embodiment, the printing paper size table 30 and the non-printable area table 31 have been described as being stored in the magnetic disk device, but they may be stored in the ROM 5a. Further, if a predetermined command is output to the printing apparatus to output information relating to the non-printable area from the printing apparatus, it is not always necessary to store the table. As described above, according to the present embodiment,
When a document is developed in a non-printable area or a print suppression area, the operator is notified of the state (for example, a state in which the document is not developed in the non-printable area) so that the operator can perform printing. It is possible to confirm whether or not the document has been expanded to an inappropriate area when performing the operation. Therefore,
When editing the document, the operator can freely edit the document without being aware of an inappropriate area at all, which is convenient. As described above, according to the present invention, before printing, a document intended by the operator is developed in a non-printable area where printing cannot be performed due to mechanical limitations of the printing apparatus. It is possible to prevent unnecessary printing and prevent waste of the recording medium.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image processing apparatus showing one embodiment of the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a sheet size table according to the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a non-printable area and a table for printing paper. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a non-printable area on a print sheet and a table. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a display example on a display device according to the embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating data expansion processing based on the contents of a write permission flag. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure in the apparatus of the embodiment. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure in the apparatus of the embodiment. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure in the apparatus of the embodiment. [Description of Signs] 1 Display device 2 VRAM 3 Display control unit 4 MPU 5 Main memory 5a ROM 5b RAM 6 External magnetic disk 7 Pointing device (PD) 8 Keyboard 9 I / O bus 10 Printing device 11 Image memory 12 DMAC 13 Data supply source 30 Paper size table 31 Non-printable area table 32 Document / image area

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI H04N 1/387 G06F 15/20 566D

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A document processing method for causing a printing device to print a document based on document information edited by an editing unit, wherein a document based on the document information edited by the editing unit cannot be printed due to a mechanical limitation of the printing device. A determining step of determining whether or not the document is to be developed in the non-printable area; and operating the document based on the document information edited by the editing unit to be developed in the non-printable area based on the determination result in the determining step. A display step of performing display so that a user can recognize the document. 2. The display step displays the document expanded in an area that is not the non-printable area based on the result of the determination in the determination step, and does not display the document expanded in the non-printable area. 2. The document processing method according to claim 1, wherein a display based on the document information edited by the means is displayed so that an operator can recognize that the document is expanded in the non-printable area.