JP3055455B2 - Document storage device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a document storage device for a remote printing system, and more particularly, to a document storage device which provides a user with a document stored in accordance with a browsing request from a document browsing device before printing. (Print preview)
The present invention relates to a document storage device of a remote printing system capable of specifying a printing condition based on a document.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a system for browsing a simple document in a network environment has become widespread. For example, there is an information browsing environment called “Internet (Internet)” or “World Wide Web (WWW)” which has recently been talked about. In this browsing system, "WWW server"
"HTTP (Hyper)
It is a protocol called "Text Transfer Protocol" and is called "HTML (Hyper Te
xt Markup-Language).

[0003] In this system, like a hypertext, mainly text information and image information in a predetermined format are converted into a card (one sheet without a page concept) in a simple format of a markup language. It is becoming popular in the general market as a system for exchanging and browsing. The technology relating to the Internet is described in detail in ISBN 4-900718-12-2 "Internet User's Guide".

[0004] On this infrastructure, there is an increasing demand for users to build a system for exchanging and browsing electronic documents and printing the viewed documents regardless of whether they are inside or outside the company.

[0005]

However, when the above-described network environment is used for document browsing / printing, there are the following problems, and a satisfactory system cannot be realized. That is, since the format of the document is a simple text-based grammar, there is a limit to the types of documents that can be expressed as a trade-off. In addition, since a document is created using a specific grammar, for example, a document cannot be created as it is with a word processor used by the user, a unique document creation technique is required, or the document is converted or converted into a specific format called HTML. You must use a word processor that has the ability to output.

On the other hand, for the purpose of document exchange, there is a method in which individual documents are obtained at each location using a file transfer protocol and exchanged as a data file of a word processing document. Therefore, a satisfactory system cannot be realized. In other words, since the word processing data must acquire all pages, even if the first page cannot read the document content immediately, when browsing a document with a large number of pages, only a specific page is read. Even if the user wants to browse, it takes time to transfer all page documents, so that the responsiveness until browsing is poor. Moreover,
To respond to browsing various word processing data on the user side,
Since it is necessary to prepare application software such as word processors, it is impossible to assume that all viewers prepare all application software necessary for browsing.

In order to solve these problems, a method in which the file server converts the document into a document format required by the user and transmits the document can be considered. However, since the conversion of word processing data cannot be completely compatible, it is not possible. However, conversion can be performed only in a limited range, and a discrepancy with the original always occurs. In addition, since there are many word processing data formats and version upgrades are frequently repeated, a method of converting the data into all formats cannot be realized originally. Therefore, in general,
At present, it is not possible to exchange data except for the format of typical application software that is often used.

Further, when printing viewed data, if the document used at the time of viewing is limited in terms of expressiveness, a variety of figures and tables are used to adjust the appearance, and high-quality multi-page printing is performed. Is difficult, and if a high-quality document is desired, a time-consuming word processing document is required for browsing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and makes a document to be viewed / printed from a user independent of specific application software, thereby reducing the amount of transfer information for a viewing request. It is an object of the present invention to provide a document storage device in a remote printing system that achieves both improvement in response performance and enabling high-quality remote printing of viewed pages.

[0010]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the principle of a remote printing system. In this figure, a remote printing system includes a document browsing device 1, a document storage device 2, a printing device 3
And a communication path 4 connecting these. The document browsing device 1 is a browsing request transmitting unit 1b that transmits a browsing request specified by the input unit 1a to the document storage device 2.
And a document receiving unit 1d for receiving a document transmitted in response to the browsing request and outputting the received document to the display unit 1c. The document storage device 2 includes a browsing request receiving / analyzing unit 2a that receives and analyzes a browsing request transmitted from the document browsing device 1 via the communication path 4, and a set of browsing image data divided in page units. And document storage means 2 for storing an electronic document holding image data for printing
b, the document storage means 2b requested by the document browsing device 1
Document processing means 2c for processing the electronic document therein into browsing and printing image data in accordance with a designated request, and adding reference information to previous and next pages to the browsing image data processed by the document processing means 2c. Response data generating means 2d for generating response data for browsing, and the response data generated by the response data generating means 2d are transmitted to the document browsing apparatus 1 to which the browsing request has been issued, and processed by the document processing means 2c. Document transmission means 2e for transferring the image data for printing to the designated printing device 3 requested by the document viewing device 1.

The remote printing system includes a document creation device 5
The document creation device 5 receives the print control command issued by the application software 5a having a function of printing on a paper medium at the time of the printing process, and the browsing image data and the page unit or the page unit in a predetermined image format. There is provided an electronic document creating means 56 for processing the entire document into print image data, collecting these image data, and outputting the data in a predetermined document format.

According to the remote printing system having the above-described configuration, first, in the document creating apparatus 5, a document composed of a plurality of pages created by the application software 5a is browsed by the electronic document creating means 5b. The electronic document is processed into an electronic document held as a set of image data for printing and stored in the document storage device 2.

A basic browsing mechanism for performing a print preview is as follows. First, the document browsing apparatus 1 uses the browsing request transmitting means 1b.
Issue a browsing request through. Then, the document storage device 2
On the side, the browsing request receiving / analyzing means 2a receives the transmitted browsing request. The electronic document requested to be browsed is acquired from the document storage unit 2b, the image data for browsing is processed into a format according to the content of the browse request by the document processing unit 2c, and the response data is generated by the response data generation unit 2d. prepare. At this time, the response data generating means 2d is configured to issue the image data for browsing so that when the document browsing apparatus 1 issues the browsing request by the browsing request transmitting means 1b, not only the specification of the electronic document but also the page specification is issued. To generate response data in which reference information is embedded in advance. The response data generated in this manner is transmitted from the document transmission unit 2e. The response data transmitted through the communication path 4 is received by the document receiving unit 1d of the document browsing device 1, and is displayed by the display unit 1.
c and displayed.

On the other hand, when printing the page of the browsed document or the whole browsed document by the printing device 3, a browse request including a print instruction is issued from the document browsing device 1. In the document storage device 2, the browsing request is received by the browsing request receiving / analyzing unit 2a, the document processing unit 2c prepares printing image data corresponding to the contents of the browsing request, and the printing image data is sent by the document transmitting unit 2e. The data is transmitted to the printing device 3. The printing device 3 receives the printing image data and executes printing.

Therefore, the response data for browsing in response to the browsing request from the document browsing device 1 is image information in page units, so that the transmission data transmitted and received via the communication path 4 in one browsing request is at most. The response time from the page display request operation to the display of the actual page on the display unit 1c of the document browsing apparatus 1 can be reduced, and the browsing response efficiency can be increased. . Also, by issuing a print request for the viewed document, the document storage device 2 prepares image data for printing and transfers it to the designated printing device 3, so that high quality printing is performed. be able to. In other words, the user
Before actual printing, the page content of the document in the document storage device 2 can be checked while previewing at high speed.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First, the outline of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the principle configuration of a remote printing system.

In FIG. 1, the remote printing system comprises a document browsing device 1, a document storage device 2, a printing device 3, and a communication path 4 connecting these devices, and is further stored in the document storage device 2. A document creation device 5 for creating an electronic document for viewing is provided.

The document browsing device 1 transmits a browsing request input / instructed by the input device 1a to the document storage device 2 and a document request transmitted from the document storage device 2 in response to the browsing request. And a document receiving unit 1d for receiving the response data and outputting it to the display unit 1c. The document storage device 2 receives a browsing request transmitted from the document browsing device 1 via the communication path 4 and analyzes the contents of the browsing request.
A document storage unit 2b for storing a set of image data for browsing created by the document creating device 5 and divided in page units and an electronic document holding image data for printing, and a request from the document browsing device 1. Document storage means 2
b) Document processing means 2c for processing the electronic document in b into browsing and printing image data in accordance with a specified request, and reference information for specifying an adjacent page in the browsing image data processed by the document processing means 2c A response data generating unit 2d that generates response data for browsing by adding a response to the request, and transmits the response data for browsing generated by the response data generating unit 2d to the document browsing device 1 to which the browsing request has been issued.
A document transmitting unit 2e for transferring the printing image data processed by the document processing unit 2c to the designated printing device 3 requested by the document browsing device 1; Document creation device 5
Is an application software 5a such as a word processor having a printing function on a paper medium, and a print control command issued by the application software 5a at the time of a printing process. Alternatively, the document storage device 2 processes the entire document into print image data, collects the image data, and converts the image data into an electronic document in a predetermined document format.
Electronic document creation means 5 having a pseudo-printing mechanism for outputting to
b.

According to the remote printing system having the above configuration, first, in the document creation device 5, an electronic document is created by the application software 5a. The application software 5a is word processing software, spreadsheet software, drawing software, database software, or the like, and is strictly software having a function of printing on paper. The document composed of a plurality of pages created by the application software 5a is passed to the electronic document creating means 5b, where the electronic document held in the page-by-page browsing image data and the page-by-page or entire document printing image data is converted into an electronic document. Processed. The processed electronic document is transferred to the document storage device 2 and stored in the document storage unit 2b.

When browsing the stored electronic document for printing, first, a browsing request input through the input unit 1a is transmitted to the communication path 4 by the browsing request transmitting unit 1b of the document browsing apparatus 1. The sent browsing request is received by the browsing request reception / analysis 2a of the document storage device 2,
The request is parsed. Next, the electronic document requested to be browsed is acquired from the document storage unit 2b, and is sent to the document processing unit 2b.
At c, the electronic document is processed into a page format according to the contents of the browsing request. Here, processing such as extraction of a specified page and conversion to a specified image format is performed. Thereafter, response data is generated by the response data generating means 2d. At this time, the response data generation unit 2d is configured to display the image data for browsing so that when the document browsing apparatus 1 issues a browsing request using the browsing request transmitting unit 1b, not only the specification of the electronic document but also the page specification can be issued. , And generates viewing response data in which reference information is embedded in advance in the format of. The viewing response data generated in this manner is transmitted from the document transmitting means 2e. The response data for browsing transmitted via the communication path 4 is received by the document receiving unit 1d of the document browsing device 1, and is sent to the display unit 1c for display. Here, by instructing the reference information of the displayed page data by the input means 1a, a browsing request specifying the page number linked to the reference information together with the specification of the electronic document is sent to the document storage device 2. publish.

As described above, when printing an electronic document whose contents have been confirmed by the document browsing apparatus 1, a browsing request including a print instruction is issued from the document browsing apparatus 1. In the document storage device 2, the browsing request is transmitted to the browsing request receiving / analyzing unit 2.
a, the document processing means 2c prepares print image data according to the contents of the browsing request. Here, when a print page is designated, the print image data of the designated page is extracted from the electronic document, and when the entire electronic document is printed, the print image data of the entire document is extracted. The image data for printing is sent to the printing device 3 by the document transmitting unit 2e.
Sent to The printing device 3 receives the printing image data and executes printing.

Therefore, according to the present invention, since the response data for browsing to the browsing request from the document browsing device 1 is image information in page units, the transfer transmitted and received via the communication path 4 in one browsing request. Since the image data is at most one page, the response time from the page display request operation to the actual display of the designated page on the display unit 1c of the document browsing apparatus 1 is reduced, and the response efficiency of the print preview in the remote printing system is reduced. Can be raised. Further, by issuing a print request for the viewed document, the document storage device 2 prepares high-quality image data for printing and transfers it to the designated printing device 3, so that high-quality image data is obtained. Can print. That is, the user can preview the page content of the document in the document storage device 2 with a low-resolution image at high speed before actually performing high-quality printing, and check the content.

In general, compared to browsing image data,
The image data for high-quality printing greatly increases the amount of information and the load of print processing, but the actual print processing (image processing, data transfer, etc.) does not go through the document browsing device 1 of each user. Since the document can be directly passed from the document storage device 2 to the printing device 3, high-load processing can be processed at the back end in the document storage device 2 and the printing device 3 configured by a high-performance machine. No load is applied to the terminal device.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described by taking as an example a case where the present invention is applied to a system in which a plurality of users can browse a document composed of a plurality of pages stored in a server on a network.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the server client system. The illustrated server client system includes a client 10 that is a user terminal,
File server 20, print server 30, and LAN (Local Area Network) connecting these.
rk), WAN (Wide Area Network)
k). The client 10 functions as a document browsing device, and a plurality of clients exist on the network. In the illustrated example, only one is shown.

The client 10 comprises a browsing request transmitting section 11 and a document receiving section 12, and the browsing request transmitting section 11
Is connected to an input device 13 composed of a pointing device such as a keyboard or a mouse.
Is connected to the display device 14. The browsing request transmitting unit 11 and the document receiving unit 12 are connected to a network 40, respectively.

The file server 20 has a network 40
A browsing request receiving unit 21 connected to the server, a browsing target determining unit 22 that analyzes the received browsing request, a document obtaining unit 23 that obtains the determined browsing target, and stores an electronic document created in advance. A file storage unit 24, a document processing unit 25 that processes the acquired document into a specified format analyzed by the viewing target determination unit 22, and an adjacent page based on the page information analyzed by the viewing target determination unit 22 A reference information generating unit 26 for generating information of the reference information; a response format synthesizing unit 27 for generating response data in which the reference information generated by the reference information generating unit 26 is embedded in the document data processed by the document processing unit 25; A destination determining unit that determines a destination of response data from the address information determined by the browsing target determining unit 22, and a document transmission that transmits the response data to the determined destination. And a 29 Metropolitan. The browsing target determining unit 22 further includes a location extracting unit 22a that extracts location information of the target file from the browsing request, and an expanding unit extracting unit 22b that extracts an extended part indicating the processing content requested from the browsing request. I have. File server 20
Has a facsimile transmission unit 50 that receives the image data processed by the document processing unit 25, and its output is connected to a public line 45. The file server 20 further includes a document creation unit 60 composed of general application software 61 and a pseudo printer driver 62. Although the case where the document creation unit 60 is installed in the file server 20 is exemplified, the document creation unit 60 may be located in any client on the network 40 as long as the general application software 61 operates.

The print server 30 includes a network 40
And a print information receiving unit 31 for receiving the transferred print image data. This print information receiving unit 31
Is connected to output the received print image data to the printer 32.

The client 10 is, for example, a personal computer or a workstation equipped with document browsing software (WWW browser) that can access a WWW server on the Internet. In this client 10, the user starts the software and H
TTP (Hyper Text Transfer Pr)
otocol), FTP (File Transfer)
Protocol)
RL (Uniform ResourceLocato)
When the location identification name called r) is sent to the file server 20 as a WWW server, the data returned as a response is displayed, and by operating the reference information thereon, the location identification name is sent to the file server again. It is possible to repeatedly browse and acquire information from many file servers connected to the Internet.

The reference information is included in a part of the display data received by the client 10, and includes information of character range or area designation and information necessary for issuing a browsing request (adjacent page information in this example). When the specific display area is designated by the input device 13, a browsing request based on the information contained therein is issued. This reference information is available on the WWW
In terms of HTML grammar, "anchor tag including URL".

The browsing request is a communication protocol that can be interpreted by the browsing request transmitting unit 11 and the browsing request receiving unit 21.
For example, in the case of WWW, the content to be exchanged is called a URL, and is a character string combining the protocol type, the designation of the WWW server (network address) and the designation of the location of the file to be browsed, for example, "http: //www.fx .co.jp / dir1 / dir2 / index.htm ”.

The file server 20 is a document storage device that refers to a mechanism called a WWW server on the Internet, and is a general Unix (X / Open Co., L).
td. Registered trademarks in the United States and other countries licensed by Microsoft), Windows, Windows NT
(Both are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States) and operate as a resident program on an operating system having a directory type file system and a network communication function. When an access request is received from the client 10, a specified file is returned from the HTML format data file stored in a predetermined directory of the file storage unit 24 to the client 10 that has made the request.

The facsimile transmission unit 50 does not transfer the document whose print image has been confirmed by the client 10 to the print server 30, but uses the document processing unit 25 for facsimile, such as G3 standard facsimile.
MR (modified modified area)
d) Used when transmitting image data converted into a compressed raster image to a facsimile receiver via the public line 45.

In the document creation section 60 in the file server 20, general application software 61 is a generic name of application software that is generally commercially available, and is a GDI (Graphic Degree) for printing on paper.
It is intended for various application software such as a word processor, an editor, a spreadsheet, a database, and a drawing having a printing function via a device interface.

The pseudo-printer driver 62 receives a print control command issued by the general application software 61 at the time of print processing, collects the commands in page units, creates one or more types of image data, and collects the image data in a page. It is a device that constructs records, collects pages, and outputs them in a specific format described later. That is, the pseudo printer driver 62 receives a GDI command (drawing function) issued by the general application software 61 in the printing process through the driver interface, and converts the information into, for example, PDL (page description language) or general image format information. Converted,
Instead of a process that a normal printer driver sends to a printer, the printer driver has a function of creating a file and storing it in the file storage unit 24 as an electronic document. This pseudo printer driver 62 is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 7-117733.
The document processing device described in the specification can be used. This document processing apparatus creates an electronic compound document as if pasting a paper medium document, and enables the created compound document to be handled electronically like a paper medium document. Creates data that depends on application software and document creation Data for display that does not depend on application software and relational data related to the composition position of each document element and stores them in a storage unit as a set of multiple types of image data in page units Is what you do.

The print server 30 includes a network 40
Is a device that has a function of receiving a print command sent through the printer and printing it on paper. For example, the print server 30 includes a computer connected to a printer 32,
The P received by the computer in the print information receiving unit 31
This is an apparatus that spools a DL file, registers it in a print queue, sequentially sends the queued PDL files to the printer 32, and executes printing.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the document browsing function of the client. When browsing a document in the client 10, the coordinates specified by the input device 13 are determined (step S1). It is determined whether the input instruction includes an instruction for remote printing (step S2),
If there is a print instruction, the print server address is determined here (step S3). This judgment is made in HTML
In the case of, this can be realized using a <Form> tag. A browsing request is determined based on the designated coordinates and the determined print server address (step S4). next,
A process for transmitting the determined browsing request is performed (step S
5). In this processing, the browsing request is sent to the browsing request transmitting unit 1
Passed to 1.

On the other hand, when receiving a response to the browsing request, the document receiving section 12 performs a page image receiving process (step S6). The received page image is passed to the display device 14 and displayed on the display device 14 (step S7). Finally, it is determined whether the document browsing is completed. If not, the process returns to step S1, and if completed, the document browsing is completed (step S8).

Here, details of the browsing request transmitting process in step S5 and the page image receiving process in step S6 will be described below. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of the viewing request transmission process.

The browsing request transmitting section 11 determines a communication protocol from the determined browsing request (step S11).
For example, if the viewing request (URL) is “http://www.fx.co.jp/A.mp?p1” or “http://www.fx.co.jp/A.mp?r-print @ 129.300.xxx.xx
x ", the communication protocol is determined to be" http ". Next, the network address of the browsing request receiving unit 21 is determined from the browsing request (step S12). In the above example, the destination “www.f” described in the browsing request.
x. co. jp "to" 129.249.y "
yy. A network address such as "yyy" is determined. Then, a browsing request is transmitted to the specified address using the specified protocol (step S13).

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the flow of the page image receiving process. In the document receiving unit 12, first,
The system enters a reception waiting state (step S21). Here, it is determined whether or not a document image has been received (step S22). If not, the process returns to the reception wait state. If there is, the file transferred from the document transmission unit 29 is received (step S22).
23). Then, it is determined whether or not the reception has been completed (step S24). If the reception has not been completed, the process returns to the reception wait state. If the reception has been completed, the page image reception process ends.

Next, the operation of the file server 20 will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the file server. In the file server 20, first, there is a browsing request receiving process in the browsing request receiving unit 21. That is, the browsing request receiving unit 21 enters a state of waiting for a browsing request (step S31), and determines whether or not a browsing request has been received (step S32).

If the browsing request is received, the process for each protocol is branched (step S33), and the process proceeds to the browsing target discriminating section 22 in which the browsing target is determined (step S34). Upon completion of the determination process, it is determined whether the file to be browsed is an electronic document file in the format of the document creation unit 40 (step S35). If the object to be browsed is not an electronic document file by the document creation unit 60, the general information transmission process, that is, the conventional HTML transmission process is performed (step S36). The transmission information processing is performed (step S37), and the processing result transmission processing is performed (step S38). In this way, upward compatibility can be maintained not only for the electronic document file by the document creation unit 60 but also for a format that is already distributed. When the transmission processing in step S36 or S38 ends, the flow returns to the browsing request reception processing.

Next, the details of the process of determining the browsing target in step S34 and the process of processing the electronic document transmission information in step S37 will be described below. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the flow of the browsing target determination process.

In the browsing object discriminating process of the browsing object discriminating unit 22, first, the location extracting unit 22a extracts location information from a browsing request (step S41). The browsing request is, for example, “http://www.fx.co.jp/A.mp?p1” or “http://www.fx.co.jp/A.mp?r-print@129.300 .xxx.xx
x ”,“ A.mp?p1 ”or“ A.mp?r-print ”after the description specifying the destination as the location information
＠ "Print server address""is extracted. next,
It is checked whether a file is stored at the location (step S42). Here, if no file is stored at the location, the path of the location information is cut by one element (step S43). That is, the extended part "? P1" or "@" print server address "" is cut from the location information. Based on the location information obtained by cutting the extended portion, it is determined again whether or not a file is stored at the location. If the file is stored, it is determined whether the stored file is an electronic document in the format of the document creation unit 60 (step S4).
4). Here, if it is determined that the electronic document is in the format of the document creation unit 60, the storage file is determined to be an “electronic document” (step S45). In step S44, if it is not an electronic document, step S4
It is determined whether or not the path element has been cut by No. 3 (step S46).
The file is determined to be a normal file (step S4).
7) If cut, an error is determined (step S48).

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the flow of the electronic document transmission information processing process. The document processing unit 25 acquires the extended part of the location information cut by the browsing target determination process from the extended part extracting unit 22b (step S51). That is, in the above example, the extended part “p
1 "or extended part" r-print @ "at the time of print instruction
The print server address "" is obtained. Next, the process branches depending on the contents of the extension (step S5).
2). For example, as in the example above, the extension is "p
If it is "1", this is an extended part indicating page designation, and the process proceeds to designated page image extraction processing (step S).
53). Other branches include a specified format image data extraction process (step S54), a display region specification process for preparing image data of a specified region of a specific page (step S55), and a process of specifying a specified resolution or a specified magnification. Display magnification specification processing for preparation (step S
56), data file acquisition processing for preparing native data by general application software (step S57), remote printing processing for sending to print server 30 (step S58), facsimile for preparing facsimile image data There is a transmission process (step S59) and a local print process (step S60) for preparing print image data to be sent to a printer provided in the client 10. Next, the reference information generation unit 26 performs a process of creating reference information for the previous and next pages (step S61), and finally, the response format combining unit 27 processes the data into a data format for response (step S62).

Next, the details of each process after step S53 will be described. Before that, the electronic document created by the document creation unit 60 and stored in the file storage unit 24 will be described first. deep.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a data format of an electronic document output by the document creation device. In this figure,
The electronic document includes a profile section 71, a page section 72,
And a document data section 73. Profile part 7
1 describes attributes common to all pages, such as index information and page number attributes. The page section 72 is composed of records for each page. Further, the page section 72 can store a plurality of image data PD in a plurality of image formats. Where P
D1-x, PD2-x, PD3-x (x is 1, 2, 3
..) indicates an image data record of each page. Also,
Z represented by PDy-z (y is the number of pages, z is 1, 2, 3,...) Indicates the type of image format,
Specifically, for example, in the raster image image system, there are an image for paint system software, an image for G3 fax exchange which is an MMR compressed image, and a scan image generated by an image scanner or a digital copying machine. As an image, a standard bitmap format in HTML,
There are many formats, including those that can be handled in the Windows environment. In the vector image system (a set of character codes, graphic elements, images, and drawing attributes), WMF (W
WindowsMeta File) and EWMF (Enh
anced WMF), mainly Macintosh (Mac)
into the US Apple Computer I
nc. PICT, a graphic exchange standard format used in, for example, a trademark, and CGM (C
Omputer Graphic Metafil
e), a viewer "A" proposed by Adobe Systems, Inc.
PDF, EPSF (E
ncapsulated PostScript Fo
rmat). Further, in the description language system for printer printing, there is PostScript (trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc., USA) of a typical PDL defined by Adobe Systems, Inc. of the United States. In the page section 72, image data for browsing and image data for printing in page units are stored in a format selected from the standard formats represented above. The document data section 73 stores print image data including a print command for all pages and a data file in a format specified by the application software that created the electronic document as a document record.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of the designated page image extracting process. In the designated page image extraction process, a browsing request page is determined from the extension extracted by the extension extractor 22b (step S).
71). For example, if the browsing request is “A.mp?p3”, the browsing request page is 3 from the extension “? P3”.
Judge as the page number. Next, the electronic document file "A.mp" to be browsed is opened (step S72), and the index information of the profile portion of the electronic document file is read (step S73). The page 3 record in the page portion of the electronic document file is read based on the index information (step S74), and the browsing image data PD in the browsing image format is read (step S75).

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the flow of the specified format image data extraction processing. In the designated format image data extraction processing, first, the extension unit extraction unit 22
The browsing request page is determined from the extended part extracted from b (step S81). For example, if the browsing request is "A.
mp? p3 + wmf ”, the browsing request page is the third page and the designated format is“ wm
f ”. Next, the electronic document file "A.mp" to be browsed is opened (step S82), and the index information of the profile portion of the electronic document file is read (step S83). The page 3 record is read from the page section of the electronic document file based on the index information (step S84). Here, it is determined whether image data of the designated format is stored (step S85). If the image data of the designated format is stored, the image data PD of the designated format is read (step S86). If image data in the designated format is not stored, high-quality image data PD is read from the group of image data PD stored in the page 3 record (step S8).
7). Then, the read high-quality image data PD is converted into image data PD of the designated format (step S88).

As described above, by specifying the type of the image data PD for the same page image at the time of the browsing request, the image data PD in the specified format can be transferred. Therefore, the image data P
As D, the document can be sent in an image format that can be received and displayed by commonly used viewing software, so that a wide range of users can view the document. In addition, since the type of data that can be handled by the exchanged client, such as a standard image, an image with a high compression rate, and a high-quality image, can be selected, for example, a monochrome binary compressed image that usually has a small amount of data is viewed. If it is necessary to request a color image, or if the network is inexpensive or the network is close, and there is room for data transfer, a request for quality-oriented images is required. If the condition is not good, a transfer method according to the condition can be selected, such as requesting an image that emphasizes data amount reduction.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the flow of the display area designation processing, the display magnification designation processing, and the data file acquisition processing. In the display area specification processing, the display magnification specification processing, and the data file acquisition processing, the extension unit extraction unit 22
The browsing request page and the processing request content are determined from the extended part extracted from b (step S91). Next, the electronic document file to be viewed is opened (step S9).
2) The index information of the profile part of the electronic document file is read (step S93). The page 3 record of the page section of the electronic document file is read based on the index information (step S94). Here, the process proceeds to each image data processing request.

If it is determined in step S91 that the display area designation processing has been determined as the processing request, the browsing image data is read (step S95), and an image of the designated area is created from the browsing image data (step S95). S96). As described above, the processing content in which the display area of the required image data PD is specified in the browsing request is, for example, "http://www.fx.co.jp/A.mp?(20,30)-(150x400 ) ", Image data with higher transmission efficiency can be exchanged. This is particularly advantageous when reducing the amount of data transmitted. In addition, the data amount and the transfer time can be reduced when browsing a document of a large paper size and transferring the document in partial areas.

If it is determined in step S91 that the display magnification designation processing has been determined as the processing request content, high-resolution image data is read (step S97), and an image having the specified resolution is created from the read high-resolution image data. (Step S98). In this way, by defining the content specifying the required display magnification of the image data PD in the browsing request, more detailed image data can be exchanged. The viewing request may be, for example, "http://www.fx.co.jp/A.mp?75dpi", "http://www.fx.co.jp/A.mp?100dpi" or "http: // “www.fx.co.jp/A.mp?100%” “http://www.fx.co.jp/A.mp?200%” can be defined in a format including a scaling factor.
This will increase the resolution of the transmitted image,
Even if the document is fine, the details can be viewed. If the resolution of the transmitted image is reduced, even a document having a large printing surface can be quickly looked down, and the document can be viewed according to the purpose.

Here, since the browsing request can be defined so as to obtain not only a browsing image but also a native data file of general application software, it is determined whether a data file obtaining request has been issued ( Step S99). If there is an acquisition request, a document record in the document data section is read (step S100). Thus, when it is desired to obtain word processing data for editing, for example, from the browsed image, it is possible to obtain the word processing data by issuing a data obtaining request by a continuous operation.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the flow of the remote printing process. If the browsing request includes a remote printing request, for example, if the browsing request specifies “r-print” together with the print server address, the electronic document file to be viewed is opened (step S111). The print image data PD of the entire document in the document data section is read (step S112). Normally, printing of all pages is often requested, so image data of the entire document stored in the document data section (for example, Po
read PDL data by stScript)
When printing of a specific page or page range is requested, the print image data of the corresponding page stored here is read from the page portion of the electronic document. If necessary, a print request such as color, resolution, and format can be specified in the browsing request. In this case, the image data of the entire read document or the specified page is processed according to the request. Next, the print image data PD is transmitted to the print information receiving unit in the print server of the print server address specified in the browse request (step S113). Then, response document data for notifying the client of the result of the transmission is created (step S114).

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing the flow of the facsimile transmission process. If the browsing request includes a facsimile transmission request, for example, if the browsing request is "htt
When a facsimile transmission instruction is issued, as in "p: //www.fx.co.jp/A.mp? send-FAX @ 03-zzzz-zzzz", first open the electronic document file to be viewed ( Step S12
1) Read the print image data PD of the entire document in the document data section (step S122). The read print image data PD is processed into facsimile transmission data (step S123). If the print image data is, for example, PostS
If it is PDL data by script, PostScr
Conversion from ipt to MMR compressed data is performed. Thereafter, the facsimile transmission unit 50 transmits the facsimile transmission data to the facsimile receiving apparatus of the facsimile number specified in the browsing request (step S12).
4). Lastly, response document data for notifying the client of the result of the transmission is generated (step S125).

Next, in the case of local printing, as a browsing request, for example, "?"
“L-print” is specified. The processing for local printing is performed in the same way except that the destination is the client.
This is the same as the case of the remote printing process.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing the flow of the preceding and following page reference information creation processing. In the preceding and following page reference information creation processing in the reference information generation unit 26, first, a browsing request page is determined from the extension part extracted by the extension part extraction unit 22b (step S131). Next, the electronic document file to be viewed is opened (step S13).
2), the page number attribute is read from the profile section of the electronic document file, and the number of records in the electronic document file is checked (step S13).
3). Here, it is determined whether the page requested to be browsed is the first page (step S134). If it is the first page, there is no previous page, so the current page and the page following the current page are determined as the page numbers of the anchors to be embedded as reference information (step S135). That is, if the browsing request page is n, the preceding page = n and the following page = n + 1. If it is a page other than the first page, it is determined whether the page requested to be browsed is the last page (step S13).
6). If it is the last page, there is no page after this, so that the previous page = n-1 and the subsequent page = n (step S137), and if it is an intermediate page, the previous page = n-
1, the next page = n + 1 (step S138).

Thereafter, the response format synthesizing unit 27 performs processing for processing into a response data format. This process is to create a general-purpose exchange format that can be interpreted by the client from the designation of the image file for browsing and the reference information for the previous and next pages.

For example, in the document processing unit 25, a designated page image extraction process is performed for the browsing request “A.mp?p3+JPG”, and “A.MP-p3.JP”
G "is generated, while the reference information generation unit 26 determines the previous page (n = 2) and the rear page (n = 4), and the response format combining unit 27 respectively. Is input to The response format synthesizing unit 27 generates the following general-purpose exchange format based on the input information, for example.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of generating a response data format. The illustrated response data format is an example described in a WWW HTML syntax, and is generated as a text file. According to this text file, the tags <TITLE> and </ TITL
E> indicates that the character string enclosed by E> is displayed in the title field of the viewing window on the display device 14 of the client 10. Tags <BODY> and </
The part enclosed by <BODY> is the description of the text. First, a page image processed and generated in response to the browsing request,
In other words, it indicates that the image in the bitmap format of the third page of the designated document file “A.MP” is to be displayed. The next two lines are portions where the reference information is embedded, and are described in the format of <A HREF=“reference destination”> display character string </A>. When the above description is executed by the document browsing device, the displayed “display character string” is designated to refer to the reference content “reference destination”. Therefore, on the client side, a character string of "previous page" is displayed, and when the character string is designated by the input device 13, the browsing by designating the document file "A.MP" and the page number (second page) A request is issued. Further, a character string “next page” is displayed, and the character string is input device 1
In the case where the instruction is made in step 3, a browse request specifying the document file “A.MP” and the page number (the fourth page) is issued.

In realizing the above-described environment, the configuration of the client on the user side can be achieved by merely making the file server correspond without modifying the mechanism (= WWW browser) already distributed in the market. A satisfactory print preview and document printing environment can be realized. In addition, since it is possible to define a browsing request to print (facsimile transmission) as a facsimile image via a facsimile line, a facsimile device can be substituted when a load on a LAN line is expected or when there is no printer nearby. It can also be used as a printer. This technology is also based on the “FAX B
OX system ". That is, it is possible to realize a service in which the contents of a document are confirmed on a screen and a facsimile transmission is requested for a necessary document.

[0064]

As described above, according to the present invention, when storing a document composed of a plurality of pages created by general application software, the document storage device collects browsing image data divided in page units and prints it. Image data is stored in the form of an electronic document. Accordingly, when browsing an electronic document for a print preview, transmission and reception of the image data for browsing is performed in page units, and a response to a print preview display request operation of a page can be speeded up. In the case of a remote print instruction, the document storage device acquires image data for printing from the browsed document and transfers it to the printing device at another address on the network, so that high-quality printing can be performed. it can. That is, it is possible to achieve both high-speed browsing response speed on the electronic screen and high-quality printing.

In general, high-quality printing image data greatly increases the amount of information and the load of printing processing as compared with low-resolution browsing image data. Since the image data is directly transferred from the document storage device to the printing device without passing through the document browsing device of each user, no load is imposed on the document browsing device.

Further, the document processing means includes not only all pages of the browsed document but also
A specific page or page range can be specified, print quality such as color, resolution, and format can be specified, and fine-grained print settings according to the purpose can be made. Since the document storage device includes the facsimile transmission unit, the facsimile device can be used as a printing device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a principle configuration diagram of a remote printing system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a server client system.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a document browsing function of a client.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a browsing request transmission process.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a page image receiving process.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the file server.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a process of determining a browsing target.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of an electronic document transmission information processing process.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a data format of an electronic document output by the document creation device.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a designated page image extraction process.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the flow of a specified format image data extraction process.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a flow of a display area designation process, a display magnification designation process, and a data file acquisition process.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a remote printing process.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating the flow of a facsimile transmission process.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a preceding and following page reference information creating process.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of generating a response data format.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 document browsing device 1a input device 1b browsing request transmitting device 1c display device 1d document receiving device 2 document storage device 2a browsing request receiving / analyzing device 2b document storing device 2c document processing device 2d response data generating device 2e document transmitting device 3 printing device Reference Signs List 4 communication path 5 document creation device 5a application software 5b electronic document creation means 10 client 11 browsing request transmitting unit 12 document receiving unit 13 input device 14 display device 20 file server 21 browsing request receiving unit 22 browsing target discriminating unit 22a location extracting unit 22b Extension extraction unit 23 Document acquisition unit 24 File storage unit 25 Document processing unit 26 Reference information generation unit 27 Response format synthesis unit 28 Destination determination unit 29 Document transmission unit 30 Print server 31 Print information reception unit 32 Printer 40 Network 4 Public line 50 facsimile transmission unit 60 document creating unit 61 general application software 62 pseudo printer driver

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI H04N 1/00 107 H04N 1/32 Z 1/32 1/387 1/387 G06F 15/20 566D

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] A browsing request transmitting unit that transmits a browsing request including a display of a print image and an instruction of a printing condition; and a document receiving unit that receives browsing response data transmitted in response to the browsing request. A document browsing apparatus that displays the received browsing response data, creates a browsing request based on the instructed reference information, and transmits the browsing request when reference information of the displayed browsing response data is instructed; A document storage device that forms a remote printing system in combination with a printing device that prints data; a browsing request receiving / analyzing unit that receives the browsing request issued from the document browsing device and analyzes the request content; Document storage means for storing an electronic document composed of browsing data held in units and printing data held in pages A document extracting unit that extracts a page corresponding to the browsing data and the printing data in accordance with the browsing request; and generates reference information for preceding and following pages in accordance with the browsing request, and outputs the browsing data extracted by the document extracting unit. A browsing response data generating means for generating browsing response data by combining the reference information with a page, transmitting the generated browsing response data to the document browsing device to which the browsing request has been issued, and transmitting the print data A document storage device comprising: a document transmission unit that transmits a document to a printing device. 2. The document storage device according to claim 1, wherein the document extracting unit processes the extracted page of the browsing data and the entire text or the extracted page of the printing data in accordance with the browsing request. . 3. The document storage means receives a print command issued by an application software during a printing process, and processes the print command into browsing data per page and full text and printing data per page in a predetermined image format. And storing an electronic document created by an electronic document creating device having electronic document creating means for collecting data for browsing and printing of each page and full text and outputting the data in a predetermined document format. 1. The document storage device according to 1. 4. A facsimile transmission means for transmitting print data extracted from an electronic document to facsimile transmission data in a document processing means to a transmission destination designated by a browsing request. The document storage device according to claim 1, wherein