JP3483475B2 - Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and recording medium recording program - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 7 shows the configuration of a conventional image processing apparatus.

In FIG. 7, reference numeral 1 is a CPU (central processing unit), 2 is an internal storage device such as a RAM, and the internal storage device 2 is directly connected to the CPU bus and used as a work area of the CPU 1. Reference numeral 3 denotes a ROM including a CD-ROM drive, for reading a recording medium such as a CD-ROM in which the execution program code of the CPU 1 is stored. Various processes of the CPU 1 described in this conventional example are executed according to the program code recorded in the CD-ROM. Reference numeral 4 denotes an instruction input device such as a keyboard and a mouse, and the operator uses the instruction input device 4 to give various instructions to the image processing apparatus. A peripheral device control device 5 is a controller that controls peripheral devices represented by Centronics, SCSI, and the like.
The CPU 1, the internal storage device 2, the ROM 3, the instruction input device 4, the peripheral device control device 5 and the like described above can be replaced by a general-purpose personal computer.

An image input device 6 reads various images such as photographic prints and silver halide films and digitizes them. An external storage device 7 is a large-capacity storage device including a hard disk or the like. Reference numeral 8 denotes a printing device, which is composed of, for example, a color inkjet printer, a color laser printer, a color LED printer, or the like.

In these configurations, the original image is input to the external storage device 7 by the image input means 6, and after the operator inputs various editing instructions to the image using the instruction input device 4, the operator further inputs. Printing device 8 using instruction input device 4
To output the desired output.

[0006]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, when a small image is output as compared with the printing paper, as shown in FIG. 8, the image is printed only on a part of the printing paper and remains. The portion of will be printed out as white, and waste of printing paper will occur.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to achieve both effective use of printing paper and quickness of printing. Therefore, when the printed image is smaller than the printing paper, It is an object of the present invention to provide an image processing apparatus that suppresses the waste of printing paper by suppressing the blank area as much as possible.

[0008]

An image forming apparatus according to the present invention comprises an instruction means for instructing an image to be printed, an accumulating means for accumulating a plurality of images instructed by the instructing means, and a plurality of accumulating means. Comparing means for comparing the size of the image with the size of the printing paper, a layout means for laying out a plurality of images accumulated in the accumulating means on the same printing paper based on the comparison result of the comparing means, and a layout. The printing means has a printing means for printing the image and a timing means for starting the timing according to the instruction of the image by the instructing means, and when the timing means measures a predetermined time, the printing means is stored in the storage means. It is characterized by starting printing an image.

Further, the image processing method of the present invention includes an instructing step of instructing an image to be printed, an accumulating step of accumulating the image instructed in the instructing step in an accumulating means, and a plurality of images accumulated in the accumulating means. And a layout step of laying out a plurality of images stored in the storage means based on the comparison result of the comparison step so that the plurality of images are printed on the same printing paper. It has a printing process to print an image and a timing process to start timing according to the instruction of the image in the instruction process, and when a predetermined time is measured by the timing process, the image stored in the storage means by the printing process It is characterized by starting printing of.

The program recorded on the recording medium of the present invention has an instruction input function of inputting an image to be printed to a computer, and a function of accumulating an image instructed by the instruction input function in an accumulating unit. A function of comparing the sizes of a plurality of images accumulated in the accumulating unit with the print paper size, and a layout function of laying out the plurality of images accumulated in the accumulating unit based on the comparison result so as to be printed on the same printing sheet. And a printing function for printing the laid out image on the printing means, and a time measuring means for starting time counting in response to an instruction of the image by the instructing means, and when the time measuring means measures a predetermined time, the printing means It is characterized in that the printing of the image stored in the storage means is started.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an image processing apparatus according to this embodiment.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is a CPU (central processing unit), 2 is an internal storage device such as RAM, and the internal storage device 2 is directly connected to a CPU bus and used as a work area of the CPU 1. Reference numeral 3 denotes a ROM including a CD-ROM drive, for reading a recording medium such as a CD-ROM in which the execution program code of the CPU 1 is stored. Various processes of the CPU 1 described in this embodiment are executed according to the program code recorded in the CD-ROM. Reference numeral 4 denotes an instruction input device such as a keyboard and a mouse, and the operator uses the instruction input device 4 to give various instructions to the image processing apparatus. A peripheral device control device 5 is a controller that controls peripheral devices represented by Centronics, SCSI, and the like. The CPU 1, the internal storage device 2, the ROM 3, the instruction input device 4, the peripheral device control device 5 and the like described above can be replaced by a general-purpose personal computer.

An image input device 6 reads various images such as photographic prints and silver halide films and digitizes them. An external storage device 7 is a large-capacity storage device including a hard disk or the like. Reference numeral 8 denotes a printing device, which is composed of, for example, a color inkjet printer, a color laser printer, a color LED printer, or the like.

A print image buffer 11 temporarily stores and stores print images. Further, 12 is a paper size / image size comparing means and 13 is a page description language reconstructing means, but these are actually functions executed by the CPU 1, the internal storage device 2 and the like. The program codes of the paper size / image comparison means 12 and the page description language reconstruction means are also recorded in the above-mentioned CD-ROM.
Reference numeral 14 is a time measuring means represented by a real time clock or the like.

Next, the operation of the image processing apparatus of this embodiment will be described. In the image processing apparatus of this embodiment, the original image is input to the external storage device 7 by the image input unit 6, and the operator inputs various editing instructions to the image using the instruction input device 4, and then further. The operator uses the instruction input device 4 to instruct output to the printing device 8 to obtain a desired output, and the flow after instructing printing will be described in detail below.

First, the images instructed to be printed are temporarily stored in the print image buffer 11 in sequence. At this time, the image ID for identifying the image is also stored in the print image buffer 11 at the same time. Next, the CPU 1 obtains the vertical and horizontal sizes of the image from the image stored in the print image buffer 11.

Next, the CPU 1 generates a page description language script having incidental information for printing the image data in an appropriate size and direction, and stores it in the internal storage device 2. In this page description language script, as shown in FIG. 2, attribute information such as the ID of the image to be printed, the vertical size of the image, the horizontal size of the image, the coordinates on the printing paper, and the rotation angle of the image. Is described.

Next, the CPU 1 compares the print paper size and the image size and determines whether the image size is sufficiently smaller than the print paper size. Specifically, it is determined whether or not the length of the image in the vertical direction is less than half the length of the printing paper in the vertical direction. As a result of this determination, when it is determined that the length of the image in the vertical direction is longer than half the length of the print sheet in the vertical direction, the image is independently printed by the printing device 8, and the process ends.

On the other hand, when it is determined that the length of the image in the vertical direction is not longer than half the length of the printing paper in the vertical direction as shown in FIG. 3, the CPU 1 immediately outputs the image to the printing device 8. Wait for the next image to be printed instead of transferring it to. Then, when the image data for which printing is instructed next arrives, a page description language script is generated for this image as in the case described above.

If the next image is not instructed to be printed even after the lapse of a predetermined time T after the timing of the preceding image is instructed to be printed by the time measuring means 14, this printing image is independently printed by the printing device 8 Shall be printed.

Next, the page description language script of these two images is reconstructed in order to lay out these two images on the same printing paper. The reconstruction process of the page description language script will be described with reference to FIG. Hereinafter, the image that arrives first is referred to as image A, and the image that arrives later is referred to as image B.

First, in step S401, the image A
The vertical size and the horizontal size are compared, and if it is determined that the vertical size is long, the vertical and horizontal sizes of the image A are replaced and the rotation angle is set to 90 degrees in step S402. Similarly, in step S403, the vertical size and the horizontal size of the image B are compared, and if the vertical size is long, the vertical and horizontal sizes of the image B are exchanged and the rotation angle is set to 90 degrees in step S404.

In step S405, it is determined whether the sum of the vertical sizes of the image A and the image B is within the vertical size of the printing paper, and in the subsequent step S406, the horizontal sizes of the image A and the image B are printed. It is determined whether or not the paper fits in the horizontal size, and these steps S406 and S
If either 407 is negative, these 2
It is determined that it is impossible to print one image at a time, and the image A and the image B are individually printed, and the process ends.

If step S405 and step S40
If both of them are affirmatively determined in step 6, step S407
In, the page description language scripts of image A and image B are reconfigured to be combined, and the Y coordinate of image B is replaced with the vertical size of image A.

The page description language script thus reconstructed is shown in FIG.

This reconstructed page description language script is sent to the printer 8 via the peripheral device controller 5 together with the image data. The printing device 8 performs a printing process based on the reconstructed page description language to obtain an output image. The print result is shown in FIG.

The preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above, but various modifications are possible. For example, C
The PU 1, the image input device 6, the external storage device 7, the printing device 8 and the like may be connected not only directly but also remotely via a network such as the Internet.

Further, even when the size of the image A is sufficiently smaller than the size of the printing paper, a mode for emphasizing promptness is provided together by executing the printing process immediately. In addition, a mode in which importance is attached to effective use of printing paper can be selected, and these modes may be switched for each image, for example. As a result, it is possible to immediately output an image to be printed out without impairing the speed.

In this embodiment, an example in which the CPU 1, the internal storage device 2, the ROM 3, the instruction input device 4, the peripheral device control device 5 and the like are replaced by a general-purpose personal computer has been described. You may comprise by.

[0030]

According to the present invention, it is possible to achieve both effective utilization of printing paper and quickness of printing. For example, when an image smaller than the print paper size is printed, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of a blank area on the print paper, prevent waste of the print paper, and increase the yield.

Further, by comparing the size of the image for which printing is instructed with the size of the printing paper, and storing the image in the storage means according to the comparison result, for the image that is larger than the printing paper size, The image can be printed out quickly without waiting.

When laying out a plurality of images,
By comparing the vertical size and the horizontal size of the image and rotating and laying out the image according to the comparison result, the layout can be efficiently performed.

When laying out a plurality of images,
By manipulating the attribute information such as the page description language script instead of manipulating the image data itself, it is possible to quickly execute the processing without wasting computer resources.

[0034]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an image processing apparatus in this embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a page description language script.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of print image size and print paper size.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for reconstructing a page description language script.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a page description language script reconstructed in this embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a printing result of this embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a conventional image processing apparatus.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a conventional printing result.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 CPU 2 internal storage 3 ROM 4 Instruction input device 5 Peripheral equipment control device 6 Image input device 7 External storage device 8 printing devices 11 Print image buffer 12 Paper size / image size comparison means 13 Page description language script reconstruction means 14 Timekeeping means

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Claims (12)

(57) [Claims] 1. An instruction unit for instructing printing of an image, an accumulating unit for accumulating a plurality of images instructed to be printed by the instructing unit, a size of the plurality of images accumulated in the accumulating unit, and a print paper size. Comparing means for comparing, laying out means for laying out a plurality of images stored in the storing means based on the comparison result of the comparing means so as to be printed on the same printing paper, and printing means for printing the laid out images And starts timing according to the instruction of the image by the instruction means.
If the time measuring means has a time measuring means and the time measuring means measures a predetermined time, the printing is performed.
Means starts printing of the image stored in the storage means
The image processing apparatus characterized by. 2. The size of an image for which printing is instructed by the instructing unit is compared with a printing paper size, and the image is accumulated in the accumulating unit according to the comparison result. Image processing device. 3. The image processing according to claim 1, wherein the layout unit compares the vertical size and the horizontal size of the plurality of images and rotates the images according to the comparison result to lay out the images. apparatus. 4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the layout unit performs layout by reconstructing attribute information of the plurality of images. 5. An instructing step of instructing printing of an image, an accumulating step of accumulating an image instructed to be printed in the instructing step in an accumulating means, a size of a plurality of images accumulated in the accumulating means, and a printing paper size. And a layout step of laying out a plurality of images stored in the storage means so as to be printed on the same printing paper based on the comparison result of the comparison step, and printing the laid out image. A printing process and a clock that starts timing according to the image instruction in the instruction process.
If a time step is included and a predetermined time is measured by the time counting step,
The printing of the stored image in the accumulation unit by a printing process
An image processing method comprising: starting . 6. The size of an image for which printing is instructed in the instructing step is compared with a printing paper size, and the image is accumulated in the accumulating means in the accumulating step according to the comparison result. Item 6. The image processing method according to item 5 . 7. The image processing according to claim 5 , wherein, in the layout step, the vertical size and the horizontal size of the plurality of images are compared, and the images are rotated and laid out according to the comparison result. Method. 8. The image processing method according to claim 5 , wherein the layout unit performs layout by reconstructing attribute information of the plurality of images. 9. An instruction input function for instructing a computer to print an image, a function of accumulating an image instructed by the instruction input function in accumulating means, and a size of a plurality of images accumulated in the accumulating means. A function of comparing the print paper size, a layout function of laying out a plurality of images stored in the storage means based on the comparison result so as to be printed on the same print paper, and a layout image is printed on the printing means. Print function
And starts timing according to the instruction of the image by the instruction means.
If the time measuring means has a time measuring means and the time measuring means measures a predetermined time, the printing is performed.
Means starts printing of the image stored in the storage means
Recording medium for recording a program, characterized in that to achieve that. 10. The function of causing a computer to compare the size of an image instructed to be output with the size of printing paper and store the image in the storage unit according to the comparison result. A recording medium on which the program according to 9 is recorded. 11. The program according to claim 9 , wherein the layout function compares the vertical size and the horizontal size of the plurality of images, and rotates and lays out the images according to the comparison result. Recording medium recorded. 12. The recording medium recording the program according to claim 9 , wherein the layout function performs layout by reconstructing attribute information of the plurality of images.