JP3513509B2 - Print control method and apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing control method and apparatus, and more particularly to a printing control method and apparatus for enlarging and printing an image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a blank page saving function of not printing a blank page that does not include an image, and enlarging an image of one page and joining the sheets together can obtain the enlarged output result. There has been a printer or a printing system having an enlarged print function (poster print function) of dividing an image and printing it on a plurality of sheets. When the poster printing function is used, the output papers are joined together in the order according to the method of dividing the image to reconstruct the image.

[0003]

In the poster printing function, the output order is determined by the printer system, and the output results must be connected in that order. When the blank page saving function and the poster print function are used together, the image may be enlarged and divided, resulting in a blank page containing no image. In this case, the blank page saving function operates and the blank page is not output. for that reason,
Even if the output sheets are arranged in the order according to the method of dividing the image, an appropriate result cannot be obtained.

Further, the present invention has been made in view of the above conventional example, and when the poster printing function is used, the user can specify the division method and the printing order, and the blank sheet saving function is implemented. However, it is an object of the present invention to provide a print control method and apparatus that can obtain a normal print result by simply connecting papers in an order according to the division method.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following constitution.

A print control device that functions as a host computer having a graphic engine that loads a printer driver into a memory and converts the output of an application into print data including a printer control command to be printed by the printing device using the printer driver. There is an input means for inputting the designation of the enlarging / dividing method set through the interface screen provided by the printer driver, and one page of data to be printed output from the application is input for the enlarging / dividing. Based on a page dividing unit that obtains an enlargement ratio for enlargement to a size designated by a method and divides the data to be printed of the one page into a plurality of pages, and the data to be printed divided into a plurality of pages. To be sent to the printing device in a predetermined order. A print data generation unit that generates print data to be printed by the printing device, and a determination as to whether or not poster print to be enlarged and divided and printed on a plurality of printing sheets is specified as the input enlargement and division method. The printing apparatus has a function of not printing a blank sheet, and the print data generating means automatically prints the print data when the judgment means determines that poster printing is designated. Issue a command to the device that does not use the function that does not print blank paper.

More preferably, the determining means determines whether to perform normal order output or reverse order output when printing the poster, and it is determined that the determining means performs normal order output when printing the poster. In the case, the print data is output in the order from the upper left to the right of the divided printing papers, and when the determination unit determines to perform the reverse order output when printing the poster, the print data is moved from the lower right to the left. Print data is output in order.

More preferably, spooling means for inputting data to be printed output from an application via a graphic engine, converting the input data into an intermediate code, and spooling as a spool file, and the spool file. A printability determining unit that monitors the generation status of the spooled intermediate code and determines whether the print processing based on the intermediate code is possible is further provided, and the page dividing unit prints by the printability determining unit. When it is determined that the processing is possible, the intermediate code data spooled in the spool means is converted into a format that can be recognized by the graphic engine, and the data converted by the graphic engine is converted. Re-output, the print data generation means, from the graphic engine, Serial inputs the data output again by re-output unit, based on the data, to be transmitted to the printing apparatus in a predetermined order, and generates a print data divided into a plurality of pages.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments suitable for applying the present invention will be described.

<Structure of Printer Control System> FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a printer control system according to the first embodiment. It should be noted that, as long as the functions of the present invention are executed, whether a single device or a system composed of a plurality of devices is connected and processed via a network such as LAN or WAN. It may be a system.

In the figure, the host computer 300
Reference numeral 0 includes a CPU 1 for executing document processing in which graphics, images, characters, tables (including spreadsheets, etc.) are mixed based on a document processing program stored in the program ROM of the ROM 3 or the external memory 11. CPU1
It comprehensively controls each device connected to the system bus 4. The program ROM of the ROM 3 or the external memory 11 stores an operating system program (hereinafter referred to as OS) which is a control program of the CPU 1, a printer driver described later, and the like. Font data and the like used in processing are stored, and various data used in performing the document processing and the like are stored in the data ROM of the ROM 3 or the external memory 11.

The RAM 2 functions as a main memory, a work area, etc. of the CPU 1.

The keyboard controller (KBC) 5 is
Key input from the keyboard 9 or a pointing device (not shown) is controlled. The data input here includes various setting items for poster printing, which will be described later. A CRT controller (CRTC) 6 controls display on a CRT display (CRT) 10. The disk controller (DKC) 7 includes a boot program, various applications, font data, user files,
It controls access to the external memory 11 such as a hard disk (HD) or a floppy (registered trademark) disk (FD) that stores an edit file, a printer control command generation program (hereinafter, printer driver), and the like. The printer controller (PRTC) 8 is connected to the printer 1500 via the bidirectional interface (interface) 21.
And executes communication control processing with the printer 1500.

The CPU 1 executes WYSIWYG in which the same image as the image to be printed is displayed on the CRT 10 by executing the outline font rasterization process on the display information RAM set in the RAM 2, for example. There is. Further, the CPU 1 opens various windows registered based on a command designated by a mouse cursor (not shown) on the CRT 10 and executes various data processing. When executing printing, the user opens a window relating to print settings, and can make printer settings and print processing method settings for the printer driver including selection of print modes.

The printer 1500 is controlled by the CPU 12. The printer CPU 12 outputs an image as output information to the printing unit (printer engine) 17 connected to the system bus 15 based on a control program stored in the program ROM of the ROM 13 or a control program stored in the external memory 14. Output a signal. In addition, the program ROM of the ROM 13 includes the CPU 1
2 control programs and the like are stored. The font ROM of the ROM 13 stores font data and the like used when generating the above output information, and the data R of the ROM 13 is used.
In the case of a printer having no external memory 14 such as a hard disk, the OM stores information used on the host computer.

The CPU 12 can perform communication processing with the host computer via the input unit 18, and can notify the host computer 3000 of information in the printer. The RAM 19 is a RAM that functions as a main memory of the CPU 12, a work area, or the like, and is configured so that the memory capacity can be expanded by an optional RAM connected to an expansion port (not shown). RAM
Reference numeral 19 is an output information expansion area, environment data storage area, NV
Used for RAM etc. The hard disk (H
Access to the external memory 14 such as D) and IC card is controlled by the memory controller (MC) 20. The external memory 14 is connected as an option and stores font data, emulation programs, form data and the like. Reference numeral 18 denotes the above-mentioned operation panel, on which switches for operation, an LED display, and the like are arranged.

Further, the above-mentioned external memory 14 is not limited to one, but a plurality of external memories can be connected, and in addition to the built-in font, an option card and a plurality of external memories storing programs for interpreting printer control languages of different languages can be connected. It may be configured as follows. Furthermore, NVRAM not shown
The printer mode setting information from the operation panel 1501 may be stored.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of typical print processing in a host computer to which a printing device such as a printer is directly connected or is connected via a network. The application 201, the graphic engine 202, the printer driver 203, and the system spooler 204 exist as files stored in the external memory 11, and when they are executed, they are loaded into the RAM 2 and executed by a module that uses the OS or its modules. It is a program module. In addition, the application 201 and the printer driver 203 are
It is possible to add to the HD of the external disk 11 via the FD of the external memory 11, a CD-ROM (not shown), or a network (not shown).

The application 201 stored in the external memory 11 is loaded into the RAM 2 and executed.
Similarly, when printing is performed, the output (drawing) is performed using the graphic engine 202 that is similarly loaded in the RAM 2 and is executable.

The graphic engine 202 similarly loads the printer driver 203 prepared for each printing apparatus from the external memory 11 to the RAM 2 and then the application 2
The output 10 is converted into a printer control command using the printer driver 203. The converted printer control command is output to the printer 1500 via the interface 21 via the system spooler 204 loaded in the RAM 2 by the OS.

The printing system according to the present embodiment has a configuration in which print data from an application is temporarily spooled as intermediate code data, as shown in FIG. 3, in addition to the printing system including the printer and the host computer shown in FIG. Have.

FIG. 3 is an extension of the system of FIG. 2, and has a configuration in which, when a print command is sent from the graphic engine 202 to the printer driver 203, a spool file 303 consisting of an intermediate code is generated once. In the system of FIG. 2, the application 201 is released from the print processing when the printer driver 203 finishes converting all the print commands from the graphic engine 202 into printer control commands. On the contrary,
In the system of FIG. 3, the spooler 302 converts all print commands into intermediate code data, and the spool file 30
It is the time of outputting to 3. The latter is usually faster. Further, in the system shown in FIG. 3, the contents of the spool file 303 can be processed. As a result, for print data from the application,
It is possible to realize a function that the application does not have, such as printing a plurality of pages reduced to one page. Further, this makes it possible to realize the enlarged print function (poster print function).

For these purposes, the system of FIG. 2 is spooled with intermediate code data as shown in FIG.
The system has been expanded. In order to process the print data, settings are normally made from a window provided by the printer driver 203, and the printer driver 203 stores the settings in the RAM 2 or the external memory 11.

The details of FIG. 3 will be described below. As shown in the figure, in this extended processing method, the dispatcher 301 receives a print command from the graphic engine 202. Graphic engine 2 for dispatcher 301
Print command received from the application 20
In the case of a print command issued from the 1 to the graphic engine 202, the dispatcher 301 uses the external memory 11
The spooler 302 stored in is loaded into the RAM 2 and the print command is sent to the spooler 302 instead of the printer driver 203.

The spooler 302 converts the received print command into an intermediate code and outputs it to the spool file 303. Further, the spooler 302 uses the printer driver 203.
The processing settings relating to the print data set for are acquired from the printer driver 203 and stored in the spool file 303. Although the spool file 303 is generated as a file on the external memory 11, the RAM 2
It may be generated above. Further, the spooler 302 loads the spool file manager 304 stored in the external memory 11 into the RAM 2 and notifies the spool file manager 304 of the generation status of the spool file 303. After that, the spool file manager 304 determines whether or not printing can be performed according to the contents of the processing settings regarding the print data stored in the spool file 303.

When the spool file manager 304 determines that printing can be performed using the graphic engine 202, the despooler 305 stored in the external memory 11 is loaded into the RAM 2 and the spool file 303 is stored in the despooler 305. It is instructed to perform the printing process of the intermediate code described in.

The despooler 305 is a spool file 30.
The intermediate code included in No. 3 is processed according to the contents of the processing setting included in the spool file 303, and is output again via the graphic engine 202. At that time, the spool file manager 304 displays the progress status of printing.

The print command received by the dispatcher 301 from the graphic engine 202 is the despooler 305.
In the case of a print command issued to the graphic engine 202 by the dispatcher 301, the dispatcher 301 sends the print command to the printer driver 203 instead of the spooler 302.

The printer driver 203 generates a printer control command and outputs it to the printer 1500 via the system spooler 204.

<Structure of Color Laser Beam Printer> FIG. 23 is a sectional view of a color laser printer having a double-sided printing function, which is an example of the printer 1500. In this printer, laser light modulated by image data for each color obtained based on print data input from the host computer 3000 is reflected by the polygon mirror 31 on the photosensitive drum 15.
To form an electrostatic latent image. Then, this electrostatic latent image is toner-developed to obtain a visible image, and this is multiple-transferred to the intermediate transfer body 9 for all colors to form a color visible image.
Then, further, transfer this color visible image to the transfer material 2,
A color visible image is fixed on the transfer material 2. The image forming unit that performs the above control includes a drum unit having the photosensitive drum 15, a primary charging unit having a contact charging roller 17, a cleaning unit, a developing unit, an intermediate transfer member 9, a paper cassette 1, and various rollers 3, 4, 5 ,. Paper feed unit including 7, transfer roller 1
The transfer unit including 0 and the fixing unit 25 are included.

The drum unit 13 comprises a photosensitive drum (photoreceptor) 15 and a cleaner container 14 having a cleaning mechanism which also functions as a holder for the photosensitive drum 15 and is integrally formed. The drum unit 13 is detachably supported on the printer body, and the unit can be easily replaced according to the life of the photosensitive drum 15. The photosensitive drum 15 is formed by applying an organic photoconductor layer on the outer circumference of an aluminum cylinder, and is rotatably supported by the cleaner container 14. The photosensitive drum 15 is rotated by transmitting a driving force of a drive motor (not shown), and the drive motor rotates the photosensitive drum 15 in a counterclockwise direction according to an image forming operation. An electrostatic latent image is formed by selectively exposing the surface of the photosensitive drum 15. In the scanner unit 30, the modulated laser light is reflected by a polygon mirror that rotates in synchronization with a horizontal synchronizing signal of an image signal by a motor 31a, and irradiates a photosensitive drum via a lens 32 and a reflecting mirror 33.

The developing section develops yellow (Y), magenta (M), and cyan (C) in order to visualize the electrostatic latent image, and three color developing devices 20Y and 20Y.
M, 20C and one black developing device 21B for developing black (B). The color developing units 20Y, 20M, 20C and the black developing unit 21B include sleeps 20YS, 20MS, 20CS and 21B.
S and these sleeps 20YS, 20MS, 20CS,
21BS Coating blade 20Y pressed against the outer periphery of each
B, 20 MB, 20 CB and 21 BB are provided respectively. In addition, three color developing devices 20Y, 20M, 20
C has coating rollers 20YR, 20MR, and 20CR.

Further, the black developing device 21B is detachably attached to the printer body, and the color developing devices 20Y, 20M and 20C are detachably attached to the developing rotary 23 which rotates around the rotation shaft 22. ing.

Sleep 21BS of the black developing device 21B
Are arranged with a minute gap of, for example, about 300 μm with respect to the photosensitive drum 15. Black developing device 21B
Is a sleeve 21B that rotates in a clockwise direction while conveying toner by a feeding member incorporated in the container.
A charge is applied to the toner by frictional charging so that the outer periphery of S is coated by the coating blade 21BB. Moreover, by applying a developing bias to the sleep 21BS,
The photosensitive drum 15 is developed according to the electrostatic latent image to form a visible image on the photosensitive drum 15 with black toner.

Three color developing devices 20Y, 20M, 20
C rotates with the rotation of the developing rotary 23 during image formation, and the predetermined sleeps 20YS, 20MS, 20
The CS faces the photosensitive drum 15 with a minute gap of about 300 μm. As a result, the predetermined color developing devices 20Y, 20M, 20C are stopped at the developing position facing the photosensitive drum 15, and a visible image is created on the photosensitive drum 15.

When a color image is formed, 1 of the intermediate transfer member 9 is used.
The developing rotary 23 rotates for each rotation, and the yellow developing device 20Y, the magenta developing device 20M, the cyan developing device 20C,
Next, the developing process is performed in the order of the black developing device 21B,
The intermediate transfer member 9 is rotated four times to sequentially form a visible image with yellow, magenta, cyan, and black toners, respectively, and as a result, a full-color visible image is formed on the intermediate transfer member 9.

The intermediate transfer member 9 is configured to come into contact with the photosensitive drum 15 and rotate with the rotation of the photosensitive drum 15. The intermediate transfer member 9 rotates in the clockwise direction during color image formation, and the photosensitive drums 15 to 4 are rotated. Receive multiple transfers of visible images. Further, the intermediate transfer body 9 simultaneously transfers multiple color visible images on the intermediate transfer body 9 to the transfer material 2 by contacting a transfer roller 10 which will be described later during image formation and carrying the transfer material 2 therebetween. At the outer peripheral portion of the intermediate transfer member, the intermediate transfer member 9
A TOP sensor 9a and an RS sensor 9b for detecting the position of the toner image in the rotation direction, and a density sensor 9c for detecting the density of the toner image transferred to the intermediate transfer member are arranged.

The transfer roller 10 is provided with a transfer charger which is supported so as to be able to come into contact with and separate from the photosensitive drum 15, and is constituted by winding a metal shaft around a medium resistance foamed elastic body.

The transfer roller 10 is separated downward so as not to disturb the color visible image during the multiple transfer of the color visible image onto the intermediate transfer member 9 as shown by the solid line in FIG. After the color visible images of four colors are formed on the intermediate transfer body 9, the color visible image is transferred to the transfer material 2
The transfer roller 10 is positioned above the dotted line in the drawing by a cam member (not shown) in accordance with the timing of transfer to the sheet. As a result, the transfer roller 10 is pressed against the intermediate transfer body 9 via the transfer material 2 with a predetermined pressing force, and a bias voltage is applied, so that the color visible image on the intermediate transfer body 9 is transferred to the transfer material 2.

The fixing unit 25 conveys the transfer 2 while
The transferred color visible image is fixed, and includes a fixing roller 26 for heating the transfer material 2 and a pressure roller 27 for bringing the transfer material 2 into pressure contact with the fixing roller 26. The fixing roller 26 and the pressure roller 27 are formed in a hollow shape, and have heaters 28 and 29 built therein. That is, the transfer material 2 holding the color visible image is conveyed by the fixing roller 26 and the pressure roller 27, and
The toner is fixed on the surface by applying heat and pressure.

The transfer material 2 on which the visible image has been fixed is then discharged to the paper discharge section 37 by the paper discharge rollers 34, 35 and 36, and the image forming operation is completed. The cleaning unit is for cleaning the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 15 and the intermediate transfer body 9, and is a waste toner after the visible image formed by the toner formed on the photosensitive drum 15 is transferred to the intermediate transfer body 9. The waste toner after transferring the four-color visible image formed on the intermediate transfer body 9 to the transfer material 2 is stored in the cleaner container 14.

The transfer material (recording paper) 2 to be printed is taken out from the paper feed tray 1 by the paper feed roller 3 and conveyed so as to be sandwiched between the intermediate transfer body 9 and the transfer roller 10 and color toner. An image is recorded, and the toner image is fixed by passing through the fixing unit 25. In the case of single-sided printing, the guide 38 forms a conveyance path so as to guide the recording paper to the upper paper discharge section, but for double-sided printing, a path is formed so as to guide it to the lower duplex unit.

The recording paper guided to the double-sided unit is once fed to the lower part of the tray 1 (conveyance path indicated by the chain double-dashed line) by the conveyance rollers 40, and then conveyed in the opposite direction to the double-sided tray 39. On the double-sided tray 39, the front and back sides of the sheet are reversed from the state of being placed on the sheet feed tray 1, and the front and rear sides are reversed with respect to the transport direction. In this state, double-sided printing can be performed by transferring and fixing the toner image again.

<Processing Procedure for Poster Printing> FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a printing result by poster printing. Poster printing is realized using the above printing system. This function is a function of enlarging and drawing the contents of one page drawn by the application using the system of FIGS. 1 to 4, dividing the content into a plurality of physical pages, and printing. By pasting the divided sheets, it is possible to obtain an output result larger than the sheet size supported by the printing system. FIG. 10 shows a print result when the number of sheets is set to 2 × 2, and the number of sheets can be set to 3 × 3, 4 × 4, and the like.

FIG. 4 shows a memory map in a state in which the print-related module including the print mode control program in this embodiment is loaded into the RAM 2 on the host computer 3000 and becomes executable.

16 and 17 are flowcharts showing the processing procedure of the enlarged print function (poster print function).
This processing is implemented in the despooler 305, and the despooler 3
When 05 transmits the intermediate code to the graphic engine 202, the processing is performed according to the flows shown in FIGS.
The processing method of the enlarged print function (poster print function) will be briefly described using this.

First, as shown in FIG. 16, the settings relating to the output sheet are made. First, the process of obtaining the orientation and size of the output paper in poster printing (16.
These values are acquired by 1). Judgment processing whether output paper size is set in poster printing
(16.2) will be held. If the size is set, that size is set as the size of the output paper (16.
3). If not set, the size of the paper currently set to be output is set as the paper size for poster printing (16.4).

Next, a determination process (16.5) is performed to determine whether or not the paper orientation for poster printing is set. If set, the set direction is set as the output paper direction for poster printing (16.6). If it is not set, the paper orientation that is currently set for output is set as the paper orientation for poster printing (16.7).

The size and orientation of the output sheet are set by the above procedure.

In FIG. 17, a method of enlarging and dividing an image is set. First, if the number of sheets of paper to be output in the vertical and horizontal directions is specified, that value is acquired, and if the enlargement ratio of the image is specified, that value is acquired together with the printing order.
(17.1). Let Col be the number of sheets in the vertical direction, Row be the number of sheets in the horizontal direction, Scale be the Scale, and Order be the printing order. Next, the size of the effective area of the original image and the logical paper size are acquired (17.2). Both are represented by (width, height) and are (printableW, printableH) and (cx, cy), respectively. The size of the logical paper here is the size of the logical paper after the size and orientation of the output paper is set by the processing of FIG. Based on these values, first, a determination process (17.3) as to whether the enlargement ratio is designated is performed.
When the enlargement ratio is specified, the enlargement ratio is used regardless of the number of sheets specified previously. Since the input enlargement ratio Scale is specified by percentage, the enlargement ratio d is obtained as d = scale / 100 (17.4). At this time, the numbers Row and Col of the vertical and horizontal sheets used for poster printing are calculated. The vertical number of rows is printableH * d /
The value obtained by rounding up the fractional part of the value of cy is used as the horizontal sheet number Col, and the value obtained by rounding up the fractional part of the value of printableW * d / cx is used.

If the enlargement ratio is not specified, the enlargement ratio d is d = min ((cx * Col) / printableW, (cy * Ro)
w) / printableH) (17.5). The above formula means that the ratio between the size of the original image and the size of the image after enlargement is obtained in the vertical and horizontal directions, and the smaller one is taken as the enlargement ratio.

Next, processing is performed to calculate a reference point when dividing the enlarged image, that is, the origin of the logical coordinates seen from each divided area. Since this changes depending on the print order, first, specify the print order that was previously acquired.
Then, a process (17.6) for determining whether or not the printing is the normal order printing is performed, and according to the result, each image region nIndex (nindex is 0 is divided into n (n = Col × Row)).
~ N-1) origin of logical coordinates (xnIndex, ynInd)
ex) is calculated as follows.

If it is determined that the order is normal, xnIndex = -cx * (nIndex% Col) ynIndex = -cy * (nIndex / Col) (17.7) Becomes Here, the calculation% indicates the remainder.

When it is determined that the order is reversed, the origin of the logical coordinates seen from each image area nIndex (nindex is 0 to n-1) is xnIndex = -cx * (Col-1- (nIndex% Col). ) YnIndex = -cy * (Row-1- (nIndex / Col) (17.8)).

As a result, the origin of the logical coordinates seen from each output image area is calculated. nIndex indicates the output order, and nIndex is set in order from the area where the value is 0.
The value of ex is increased by 1 and output.

14 and 15 are examples showing the order of sheets to be output when the forward order and the reverse order are designated, respectively. In the case of normal order, the output is from the upper left to the right. In the reverse order, the output is from the lower right to the left.

Next, a setting process (17.9) for obtaining the size of the enlarged image is performed. From the logical paper size and the enlargement ratio that have been acquired and calculated previously, cx * d, cy * d (17.9). The origin coordinates and the image size after enlargement of the image printed on each sheet obtained as described above are sent from the despooler 305 to the graphic engine 202, and the image enlarged and divided by the graphic engine is displayed. After being formed, it is sent to a printer and printing (poster printing) is performed.

FIG. 10 shows an example of the print result when the size, orientation and enlargement ratio of the output paper are not specified and the number of vertical and horizontal papers is specified as 2 × 2. In this example, the enlargement factor d
Is d = min (2cx / printableW, 2cy / printable
H), cx = printableW and cy = printable
Since it is H, the enlargement ratio d = min (2,2) = 2. That is, the vertical and horizontal directions are doubled to be divided into four (10.2).

FIG. 12 shows an example of the print result when the enlargement ratio is specified as 150% without specifying the size and orientation of the output paper.

FIG. 13 shows the print result when the size and enlargement ratio of the output paper are not specified, the orientation of the paper is landscape (horizontally long), and the number of vertical and horizontal sheets is 1 vertical × 2 horizontal. Here is an example.

When the enlargement / division method is determined by the procedure of FIGS. 16 and 17, the printer driver 205 generates a command for creating an image according to the determination, and the command is sent to the printer. Poster printing is executed.

<Measures for Blank Paper Saving Function> FIG. 18 shows a rough processing flow of the printing processing procedure. This procedure is executed in the printer driver based on the information sent via the graphic engine 202 and the dispatcher 301.

First, poster print function setting acquisition processing
(18.1) will be held. This is a process of acquiring information including ON / OFF of poster printing set on the interface shown in FIG.

Next, a process (18.2) for determining whether the poster print function is set is performed. This is a process of determining whether or not the poster print function is set based on the information acquired by the poster print function setting acquisition process. Here, since poster printing of 4 × 4 sheets is set as shown in FIG. 5, poster printing is determined to be ON.

If so, the printer driver 203 executes a command issuing process for turning off the blank paper saving function.
(18.3) will be held. What is the blank paper saving function?
This is a function of 500, and is a function of not outputting a blank page when there is no data to be printed in the page. This function is on in normal printing. Command issue processing to turn off the blank paper saving function (18.
3) is a process for turning off this function. As a result, the printer driver 203 causes the printer 1500 to execute the command "@PJL SET LPARM: LIP" to turn off the blank page saving function.
Issue "S PAPER-SAVE = OFF".

If poster printing is not designated, a command to turn off the blank page saving function is not issued.

<Printing Process by Printer> FIG. 21 shows a processing procedure by the printer 1500 that receives a print command via the printer driver. First, step 21
When print data (command) is received in step 1, step 2
At 11, image data is generated based on it. If the received print data is the image data itself, there is no need to draw it again.

Next, in step 213, it is determined whether the generated image is a pure white image (blank page). If so, in step 214, it is determined whether the blank page saving function is set. As mentioned above, this function is turned off in poster printing. If the blank page saving function is set, this page is not printed and the image of the next page is generated. On the other hand, if the blank page saving function is turned off, even a blank page is printed as it is.

As described above, when printing a poster,
Even if a blank page is included, it will be printed.

FIG. 11 shows an output result (1) when the original image (11.1) is printed by designating 4 × 4 poster printing.
Show 1.2). Sheets 112-1 to 112-4 are blank pages generated by enlargement / division. That is, these are parts that are not output unless the blank paper saving function is turned off. For example, in the case of normal order output, the paper on which the divided images are printed is output in raster scan order from the upper left to the lower right of FIG. 11 (11.2). If the blank portion is not output, a normal result cannot be obtained even if the output objects are arranged in 4 × 4 output order from the upper left. The operator must know which part has not been output in order to reproduce the original image, but it is usually not possible to know this because the blank page saving is performed by the printer.

On the other hand, like the printer control system of this embodiment, by turning off the blank paper saving function at the time of poster printing, it is possible to obtain the intended print result simply by arranging the output products in the output order. .

<Display of Progress> During printing, the spool file manager 304 displays the progress of printing as described above. In the case of poster printing, it is displayed in physical page units that are actually output. FIG. 7 shows a display screen in a state where print jobs are accumulated in the spool file manager 304. In FIG. 7, the same one page of print data from the application is printed normally (displaying the job above) and printed using the poster print function (4 × 4) (displaying the job below). Has been done. In the case of normal printing, the progress status is 0/1, that is, the number of output pages in all 1 pages is 0, whereas in the case of poster printing it is 0.
/ 16, that is, the number of output pages is 0 out of all 16 pages.

FIG. 8 shows document information at the time of normal printing, and FIG. 9 shows document information at the time of poster printing. In the case of poster printing, a vertical and horizontal number display 901 is graphically displayed.

FIG. 20 is a flow chart of the progress status display processing of the print processing by the spool manager 304. First, a message is acquired from the spooler 302 or the despooler 305 (20.1), and it is determined whether the message indicates the end of printing for a job (20.
2). If printing is finished, the job has finished,
Perform necessary termination processing such as deletion of job information (20.
4).

If printing has not ended, it is determined whether the spooler 302 has notified the end of spooling of one logical page (20.3). If so, it is determined whether or not the job to which the received message corresponds (hereinafter referred to as the corresponding job) is designated for poster printing (20.10). If poster printing is designated, m × n is added to the denominator counter representing the number of spooled pages (20.11). Here, m × n is the number of images to be divided and printed during poster printing. Also, the denominator counter is initialized to 0 before spooling the first page of the print job. If it is not poster printing, add 1 to the denominator counter. Since no message is received from the despooler during spooling, the denominator counter is incremented until it reaches the value of the total number of pages. Then, this denominator counter is displayed as the total number of pages in FIG. 7 (20.
13). In this case, the number of output pages that are numerator is 0
Is displayed as.

On the other hand, the acquired message is the spooler 30.
If it is not the spool end notification of 1 logical page from 2, it is determined whether it is the despool end notification of 1 logical page from the despooler (20.5). Otherwise,
Processing according to the message is performed (20.6). If it is a despool end notification, it is judged whether the corresponding job is poster printing (20.7). If it is poster printing, m × n.
Is added to the numerator counter (20.8). If it is not poster printing, 1 is added to the numerator counter (20.9).
The denominator counter and the numerator counter thus calculated are
It is displayed as shown in FIG. 7 (20.13).

By doing so, the number of sheets to be printed and the progress status can be displayed even at the time of poster printing, and the operator can grasp an accurate value.

<Processing when normal printing is not possible>
When printing a poster, a warning may be displayed due to the limitation of the graphic engine 202. FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing an outline of the processing procedure when print settings are made in the printer driver 203 when printing from an application. FIG. 6 shows a display example of the warning.

In FIG. 19, information on the poster print function is acquired by each setting acquisition process (19.1) of the poster print function. Poster print here 4x4
Is set.

Next, the print mode setting acquisition process (19.
2) is performed. This is a process of acquiring the currently set print mode. This print mode includes resolution information. Here, it is assumed that the "fine (600 DPI) mode" is set. Then, a process (19.3) of determining whether the current mode is the limited print mode in poster printing is performed. That is, due to the limitation of the graphic engine 202, there are print modes that cannot be printed normally due to the relationship between the size of the poster to be output and the resolution. Such a print mode is the limited print mode. For example, if the graphic engine is 16 bits and the A4 landscape size image of 600 DPI is multiplied by 10 as it is, 10 × 600 × 296 / 25.4 =
It becomes 69921, and the horizontal length cannot be represented by 16 bits. In this case, the setting that the A4 landscape size image of 600 DPI is multiplied by 10 as it is is the limited print mode.

If it is determined that the print mode is the restricted print mode, the printing cannot be performed correctly, so the warning display process to the user (19.
4) is performed. By this display processing, a warning as shown in FIG. 6 is displayed. However, this is a warning display to the user, and it is possible to continue printing as it is. Further, when printing by the despooler, similarly, an error may occur due to the limitation of the graphic engine 2-2. At this time, a warning as shown in FIG. 22 is displayed. When the user selects "continue", normal printing is performed, and when the user selects "stop printing", the printing can be stopped.

[Other Embodiments] Even when the present invention is applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.), an apparatus composed of one device (Copier, printer, facsimile machine, etc.) Also,
An object of the present invention is to store a storage medium that stores the program code of the processing procedure of FIGS. 16 to 21 for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments in a computer (or CPU or MPU) of a system or apparatus. It is also achieved by reading and executing the program code.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the function of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, C
A D-ROM, a CD-R, a magnetic tape, a non-volatile memory card, a ROM, etc. can be used. Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also the OS (operating system) running on the computer based on the instructions of the program code.
And the like perform a part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

Furthermore, after the program code read from the storage medium is written in the memory provided in the function expansion board inserted into the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, the program code is read based on the instruction of the program code. The CPU provided in the function expansion board or function expansion unit performs some or all of the actual processing,
The case where the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing is also included.

[0086]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When using the poster print function, the user can specify the division method and the printing order, and even if the blank paper saving function is implemented, it is normal to simply connect the paper in the order according to the division method. It is possible to obtain various printing results.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a print control system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a typical printing system of a host computer to which a printer is connected.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a print system that temporarily spools an intermediate code before converting a print command from an application into a printer control command.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a print-related module as a host computer 30.
10 is a diagram of a memory map in a state in which it is loaded on the RAM 2 of 00 and becomes executable.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a screen for designating poster printing.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a warning message displayed when it is determined that the mode is the restriction mode.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displaying a progress status of a print job.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of normal document information.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing document information for which poster print settings have been made.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a result of printing using poster printing (2 × 2).

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a result of printing using poster printing (4 × 4).

FIG. 12 is a diagram exemplifying a result of poster printing at an enlargement ratio designation of 150%.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of the result of poster printing (1 × 2) on landscape paper.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a normal order layout of poster printing.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an arrangement in the reverse order of poster printing.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a processing procedure for acquiring various settings for poster printing.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart of a processing procedure for calculating a poster printing division method and an enlargement ratio.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart of processing performed prior to poster printing.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart of processing performed prior to poster printing.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart of a progress status display processing procedure by the spool manager.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart of a print processing procedure performed by the printer.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing a display example of a warning message when poster printing cannot be performed.

FIG. 23 is a sectional view of a color laser beam printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 CPU 2 RAM 3 ROM 4 system bus 12 CPU 13 ROM 19 RAM 3000 host computer 1500 printer

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Yasuo Mori 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (56) Reference JP-A-9-179699 (JP, A) JP-A-10 -84459 (JP, A) JP-A-4-343167 (JP, A) Patent 3392057 (JP, B2) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 3/12 B41J 21/00

Claims (9)

(57) [Claims] 1. A print control functioning as a host computer having a graphic engine for loading a printer driver into a memory and converting an output of an application into print data including a printer control command to be printed by a printing device using the printer driver. The apparatus is an input unit for inputting a designation of an enlargement division method set through an interface screen provided by a printer driver, and one page of data to be printed output from an application is inputted as the enlargement. A page dividing unit that obtains an enlargement ratio for expanding to a specified size by a division method and divides the data to be printed of the one page into a plurality of pages, and data to be printed divided into a plurality of pages. On the basis of,
Print data generating means for generating print data to be printed by the printing device so as to be transmitted to the printing device in a predetermined order; and enlarging and dividing into a plurality of printing sheets as the input enlarging and dividing method. The printing apparatus has a function of not printing a blank sheet, and the print data generation means has the designation of poster printing by the determination means. If it is determined that
Manner, the print control apparatus and issues an instruction that does not use a function that does not print the blank with respect to the printing apparatus. 2. The determining means determines whether to perform normal order output or reverse order output when printing a poster, and when the determining means determines to perform a normal order output when printing a poster. Of the divided print sheets, the print data is output in the order from the upper left to the right, and when it is determined by the determination unit that the reverse printing is performed when the poster is printed, the print data is output from the lower right to the left. The print control device according to claim 1 , wherein the print control device outputs print data. 3. Spool means for inputting data to be printed output from an application via a graphic engine, converting the input data into an intermediate code, and spooling the data as a spool file, and spooling means for spooling the spool file. Further comprising a printability judging unit for monitoring the generation status of the intermediate code and judging whether the print processing based on the intermediate code is possible. When it is determined that it is possible, the intermediate code data spooled in the spool means is converted into a format that can be recognized by the graphic engine, and the converted data is re-output to the graphic engine. The print data generating means may output the re-outputting means from the graphic engine. The print data divided into a plurality of pages is generated so as to be input to the data re-output by the printer, and to be transmitted to the printing device in a predetermined order based on the data. The printing control device described in 1. 4. A print control functioning as a host computer having a graphic engine for loading a printer driver into a memory and converting an output of an application into print data including a printer control command to be printed by a printing device using the printer driver. And a step of inputting a designation of an enlargement division method set through an interface screen provided by a printer driver, and one page of data to be printed output from an application, the input enlargement being performed. A page division process of acquiring the enlargement ratio for expanding to a specified size by the division method and dividing the data to be printed of the one page into a plurality of pages, and the data to be printed divided into a plurality of pages. On the basis of,
A print data generation step of generating print data to be printed by the printing device so as to be transmitted to the printing device in a predetermined order, and enlarging and dividing into a plurality of printing papers as the input enlarging and dividing method. A determination step of determining whether or not poster printing to be printed has been designated, the printing device has a function of not printing a blank sheet, and the print data generation step includes designation of poster printing by the determination step. If it is determined that
Print control method to, and issues an instruction that does not use a function that does not print the blank with respect to the printing apparatus. 5. The determination step determines whether to perform normal order output or reverse order output when poster printing is performed, and when it is determined that the forward order output is performed when poster printing is performed in the determination step, Of the divided print sheets, the print data is output in the order from the upper left to the right, and when it is determined by the determination unit that the reverse printing is performed when the poster is printed, the print data is output from the lower right to the left. The print control method according to claim 4, wherein print data is output. 6. A spooling process of inputting data to be printed output from an application via a graphic engine, converting the input data into an intermediate code, and spooling the data as a spool file, and a spooling process in the spool file. Further comprising a printability determining step of monitoring the generation status of the intermediate code to determine whether the print processing based on the intermediate code is possible, and the page dividing step includes the print processing in the printability determining step. When it is determined that it is possible, the intermediate code data spooled in the spool means is converted into a format that can be recognized by the graphic engine, and the converted data is re-output to the graphic engine. However, in the print data generating step, from the graphic engine,
The data re-outputted by the re-outputting step is input, and print data divided into a plurality of pages is generated based on the data to be transmitted to the printing apparatus in a predetermined order. Item 6. The print control method according to Item 4 or 5 . 7. A host computer provided with a graphic engine for loading a printer driver into a memory and converting the output of an application into print data containing printer control commands to be printed by a printing device using the printer driver. An input step for inputting the designation of the enlarging / dividing method set via the interface screen provided, and the size of the data to be printed of one page output from the application specified by the enlarging / dividing method input. Based on the page dividing step of dividing the data to be printed of the one page into a plurality of pages and the data to be printed divided into a plurality of pages,
A print data generation step of generating print data to be printed by the printing device so as to be transmitted to the printing device in a predetermined order, and enlarging and dividing into a plurality of printing papers as the input enlarging and dividing method. A computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program for executing a determination step of determining whether or not a poster print to be printed has been designated, wherein the printing device has a function of not printing a blank sheet, and the print data generation. The process is automatically performed if it is determined in the determination process that poster printing is specified.
Manner, computer-readable storage medium characterized by issuing instructions not using the function not printed blank to the printing apparatus. 8. The determination step determines whether to perform normal order output or reverse order output when poster printing is performed, and when it is determined that the forward order output is performed when poster printing is performed in the determination step, Of the divided print sheets, the print data is output in the order from the upper left to the right, and when it is determined in the determination step that the reverse output is performed when printing the poster, the order is from the lower right to the left. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 7, wherein the print data is output. 9. The spooling process, wherein the computer program inputs data to be printed output from an application through a graphic engine, converts the input data into an intermediate code, and spools the data as a spool file, A printability determining step of monitoring the generation status of the intermediate code spooled in the spool file and determining whether the print processing based on the intermediate code is possible is further executed by the computer, and the page dividing step is When it is determined that the print processing is possible in the print enable determination step, the intermediate code data spooled in the spool step is converted into a format that can be recognized by the graphic engine, and the graphic is converted. Re-output the data converted by the engine, and generate the print data The composing step inputs the data re-outputted by the re-outputting step from the graphic engine, and based on the data, print data divided into a plurality of pages to be transmitted to the printing device in a predetermined order. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 7 or 8, wherein