JP3627415B2 - Printing system - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a printing system, and more particularly to a printing system capable of specifying finishing.
[0002]
[Prior art]
As finishing in a printing system, a hole punching process, a staple process, a bag binding process, an n-up printing (n-side printing) process, and the like are known. Here, the n-up printing process, for example, prints n images side by side while reducing them on the same paper surface, and includes two-up printing in which two images are inserted side by side and each divided into four areas. For example, 4-up printing in which four images are reduced and inserted is known.
[0003]
Processing such as punching, stapling, and bag binding is realized by sending each printed sheet to a finishing device called a finisher, and processing such as n-up printing is realized using a reduced printing function in the printer. Alternatively, it is realized by image processing in a print server. In any case, processing other than the original processing for the print image (mainly processing performed by the output device) is defined as finishing.
[0004]
The conventional system capable of specifying finishing as described above has a function of displaying the result of finishing on a display device as a graphical image prior to actual printing and finishing. That is, the user can issue a print execution command after confirming the result of finishing using such a display.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, with various finishings, the conventional system has a problem that only one of a plurality of designated finishings can be displayed at a time. That is, for example, when both 2-up printing and punching are specified, an image showing the result of 2-up printing and an image showing the result of punching can only be displayed sequentially, and both are combined. In this case, a function for displaying a composite image corresponding to the actual finishing result is not provided. Therefore, it is difficult to grasp the relationship between the designations of the finishings.
[0006]
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional problems, and a purpose thereof is a combined finishing image that represents a result when the finishing is actually performed when a plurality of finishings are designated. It is to be able to display.
[0007]
Another object of the present invention is to make it possible to record a finishing image in various recording formats in accordance with the properties of data, and to configure a highly flexible and efficient printing system.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a client machine that creates print data and an output apparatus that prints print data from the client machine and performs finishing specified by a user are connected to a network. In the printing system connected via the network, the client machine is different from the print data, the data creation means for creating the print data, the reading means for reading the data indicating the finishing function of the output device, and the print data. and finishing designation means for designating a combination of a plurality of finishings, based on said data indicative of a finishing function read by the reading means, the combination finishing Lee representing the result of executing printing according to the specified plurality of finishing An image generating means for generating over di-, characterized in that it comprises a, and image display means for displaying the combination finishing image.
[0009]
According to the above configuration, when a plurality of finishings are designated, the image generating unit generates the combined finishing image, which is displayed on the display unit. Therefore, even when a plurality of finishings are designated, the final finishing result can be confirmed at a time. Therefore, finishing designation failure can be prevented, and paper waste can be prevented.
[0010]
In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the image generation means stores a finishing image for each finishing as image data or vector data, and when vector data is read from the storage , determined, the expansion means for expanding the data into image data, synthesizing a plurality of image data, seen including synthesizing means, the generating the combined finishing image, finishing the finishing image and vector data as image data It is characterized in that it can be combined with an image .
[0011]
The finishing image data may be held in the form of the image data as it is, or may be held in the form of vector data (for example, a page description language format). In the latter case, vector data is interpreted and image data is generated, and then synthesized with other image data. Therefore, these advantages can be utilized corresponding to two types of data formats.
[0012]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0013]
FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of a printing system according to the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration thereof.
[0014]
A client machine 12 and a print server 14 are connected to the network 10. The print server 14 controls the printer 16. In this embodiment, a finisher 18 for performing punching, stapling, and the like is connected to the printer 16. In the configuration shown in FIG. 1, as described above, the print server 14, the printer 16, and the finisher 18 constitute an output device.
[0015]
The client machine 12 is composed of, for example, a computer and has a function of creating print data to be output to the print server 14.
[0016]
The client machine 12 will be described in detail. The communication unit 20 is connected to the network 10, and data is input / output through the communication unit 20. A controller 22 for realizing each function of the client machine 12 is connected to the communication unit 20. The instruction unit 24 connected to the control unit 22 is a means for specifying various finishings, and the display unit 26 is a means for displaying the finishing results.
[0017]
The storage unit 28 stores data corresponding to each finishing. Specifically, each data is stored in the form of image data or in the form of a page description language (PDL) as a kind of vector data. The storage format is appropriately set according to, for example, the data capacity and data structure.
[0018]
When the finishing image is described in PDL, the PDL interpretation unit 34 interprets the PDL data and generates image data. The image combining unit 32 combines a plurality of finishing images to generate a combined image, that is, a combined finishing image. The combined finishing image is sent to the display unit 26 via the control unit 22, and the combined finishing image as a composite image is displayed on the display unit 26. The print data creation unit 30 is configured by application software, for example, and functions as a means for creating print data to be output to the print server 14.
[0019]
Next, FIG. 2 shows a display screen 100 of a display device included in the client machine 12. In the present embodiment, a screen as shown in FIG. 2 is displayed prior to sending the print data to the print server 14. The screen 100 is roughly divided into two, and the screen 100 is divided into an instruction unit 24 and a display unit 26 as shown in the figure. The instruction unit 24 functions as means for specifying each finishing as described above, and includes a plurality of virtual buttons 24A corresponding to each finishing. These buttons can be selected by the pointing means 106. A composite image 204 is displayed on the display unit 26.
[0020]
FIG. 3 schematically shows a composite image creation process in the image composition unit 32. For example, when two finishings are designated, one finishing image 200 and the other finishing image 202 are combined, and a combined image 204 as shown in FIG. 2 is created and displayed on the screen. In the example shown in the figure, a case where 2-up printing and punching are designated is shown.
[0021]
Conventionally, when a plurality of finishings are designated in this way, the finishing image can be confirmed only by each independently. However, according to the present embodiment, finally, as in the composite image 204 shown in FIG. Since the obtained finishing result can be confirmed at a time, there is an advantage that failure of finishing designation and useless printing resulting therefrom can be prevented.
[0022]
FIG. 4 schematically shows the structure of the storage unit 28. The storage unit 28 associates the finishing image for each finishing, and each finishing image is stored in the image data format or PDL format. For example, in this example, the finishing image of 2-up printing and 4-up printing is stored in the form of image data, and each type of punching is stored in the form of PDL data.
[0023]
In the above-described example, the synthesis of two finishing images has been described. Of course, the present invention can also be applied to the case of synthesizing three or more finishing images.
[0024]
Next, the operation of the client machine 12 shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG.
[0025]
In S101, the instruction unit 24 is used, and finishing is designated by the user. This is performed a plurality of times via S102. For example, two types of finishing are designated. In S <b> 103, a finishing image corresponding to one finishing designation among a plurality of designations is extracted from the storage unit 28. In this case, it is determined in S104 whether the data format of the finishing image is the image data format or the PDL data format, and if it is the PDL data format, the PDL interpretation unit 34 is activated in S105. Thus, PDL interpretation is performed on the data. In S106, it is determined whether or not there is a finishing designation from which data has not yet been extracted. If there is such data, each process from S103 is repeatedly executed. In S107, the image synthesizing unit 32 is activated and the generated finishing image or the extracted finishing image is synthesized to create a synthesized image. In S108, such a composite image is displayed on the display unit 26.
[0026]
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the client machine 12 has the finishing type as data in advance. However, for example, the function of the printer 16 or the finisher 18 is automatically read by the client machine 12 and based on the read data. The finishing image may be automatically generated. According to such a configuration, there is an advantage that it is possible to deal with various types of printers existing on the network, and the complexity associated with artificial setting can be eliminated.
[0027]
In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the finishing image is generated and combined on the client machine 12, but such processing may be performed on the print server 14. The composite image generated by the print server 14 can be transferred to the client machine 12 via the network 10.
[0028]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, when a plurality of finishings are designated, a combined finishing image representing the result when those finishings are actually performed can be displayed. There is an advantage that unnecessary printing can be eliminated. Furthermore, according to the present invention, the finishing image can be recorded in various recording formats according to the properties of the data, so that a highly flexible and efficient printing system can be constructed.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a printing system according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a specific example of an instruction unit and a display unit.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing finishing image composition processing;
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a data structure of a storage unit.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the client machine.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Network, 12 Client machine, 14 Print server, 16 Printer, 18 Finisher, 22 Control part, 24 Instruction part, 26 Display part, 28 Storage part, 30 Print data creation part, 32 Image composition part, 34 PDL interpretation part, 200 202 finishing image, 204 composite image (combined finishing image).

Claims (2)

In a printing system in which a client machine that creates print data and an output device that prints print data from the client machine and performs finishing specified by a user are connected via a network,
The client machine is
And data generating means for generating said print data,
Reading means for reading data indicating the finishing function of the output device;
Finishing designating means for designating a combination of a plurality of different finishings for the print data,
Image generating means for generating a combined finishing image representing a result of executing printing according to the designation of the plurality of finishings based on the data indicating the finishing function read by the reading means ;
Image display means for displaying the combined finishing image;
A printing system comprising: The system of claim 1, wherein
The image generation means includes
A storage unit storing a finishing image for each finishing as image data or vector data;
When vector data is read from the storage unit, it is determined, and expansion means for expanding the data into image data;
A combining means for combining a plurality of image data and generating the combined finishing image;
Only including,
A printing system capable of synthesizing a finishing image as image data and a finishing image as vector data .

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