JP3661433B2 - Print data spooling method, print control apparatus, and recording medium - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a print control technique, and more particularly, an efficient spooling method of print data, a print control apparatus suitable for carrying out the spool method, and a method for realizing the spool method or the print control apparatus with a computer device. To the recording medium.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Recently, it has become common for some of the processing associated with printing control to be performed in a printing apparatus such as a printer to be performed using resources on the host computer side. For example, data accompanying a print request input from an application program (hereinafter referred to as “AP”) is converted into print data having a structure that can be read by the printing apparatus, or the converted print data is spooled in a spool file. The host computer sends the despooled (reverse spooled) print data to the printing apparatus.
[0003]
The spooling is mainly performed in order to eliminate a wasteful waiting time of the printing control process due to the difference between the data transmission speed to the printing apparatus and the actual printing speed by the printing apparatus. Specifically, the print data is once written in the spool file, and the written print data is read asynchronously with the writing and sent to the printing apparatus. Writing and reading are executed by independent tasks.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
Some APs issue a print request for a large image formed by a plurality of print pages. In this case, conventionally, print data for all pages has been written to the spool file as many times as the number of print pages, although only printing in units of print pages is performed. For example, as shown in FIG. 9 (a), when spooling print data for forming a large image on a printing apparatus for four pages, each print data is originally shown in FIG. 9 (b). Only the portion indicated by the oblique lines or the print data of the image portion in the page is sufficient for each page, and all the print data for each of the four pages has been written into the spool file four times. For this reason, not only is the file resource used excessively, but a large load is applied to the spool process and the despool process.
[0005]
An object of the present invention is to provide a spool method capable of effectively utilizing file resources and improving the efficiency of spool processing and despool processing.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a print control apparatus suitable for carrying out the spool method and a recording medium for realizing the spool method or the print control apparatus in a computer apparatus.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The spool method of the present invention that solves the above-described problems is achieved by using a set of print data for an image having a size that exceeds at least an effective area that can be printed by a printing apparatus, for example, a set of N (N is a natural number of 2 or more) print pages. Print data for forming an image on a printing apparatus or print data corresponding to an image that protrudes from an effective area is stored, and the effective area and other invalid areas are determined for the stored print data. , Only print data in the effective area is extracted and spooled .
[0008]
The print control apparatus of the present invention that solves the above-described other problems includes a buffer unit that holds at least print data of an image size that exceeds an effective area that can be printed by the printing apparatus, and the print data that is held A discriminating unit that discriminates a valid area that can be printed by the printing apparatus and other invalid areas ; a print data editing unit that extracts only the valid area from the held print data; and the extracted print data A spooler that spools
Comprising.
[0010]
When the image is one image formed by a set of a plurality of print pages, the determination unit determines the valid area and the invalid area . In this case, the spooler spools the print data of the effective area a plurality of times .
[0011]
The recording medium of the present invention is a computer-readable recording medium on which program code for causing a computer apparatus to execute the following processing is recorded.
(1-1) Print data for an image having a size exceeding at least an effective area printable by the printing apparatus, for example, print data or an effective area for causing the printing apparatus to form one image by a set of a plurality of print pages. Processing to hold the print data corresponding to the protruding image,
(1-2) A process of determining an effective area to be printed from the held print data and an invalid area other than that,
(1-3) processing for extracting only the valid area from the held print data;
(1-4) A process of spooling the extracted print data .
[0013]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment when the present invention is applied to a printing system will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a printing system according to the present embodiment. This printing system is configured by connecting a host computer 1 and a printer 2 having a reception buffer via a printer cable.
[0014]
The host computer 1 executes, controls and monitors the program through a predetermined system program. Specifically, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a RAM ( Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), and a built-in or external hard disk (HD) 3 are provided on a system board (not shown). The CPU reads the required program from the HD 3 as appropriate and executes the required processing or control. The HD 3 stores an AP that generates print data, a print control program for realizing the print control apparatus of the present invention, and the like.
[0015]
The host computer 1 also includes a display device 4 having a monitor screen, a data input device 5 for inputting various setting information, a media reading device 6 including a CD-ROM drive and an FDD, and a connection interface with a local network. The communication control device 7 is connected. The display device 4 is configured to display a predetermined dialog window in response to an instruction from a system program, AP, print control program, or the like.
[0016]
A control program for realizing the printing control apparatus can be read by the host computer 1 on a portable recording medium such as a flexible disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD-R, DVD, or magnetic tape. It is recorded and distributed in the form, and is installed in the HD 3 through the media reader 6 when the printer 2 is used. Alternatively, it is installed in the HD 3 from a program server accessible through the communication control device 7.
By executing only the control program, a function as a printing control apparatus is formed, and an operating system running on the host computer 1 performs actual processing based on an instruction of the control program. A function as a print control apparatus may be formed through some processing.
[0017]
Next, an embodiment of the print control apparatus of the present invention realized by the host computer 1 reading the print control program will be described.
[0018]
(First embodiment)
FIG. 2 shows a configuration example of a main part in a case where the print data sent from the AP is temporarily stored, the stored print data is edited, and then stored in the spool file 16.
In the following description, it is assumed that the print data includes a print job and data from the AP, and has been converted into a structure that can be read by the printer 2 by a print manager (not shown). The image is an image formed by bitmap data. When one image is formed by a set of a plurality of print pages, the image is sent from the AP as an image that exceeds the effective area that can be printed. There is a case to come. Here, for the sake of convenience, the former case is taken as an example.
[0019]
The print control apparatus 10 illustrated in FIG. 2 includes a print data buffer 11 that temporarily stores print data, a page determination unit 12 that determines print pages in image units in print order, and which of the print data in image units. The page change section 12 determines which part of a page is an effective area to be printed (hereinafter referred to as “effective page area”) and which is an invalid area in which the portion is not printed (hereinafter referred to as “invalid page area”). An area discriminating unit 13 for discriminating based on the discriminating result, a print data editing unit 14 for extracting only the valid page area from the print data held in the print data buffer 11, and the extracted print data in the order of print pages. And a spooler 15 for transferring to the spool file 16.
[0020]
FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of print data editing processing in the print control apparatus 10. FIG. 3A shows an example of an image. Here, as in the conventional technique shown in FIG. 9A, it is assumed that this image is formed by print data for four pages. When attention is paid to each print page, only the print data corresponding to the hatched portion in FIG. 3B is actually used for printing by the printer 2. Accordingly, the portion indicated by the diagonal lines becomes the valid page region, and the other portion indicated by the broken line becomes the invalid page region. Therefore, in this embodiment, the print data corresponding to the invalid page area is deleted, only the print data corresponding to the valid page area is extracted, and this is spooled in the order of print pages.
[0021]
FIG. 4 shows an execution procedure of the print control apparatus 10 when realizing such processing.
That is, the page discrimination unit 12 scans all print data for one image in the print data buffer 11 (step S101), and discriminates four print pages and their printing order (step S102). The area determination unit 13 specifies an effective page area and other invalid page areas based on the determination result (step S103). Initially, only the first page is set as an effective page area.
[0022]
The print data editing unit 14 deletes the print data corresponding to the invalid page area, extracts only the print data corresponding to the valid page area, and sends it to the spooler 15 (step S104). The spooler 15 stores the print data in the spool file 16 (spool: step S105). The above process is repeated in the same manner for the second and subsequent pages (step S106: No), and when the process for the fourth page is completed, the spooling for the image is completed (step S107: Yes). After spooling, the despooler appropriately reads out the print data from the spool file 16 and transfers it to the printer 2.
[0023]
By executing the above procedure, file resources are saved, and unnecessary data storage processing at the time of spooling is also reduced, so that the speed of spooling and despooling can be increased.
[0024]
(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 5 is a main part configuration diagram showing another embodiment of the print control apparatus of the present invention. For convenience, elements having the same functions as those shown in FIG.
[0025]
The print control apparatus 20 is configured such that an image sampling processing unit 21 is added to the print control apparatus 10 of the first embodiment so that image sampling can be appropriately performed on the image image. That is, some APs are provided with a function for performing color tone correction and special effects on the original image, so that the AP is configured to correspond to the function on the AP side.
[0026]
As described above, in the print control apparatus 10 of the first embodiment, print data other than the valid page area is ignored during spooling. Therefore, image sampling is performed for each print page. However, if image sampling is performed for each print page in this way, the original image is divided from one image image, but the sampling range becomes a print page independent of each other. May end up.
[0027]
For example, as shown in FIG. 6 (a), when one image is formed on two pages, the first page is sampled as shown in FIG. 6 (b). It is assumed that the result of sampling the eyes as shown in FIG. In this case, an image obtained by combining two pages has an unbalanced brightness as shown in FIG.
[0028]
The image sampling processing unit 21 shown in FIG. 5 is provided for this purpose, and has a function of performing image sampling on the entire print data in units of images held in the print data buffer 11. The print data subjected to image sampling and edited as necessary is reflected (updated) in the print data buffer 11.
[0029]
The spool according to the first embodiment is performed after this image sampling. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 7A, for the first page, image sampling is performed based on the entire print data for two pages held in the print data buffer 11, and then two pages are processed. The eye is deleted as an invalid page area and only the print data of the first page is left. As shown in FIG. 7B, the second page is also subjected to image sampling based on the entire print data for two pages, and then the first page is deleted as an invalid page area and only the print data for the second page is displayed. Leave. As a result, the synthesized image after sampling the image is balanced as shown in FIG.
The diagrams shown in FIGS. 6A to 6D and FIGS. 7A to 7C schematically show the processing contents.
[0030]
FIG. 8 shows an execution procedure of the print control apparatus 20 when realizing such processing contents.
That is, first, the image sampling processing unit 21 scans print data for one image in the print data buffer 11 to obtain sampling data as shown on the left side of FIG. 7A (step S201). The sampling data is edited as necessary, and the editing result is reflected in the print data buffer 11 (step S202: Yes, S203). Thereafter, spooling is performed in the same procedure as steps S101 to S106 in FIG. 4 (steps S204 to S210).
[0031]
According to the print control apparatus 20 of this embodiment, spooling and despooling can be performed efficiently and at high speed while maintaining a good image processing result after image sampling.
[0032]
【The invention's effect】
As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, excess print data is deleted before spooling, so that spooling and despooling can be performed efficiently and at high speed by effectively using file resources.
Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to perform spooling and despooling efficiently and at high speed while maintaining good image processing results during image sampling.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a printing system to which the present invention is applied.
FIG. 2 is a main part configuration diagram of the printing control apparatus according to the first embodiment.
FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams illustrating an example of one image formed on four pages, and FIG. 3B is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of print data to be spooled and deleted print data for the image image.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a spool procedure performed by the print control apparatus according to the first embodiment.
FIG. 5 is a main part configuration diagram of a printing control apparatus according to a second embodiment.
6A to 6C are examples of image sampling and spooling procedures, and FIG. 6D is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the results.
7A and 7B are examples of image sampling and spooling procedures according to the second embodiment, and FIG. 7C is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the results.
FIG. 8 is a procedure explanatory diagram of image sampling and spooling by the print control apparatus of the second embodiment.
FIGS. 9A and 9B are diagrams illustrating an example of one image image formed on four pages, and FIG. 9B is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of print data to be spooled for the image image.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Host computer 2 Printing device 3 Hard disk 4 Display device 5 Data input device 6 Media reader 7 Communication control device 10,20 Print control device 11 Print data buffer 12 Page discrimination | determination part 13 Area | region discrimination | determination part 14 Print data edit part 15 Spooler 16 Spool File 21 Image sampling processor

Claims (5)

When print data of an image having a size exceeding the effective area printable by the printing apparatus is held, and the image is one image formed by a set of a plurality of print pages, the print data is held for each print page . and the effective area and the other invalid area determined for said print data, to extract only print data of the effective area, and deletes the print data of the invalid region, characterized in that the spool,
Print data spooling method.   When the image is one image formed by a set of a plurality of print pages, the effective area and the invalid area are determined, and print data of the effective area is spooled a plurality of times. Item 2. The spool method according to Item 1.   3. The spool method according to claim 2, wherein the print data includes bitmap data representing the image. Buffer means for holding print data of an image having a size exceeding at least an effective area printable by the printing apparatus;
When the image is a single image formed by a set of a plurality of print pages, the print device holds a valid area that can be printed by the print device and a non-valid area other than the print data held for each print page. Discriminating means to perform,
Print data editing means for extracting only the valid area from the held print data and deleting the print data in the invalid area ;
A spooler for spooling the extracted print data;
A printing control apparatus comprising: Processing to hold print data of an image with a size that exceeds at least the effective area that can be printed by the printing device;
When the image is one image formed by a set of a plurality of print pages, a process for determining the valid area and other invalid areas for the print data held for each print page ;
Only the effective area print data is extracted , the invalid area print data is deleted, and the program code for causing the computer device to execute the process of spooling the extracted print data is recorded,
Computer-readable recording medium.

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