JP4109836B2 - Print data generation method, print data generation apparatus, computer program, and storage medium - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
  The present inventionPrint data generation method, print data generation apparatus, computer program, and storage medium, iePrint data including print data for information transmission and print data for function displayGenerationPrint dataGenerationMethod,printingData generatorIn particular, print data such as documents output by the application and print data with a function to print the pattern specified by the user on paperGenerationMethod,printingData generation apparatus, computer program, and storage mediumIt is about.
[0002]
[Prior art]
As an example of printing that includes print data for information transmission and print data for function display, for example, when distributing a document that is treated as “confidential”, a mark is displayed in which the word “confidential” appears on each page of the document. There are cases. However, since the operation of manually stamping each page of the printed material after printing is costly, generally a method of printing a digitized mark such as “confidential” together with the document is used. This mark such as “confidential” is called a stamp.
[0003]
In the case of printing a document with a stamp, the application has an input part that accepts a character string of a stamp desired by the user. When printing a document, the application prompts the user when creating print data for each page of the document. It is necessary to compose the specified stamp and send it to the printer. In order to improve this, there is a method for realizing a stamp function by a printer driver. This method interrupts the execution of the printer driver by a command added to the printer driver, temporarily suspends the operation, moves the execution to a sub application, and this sub application draws a stamp. This is a technique in which a stamp drawing command is provided to the driver, and the printer driver superimposes the stamp drawing data on the print data of the document page of the application.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, the conventional techniques as described above have the following problems to be solved. In the conventional example, when printing a document with a stamp, bitmap data of the stamp is generated by the printer driver, and the data after being superimposed on the bitmap data of each page of the document is sent to the printer. Therefore, the printer driver has a drawback in that a large amount of storage area is used to synthesize bitmap data.
[0005]
In addition, when the application creates print data on the client in the network environment and the printer driver operates on the server, and the font of the stamp specified by the user on the client does not exist on the server, printing with the stamp added is possible. There is a fault that cannot be done.
[0006]
In addition to character strings, various marks, frames, and images (hereinafter referred to collectively as patterns in this specification) are printed on paper, and then a document is printed or vice versa. In addition, there are many requests to print patterns. Development of a printing system that performs such processing smoothly and efficiently is desired.
[0007]
    The present invention eliminates the above-mentioned conventional defects, and when printing print data including a document page and a pattern (stamp such as confidential),In spool files that store print data in the standard format used by the operating systemA print data generation method, a print data generation device, a computer program, which can reduce the capacity of the required storage area, reduce the load on the network, and enable printing even if the necessary fonts are not present in the server, and A storage medium is provided.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
  In order to achieve the above-described object, the print data generation method and apparatus of the present invention draw a pattern page on behalf of an application using a notification of a print event by the system, and insert it between document pages of the application. ,operatingsystemUsed instandardformatIn the despooling, the print processor performs superposition by the print processor, and the printer graphics driver converts the print data subjected to the superposition processing into a bitmap image and supplies it to the printer.
[0009]
  That is, the print data generation method of the present invention is a print data generation method for generating bitmap data transmitted to a printing apparatus based on a document page created by an application, and is issued from the application and has a pattern on the page. A preparation step for preparing at least one pattern page in response to a print event in which a mode for adding an image is set, a document page created by the application, and the at least one pattern page prepared in the preparation step are stored. WasIn the standard format used by the operating systemThe pattern page and the document page are read from the spool file and combined to create a combined page, and the bitmap data transmitted to the printing apparatus is generated from the combined page created in the combining step. And a generating step.
[0011]
  A print data generation apparatus according to the present invention is a print data generation apparatus that generates bitmap data to be transmitted to a printing apparatus based on a document page created by the application, and is issued from the application and has a pattern on the page. A preparation means for preparing at least one pattern page in response to a print event in which a mode for adding a document is set, a document page created by the application, and the at least one pattern page prepared by the preparation meansIn the standard format used by the operating systemThe pattern page and the document page are read out from the stored spool file and combined to create a combined page, and the combined page generated by the combining unit is transmitted to the printing apparatus. Generating means for generating bitmap data.
[0016]
  orThe present invention is a computer program for causing a computer to implement a print data generation method for generating bitmap data to be transmitted to a printing apparatus based on a document page created by an application. A preparation step of preparing at least one pattern page in response to a print event in which a mode for adding a pattern is set; a document page created by the application; and the at least one pattern page prepared in the preparation step TogaIn the standard format used by the operating systemThe pattern page and the document page are read out from the stored spool file and combined to create a combined page, and the bitmap transmitted from the combined page created in the combining step to the printing apparatus A computer program for causing a computer to execute a generation step for generating data, and a computer-readable storage medium storing the computer program are provided.
  Further, the print data generation apparatus of the present invention reads a document page from a system standard spool file in which a document page created by an application is stored, and generates a bitmap supplied to the printer based on the read document page. A print data generation device that, in response to a print start event from an application, if there is a pattern setting, notifies the system to start page printing, generates a pattern page on which a pattern is drawn on behalf of the application, A user interface driver for notifying the system of the end of page printing, a print process for reading a document page and a pattern page from the system standard spool file and creating a composite page, and a bitmap based on the composite page created Printer driver that generates data And a server, wherein the the document pages where the user interface driver pattern page generated by supplied from the application characterized in that it is stored in the system standard spool file.
[0017]
With this configuration,
(1) The print data of the pattern page and the print data of the document page are superimposed and synthesized, then converted to bitmap data and sent to the printer, so the amount of storage space used can be reduced, the load on the computer is reduced, and the printing speed is improved. To do.
[0018]
(2) Since the number of pattern pages inserted in the spool file does not depend on the number of print pages issued by the application, the spooled data size can be small.
[0019]
(3) In printing in a network environment, it is not necessary to use a special method for transferring a pattern page from the client to the server, and the data transfer time is shortened and the addition to the network is reduced.
[0020]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described using specific examples.
[0021]
<Embodiment 1>
(Configuration example of printing system of this embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a printing system according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, the modules according to the present invention are a user interface driver 3 having both a pattern setting processing unit and a pattern page generation processing unit, and a print processor 5 which is a pattern page composition processing unit. In this embodiment, the case where Windows is used as the operating system is shown, but the present invention is not limited to this.
[0022]
The system in FIG. 1 temporarily stores printing data such as documents created by application 1 on a personal computer, which is a host device, in EMF spool file 4 through GDI2, converts it into bitmap data, and sends it to printer 7. It is configured to supply and print. Here, GDI is a graphics device interface and is a Windows graphics engine. EMF is an abbreviation for Enhanced Meta File, and is a logical storage format of drawing data in Windows. Print data is stored in the EMF spool file 4 in the EMF format.
[0023]
The user interface driver 3 provides a function for setting a paper size, a printing direction, and other attributes generally used for printing. At the same time, the user interface driver 3 according to the present invention has a pattern setting processing unit that provides a function of setting a pattern attribute such as a stamp in addition to an attribute such as a paper size. When the pattern attribute is set, a character string is displayed. If the pattern is to be used, the font name, number of points, border color, rotation angle, position, and other settings are returned to application 1. If the pattern uses an image, setting values such as a file name, an enlargement ratio, a density, a position, and an arrangement method are returned to the application 1.
[0024]
The application 1 creates an arbitrary document and notifies the printing system to start printing in order to print it. Here, the GDI 2 notifies the user interface driver 3 of a print event of printing start by the application. When the user interface driver 3 receives a print event for starting printing, the user interface driver 3 generates a page on which only a pattern is drawn instead of an application.
[0025]
Subsequently, the application 1 supplies page data of an arbitrary document to the GDI 2 and continues the printing process. Here, the print data via GDI2 is stored in the EMF spool file 4. Therefore, the EMF spool file 4 stores pattern page drawing data generated by the user interface driver 3 and document page drawing data generated by the application 1.
[0026]
The print processor 5 is a module that reads the print output information and the print data from the EMF spool file at the time of printing and supplies the print data to the printer graphics driver 6 via GDI2 in Windows for printing. The print processor 5 in the present embodiment is a pattern page composition processing unit at the same time, reads the document data page to be printed from the EMF spool file 4 and the pattern page created by the user interface driver 3 and superimposes them. Create a new composite page and supply it to GDI2.
[0027]
The printer graphic driver 6 that is an image generation processing unit is a module that generates bitmap data from a graphic drawing command generated by GDI2 based on the print data of the composite page supplied by the print processor 5, and the generated bitmap data Is supplied to the printer 7 via a data transmission unit (not shown).
[0028]
The printer 7 that is an output device has a function of printing bitmap data on which the page 9 of the print data and the stamp 10 are superposed on the paper 8 that is passed from the printer graphic driver 6. The example of the print result illustrated on the paper 8 shows a case where the print processor 5 superimposes the pattern page on the document page, and this is called a front pattern. The example of the print result illustrated on the paper 11 shows a case where the print processor 5 superimposes the pattern page on the document page, and this is called a back pattern.
[0029]
Although not shown, the attributes of the front pattern and the back pattern are individually set, the user interface driver 3 generates the front pattern page and the back pattern page, and the print processor 5 sets the back pattern page and the application document page. By superimposing the front pattern page, the front pattern and the back pattern can be used together. Further, the user interface driver 3 may generate a plurality of front pattern pages and back pattern pages instead of one page at a time, and the print processor 5 may superimpose the plurality of pattern pages and document pages.
[0030]
When a character string is set as a pattern attribute in this embodiment, a pattern page in which the user interface driver 3 draws a character string is created in advance, stored in the EMF spool file 4, and the print processor 5 prints the pattern page. The composite page print data obtained by superimposing the data and the print data of the document page of the application 1 is supplied to the printer graphics driver 6 to generate a bitmap in which the document page to be printed and the pattern page are superimposed. The bitmap is supplied to the printer 7.
[0031]
(Example of operation procedure of printing system of this embodiment)
FIG. 2 shows an operation flowchart of the user interface driver 3 of the first embodiment. FIG. 3 shows an operation flowchart of the print processor 5 of the first embodiment. The overall operation of the printing system shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to these drawings.
[0032]
First, the operation of the pattern page generation process will be described with reference to FIG. The pattern page generation process by the user interface driver 3 is performed when a print event is received from the GDI2.
[0033]
First, in step S1, it is determined whether the print event notified by GDI2 is a print event by the print processor 5 or a print event by the application 1. If the print event is by the print processor 5, the process ends without performing any processing. If it is a print event of application 1, the process proceeds to step S2. In step S2, the type of print event is determined. If the print event indicates the start of printing, the process proceeds to step S3. In the case of other print events, the process is terminated without performing the process.
[0034]
Next, in step S3, it is determined whether or not the front pattern is set in the print settings. If the front pattern is set, the process proceeds to step S4. If the front pattern is not set, the process proceeds to step S5. In step S4, a pattern page insertion process in which only the front pattern is drawn is performed. The pattern page insertion process will be described later. After the pattern page insertion process ends, the process proceeds to step S5.
[0035]
Next, in step S5, it is determined whether or not the back pattern is set in the print settings. If the back pattern is set, the process proceeds to step S6. If the back pattern is not set, the process ends. In step S6, a pattern page insertion process in which only the back pattern is drawn is performed. The pattern page insertion process will be described later. The process ends after the pattern page insertion process ends.
[0036]
Next, the pattern page insertion process in steps S4 and S6 will be described in detail.
[0037]
In step S7, the printing system is notified of the start of printing one page in order to draw and create a pattern page instead of application 1. Since the printing system treats this notification as a notification from the application 1, the pattern page drawn by the user interface driver 3 is handled in the same manner as the document page drawn by the application 1.
[0038]
Next, in step S8, it is determined whether or not the set value of the pattern attribute set by the user is justified. For example, when an image is used for a pattern, it is determined whether or not an image file having a designated name exists. If the set value is valid, the process proceeds to step S9. If the setting value is invalid, the pattern is not drawn and the process proceeds to step S10 to create a page on which no pattern is drawn. In step S9, various patterns are drawn on behalf of the application 1 via GDI2 in accordance with the setting values of the pattern attributes. For example, when a character string is specified for the pattern, the character string is drawn according to setting values such as a font, a character color, a rotation angle, and a drawing position, and a rectangle, a circle, and the like surrounding the character string are drawn. When an image is used for a pattern, drawing is performed according to set values such as enlargement / reduction processing, density conversion, drawing position and arrangement.
[0039]
In step S10, notification of the end of printing one page is sent to the printing system instead of application 1. Thus, the pattern page drawn and created by the user interface driver 3 is stored in the EMF spool file 4.
[0040]
Next, the operation of the pattern page composition process will be described with reference to FIG. The pattern page overlay process by the print processor 5 is performed for each print job.
[0041]
First, it is determined in step S21 whether a pattern is set. If there is a pattern setting, the print data pattern of the page stored in the EMF spool file 4, and if there is no setting, the process proceeds to step S26 and normal printing is started.
[0042]
Steps S22 to S25 are a loop for recording the document page number of the application 1 corresponding to the page number in the spool file from the difference in setting between the pages stored in the EMF spool file 4. In step S23, the print settings of two consecutive page data are compared, and it is determined whether the print settings have been changed halfway. If there is no change, the process proceeds to step S25. If there is a change, the process proceeds to step S24. In step S24, the page number in the EMF spool file 4 is saved in the list of the application 1, and the spool page number to be checked next is skipped by the number of pattern pages inserted by the user interface driver 3. In step S25, if all the page data in the spool file 4 has been investigated, the process proceeds to step S26, and if there are unexamined pages, the process returns to step S22 in order to investigate whether the print setting for the next page has been changed. Repeat the loop.
[0043]
In step S26, the printing system is notified of the start of printing in order to actually print the page created by the print processor 5.
[0044]
Steps S27 to S36 are a loop for printing each document page up to the final physical page to be printed. The printing process for each physical page continues to step S28. After all the physical pages are printed, the process proceeds to step S37 to notify the printing system of the end of the printing process.
[0045]
The printing process for each physical page starts from step S28, and first notifies the printing system of the start of printing one page. In step S29, the document page number of application 1 corresponding to the physical page number to be printed is calculated.
[0046]
In step S30, it is determined whether or not a background pattern is set for the document page to be printed. If the background pattern is not set, the process proceeds to step S32 to print the document page of application 1. If the back pattern is set, the process proceeds to step S31. In step S31, the pattern page number in the EMF spool file 4 corresponding to the document page number to be printed by the application 1 is acquired from the page correspondence list, and the pattern page is read from the EMF spool file 4 and drawn. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S32 in order to draw the document page of application 1 on the back pattern.
[0047]
In step S32, the page number in the EMF spool file 4 corresponding to the document page number of the application 1 calculated in step S29 is acquired from the page correspondence list, and the document page is read from the EMF spool file 4 and rendered.
[0048]
In step S33, it is determined whether or not a front pattern is set for the document page to be printed. If the front pattern is not set, the process proceeds to step S35 and printing of the physical page is terminated. If the front pattern is set, the process proceeds to step S34. In step S34, the pattern page number in the EMF spool file 4 corresponding to the document page number to be printed by the application 1 is acquired from the page correspondence list, and the pattern page is read from the EMF spool file 4 and drawn. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S35 in order to end the printing of the physical page.
[0049]
In step 35, the printing system is notified of the end of printing one page and the printing of the physical page is finished.
[0050]
Thus, the pattern page overlay process shown in FIG. 3 is completed. Each time the print processor 5 creates a superimposed page and notifies the end of the physical page in step S35, the printer graphics driver 6 converts the composite page into bitmap data, and the bitmap data is predetermined data not shown in the figure. The pages that are supplied to the printer 7 through the transmission process and overlaid are printed.
[0051]
(Printing example of printing system of this embodiment)
Next, FIG. 4 shows a conceptual diagram of the relationship between the state of the pattern page and the document page stored in the EMF spool file 4 and the physical page printed on the paper. Here, it is assumed that the application 1 prints three document pages without changing the print setting in the middle of printing, and the front pattern is designated as the print setting.
[0052]
FIG. 4A shows the order of pages stored in the EMF spool file 4. The first page stored in the EMF spool file 4 is the front pattern page created by the user interface driver 3, and the document page created by the application 1 is stored in the second, third, and fourth pages in the EMF spool file 4. The print processor 5 adopts the spool page 1 as an optimum pattern page for each document page, and draws it superimposed on each document page, so that the print result is as shown in FIG. Physical pages 1, 2, and 3 are obtained.
[0053]
Next, FIG. 5 shows a conceptual diagram of the pattern page superimposing process of the print processor 5 for rendering the front pattern and the back pattern superimposed on the document page. If a background pattern is specified, the background pattern page is drawn first. Next, the document page of application 1 is overlaid and drawn. If the front pattern is specified at the end, the front page is overlaid and drawn to create a printed overlay page. In the figure, a character string with a frame is shown on the front pattern page, but an image may be used. In addition, the back side also shows a pattern that covers the entire page on the page for use, but an image may be arranged on a part of the page, or a character string or the like may be used.
[0054]
(Hardware configuration example of printing system of this embodiment)
Next, a hardware block diagram of the printing system of the present invention will be described.
[0055]
FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the printing system according to the present embodiment.
[0056]
In the figure, reference numeral 61 denotes a CRT display device, which displays a property setting window provided by the user interface driver 3 shown in FIG. Reference numeral 62 denotes a CRTC controller for a display device. 63 is a data input device such as a keyboard, and 64 is a keyboard controller. 65 is a coordinate input device such as a pointing device, and 66 is a pointing device controller.
Reference numeral 67 denotes a CPU that controls the entire apparatus. Reference numeral 68 denotes a ROM that stores a boot program and the like. Reference numeral 69 denotes a RAM that stores the OS, each application program, the printer configuration related to the system configuration in FIG. 1 and the flowcharts in FIGS. 2 and 3, and also used as a work area.
[0057]
70 stores OS, each application program, printer driver program including system configuration diagram of FIG. 1 and programs related to the flowcharts of FIGS. 2 and 3, phone and data, and data file (image used for pattern) 71 is a hard disk controller. Reference numeral 72 denotes a floppy disk device which is a drive device for a portable storage medium, and reference numeral 73 denotes a floppy disk controller. Reference numeral 74 denotes an interface, which is connected to a printing apparatus 75 such as an inkjet printer via an interface cable. A bus 76 connects the devices. The portable storage medium is not limited to a floppy disk, but may be a CD, MO, DVD, magnetism, optical card, memory card, or the like.
[0058]
When the power of the apparatus is turned on, the CPU 67 starts up according to the boot program stored in the ROM 68, loads the OS from the hard disk device 70, and enters an operation waiting state for the operator. If the operator receives a print instruction or a print setting change instruction for the printer driver from the KB 63 or PD 65 via an application, or if it is set to start automatically, it is stored in the hard disk device 70. The printer driver program is loaded into the RAM 69, and the processing of this embodiment is executed.
[0059]
<Effect of Embodiment 1>
As described above, the document page created by the application 1 to be printed in the print processor 5 and the pattern page created by the user interface driver 3 are overlaid and then supplied to the printer graphics driver 6. The number of files does not depend on the number of document pages, and the capacity of the storage area required by the EMF spool file 4 can be reduced. Also, in a network environment, the number of pattern pages does not change even if the number of document pages increases, so the load on the network can be reduced. In addition, since the pattern page is created by the user interface driver 3 on the client, printing is possible even if there is no font or the like necessary for drawing the pattern when the printer graphics driver 6 is executed in the server.
[0060]
<Embodiment 2>
There are cases where the size of the paper on which the document is to be printed is not always constant, and a document in which different sizes of paper are included in part is printed. In such a case, when the processing described in the first embodiment is performed, the pattern page having the size created by the user interface driver 3 is always used first, so that the position of the pattern is shifted or a part of the pattern protrudes. In some cases, an unfavorable print result may be obtained. For example, when the paper orientation is changed during printing, there is a problem that a part of the pattern is not printed. In this embodiment, an example in which a stamp can be printed satisfactorily even when the paper size is various will be described.
[0061]
A system according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the second embodiment, the user interface driver 3 replaces the application 1 and generates a pattern page when a print event for starting printing is notified and when a print event for changing print settings is notified. It is a difference from 1. In addition, the print processor 5 superimposes an optimum pattern page on a document page created after the application 1 changes the print setting.
[0062]
Next, the operation of the user interface driver according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Step S1 is the same operation as that of the first embodiment. In step S2, the type of print event is determined. If the print event indicates the start of printing or the print event indicates a change in print settings, the process proceeds to step S3. In the case of other print events, the process is terminated without performing the process. In the print setting change event, the pattern page insertion process is performed immediately after the print setting is changed, so that the application 1 can draw using the changed print setting. Other steps are the same as those in the first embodiment.
[0063]
Next, FIG. 7 shows a conceptual diagram of the relationship between the state of the pattern page and document page stored in the EMF spool file 4 and the physical page printed on the paper when the print settings are changed during printing. . Here, application 1 changes the print settings between document page 2 and document page 3 during printing, changes the paper orientation, prints document page 3, and the front pattern is specified as the print setting. Condition.
[0064]
FIG. 7A shows the order of pages stored in the EMF spool file 4. The first page stored in the spool file is the front pattern page corresponding to the print start event created by the user interface driver 3, and the document pages 1 and 2 created by the application 1 are displayed in 2 and 3 in the EMF spool file 4, respectively. Then, the front pattern page corresponding to the print setting change event created by the user interface driver 3 is stored in the spool page 4, and finally the document page 3 is stored in the spool page 5. Here, since the application 1 changes the print setting between the document page 2 and the document page 3 and changes the orientation of the paper, the pattern page corresponding to the document page 3 is stored in the spool page 4.
[0065]
Here, the user interface driver 3 is notified that the paper orientation has been changed by the print setting change event. For example, when the character string position setting is “upper left” of the paper, the paper size is changed. Even if it is done, it is possible to draw a character string in a balanced manner. Print processor 5 uses spool page 1 for document pages 1 and 2, and spool page 4 for document page 3 as the optimal pattern page for each document page. As a result, the physical pages 1, 2, and 3, which are the printing results shown in FIG. 7B, are obtained. In addition, even when the paper size or pattern layout setting is changed, the user interface driver 3 creates a pattern page with a preferable layout by drawing appropriately in response to the print setting change event. Is obtained.
[0066]
Although not shown in FIG. 7, for example, if the output paper in FIG. 7B is half the size of the document page stored in the EMF spool file 4 from the application 1, the pattern corresponds to the document page. If you do, it will stick out. In this case, a small pattern is selected, rearranged if necessary, and superimposed. Conversely, if the output paper is twice the size of the document page, the pattern is too small. In this case, a large pattern is selected, rearranged if necessary, and superimposed. Furthermore, when a document and paper that are not the same size, for example, a document page and a printing paper are different between the A and B plates, the pattern is selected so that it fits on the paper and is arranged if necessary. These various sizes also allow the pattern to be properly selected and arranged. These are also included in the present invention.
[0067]
<Effect of Embodiment 2>
As described above, since the user interface driver 3 generates and processes a pattern page corresponding to the paper size and pattern layout setting, even if the paper size changes or changes in various situations, Therefore, it is possible to print a pattern with an appropriate size.
[0068]
Note that the present invention may be applied to a system constituted by a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.) or an apparatus constituted by a single device.
[0069]
Another object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium storing software program codes for implementing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus, and the computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus stores the storage medium. Needless to say, this can also be achieved by reading and executing the program code stored in the. In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.
[0070]
As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.
[0071]
Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS (operating system) operating on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by performing part or all of the actual processing and the processing is included.
[0072]
Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion is performed based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that the CPU or the like provided in the board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.
[0073]
When the present invention is applied to the storage medium, the storage medium stores a program including a program code corresponding to the flowchart described above.
[0074]
【The invention's effect】
  According to the present invention, when printing print data including a document page and a pattern (stamp such as confidential),In spool files that store print data in the standard format used by the operating systemA print data generation method, a print data generation device, a computer program, which can reduce the capacity of the required storage area, reduce the load on the network, and enable printing even if the necessary fonts are not present in the server, and A storage medium can be provided.
[0075]
That is, since the document page created by the application 1 to be printed in the print processor 5 and the pattern page created by the user interface driver 3 are overlaid and then supplied to the printer graphics driver 6, the number of pattern pages is It is not dependent on the number of document pages, and the capacity of the storage area required by the EMF spool file 4 can be reduced. Also, in a network environment, the number of pattern pages does not change even if the number of document pages increases, so the load on the network can be reduced. In addition, since the pattern page is created by the user interface driver 3 on the client, printing is possible even if there is no font or the like necessary for drawing the pattern when the printer graphics driver 6 is executed in the server.
[0076]
In addition, since the user interface driver 3 generates and processes a pattern page corresponding to the paper size and pattern layout setting, even if the paper size changes or changes in various situations, an appropriate It is possible to print a pattern having a size.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a printing system according to an embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a pattern page generation processing method of the user interface driver according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a pattern page composition processing method of the print processor according to the first embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing a relationship between a state of a pattern page and a document page stored in an EMF spool file according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention and a physical page printed on paper.
FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram of a pattern page composition process of a print processor for drawing a front pattern and a double-sided pattern superimposed on a document page according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a hardware block diagram of the printing system of the present invention, which is a configuration of the printing system in the present embodiment.
FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram of a relationship between a pattern page and a document page stored in an EMF spool file according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention and a physical page printed on paper.

Claims (17)

A print data generation device that generates bitmap data to be transmitted to a printing device based on a document page created by an application,
Preparation means for preparing at least one pattern page in response to a print event issued from the application and set in a mode for adding a pattern on the page;
The pattern page and the document page are read from a spool file in which a document page created by the application and the at least one pattern page prepared by the preparation unit are stored in a standard format used in an operating system. A compositing means for compositing and creating a composite page;
A print data generation apparatus comprising: generation means for generating bitmap data to be transmitted to the printing apparatus from a composite page created by the composition means.   The print data generation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the preparation unit prepares the pattern page by drawing a pattern on a page according to a pattern setting.   The combining means combines the document page on the pattern page when adding a back pattern as a background on the page, and adds the pattern on the document page when adding a front pattern as a foreground on a page. The print data generation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pages are combined.   The print data generation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the preparation unit prepares the pattern page when a print state setting is changed.   The print data generation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pattern is a stamp pattern to be combined with the document page. A print data generation method for generating bitmap data to be transmitted to a printing device based on a document page created by an application,
A preparation step of preparing at least one pattern page in response to a print event issued from the application and set in a mode for adding a pattern on the page;
The pattern page and the document page are read from a spool file in which the document page created by the application and the at least one pattern page prepared in the preparation step are stored in a standard format used in an operating system. A compositing step for compositing and creating a compositing page;
And a generating step of generating bitmap data to be transmitted to the printing apparatus from the combined page generated in the combining step. The print data generation method according to claim 6 , wherein, in the preparation step, the pattern page is prepared by drawing a pattern on a page according to a pattern setting. In the combining step, when a back pattern is added as a background on the page, the document page is combined on the pattern page, and when a front pattern is added as a foreground on a page, the pattern is formed on the document page. The print data generation method according to claim 6 , wherein the pages are synthesized. The print data generation method according to claim 6 , wherein, in the preparation step, the pattern page is prepared when setting of a print state is changed. The print data generation method according to claim 6 , wherein the pattern is a stamp pattern to be combined with the document page. A computer program for causing a computer to realize a print data generation method for generating bitmap data to be transmitted to a printing apparatus based on a document page created by an application,
A preparation step of preparing at least one pattern page in response to a print event issued from the application and set in a mode for adding a pattern on the page;
The pattern page and the document page are read from a spool file in which the document page created by the application and the at least one pattern page prepared in the preparation step are stored in a standard format used in an operating system. A compositing step for compositing and creating a compositing page;
A computer program for causing a computer to execute a generation step of generating bitmap data to be transmitted to the printing apparatus from a combination page generated in the combination step. 12. The computer program according to claim 11 , wherein in the preparation step, the pattern page is prepared by drawing a pattern on a page according to a pattern setting. In the combining step, when a back pattern is added as a background on the page, the document page is combined on the pattern page, and when a front pattern is added as a foreground on a page, the pattern is formed on the document page. The computer program according to claim 11 , wherein the page is synthesized. The computer program according to claim 11 , wherein in the preparation step, the pattern page is prepared when a setting of a printing state is changed. 15. The computer program according to claim 11 , wherein the pattern is a stamp pattern to be combined with the document page. The computer-readable storage medium which memorize | stored the computer program of any one of Claim 13 thru | or 15 . A print data generation device that reads a document page from a system standard spool file in which a document page created by an application is stored, and generates a bitmap to be supplied to a printer based on the read document page,
  If there is a pattern setting in response to the print start event from the application, the system is notified of the start of page printing, generates a pattern page on which the pattern is drawn on behalf of the application, and notifies the system of the end of page printing A user interface driver;
  A print process for reading a document page and a pattern page from the system standard spool file and creating a composite page;
  A printer driver that generates bitmap data based on the created composite page;
  A print data generation apparatus, wherein a pattern page generated by the user interface driver and a document page supplied from the application are stored in a spool file of the system standard.

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