JP4211711B2 - Printing control method and apparatus, and recording medium - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a print control apparatus that controls a printing apparatus such as a printer, and more particularly to a print control apparatus having a function of forming a moving image pattern on each print medium when printing is performed on a plurality of print media. About.

  Some printing apparatuses print on a print medium based on print data sent from the outside. For example, in a printer, print data sent from a host such as a personal computer is analyzed and developed into a print image, and printing is performed on print paper based on the print image. As described above, when printing is performed based on print data from the host, software called a printer driver is installed in the host in order to realize an optimum printing form corresponding to the specifications of each printer. It is common to construct a print control apparatus by executing the software.

  Also, recent printers can perform a large amount of printing in a short time with an improvement in printing performance. For this reason, for example, a large number of documents are printed by a printer in a company or the like.

  By the way, when printing a document, there is a case where it is desired to add accents and impacts by characters and figures to the printed document in addition to the original print contents. In particular, when printing a large amount of documents as described above, adding such an accent to the document can also change the mood when reading a long document.

  It is an object of the present invention to provide a print control method for adding a moderate impact to a printed document.

  Another object of the present invention is to provide a print control apparatus and a recording medium suitable for carrying out the print control method.

  The print control method provided by the present invention is a control method for a printing apparatus that performs printing in units of pages on a print medium. Specifically, a plurality of images that are constituent elements of a moving image pattern are prepared for each moving image pattern, an image for forming a specific moving image pattern is selectively read out, and the print form is predetermined for each print page. Are printed on the printing apparatus so as to be different from those of the other print pages. Alternatively, an image that is a component of the moving image pattern is acquired from the outside, and the acquired image is printed on the printing device so that the print form is different from that of the other print page within a predetermined area of each print page. Let

  In the print control method, the amount of difference in the print form of the image between a plurality of print pages is determined according to, for example, the number of print pages. As necessary, at least one of the moving pattern change pattern and the moving path of the moving image pattern is further added to the determining element of the difference in printing form.

  A print control apparatus of the present invention that solves the above-described other problems is a print control apparatus that controls a printing apparatus that performs printing in units of pages on a printing medium, and stores a plurality of images that are constituent elements of a moving image pattern. Means for reading out a plurality of stored images and allocating the printing form of each printed page so as to be different from those of other printing pages; and the printing apparatus in the assigned printing form And processing means for generating print data for printing on the print medium, and the moving image pattern is formed on the print medium based on the generated print data.

  The assigning unit is configured to assign a print form of an image input by a user in place of the stored image or together with the stored image as necessary. Further, the amount of difference in the print form of the image between a plurality of print pages is determined based on the number of print pages, at least one of the moving image element change mode and the moving path of the moving image element. .

  The recording medium of the present invention that solves the above-described other problems includes a storage unit that stores a plurality of images that are constituent elements of a moving image pattern in a computer connected to a printing apparatus that performs page-by-page printing on a printing medium. And processing for assigning the print form of the image on each print page to be different from those on other print pages, and generating print data for causing the printing apparatus to print the image in the assigned print form. A computer-readable recording medium on which digital information for executing processing and forming the moving image pattern on the printing medium is recorded based on the generated print data.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the printing control apparatus which can add a moderate impact to the printing document by a printing apparatus can be provided.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the print control apparatus of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration diagram of a printing system to which the present invention is applied. This printing system is configured by connecting a host computer 1 as a system control device and a printing device 2 with a cable. The printing apparatus 2 is, for example, a printer that executes a predetermined printing process when print data is received from the host computer 1 and forms characters and images on a printing medium, for example, printing paper. The print data includes character data on characters to be printed, image data such as still images, print control codes, and the like.

  The host computer 1 is equipped with a predetermined operating system (OS), through which a specific program such as a document creation application program is executed, and the program is controlled and monitored. Specifically, the host computer 1 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a built-in or external hard disk (HD) 3 and the like. The HD 3 stores an application program for generating the above print data, a print control program for realizing the print control apparatus according to the present invention, and the like.

  Digital information including a print control program is recorded in a form that can be read by the host computer 1 on a portable recording medium such as a flexible disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a DVD, or a magnetic tape. Has been distributed. Alternatively, the host computer 1 may distribute through a carrier wave that can be read. Digital information recorded on such a medium is installed in the HD 3 in the host computer 1 through the media reader 6 when the printing apparatus 2 is used. This installation can also be performed in a rewritable memory such as DRAM, SRAM, or flash RAM of the host computer 1. Alternatively, it may be recorded in the ROM of the host computer 1 in advance, or may be read from other computers (such as a server) at any time through the communication control device 7 and installed in the HD 3.

  Note that by executing only the print control program, not only functions as a print control apparatus are formed, but also the OS running on the host computer 1 based on the instructions of the print control program performs the actual processing. A form in which a function as a print control apparatus is formed through part of the processing may be used.

  The host computer 1 includes a display device 4 having a monitor screen, a data input device 5, a media reader 6 including a CD-ROM drive and an FDD (magnetic disk drive), and a network such as a LAN (private network). A communication control device 7 including a modem constituting a connection interface is connected.

  The display device 4 displays a predetermined dialog window based on an instruction from the OS, application program, print control program, or the like. Specifically, it is composed of a CRT or a liquid crystal display. The data input device 5 is a keyboard, mouse, or other pointing device. Based on an instruction from the user input via the data input device 5, the CPU reads out various programs recorded on the HD 3 and the like, and executes this program to execute necessary processing and control. Yes.

  Next, an embodiment of a print control apparatus of the present invention realized by the host computer 1 reading a print control program will be described.

  When the print control apparatus transmits a print request from the host computer 1 to the printing apparatus 2, the print control apparatus performs predetermined processing on the print data corresponding to the print request. Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the drawing processing unit 11, the moving image pattern storage unit 12, the moving image pattern creation unit 13, the print number determination unit 14, the image assignment unit 15, the image position determination unit 16, and the print processing unit 17. The print control apparatus 10 includes the functions of the spool file unit 18 and the transfer processing unit 19.

  The drawing processing unit 11 performs drawing processing for displaying the property sheet and the setting dialog on the display device 4. Also, the selection data of the moving image pattern input via the setting dialog is specified. It also has a function of accepting input of a user-defined moving image pattern.

  The moving image pattern storage unit 12 stores one or more moving image patterns. Each moving image pattern is composed of one or a plurality of images serving as moving image elements. When a moving image pattern is formed with a plurality of still images, each image is used whose shape changes little by little. Such an image is temporarily stored in, for example, a ROM, RAM, HD, etc. as a part of the host computer 1. Alternatively, it is stored on a storage medium such as the above-mentioned flexible disk or optical disk.

  The moving image pattern creating unit 13 creates a moving image pattern based on, for example, a figure such as a character or a picture input by the user. As a method for creating such a moving image pattern, for example, a method in which a template of one or a plurality of moving image patterns is made in advance and an image input by a user is placed at a predetermined position of the template is adopted. it can. As a specific method for creating a moving image pattern in this case, a method of moving a user input image along a predetermined route in accordance with the progress of the moving image pattern, a background of the image without changing the position of the user input image, etc. It is possible to appropriately employ a method of moving the image by a predetermined route or a method of moving the user input image and background by the predetermined route.

  The printed sheet number discriminating unit 14 determines the number of printed sheets when the print data is printed on the printing paper, that is, the number of printed pages. The determination of the number of print pages is performed based on, for example, page information added to print data. If there is no page information in the print data, the print number determination unit 14 calculates the number of print pages based on the size of the print data.

  The image assigning unit 15 assigns an image for forming a moving image pattern for printing on a predetermined area of a plurality of print pages. When allocating, calculate the amount of image difference between the previous and next print pages based on the number of print pages, at least one of the moving pattern change mode (change speed, etc.) and the movement path, and necessary based on the calculation results Use various forms of images. These images are basically read out by the user arbitrarily selecting one stored in the moving image pattern storage unit 11 or based on conditions automatically set in the print control apparatus 10. However, instead of this, only an image input by the user can be used. You may make it use together the image memorize | stored in the moving image pattern, and the image which the user input. Images are selectively assigned to all print pages or some print pages.

  The image printing position determination unit 16 determines a printing position for each print page of each image allocated by the image allocation unit 15. Specifically, the amount of position difference between the previous and next printed pages is calculated based on the number of printed pages, at least one of the moving pattern change mode (change speed, etc.) and the movement path. The print position of the image is determined. For example, the movement route is selected at random from the one or a plurality of movement routes set in advance on the printing control apparatus side, and the user selects the movement route from among these movement routes using a setting dialog or the like. The method is selected by an appropriate method such as a method or a method in which a user inputs an arbitrary movement route using a setting dialog or the like.

  The print processing unit 17 performs overall control in the print control device, and print control code having a structure that allows the print device 2 to read print request data from the AP, data based on the print request from the data input device 5, and the like. It has a function of generating print data by converting and adding necessary functions and additional data to the print control code as necessary.

  The spool file unit 18 temporarily stores (spools) the print data generated by the print processing unit 17, and the transfer processing unit 19 stores the changed print data in the spool file unit 17 in the printing apparatus 2. To be transferred to.

  Next, a method of actually controlling the printing apparatus 2 with the printing control apparatus 10 configured as described above will be described. FIG. 3 is an overall processing procedure diagram of the print control apparatus 10 in this case.

  First, the print control apparatus 10 displays a setting dialog on the display device 4 through the drawing processing unit 11. Then, it is determined whether the user has selected moving image printing on the setting dialog (step S1). If moving image printing is not selected (step S1: No), the print data is transmitted to the printing apparatus 2 without change (step S2). If moving image printing is selected (step S1: Yes), next, input of specific print items for moving image printing is accepted (step S3).

  The print items here are, for example, the following matters.

(1) Change rate of moving image pattern (that is, the number of images A assigned to the printing paper from one image (image A) to the next image (image B))
(2) Moving path of moving image pattern (for example, left and right direction, circumferential direction)
(3) Image print page interval (for example, every page, every two pages, etc.)
These print items are input on, for example, a setting dialog.

  Although it is an optional item, the user can also input an image at this stage. In this case, the print processing unit 16 determines whether or not a moving image pattern is input in the above input items (step S4). If there is an input (step S4: Yes), the moving image pattern generating unit is based on the user input. After the moving image pattern is created in step 13, the process proceeds to the print number discrimination unit 14 (step S6). If there is no input of a moving image pattern, the process immediately proceeds to the print number discrimination unit 14 (step S4: No).

  The printed sheet number discriminating unit 14 determines the number of printed pages based on the print data input as described above. Thereafter, based on the determined number of printed pages and the print items (1) to (3), the image allocation unit 15 performs image allocation. Further, the image position determination unit 16 determines the print position of the image on the print sheet based on the assignment result and the print items (1) to (3). Then, based on these results, the changed print data is transmitted to the printing apparatus 2 via the transfer processing unit 18. As a result, the moving image pattern is printed in the printing apparatus 2.

  FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of printing paper printed by the printing apparatus 2 under the control of the printing control apparatus 10. Reference numeral 21 is a print sheet, 22 and 23 are print regions for characters and the like based on a print request from the AP, and 24 is a moving image print region 24.

  Eight images shown in FIGS. 5A to 5M are repeatedly printed on the moving image print area 24 of a plurality of print sheets. As a result, by continuously turning the lower part of each printed printing sheet, the characters “EPSON” move in the left-right direction so that it looks like a moving image.

  FIGS. 6A to 6C are diagrams showing examples of components of a moving image pattern using graphics instead of characters. This example is a moving image pattern that changes in the order of FIGS. 6A, 6 </ b> B, and 6 </ b> C. Printing in the moving image print area 24 is performed in the order of FIGS. 6 (a), (b), (c), (b), (a), (b). As a result, a moving image pattern in which the figure appearance changes is formed on the printing paper.

  FIGS. 7A to 7C are diagrams showing examples of moving paths of moving image patterns that repeat movement. FIG. 7A shows an example in which the moving image moves left and right, FIG. 7B shows an example in which the moving image moves in a ring shape, and FIG. 7C shows an example in which the moving image moves in a rectangular shape.

  The present invention is as described above, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment, and the design can be arbitrarily changed. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the printer is described as an example of the printing apparatus 2 to be controlled. However, the present invention can be similarly applied to the same type of printing apparatus other than the printer.

1 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of a printing system to which the present invention is applied. 1 is a functional block diagram of a print control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Explanatory drawing of the procedure of the process by the printing control apparatus of this embodiment. Explanatory drawing which showed the example of printing by the printing control apparatus of this embodiment. (A)-(m) is explanatory drawing which showed an example of the moving image pattern. (A)-(c) is explanatory drawing which showed the example of the other moving image pattern. (A)-(c) is explanatory drawing which showed an example of the movement path | route of a cyclic | annular moving image pattern.

Explanation of symbols

1 Host computer 2 Printing device 3 HD
4 Display device 5 Data input device 8 Application 10 Print control device 12 Movie pattern storage unit 13 Movie pattern creation unit 14 Print number identification unit 15 Image assignment unit 16 Image position determination unit 17 Spool file unit 18 Transfer processing unit

Claims (3)

A method for controlling a printing apparatus that prints a plurality of continuous still images based on a moving image pattern,
Storing a plurality of images that are constituent elements of a moving image pattern for each moving image pattern;
Acquiring a plurality of images as constituent elements of the pattern by selecting a specific moving image pattern;
When allocating the plurality of images to a plurality of allocation areas, assigning the printing forms of the plurality of images to be different image forms according to a difference amount determined according to the number of the allocation areas; A method for controlling a printing apparatus provided. Constructing a storage means for storing a plurality of images as constituent elements of a moving image pattern in a computer connected to a printing apparatus that prints a plurality of continuous still images on a printing medium,
A plurality of stored images are read out so that the printing forms of the plurality of images become different from each other according to the amount of difference determined according to the number of the plurality of allocation areas. The process of assigning,
A process for generating print data for causing the printing apparatus to print the image in the assigned printing form, and for forming the moving image pattern on the print medium based on the generated print data Digital information was recorded,
Computer-readable recording medium. A printing apparatus that prints a plurality of continuous still images based on a moving image pattern,
Storage means for storing a plurality of images as constituent elements of a moving image pattern for each moving image pattern;
Means for acquiring a plurality of images as constituent elements of the pattern by selecting a specific moving image pattern;
Image allocating means for allocating the plurality of images so as to have different image forms according to a difference amount determined according to the number of the allocated areas when allocating the plurality of images to a plurality of allocated areas; A printing control apparatus.

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