JP4428087B2 - Printing control apparatus, printing apparatus control program, and printing system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing system, and more particularly to a printing system that performs form overlay printing.

  A printing system having a so-called form overlay function is known in which forms such as logo marks and ruled line patterns are registered in a printer host or an auxiliary storage device of a printer, and the forms are overlaid when printing a document created by an application. ing.

  Regarding the form overlay function, for example, in Patent Document 1, a plurality of print setting information including a print color and a paper size are grouped and stored in a form data storage unit, and when that group is selected, it corresponds to that. A technique for calling form data and executing form overlay printing is disclosed.

JP 2000-25293 A

  By the way, the form overlay printing is often used as a formal document as is understood from the fact that forms such as logo marks and forms are often used, and is strongly related to printing paper. That is, form overlay printing is often performed on specific printing paper.

  Conventionally, when form overlay printing is performed using specific printing paper, it is necessary to specify a paper feeding device that stores the printing paper and to separately specify a form to be used for form overlay printing. Was annoying.

  It is an object of the present invention to improve user convenience when performing form overlay printing.

In order to solve the above problem, according to the first aspect of the present invention,
A print control device that outputs print data to a printing device having a plurality of paper feeding devices,
Form registration accepting means for accepting registration of a form used for overlay printing in association with one of the paper feeders;
In addition to the plurality of paper feeding devices, paper feeding device designation receiving means for displaying information indicating a form associated with the paper feeding device in a state where the information can be selected as the paper feeding device;
When information indicating a form associated with the sheet feeder is selected as the sheet feeder, print data for performing overlay printing using the selected form, which is associated with the selected form There is provided a print control device comprising print data generation means for generating print data including a command for designating a paper feeding device.

  By handling a form associated with a paper feeder as a virtual paper feeder, if a virtual paper feeder is designated as the paper feeder during printing, paper is fed from the paper feeder associated with the form. Overlay printing with a designated form is executed on the paper to be printed.

  Here, the form registration accepting unit can associate the form and the sheet feeding device by storing the form data related to the registration with a predetermined identifier of the sheet feeding device.

In order to solve the above problem, according to the second aspect of the present invention,
A print control program for causing a computer to execute a process of outputting print data for printing a document created by an application unit on a printing apparatus including a plurality of paper feeding devices.
Form registration accepting means for accepting registration of a form used for overlay printing in association with one of the paper feeders;
In addition to the plurality of sheet feeding apparatuses, a form associated with the sheet feeding apparatus is regarded as a selectable sheet feeding apparatus, and a sheet feeding apparatus management unit that notifies the application unit;
When a form associated with the sheet feeder is designated as the sheet feeder, print data for performing overlay printing using the designated form, which is associated with the designated form. A print control program is provided that causes a computer to function as print data generation means for generating print data including a command for designating a paper device.

Furthermore, in order to solve the above problem, according to the third aspect of the present invention,
A printing system comprising a printing device comprising a plurality of paper feeding devices and a print control device for outputting print data to the printing device,
The print control device includes:
Form registration accepting means for accepting registration of a form used for overlay printing in association with one of the paper feeders;
In addition to the plurality of paper feeding devices, paper feeding device designation receiving means for displaying information indicating a form associated with the paper feeding device in a state where the information can be selected as the paper feeding device;
When information indicating a form associated with the sheet feeder is selected as the sheet feeder, print data for performing overlay printing using the selected form, which is associated with the selected form Print data generation means for generating print data including a command for designating a paper feeding device,
A printing system is provided in which the printing apparatus feeds paper from a designated paper feeding apparatus according to the print data.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining an outline of a hardware configuration of a printing system to which the present invention is applicable.

  As shown in the figure, the printing system includes a computer 30 for realizing various processes using application software, a printing process using a printer driver, and the like, and a printer 10 connected to the computer 30. In the present embodiment, the computer 30 functions as a printer host that generates print data and transmits it to the printer 10. The printer 10 functions as a printing apparatus that performs printing based on the received print data. However, the configuration of the printing system is not limited to this. For example, a network type printing system may be used.

  The computer 30 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 31 that executes various programs, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 32 that temporarily stores data and programs, various data and various programs for controlling the computer 30, and the like. A ROM (Read Only Memory) 33 that is stored in a nonvolatile manner and an interface 34 that controls transmission / reception of data to / from a peripheral device such as the connected printer 10 are provided.

  The computer 30 includes a display device 21 such as a color display, an input device 22 such as a mouse and a keyboard, a media reading device 23 that reads data from a recording medium such as a CD-ROM, and a built-in or external auxiliary storage device 24. Connected. Of course, the configuration of the computer 30 is not limited to this. For example, a communication control device for connecting to a computer network such as the Internet may be provided.

  The printer 10 is, for example, a laser type color page printer. A laser-type color page printer includes a plurality of cartridges filled with toner in a housing, and performs printing by transferring the toner to a printing medium such as printing paper. The toner colors are, for example, four colors of black, cyan, magenta, and yellow, and various colors can be expressed by combining these colors.

  However, the printing method of the printer 10 is not limited to this. For example, an inkjet serial color printer or a printer using other printing methods may be used. A monochrome printer may also be used.

  The printer 10 includes an interface 11 that controls transmission / reception of data to / from the computer 30, a CPU 12 that executes various programs, a RAM 13 that temporarily stores print data and the like, various data that controls the printer 10, various programs, and the like that are nonvolatile. The print engine 15 includes a ROM 14, a toner cartridge, a photosensitive drum, a laser beam irradiation mechanism, a paper feed mechanism, and a paper supply / discharge mechanism for performing a print medium supply / discharge process. Of course, the configuration of the printer 10 is not limited to this.

  The printer 10 includes a paper feeding device 16 as a paper feed / discharge mechanism of the print engine 15. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the paper feeding device 16 includes a plurality of types, for example, a tray 1 and a tray 2. These are identified by, for example, a sheet feeder ID in the printing system. Which paper feeding device 16 is used for paper feeding is determined based on a paper feeding device designation command included in the print data sent from the computer 30.

  Next, functional configurations realized in the computer 30 and the printer 10 by the printing system will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG.

  As shown in the figure, an operating system unit 300, an application unit 310, and a printer driver unit 320 are constructed on the computer 30.

  The operating system unit 300 is so-called basic software of the computer 30 that provides system management of the computer 30 and a basic user operating environment.

  The application unit 310 is constructed on the computer 30 by the CPU 31 executing an application program loaded in the RAM 32.

  In the present embodiment, in particular, an application unit 310a that causes the computer 30 to execute processing for creating and editing a form such as a logo mark, a ruled line pattern, and the like, and a document for printing the form in an overlapping manner (form overlay printing), And an application unit 310b that causes the computer 30 to execute processing for editing. These application units 310 may be constructed on the computer 30 by the same application program. Further, the form creation function may be included in the printer driver unit 320 as a function of the printer driver unit 320.

  The printer driver unit 320 performs processing for controlling the printer 10 to execute printing. Specifically, when a print instruction is received from the user, the drawing data of the document generated by the application unit 310b is read and converted into print data in a format that can be interpreted by the printer 10 in accordance with the print settings. Transmit to the printer 10. Here, the drawing data is data described in the specifications defined by the operating system unit 300, and the print data is described in a page description language, for example, and includes a command group that controls the printer 10. . The command for controlling the printer 10 constituting the print data includes a paper feed device designation command for designating the paper feed device 16 of the printer 10.

  The printer driver unit 320 has a form overlay printing function for registering a form generated by the application unit 310a and printing it on a document generated by the application unit 310b.

  For this reason, the printer driver unit 320 includes a user interface unit 321 for receiving print instructions, print settings, and the like from a user, a form management unit 322 for receiving and managing registration of forms, and generation, management, and transmission of print data. And a print processing unit 323 for processing the above.

  The form accepted by the form management unit 322 is stored in the auxiliary storage device 24 of the computer 30 in a format to be described later. However, the printer 10 may be provided with a storage device such as a hard disk device and stored in the printer 10.

  The printer driver unit 320 is constructed on the computer 30 by the CPU 31 executing a printer driver program read by the RAM 32. A printer driver program for this purpose has been developed by the manufacturer of the printer 10 and can be distributed by recording it on a portable recording medium such as a CD-ROM. The printer driver program can be installed in the computer 30 by reading the recording medium with the media reader 23. It can also be installed via a computer network such as the Internet.

  In FIG. 2, a print control unit 110 and a print execution unit 120 are constructed on the printer 10.

  The print control unit 110 interprets the print data transmitted from the computer 30 and performs control for causing the printer 10 to perform printing based on the print data. Specifically, print image data based on the print data is generated, and an instruction is sent to the print execution unit 120 to print this print image data. At this time, in accordance with the paper supply device designation command included in the print data, the print execution unit 120 is instructed from which paper supply device 16 to perform paper supply.

  The print execution unit 120 executes printing by the print engine 15 on a print medium such as print paper in accordance with an instruction from the print control unit 110. The instruction of the print control unit 110 includes an instruction as to which paper feeding device 16 should feed paper, and the print execution unit 120 feeds paper according to this instruction.

  Next, processing related to overlay printing in the present embodiment will be described. Here, the processing related to overlay printing will be described separately for form registration acceptance processing, print condition setting acceptance processing, and form overlay printing execution processing.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the form registration acceptance process. Prior to this processing, it is assumed that the user creates a form in advance using the application unit 310a, assigns a file name, and saves the file. The created form includes information such as paper size, printing direction, and printing resolution in addition to drawing data for printing the form.

  In this process, first, the user interface unit 321 of the printer driver unit 320 accepts designation of a form to be registered from the user (S101).

  For example, the designation of the form can be received on a screen as shown in FIG. That is, the user interface unit 321 displays the overlay setting screen 500 on the display device 21 based on an instruction from the user. The overlay setting screen 500 can be called by a menu operation such as a tab or button from a print setting screen provided for the printer driver unit 320 to accept a print condition setting, for example.

  When newly registering form data, the user can select the overlay data creation field 501 and click the setting button 502 on this screen. Note that when editing already registered form data, an edit button 503 can be clicked.

  When the user clicks on the setting button 502 on the overlay setting screen 500, the user interface unit 321 causes the display device 21 to display a form designation screen 520 shown in FIG.

  When registering a form, the user designates a file in which a previously created form is recorded in the file designation field 521 of the form designation screen 520.

  In this process, the user can further designate a paper feeding device for the form recorded in the designated file. Here, when the paper feeding device is designated for the form, when this form is selected at the time of printing, form overlay printing is performed on the paper fed from the designated paper feeding device. Will be done. The selection of the form in which the paper feeding device is designated can be performed, for example, in the paper feeding device designation field on the print setting screen at the time of printing.

  That is, in the present embodiment, a form for which a paper feeding device is designated is handled as a virtual paper feeding device. Then, by specifying a virtual paper feeder as the paper feeder on the print setting screen, form overlay printing can be easily performed on print paper fed by a paper feeder treated as a virtual paper feeder. Can be performed.

  For example, when one of the forms in which the tray 1 that is an actual paper feeding device and the tray 1 that is a virtual paper feeding device is designated can be selected from the paper feeding device designation column, the tray 1 is fed. When the device is selected, normal printing is performed on the paper fed from the tray 1, and when the form designated by the tray 1 is selected as the paper feeding device, the paper fed from the tray 1 is selected. For this, form overlay printing is executed.

  For this reason, it is convenient to store the file name of the form for designating the paper feeding device with the name of the paper feeding device for identifying the paper feeding device in addition to the form name for identifying the form. is there. For example, when a form for performing overlay printing using the tray 2 as a paper feeding device is generated, a file name “logo mark: tray 2” may be attached.

  When the user designates a paper feeding device for the designated file, the user checks the “designate paper feeding device” field 522 and selects one of the paper feeding devices 16 included in the printer 30. The selection is made in the paper supply device designation field 523.

  Upon receiving this selection, the form management unit 322 of the printer driver unit 320 attaches the paper feeding device ID of the designated paper feeding device to the form drawing data recorded in the designated file as form data. Register (S102). As described above, in the present embodiment, the form data is recorded in the auxiliary storage device 24 of the computer 10, but may be recorded in the printer 30.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the format of form data. As shown in the figure, the form data 700 includes a header part and form drawing data 707. The form drawing data 707 is a main part of the form data, and includes a command group for printing the form. The header portion is an area in which information related to the form is recorded, and includes a form name 701, a form ID 702, a paper size 703, a paper direction 704, a resolution 705, a paper feeding device ID 706, and the like.

  Here, the form name 701 is set based on the file name of the designated file. However, the form name may be received from the user at the time of registration. A form ID 702 is an identifier for identifying a form in the printing system. The form ID 702 is assigned by the form management unit 322 at the time of form registration. Also, the paper size 703, the paper direction 704, the resolution 705, the form drawing data 707, and the like are set based on the contents of a file that records the designated form. In the paper feeding device ID 706, a paper feeding device ID corresponding to the designated paper feeding device 16 is set.

  Note that the paper feeding device designated for the form can be changed by clicking the edit button 503 on the overlay setting screen 500 shown in FIG.

  Next, the print condition setting acceptance process will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. For example, the application unit 310b acquires information about the paper feeding device 16 that can be used in the printer 10 from the printer driver unit 320 at startup (S201).

  At this time, the printer driver unit 320 notifies the application unit 310b of a form in which the paper feeding device is designated as a virtual paper feeding device in addition to the paper feeding device 16 actually provided in the printer 10.

  As a result, when the application unit 310b receives a print request from the user (S202: Y), the application unit 310b displays a print setting screen 540 having a paper feed device designation field 541 as shown in FIG. (S203), selection of a paper feeding device is accepted (S204).

  That is, the user designates a form in which the paper feeding device registered by the user is designated in the paper feeding device designation field 541 of this screen 530 in addition to the conventional “automatic selection”, “tray 1”, “tray 2”, etc. , “Logo Mark: Tray 2” can be selected.

  Next, a printing process when a virtual sheet feeder, that is, a form for which a sheet feeder is designated is selected as a sheet feeder on the print setting screen 540 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  When printing is started (S301), the print processing unit 323 of the printer driver unit 320 refers to the print settings received from the user by the user interface unit 321 and acquires setting information of the paper feeding device (S302).

  As a result, if an actual paper feeder is set (S303: Y), normal printing processing is performed (S310). This printing process is conventional. If form overlay printing is designated separately, overlay printing is performed on the paper fed from the paper feeding device 16 according to the setting using the designated form.

  On the other hand, if an actual paper feeder is not set (S303: N), that is, if a virtual paper feeder is set, form data corresponding to the setting is specified (S304).

  Then, the sheet feeder ID 706 is extracted from the specified form data (S305). Thereby, it is possible to specify the paper feeding device 16 used for printing (S306).

  Next, print data for printing the form is generated according to the form drawing data 707 of the form data, the paper size 703 in the header portion, the paper direction 704, the resolution 705, and the like (S307).

  Also, print data for a document being processed by the application unit 310b to be printed is generated (S308). At this time, a paper feed device designation command for designating the paper feed device specified in the process (S306) is included in the print data.

  Then, the print data including the print data for printing the form and the print data for printing the document is output to the printer 10 (S309). As described above, since this print data includes the paper feed device designation command for designating the paper feed device identified in the processing (S305), the printer 10 receives the paper feed that has been designated at the time of form registration. Form overlay printing is performed on printing paper fed from the apparatus.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the form overlay printing can be easily performed on the paper fed from the designated paper feeding device by selecting the designated paper feeding device. It becomes like this.

  This improves the convenience of the user when performing form overlay printing. In addition, printing that previously used letterhead paper with pre-printed logo marks, etc. can now be easily replaced with the form overlay printing of the present invention using plain paper, reducing costs. Can be expected.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining a hardware configuration of the printing system. FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining a functional configuration of the printing system. The flowchart explaining the registration reception process of a form. The flowchart explaining the setting reception process of a printing condition. Print processing when a virtual paper feeder is selected The figure which shows an example of the screen which receives designation | designated of a form. Diagram showing an example of form data format The figure which shows an example of a print setting screen.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Printer, 11 ... Interface, 12 ... CPU, 13 ... RAM, 14 ... ROM, 15 ... Print engine, 16 ... Paper feeding device, 21 ... Display device, 22 ... Input device, 23 ... Media reading device, 24 ... Auxiliary Storage device 30 ... Computer 31 ... CPU 32 ... RAM 33 ... ROM 34 ... Interface 110 ... Print control unit 120 ... Print execution unit 300 ... Operating system unit 310 ... Application unit 320 ... Printer driver 321 ... User interface part, 322 ... Form management part, 323 ... Print processing part, 500 ... Overlay setting screen, 520 ... Form designation screen, 540 ... Print setting screen

Claims (6)

A print control device that outputs print data to a printing device having a plurality of paper feeding devices,
When a field for accepting whether or not to associate a paper feeder with a form used for overlay printing is displayed and an association instruction is accepted, registration of the form is accepted in association with one of the paper feeders. A form registration accepting unit that accepts the registration of the form without associating it with any of the sheet feeding devices when not accepting the association instruction;
Information indicating each of the plurality of paper feeding device alone, and the sheet feeding apparatus with information indicating the associated form, and displayed in the same column in a selectable state as the paper device, for any information Paper feeding device designation receiving means for receiving selection ;
When information indicating a form associated with the sheet feeder is selected as the sheet feeder, print data for performing overlay printing using the selected form, which is associated with the selected form A print control apparatus comprising: print data generation means for generating print data including a command for designating a paper feeding apparatus. The print control apparatus according to claim 1,
A change accepting means for displaying a predetermined button on the overlay print setting screen and accepting a change of a paper feeding device associated with the form;
The farm registration receiving means
In addition to the form name for identifying the form, add the identifier of the paper feeder and save the form data for registration,
A printing control apparatus characterized by that. A print control program for causing a computer to execute a process of outputting print data for printing a document created by an application unit on a printing apparatus including a plurality of paper feeding devices.
When a field for accepting whether or not to associate a paper feeder with a form used for overlay printing is displayed and an association instruction is accepted, registration of the form is accepted in association with one of the paper feeders. A form registration accepting unit that accepts the registration of the form without associating it with any of the sheet feeding devices when not accepting the association instruction;
When the information indicating each of the plurality of sheet feeding devices and the information indicating the form associated with the sheet feeding device are displayed in the same column and selection is accepted for any of the information, the selected information is displayed. A paper feeding device management means for notifying the application means as a paper feeding device;
When a form associated with the sheet feeder is designated as the sheet feeder, print data for performing overlay printing using the designated form, which is associated with the designated form. A print control program for causing a computer to function as print data generation means for generating print data including a command for designating a paper device. The print control program according to claim 3,
A predetermined button is displayed on the setting screen for overlay printing, and a change accepting means for accepting a change in the paper feeding device associated with the form is further caused to function on the computer.
The farm registration receiving means
In addition to the form name for identifying the form, add the identifier of the paper feeder and save the form data for registration,
A print control program characterized by that. A printing system comprising a printing device comprising a plurality of paper feeding devices and a print control device for outputting print data to the printing device,
The print control device includes:
When a field for accepting whether or not to associate a paper feeder with a form used for overlay printing is displayed and an association instruction is accepted, registration of the form is accepted in association with one of the paper feeders. A form registration accepting unit that accepts the registration of the form without associating it with any of the sheet feeding devices when not accepting the association instruction;
Information indicating each of the plurality of paper feeding device alone, and the sheet feeding apparatus with information indicating the associated form, and displayed in the same column in a selectable state as the paper device, for any information Paper feeding device designation receiving means for receiving selection ;
When information indicating a form associated with the sheet feeder is selected as the sheet feeder, print data for performing overlay printing using the selected form, which is associated with the selected form Print data generation means for generating print data including a command for designating a paper feeding device,
The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the printing device feeds paper from a designated paper feeding device according to the print data. The printing system according to claim 5, wherein
The print control device includes:
A change accepting means for displaying a predetermined button on the overlay print setting screen and accepting a change of a paper feeding device associated with the form;
The farm registration receiving means
In addition to the form name for identifying the form, add the identifier of the paper feeder and save the form data for registration,
A printing system characterized by that.

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