JP4853504B2 - Image processing program and image processing system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a printer driver that performs an image drawing process for output to a printer in an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a printer system including an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer (PC) and a printer that prints information from the information processing apparatus, a printer driver that functions to draw an image to be printed on the information processing apparatus side. And printing an image drawn by the printer driver with a printer is known.

  In this type of printer system, when printing a document created by an application of an information processing apparatus, the printer driver develops a bitmap of print data consisting of characters, figures, images, etc. in accordance with a drawing command from the application. The bitmap-developed image is converted into a printable state on the printer side and then output to the printer.

  At this time, if the lines included in the document are too thin or the characters are too small, the lines and characters may not be recognized on the printed matter. Therefore, the printer driver has a function of performing thickening processing for making thin lines and small characters thicker than usual so that the lines and characters can be easily recognized on the printed matter.

For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique in which a control unit that executes font visibility improvement processing thickens small characters according to the print processing content of image data.
JP 2001-146039 A

By the way, the drawing process by the printer driver is performed using a standard drawing function installed in an operating system (OS) of an information processing apparatus such as Windows (registered trademark). For this reason, due to restrictions on the specifications of this drawing function, the following procedure is necessary when the printer driver performs processing to make lines and characters thicker than those indicated by the drawing command from the application.

  First, a drawing object to be thickened is once drawn in a synthesis area provided separately from a normal drawing area, and then the drawing object is thickened on the synthesis area. Then, drawing of the drawn object is completed by combining the thickened drawn object drawn in the combined area with the drawn area. That is, when drawing processing is performed using the standard drawing function provided in the OS, the drawing object indicated by the drawing command cannot be bolded directly and drawn in the drawing area, and thus drawing is performed in such a procedure. It is.

  However, if there are many lines and characters that should be bolded in the document, it is necessary to repeat the above procedure every time a drawing command corresponding to each line or character is received. There was a problem that it took a long time.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a technique for improving the processing speed of the drawing process by reducing the processing load related to the thickening process in the printer driver.

The image processing program according to claim 1, which has been made to achieve the above object, is an image processing program that is executed by an information processing apparatus that performs a drawing process on a drawing object indicated by a drawing command from an application. A procedure, a drawing procedure, a synthesis procedure, a drawing determination procedure, and a drawing color determination procedure;

Among these, in the determination procedure, it is determined whether or not to perform the thickening process for making the thickness of the drawing object indicated by one drawing command thicker than that specified by the drawing command. In the drawing procedure, a drawing object determined to be subjected to thickening processing according to the determination procedure is drawn in the first drawing area, and a drawing object determined not to be thickened is drawn in the second drawing area. In the compositing procedure, a thickening process is executed on the drawing object drawn in the first drawing area, the thickened drawing object is combined into the second drawing area, and then the first drawing area is displayed. initialize. In the drawing determination procedure, when it is determined that the thickening process is performed according to the determination procedure, it is determined whether or not a drawing object indicated by another drawing command is drawn in the first drawing area. In the drawing color determination procedure, when it is determined by the drawing determination procedure that a drawing object indicated by another drawing command is drawn in the first drawing area, the drawing color indicated by the one drawing command; It is determined whether or not the drawing color in the drawing already drawn in the first drawing area matches.

When it is determined by the drawing determination procedure that no other drawing object is drawn in the first drawing area, or when it is determined by the drawing color determination procedure that the drawing colors match, the drawing procedure first The drawing object indicated by one drawing command is drawn in the drawing area.

On the other hand, if it is determined by the drawing color determination procedure that the drawing colors do not match, first, the drawing object drawn in the first drawing area is bolded by the combining procedure, and this is combined with the second drawing area. After that, the first drawing area is initialized, and then a drawing object indicated by one drawing command is newly drawn in the first drawing area initialized by the combining procedure by the drawing procedure.

The image processing program of the present invention is applied to a printer driver installed in an information processing apparatus such as a PC.
According to the image processing program configured as described above, for a drawing having the same drawing color indicated by the drawing command from the application, the drawing indicated by the plurality of drawing commands is changed to the first drawing area ( It is possible to draw in a combined area) and to thicken and synthesize these multiple drawn objects at once. By doing so, it is possible to reduce the processing load related to the thick line processing at the time of drawing processing by the printer driver, and to improve the processing speed of the drawing processing.

Further, as described in claim 2 , the first drawing area may be composed of a bit map area of 1 bit per pixel. In this case, in the synthesis procedure, when the drawing object drawn in the first drawing area is combined with the second drawing area, the drawing color indicated by the drawing command indicating the drawing object is transferred to the second drawing area. Synthesize.

  By configuring the first drawing area with a bitmap area expressed by 1-bit data per pixel, it is possible to minimize the memory capacity required to form the first drawing area. Furthermore, since each drawing object is drawn as a binarized black and white image in the first drawing area composed of a 1-bit bitmap area, the drawing object is drawn in the first drawing area, The processing load when drawing objects are thickened together can be greatly reduced. Note that the same drawing color is designated in each drawing command for a plurality of drawing objects drawn together in the first drawing area. Therefore, when synthesizing the image after the thickening process, it is possible to synthesize the image in the second drawing area in a lump with the drawing color. By doing so, the processing load at the time of image composition can be reduced, which is preferable.

Next, the image processing program according to claim 3 is a state in which when the drawing object is drawn in the first drawing area by the drawing procedure, the drawing object indicated by the drawing command is drawn in the first drawing area. And a variable setting procedure for releasing the variable when the first drawing area is initialized by the compositing procedure. In the drawing determination procedure, it is determined whether or not a drawing object is drawn in the first drawing area based on the variable set by the variable setting procedure. With this configuration, it is possible to accurately determine the necessity of the synthesis process in the drawing determination procedure based on the variables set by the variable setting procedure.

Next, an image processing system according to claim 4 is connected to an information processing apparatus that performs a drawing process on a drawing object indicated by a drawing command from an application, and the information processing apparatus, and is connected to the information processing apparatus. The image processing program according to the first aspect is applied to a printer driver that includes a printing device that prints a drawn image and is installed in the information processing device.

That is, does the information processing apparatus perform a thickening process for making the thickness of a drawing object indicated by one drawing command output from an application operating on the information processing apparatus thicker than that indicated by the drawing command? A determination unit that determines whether or not a drawing object that is determined to be subjected to the thickening process by the determination unit is drawn in the first drawing area; A drawing means for drawing in the area, and a thickening process is executed on the drawing object drawn in the first drawing area, and the thickened drawing object is synthesized into the second drawing area, then the first If it is determined by the combining means that initializes the drawing area and the thickening processing by the determining means, it is determined whether or not a drawing object indicated by another drawing command is drawn in the first drawing area. The drawing determination means and the drawing determination means If the drawing object indicated by another drawing command to the drawing area is determined to have been drawn, the drawing color represented by the drawing command of the 1, drawing was already drawn in the first drawing area And a drawing color determining means for determining whether or not the drawing color matches with the drawing color .

When the drawing determination unit determines that no other drawing object is drawn in the first drawing area, or when the drawing color determination unit determines that the drawing colors match, the drawing unit The drawing object indicated by one drawing command is drawn in the drawing area.

On the other hand, if the drawing color determining means determines that the drawing colors do not match, first, the synthesizing means thickens the drawn object drawn in the first drawing area and combines it with the second drawing area. After that, the first drawing area is initialized, and then the drawing means newly draws a drawing object indicated by one drawing command in the first drawing area initialized by the synthesizing means.

  Then, after executing the drawing process by the drawing unit for all the drawing commands, the combining unit executes the combining process to convert the image drawn in the second drawing area into a predetermined data format, and the printing apparatus Output to.

  According to the image processing system configured as described above, the same effect as the image processing program according to the first aspect can be obtained.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the following embodiment, and can be implemented in various modes as long as it belongs to the technical scope of the present invention.

[Description of image processing system configuration]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. This image processing system is composed of a personal computer 1 (hereinafter referred to as PC1) and a printer 2 connected to the PC1. The document is drawn by a printer driver operating on the PC1 and drawn on the PC1 side. The printer 2 prints the image.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the PC 1 includes a CPU 11, a ROM 12, a RAM 13, a hard disk drive 14 (hereinafter referred to as an HDD 14), an operation unit 15, a display unit 16, a communication interface 17, and the like.

  The CPU 11 is a device that executes control and various operations for each part of the PC 1 in accordance with programs and data stored in the ROM 12 and RAM 13. Processing as a printer driver for performing print processing and the like to be described later is executed by the CPU 11. The ROM 12 is a storage device that retains stored contents even when the power switch of the PC 1 is turned off, and stores some programs such as BIOS and IPL, read-only data that is not normally updated, and the like.

  The RAM 13 is a storage device used as a main memory that is directly accessed from the CPU 11. In the RAM 13, software such as an operating system and various applications is read from the HDD 14, and results of various calculations by the CPU 11 and data read from the HDD 14 are also stored in the RAM 13. When executing processing as a printer driver to be described later, a program for causing the CPU 11 to execute each processing is read from the HDD 14 into the RAM 13. Then, the CPU 11 executes each process according to the program stored in the RAM 13.

  The HDD 14 is an apparatus for storing the OS, various programs, and various data files. The printer driver program is also stored in the HDD 14. The operation unit 15 is an input device for inputting various instructions from the user, and includes, for example, a keyboard and various pointing devices (for example, a mouse). The display unit 16 is an output device for presenting various types of information to the user, and is configured by a liquid crystal display, for example.

  The communication interface 17 (hereinafter referred to as a communication I / F 17) is a hardware interface for connecting peripheral devices such as a printer and a scanner to the PC 1 via a communication path 171 constituted by a communication line, a network, and the like. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the PC 1 and the printer 2 are communicably connected via the communication I / F 17.

  A printer driver for controlling the printer 2 connected to the PC 1 is installed in the PC 1. This printer driver is software that operates under the management of a higher-level OS installed in the PC 1 and provides an interface with the printer 2 for other applications that operate under the management of the OS. The CPU 11 of the PC 1 performs a printing process for a document output from the application according to the printer driver program.

  Specifically, the CPU 11 performs document drawing processing in accordance with a drawing command output from the application, and outputs print data of the drawn image to the printer 2. Note that the drawing process by the printer driver is performed using a standard drawing function supplied from the host OS side. On the other hand, the printer 2 prints a document based on the print data output from the printer driver of the PC 1. A detailed description of a series of processes relating to the printing of the document will be described later.

[Description of print processing by printer driver]
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the main process of the printing process executed by the CPU 11 in accordance with the printer driver program installed in the PC 1. This printing process is started when the printer driver is called by a document print request from another application.

  First, the CPU 11 determines whether or not there is a page that has not been processed in the document to be printed (S101). When it is determined that there is an unprocessed page (S101: YES), image rendering processing is performed on one of the pages (S102). This process is a process of sequentially obtaining a drawing command corresponding to each drawing object included in the processing target page from the application and drawing an image in a drawing area provided on the RAM 13 in accordance with the drawing command. The detailed procedure of this image drawing process will be described later.

Next, color conversion processing is performed for converting the image drawn in the drawing area in S102 into color image data composed of predetermined color components (for example, CMYK) (S103), and then the converted color is performed. A binarization process for generating binary color image data based on the image data is performed (S104). Next, the image data of the image thus created is compressed to a predetermined resolution (S105), various control commands are added to the compressed data, and a page description language (PDL: Page suitable for the printer 2) is added. Description Language)
Is created (S106). Then, the created PDL data for one page is transmitted as a print job to the printer 2 (S107), and the process returns to S101.

  Thereafter, the print job corresponding to each page of the document is output to the printer 2 by sequentially repeating the processes of S101 to S107. Thereafter, if it is determined in S101 that there is no unprocessed page (S101: NO), that is, if this process is executed for all pages of the document to be printed, the printing process is terminated.

[Description of image drawing processing by printer driver]
Next, a detailed procedure of the image drawing process of S102 in the above-described printing process (FIG. 2) will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure of image drawing processing executed by the CPU 11. This process is executed according to the printer driver program installed in the PC 1.

  In the following, in order to facilitate understanding of the image drawing processing, the processing procedure will be described based on an example of drawing an image shown in FIG. 5A is a diagram illustrating an example of a page to be subjected to image rendering processing, and FIG. 5B is an explanatory diagram illustrating a list of rendering commands used for rendering the page. .

  The drawing processing target page shown in FIG. 5A includes a total of six individual drawn objects such as graphics (circles), lines (straight lines, curves, ellipses), characters (ABC, XYZ), and the like. Then, a total of six drawing commands corresponding to the respective drawing objects are generated on the application side and output to the printer driver in numerical order.

  For each drawing command, as shown in FIG. 5B, for example, information for defining the drawing contents such as graphics, lines, and characters, information for defining the shape of the drawn object and the text contents, and the drawing color are defined. And information defining the character size and line thickness.

Returning to the flowchart of FIG. The CPU 11 first initializes the drawing area on the RAM 13 (S201), and then initializes the synthesis area on the RAM 13 (S202).
Here, the drawing area corresponds to the second drawing area in the present invention, and a full-color bitmap area that has 24-bit or 32-bit color information for one pixel is used. On the other hand, the composite area corresponds to the first drawing area in the present invention, and a bitmap area that has 1-bit color information (for example, white and black) for one pixel is used. Note that the drawing area and the synthesis area are configured to have the same size (that is, the number of pixels and the aspect ratio are the same).

  After initializing both the drawing area and the composition area, the parameter indicating the composition color is set to “none” and the in-composition flag is set to “false” (S203). Here, the composite color is a drawing color used when the drawing object in the combining area is combined with the drawing area in S302 of a combining process (see FIG. 4) described later. The in-combination flag is a flag indicating whether or not a drawing object that has not been subjected to a combining process, which will be described later, is being drawn in the combining area. When this compositing flag is “true”, it indicates that the drawing object is being drawn in the compositing area, and when the compositing flag is “false”, the drawing object is not being drawn in the compositing area. (That is, an initialized state).

  Next, a drawing command is received from the application (S204), and it is determined whether there is a drawing command output from the application (S205). Here, assuming that the first drawing command is received from the drawing command list shown in FIG. 5B, an affirmative determination is made in S205 (S205: YES).

  Next, it is determined whether or not the drawing content indicated by the received drawing command is an instruction to draw either a line or a character (S206). In the present embodiment, a drawing whose drawing content is a line or a character, and whose line thickness and character size are equal to or less than the prescribed values are targets for thickening processing, and other drawing objects (graphics) , Bitmap images, etc.) are not subject to thickening processing. That is, in S206, it is determined whether or not the drawing content of the drawn object indicated by the drawing command can be a target of the thickening process. In the first drawing command received now, the drawing content is “graphic drawing” and is not the target of the thickening process, so a negative determination is made in S206 (S206: NO).

  Next, it is determined whether or not the value of the compositing flag is “true” (S207). When the first drawing command is received, the compositing flag remains the initial value “false”, so a negative determination is made in S207 (S207: NO). Then, the drawing object indicated by the first drawing command is drawn in the drawing area (S209), and the process returns to S204. A drawing object is drawn in the drawing area in accordance with various instructions (shape / text, drawing color, character size / line thickness) indicated by the drawing command. A specific example of a drawing area when drawing based on the first drawing command is shown in FIG. In the example of the drawing area shown in FIG. 6A, the figure (circle) indicated by the first drawing command is drawn.

  Returning to the flowchart of FIG. After performing the drawing process for the first drawing command, the process returns to S204, the second drawing command is received from the application, and an affirmative determination is made in S205 (S205: YES). Then, it is determined whether or not the drawing content indicated by the received drawing command is an instruction to draw either a line or a character (S206). In the second drawing command received now, the drawing content is “line drawing” and can be the target of thickening processing, so an affirmative determination is made in S206 (S206: YES).

  Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the line thickness / character size of the drawn object indicated by the drawing command is equal to or less than a specified value (S210). This specified value is a numerical value that specifies that thick line processing should be performed in order to improve the visibility of the print result when the line thickness or character size indicated by the drawing command is less than or equal to the numerical value. . In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the specified value for the line thickness is set to 3, and the specified value for the character size is set to 5, but in practice, depending on conditions such as the resolution of the printer. An appropriate specified value may be set.

  In the second drawing command received now, the thickness of the line is specified as 2, which is a line thinner than 3, which is the prescribed value of the thickness of the line, and is therefore subject to thickening processing. . Accordingly, an affirmative determination is made in S210 (S210: YES). Next, it is determined whether or not the value of the compositing flag is “true” (S211). At the time of receiving the second drawing command, nothing is drawn yet in the composition area, and the composition flag remains the initial value “false”. Therefore, a negative determination is made in S211 (S211: NO). Then, the drawing object indicated by the second drawing command is drawn in the synthesis area (S214). Since the composite area is a 1-bit bitmap area, the drawn object is drawn in black. Except for setting the drawing color to black, various instructions (shape, text, character size, Draw the drawing as shown in (line thickness).

  FIG. 6B shows a specific example of the synthesis area when drawing based on the second drawing command. In the example of the synthesis area shown in FIG. 6B, the straight line indicated by the second drawing command is drawn.

  Returning to the flowchart of FIG. After drawing the drawing object indicated by the second drawing command in the synthesis area, the parameter indicating the synthesis color is set to the drawing color (gray) indicated by the second drawing command, and the compositing flag is set to “true”. (S215). Next, returning to the processing of S204, the third drawing command is received from the application, and an affirmative determination is made in S205 (S205: YES). Then, it is determined whether or not the drawing content indicated by the received drawing command is an instruction to draw either a line or a character (S206). In the third drawing command received now, the drawing content is “character drawing” and can be the target of thickening processing, so an affirmative determination is made in S206 (S206: YES).

  Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the line thickness / character size of the drawn object indicated by the drawing command is equal to or less than a specified value (S210). In the third drawing command received now, the character size is specified as 5, which is the same as 5 which is the prescribed value of the character size, and is therefore subject to thickening processing. Accordingly, an affirmative determination is made in S210 (S210: YES). Next, it is determined whether or not the value of the compositing flag is “true” (S211). At the time when the third drawing command is received, a drawing object according to the second drawing command is drawn in the combining area, and the combining flag is “true”. Accordingly, an affirmative determination is made in S211 (S211: YES).

  Then, it is determined whether or not the drawing color indicated by the third drawing command is the same as the drawing color set in the composite color parameter (S212). Here, it is determined whether or not the drawing color of the drawing to be drawn in the composition area is the same as the drawing color designated for the drawing object already drawn in the composition area (that is, the composition color). ing. Since the drawing color indicated by the third drawing command is gray and gray is set as the composite color parameter at this time, an affirmative determination is made in S212 (S212: YES).

  Then, the drawing object indicated by the third drawing command is additionally drawn in the synthesis area (S214). Since the composite area is a 1-bit bitmap area, the drawn object is drawn in black. Except for setting the drawing color to black, various instructions (shape, text, character size, Draw the drawing as shown in (line thickness).

  After drawing the drawing object indicated by the third drawing command in the synthesis area, the parameter indicating the synthesis color is set to the drawing color (gray) indicated by the third drawing command, and the compositing flag is set to “true”. (S215). Next, returning to the process of S204, the fourth drawing command is received from the application, and an affirmative determination is made in S205 (S205: YES). Then, it is determined whether or not the drawing content indicated by the received drawing command is an instruction to draw either a line or a character (S206). In the fourth drawing command received now, the drawing content is “line drawing” and can be the target of thickening processing, so an affirmative determination is made in S206 (S206: YES).

  Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the line thickness / character size of the drawn object indicated by the drawing command is equal to or less than a specified value (S210). In the fourth drawing command received now, the line thickness is specified as 1, and the line is thinner than 3, which is the prescribed value of the line thickness, and thus is subject to thickening processing. . Accordingly, an affirmative determination is made in S210 (S210: YES). Next, it is determined whether or not the value of the compositing flag is “true” (S211). At the time when the fourth drawing command is received, the drawing object by the second and third drawing commands is drawn in the combining area, and the combining flag is “true”. Accordingly, an affirmative determination is made in S211 (S211: YES).

  Then, it is determined whether or not the drawing color indicated by the fourth drawing command is the same as the drawing color set in the composite color parameter (S212). Since the drawing color indicated by the fourth drawing command is gray and the composite color parameter at this time is also set to gray, an affirmative determination is made in S212 (S212: YES).

  Then, a drawing object indicated by the fourth drawing command is additionally drawn in the synthesis area (S214). Since the composite area is a 1-bit bitmap area, the drawn object is drawn in black. Except for setting the drawing color to black, various instructions (shape, text, character size, Draw the drawing as shown in (line thickness).

  FIG. 6C shows a specific example of the synthesis area when drawing based on the fourth drawing command. In the example of the synthesis area shown in FIG. 6C, a straight line indicated by the second drawing command, a character (ABC) indicated by the third drawing command, and an ellipse indicated by the fourth drawing command. Are drawn together on the same image.

  Returning to the flowchart of FIG. After drawing the drawing object indicated by the fourth drawing command in the synthesis area, the parameter indicating the synthesis color is set to the drawing color (gray) indicated by the fourth drawing command, and the compositing flag is set to “true”. (S215). Next, returning to the process of S204, the fifth drawing command is received from the application, and an affirmative determination is made in S205 (S205: YES). Then, it is determined whether or not the drawing content indicated by the received drawing command is an instruction to draw either a line or a character (S206). In the fifth drawing command received now, the drawing content is “line drawing” and can be the target of thickening processing, so an affirmative determination is made in S206 (S206: YES).

  Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the line thickness / character size of the drawn object indicated by the drawing command is equal to or less than a specified value (S210). In the fifth drawing command received now, the thickness of the line is specified as 1, which is a line thinner than 3, which is the prescribed value of the thickness of the line, and thus is subject to thickening processing. . Accordingly, an affirmative determination is made in S210 (S210: YES). Next, it is determined whether or not the value of the compositing flag is “true” (S211). When the fifth drawing command is received, a drawing object according to the second to fourth drawing commands is drawn in the combining area, and the combining flag is “true”. Accordingly, an affirmative determination is made in S211 (S211: YES).

  Then, it is determined whether or not the drawing color indicated by the fifth drawing command is the same as the drawing color set in the composite color parameter (S212). The drawing color indicated by the fifth drawing command is black, and gray is set as the composite color parameter at this time. That is, since the drawing color of the drawing to be drawn in the synthesis area is different from the drawing color designated for the drawing already drawn in the synthesis area (that is, the synthesis color), a negative determination is made in S212 ( S212: NO).

  In this case, a drawing process that is currently drawn in the synthesis area is bolded and synthesized in the drawing area is executed (S213). Here, the detailed procedure of the synthesis process will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the synthesis process executed by the CPU 11. This process is executed according to the printer driver program installed in the PC 1.

  The CPU 11 first thickens the drawing in the synthesis area vertically and horizontally (S301). The thickening of the drawn object is performed by bit-shifting the image of the composite area in the vertical and horizontal directions. In the synthesizing process performed at the time when the fifth drawing command is received, the synthesis area shown in FIG. 6C is made thick by thickening the synthesis area shown in FIG.

  Subsequently, the thick line drawing object in the combined area is converted into a combined color and combined with the drawn area (S302). Specifically, a process of painting the pixels in the drawing area corresponding to the pixels drawn in black in the synthesis area with the drawing color indicated by the parameter of the synthesis color is performed. In the combining process performed when the fifth drawing command is received, the combining area shown in FIG. 6D is combined with the drawing area shown in FIG. Get an image of the drawing area.

  After combining the drawing object in the combining area into the drawing area, the combining area is initialized (S303). Then, the parameter indicating the composite color is set to “none”, and the compositing flag is set to “false” (S304), and the compositing process ends.

  Returning to the description of FIG. After performing the synthesis process in S213, the drawing object indicated by the fifth drawing command is drawn in the initialized synthesis area (S214). Since the composite area is a 1-bit bitmap area, the drawn object is drawn in black. Except for setting the drawing color to black, various instructions (shape, text, character size, Draw the drawing as shown in (line thickness).

  FIG. 7B shows a specific example of the synthesis area when drawing based on the fifth drawing command. In the example of the synthesis area shown in FIG. 7B, only the curve indicated by the fifth drawing command is drawn.

  Returning to the flowchart of FIG. After drawing the drawing object indicated by the fifth drawing command in the synthesis area, the parameter indicating the synthesis color is set to the drawing color (black) indicated by the fifth drawing command, and the compositing flag is set to “true”. (S215). Next, the process returns to the process of S204, the sixth drawing command is received from the application, and an affirmative determination is made in S205 (S205: YES). Then, it is determined whether or not the drawing content indicated by the received drawing command is an instruction to draw either a line or a character (S206). In the sixth drawing command received now, the drawing content is “character drawing” and can be the target of thickening processing, so an affirmative determination is made in S206 (S206: YES).

  Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the line thickness / character size of the drawn object indicated by the drawing command is equal to or less than a specified value (S210). In the sixth drawing command received now, the line thickness is specified as 20 and the character size is larger than the specified value of 5, so it is not subject to the thickening process. Therefore, a negative determination is made in S210 (S210: NO).

  Next, it is determined whether or not the value of the compositing flag is “true” (S207). At the time when the sixth drawing command is received, a drawing object according to the fifth drawing command is drawn in the combining area, and the combining flag is “true”. Therefore, an affirmative determination is made in S207 (S207: YES).

  In this case, a composition process is executed in which the drawing object currently drawn in the composition area is bolded and synthesized in the drawing area (S208). The synthesis process here is also performed according to the procedure of the flowchart of FIG. First, the drawing in the synthesis area is thickened vertically and horizontally (S301). In the synthesizing process performed at the time when the sixth drawing command is received, the synthesis area shown in FIG. 7B is thickened so that the synthesis area becomes as shown in FIG. Subsequently, the thick line drawing object in the combined area is converted into a combined color and combined with the drawn area (S302). In the combining process performed when the sixth drawing command is received, the combining area shown in FIG. 7C is combined with the drawing area shown in FIG. Get an image of the drawing area. After combining the drawing object in the combining area into the drawing area, the combining area is initialized (S303). Then, the parameter indicating the composite color is set to “none”, and the compositing flag is set to “false” (S304), and the compositing process ends.

  Returning to the description of FIG. After performing the composition process in S208, the drawing object indicated by the sixth drawing command is drawn in the drawing area (S209). A drawing object is drawn in the drawing area in accordance with various instructions (shape / text, drawing color, character size / line thickness) indicated by the drawing command. A specific example of the drawing area when drawing based on the sixth drawing command is shown in FIG. In the example of the drawing area shown in FIG. 7E, each drawing object indicated by the first to sixth drawing commands is drawn.

  Returning to the flowchart of FIG. After performing the drawing process for the sixth drawing command, the process returns to S204. At this time, all the rendering commands related to the page to be processed in the main image rendering process have been processed. Therefore, the rendering command is not received in S204, and a negative determination is made in S205 (S205: NO). Next, it is determined whether or not the value of the compositing flag is “true” (S216). At the time when the processing for the sixth rendering command is completed, the compositing flag is “false”, so a negative determination is made in S216 (S216: NO), and the image rendering process is terminated. On the other hand, if it is determined in SS216 that the value of the compositing flag is “true” (S216: YES), finally, a compositing process (see FIG. 4) for compositing the rendering object in the compositing area to the drawing area (S217) The image drawing process is terminated.

[effect]
The image processing system according to this embodiment has the following effects.
(1) For a drawn object having the same drawing color indicated by a drawing command from an application, the drawn objects indicated by a plurality of drawing instructions are drawn together in a composite area, and the plurality of drawn objects are collectively displayed. Can be thickened and combined into a drawing area. By doing in this way, it is not necessary to perform the thickening process and the synthesizing process for each drawing object to be thickened. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the processing load related to the thickening process during the drawing process by the printer driver, and to improve the processing speed of the drawing process.

  (2) By configuring the synthesis area with a bitmap area that is expressed by 1-bit data per pixel, the memory capacity required to configure the synthesis area can be minimized. Furthermore, in the composite area composed of 1-bit bitmap areas, each drawing is drawn as a binarized black-and-white image. The processing load at the time of conversion can be greatly reduced. Further, when a plurality of bold drawn objects are combined in the drawing area, they are combined together with the same combined color, so that the processing load related to image combining can be reduced.

  (3) By using the in-composition flag as a variable indicating the state in which the drawn object is described in the combining area, it is accurately determined whether or not the combining process is necessary in S207, S210, and S216 of the graphic drawing process (see FIG. 3). can do.

  (4) In the composition process (S208, S213, S217 in FIG. 3), the composition flag is “true” and there is no drawing command from the application, or the composition flag is “true” This is executed when the drawing conditions are different from the previous drawing command (drawing contents and drawing colors are different). Since the composition process is performed at such a timing, the processing speed of the drawing process can be improved while following the order of the drawing commands received from the application.

It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of an image processing system. It is a flowchart which shows the main process sequence of a printing process. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of an image drawing process. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of a synthetic | combination process. (A) is a figure which shows an example of the page used as the object of an image drawing process, (b) is explanatory drawing which shows the list of the drawing commands used when drawing this page. It is explanatory drawing which shows typically transition of the drawing state of a drawing area | region and a synthetic | combination area | region. It is explanatory drawing which shows typically transition of the drawing state of a drawing area | region and a synthetic | combination area | region.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Personal computer, 11 ... CPU, 12 ... ROM, 13 ... RAM, 14 ... Hard disk drive, 15 ... Operation part, 16 ... Display part, 17 ... Communication interface, 171 ... Communication path, 2 ... Printer, S206, S210 ... Example of determination procedure, S209, S214 ... Example of drawing procedure, S208, S213, S217 ... Example of composition procedure, S212 ... Example of drawing color determination procedure

Claims (4)

An image processing program executed by an information processing apparatus that performs a drawing process on a drawing object indicated by a drawing command from an application,
A determination procedure for determining whether or not to perform a thickening process for making the thickness of a drawing object indicated by one drawing command thicker than that indicated by the drawing command;
A drawing procedure for drawing in the first drawing area a drawing object that is determined to be subjected to the thickening process according to the determination procedure, and a drawing object that is determined not to perform the thickening process in the second drawing area;
The thickening process is executed on the drawing object drawn in the first drawing area, and the thick drawing object is combined with the second drawing area, and then the first drawing area is A synthesis procedure to be initialized;
A drawing determination procedure for determining whether or not a drawing object indicated by another drawing command is drawn in the first drawing area when it is determined that the thickening process is performed according to the determination procedure;
When it is determined by the drawing determination procedure that a drawing object indicated by another drawing command is drawn in the first drawing area, the drawing color indicated by the first drawing command and the first drawing command A drawing color determination procedure for determining whether or not the drawing color in the drawing object already drawn in the drawing area matches,
When it is determined by the drawing determination procedure that no other drawing object is drawn in the first drawing area, or when it is determined by the drawing color determination procedure that the drawing colors match, according to the drawing procedure, Draw a drawing object indicated by the first drawing command in the first drawing area;
When it is determined by the drawing color determination procedure that the drawing colors do not match, first, the drawing object drawn in the first drawing area is bolded by the synthesis procedure, and this is drawn into the second drawing area. After the composition, the first drawing area is initialized. After that, the drawing object indicated by the first drawing command is newly added to the first drawing area initialized by the combining procedure. An image processing program characterized by drawing. In the image processing program according to claim 1,
The first drawing area is composed of a bitmap area of 1 bit per pixel,
In the synthesis procedure, when the drawing object drawn in the first drawing area is combined with the second drawing area, the drawing color indicated by the drawing command indicating the drawing object is transferred to the second drawing area. An image processing program characterized by combining . In the image processing program according to claim 1 or 2,
When a drawing object is drawn in the first drawing area by the drawing procedure, a variable indicating a state in which the drawing object indicated by the drawing command is drawn in the first drawing area is set, and the combining procedure is performed. A variable setting procedure for releasing the variable when the first drawing area is initialized;
In the drawing determination procedure, an image processing program for determining whether or not a drawing object is drawn in the first drawing area based on the variable set by the variable setting procedure . Image processing comprising an information processing device that performs a drawing process on a drawing object indicated by a drawing command from an application, and a printing device that is communicably connected to the information processing device and prints an image drawn by the information processing device A system,
The information processing apparatus includes:
Determining means for determining whether or not to perform thickening processing for making the thickness of a drawing object indicated by one drawing command output from an application operating on the information processing apparatus thicker than that indicated by the drawing command When,
A drawing means for drawing in the first drawing area a drawing object determined to be subjected to the thickening process by the determination means; and a drawing means for drawing in the second drawing area a drawing object determined not to be subjected to the thickening process;
The thickening process is executed on the drawing object drawn in the first drawing area, and the thick drawing object is combined with the second drawing area, and then the first drawing area is A synthesis means to initialize;
A drawing determination unit that determines whether or not a drawing object indicated by another drawing command is drawn in the first drawing area when it is determined by the determination unit that thickening processing is performed;
  When it is determined by the drawing determination means that a drawing object indicated by another drawing command is drawn in the first drawing area, the drawing color indicated by the first drawing command and the first drawing command Drawing color determination means for determining whether or not the drawing color in the drawing object already drawn in the drawing area matches,
When it is determined by the drawing determination means that no other drawing object is drawn in the first drawing area, or when the drawing color determination means determines that the drawing colors match, the drawing means Draw a drawing object indicated by the first drawing command in the first drawing area;
When it is determined by the drawing color determining means that the drawing colors do not match, first, the synthesizing means thickens the drawn object drawn in the first drawing area, and this is drawn into the second drawing area. The first drawing area is initialized, and then the drawing means newly adds a drawing object indicated by the first drawing command to the first drawing area initialized by the synthesizing means. Draw and
After executing drawing processing by the drawing means for all drawing commands, executing combining processing by the combining means, converting an image drawn in the second drawing area into a predetermined data format, and Output to printing device
An image processing system.