JP5101372B2 - Printing system, printing method, and print data output method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that prints characters, images, and the like on a plastic card or the like.

  Various data are mixed in one printed matter. Each of these is an object having an attribute, and examples of the attribute include a multi-value image, a binary image, text, and a line. There is a printing method suitable for each of these attributes, and it is already known that the printing setting is changed for each attribute (for example, Patent Document 1).

  Further, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for designating an area of a print image and setting for each attribute in each area.

JP 09-282472 A

  However, according to the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, when it is desired to make different settings for a plurality of object data having the same attribute, it is necessary to make separate settings after specifying an area, and the operability is poor. Also, when there are multiple object data with the same attribute in the same area when the area is specified (for example, when image objects are overlapped), if printing is set for the attribute, each object data There are cases where separate settings are not possible.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a printing system that can easily set printing for a plurality of object data having the same attribute.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention outputs a print command from a host device to a printer, and receives the received print command as a heat sublimable ink and at least one heat-meltable ink having a predetermined gradation value. in printing system for printing using an ink ribbon comprised of a, the upper equipment, the multi-valued image, a binary image, the printed text, and a plurality of object data with one of the attribute information of the line area an object generation unit for generating within, to the gradient data in the object data, and an ink setting unit for setting whether to print in the heat-meltable ink, depending on the setting by the ink setting unit A first print command for printing with the heat-sublimable ink and a second print command for printing with the heat-meltable ink. A driver unit for forming, and a print command output unit which outputs the print command to the printer, the ink setting unit includes a plurality of object data with further identical the attribute information generated in said drawing area It is possible to set whether or not each of the predetermined gradation value data is printed with the hot-melt ink .

  In the present invention, the host device includes application software, a printer driver, and an operating system. The application software includes the object generation unit, the ink setting unit, and an object output unit that outputs the object data to the printer driver. The printer driver includes the driver unit and the print command output unit, and the object output unit outputs the object data to the printer driver via the operating system.

  According to the present invention, the operating system includes GDI (Graphic Device Interface), an API (Application Program Interface) function for accessing the GDI from the application software, and a DDI for accessing the GDI from the printer driver. (Device Driver Interface) function, and when the object data is output from the application software to the printer driver via the GDI, the ink setting unit is configured to print on the second ink panel. The object output unit includes a first ExtEscape function or an Escape function included in the API function and a second The API function for outputting the object data is described between the ExtEscape function or the Escape function, and the API function is output to the GDI. The GDI uses the DDI function to pass the object data to the printer driver. It is characterized by that.

Furthermore, in the present invention, before SL application software, determining means for determining overlap of the object data between having the same of the attribute information identical to the gradient data, the same of the attribute information by said determining means And warning means for issuing a warning when it is determined that the object data having the same gradation value data overlap each other.

The printing method of the present invention includes an object generation step of generating a plurality of object data having attribute information of any one of a multi-value image, a binary image, text, and a line in a drawing area ; In order to perform printing corresponding to the gradation value data, an ink setting step for setting whether to print with the heat-sublimable ink or the heat-meltable ink , and to output to the printer A print command generation step for generating a print command for printing with the heat-sublimable ink, a print command for printing with the heat-meltable ink, and a print command output step for outputting the print command to the printer If, in the heat-sublimation ink or the heat melt ink in accordance with the print command outputted from the host apparatus Possess a printing step of printing, and in the ink setting step, with respect to the predetermined tone value data of a plurality of object data having the same said attribute information generated in the drawing area in the object generation step In this case, whether to print with the heat sublimable ink or the heat meltable ink is set.

The print command output method according to the present invention includes an object generation step of generating a plurality of object data having attribute information of any one of a multi-value image, a binary image, text, and a line in a drawing area, and the object In order to perform printing corresponding to the gradation value data in the data, an ink setting step for setting whether to print with the heat-sublimable ink or the heat-meltable ink, and to output to the printer Therefore, a print command generation step for generating a print command for printing with the heat sublimable ink, a print command for printing with the heat meltable ink, and a print command for outputting the print command to the printer An output step, wherein the ink setting step includes a step before the object generation step. Sets whether to print with the thermal sublimation ink or the heat-meltable ink for the predetermined gradation value data of the plurality of object data having the same attribute information generated in the drawing area. It is characterized by doing.

  According to the present invention, when there are a plurality of object data having the same attribute in the drawing area, it is possible to easily set ink (thermal sublimation ink or heat melting ink) for each object data.

  In addition, even when object data of the same color with the same attribute is overlapped, ink can be set for each object, so one object data is heat sublimation ink and the other object data is heat meltable. By printing with ink, it is possible to distinguish even if the same color overlaps.

  Hereinafter, a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

<System configuration>
As shown in FIG. 1, the printer device 1 is connected to a host device 10 (for example, a host computer such as a personal computer) via an interface (not shown), and print data and magnetic data are transferred from the host device 10 to the printer device 1. It is possible to instruct a recording operation or the like by transmitting data or the like.

  The host device 10 generally includes an image input device 4 (for example, a camera or a scanner) for inputting an image or the like used for print data, and an input device such as a keyboard or mouse for inputting commands and data to the host device 10. 3. A monitor 2 such as a liquid crystal display for displaying data generated by the host device 10 is connected.

<Internal configuration>
Next, each component inside the printer apparatus 1 and the host apparatus 10 will be described.

The printer apparatus 1 has a printing unit 60 and employs a thermal transfer printer configuration. The printing unit 60 includes a thermal head 56 provided so as to be movable back and forth with respect to a platen roller 64 provided at a printing position on the card transport path P1. Between the platen roller 64 and the thermal head 56, an ink ribbon R in which a plurality of colors such as an ink panel Y (yellow), M (magenta), C (cyan), and Bk (black) are repeated in a surface order is interposed. (See FIG. 2).
The ink panel of the ink ribbon R is composed of a heat sublimable ink and a heat-meltable ink. Y (yellow), M (magenta), and C (cyan) are heat-sublimable inks, and Bk (black) is heat-melted. Ink. The color of the heat-meltable ink is not limited to black, and red, blue, gold, silver, or the like may be used. Further, the hot-melt ink is not limited to one color, and may be composed of, for example, a plurality of colors such as black (Bk) and gold (G) (see FIG. 13).

  Further, the printer apparatus 1 includes a color memory 28 and a resin memory 29 for storing a print command printed with heat-sublimable ink and a print command printed with heat-meltable ink, respectively (see FIG. 4).

  The host device 10 includes application software (hereinafter referred to as an application) 11, a GDI (Graphic Device Interface) 12 that is a function of an operating system (Windows (registered trademark)), and a printer driver 13 (see FIG. 3). .

  The application 11 has an editing function and a print setting function for creating a layout that the user wants to print, and includes an object generation unit 21, an object setting unit 22, and an object output unit 23.

  The object generation unit 21 generates text data, line data, image data, graphic data, and the like captured from the image input device 4. At that time, on the screen of the application 11, an image, text, figure, or the like is added to the drawing area 40 using an object addition button indicated by reference numeral 46 in FIG. 5. Note that one piece of image data, text data, etc. is one piece of object data (reference numerals 41 to 45 in FIG. 6).

  The object setting unit 22 performs print settings for each object data generated by the object generation unit 21. The setting items to be set here include, for example, the setting of the position, color and size of the object data, the setting of the font, the setting of the type of ink to be printed (heat sublimation ink or heat melting ink), and the like. On the screen of the application 11, it is displayed as shown in FIG.

  When the ink ribbon used in the printer apparatus 1 is composed of the heat sublimable ink “Y (yellow) M (magenta) C (cyan)” and the heat meltable ink “Bk (black)”, When setting, the black portion of the object data is set to be printed with heat sublimation ink or heat melt ink. The ink setting is not only black, but for example, when the hot-melt ink is blue, the blue portion of the object data is set. In other words, if the object data contains data with the same color (gradation value) as the color (gradation value) of the heat-meltable ink, the data (partial) is printed with the heat-sublimable ink or is melted. It can be set whether to print with the characteristic ink.

  The object output unit 23 outputs the object data generated by the object generation unit 21 and set for printing by the object setting unit 22 to the GDI 12 for delivery to the printer driver 13. Note that when outputting the object data to the GDI 12, an API (Application Program Interface) function is used.

  When the object data is transferred to the GDI 12 by the object output unit 23, the object data set to be printed with the heat-meltable ink is obtained by using the ExtEscape function or the Escape function included in the API function. Is transferred to the GDI 12 as data to be printed. In the present embodiment, by surrounding an API function for outputting object data with the ExtEscape function, the printer driver 13 recognizes that the object data is printed with hot-melt ink (see FIG. 10).

  Here, the enclosing of the object data by the ExtEscape function will be described. The argument of the ExtEscape function is composed of a data output destination, a value indicating the use of the ExtEscape function, output data size, output data, input data size, and input data. In the present embodiment, the ExtEscape function is used by specifying the data output destination, the value indicating the use of the ExtEscape function, the size of the output data, and the output data. Specifically, the printer is specified as the data output destination, and a code for printing with a separately defined hot-melt ink (for example, hot-melt printing for 10000) is specified as the value indicating the use of the ExtEscape function. To do. In addition, values indicating “start” and “end” are respectively designated as output data. There are two types of ExtEscape functions: a function indicating “start” and a function indicating “end”. Object data is transferred between an ExtEscape function having “start” as an argument and an ExtEscape function having “end” as an argument. By describing an API function for output, the set object data (in this embodiment, the black portion of the object data) becomes a target to be printed with hot-melt ink.

  The GDI 12 converts the data in order to pass the output object data to the printer driver 13, and outputs the data to the printer driver 13 using a DDI (Device Driver Interface) function.

  The printer driver 13 includes a driver unit 24, a spool unit 25, and a print command output unit 26.

  The driver unit 24 generates a print command in a format that can be executed by the printer apparatus 1 from the object data received from the application 11. At that time, when object data set to print with heat sublimation ink is received, a print command for printing with heat sublimation ink is generated by the printer apparatus 1 and printing is performed with heat melt ink. When the object data set as described above is received, the printer apparatus 1 generates a print command for printing with hot melt ink. The driver unit 24 converts the object data (DDI function converted by the GDI 12) described between the ExtEscape function having “Start” as an argument and the ExtEscape function having “End” as an argument into a hot-melt ink. Recognize when printing with.

  The spool unit 25 temporarily stores object data before the driver unit 24 generates a print command and the generated print command. When the driver unit 24 generates a print command, the object data is extracted from the spool unit 25, the print command is generated, and the print command is stored in the spool unit 25 again.

  The print command output unit 26 monitors whether or not the printer device 1 can print the print command stored in the spool unit 25 and outputs the print command to the printer device 1 if the print command is available.

  In general, print settings can also be made for the printer driver 13. However, when the ink type is set for an object in the application 11, the ink type setting by the application 11 becomes valid and the ink by the printer driver 13 is set. The type setting is invalid.

<Operation>
A processing flow for creating one card for the upper level device 10 and the printer device 1 of the present embodiment will be described.

  First, the host device 10 receives image data from the image input device 4 and stores it in a storage area (not shown). In step 31, the application 11 is activated, and object data is generated in the drawing area 40 using the stored image data and the like. On the screen of the application 11, object data is added to the drawing area 40 using an object addition button 46 as shown in FIGS.

  In step 32, individual print settings are made for each generated object data. At that time, the setting is made so that the black portion of the object to be printed with the hot melt ink is printed with the hot melt ink (see FIGS. 7 and 9). As shown in FIG. 7, when the check box “print with hot melt ink” is checked on the screen of the application 11, the object setting unit 22 flags the object data.

  In step 33, the object data set by the object output unit in step 32 is output to the GDI 12 using an API function. At that time, the API function for outputting the object data (flagged) set to print with the hot-melt ink in step 32 is surrounded by the ExtEscape function and output to the GDI 12 (see FIG. 10). ).

  In step 34, the object data converted by the GDI 12 and output using the DDI function is received by the printer driver 13 and stored in the spool unit 25.

  In step 35, the driver unit 24 analyzes the object data received from the GDI 12 and stored in the spool unit 25, and generates a print command that can be executed by the printer apparatus 1. At that time, the driver unit 24 determines whether or not the object data is surrounded by the ExtEscape function, and generates a print command for printing with the heat sublimation ink and a print command for printing with the heat melting ink. (See FIG. 11). Note that the print command generated in step 35 is stored in the spool unit 25 again. In step 36, the print command output unit 26 outputs the print command stored in the spool unit 25 to the printer device 1. At this time, the print command output unit 26 monitors whether or not the printer apparatus 1 is in a normal printable state, and outputs a print command to the printer apparatus 1 if it is in a printable state.

  In step 37, the printer apparatus 1 prints the print command received from the print command output unit 26 (higher level apparatus 10). At this time, among the print commands generated by the driver unit 24, a print command for printing with the heat sublimable ink is stored in the color memory 28 of the printer device 1 and a print command for printing with the heat meltable ink. Is stored in the resin memory 29 of the printer 1 (see FIG. 12). In the printing unit 60, the print command stored in the color memory 28 is printed with heat sublimable ink, and the print command stored in the resin memory 29 is printed with heat meltable ink.

<Effects>
According to the printing system of the present embodiment, when a plurality of object data having the same attribute are mixed in the drawing area, the print setting for each object data (in particular, the same color as the heat-meltable ink included in the object data is printed). Therefore, when setting different print settings for object data having the same attribute, the operability is good. In addition, when object data that includes black (heat-meltable ribbon color) with the same attribute in the drawing area overlap, the same color can be obtained by printing with heat-sublimable ink and heat-meltable ink respectively. But you can tell.

  In the application 11, it may be determined that object data of the same color with the same attribute is overlapped, and a warning may be issued. In the application 11, it can be seen from the position information and the size of the object data which range the object data occupies in the drawing area 40. Therefore, it can be determined whether or not object data having the same attribute overlap. Also, looking at the gradation value of the object data, it can be seen that if the overlapping portion of the object data has the same gradation value, the object data (even a part) of the same color with the same attribute overlaps. By issuing a warning in the application 11 before printing, the user can avoid unintended overlapping of objects. This warning may be provided when the check button 47 is separately provided and the check button 47 is pressed, or may be automatically performed when data is output from the application 11 to the GDI 12. When issuing a warning, a warning sound may be output, or an error screen may be displayed informing that there is an overlap on the screen.

  In the present embodiment, the object data set to be printed with the heat-meltable ink is an example in which the API function for outputting the object data data is surrounded by the ExtEscape function. However, even if the Escape function is used, Good.

  In this embodiment, when the printer driver 13 receives the object data, the object data is once stored in the spool unit 25, then the print command is generated by the driver unit 24, and the print command is stored in the spool unit 25 again. However, when the printer driver 13 receives the object data, the driver unit 24 may generate a print command and store the print command in the spool unit 25. The former is in the EMF format and the latter is in the RAW format, but data in either format may be handled.

  As described above, the present invention provides a print system that can set the type of ink to be printed for each object data for a plurality of object data having the same attribute. Therefore, it has industrial applicability.

1 is an overall view of a printing system of the present invention. It is the figure which showed the schematic sectional drawing of the printer apparatus of embodiment. 1 is a block diagram of a printing system according to an embodiment. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer apparatus according to an embodiment. It is the figure which showed the operation screen of the application of embodiment. It is the figure which showed the operation screen of the application of embodiment, and is the figure which showed a mode that the object was added to the drawing area | region. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an operation screen of an application according to the embodiment, and is a diagram illustrating an object print setting (ink type setting) screen. It is a flowchart explaining the flow of the printing operation of embodiment. It is a flowchart explaining the ink setting step of FIG. It is a flowchart explaining the process which outputs object data to GDI from the application of FIG. FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining a print command generation step in FIG. 8. FIG. FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining printing steps in FIG. 8. FIG. It is a figure which shows the structure of the ink ribbon of embodiment, (A) is a case where a heat-meltable ink is one color (black), (B) shows the case where a heat-meltable ink is two colors (black and gold). It is a figure.

Explanation of symbols

1 Printer device 10 Host device 11 Application 12 GDI
13 Printer Driver 21 Object Generation Unit 22 Object Setting Unit 23 Object Output Unit 24 Driver Unit 25 Spool Unit 26 Print Command Output Unit 60 Print Unit

Claims (7)

A print command is output from a host device such as a personal computer to the printer, and the received print command is printed with an ink ribbon composed of heat sublimable ink and at least one heat-meltable ink having a predetermined gradation value. In a printing system that uses and prints,
Serial-level equipment is,
An object generation unit that generates a plurality of object data having attribute information of any one of a multi-value image, a binary image, text, and a line in a drawing area ;
An ink setting unit for setting whether to print with the heat-meltable ink with respect to the gradation value data in the object data;
A driver unit that generates a first print command for printing with the heat-sublimable ink and a second print command for printing with the heat-meltable ink according to the setting contents of the ink setting unit. ,
A print command output unit for outputting the print command to the printer,
Whether the ink setting unit further prints with the heat-meltable ink on the predetermined gradation value data of the plurality of object data having the same attribute information generated in the drawing area. A print system characterized in that it can be set . The host device includes application software, a printer driver, and an operating system,
The application software includes the object generation unit, the ink setting unit, and an object output unit that outputs the object data to the printer driver.
The printer driver includes the driver unit and the print command output unit,
The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the object output unit outputs the object data to the printer driver via the operating system. The operating system includes a GDI (Graphic Device Interface), an API (Application Program Interface) function for accessing the GDI from the application software, and a DDI (Device Driver Interface) for accessing the GDI from the printer driver. With functions,
When the object data is output from the application software to the printer driver via the GDI, when the ink setting unit is set to print with the hot melt ink, the object output unit The API function for outputting the object data is described between the first ExtEscape function or the Escape function included in the function and the second ExtEscape function or the Escape function, and is output to the GDI. The printing system according to claim 2, wherein the object data is transferred to the printer driver using a DDI function. The application software in is al, determination means for determining the overlap of the object data between having the same of the attribute information identical to the gradient data, the same the same the attribute information by said determining means The printing system according to claim 2, further comprising: a warning unit that issues a warning when it is determined that the object data having the gradation value data overlap each other. A print command is output from the host device to the printer, and the received print command is printed using an ink ribbon composed of heat sublimable ink and at least one heat-meltable ink having a predetermined gradation value. In the printing method,
An object generation step of generating a plurality of object data having attribute information of any one of a multi-value image, a binary image, text, and a line in a drawing area ;
An ink setting step for setting whether to print with the heat-sublimable ink or the heat-meltable ink in order to perform printing corresponding to the gradation value data in the object data;
A print command generation step for generating a print command for printing with the heat-sublimable ink and a print command for printing with the heat-meltable ink for output to the printer;
A print command output step for outputting the print command to the printer ;
Have a, a printing step of printing by the thermal sublimation ink or the heat melt ink in accordance with the print command outputted from the host device,
In the ink setting step, the predetermined gradation value data of the plurality of object data having the same attribute information generated in the drawing area in the object generation step is printed with thermal sublimation ink, respectively. Or printing with the hot-melt ink . A determining step of determining a overlapping of object data having the same identical to the attribute information of the gradation value data is found, the same said attribute information identical to the gradient data according to the determination step The printing method according to claim 5, further comprising: a warning step that issues a warning when it is determined that the object data having the data overlap. In a print command output method for outputting a print command to a printer that prints using an ink ribbon composed of a heat sublimable ink and at least one heat-meltable ink having a predetermined gradation value,
An object generation step of generating a plurality of object data having attribute information of any one of a multi-value image, a binary image, text, and a line in a drawing area;
An ink setting step for setting whether to print with the heat-sublimable ink or the heat-meltable ink in order to perform printing corresponding to the gradation value data in the object data;
A print command generation step for generating a print command for printing with the heat-sublimable ink and a print command for printing with the heat-meltable ink for output to the printer;
A print command output step for outputting the print command to the printer,
In the ink setting step, the predetermined gradation value data of the plurality of object data having the same attribute information generated in the drawing area in the object generation step is printed with thermal sublimation ink, respectively. Or a print command output method, wherein whether to print with the hot melt ink is set.