JP5477915B2 - Print data generation apparatus, print data generation method, and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a print data generation apparatus, a print data generation method, and a program for generating print data from drawing data created by computer-aided design software.

  Generally, when drawing data (hereinafter referred to as “CAD data”) created by computer-aided design software (hereinafter referred to as “CAD (Computer Aided Design) software”) is output to a medium such as paper. Therefore, it is necessary to perform raster conversion on CAD data to generate print data (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Raster conversion means converting character data, image data, and the like handled by a computer into data that can be recognized by a printer or a display.

  Specifically, in generating print data from CAD data, first, various commands included in the CAD data (for example, a command for drawing a straight line, a command for specifying the coordinates of the start point, a command for specifying the coordinates of the end point, etc.) Analysis is performed. Then, raster conversion is performed based on the analysis result, and print data is generated.

JP 2003-131847 A

  Incidentally, in CAD data, a single file (hereinafter referred to as “CAD file”) may include a plurality of pages having different paper sizes. In such a case, a conventional raster conversion program automatically creates print data in accordance with the paper size if the paper size of each page is a standard size such as A0 or A1.

  However, when the paper size is out of the standard, the operator needs to manually set the print size. In this case, the number of print sizes that can be manually set is only one for the entire file including multiple pages, so depending on the page, print data is created with a paper size different from the corresponding paper size. Will be.

  For this reason, in raster conversion, it is required that print data can be automatically created with an optimum size for each page even if a page whose paper size is set outside the standard is included.

  An example of an object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problem and to generate a print data in which a paper size of each page is appropriate for a CAD file including pages whose paper sizes are out of standards. To provide a data generation method and a program.

In order to achieve the above object, a print data generation apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention is a print data generation apparatus that generates print data from drawing data created by computer-aided design software,
From the drawing data, for each page included in the drawing data, a file creation unit that creates a file specifying the drawing size of the page; and
Dividing the drawing data into pages, and performing raster conversion based on the corresponding file for each drawing data of each page obtained by the division; and
A data integration unit that integrates drawing data of each page raster-converted by the raster conversion unit into one print data;
It is characterized by having.

In order to achieve the above object, a print data generation method according to one aspect of the present invention is a method for generating print data from drawing data created by computer-aided design software,
(A) For each page included in the drawing data, creating a file specifying the drawing size of the page from the drawing data;
(B) dividing the drawing data into pages, and performing raster conversion on each drawing data of each page obtained by the division based on the corresponding file;
(C) integrating the drawing data of each page raster-converted in the step (b) into one print data;
It is characterized by having.

In order to achieve the above object, a program according to one aspect of the present invention is a program for generating print data from drawing data created by computer-aided design software by a computer,
In the computer,
(A) For each page included in the drawing data, creating a file specifying the drawing size of the page from the drawing data;
(B) dividing the drawing data into pages, and performing raster conversion on each drawing data of each page obtained by the division based on the corresponding file;
(C) integrating the drawing data of each page raster-converted in the step (b) into one print data;
Is executed.

  As described above, according to the print data generation device, the print data generation method, and the program of the present invention, print data with an appropriate paper size for each page is targeted for a CAD file including pages whose paper size is not specified. Can be generated.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a print data generation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a drawing to be printed in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the conversion instruction file used in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the print data generation apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a computer that implements the print data generation apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

(Embodiment)
Hereinafter, a print data generation device, a print data generation method, and a program according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

[Device configuration]
First, the configuration of the print data generation apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a print data generation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a drawing to be printed in the embodiment of the present invention.

  A print data generation apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is an apparatus that generates print data from drawing data (CAD data) created by computer-aided design software (CAD software). In the present embodiment, the print data generation apparatus 10 is built inside the computer 110 by a program to be described later.

  As illustrated in FIG. 1, the print data generation apparatus 10 includes a file creation unit 12, a raster conversion unit 13, and a data integration unit 16. Among these, the file creation unit 12 creates a file specifying the drawing size of each page for each page included in the CAD data from the CAD data.

  The raster conversion unit 13 divides the CAD data for each page, and executes raster conversion based on the corresponding file for each drawing data of each page obtained by the division. Then, the data integration unit 16 integrates the drawing data of each page raster-converted by the raster conversion unit 13 into one print data, and outputs it to the outside (for example, the plotter 50).

  As described above, in the present embodiment, for CAD data including a plurality of pages, a file for specifying the size of the drawing drawn on each page is created for each page. The raster conversion is performed for each page by referring to this file.

  For this reason, as shown in FIG. 2, the CAD data includes a plurality of pages having different sizes, and even when all or some of the pages are out of the standard, the paper size of each page is appropriately printed. Data is generated. In the example of FIG. 2, the drawing size of page 1 is A1, but the drawing sizes of page 2 and page 3 are non-standard long sizes.

  Here, FIG. 3 in addition to FIG. 1 will be used to more specifically describe the configuration of the print data generation apparatus 10 in the present embodiment. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the print data generation apparatus 10 receives an instruction to generate print data for CAD data designated by the operator from the viewer software 40 installed in the computer 110. In response to this, print data generation processing is executed.

  Specifically, the viewer software 40 is software for browsing CAD data, accesses CAD data designated by the operator, and displays a drawing drawn therein on a display device (not shown in FIG. 1). ) Screen. When the operator designates CAD data desired to be printed on the viewer software 40, the viewer software 40 instructs the print data generation apparatus 10 to generate print data for the designated CAD data.

  In the example of FIG. 1, the print software generation instruction is output by the viewer software 40, but the present embodiment is not limited to this example. For example, the CAD software may output a print data generation instruction.

  In the present embodiment, as a specific example of the CAD data, data composed of two-dimensional or three-dimensional vector data, for example, DXF data can be given. Further, each CAD data is stored in the CAD data storage unit 20. The CAD data storage unit 20 is constructed in a storage area of a storage device (not shown in FIG. 1) of the computer 110.

  Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the print data generation apparatus 10 includes an information acquisition unit 11. When receiving the print data generation instruction from the viewer software 40, the information acquisition unit 11 acquires a drawing size for each page of the target CAD data. Specifically, the information acquisition unit 11 uses the ActiveX control used by the viewer software 40 to acquire a size set in advance for each page, that is, a vertical and horizontal size including a margin and a picture frame. Then, the information acquisition unit 11 inputs the acquired drawing size as size information to the file creation unit 12.

  In this embodiment, the file creation unit 12 creates a conversion instruction file for instructing raster conversion for each page included in the CAD data, and registers size information (drawing size) in the conversion instruction file. Here, a specific example of the conversion instruction file will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the conversion instruction file used in the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, raster conversion operations, information for conversion (line thickness, color, etc.), etc. are registered in the conversion instruction file. Also, the drawing size is registered in the portion surrounded by the square in FIG. In the present embodiment, the conversion instruction file in which the drawing size is registered is a “file for specifying the drawing size”.

  In the present embodiment, the file creation unit 12 stores the created conversion instruction file in the file storage unit 30. Similarly to the CAD data storage unit 20 described above, the file storage unit 30 is also constructed in a storage area of a storage device (not shown in FIG. 1) of the computer 110.

  The raster converting unit 13 includes a dividing unit 14 and a converting unit 15 in the present embodiment. The dividing unit 14 acquires CAD data to be subjected to raster conversion from the CAD data storage unit 20, divides this data for each page, and obtains each data obtained by the division (hereinafter referred to as “divided data”). The data is input to the conversion unit 15.

  The conversion unit 15 accesses the file storage unit 30 and acquires a conversion instruction file corresponding to each divided data. Then, the conversion unit 15 raster-converts each divided data based on the corresponding conversion instruction file. Then, the conversion unit 15 inputs each divided data after the raster conversion to the data integration unit 16.

  As described above, the data integration unit 16 integrates the divided data after raster conversion. Then, the data integration unit 16 outputs the obtained data, that is, print data, to the plotter 50 connected to the computer 110.

[Device operation]
Next, the operation of the print data generation apparatus 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the print data generation apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, the print data generation method is performed by operating the print data generation apparatus 10. Therefore, the description of the print data generation method in the present embodiment is replaced with the following description of the operation of the print data generation apparatus 10.

  As shown in FIG. 4, first, on the operation screen provided by the viewer software 40, the operator designates CAD data to be printed and instructs printing. Thereby, the information acquisition unit 11 receives an instruction to generate print data from the viewer software 40 (step A1), and subsequently acquires size information on each page of the designated CAD data (step A2). Further, the information acquisition unit 11 inputs the acquired size information to the file creation unit 12.

  Next, the file creation unit 12 creates a conversion instruction file for instructing raster conversion for each page included in the CAD data (step A3). In step A3, the file creation unit 12 registers the size information input in step A2 in the created conversion instruction file (see FIG. 3), and then stores the conversion instruction file in the file storage unit 30.

  Next, in the raster conversion unit 13, the dividing unit 14 accesses the CAD data storage unit 20, acquires the designated CAD data, and divides it for each page (step A4). The dividing unit 14 inputs each piece of divided data obtained by the division to the converting unit 15.

  Next, the conversion unit 15 accesses the file storage unit 30, obtains a conversion instruction file corresponding to each divided data, and raster-converts each divided data based on the corresponding conversion instruction file (step) A5). In step A5, the conversion unit 15 inputs the divided data after raster conversion to the data integration unit 16.

  Thereafter, the data integration unit 16 integrates the divided data after raster conversion (step A6), and outputs the integrated print data to the plotter 50 connected to the computer 110 (step A7).

  By the way, if only a standard size drawing is targeted, a file for specifying the size of each standard such as A0 and A1 is created in advance, and the conversion unit 15 refers to this file during raster conversion. Print data with an appropriate paper size can be easily created. However, for non-standard sizes, it is difficult to create a file for specifying the size in advance, so the above-described method cannot be applied to non-standard size drawings.

  On the other hand, in the present embodiment, a file for specifying the size is created for each page, and raster conversion is performed using this file for each page. For this reason, even if the CAD data includes a page whose drawing size is out of the standard (see FIG. 2), print data having an appropriate paper size is generated.

  The program in the present embodiment may be a program that causes the computer 110 to execute steps A1 to A7 shown in FIG. By installing and executing this program on the computer 110, the print data generation apparatus 10 and the print data generation method in the present embodiment can be realized. In this case, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) of the computer functions as an information acquisition unit 11, a file creation unit 12, a raster conversion unit 13, and a data integration unit 16, and performs processing. In the present embodiment, a storage device such as a hard disk provided in the computer 110 functions as the CAD data storage unit 20 and the file storage unit 30.

  Here, a computer 110 that realizes the print data generation apparatus 10 by executing the program according to the embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a computer that implements the print data generation apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the computer 110 includes a CPU 111, a main memory 112, a storage device 113, an input interface 114, a display controller 115, a data reader / writer 116, and a communication interface 117. These units are connected to each other via a bus 121 so that data communication is possible.

  The CPU 111 performs various calculations by developing the program (code) in the present embodiment stored in the storage device 113 in the main memory 112 and executing them in a predetermined order. The main memory 112 is typically a volatile storage device such as a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory). Further, the program in the present embodiment is provided in a state of being stored in a computer-readable recording medium 120. Note that the program in the present embodiment may be distributed on the Internet connected via the communication interface 117.

  Specific examples of the storage device 113 include a hard disk and a semiconductor storage device such as a flash memory. The input interface 114 mediates data transmission between the CPU 111 and an input device 118 such as a keyboard and a mouse. The display controller 115 is connected to the display device 119 and controls display on the display device 119. The data reader / writer 116 mediates data transmission between the CPU 111 and the recording medium 120, and reads a program from the recording medium 120 and writes a processing result in the computer 110 to the recording medium 120. The communication interface 117 mediates data transmission between the CPU 111 and another computer.

  Specific examples of the recording medium 120 include general-purpose semiconductor storage devices such as CF (Compact Flash) and SD (Secure Digital), magnetic storage media such as a flexible disk, or CD-ROM (Compact Disk). Optical storage media such as Read Only Memory).

  As described above, according to the present invention, print data having an appropriate paper size for each page can be generated for a CAD file including pages whose paper size is not specified. The present invention can be applied to CAD software and viewer software for browsing CAD data, and is particularly useful in the field where creation of a non-standard long drawing is required.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Print data generation apparatus 11 Information acquisition part 12 File preparation part 13 Raster conversion part 14 Dividing part 15 Conversion part 20 CAD data storage part 30 File storage part 40 Viewer software 50 Plotter 110 Computer 111 CPU
112 Main Memory 113 Storage Device 114 Input Interface 115 Display Controller 116 Data Reader / Writer 117 Communication Interface 118 Input Device 119 Display Device 120 Recording Medium 121 Bus

Claims (9)

When the drawing data created by the computer-aided design software is being browsed by the drawing data viewing software, the print data generating device generates print data of the drawing data ,
When the drawing data includes a page in which a non-standard size is set in advance , a file creation unit that creates a file specifying the drawing size of the page for each page included in the drawing data from the drawing data When,
Dividing the drawing data into pages, and performing raster conversion based on the corresponding file for each drawing data of each page obtained by the division; and
A data integration unit that integrates drawing data of each page raster-converted by the raster conversion unit into one print data;
A print data generation apparatus comprising: The file creation unit creates the file with the size set in advance for each page included in the drawing data as the drawing size;
The print data generation apparatus according to claim 1.   The print data generation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the drawing data is configured by two-dimensional or three-dimensional vector data. A method for generating print data of the drawing data when the drawing data created by the computer-aided design software is being browsed by the software for browsing the drawing data ,
(A) When the drawing data includes a page in which a non-standard size is set in advance, a file specifying the drawing size of the page is created for each page included in the drawing data from the drawing data. Steps,
(B) dividing the drawing data into pages, and performing raster conversion on each drawing data of each page obtained by the division based on the corresponding file;
(C) integrating the drawing data of each page raster-converted in the step (b) into one print data;
A print data generation method characterized by comprising: In the step (a), the file is created with the size set in advance for each page included in the drawing data as the drawing size.
The print data generation method according to claim 4.   The print data generation method according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the drawing data is constituted by two-dimensional or three-dimensional vector data. A program for generating print data of the drawing data when the drawing data created by the computer-aided design software is being browsed by the computer using the software for browsing the drawing data ,
In the computer,
(A) When the drawing data includes a page in which a non-standard size is set in advance, a file specifying the drawing size of the page is created for each page included in the drawing data from the drawing data. Steps,
(B) dividing the drawing data into pages, and performing raster conversion on each drawing data of each page obtained by the division based on the corresponding file;
(C) integrating the drawing data of each page raster-converted in the step (b) into one print data;
A program that executes In the step (a), the file is created with the size set in advance for each page included in the drawing data as the drawing size.
The program according to claim 7. The program according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the drawing data is constituted by two-dimensional or three-dimensional vector data.

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