JP5560934B2 - Printer driver - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a printer driver, and more particularly to a printer driver capable of printing a brush pattern.

  A computer that uses the printer stores information necessary for the operation of the printer between the application software (hereinafter also referred to as “application software”) or the operating system (OS, hereinafter also referred to as “basic software”) and the printer. A printer driver for bridging and operating the printer is installed. The printer driver can cause the printer to execute a print command from an external application by exchanging data related to print settings for instructing device control or image processing with an application outside the printer driver. .

  The printer driver converts abstract graphic objects such as brush patterns and characters specified by application software into print data described in a page description language (for example, PostScript / PCL / RPCS) that can be processed by the printer. Yes. The user's needs are that the brush pattern and character font used for painting can reproduce the same appearance print even when the printer to be used is different.

  Some brush patterns used in application software are predefined in the graphics subsystem of the basic software (for example, “Graphics Device Interface” in Windows (registered trademark) of Microsoft Corporation) and others are user-defined. .

A technology for developing a brush pattern image according to the print resolution in the printer driver and a technology for developing a brush pattern image according to the print resolution on the printer side from print data described in a page description language are already known (for example, And Patent Documents 1 to 4).
In Patent Document 1, for the purpose of providing a technique capable of forming a pattern suitable for the drawing ability of an image forming apparatus on a raster image to be drawn, the brush data is enlarged according to the printing resolution based on the printing resolution of the printer apparatus. Alternatively, the ROP number associated with the arithmetic expression using the brush data is converted into a combination of ROP numbers associated with the arithmetic expression using the source bitmap without using the brush data, and corresponding to this ROP number. A configuration that realizes ROP processing equivalent to the ROP number input together with the ROP command by causing the ROP processing unit to execute the ROP processing using the brush data after the enlargement or reduction processing as a source bitmap is disclosed. Yes.
Patent Document 2 discloses a despooler for the purpose of unifying the appearance (drawing attributes) of hatch brushes in all print data generation units in a printer driver that outputs print data by switching a plurality of print data generation units for each page. Disclosed is a technology for acquiring a drawing attribute built in a printer in advance and registering it as a drawing attribute used in the print data generation unit when registering a drawing attribute representing a hatch brush pattern in the print data generation unit Has been.
Patent Document 3 discloses a reference magnification for enlarging a brush for the purpose of providing an image forming apparatus capable of printing in a size that can be easily recognized even when printing on a printer with a high print resolution. Is set separately for the vertical and horizontal directions, and a brush pattern expansion process is performed according to the set magnification.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-151867 discloses that both a printer control device and a printer are used in a printing system using a printer control device of a terminal device and a printer for the purpose of matching the print result RIP on the printer driver side with the print result RIP on the controller side. Discloses a configuration for commonly using various drawing-related data used for drawing processing.

On the other hand, the printer receives a print image data generated by the host and prints using the print image data, and a language representation in which the print image generated by the host is described in a page description language. There is an intelligent printer (PDL machine) that interprets commands and expands into bitmap data to perform printing. A conventional host-based printer prints print image data received from the host as it is, and a conventional PDL machine The printer side has a plurality of fonts (printer fonts), and the font (screen font) displayed on the display connected to the host is replaced with the printer font for printing. For this reason, there are cases where document character compatibility cannot be maintained between a document printed by a PDL machine and a document printed by a host base printer.
Therefore, as a technique for causing a host-based printer to print a document with the same typographic format as the font replacement printing of a PDL machine, a method of holding font data in a printer driver in advance has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 5). .

  As described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-228688, regarding fonts, if the printer driver is configured to have a printer font, the same output can be obtained even between different models. In recent years, fonts provided by font makers have become more prevalent on the premise that they are installed only on the host side, such as OpenType fonts, rather than fonts built in printers. If the font used in the application software is a font installed on the host, there will be no difference in the design and shape of the printed characters even if the printer driver changes. Further, even when the printer built-in font is used in the application software, it is possible to match the print results by installing the same or similar font as the printer built-in font on the host side.

However, for graphic objects such as characters and lines, brush patterns are defined by the basic software graphic subsystem in the conventional printer driver, although the drawing area used is large and the difference is conspicuous. There is no specific specification of how the brush pattern to be printed must be printed.
Even when the same brush pattern is used on application software, the definition of the brush pattern supported by the printer itself is different between models, the print settings such as resolution, There is a problem that a difference occurs in an actual print result due to a difference in processing contents of the brush pattern defined in the print data conversion unit of the printer driver. In the methods described in Patent Documents 1 to 4, there is a problem that the appearance of the brush pattern when printed by a printer driver for another model printer cannot be matched with the brush pattern printing result in the printer that actually performs printing. It cannot be resolved.

  Specifically, when a brush pattern of “45 degree cross hatch” as shown in FIG. 8 is specified by the application software, “the distance between the lines must be set to how many millimeters”, “ There are no specific specifications such as `` how many dots the width should be '' and there is no ideal output result, so there are differences in the output result of the brush pattern depending on the model and printer driver, and the appearance can be adjusted There was a problem that I could not. As described above, when a printer is replaced or added, there has not yet been proposed a method for matching the appearance of the brush pattern with the model before the update and obtaining a print output with no difference.

  Therefore, according to the present invention, when a change such as replacement or update of a printer is performed, it is possible to obtain a brush pattern print result that is not different from the brush pattern print output by the old printer before the change. An object is to provide an adjustable printer driver.

The present invention provided to solve the above problems is as follows.
[1] A printer driver that accepts document data created by application software, operates on an operating system (OS), and generates print data.
A printing condition setting section for setting printing conditions;
A print data generation unit that generates print data according to the print conditions;
A brush pattern registration processing unit for registering brush pattern data of an arbitrary printer in a storage device as a table;
A brush pattern editing processing unit for editing the registered brush pattern data ;
Means for searching for another printer driver registered in the operating system ,
The print data is generated from the brush pattern specified from the table ,
The brush pattern registration processing unit acquires brush pattern data corresponding to the found other printer driver from print data output from the other printer driver, and registers it in the table of the storage device. This is a printer driver.
[2] A printer driver that accepts document data created by application software, operates on an operating system (OS), and generates print data.
A printing condition setting section for setting printing conditions;
A print data generation unit that generates print data according to the print conditions;
A brush pattern registration processing unit for registering brush pattern data of an arbitrary printer in a storage device as a table;
A brush pattern editing processing unit for editing the registered brush pattern data;
Means for searching for another printer driver registered in the operating system ,
The print data is generated from the brush pattern specified from the table,
The brush pattern registration processing section retrieved the acquired data of the brush pattern from the print samples printed by another printer driver, features and to pulp to register the data of the brush pattern in the storage device It is a linter driver.
[3] A unit for instructing the other printer driver registered in the operating system to print the brush pattern, and a unit for extracting the printed brush pattern for each style attribute,
The printer driver according to [1] or [2] , wherein the brush pattern registration processing unit registers the brush pattern in the storage device for each attribute of the style.
[4] A printer driver that receives document data created by application software, operates on an operating system (OS), and generates print data.
A printing condition setting section for setting printing conditions;
A print data generation unit that generates print data according to the print conditions;
A brush pattern registration processing unit for registering brush pattern data of an arbitrary printer in a storage device as a table;
A brush pattern editing processing unit for editing the registered brush pattern data;
Means for instructing the other printer driver registered in the operating system to print the brush pattern;
Means for extracting the printed brush pattern for each style attribute ;
The print data is generated from the brush pattern specified from the table,
The brush pattern registration processing unit, a feature and be pulp printer driver that registered in the storage device the brush pattern for each attribute of the style.
[5] The brush pattern edit processing unit stores the brush pattern registered in the storage device in units of pixels, and the adjusted brush pattern is stored in the table as new brush pattern data. A printer driver according to any one of [1] to [4].

  According to the present invention, even when a change such as replacement or update of a printer is performed, it is possible to obtain a brush pattern print result that is not different from a brush pattern print output by an old printer before the change, A printer driver capable of adjusting the brush pattern can be obtained.

1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a printing system that uses a printer driver of the present invention. FIG. It is an example of the brush pattern information list which the printer driver of this invention refers. It is an example of the brush pattern table which the printer driver of this invention refers. It is an example of a brush pattern set information list referred to by the printer driver of the present invention. 4 is a flowchart illustrating processing contents of a print data generation unit of the printer driver of the present invention. 6 is a flowchart illustrating processing contents of a brush pattern registration processing unit of the printer driver of the present invention. It is a flowchart explaining the processing content of the brush pattern edit process part of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the printing result sample of a brush pattern.

  The printer driver according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described below, and other embodiments, additions, modifications, deletions, and the like can be changed within a range that can be conceived by those skilled in the art, and any aspect is possible. As long as the functions and effects of the present invention are exhibited, the scope of the present invention is included.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a printing system that uses the printer driver of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, on a computer 1, basic software 6, application software 5, a printer driver 8 of the present invention, and a printer driver 80 different from the printer driver of the present invention (in the example shown in FIG. 1, a printer driver). A (80a), printer driver B (80b), and printer driver C (80c)) are incorporated, and the computer 1 and the printer 2 are connected by the communication means 3. The computer 1 includes a CPU that performs various arithmetic processes, a ROM that stores various programs, a RAM that is used as a work area when the CPU executes a program, and a storage device 9 that stores various data and applications (for example, a hard disk device). And an interface connected to the printer 2 so as to be capable of bidirectional communication, a display unit including a liquid crystal display for displaying various information, an input unit including a keyboard, a pointing device, and the like.

The flow of printing the document data 4 by the printer 2 is as follows.
The application software 5 reads the document data 4 and instructs the printer driver 8 of the present invention to print via the graphic subsystem 7 of the basic software 6. The printer driver 8 of the present invention converts the drawing contents of the document data 4 transmitted from the basic software 6 into print data that can be processed by the printer 2 in accordance with the printing conditions 10 instructed by the user. The converted print data is transmitted to the printer 2 by the communication means 3 via the basic software 6.
The printer 2 has a configuration of a known printer device (inkjet printer, laser printer, etc.), and mainly includes a paper feed unit, a paper transport unit, a paper discharge unit, an image forming unit, and a control unit that performs overall control thereof. . The control unit controls the image forming unit based on the received print data to form an image. The content of the image data is printed on the paper fed from the paper feeding unit of the printer 2 and the paper is sent to the paper discharge unit by the paper transport unit.

  The printer driver 8 of the present invention includes a printing condition setting unit 11, a print data generation unit 12, a brush pattern registration processing unit 13, and a brush pattern editing processing unit 14, and stores brush pattern data as a table in the storage device 9 of the computer 1. You can register and hold. Specifically, a brush pattern table 30, a brush pattern information list 40, and a brush pattern set information list 50 can be held.

  The printing condition setting unit 11 has a function of displaying a setting screen for the printing condition 10 in response to a request from the application software 5 or the graphic subsystem 7 and receiving a user setting. Examples of the printing condition 10 include a paper size used in the printer 2, single-sided / double-sided printing, selection of a paper supply / discharge destination, printing resolution, and the like.

  The print data generation unit 12 has a function of converting each drawing content of the document data 4 transmitted from the graphic subsystem 7 into print data that can be processed by the printer 2 in accordance with the print condition 10 instructed by the user. At this time, if there is an instruction to use a brush in the drawing content of the document data 4, for example, the flow shown in steps S103 to S105 in FIG. 5 is performed in order to determine what image data the brush should be converted into. Then, print data is generated from the brush pattern registered in the storage device 9.

In addition to the printer driver 8 of the present invention, a plurality of printer drivers 80 for other printers are incorporated in the computer 1, and a printer 81 corresponding to the printer driver 80 is connected by the communication means 3.
When printing the document data 4 with the printer 81, the application software 5 reads the document data 4 and instructs the printer driver 80 to print via the graphic subsystem 7 of the basic software 6. The printer driver 80 converts the drawing contents of the document data 4 transmitted from the basic software 6 into print data that can be processed by the printer 81 in accordance with the printing condition 10 instructed by the user. The converted print data is transmitted to the printer 81 by the communication means 3 via the basic software 6.
The printer 81 has a configuration of a known printer device (inkjet printer, laser printer, etc.), and mainly includes a paper feed unit, a paper transport unit, a paper discharge unit, an image forming unit, and a control unit that performs overall control thereof. . The control unit controls the image forming unit based on the received print data to form an image. The content of the image data is printed on the paper fed from the paper feeding unit of the printer 81, and the paper is sent to the paper discharge unit by the paper transport unit. In the present embodiment, the configuration having the printer driver 80 and the printer 81 for other printers has been described. However, the configuration is not necessarily essential.

In the printer driver 8 of the present invention, the brush pattern registration processing unit 13 registers and holds the brush pattern converted by the printer driver 80 of another model and printed by the printer 81 in the brush pattern table 30 of the storage device 9. The print data generation unit 12 can refer to the brush pattern, and the brush pattern registered by the brush pattern editing processing unit 14 can be edited.
Also, by holding the brush pattern when printing from different printer drivers as a table at the time of shipment from the factory, the same result as when printing from another printer driver with reference to this table can be obtained. A brush pattern can be generated.

FIG. 2 shows a brush pattern information list 40 held in the storage device 9 referred to by the printer driver 8 of the present invention.
The brush pattern information list 40 includes brush patterns that have been defined in the graphics subsystem 7 of the basic software (called Graphics Device Interface in Microsoft Windows (registered trademark)) and brushes that cover user-defined brush patterns. A style 41 and a style attribute 42 are prepared. A plurality of brush pattern information 44 is registered in advance in the brush style 41 and the style attribute 42, and a brush pattern identifier 43 is assigned to each.
In the brush pattern information 44, detailed brush pattern data corresponding to various printing conditions (for example, resolution designation) when printing from various printer drivers including the conventional printer driver 80 is registered in advance.

  Examples of the format of the brush pattern data include raster data and a description format in a page description language, but are not particularly limited as long as the print results of the printer 2 and the other printer 80 are equivalent.

  As shown in FIG. 2, for example, in the HS_DIAGCROSS attribute of BS_HATCHED, the brush pattern data A when printing from the printer driver A is registered as the brush pattern identifier B201. The initial brush pattern data O of the printer driver 8 according to the present invention is also registered as the brush pattern identifier B200.

In the brush pattern information list 40, after the factory shipment, the brush pattern editing processing unit 14 of the printer driver 8 allocates a new brush pattern identifier 43 and adds the brush pattern information 44, or adds the added brush pattern information 44 to the brush pattern information list 40. It is possible to correct or delete unnecessary brush pattern information 44 from the brush pattern information list 40.
The brush pattern information list 40 and the brush pattern set list 50 described later can be updated using an external network connection (Internet line), a portable storage medium, or the like.

FIG. 3 shows a brush pattern table 30 held in the storage device 9 to which the printer driver 8 of the present invention refers.
As shown in FIG. 3, similar to the brush pattern information list 40, the brush pattern table 30 includes brush styles 31 including brush patterns defined by the graphic subsystem 7 of the basic software and brush patterns defined by the user. Style attributes 32 are prepared corresponding to the styles 41 and the style attributes 42 in the brush pattern information list 40. In the style 31 and the style attribute 32 of the brush pattern table 30, any one of the values of the plurality of brush pattern identifiers 43 registered in the style 41 and the style attribute 42 of the brush pattern information list 40 is stored. The

The brush pattern table 30 can be converted to any image data when the print data generation unit of the printer driver 8 of the present invention converts the brush drawing content used in the document data 4 into print data. Refer to to determine what.
For example, if the value of the brush pattern identifier 33 of the HS_DIAGCROSS style attribute of BS_HATCHED is B200, the brush pattern data registered in the brush pattern identifier B200 of the HS_DIAGCROSS style attribute of BS_HATCHED in the brush pattern information list 40 is used. The print data generation unit 12 generates print data.

  The value of the brush pattern identifier 33 can be changed by the brush pattern registration processing unit 13 and the brush pattern editing processing unit 14 of the printer driver 8 according to the purpose.

FIG. 4 shows a brush pattern set information list 50 held in the storage device 9 referred to by the printer driver 8 of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 4, the brush pattern set information list 50 is classified as shown in a type 51, and a brush pattern identifier list 53 can be defined for each name 52.
In the initial value of type 51, brush pattern data that is the initial value of the printer driver 8 of the present invention is registered, and the values defined in the brush pattern identifier list 53 are the style 41 and the brush pattern information list 40. This is the value of each brush pattern identifier 43 registered in the style attribute 42.

In the type 51 printer driver, brush pattern data when printing from various printer drivers is registered in advance at the time of shipment from the factory, and the values defined in the brush pattern identifier list 53 are the same as the initial values of the type. The brush pattern identifier 43 registered in the style 41 and the style attribute 42 of the brush pattern information list 40 is shown.
For example, B201 registered in the printer driver A indicates B201 of the bra pattern identifier 43 registered in the HS_DIAGCROSS style attribute of BS_HATCHED in the brush pattern information list 40, and the brush pattern when printing from the printer driver A is performed. Data is registered as a bra pattern identifier B201.

  The user-defined name 52 and the brush pattern identifier list 53 of the type 51 are added, corrected, and deleted by combining the brush patterns at once by the brush pattern registration processing unit 13 and the brush pattern editing processing unit 14 of the printer driver 8. Can do.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining processing contents in the print data generation unit 12 of the printer driver 8 of the present invention.
When the drawing process for converting the drawing content of the document data 4 into the print data is started, the print data generation unit 12 determines whether or not the drawing content is drawing using a brush (S101). If the drawing does not use a brush, normal print data generation processing is performed (S102). When drawing using a brush, the brush pattern table 30 is referenced using the brush style and style attribute specified in the document data 4 as keys, and a brush pattern identifier 33 matching the style 31 and style attribute 32 is obtained. Search is performed (S103).

  Next, with reference to the brush pattern information list 40 using the brush pattern identifier 33 obtained in S103 as a key, the brush pattern information 44 matching the style 31, style attribute 32, and brush pattern identifier 33 is searched (S104). Print data is generated from the brush pattern information 44 obtained in S104 in accordance with the print condition 10 such as the print resolution (S105). Then, the steps from S101 to S105 are repeated until the drawing process is completed (S106).

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining processing contents in the brush pattern registration processing unit 13 when registering the brush pattern identifiers 33 in the brush pattern table 30 referred to by the print data generation unit 12 of the printer driver 8 of the present invention. .
The batch registration of the brush pattern is performed when the printer driver initialization process is called from the basic software 6 when the printer driver 8 is installed, or when the batch registration of the brush pattern is instructed on the setting screen of the printer driver 8. be able to.

  When instructed to start batch registration of brush patterns, the brush pattern registration processing unit 13 uses an API (Application Program Interface) provided by the basic software 6 and uses other (conventional) installed in the basic software 6. The printer driver 80 is searched, and the name of the printer driver 80 set as the printer to be used normally is acquired (S201). When the batch registration of the brush pattern is instructed on the setting screen of the printer driver 8, all other printer drivers 80 installed in the basic software 6 are displayed on the screen, and the desired print result of the brush pattern is desired. The name of the printer driver 80 may be acquired by the user selecting the printer driver 80.

With reference to the brush pattern set information list 50, the name of the printer driver of type 51 is searched using the name of the printer driver 80 acquired in S201 as a key (S202). It is determined whether a name 52 that matches the acquired name of the printer driver 80 exists in the brush pattern set information list 50 (S203). If there is a matching name 52 in S203, a brush pattern identifier list 53 corresponding to the matching name 52 is acquired from the brush pattern set information list 50 (S204).
The acquired values of the brush pattern identifier list 53 are set as the values of the corresponding style 31 and style attribute 32 of the brush pattern table 30 (S205), and the brush pattern batch registration process is terminated.

  On the other hand, if there is no matching name 52 in S203, the acquired printer driver 80 is instructed to print the brush pattern sample data (S206). The sample data of the brush pattern is provided in the printer driver 8 of the present invention, and is painted using brush styles and style attributes covering the brush patterns already defined by the graphic subsystem 7 of the basic software 6 and the user-defined brush patterns. A pattern can be printed.

  The printer driver 80 converts the brush pattern sample data into print data and causes the printer 81 to print via the communication means 3 (S207). A print sample of the brush pattern printed by the printer 81 is taken in as image data into the computer 1 using means such as a scanner device (S208). The means for taking the print sample of the brush pattern printed by the printer 81 into the computer 1 is not particularly limited, and means capable of converting an image printed on a recording medium such as paper into electronic image data. I just need it.

In the embodiment described above, the brush pattern data is acquired from the print sample printed by the printer 81 from the data converted by the printer driver 80 into the print data. However, the print data from the printer driver 80 is stored in the printer 81. You may acquire brush pattern data from printing data itself, without transmitting.
As a specific method, for example, it can be obtained by the following methods (1) to (5).
(1) The printer driver 8 of the present invention temporarily changes the output destination of the conventional printer driver 80 from a printer port to a file.
(2) The printer driver 8 of the present invention instructs the conventional printer driver to print a brush pattern.
(3) The file output by the printer driver 80 is read by the printer driver 8 of the present invention.
(4) Analyzing the contents of the file to extract brush pattern data.
(5) Return the output destination of the printer driver 80 to the printer port before the change.
The brush pattern data can be acquired by the above method.

The printer driver 8 of the present invention reads the image data captured in the computer 1 in S208, determines the portion where each brush style and style attribute is printed, and extracts each brush pattern (S209).
The brush pattern extracted in S209 is added to the brush pattern information list 40 for each brush style 41 and style attribute 42, and a brush pattern identifier 43 is assigned (allocated) to each brush pattern (S210).
The brush pattern information 44 registered in S210 may be the raster data extracted in S209, or may be converted into a description format using a page description language. Further, if the brush pattern information 44 registered in S210 is the same as that already existing in the brush pattern information list 40, the existing brush pattern identifier 43 is used without newly adding the brush pattern information 44. Good.

  The set of brush pattern identifiers 43 determined in steps S209 to S210 is the area 51 where the type 51 of the brush pattern set information list 50 is set by the user, the name of the printer driver 80 acquired in S201 is the name 52, and the brush pattern identifier list 53 (S211). Next, a brush pattern identifier list 53 corresponding to the name 52 of the printer driver 80 acquired in S201 is acquired from the brush pattern set information list 50 (S204), and the value of the acquired brush pattern identifier list 53 is stored in the brush pattern table 30. The values are set as the values of the corresponding style 31 and style attribute 32 (S205), and the batch registration process of the brush pattern is completed.

  As described above, the brush pattern when the printer 81 is printed using the printer driver 80 for other models can be registered in the printer driver 8 of the present invention at once.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing for changing a brush pattern registered in the brush pattern table 30 in the brush pattern editing processing unit 14 of the printer driver 8 of the present invention.
The brush pattern editing processing unit 14 can change the registered contents of the brush pattern table 30, the brush pattern information 40, and the brush pattern set information list 50 that the print data generating unit 12 refers to. This can be done when an instruction to add, change, or delete a brush pattern is given on the setting screen of the driver 8.

When a brush pattern change is instructed, the brush pattern editing processing unit 14 refers to the brush pattern table 30 and displays a list of brush styles 31 and style attributes 32 on the screen of the computer 1 (S301). From the brush pattern information 44 in the brush pattern information list 40 corresponding to the value of the identifier 33, the brush pattern rasterized according to the print resolution is displayed on the screen (S302).
The rasterized brush pattern displayed in S302 can designate dot on / off for each pixel on the screen of the computer 1 (S303). When adjustment for each pixel of the brush pattern is completed, a new brush pattern identifier 43 is assigned (allocated), and is added as brush pattern information 44 to the area 41 of the corresponding brush style 41 and style attribute 42 in the brush pattern information list 40. (S304).

  The brush pattern information 44 registered in S304 may be the raster data specified in S303, or may be converted into a description format using a page description language. If the brush pattern information 44 registered in S304 is the same as that already existing in the brush pattern information list 40, the existing brush pattern identifier 43 may be used without newly adding the brush pattern information 44.

The brush pattern identifier 43 determined in steps S301 to S304 is added to the brush pattern identifier list 53, with the type 51 of the brush pattern set information list 50 being set as the user setting area and the arbitrary name given by the user as the name 52. (S305).
The value of the brush pattern identifier 43 determined in S304 is set as the value of the corresponding style 31 and style attribute 32 in the brush pattern table 30 (S306), and the brush pattern editing process is terminated.

  Thus, the brush pattern information 44 used when the print data generation unit 12 converts the brush drawing contents of the document data 4 into the print data can be edited.

  As described above, the printer driver of the present invention holds brush patterns for a plurality of arbitrary printers in advance and refers to these, or refers to the brush pattern information selected by the user among these brush patterns. Since the pattern can be generated, by providing the printer driver of the present invention, for example, even when the printer is replaced by replacement, printing equivalent to the brush pattern familiar to the user printed with the old printer The result can be easily obtained even with a new printer.

In particular,
[1] A printer driver 8 that receives document data 4 created by the application software 5 and operates on an operating system (OS) 6 to generate print data, and a print condition setting unit for setting print conditions 11, a print data generation unit 12 that generates print data according to the printing conditions, a brush pattern registration processing unit 13 that registers brush pattern data of an arbitrary printer as a table in the storage device 9, and the registered A printer driver that includes at least a brush pattern editing processing unit 14 that edits brush pattern data, and generates the print data from the brush pattern specified from the table. If a change such as replacement or update of the printer is performed by It is possible to obtain a brush pattern printing results without differences between the brush pattern printout familiar by old printer, further, it is possible to adjust the brush pattern.
[2] The printer driver of [1] includes means for searching for another printer driver 80 registered in the operating system 6, and the brush pattern registration processing unit 13 corresponds to the searched other printer driver 80. Since the data of the brush pattern to be acquired is acquired from the print data output from the other printer driver 80 and registered in the table of the storage device 9, the brush pattern is not transmitted from the other printer driver 80 to the printer 81. And the brush pattern referred to by the print data generation unit 12 can be registered in the storage device 9 at once.
[3] The printer driver of [1] includes means for searching for another printer driver 80 registered in the operating system 6, and the brush pattern registration processing unit 13 performs printing using the searched other printer driver 80. In order to obtain the brush pattern data from the printed sample and register the brush pattern data in the storage device 9, the printer driver 80 used before installing the printer driver 8 of the present invention in the basic software 6 is used. The brush patterns referred to by the print data generation unit 12 can be collectively registered in the storage device 9 so as to be the brush pattern at the time of printing.
[4] In the printer driver according to any one of [1] to [3], means for instructing another printer driver 80 registered in the operating system 6 to print the brush pattern; Means for extracting a brush pattern for each style attribute, and the brush pattern registration processing unit 13 registers the brush pattern in the storage device 9 for each style attribute. Even if not, the brush pattern when printing from an unregistered printer can be collectively registered in the table.
[5] In the printer driver according to any one of [1] to [4], the brush pattern editing processing unit 14 is adjusted with means for adjusting the brush pattern registered in the storage device 9 in units of pixels. And a means for storing the brush pattern in the table as new brush pattern data. Therefore, the adjustment of the brush pattern is not changed on the document data 4 for each application software 5, but by the printer driver alone. It can be adjusted at once.

1 Computer 2 Printer 3 Communication Means 4 Document Data 5 Application Software (Application Software)
6 Basic software (operating system (OS))
7 Graphics Subsystem 8 Printer Driver 9 Storage Device 11 Print Condition Setting Unit 12 Print Data Generation Unit 13 Brush Pattern Registration Processing Unit 14 Brush Pattern Editing Processing Unit 30 Brush Pattern Table 40 Brush Pattern Information List 50 Brush Pattern Set Information List 80 Printer Driver 81 printer

Japanese Patent No. 4049136 JP 2004-192323 A JP 2003-331297 A JP 2003-76516 A JP 2005-234649 A

Claims (5)

A printer driver that accepts document data created by application software, operates on an operating system (OS), and generates print data;
A printing condition setting section for setting printing conditions;
A print data generation unit that generates print data according to the print conditions;
A brush pattern registration processing unit for registering brush pattern data of an arbitrary printer in a storage device as a table;
A brush pattern editing processing unit for editing the registered brush pattern data ;
Means for searching for another printer driver registered in the operating system ,
The print data is generated from the brush pattern specified from the table ,
The brush pattern registration processing unit acquires brush pattern data corresponding to the found other printer driver from print data output from the other printer driver, and registers it in the table of the storage device. A printer driver characterized by that. A printer driver that accepts document data created by application software, operates on an operating system (OS), and generates print data;
A printing condition setting section for setting printing conditions;
A print data generation unit that generates print data according to the print conditions;
A brush pattern registration processing unit for registering brush pattern data of an arbitrary printer in a storage device as a table;
A brush pattern editing processing unit for editing the registered brush pattern data;
Means for searching for another printer driver registered in the operating system ,
The print data is generated from the brush pattern specified from the table,
The brush pattern registration processing section retrieved the acquired data of the brush pattern from the print samples printed by another printer driver, features and to pulp to register the data of the brush pattern in the storage device Linter driver. Means for instructing the other printer driver registered in the operating system to print the brush pattern, and means for extracting the printed brush pattern for each attribute of a style,
The brush pattern registration processing unit, a printer driver according to claim 1 or 2, the brush pattern and registers in the storage device for each attribute of the style. A printer driver that accepts document data created by application software, operates on an operating system (OS), and generates print data;
A printing condition setting section for setting printing conditions;
A print data generation unit that generates print data according to the print conditions;
A brush pattern registration processing unit for registering brush pattern data of an arbitrary printer in a storage device as a table;
A brush pattern editing processing unit for editing the registered brush pattern data;
Means for instructing the other printer driver registered in the operating system to print the brush pattern;
Means for extracting the printed brush pattern for each style attribute ;
The print data is generated from the brush pattern specified from the table,
The brush pattern registration processing section, the features and to pulp printer driver that the brush pattern is registered in the storage device for each attribute of the style. Means for adjusting the brush pattern registered in the storage device in pixel units, and storing the adjusted brush pattern in the table as new brush pattern data. The printer driver according to claim 1, further comprising: a printer driver according to claim 1.

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