JP5734020B2 - Print control apparatus, print control method for print control apparatus, and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a print control apparatus that generates print information for laying out and printing text information of a plurality of pages on one output sheet, a print control method for the print control apparatus, and a program.

Conventionally, when printing with a printer, there is a technique in which print data for one page is not printed on one sheet of paper, but print data for a plurality of pages is reduced and arranged on one sheet of paper. This type of layout printing is called N-page printing or Nup printing, and is used when trial printing of text for the purpose of reviewing, layout confirmation, or the like, or when it is desired to reduce the number of output sheets. Similarly, this type of layout printing is used for various purposes, such as when printing is desired with different printing styles such as font size and layout.
In addition, when Nup printing a sentence in which different paper sizes and orientations are mixed, a method is known in which a page is enlarged and reduced and arranged in a print area divided into N to be printed.
For example, Patent Document 1 describes that an area determination unit determines a print area corresponding to one logical page by dividing a physical page into N (N: natural number). Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228561 describes that the image is scaled up and down at a scaling rate corresponding to a logical page and arranged in each print area.

JP-A-11-99723

In the conventional technology, when Nup printing a sentence in which different paper sizes and orientations are mixed, a reduction ratio is reduced for each page in order to enlarge / reduce pages having different paper sizes to fit in the same size print area. It will be different. As a result, there is a difference in the size of characters and figures on each page, the consistency of the character size and figure size is lost as a whole sentence, the discriminability of the printed result is reduced, and the user effectively uses the printed result There was a problem that it was difficult to do.
The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and the object of the present invention is to maintain consistency in character size and figure size of a plurality of pages of text information in which paper sizes and orientations are mixed, and It is to provide a mechanism that can obtain a layout printing result in which printing positions are aligned.

The print control apparatus of the present invention that achieves the above object has the following configuration.
A print control device that generates print information from multiple pages of text information in which the paper size and paper orientation coexist, and the area for printing the text information of each page within the print area specified by the output paper size Confirming means for confirming to fit in an area that is an integral multiple of a reference print area determined according to the layout parameters set by the document, and the text information of each page in the area determined by the confirming means for the pages that can be printed in the print area wherein a layout means for laying shrinking at the same reduction ratio which is determined in accordance with layout parameters, and transmitting means for transmitting the print data to text information of a plurality of pages are laid by the layout unit to the printing device, wherein The layout parameter includes a bookbinding parameter for setting a binding margin amount in the bookbinding process. The means comprises determination means for determining whether or not the binding margin area in which the bookbinding parameter is set and the area for printing the text information determined to be an integral multiple of the reference print area, The layout unit determines the binding margin area when the determination unit determines that the binding margin area overlaps the area for printing the text information determined to be an integral multiple of the reference print area. The text information of the corresponding page is laid out by removing it from the area target .

  According to the present invention, even for text information of a plurality of pages in which the paper size and the paper orientation are mixed, it is possible to obtain a layout printing result in which the consistency of the character size and graphic size is obtained as a whole text and the printing positions are aligned. It is done.

1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a printing system including a printing control apparatus. It is a figure which shows the structure of the software of the information processing apparatus which shows this embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a UI displayed on a display unit illustrated in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a UI displayed on a display unit illustrated in FIG. 1. It is a figure showing the selection item which can be set with the box which sets arrangement order. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a reference print area determined by a printer driver. It is a figure which shows an example of the text information which should be processed with a printing apparatus. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method for controlling the printing apparatus. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a print area size determination rule referred to by a printer driver. It is a figure which shows the printing area size determined according to the printing area determination rule. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of alignment positions by a printer driver. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of alignment positions by a printer driver. It is a figure which shows the layout printing result of this embodiment. It is a figure which prints the structure of the text information which a printing control apparatus processes. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a print area generated by a printer driver. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a print area secured by a printer driver. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a print area secured by a printer driver.

Next, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
<Description of system configuration>
[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a printing system including a print control apparatus according to the present embodiment. In the present embodiment, a print control apparatus that generates print information from multiple pages of text information in which paper sizes and paper orientations coexist is taken as an example. Here, a case where the print control apparatus is realized by executing a print control program (printer driver) managed by the OS installed in the data processing apparatus is taken as an example.
In FIG. 1, 100 is an information processing apparatus, and 150 is a printer apparatus. Note that the information processing apparatus 100 and the printer apparatus 150 are connected via a bidirectional interface 130. Here, the bidirectional interface 130 includes a network interface such as Ethernet (registered trademark).
The information processing apparatus 100 includes a CPU 101 that executes sentence processing in which graphics, images, characters, tables (including spreadsheets) and the like are mixed based on a sentence processing program stored in the external memory 111. Here, the external memory 111 includes a hard disk (HDD), an SSD, a flexible disk drive (FDD), a USB memory, and the like.
The CPU 101 generally controls each device described later connected to the system bus 104. The external memory 111 stores an operating system program (hereinafter referred to as OS) that is a control program for the CPU 101. The RAM 102 functions as a main memory, work area, and the like for the CPU 101.

A keyboard controller (KBC) 105 controls key input from a keyboard 109 or a pointing device (not shown). A display controller (DISPC) 106 controls display on the display (display unit) 110. Here, the display unit 110 is configured by an LED display or the like.
A disk controller (DKC) 107 controls access to an external memory 111 such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a flexible disk (FDD). An external memory 111 stores a boot program, various applications, font data, a user file, an edit file, a printer control command generation program (hereinafter referred to as a printer driver), and the like.
A printer controller (PRTC) 108 is connected to the printer apparatus 150 via the bidirectional interface 130 and executes communication control processing with the printer apparatus 150.

Note that the CPU 101 executes, for example, outline font development (rasterization) processing on the display information RAM set on the RAM 102 to enable WYSIWYG on the CRT 110. Further, the CPU 101 opens various windows registered based on commands instructed by a mouse cursor (not shown) on the CRT 110, and executes various data processing. When executing printing, the user can open a window related to print settings and set the print processing method for the printer driver, including printer settings and print mode selection.
The printer device 150 is controlled by the CPU 151. The CPU 151 outputs an image signal as output information to a printing unit (printer engine) 158 connected to the system bus 154 based on a control program stored in the ROM 153 or a control program stored in the external memory 160. The ROM 153 stores a control program for the CPU 151 and the like. The font ROM of the ROM 153 stores font data used for generating the output information. The data ROM of the ROM 153 stores information used by the information processing apparatus 100 in the case of a printer that does not have an external memory 160 such as a hard disk.

  The CPU 151 can perform communication processing with the information processing apparatus 100 via the input unit 155 and can notify the information processing apparatus 100 of information in the printer apparatus. The RAM 152 functions as a main memory of the CPU 151, a work area, or the like, and is configured such that the memory capacity can be expanded by an optional RAM connected to an expansion port (not shown). The RAM 152 is used as an output information expansion area, environment data storage area, NVRAM, and the like. Access to the external memory 160 composed of a hard disk drive (HDD), IC card, or the like is controlled by a memory controller (MC) 157. The external memory 160 stores font data, an emulation program, form data, and the like in addition to the control program described above. Reference numeral 159 denotes an operation panel on which an operation switch, an LED display, and the like are arranged.

  The external memory 160 described above is not limited to one, and a plurality of external memories 160 are provided, and a plurality of external memories storing an option card and a program for interpreting a printer control language having a different language system in addition to the built-in font can be connected. May be. Furthermore, an NVRAM (not shown) may be provided to store printer mode setting information from the operation panel 159.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a software configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment.
In FIG. 2, reference numeral 200 denotes an image generation application having a function of generating a printed document. When printing is performed on the printer apparatus, the application 200 uses the graphic engine 201 to output image data to the printer driver 202. The application 200 is realized by the CPU 101 loading the RAM 102 and executing it. The application 200 also includes various applications such as sentence processing, graphic processing, and image processing, and applications that process these processes in an integrated manner.
Reference numeral 201 denotes a graphic engine (in the Windows (registered trademark) OS (registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States), which corresponds to an OS rendering means called GDI). The graphic engine has a function of relaying image data output from the application 200 to the printer driver 202.

  A printer driver 202 has a function of generating control data that can be recognized by the printer from image data received from the graphic engine 201, for example, print data composed of PDL (Page Description Language), and outputting the print data to the system spooler 203. .

A system spooler 203 has a function of outputting print data generated by the printer driver 202 to the printer apparatus 150 via a bidirectional interface. These software are stored in the external memory 111 of the information processing apparatus 100, loaded into the RAM 102 when the software is activated, and executed by the CPU 101.
Next, a user interface on the CRT 110 of the printer driver 202 in the printing system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

3 and 4 are diagrams illustrating an example of a user interface displayed on the display unit 110 illustrated in FIG. This example is a print setting screen example displayed when the page setting tab is selected in the print setting dialog of the printer driver 202 shown in FIG. The print setting dialog can be opened from the printer folder managed by the OS or the print setting screen of the application 200.
In FIG. 3, reference numeral 301 denotes a page setting sheet, which can specify print setting parameters related to page setting via the user interface. Specifically, the page setting sheet 301 includes a check box 303 for setting a fixed magnification, a box 304 for setting a basic document size, and a box 305 for setting an output paper size. Further, the page setting sheet 301 includes a box 306 for setting the number of copies to be printed, a box 307 for setting a printing direction such as a portrait and a landscape, and a box 308 for setting a page layout such as Nup. Further, the page setting sheet 301 includes a box 309 for designating free enlargement / reduction and a box 310 for setting a magnification for free enlargement / reduction.

In the present embodiment, the user determines how many pages of an original are to be printed on one sheet by selecting “1up”, “2up”, “4up”, “6up”, “8up” in a box 308 for setting a page layout. “9up” and “16up” Nin1 printing can be designated. Note that “6 up” is currently selected.
Thus, when the user designates “1 page / sheet (standard)” on the page setting sheet 301 and executes printing, one page of the document is printed on one sheet of paper. When the user designates “2 pages / sheet” on the page setting sheet 301 and executes printing, the printer driver assigns and prints a two-page document on one sheet.
Further, when the user sets the check box 303 for setting the fixed magnification, the printer driver 202 generates print data for printing with all the pages constituting the text enlarged or reduced at the same enlargement / reduction ratio. . Here, the print data includes data according to a page description language (PDL).
A preview screen 302 displays an image of a document that is actually printed according to print settings designated by the user. Reference numeral 311 denotes a button for returning to the standard, which is used to return the print setting to the default state.

Reference numeral 312 denotes an OK button. When the user presses the OK button 312, the printer driver 202 determines various print setting parameters set on the user interface. Thereafter, the printer driver 202 saves (spools) it in the setting information storage area created in the external memory 111 of the information processing apparatus 100, and then closes the print setting dialog displayed on the display unit 110.
Reference numeral 313 denotes a cancel button. When the user presses the cancel button 313, the printer driver 202 discards all the print setting parameters set in the user interface and closes the print setting dialog of the printer driver 202.
Reference numeral 314 denotes an apply button. When the user presses the apply button 314, the printer driver 202 determines various print setting parameters set in the user interface and stores them in a setting information storage area created in the external memory 111 of the information processing apparatus 100. save.

Note that the user interface example shown in FIG. 4 is a screen display example that is displayed when the finishing setting tab is selected in the print setting dialog of the printer driver 202.
In FIG. 4, reference numeral 401 denotes a finishing sheet, and the user can specify print setting parameters regarding print finishing via a user interface included in the finishing sheet 401. Specifically, a printing method 403, an arrangement order 404, and a margin 405 can be designated.
The user can specify one of single-sided printing, double-sided printing, and bookbinding printing by pressing a radio button of the printing method 403, for example. Furthermore, the user can specify the page layout order during Nup printing in a box for setting the arrangement order 404.
In FIG. 4, reference numeral 402 denotes a preview screen, which displays an image of a document that is actually printed according to print settings designated by the user.

Reference numeral 406 denotes a button for returning to the standard, 407 is an OK button, 408 is a cancel button, and 409 is an apply button.
The printer driver 202 determines the orientation of the output sheet from the designated “print orientation” and “page layout” information according to a predetermined logic.
For example, the orientation of the output paper is determined according to the following logics 1) to 4).
1) If the print orientation is “vertical” and the page layout is “1 up”, “4 up”, “9 up”, “16 up”, the output paper orientation is “vertical”.
2) If the print orientation is “horizontal” and the page layout is “2up”, “6up”, or “8up”, the output paper orientation is “vertical”.
3) If the print orientation is “vertical” and the page layout is “2 up”, “6 up”, “8 up”, the output paper orientation is “landscape”.
4) If the print orientation is “landscape” and the page layout is “1up”, “4up”, “9up”, “16up”, the output paper orientation is “landscape”.
Further, the printer driver determines the size of the reference print area from the output paper size and page layout information. That is, the printer driver sets the size of the reference print area to 1 / "page layout" of "effective print area of output paper size".

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing selection items that can be set in a box for setting the arrangement order 404 on the display screen shown in FIG.
In FIG. 5, the user sets a placement order 404, and any one of the placement order 501 from the upper left to the right, the placement order 502 from the upper left to the lower, the placement order 503 from the upper right to the left, and the placement order 504 from the upper right to the lower The arrangement can be set as the arrangement order.
In addition, when bookbinding printing is designated by the printing method 403, the user can designate the width of the saddle stitching margin at the binding margin 405. More specifically, the distance from the center of the paper (fold position) can be specified in mm.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a reference print area determined by the printer driver 202 shown in FIG. In this example, the basic document size: A4, the output paper size: A4, the print orientation: portrait, the page layout: 6 pages / 1 sheet (standard), and the fixed magnification: fixed are specified in the print setting parameters, for example. This is an example of a reference print area that is determined by the printer driver when the printer driver is present. Here, an example in which the maximum reference print area number is 6 is shown, but the maximum reference print area number is determined according to the number of pages to be laid out on one page.
In FIG. 6, reference numeral 601 denotes an A4 landscape size output sheet, 602 an A4 landscape size effective print area, and 603 a reference print area.
As shown in FIG. 6, the printer driver 202 divides an A4 horizontal size effective print area into six, and generates six print areas A, B, C, D, E, and F. Then, the size of 1/6 of the effective printing area of A4 horizontal size is set as the size of the reference printing area.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of text information to be processed by the printing apparatus according to the present embodiment. This example is an example showing an example of text in which different paper sizes and orientations are mixed.
As shown in FIG. 7, this text information is composed of pages A1, 2, 3, 5, and 8 in A4 length, page 4 in A4 width, page 6 in A3 width, and page 7 in B4 width.
[Description of processing]
Hereinafter, processing when the printer driver 202 Nup-prints the text information shown in FIG. 7 will be described.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining a control method of the printing apparatus according to the present embodiment. This example is an example of Nup printing processing by the printer driver 202. When the user activates the printer driver 202 from the application in the information processing apparatus 100, the CPU 101 reads the printer driver 202 from the external memory 111, loads it into the RAM 102, and executes it.
As a result, the print setting dialog by the printer driver 202 is displayed on the display unit 110, and the user specifies the following parameters via the UI included in the page setting sheet. In this example, the user specifies basic document size: A4, output paper size: A4, print orientation: portrait, page layout: 6 pages / one sheet (standard), and fixed magnification: fixed.
Next, when the user operates and presses the finishing tab TAB2 by operating a pointing device (not shown), the print setting dialog shown in FIG. 4 is displayed. Here, the user designates printing method: single-sided printing, arrangement order: from the upper left to the right direction via the user interface included in the finishing sheet.

Next, when the user presses the OK button 407, the printing process of the printer driver 202 is started. Each step shown in FIG. 8 is realized by the CPU 101 loading the printer driver 202 into the RAM 102 and executing it.
In step S <b> 1301, the printer driver 202 determines the output paper orientation based on the output paper size, print orientation, and page layout information specified by the user.

In this embodiment, output paper size: A4, print orientation: portrait, page layout: 6 pages / 1 sheet (standard) are specified, so the output paper orientation is landscape. In step S <b> 1302, the printer driver divides the effective print area of the output sheet by a value (Nup of Nup) specified in the page layout to generate N divided print areas. In the present embodiment, since page layout: 6 pages / 1 sheet (standard) is designated, the effective print area of the A4 landscape output sheet is divided into 6 as shown in FIG. 6, and A, B, C, Six divided print areas D, E, and F are generated.
In step S <b> 1303, the printer driver 202 determines whether “fixed” is specified for the check box 303 for setting the magnification to be fixed on the screen illustrated in FIG. 3. The designation is executed when the user checks the check box 303.
If it is determined that “fixed” is specified for the fixed magnification, the process advances to step S1304. In the present embodiment, since “fixed” is designated in the check box 303 for setting the magnification to be fixed, the process proceeds to S1304.

In step S <b> 1304, the printer driver 202 sets 1 / page layout of the “output sheet size effective print area” as a reference print area, and stores the size in the RAM 102. In this embodiment, the size of the reference print area 603 shown in FIG. 6 is determined as the size of the reference print area.
In step S <b> 1305, the printer driver 202 calculates a reference magnification according to the following equation (1) from the determined reference print area size and reference document size, and stores the reference magnification in the RAM 102.
Reference magnification = reference print area size / reference document size × 100% (1)
Next, in step S1306, the printer driver 202 acquires the size of the first page constituting the text. In step S1307, the printer driver 202 determines whether the acquired page size is smaller than the reference document size.

If the printer driver 202 determines that the acquired page size is equal to or smaller than the reference document size, the process advances to step S1308, and the printer driver 202 determines the print area size of the page as the reference print area size. Specifically, the area for printing the text information of each page within the print area specified by the output paper size is set to be an integer multiple of the reference print area determined according to the layout parameter set by the user. Determine.
On the other hand, if the printer driver 202 determines that the page size acquired in step S1307 is larger than the reference document size, the process advances to step S1309.
In step S1309, the printer driver 202 determines the print area size of the page to be an integer multiple of the reference print area size in accordance with a predetermined determination rule illustrated in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a print area size determination rule referred to by the printer driver 202 illustrated in FIG.
According to the rule of FIG. 9, when the horizontal direction of the page size is x and the vertical direction is y, the print area size is the reference print area when x ≦ reference document size is horizontal and y ≦ 3f reference document size is vertical. It becomes size.
Further, when the reference document size width ≦ x ≦ reference document size width × 2 and y ≦ reference document size length, the print area size is twice the width of the reference print area. Further, when the reference document size width × 2 ≦ x ≦ reference document size width × 3 and y ≦ reference document size length, the print area size is three times the reference print area.

When x ≦ reference document size is horizontal and reference document size length ≦ y ≦ reference document size length × 2, the print area size is twice the reference print area. In addition, when the reference document size width ≦ x ≦ reference document size width × 2 and the reference document size length ≦ y ≦ reference document size length × 2, the print area size is twice as large as the reference print area. .
Further, when the reference document size width × 2 ≦ x ≦ reference document size width × 3 and the reference document size length ≦ y ≦ reference document size length × 2, the print area size is twice the width 3 times the reference print area. Double the size.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the print area size determined according to the print area size determination rule shown in FIG. In this example, the print area size of each page constituting the text information in which different paper sizes and orientations shown in FIG. 7 are mixed is shown.
In FIG. 10, reference numeral 901 represents each page constituting the sentence, and 902 represents the print area size of each page constituting the sentence.
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 10, the print area size of pages 1, 2, 3, 5, and 8 is the reference print area size, and the print area size of pages 4, 6, and 7 is the side of the reference print area. Double the size.

In step S1310, the printer driver 202 determines whether the print area size determined in step S1309 can be secured according to the arrangement order designated by the user. If the printer driver 202 determines that a print area for allocating pages can be secured, the process advances to step S1312, and the printer driver 202 sets a print area for allocating pages as a print area that is an integral multiple of the reference print area. To confirm.
Specifically, first, the printer driver 202 searches for a divided print area to which no page is allocated according to the arrangement order, and sets it as a start point area. Next, the printer driver 202 checks whether there are divided print areas corresponding to the vertical and horizontal sizes of the print area size determined in step S1309 from the start point area in the vertical and horizontal directions in the arrangement order. Here, when the divided print area exists, it is determined that the print area size can be secured.

For example, when determining whether the print area of the first page of the text information shown in FIG. 7 can be secured, the printer driver 202 uses the divided print area A in FIG. 6 of the first output sheet as the start point area. . Then, the printer driver 202 checks whether there is a divided print area corresponding to one vertical and horizontal width of the reference print area from the divided print area A serving as the start point area. In this case, since the divided print area A exists, it is determined that the area size can be secured, and the divided print area A is set as the print area.
Similarly, when it is determined whether the print area of the fourth page of the text shown in FIG. 7 can be secured, the printer driver 202 starts from the start point area D of the first output sheet and is twice as long as the reference print area. Check to see if there are double print areas. In this case, since the divided print area D + E exists, it is determined that the area size can be secured, and the divided print area D + E is set as the print area.

If the printer driver 202 determines that a print area for allocating pages cannot be secured, the process advances to step S1311. The printer driver 202 moves the start point print area by one reference print area in the arrangement direction and performs processing. Return to S1310.
For example, when it is determined whether the print area of the seventh page of the text information shown in FIG. 7 can be secured, the printer driver 202 determines the vertical print of the reference print area from the divided print area C that is the start point area of the second output sheet. Check whether there is a divided print area for 1x and 2x horizontal. In this case, it is determined that the area size cannot be secured because there is no divided print area corresponding to twice the width from the divided print area C.

Then, the printer driver 202 moves the starting point area of the second sheet to the divided printing area D, and returns the process to S1310. When the start point area is moved, a blank page is allocated to the divided print area that was the start point print area before the movement. In the above example, a blank page is allocated to the second divided print area C.
If the print area cannot be secured on the first output paper, the printer driver 202 moves to the second output paper and secures the print area.

For example, in the arrangement order 501 shown in FIG. 5, “upward from left to right” is designated, and printing is performed in the vertical and double horizontal directions from the divided print area F that is the start point area of the first output sheet to the reference print area. Try to reserve space. At this time, the printer driver moves the start point area to the divided print area A of the second output sheet, and sets the divided print area A + B of the second output sheet as the print area.
The printer driver 202 repeats S1310 and S1311 until a print area for allocating pages can be secured.
In step S <b> 1313, the printer driver 202 determines the alignment position according to the arrangement order information as illustrated in FIG. 11.

11 and 12 are diagrams illustrating examples of alignment positions by the printer driver 202 illustrated in FIG. This example shows an example of a reference position for aligning the pages when “upward from left to right” is specified in the arrangement order 501 or “down from upper left to the bottom” is specified in the arrangement order 502.
As shown in FIG. 11, in this case, the alignment positions of the print data are the upper side and the left side. Lines C1 to C3, L1, and L2 exemplify reference positions for arrangement.
FIG. 12 is an example showing an example of the alignment position when the arrangement order 503 specifies “upper right to left” or the arrangement order 504 “upper right to down”. In this case, the alignment position of the print data is The upper side and the right side. The layout examples shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 are examples in which the printer driver 202 lays out text information for the number of pages smaller than the maximum standard print area number that can be secured in the print area determined according to the layout parameter in the print area. It is. This is the case where the maximum number of reference print areas shown in FIG.

In the present embodiment, since “from the upper left to the right” is specified in the arrangement order, the print data alignment positions are the upper side and the left side.
Next, in step S <b> 1314, the printer driver 202 reduces the page constituting the sentence with the reference magnification stored in the RAM 102, and assigns the pages to the print area determined in step S <b> 1312 with the same position. Specifically, the text information of each page is reduced in the area determined by the printer driver 202 by the same reduction ratio determined according to the layout parameter for the pages that can be printed in the print area, and is laid out (assigned).
In step S <b> 1315, the printer driver 202 determines whether allocation of pages constituting all sentences has been completed. If the printer driver 202 determines that all allocation has not been completed, the process returns to S1306, and the printer driver 202 performs allocation processing for the next page.
Note that the printer driver 202 repeats the processes of S1306 to S1315 until the assignment of all pages constituting the text is completed.

On the other hand, if the printer driver 202 determines that all sentence assignments have been completed in S1315, the process proceeds to S1318. When the printer driver 202 transmits the generated print data to the printer apparatus 150 to execute printing, the process proceeds to FIG. The output shown is output. The layout example shown in FIG. 13 is an example in which the text information of each page is laid out so that the reference position of each page is aligned with the arrangement position determined in the arrangement order specified by the layout parameter.
That is, each page constituting the sentence of FIG. 7 is reduced at the same reduction ratio, and the pages 1 to 5 of the sentence are 5up on the first output sheet, and the pages 6 to 8 of the sentence are on the second output sheet. Printing is performed with 3up aligned.
On the other hand, if the printer driver 202 determines that “fixed” is not designated in S1303, the process proceeds to S1316.
In step S1316, in order to generate print data, the printer driver 202 enlarges or reduces the pages constituting the text information so as to fit in the divided effective print area, and assigns the pages in the order specified in the arrangement order.

Next, in step S <b> 1317, the printer driver 202 determines whether allocation of pages constituting all sentences has been completed. If the printer driver 202 determines that all allocation has not been completed, the process returns to S1316, and the printer driver 202 performs allocation processing for the next page. Then, the printer driver 202 repeats the processes of S1316 and S1317 until the allocation of all the pages constituting the text information is completed.
On the other hand, if the printer driver 202 determines that all sentence assignments have been completed in S1317, the process advances to S1318. In step S1318, the printer driver 202 transmits the generated print data to the printer apparatus 150 to execute printing, and the process ends. In this case, since the pages having different paper sizes are enlarged / reduced in S1316 so as to fit in the print area of the same size, printed materials having different reduction ratios are output for each page.

  According to the present embodiment, when Nup printing a sentence in which different paper sizes and orientations are mixed, it is possible to obtain an easy-to-read printed matter in which the size of the characters and figures of the page is uniform and the position of the page is uniform throughout the sentence. It becomes possible to output.

[Second Embodiment]
In the above-described embodiment, the case where the text in which different paper sizes and orientations are mixed is described in Nup printing. However, the processing in the case where the text in which different paper sizes and orientations are mixed is subjected to Nup bookbinding printing will be described.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of text information processed by the print control apparatus according to the present embodiment. This example is an example of text information in which different paper sizes and orientations are mixed.
As shown in FIG. 14, this text information is an example in which pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 are configured as A4 vertical and the sixth page is A4 horizontal.
When the user activates the printer driver 202 from the application in the information processing apparatus 100, the CPU 101 reads the printer driver from the external memory 111 and loads it into the RAM 102 for execution.

Then, since the printer driver 202 displays the print setting dialog shown in FIG. 3 on the display unit 110, the user designates the following parameters via the user interface included in the page setting sheet. Specifically, the user specifies basic document size: A4, output paper size: A4, print orientation: portrait, page layout: 8 pages / sheet, fixed magnification: fixed as parameters.
Next, when the user presses the finishing tab, the print setting dialog in FIG. 4 is displayed on the display unit 110. Here, the user designates printing method: bookbinding printing, arrangement order: upper left to right direction, binding margin 30 mm, and presses the OK button 407 via the user interface included in the finishing sheet, and the printing process of the printer driver 202 is performed. Is started. Hereinafter, the printing control method in the present embodiment will be described by appropriately showing the steps shown in FIG.

In step S1301, the printer driver 202 determines the output paper size and orientation based on the output paper size, printing orientation, and page layout information specified by the user.
In this embodiment, since the output paper size: A4 and the print orientation: vertical are designated, the output paper orientation is landscape. In step S <b> 1302, the printer driver 202 divides the effective print area of the output paper by a value (Nup of Nup) specified by the page layout, and generates N print areas.
In this embodiment, since page layout: 8 pages / sheet is designated, the effective print area of the A4 landscape output paper is divided into 8 as shown in FIG. 15, and A, B, C, D, E , F, G, and H are generated.

FIG. 15 is a diagram for explaining a print area generated by the printer driver 202 shown in FIG. In this example, the printer is set when the print setting parameter specifies basic document size: A4, output paper size: A4, print orientation: portrait, page layout: 8 pages / sheet, and fixed magnification: fixed. It is an example of the reference | standard printing area which a driver fixes.
In FIG. 15, reference numeral 1401 denotes a reference print area, and 1402 denotes a saddle stitch margin area.
As in the first embodiment, the printer driver 202 divides the A4 horizontal size effective print area into eight and generates eight print areas A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H. To do. Then, the size of one-eighth of the effective printing area of A4 horizontal size is set as the size of the reference printing area. And the process of S1303-S1309 shown in FIG. 8 is performed similarly to 1st Embodiment.
In step S1309, in the second embodiment, the print area size of pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 becomes the reference print area size, and the print area size of page 6 is twice the reference print area. It becomes the size of.

Next, the process proceeds to S1310. Since the processes in S1310 and S1311 are the same as those in the first embodiment, the description thereof is omitted. In step S1312, the printer driver 202 determines a print area for allocating pages as a print area that is an integral multiple of the reference print area. Here, when a printing area that is an integral multiple of the reference printing area overlaps with the saddle stitching margin area, the printer driver 202 determines the printing area with a binding margin of 0 mm.
Thereby, in the case of the present embodiment, the printer driver 202 determines the print area as shown in FIG.

FIGS. 16 and 17 are diagrams for explaining the print area secured by the printer driver 202 shown in FIG. In this example, a print area reserved for the text information shown in FIG. 14 is shown. Hereinafter, a description will be given of a processing example in which when the printer driver 202 determines that the binding margin area and the reference print area overlap, the binding margin area is excluded from the binding margin setting area target and the text information of the corresponding page is laid out. To do. Note that the example shown in FIG. 16 is an example in which the bookbinding parameter is set as a binding amount in the bookbinding process, which is a layout parameter set by the user on the print setting screen shown in FIG.
In FIG. 16, 1501 is a saddle stitch margin area, 1502 is a print area for the first page of text, 1503 is a print area for the second page of text, and 1504 is a print area for the third page of text. It is. Reference numeral 1505 denotes a print area for the fourth page of the text, and 1506 denotes a print area for the fifth page of the text. Reference numeral 1507 denotes a print area for the sixth page of the text, which is secured as a saddle stitch margin of 0 mm (none). Reference numeral 1508 denotes a print area for the seventh page of the text.

In step S <b> 1313, the printer driver 202 determines the alignment position according to the arrangement order information. In step S <b> 1314, the page constituting the sentence is reduced by the reference magnification stored in the RAM 102, and the print area is determined in step S <b> 1512. Allocate and align the positions.
In step S1315, the printer driver 202 determines whether allocation of pages constituting all sentences has been completed. If the printer driver 202 determines that all allocation has not been completed, the process returns to S1306, and the printer driver 202 performs allocation processing for the next page. Note that the printer driver 202 repeats the processes of S1306 to S1315 until the allocation of all pages constituting the text information is completed.
On the other hand, if the printer driver 202 determines that all sentence assignments have been completed in step S1315, the process advances to step S1318, and the printer driver 202 transmits the generated print data to the printer apparatus 150 to execute printing.

In this embodiment, the pages constituting the text information in FIG. 14 are printed with the same reduction ratio and the same position. At this time, the saddle stitch margin of page 6 is 0 mm, and the printed matter shown in FIG. 17 is output.
On the other hand, if the printer driver 202 determines that “fixed” is not designated in S1303, the process proceeds to S1316.
In step S1316, in order to generate print data, the printer driver 202 enlarges and reduces the pages constituting the text information so as to fit in the divided effective print area, and assigns them in the order specified in the arrangement order.

In step S1317, the printer driver 202 determines whether all of the pages constituting the text have been allocated. If the printer driver 202 determines that all allocation has not been completed, the process returns to S1316, and the printer driver 202 performs allocation processing for the next page.
Then, the printer driver 202 repeats the processes of S1316 and S1317 until the allocation of all pages constituting the text is completed.

On the other hand, if the printer driver 202 determines that all sentence assignments have been completed in S1317, the process advances to S1318.
In step S1318, the printer driver 202 transmits the generated print data to the printer apparatus 150 to execute printing. In this case, since the pages having different paper sizes are enlarged / reduced in S1316 so as to fit in the print area of the same size, printed matter having different reduction ratios for each page is output. At this time, the saddle stitch margin for page 6 is 30 mm.

  In the second embodiment, an output sheet is an example. On the other hand, in the case of bookbinding printing with a plurality of output sheets, the printer driver 202 is arranged so that it is arranged in the correct order when the saddle-stitched printed matter is opened compared to the case of one output sheet. The order of the pages that make up the information must be changed and assigned to the output paper. Although there is such a difference in the layout processing, even when the output paper is a plurality of bookbinding prints, the method for determining the print area and the processing method for the saddle stitching margin are the same as when the output paper is a single sheet.

  Each process of the present invention can also be realized by executing software (program) acquired via a network or various storage media by a processing device (CPU, processor) such as a personal computer (computer).

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications (including organic combinations of the embodiments) are possible based on the spirit of the present invention, and these are excluded from the scope of the present invention. is not.
Needless to say, the present invention can also be applied to an environment in which the printer driver processing shown in the present embodiment is performed by a server device on a network, for example, a layout printing in a cloud computing environment. In this case, the user's client device has a Web browser environment for communicating with the server device, and requests a predetermined print setting screen to make a layout print request. Also, at that time, according to the print capability of the output destination that outputs the print information, the layout results different for each output destination can be previewed, and the user can change the output destination or change the layout parameters May be.
In the above embodiment, a case has been described in which text information of different paper sizes and different paper directions is laid out in one application. However, for example, each page can be freely connected or separated as in PDF. The present invention is also applicable to the case where layout processing is performed on text information of different paper sizes and different paper orientations composed of a plurality of pages.
Note that the printer driver may accept a page order change instruction from the user based on the preview result, and perform layout processing again or layout preview processing again.

100 Host computer 150 Printer 200 Application 202 Printer driver

Claims (6)

A print control device that generates print information from multiple pages of text information in which paper size and paper orientation are mixed,
Determination means for determining to fit an integer multiple of the area of the reference mark shaped region a region for printing the text information for each page in the print region specified by the output sheet size the user is determined in accordance with the layout parameters to be set When,
And layout means for laying shrinking at the same reduction ratio which is determined text information for each page in accordance with the indicia shaped area printable pages to the layout parameters in the region in which the determining means is determined,
Transmission means for transmitting print data in which text information of a plurality of pages is laid out by the layout means to a printing apparatus ;
The layout parameter includes a bookbinding parameter for setting a binding margin amount in bookbinding processing,
The layout unit includes a determination unit that determines whether a binding margin area in which the bookbinding parameter is set overlaps with the area for printing text information determined to be an integral multiple of the reference print area. ,
If the determination unit determines that the binding margin area and the area for printing text information determined to be an integral multiple of the reference print area overlap, the layout unit determines the binding margin area as a binding margin. A print control apparatus characterized in that the text information of a corresponding page is laid out without being set as a setting area target . The layout means, said print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing the reference Printout areas not laid out pages of the text information as a blank page in the arrangement order specified by the layout parameters.   The print control according to claim 1, wherein the layout unit lays out the text information of each page so that a reference position of each page is aligned with an arrangement position determined in an arrangement order specified by the layout parameter. apparatus. The layout means, according to claim 1, wherein the laying up reference Printout region sentence information fewer pages minutes than the number that can be secured in the printing area determined in accordance with the layout parameters to the Printout region Print control device. A print control method of a print control device that generates print information from multiple pages of text information in which paper size and paper orientation are mixed,
Placing step of placing to fit an integer multiple of the area of the reference mark shaped region a region for printing the text information for each page in the print region specified by the output sheet size the user is determined in accordance with the layout parameters to be set When,
In the confirmation process, a layout step of laying shrinking at the same reduction ratio which is determined text information for each page in accordance with the indicia shaped area printable pages to the layout parameters on the determined area,
A transmission step of transmitting print data in which text information of a plurality of pages is laid out by the layout step to a printing apparatus ,
The layout parameter includes a bookbinding parameter for setting a binding margin amount in bookbinding processing,
The layout step includes a determination step of determining whether or not a binding margin region in which the bookbinding parameter is set overlaps with the region for printing text information determined to be an integral multiple of the reference print region. Prepared,
In the layout step, when it is determined that the binding margin area and the area for printing the text information determined to be an integral multiple of the reference print area overlap in the determination step, the binding margin area is bound to the binding margin area. A print control method for a print control apparatus, wherein the text information of a corresponding page is laid out without being set as a setting area target . A program for causing a computer to execute the print control method of the print control apparatus according to claim 5 .

Images