JP6379862B2 - Image forming apparatus and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and a program.

  When data created by a client-side application is printed by a printer, it may not be printed correctly as expected. For this reason, a technique for displaying error contents on the client side in advance and avoiding unnecessary output of paper is known.

  For example, in Patent Document 1, when an error occurs, image output by the printer engine is stopped to avoid wasting paper, and an error image is displayed on the host computer device side so that the user can see what the error is. A print system to be confirmed is disclosed.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228688 discloses print data for preventing occurrence of “garbled characters” and “missing characters” when application data created by a client computer is transmitted via a print server and printed by a printer. A printer driver that generates application data, an application that generates application data, a font confirmation unit that confirms fonts held by the print server, a font storage unit, a warning display unit, a selection unit that accepts processing selections, and application data A technique for substituting fonts on the client computer side by a client computer having a font replacement unit that replaces the above-described font is disclosed.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-160731 JP 2009-258874 A

  If the font specified on the application is not on the image forming device such as a printer or multifunction device, there is a font substitution function that replaces the specified font with the built-in font provided on the image forming device without causing an error. Are known. However, if an alternative font is used, the font may be different from the originally specified font, and the expected result may not be obtained. Here, since font substitution is performed on the image forming apparatus side, it is difficult for the preview function on the application side to know in advance that font substitution has occurred.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus, a print server, and a program that can notify a user that font substitution has been performed by an image forming apparatus before executing printing.

The invention described in claim 1 is a receiving unit that receives print data, an analyzing unit that analyzes the print data, a detecting unit that detects that font substitution has occurred during the analysis of the print data, When the detection means detects the occurrence of the font substitution, even if it is set not to create a preview image, if there is a page where the font substitution has occurred, a preview image of the page is generated An image forming apparatus comprising: a generation unit; and a display unit that displays the preview image generated by the generation unit.

The invention according to claim 2 is a receiving unit that receives print data, an analyzing unit that analyzes the print data, a detection unit that detects that font substitution has occurred during the analysis of the print data, When the detection unit detects the occurrence of the font substitution, the generation unit generates a preview image of the page in which the font substitution has occurred even if the font substitution has occurred even if the page is not a preview image creation target. And a display unit that displays the preview image generated by the generation unit .

A third aspect of the present invention is the image forming apparatus according to the first or second aspect , wherein the generation unit generates an image for specifying a position in a page where the font substitution has occurred.

The invention according to claim 4 is a receiving means for receiving print data, an analyzing means for analyzing the print data, a detecting means for detecting that font substitution has occurred during the analysis of the print data, If the detection means detects the occurrence of the font substitution, even if it is set not to create a preview image, if there is a page where the font substitution has occurred, the page of the font substitution has occurred. A program that causes a computer to function as a generation unit that generates a preview image and a display unit that displays the preview image generated by the generation unit.
The invention according to claim 5 is a receiving unit that receives print data, an analysis unit that analyzes the print data, a detection unit that detects that font substitution has occurred during the analysis of the print data, When the detection unit detects the occurrence of the font substitution, the generation unit generates a preview image of the page in which the font substitution has occurred even if the font substitution has occurred even if the page is not a preview image creation target. And a program that causes a computer to function as display means for displaying the preview image generated by the generating means.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, even when it is set not to generate a preview image in the image forming apparatus, it is possible to notify the user that a substitute font has been generated.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to notify the user of the page in which the substitute font is generated even if the page is designated not to be a preview image creation target in the image forming apparatus.
According to the third aspect of the present invention , the user can easily know where the font substitution has occurred in the page.
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program for notifying a user of an image forming apparatus that a substitute font has been generated even if it is set not to generate a preview image. can do.
According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program for notifying a user of a page in which an alternative font is generated, even if it is a page designated not to be a preview image creation target, with the image forming apparatus. Can be provided.

1 is a diagram schematically illustrating an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the simple specific example of the printing result at the time of font substitution occurrence. 1 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of a font substitution table and font substitution recording data. It is a figure which shows an example of the processing flow of a preview image generation. It is a figure which shows the example of a list display of a preview screen. It is a figure which shows the example of a thumbnail display of a preview screen. It is a figure which shows the example of a full page display of a preview screen.

  Hereinafter, modes for carrying out the present invention (hereinafter referred to as the present embodiment) will be described with reference to the drawings.

(Outline of image forming apparatus)
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an outline of an image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. The image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment (hereinafter sometimes referred to as an apparatus or a device) has a printing function, and is provided on the device side when a user transmits a print job (print data) from a client apparatus such as a PC. A print job is stored in a storage device such as a hard disk. The accumulated print job is started when the user moves to the device side, selects his / her print job from a UI (user interface) device (operation panel or the like) of the device, and issues a print instruction. . This function is called accumulated printing.

  In accumulated printing, when a user prints his or her own print job, if the image forming apparatus is set to generate a preview image on the display unit of the operation panel, a print instruction is issued after confirming the preview image. It is common. In an environment where there are many print jobs to be accumulated, there is also a setting for preventing a preview image from being generated. Even if the setting is to generate a preview image, it takes a very long time to generate a preview image for all pages. Usually, only the first page or the next few pages are to be generated. Is generally.

  A print job instructed by the user is subjected to print data analysis by a program (print data analysis means) of the image forming apparatus to form a print image (this process is sometimes called Decomp). The image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a font substitution mechanism. The print data analysis unit includes a detection unit that detects the occurrence of font substitution, and a preview image that forms a preview image when the font substitution is detected. Generating means.

  When an application prints, in order to reduce the size of print data, only font designation may be described without embedding font data in a print job. The font substitution function refers to printing using a substitute font on the device side when the font specified by the application does not exist on either the print job or the device side. In general, the number of fonts used on an application is larger than the number of fonts on the device side, so such a function is necessary. The following is a simple example when font substitution occurs.

  FIG. 2 shows a simple specific example of a printing result when font substitution occurs. FIG. 2A shows a printing result when the font specified on the application is printed with a proportional font. FIG. 2B shows that the device side does not have a proportional font, and therefore the device side etc. This is the print result when substituting with a width font. In such a case, even if the printed information is correct, the format is corrupted and the printing result expected by the user cannot be obtained.

  FIG. 2C and FIG. 2D show examples in which the font changes depending on the font. As shown in the figure, the Chinese character “Dragon” has a different font, but generally the same character code is assigned, so that the print result varies depending on the font to be used. This can be a problem for documents that strictly handle names of people, places, etc.

  Normally, the occurrence of font substitution as described above does not result in a printing error. Therefore, the user may first notice after printing and waste paper, ink, and the like. For this reason, in the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment, the user is allowed to confirm with a preview image or the like before printing that font substitution has occurred.

  Returning to FIG. 1, when the font substitution detection unit detects the occurrence of font substitution during the analysis of the print data, the preview image generation unit generates a preview image of the page where the font substitution has occurred. Then, the preview image generated by the preview image generating means is stored in the storage device in association with the document when the font substitution occurs. After confirming the preview image, the user selects whether to execute printing or, depending on circumstances, to delete the print job.

  In addition, when the font substitution detection means detects the occurrence of font substitution, whether the detected setting is a page for which a preview image is generated, regardless of whether the setting on the device side generates a preview image or not. Regardless of whether or not, at least a preview image of a page where font substitution has occurred may be generated.

(Configuration of image forming apparatus)
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment. The image forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment mainly includes a print control apparatus 10 (also referred to as a controller) that receives print data from the client apparatus 20 and analyzes the print data to form a print image, and print control. A print image formed by the apparatus 10 is divided into a print output apparatus 30 (also referred to as a printer engine) that performs print output on a recording medium such as paper. The print control device 10 and the print output device 30 may be housed in the same housing, or may be housed in separate housings.

  Note that the print control apparatus 10 may be constructed on a print server instead of an apparatus inside the image forming apparatus 1. The print server is a computer for sharing a printer connected to itself with other computers on the network so that the printer can be used from the outside. In this case, font information built in the connected printer is stored in the printer driver of the print server or the like.

  The print control apparatus 10 typically includes a CPU 11, a RAM 12, a display device 13, an input device 14, a storage device 15, a network I / F 16, a program memory 17, a font memory 18, a non-volatile memory 19, and the like. The display device 13 and the input device 14 are UI devices that serve as an interface with the user, and may be operation panels. Further, the display device 13 and the input device 14 may be configured by a touch panel having both an input function and a display function.

  The storage device 15 is a storage device such as a hard disk or an SSD (Solid State Drive), and stores print data received via the network I / F 16. The storage device 15 also stores the preview image data described above. The program memory 17 is a ROM, EEPROM, flash memory, or the like, and stores a control program for the image forming apparatus.

  The program of the image forming apparatus 1 receives print data and other input data, transmits the status of the apparatus, forms an output image to the print output apparatus 30, controls color conversion, and controls related to the recording medium (paper size, feed (Paper cassette selection, single-sided / double-sided, N-up control, etc.), control of UI devices such as operation panels, control of post-processing devices (sorter, stapler, puncher, etc.) and control of their profiles .

  The print control apparatus 10 is a non-volatile storage that stores settings of the image forming apparatus 1, a data table, usage amounts of paper, ink, toner, and the like separately from the font memory 18 that stores the built-in font data and the program memory 17. The memory 19 is provided. The font memory 18 may be a detachable font cartridge.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment. This figure shows functional blocks realized by the program of the image forming apparatus in cooperation with the hardware described above. Note that functional blocks not related to the present invention are omitted.

  The print data receiving unit 101 of the print control apparatus 10 is a receiving unit for receiving print data from the client apparatus 20. Here, the format of the received print data (print job) is data that transmits character codes, control codes, bitmaps, etc. in line units in addition to the data format in page units described in PDL (Page Description Language). Although it may be a stream format, it will be simply referred to as PDL below.

  The print data received by the print data receiving unit 101 is temporarily stored in the storage device 15 serving as a print data storage unit. Although there may be a function to turn off the accumulated print by a setting or a control command from the operation panel or the like, when the accumulated print is turned off, the print data is directly passed to the print data analyzing unit 102. Therefore, the preview image cannot be confirmed on the image forming apparatus side before printing.

  The print data analysis unit 102 reads the stored print data from the storage device 15 and converts the print data described in PDL or the like into bitmap data considering the resolution of the print output device 30. At this time, the character code included in the print data is read out from the font memory 18 by the character code decoding unit 102a and converted into a bitmap of the print image.

  The print data analysis unit 102 is an analysis unit that analyzes the print data, and includes the font substitution detection unit 102b as described above. The font substitution detection unit 102b is a detection unit that detects that font substitution has occurred during analysis of print data. Whether or not to detect font substitution may be selected by setting from an operation panel or the like or a control command.

  When the font specified by PDL does not exist in the font memory 18, the character code decoding unit 102 a of the print data analysis unit 102 refers to the font substitution table 103 and exists the specified font in the font memory 18. Replace with built-in fonts. At this time, when the font substitution detection unit 102b detects that the font substitution has occurred, the font substitution recording data 104 for recording which font is substituted for the font designated by the PDL is stored in the RAM 12 or the nonvolatile memory 19. Write to. FIG. 5 shows an example of the font substitution table 103 and the font substitution recording data 104.

  As shown in FIG. 5A, the font substitution table 103 is a table for substituting a font (referred to as a requested font here) designated by PDL with a built-in font. The font substitution table 103 is set for each font for which a built-in font that is as close as possible to the requested font (for example, a font whose type and thickness are the same or similar) may be requested in advance. 19 etc. If the requested font is not in the font substitution table 103, an error may be generated, but a default font may be used as the substitution font. Since the font substitution table 103 is managed together with the built-in font, it is updated when the built-in font is added by a font cartridge or the like.

  As shown in FIG. 5B, the font substitution record data 104 is a table that records how the requested font is replaced with the substitution font each time the font substitution detection unit 102b detects font substitution. Yes, it includes information such as the document generated when font substitution occurs (document name or print job ID), the generated page, and the print position of the substitute font in the print page. Note that font substitution records of print jobs that have been printed are sequentially deleted.

  Returning to FIG. 4, the preview image generation unit 105 is a preview image generation unit, and refers to the PDL print data stored in the storage device 15 with reference to the font replacement recording data 104 for the page where the replacement font is generated. Generate a review image. The preview image here includes the page image of the print image and its thumbnail image. In addition, the control unit 106 controls each functional unit, in particular, issues a print execution instruction to the print output apparatus 30 and monitors its status.

  The preview image may use an image that has already undergone bitmap conversion by the print data analysis unit 102, or may be newly created by calling an image forming unit (not shown) of the print data analysis unit 102. That is, if the user print data stored in the storage device 15 has already been processed by the print data analysis unit 102, the image formed at that time is used as a preview, and the user print data stored in the storage device 15 is printed. If the data has not yet been processed by the print data analysis unit 102, an image formation request is issued to the print data analysis unit 102 to form a preview image. At this time, the preview image generation unit 105 may generate an image specifying the position in the page where the font substitution has occurred based on the font substitution recording data 104 shown in FIG.

  The preview image generation unit 105 converts the image generated in this way so that it can be displayed on the display device 13, and displays the image on the display device 13 or the operation panel. In this case, the operation panel functions as a preview image display unit. In the configuration of FIG. 4, the print data analysis unit 102 and the preview image generation unit 105 are illustrated as separate functional blocks. However, the preview image generation unit 105 may be configured inside the print data analysis unit 102.

  Thus, the functional configuration of the image forming apparatus 1 described above is merely an example, and one functional block (processing unit or storage unit) is divided, or a plurality of functional blocks are combined into one functional block. Or you may. In each processing unit, the CPU 11 of the print control apparatus 10 reads a program stored in the program memory 17 or a program provided from a storage medium such as a separately equipped CD (Compact Disc) or DVD, and the program is stored in the apparatus. It is realized by executing the computer inside. This program may be provided from the above storage medium or may be provided by downloading from the outside via a network.

(Preview image generation process flow)
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a processing flow of preview image generation. First, in step S <b> 10, the print control device 10 receives print data and stores it in the storage device 15. Next, in step S11, it is confirmed whether the apparatus setting is ON for the font substitution detection function. In the case of setting not to detect font substitution, normal print data analysis processing is performed, but description thereof is omitted here.

  If the font substitution detection function is ON, the process moves to step S12, and print data is read from the storage device 15. Next, in step S13, the print data is analyzed to check whether font substitution has occurred. The above process is repeated until the print data is completed (step S14). The processing from step S12 to step S14 may be performed when the user browses the stored job or selects his / her print job on the operation panel or the like, but is performed in advance using the idle time of processing in the apparatus. You may keep it.

  When the analysis of the print data and the confirmation of the occurrence of font substitution are completed, the process proceeds to step S15, where it is confirmed whether or not the preview creation function is ON. If the preview creation function is ON, the process proceeds to step S17. Even if the preview creation function is not ON, if the font substitute recording data 104 is in the memory, the process proceeds to step S17. In other words, regardless of whether the preview function is ON or OFF, when font substitution occurs, a preview image is generated for at least a page where font substitution has occurred in the print job.

  Step S17 and subsequent steps are preprocessing for generating a preview image. First, in step S17, the print data of the print job in which the font substitution has occurred and the font substitution recording data 104 are read. Next, in step S18, it is confirmed whether or not the print data to be processed is a preview creation target page. The target page for preview creation is a page within the target range when the target range for preview generation is set in advance because it takes a long time to generate the preview image for all pages of the print job. Say. The preview creation target page is usually set to the first page of the print job in many cases, but it may be set to a page other than the first page or several pages from the first page.

  If the page is a preview creation target page (step S18: Y), the process proceeds to step S20, and a preview image is generated. If so (step S19: Y), the process proceeds to step S20 to generate a preview image. Then, the processes in steps S18 to S20 are repeated until there is no print data stored in the storage device 15 (step S21).

  The generated preview image is displayed on the display device 13 of the image forming apparatus 1 by a user operation. The generation of the review image in step S20 may be performed in advance when the occurrence of font substitution in step S13 is detected.

(Preview screen example)
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a list display example of the preview screen. On this preview screen, the print jobs stored in the storage device 15 are displayed in a list format. Each print job displays a document name, accumulated date and time, number of pages, number of copies, and other information. For example, an icon as indicated by reference numeral 201 is added to a print job in which font substitution has occurred. Is done. When the user presses this icon, a preview of the print job in which the font substitution has occurred can be viewed. Even for a print job in which no font substitution has occurred, when the print job is selected and the preview button 202 is pressed, a preview of the print job can be viewed. After confirming the prepared image on this screen, the user prints or deletes the selected print job.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a thumbnail display example of the preview screen. On this preview screen, print jobs stored in the storage device 15 are displayed in a thumbnail format. As in the case of the list display, an icon as indicated by reference numeral 201 is added to a print job in which font substitution has occurred. To view the page of the print job, the user presses this icon or selects a print job and presses the preview button 202.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a full page display example of the preview screen. This preview screen is a screen displayed when the user presses the preview button 202 on the screen of FIG. 7 or FIG. In the example shown in the figure, the font substitution has occurred in the area denoted by reference numeral 203, and the printing position of the substitution font on the page is displayed surrounded by a square frame. Further, as indicated by reference numeral 204, information indicating how the requested font is replaced may be displayed.

  In this example, garbled characters are generated as a result of font substitution, so it is relatively easy to notice, but it may be difficult to notice at first glance where font substitution occurred. It may be. Note that when the user presses the print button 205 and actually prints the page, such highlighting is not printed.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated using embodiment, it cannot be overemphasized that the technical scope of this invention is not limited to the range as described in the said embodiment. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications or improvements can be added to the above-described embodiments. Further, it is apparent from the scope of the claims that the embodiments added with such changes or improvements can be included in the technical scope of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 10 Print control apparatus 11 CPU
12 RAM
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 13 Display apparatus 14 Input apparatus 15 Storage apparatus 16 Network interface 17 Program memory 18 Font memory 19 Non-volatile memory 20 Client apparatus 30 Print output apparatus 101 Print data receiving part 102 Print data analysis part 102a Character code decoding part 102b Font substitution detection part 103 Font substitution table 104 Font substitution record data 105 Preview image generation unit 106 Control unit

Claims (5)

Receiving means for receiving print data;
Analyzing means for analyzing the print data;
A detecting means for detecting that font substitution has occurred during the analysis of the print data;
If the detection means detects the occurrence of the font substitution, even if it is set not to create a preview image, if there is a page where the font substitution has occurred, the page of the font substitution has occurred. Generating means for generating a preview image;
Display means for displaying the preview image generated by the generating means;
An image forming apparatus comprising: Receiving means for receiving print data;
Analyzing means for analyzing the print data;
A detecting means for detecting that font substitution has occurred during the analysis of the print data;
When the detection unit detects the occurrence of the font substitution, the generation unit generates a preview image of the page in which the font substitution has occurred even if the font substitution has occurred even if the page is not a preview image creation target. When,
Display means for displaying the preview image generated by the generating means;
An image forming apparatus comprising: It said generating means, the image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 to generate an image that identifies the location within the page in which the font substitute has occurred. Receiving means for receiving print data;
Analyzing means for analyzing the print data;
A detecting means for detecting that font substitution has occurred during the analysis of the print data;
If the detection means detects the occurrence of the font substitution, even if it is set not to create a preview image, if there is a page where the font substitution has occurred, the page of the font substitution has occurred. Generating means for generating a preview image;
Display means for displaying the preview image generated by the generating means;
Program that causes the computer to function. Receiving means for receiving print data;
Analyzing means for analyzing the print data;
A detecting means for detecting that font substitution has occurred during the analysis of the print data;
When the detection unit detects the occurrence of the font substitution, the generation unit generates a preview image of the page in which the font substitution has occurred even if the font substitution has occurred even if the page is not a preview image creation target. When,
Display means for displaying the preview image generated by the generating means;
Program that causes the computer to function.