JPH08278864A - Design system and print system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To designate an output condition to a print system from a remote place when the design data of slips is outputted by designating the output condition including a priority and generating output condition data. CONSTITUTION: When the output is selected in the main menu of a design system 1 and an order number is designated from the selection image displayed on a display 6 by input devices 5 such as a keyboard and a mouse, etc., the design processing routine 13 of an arithmetic means 10 confirms the existence of a pertinent slip order, displays the order number, etc., in the management information file of design data 11 and stores a selected plotting condition as a plotting condition file. Next, when the priority of the output is set from the progress status of whole of a job, an output condition generation processing routine 14 prepares a priority directory by the date and hour when this priority and the plotting condition are set, and transfers design file of each selected order and the plotting condition files of the orders via a network 3.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system for drawing and outputting design data on paper for proofreading or the like while determining the priority. In particular, the present invention relates to a design system and a print system that perform output work in order from the item with the highest priority in the print system by the operator designating the priority in the design system and transferring data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When design data such as forms is output, not only data to be output in a printing system but also drawing output conditions are specified at the same time. That is, complicated output designation such as multiple output, only character strings, only ruled lines is performed. Further, in a stand-alone design system that is not connected by a network, the created design data is input to the print system using a floppy disk (hereinafter referred to as FD).

[0003]

Therefore, the drawing output in the conventional print system cannot accept the output designation of another design data while drawing one design data. Moreover, the operator (designer) of the design system cannot give instructions while being at the place of the design system, and the work progress including the priority order is entrusted to the operator of the print system. In addition, when the FD is used, the medium cost of the FD is high, and it takes time and labor to read and write data, manage the FD, and the like. Note that the printer (or printer driver, etc.) that is an output device connected to the print system has a spooling function that prints according to the order of input data (usually the file name and the directory name in which it exists). Usually present. However, the spooling function cannot specify the priority order and the drawing output condition.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a design system capable of designating output conditions to a print system from a remote place using a network when design data such as forms are output, and a design system. It is an object of the present invention to provide a print system that outputs while determining the priority order of design data drawing processing according to designated output conditions.

[0005]

The above object can be achieved by the present invention described below. That is, the present invention is a design system having output condition generation means for generating output condition data by designating an output condition including a priority. Further, according to the present invention, the output condition generating means adds data of generation time when the output condition data is generated to the output condition data. The present invention is also a design system in which the output condition includes a drawing condition. Further, the present invention is the design system, wherein the priority of the output condition data is given as a directory name. The present invention is also a design system in which the priority is delivery date.

Further, the present invention is a printing system having an output order setting means for setting the output order according to the priority order of the output condition data. Further, the present invention is the printing system, wherein the output order setting means sets the output order in accordance with the order of generation time of the output condition data if the output order data has the same priority order. Further, the present invention is a print system having a drawing condition setting means for setting a drawing condition.

[0007]

According to the design system of the present invention, the output condition data is generated by designating the output condition including the priority by the output condition generating means. Also, according to the design system of the present invention, the output condition data is added to the output condition data by the output condition generating means. Further, according to the design system of the present invention, output condition data including the designated drawing condition is generated. Further, according to the design system of the present invention, since the priority order of the output condition data is given as the directory name, the priority order can be determined by searching the directory. Further, according to the design system of the present invention, since the priority order is the due date, it is possible to give priority to the one whose delivery deadline is near.

According to the printing system of the present invention,
The output order setting means sets the output order according to the priority order of the output condition data. Further, according to the printing system of the present invention, the output order setting means sets the output order according to the order of the generation time of the output condition data, if the output order data has the same priority order. Further, according to the print system of the present invention, the drawing conditions are set by the drawing condition setting means.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The design system and print system of the present invention will be described below with reference to preferred embodiments. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configurations of a design system and a print system of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a portion surrounded by a solid line frame 1 is the design system of the present invention, a portion surrounded by a solid line frame 2 is the print system of the present invention, and 3 is a LAN (Local Area Network) such as Ethernet. Numeral 4 is a data store system for storing data such as design data and transferring those data to and from other systems via a LAN. Numeral 5 is an input device such as a keyboard and mouse connected to the design system. Numeral 6 is a design. A display connected to the system, an output means such as a printer,
Reference numeral 7 is an input device such as a keyboard and mouse connected to the print system, and 8 is an output means such as a display and a printer connected to the print system.

In FIG. 1, the design system 1 is further configured in detail, 9 is a storage means, 10 is a calculation means, and is a main body of a computer such as a personal computer or a workstation. In the storage means 9, 11 is design data read from the data store system 4 or created by the design system, and 12 is output condition data specified and generated by the design system. Further, in the calculation means 10, 1
Reference numeral 3 is a design processing routine for generating design data according to operator designation, and 14 is an output condition generation processing routine for generating output condition data by designating output conditions including priority.

In FIG. 1, the print system 2 is composed of further details, 15 is a storage means, 16 is a computing means, and is the main body of a computer such as a personal computer or a workstation. In the storage means 15, 17 is design data read from the data store system 4 for printing, or created and transferred by the design system, and 18 is output condition data specified and generated by the design system and transferred. , 19 are drawing output data generated by the print system 2 and output to the printer. Furthermore, calculation means 16
In 20, the output order setting processing routine 20 sets the output order according to the priority order, and in the case of the same priority order, according to the order of the earlier transfer time, 21 sets the drawing condition based on the output condition data 18. It is a drawing condition setting processing routine.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing a main menu of processing in the design system. As shown in FIG. 2, there are three main menus, "design", "output", and "end". In the "design", a process for generating the design data 11 is performed by the design processing routine 13 in FIG. In other words, forms are designed according to the operator's specifications, and a management information file that contains data such as order numbers and product names of forms, and a design file that records information about the parts designed for each part (one page of the form) And are created. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the management information file as a table. FIG. 4 is a table showing an example of the contents of the design file. Also, in "output",
The output condition generation processing routine 14 in FIG. 1 generates the output condition data 12 of the design data 11 based on the designation of the operator, and the data transfer of the output condition data 12 is performed. Further, "end" is selected when the design process is finished.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of output processing in the design system. Processing in the design system 1 of the present invention will be described by taking the case of designing forms as an example based on FIG. First, when "output" is selected in the main menu of the design system, a screen for selecting whether to specify an order for drawing and outputting appears. If "No" is selected on this selection screen, the "output" processing is terminated and the main menu is returned to. Also, when ordering, place the mouse instruction point on the order number specified from the multiple order numbers displayed on the selection screen and click the mouse button.
The display changes to highlighted display indicating that the order number has been specified. In that state, the designated order number is selected by placing the mouse pointing point on the "select" button on the selection screen and clicking the mouse button. The order number can be specified by entering the order number from the keyboard (S
1, S2).

When the order (one or more) to be output is selected as described above, the form order confirmation process is performed next. The form design system confirms whether or not the corresponding form order exists from the selected order number, that is, the order number requested to be output (S3). If it does not exist, a message prompting you to select it again is displayed.
Return to the selection screen (S4). If it exists, the order number, product name, etc. in the management information file are displayed on the screen (S
5). Next, for the order number of each selected form,
Set drawing conditions. As a drawing condition, a part to be drawn, a part, and a color plate are set. These drawing conditions are stored as a drawing condition file (S6, S7).

Next, the output priority is set. Although the delivery date may be set or the priority rank may be set as the priority order, a setting method using the priority rank will be described here. As a priority, Z,
5 ranks of S, A, B, C are used, Z is the highest, and C is
Is the lowest rank. The operator sets the output priority order based on the progress status of the entire work (S8). And
A priority directory is created in the information storage unit in the calibration system from the priority and the date and time when the above conditions are set (S9). After the creation, the design files of each selected order and their drawing condition files are transferred via the network (S10).

FIG. 6 is a table showing an example of the contents of the drawing condition file. In FIG. 6, an order number is output for “order”, a page number of a form consisting of a plurality of pages is output for “part”, a printing plate number for multicolor printing is output for “color plate”, and a drawing output is output for “component”. The specification of data is described.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the relationship between the priority directory, the design file of each order, and the drawing condition file after the file transfer. In FIG. 7, the directory name is surrounded by a box and the file name is surrounded by a circle. As shown in FIG. 7, directories "A19941081348" and "S199412081350" are provided under the directory "draw".
, "S199412081347" exist, for example, "S19
In "9412081347", "S" indicates priority, and "199"
"41208" indicates the date December 8, 1994 and "1347" indicates the time 13:47. As described above, "A".
"S" has a higher priority, and if the same "S" is the same, the one with earlier date and time has a higher priority. Therefore, in this case, "S199412081347", "S199412081350",
The priority order is “A19941081348”.

As shown in FIG. 7, for example, under the directory "A19941081348", a drawing condition file 1
Second, there are multiple directories with the order number as the directory name. Further, there are a plurality of design files (one in the figure) under the order number directory.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing a process of processing in the print system. FIG. 9 is a flow chart for explaining the details of the sorting process in FIG. The processing in the print system will be described with reference to FIGS.
First, the printing system searches the priority directory to confirm the existence of the priority directory. That is, a priority directory under the directory "draw" in FIG. 7 is searched (S101). If the priority directory does not exist, the search operation is repeated. That is, the standby state is set (S102).

If a priority directory exists, the contents (or name) of the priority directory are read (S201), sorted according to the priority of the first 1 byte (S202), and the same priority is given. If there is, the sorting is performed in order from the earliest date and time (S203). In the example shown in FIG. 7, for the time being, "S199412081350", "S199412081347", "A19941"
If there is the same priority, the order is sorted from the earliest date / time in the priority directory, and then "S199412081347",
The order is "S199412081350" and "A19941081348" (S103). The processing of these S101 to S103 is shown in FIG.
The output order setting processing routine 20 shown in FIG.

When the print system finishes the sort process, it executes the drawing process for the highest priority "S199412081347". The drawing process reads the drawing condition file in the directory "S199412081347" having the highest priority. The drawing condition file contains data such as orders, parts, color plates, and parts. Then information about each part in the design file for that order (part, color plate,
Read the component identification code, coordinate value, and attribute) and draw only those that meet the drawing conditions.

A graphic is converted into a printer control command, and a character is converted into a dot font stored in the information storage unit into a predetermined size to create drawing output data (see FIG. 1) and output. Regarding the characters, the fonts installed in the printer are not used because the same shapes as the characters used in the plate making output machine are output. However, if the font shape installed in the printer is the same as the character output by the plate-making output machine, the printer control command may be used for the character (S104). This drawing processing is performed by the drawing condition setting processing routine 21 shown in FIG. When the drawing process is completed, the process returns to S101 and the above process is repeated.

The present invention has been described above with reference to the examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples and can be carried out in various modes, which are also included in the present invention. There is no end. For example, although the priority and the date / time are used as the contents of the priority directory, the delivery date may be used. In this case, the delivery date may be output in order from the earliest date. Further, the drawing conditions may be set before the priorities are created or after the priorities are set.
Further, in the embodiment, the sorting process of rearranging the output ranks according to the priority order and outputting the highest-ranked data has been described, but a search process of searching for and outputting the highest-ranked data may be used. . Further, the latest output order can be displayed on a display or the like after performing a sort process so that the operator who has designated the drawing output can monitor.

[0024]

In the past, design data such as forms could not be output from a design system at a remote place apart from the printing system, but the present invention makes it possible. In addition, although the workability deteriorated because the output process was managed by a person, the system automatically controls the output order by setting the priority order, date and time, so the drawing output can be performed efficiently. It can be carried out. Further, for the form output, it is necessary to output for each part, for each part, for each color plate, and for combining a plurality of orders, it is also possible to output these conditions.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing configurations of a design system and a print system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a main menu of processing in the design system.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of contents of a management information file as a table.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of contents of a design file as a table.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of output processing in the design system.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of contents of a drawing condition file as a table.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a relationship between a priority directory, a design file for each order, and a drawing condition file.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a process of processing in the print system.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating details of sort processing in the print system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Design System 2 Print System 3 LAN 4 Data Store System 5,7 Input Means 6,8 Output Means 9,15 Storage Means 10,16 Arithmetic Means 11,17 Design Data 12,18 Output Condition Data 13 Design Processing Routine 14 Output Conditions Generation processing routine 19 Drawing output data 20 Output order setting processing routine 21 Drawing condition setting processing routine

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] June 1, 1995

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0017

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the relationship between the priority directory, the design file of each order, and the drawing condition file after the file transfer. In FIG. 7, the directory name is surrounded by a box and the file name is surrounded by a circle. As shown in FIG. 7, the directory "dra
Under "w" the directory " A19941208134
8 "," S199412081350 "," S1994
12081347 ”exists, for example,“ S1994 ”.
In “12081347”, “S” indicates the priority order,
“19941208” indicates the date December 8, 1994, and “1347” indicates the time 13:47. As described above, “S” has a higher priority than “A”, and the same “S” has a higher priority when the date and time are earlier. Therefore, in the example shown here, “S1994120813” is used.
47 "," S199412081350 "," A199
412081348 "in the order of priority.

[Procedure Amendment 2]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0018

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

Further, as shown in FIG. 7, for example, under the directory " A199412081348 ", there is one drawing condition file and a plurality of directories having the order number as the directory name. Furthermore, there are multiple design files (1 in the figure) under the order number directory.
Exist)

[Procedure 3]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0020

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

If a priority directory exists, the contents (or name) of the priority directory are read (S201), sorted according to the priority of the first 1 byte (S202), and the same priority is given. If there is, the sorting is performed in order from the earliest date and time (S203). In the example shown in FIG. 7, for the time being, "S199412081350", "S199412"
The order is 081347 "and" A199412081348 ". Further, when the same priority order exists,
"S199412081347" sorts in order from the earliest date / time in the priority directory,
"S199412081350", " A1994120
The order is 81348 "(S103). These S10
The processing of 1 to S103 is performed by the output rank setting processing routine 20 shown in FIG.

[Procedure amendment 4]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] 0023

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

The present invention has been described above with reference to the examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples .
Needless to say, the present invention can be carried out in various modes, and these modes are also included in the present invention. For example, I used priority and date / time as the contents of the priority directory.
You may use the delivery date. In this case, the delivery date may be output in order from the earliest date. Further, the drawing conditions may be set before the priorities are created or after the priorities are set. Further, in the embodiment, the sorting process of rearranging the output ranks according to the priority order and outputting the highest-ranked data has been described, but a search process of searching for and outputting the highest-ranked data may be used. . Further, the latest output order can be displayed on a display or the like after performing a sort process so that the operator who has designated the drawing output can monitor.

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A design system comprising: output condition generation means for generating output condition data by designating an output condition including a priority order. 2. The design system according to claim 1, wherein the output condition generating means adds to the output condition data the data of the generation time when the output condition data was generated. 3. The design system according to claim 1, wherein the output condition includes a drawing condition. 4. The design system according to claim 1, wherein the priority order of the output condition data is given as a directory name. 5. The design system according to claim 1, wherein the priority order is delivery date. 6. A printing system comprising an output order setting means for setting an output order according to a priority order of output condition data. 7. The printing system according to claim 6, wherein the output order setting means sets the output order in accordance with the order of generation time of the output condition data if the output order data has the same priority order. 8. A printing system according to claim 6, further comprising drawing condition setting means for setting drawing conditions.