JPH0962659A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer capable of printing an optional range of a document for an optional number of times in an optional order. SOLUTION: An area to be printed in the document is specified and stored in a printing area storage part 11. Then, the printing order of the respective specified areas and for what number of times they are to be respectively printed are set and they are stored in an output form storage part 12. An input processing part 13 converts printing data to intermediate codes suited to the development of image information and then, prepares a printing control block 14 for which the storage addresses of the intermediate codes to be read are turned to a list structure and registered corresponding to the set printing order and number of times of printing. An output processing part 15 reads the intermediate code of the area indicated by the printing control block 14 successively from the head of a list, develops it to the image information and prints it. Thus, the specified areas are successively printed according to the set order and number of times.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus, and more particularly to a printing apparatus capable of printing a plurality of copies of a document to be printed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It is sometimes necessary to print a plurality of copies of the same document in a printing device such as a printer or a copying machine.
In such a case, there is a printing apparatus capable of designating printing of a plurality of copies in order to avoid repeated printing operations and improve operability. Further, some printers capable of printing a plurality of copies have a size of 1 in order to reduce the number of times print data is transferred from a document creation device such as a host computer.
There is a method in which print data received once is accumulated in the apparatus and a plurality of copies are printed based on the accumulated print data.

The printer disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-117987 develops the received print data into image information, stores it in a page buffer, and reads it a plurality of times to print the same page an arbitrary number of times. ing. With this printer, every time you instruct reprinting,
The image on the page buffer is printed repeatedly.

In the printer disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-83679, the image information of the previously printed page is held in the page memory until the next print data is received from the host computer. As a result, the same page can be printed again before the next print data is received.

In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-296815, the print data for a plurality of pages is temporarily stored in an internal memory, and the same page is not continuously output when printing a plurality of copies, but one page at a time. A printer that sorts the order and prints a plurality of copies is disclosed.

Further, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-197764 discloses a printer capable of high-speed double-sided printing by changing the order of pages printed by a printing unit. In this printer, three recording papers are continuously fed out on a relatively long conveyance path for reversing the recording papers, first three pages are continuously printed on the front side, and then three pages are continuously printed on the back side. It has become. Normally, since the print data received from the host computer is in the order of front and back for each page, the page order is exchanged and three-sided continuous printing is performed.

[0007]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention
In the prior arts disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-83679, a plurality of copies are printed by repeatedly outputting the image information held in the page buffer a specified number of times. However,
Only pages held in the page buffer can be repeatedly printed, and any page in a document cannot be printed any number of times. In addition, JP-A-3-29681
The printers disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-197764 can only print a plurality of copies of the entire document.

For example, in the case of a document consisting of forms from the Tokyo head office, Osaka branch, and Sapporo branch, there are cases in which three copies of the entire form, two copies of only the Osaka branch, and five copies of the Sapporo branch are printed. . At this time, in the printers according to these prior arts, it is necessary to divide a document in advance into a form portion of the Tokyo head office, a form portion of the Osaka branch office, and a form portion of the Sapporo branch office, and print each divided document. For this reason,
There is a problem that not only the operation load for printing is heavy but also transfer of print data takes time. Further, among the documents distributed to the five teachers and the ten students, it may be necessary to delete only a part of the document for the student and distribute it. In such a case, the documents for teachers and students must be divided in advance and printed separately,
This has caused an increase in operation load and data transfer time.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus capable of printing an arbitrary range of a document an arbitrary number of times in an arbitrary order.

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an area designating means for designating an arbitrary number of areas to be printed in a series of documents of two or more, and an area designating area designated by the area designating means. The printing apparatus includes a printing order designating unit that designates a printing order and a printing unit that prints the area designated by the area designating unit according to the printing order designated by the printing order designating unit.

That is, according to the first aspect of the invention, the areas to be printed in the document are first designated, and then the printing order of the designated areas is set. The printing unit prints the designated area in the set order. For example, by designating the entire document in the first area and the part of the document in the second area, and setting the printing order in the order of first and second, both the entire document and a part thereof are printed. You can

According to the second aspect of the present invention, an area designating means for designating an arbitrary number of areas to be printed in a series of documents by two or more, and a printing designating a printing order of the areas designated by the area designating means. The order designating means, the printing number setting means for setting the number of printing times of each area of which the printing order is designated by the printing order designating means, and the area designating means according to the printing order designated by the printing order designating means The printing apparatus is provided with a printing unit that sequentially prints the area by the set number of times of printing.

That is, according to the second aspect of the invention, the area to be printed in the document is first designated, and then the printing order of each designated area and the number of times each area is repeatedly printed are set. The printing unit prints the designated area in the designated order by the designated number of times. For example, specify the entire document as the first area and a part of the document as the second area,
By setting the printing to be performed twice each in the first order and the second order, it is possible to print two copies of each of the entire document and a part thereof.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the area designation for selecting the form for designating the start position and the end position of the region to be printed in the series of documents from a plurality of predetermined designation forms Printing should be performed according to the form selecting means and the specified form selected by the area specifying form selecting means 2
Area specifying means for specifying the start position and end position of the above arbitrary number of areas, area position recognizing means for recognizing the start position and end position of each area specified by this area specifying means in the document, and this area The printing apparatus is provided with a printing unit that prints each area of which the start position and the end position are recognized by the position recognition unit according to the printing order designated by the printing order designation unit.

That is, according to the third aspect of the invention, a plurality of types of designation forms of the area to be printed are prepared, and the designation form of the area is first selected. For example, a form in which the start position and the end position of the area are designated by keywords and a form in which the start page and the end page are designated by the page numbers are prepared, and one of the designated forms is selected first. The area to be printed is designated in the selected designated form, and then the printing order of each area is set. Then, the position of each area in the document is recognized, and each area is printed according to the set printing order. Since the area designation mode can be selected, the area can be appropriately designated according to the document to be printed.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, an area designating means for designating a start position and an end position of an arbitrary number of areas to be printed in a series of documents by a keyword in the document, and the area designating means. Printing order designating means for designating the printing order of the areas designated by the area designation means, area position recognition means for recognizing the start position and the end position of each area in the document based on the keyword designated by the area designation means, and this area The printing apparatus is provided with a printing unit that prints each area of which the start position and the end position are recognized by the position recognition unit according to the printing order designated by the printing order designation unit.

That is, according to the fourth aspect of the invention, the start position and the end position of the area to be printed are specified by the keywords existing in the document. The position of the designated area in the document is recognized based on this keyword, and each area is printed according to the set printing order. By designating the area by the keyword, it is not necessary for the operator to grasp which page of the document and where the area to be printed is arranged.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, print data input means for inputting print data for a series of documents, and print data input from the print data input means is a predetermined intermediate code suitable for developing image information. To an intermediate code conversion unit, an intermediate code storage unit that stores the intermediate code converted by the intermediate code conversion unit, and a region designation unit that designates an arbitrary number of two or more regions to be printed in a series of documents. A print order designating means for designating a print order of the areas designated by the area designating means, an address detecting means for detecting a storage address of an intermediate code corresponding to each area designated by the area designating means, The printing order designated by the printing order designating means based on the storage address of the intermediate code detected by the address detecting means Therefore, an intermediate code reading means for sequentially reading the intermediate code corresponding to each area from the intermediate code storage means, and a printing means for expanding the intermediate code read by the intermediate code reading means into image information and printing the image information are provided in the printing apparatus. It is equipped.

That is, in the invention described in claim 5, the print data is converted into an intermediate code suitable for developing the image information and stored, and the storage address of the intermediate code corresponding to each area to be printed is detected. . Then, the area in which the intermediate code corresponding to the designated area is stored is read out according to the set printing order, developed into image information, and printed. Since the area to be printed and the printing order are controlled by the area from which the intermediate code is read and the order of reading the intermediate code, it is not necessary to perform conversion processing into the intermediate code many times.

[0020]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FIG. 1 shows a functional configuration of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
In this printing device, it is possible to specify an arbitrary number of areas in the input print data to be printed, and the print area storage unit 11 has a function of storing the specified area. ing. The start position and end position of each area are designated by keywords, page numbers, line numbers, etc. in the document. The output form storage unit 12 stores an output form indicating how many times these areas are to be printed and in what printing order. The setting of the area and the designation of the output form are performed from an input operation unit including a keyboard and a mouse (not shown).

The input processing unit 13 converts the print data into a predetermined intermediate code suitable for developing the image information and stores it, and recognizes the start position and the end position of the designated area with the storage address of the corresponding intermediate code. It has a function to do. Further, the order of reading the intermediate code is controlled according to the output form stored in the output form storage unit 12. The print control block 14 is a part that pairs the start address and end address of the intermediate code corresponding to each area and stores this address information in the order specified in the output form. The output processing unit 15 sequentially reads the address information registered in the print control block 14 from the beginning, develops it into image information based on the intermediate code stored in the corresponding address area, and prints it on recording paper. It is a part.

FIG. 2 shows an outline of the circuit configuration of the printing apparatus shown in FIG. This printing apparatus includes a CPU (central processing unit) 21 that performs the central functions of various controls. Various circuit devices are connected to the CPU 21 via various buses 22 such as a data bus. Of these, the ROM (Read Only Memory) 23 is a read-only memory that stores a startup program and various fixed data. A RAM (random access memory) 24 is a memory that temporarily stores data and various tables necessary for executing a program.
The communication control circuit 25 is a communication circuit for receiving print data from a host computer via a network such as a LAN (Local Area Network).
The magnetic disk device 27, the reading and writing of which is controlled by the disk control device 26, is a storage device for storing the received print data and the converted intermediate data.

The input circuit 28 is a circuit for interfacing with a keyboard 29 and a mouse 31 as a pointing device. Keyboard 29 and mouse 31
Is a circuit device for inputting area and output form designation information. The display control circuit 32 is a control circuit for displaying various characters and image information on the display 33 such as a CRT. The display 33 displays a document to be printed, an input screen for inputting a print area and an output form, and a designated print area and output form. The printing unit interface circuit 34 is a circuit device that inputs and outputs various commands, statuses, and video data to and from the printing unit 35 that prints a document on recording paper.

FIG. 3 shows the flow of processing performed by the printing apparatus when designating the print area and the output form. The CPU 21 displays a predetermined screen for designating a print area and accepts designation of one print area (step S101). The designated print area is stored in the print area registration table provided in a predetermined area of the RAM 24 (step S102). When two or more areas are designated by the operator (step S103; N), step S101 and step S102 are repeated. When the designation of the area is completed (step S103; Y), a screen for designating the printing order and the number of prints of the designated area is displayed, and the name of one print area and the number of prints of the area are accepted (step S103). S104).

The CPU 21 sequentially registers the name of the designated print area and the number of times of printing the print area from the top of the output form registration table provided in a predetermined area of the RAM 24 (step S105). The operator sequentially registers the name of the print area and the number of prints in the order in which they want to print. C
The PU 21 repeats the processing of steps S104 and S105 while the output form designation by the operator continues (step S106; N). When the designation of the output form is completed (step S106; Y), the process for designating the print area and the output form is completed (END).

FIG. 4 shows a detailed flow of the processing for designating the print area shown in FIG. The print area is
It is specified by the start position and end position of the area. Further, a plurality of designation modes of the start position and the end position are prepared. Of these, the keyword designation is to designate the start position and the end position of the print area by a predetermined character string in the document. The pages on which the keyword exists are the start position and the end position, respectively. Especially, in the case of the end position, there is also provided a mode for recognizing the position before the appearance of the specified keyword as the end position. The keyword is 1 in the document
It is desirable to appear only once. When an area is designated by a keyword that appears multiple times, it may be designated how many times it appears from the beginning of the document.

The page number designation is a mode in which the print region is designated by the page number included at the beginning of the print region and the page number included at the end of the print region. In the screen designation mode, the content of the document to be printed is displayed on the display and the start position and end position are set by the mouse. The designated form of these print areas can be changed for each area. Further, the start position and the end position of one area can be set in different designation modes, but in this example, the designation mode is set for each area.

First, the operator selects a designated form suitable for the designation of a region from these designated forms (step S201). Next, the area name as the identification name of these designated areas is input (step S202). Then, the start position of the print area is set according to the previously specified form (step S203), and subsequently the end position of the print area is specified (step S204). Thus 1
One print area is specified.

FIG. 5 shows an example of registered contents of the print area registration table. The area name 41 is an identification name of the print area, and the input area name is registered.
The designation form 42 is a part for registering a mode for designating a start position and an end position of each area. Region start condition 43
The area end condition 44 is a part for registering conditions for determining the start position and the end position of the print area represented by the area name 41. These conditions are registered when the designated form 42 is a keyword. When the designated form 42 is the page number, the page number where the start position and the end position of the print area in the document to be printed are registered. When the designation form 42 is screen designation, the page number where the position designated by the mouse exists is registered. Nth area 45
The area end condition 46 in is the keyword "Osaka branch"
The symbol "(-)" is added in front of. This indicates that the area before the keyword "Osaka branch" appears is the end position of the area.

FIG. 6 shows an example of registered contents of the output form registration table. The area name 51 is a part in which the identification name of the area to be printed is registered. Number of prints 52
Indicates the number of times the area designated by the area name 51 is repeatedly printed. Printing is performed a specified number of times in the order registered from the beginning of the output form registration table. In this example, the output form is registered so that the region 1 is printed three times in succession, then the region 3 is printed four times, the region 4 is once printed, and then the region 1 is printed once again.

FIG. 7 shows the structure of a print control block that the output processing unit 15 refers to during printing. Print control blocks 61 _{1 to} 61 _N should be printed 1
Information corresponding to one print area is stored, and these are structured in a list in the order of printing. Since the print control blocks 61 _{1 to} 61 _N have the same structure, the first print control block 61 ₁ will be described. Area name 62
Is a field for registering the identification name of the area to be printed, and the corresponding area name 41 of the print area registration table is registered. The block pointer 63 is a pointer indicating the start address of the print control block corresponding to the print area to be printed next. When the value of the block pointer 63 is "0", it indicates the end of the link structure.

As described above, the print data represented by the character code and various control codes is stored as the intermediate code converted by the input processing unit 13 into the print format inside the apparatus suitable for developing the image information. To be done. Since the intermediate code is referred to when developing the image information, it is convenient to represent the start position and the end position of each print area as the storage address of the intermediate code. Therefore, in the print control block 61, the start address 64 and the end address 65 of the intermediate code storage area corresponding to the area to be printed are registered.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a document to be printed. This document consists of forms for A branch, B branch, C branch and D branch, and unique keywords are registered in advance at the start position and the end position of each branch. At the start position of the data 71 of the A branch, the keyword "
" ^** Start ^** " 72 is registered. The keyword “ ^** Aend ^** ” 73 is registered at the end position of the A branch. Similarly, the keyword " ^** Bstart ^** " is used at the start position and the end position of the data 74 of the B branch, respectively.
75 and “ ^** Bend ^** ” 76 are registered. Similarly for the data 77 of C branch and the data 78 of D branch, " ^** Cstart ^** " 79, " ^** Cend ^** " 8
1, " ^** Dstart ^** " 82, " ^** Dend ^** " 83
Is registered as a keyword indicating the start and end positions. The print area can be set by specifying these as keywords indicating the start position and the end position.

FIG. 9 shows each branch of the document shown in FIG.
When specifying the print area for each
The registered contents of the print area registration table
You. Area names 91 are A branch office, B branch office, C branch office,
In addition to each branch name of D branch, one form for all branches
All companies handled as areas of are registered. Designated form
All of 92 are designated as keywords. Region start condition
The area 93 and the area end condition 94 are shown in FIG.
Keywords are registered. Area start condition key
Word^**Astart^**72, and the region end condition
The keyword " ^**Dend^**By setting "83"
The company form is registered as one print area.

FIG. 10 shows the printing of the form shown in FIG.
Contents of the output form registration table that registered the output forms of
This is an example of the above. Print the area name 101
The number of times the corresponding printing area is printed by the number of times of printing 102
It is performed sequentially from the beginning of the table. In this case, all
Company, that is, the keyword "^**Astart^**From ^**
Dend^**The area sandwiched by "is first printed once.
Next, the keyword "^**Astart^**"When"^**Aend
^**The data part of A branch located between
Is done. After that, the form data of the C branch is twice and the form data of the B branch is
The form part is printed once, and finally the D branch form is printed once
Printed. In this way, first specify each print area
Then, after that, the name of the area to be printed and its mark
By specifying the number of printings in sequence, which printing area
You can set the order of printing. In this example
Specifies each area only once,
It is also possible to specify the area in two or more places.

FIG. 11 shows the flow of processing performed by the input processing unit when creating the list of print control blocks. The CPU 21 creates a list of print control blocks in the order registered in the output form registration table (step S301). When the number of prints in the output form registration table is 2 or more, the print control block is provided for that number of times and is connected to the link. At this time, only the area name of the print control block and the block pointer are registered, and the output start address and the output end address remain blank. Also, "0" is registered in the block pointer of the last print control block of the link.

Next, an intermediate code as a print format for one page is created in the RAM 24 based on the print data including the character code and the control code (step S302). The address of the area where the intermediate code is stored is represented by a print format creation pointer provided in a predetermined area of the RAM 24. In the initial state of starting the conversion to the intermediate code, the print format creation pointer points to the start address of the storage area of the intermediate code. Further, the RAM 24 is provided with an input data processing pointer indicating which part of the print data is converted into the intermediate code. The CPU 21 reads the print data and sequentially updates the input data processing pointer each time the print data is converted into an intermediate code.

It is determined whether or not the page for which the intermediate data is created matches any of the area start conditions registered in the print area registration table (step S303).
For example, when a keyword is designated, the print data for one page in which the intermediate data is created is searched to check whether or not there is a character string that matches the keyword of the area start condition. In the case of page number designation or screen designation, it is checked whether or not the numbers of the currently intermediate coded pages match those page numbers. When the area start condition of any area registered in the print area registration table is met (step S303; Y), the output start address column of each print control block in which the matched area name is registered, The addresses indicated by the print format creation pointers are stored (step S304). Next, the print format creation pointer is set to the address next to the final address of the created intermediate code for one page, that is,
The start address of the area for storing the intermediate code of the next page is updated (step S305).

The CPU 21 determines whether or not the page for which the intermediate code is created in step S302 matches any of the area end conditions registered in the print area registration table (step S306). This determination is performed based on a search for the presence or absence of the corresponding keyword and matching of page numbers. When the area end condition of any area registered in the print area registration table is met (step S3)
03; Y), the address indicated by the print format creation pointer is stored in the output end address column of each print control block in which the matching area name is registered (step S307).

Based on the input data processing pointer, the CPU 21 checks whether or not all the print data are converted into the intermediate code (step S308).
If there is unprocessed print data (step S30
8; Y), the process returns to step S302, and the sequential processing is repeated. If there is no unprocessed print data (step S30
8; N), the processing of the input processing unit 13 is ended (END). As a result, the blank output start address and output end address columns of the print control block are registered, the preparation for starting printing by the printing unit 35 is completed, and the output processing unit 15 is activated.

FIG. 12 shows the initial state of the print control block list and the addresses indicated by various pointers. This figure shows the initial state of the list of print control blocks when the printing area and output form shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 are specified for the form shown in FIG. According to the output form registration table of FIG. 10, print control blocks corresponding to the entire company once, the A branch three times, the C branch twice, the B branch and the D branch once are sequentially linked. In this state, only the area name 111 and the block pointer 112 are registered, and the fields of the output start address 113 and the output end address 114 are blank. The print format creation pointer 115 is initialized and points to the beginning of the area 116 for storing the intermediate code. In this state, the intermediate code is not yet created in the intermediate code storage area 116. The input data processing pointer 117 points to the beginning of the print data 118.

FIG. 13 shows a state in which the print data of the first page is converted into an intermediate code and the output start pointer of the print control block that matches the area start condition is registered on the page. Since the data for one page has been processed, the input data processing pointer 123 points to the address next to the data 122 on the first page of the print data 121. The intermediate code storage area 124 stores one page of intermediate code 125. In this state, the print format creation pointer 126 still points to the start address of the storage area 124. 1
On the page, the keyword " ^** Astart ^** " 127
Exists. This keyword matches the region start conditions for the regions “A branch” and “all companies”. Therefore, in the list, the head address of the storage area 124 is registered as the output start address of each of the company-wide print control block 128 and the three A-branch print control blocks 129 _{1 to} 129 ₃ .

FIG. 14 shows the states of the print control block and various pointers when the print data is converted into an intermediate code for the form portion of branch A. Data part 132 of the A branch of the print data 131
Since the conversion to the intermediate code is completed up to the end of
The input data processing pointer 133 has the keyword “ ^** Ae
The address after "nd ^** " 134 is shown. Also,
In the intermediate code storage area 134, the print format portion 135 of the A branch is created. The print format creation pointer 136 points to the next address of the area 135 storing the intermediate code of the A branch office. Since the keyword “ ^** Aend ^** ” 134 exists, this page matches the area end condition of the area name “A branch”. Therefore, the address indicated by the print phone mat preparation pointer 136 is registered as the output end address of the print control blocks 137 _{1 to} 137 _{3 in} the print area “A branch”.

FIG. 15 shows the states of the list and various pointers when the print data up to the end is converted into intermediate data and the creation of the print control block is completed. The input data processing pointer 141 is the print data 142.
Points to the end of. In addition, the intermediate data storage area 143
In, intermediate codes of the A branch office to the D branch office are created. Print format creation pointer 144
Indicates the next address of the area 145 storing the intermediate code of the D branch. Further, the output start address and the output end address are registered in all the print control blocks 146.

FIG. 16 shows the flow of the print processing performed by the output processing unit based on the print control block that has been registered. Printing is sequentially performed for each print control block from the beginning of the list. A print format processing pointer is provided in a predetermined area of the RAM 24, and the output processing unit 15 expands the intermediate code stored in the address pointed to by the pointer into image information and prints it. . First, the output processing unit 15 substitutes the output start address registered in the print control block at the head of the list into the print format processing pointer (step S401). Next, based on the intermediate code stored in the address indicated by the print format processing pointer, the image information for one page is expanded,
This is transferred to the printing unit 35 to print the page (step S402).

Next, the print format processing pointer is changed to the start address of the area where the intermediate code of the next page is stored (step S403). It is checked whether or not the updated print format processing pointer matches (exceeds) the output end address registered in the print control block at the head of the list (step S4).
04). If they do not match (step S404; N),
Returning to step S402, the print processing for the next one page is performed, and the print format processing pointer is updated. If they match (step S404; Y), the print control block connected to the top is removed from the list, and the next print control block is set to the top of the list (step S404).
405).

When the print control block removed from the list is not the last one and the print control block still exists in the list (step S406; Y), the print processing for the top print control block of the list is performed (step S4).
02-step S405). When the last print control block has been removed from the list and there is no print control block in the list (step S406; N), the output processing unit 15 ends the process (END).

FIG. 17 shows the state of the print control block and the intermediate code storage address indicated by each pointer at the stage when the output processing unit starts the output processing. The print control block 151 having the company-wide area name arranged at the head of the list is the first to be printed.
The output start pointer 152 of this block indicates the start address of the intermediate code storage area 153. Therefore, the print format processing pointer 154 also points to the beginning of the storage area 153. Print control block 151
Corresponds to the printing area “company-wide”, its output end address 155 is the intermediate code storage area 153.
Points to the end of. The expansion into image information is performed on the intermediate code between the output start address 152 and the output end address 155. Therefore, the first print control block 151 prints all the forms of the A branch office to the D branch office.

FIG. 18 shows the storage address of the list and the intermediate code pointed to by each pointer and the state of the output result when the print control block of "all companies" is removed and the next print control block is connected to the head of the list. It is a thing. Since the print area corresponding to the print control block processed first is the entire form, the output result 161 is A branch to D branch.
The forms of the branch office are output. Further, since the print format processing pointer 162 is updated along with the printing, when the printing of the forms for the entire company is completed, D
It points to the end of the branch's intermediate code. Since the print control block of "all companies" has been removed, the print control block 163 of "A branch" connected next to it is at the top of the list. The output start pointer 164 of the print control block 163 points to the beginning of the storage area 165 in which the intermediate code of the A branch office is stored. The output end pointer 166 points to the end of the intermediate code corresponding to the form of A branch.

FIG. 19 shows the storage of the list and the intermediate code pointed to by each pointer when the printing of the print control block of the first A branch is completed and the print control block of the second A branch is connected to the head of the list. It shows the state of the address and the output result. After the forms 171 of all the branch offices, which are the output results of the printing control blocks of the whole company, the forms 172 of the print control block of the branch office A are output. Further, when the printing of the form 172 of the A branch is completed, the print format processing pointer 173 points to the end of the intermediate code of the A branch. Since the print control block of the A branch office which was connected to the head among the three existing blocks was removed, the print control block 174 of the second A branch office is at the top of the list.

FIG. 20 shows the list of all the print control blocks and the storage address of the intermediate code pointed to by each pointer and the state of the output result when printing is completed. Output results 181 for the company-wide print control blocks, output results 182 for three print control blocks for the A branch office, output results 183 for two print control blocks for the C branch office, output results 184 for the B branch office, and output for the D branch office. The result 185 is printed once for each. Since the last print control block is for the D branch, the printer format processing pointer 187 points to the end of the storage area of the intermediate code of the form of the D branch when the printing is completed. Print control block 1
When 86 is removed, the print control block connected to the list disappears, and the print processing ends.

As described above, the output processing section prints each print area in the designated arbitrary order by performing the printing control blocks connected in the list in order from the beginning. Further, by reading the intermediate code between the output start address and the output end address registered in the print control block, the specified area is printed. Therefore, the conversion process to the intermediate code only needs to be performed once. Further, since the image information is expanded each time printing is performed based on the intermediate code, it is only necessary to prepare a page buffer for one page.

In the embodiment described above, the intermediate code is repeatedly read. However, it is also possible to repeatedly read the print data before conversion and convert it to the intermediate code for each printing before image expansion. Needless to say. However, in this case, it is necessary to store print attributes representing various print formats such as the character size and line spacing at the start position of each print area for each print area and initialize the print attributes at the print start time of each area. .

Further, when the same print control block is printed a plurality of times, the print control blocks are connected to the list for the number of times. However, the number of times of repeated printing is registered in the print control block itself, and the number of times is printed. You may print out only the minutes and then remove them from the list. Furthermore, this technique can be applied to a copying machine as well as a printer that performs printing based on print data such as a character code. For example, a plurality of pages of a document to be copied may be temporarily stored as image information in an internal storage device, and a print area and an output form may be designated for the stored document. When specifying the print area with a keyword, it is necessary to perform character recognition on the read image information.

Thus, according to the invention of claim 1,
First, specify two or more areas to be printed in the document, set the printing order of each specified area, and print the specified areas in the set order. It can be printed easily in any order. For example, if the entire document is designated as the first area and a part of the document is designated as the second area, and the printing order is set in the order of first and second,
The entire document and part of it can be printed.

Further, according to the second aspect of the invention, since the printing order of each designated area and the number of times each area is repeatedly printed are set, it is possible to easily select an arbitrary area in a document. Can be printed on. For example, specify the entire document as the first area and a part of the document as the second area,
If the setting is made such that printing is performed twice each in the first order and the second order, both the entire document and a part thereof can be printed in duplicate.

Further, according to the third aspect of the invention, the area designation form is selected from a plurality of types prepared, and the area to be printed is designated according to the form. It is possible to specify the area appropriately.

According to the fourth aspect of the invention, the start position and the end position of the area to be printed are designated by the keywords existing in the document, and the position of the designated area in the document is recognized based on this. The printing is performed in each area in the printing order that is set. By designating the area by the keyword, the operator does not need to know which page of the document and where the area to be printed is located, and the area can be easily designated.

Further, according to the present invention, the print data is converted into an intermediate code suitable for developing the image information and stored, and the area to be printed and the printing order are controlled by the read area and the read order. are doing. As a result, even when each area is printed a plurality of times, the conversion process to the intermediate code needs to be performed only once, and the printing process can be speeded up.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an outline of a circuit configuration of the printing apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing performed by a printing apparatus when designating a print area and an output form.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a detailed flow of processing for designating a print area shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of registered contents of a print area registration table.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of registered contents of an output form registration table.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing the structure of a print control block that the output processing unit 15 refers to during printing.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a document to be printed.

9 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of registered contents of an output form registration table in which an output form when printing the form shown in FIG. 8 is registered.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of registered contents of an output form registration table in which an output form when printing the form shown in FIG. 8 is registered.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing performed by an input processing unit when creating a list of print control blocks.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing an initial state of a list of print control blocks and addresses indicated by various pointers.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the print data of the first page is converted into an intermediate code, and the output start pointer of the print control block that matches the area start condition is registered in the page.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing states of a print control block and various pointers when print data is converted into an intermediate code for a form portion of A branch.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram showing states of a list and various pointers when the print data is converted into intermediate data up to the end of the print data and the creation of the print control block is completed.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing performed by the output processing unit when printing is performed based on the registered print control block.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of a print control block and an intermediate code storage address pointed to by each pointer at a stage when an output processing unit starts output processing.

FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram showing a storage address of an intermediate code pointed to by the list and each pointer and a state of an output result when the print control block of the entire company is removed and the next print control block is connected to the head of the list.

FIG. 19 shows the storage address and output of the intermediate code pointed to by the list and each pointer when printing of the print control block of the first branch office A is completed and the print control block of the second branch office A is connected to the head of the list. It is explanatory drawing showing the state of a result.

FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram showing a storage address of an intermediate code pointed to by a list and each pointer and a state of an output result in a state in which printing of all print control blocks is completed.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 ... Printing area storage unit, 12 ... Output form storage unit, 13 ...
Input processing unit, 14 ... Print control block, 15 ... Output processing unit, 21 ... CPU, 22 ... Bus, 23 ... ROM, 24 ...
RAM, 25 ... Communication control circuit, 26 ... Disk control device, 27 ... Magnetic disk device, 29 ... Keyboard, 31
... mouse, 32 ... display control circuit, 33 ... display,
35 ... Printing unit, 61 ... Printing control block, 125, 13
5, 143, 153, 165 ... Print format (intermediate code), 126, 136, 144 ... Printer format creation pointer, 154, 162, 173, 1
87 ... Printer format processing pointer

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A region designating means for designating an arbitrary number of regions to be printed in a series of documents of two or more, and a print order designating means for designating a printing order of the regions designated by the region designating means, A printing device for printing the area designated by the area designating means in accordance with the printing order designated by the printing order designating means. 2. An area designating means for designating an arbitrary number of areas to be printed in a series of documents, the printing order designating means for designating a printing order of the areas designated by the area designating means. A printing number setting means for setting the number of times of printing of each area whose printing order is designated by the printing order designating means, and an area designated by the area designating means according to the printing order designated by the printing order designating means. And a printing unit that sequentially prints every number of times of printing. 3. A region designation form selecting means for selecting a form for designating a start position and an end position of a region to be printed in a series of documents from a plurality of predetermined designation forms, and Area designation means for designating the start and end positions of an arbitrary number of two or more areas to be printed according to the designation style selected by the area designation style selection means, and each area designated by the area designation means in the document. Area position recognizing means for recognizing the start position and the end position, and a printing means for printing the respective areas of which the start position and the end position are recognized by the area position recognizing means in the printing order specified by the printing order specifying means. A printing apparatus comprising: 4. An area designating unit for designating a start position and an end position of an arbitrary number of two or more regions to be printed in a series of documents by a keyword in the document, and an area designating unit of the regions designated by the region specifying unit. A printing order designating means for designating a printing order, an area position recognizing means for recognizing a start position and an ending position of each area in the document based on the keyword designated by the area designating means, and the area position recognizing means A printing device, comprising: a printing unit that prints the respective regions of which the start position and the end position are recognized in accordance with the printing order designated by the printing order designation unit. 5. A print data input means for inputting print data for a series of documents, and an intermediate code conversion for converting the print data input from the print data input means into a predetermined intermediate code suitable for developing image information. Means, intermediate code storing means for storing the intermediate code converted by the intermediate code converting means, area specifying means for specifying an arbitrary number of areas to be printed in the series of documents of two or more, and the area specifying Printing order designating means for designating a printing order of the areas designated by the means, address detecting means for detecting a storage address of the intermediate code corresponding to each area designated by the area designating means, and this address detecting means Based on the storage address of the intermediate code detected by the printing order specified by the printing order specifying means, Thus, the intermediate code reading means for sequentially reading the intermediate code corresponding to each area from the intermediate code storage means, and the printing means for expanding the intermediate code read by the intermediate code reading means into image information and printing the image information. A printing device characterized by: