JPH11220606A - Image data processor, image forming device and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily and efficiently execute the division of an image for one page into plural blocks, and the restoration of images before division by arranging the divided images in a proper order. SOLUTION: An image G for one page is divided into plural blocks K1 -K18 , and printed on a sheet P by a printer (A). The block K12 is the second line among 2 divided lines, and the third column among 8 divided columns. Then, the display of '2/2-3/9' is added to a picture image as position information 50, and the picture of the block K12 is printed in the printable range H2 with a printing reference point PP as a reference, and the position information 50 is printed at the upper and lower parts of the image of the block (B). Thus, it is possible to easily specify how the image G for one page is divided, and where the image of the block K12 to which the positive information 50 is added is positioned as a whole.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image data processing apparatus for creating data for forming an image on a recording medium, an image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium, and
More specifically, the present invention relates to a storage medium for realizing the image data processing apparatus or the image forming apparatus, and more specifically, an image data processing apparatus for forming an image for one page by dividing the image into a plurality of sections,
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and a storage medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an image forming apparatus connected to a personal computer or the like, for example, cut paper or roll paper cut to a predetermined length (both correspond to recording media)
In addition, a page printer such as a laser printer that forms an image for each page is generally used. When a printer of this type is used, a printer driver activated on a host device such as a personal computer sends image data corresponding to a desired image to a printer in the form of a print command (for example, a page description language). A transmission method and a method in which image data is developed into bitmap data or run-length data on the host device side and transmitted to the printer side are adopted.

In the case of employing the former method, a high processing capacity is required for the printer in order to develop the print command received by the printer into bitmap data. In the case of the latter, such a high processing capacity is required. Not required. However, in either case, the host device transmits image data in units of one page, and the printer forms an image for each page based on the image data.

However, in the conventional printer, if the image data received from the host device exceeds the image forming range in which the printer can form an image, the image forming range of the received image data is set to the image forming range. Only the corresponding portion could form an image. Therefore, in order to form a large image, it is necessary to use a printer having a large image forming range corresponding to the image.

In recent years, in some applications such as spreadsheet software, when a table becomes large, an image of the table is divided into a plurality of sections, and a plurality of recording media corresponding to the number of divisions are provided. Control is performed to individually form images of the sections. In this case, the tables before division can be restored by arranging the recording media after image formation in an appropriate order.

[0006]

However, in the above-mentioned application, it is not specified in what order the recording media after image formation should be arranged. For this reason, if the above technique is applied to general images other than tables, it is difficult to restore the image before division. Also,
The original image is divided into a matrix (hereinafter also referred to as tiling), and one page, 2
It is also conceivable to add the number of pages, such as pages. in this case,
After the images on the first page are sequentially arranged in the right direction, and after the images are arranged to the right end of the image, the images before division can be restored by arranging the images in a row below the same.

However, also in this case, it is difficult to determine the number of recording media to be arranged vertically and horizontally, and it is difficult to restore the image if the right end of the image cannot be determined. Further, since the data must be arranged in order from the first page, the following problem occurs. 2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in an outdoor advertisement or the like, instead of drawing an image with paint, an image divided into a plurality of sheets is printed, and the printed matter is arranged and pasted. According to this method, it is not necessary to use a paint maker or the like who has acquired a special technique for a long time, and significant cost reduction and efficiency improvement are expected. However, as described above, when the sheets are sequentially arranged in the right direction from the first page, and when the sheet is arranged to the right end and then the next row is to be moved, the scaffold must be moved many times.

That is, by simply adding the number of pages to the divided image, the image to be arranged on the right side can be specified, but it is possible to specify where the image is located on the whole. However, it is not possible to specify which image should be arranged above and below. For this reason, the image before division could not be efficiently restored.

Accordingly, the present invention makes it easy and efficient to form an image for one page by dividing it into a plurality of sections and to arrange the divided images in an appropriate order to restore the image before division. The object of the present invention is to provide an image data processing apparatus, an image forming apparatus, and a storage medium for realizing the image data processing apparatus and the image forming apparatus, which can be executed.

[0010]

Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention According to the first aspect of the present invention, which has been made to achieve the above object, a reading means for reading image data and an image forming means for forming an image on a recording medium are driven. Data creating means for creating data for control based on the image data read by the reading means,
Dividing means for dividing an image for one page corresponding to the image data into a plurality of sections, and position information for indicating the position of each section along with the divided state of all the sections for each of the sections divided by the dividing means. Wherein the image forming means forms an image of each section together with the position information corresponding to the section on a plurality of recording media according to the number of divisions of the section. As described above, the data creating means creates the data.

According to the present invention having the above-described configuration, data for driving and controlling the image forming unit for forming an image on a recording medium is created by the data creating unit based on the image data read by the reading unit. The dividing means divides the image for one page corresponding to the image data into a plurality of sections, and the position information creating means creates position information to be described later for each of the sections divided by the dividing means. . Then, the data creating means includes the data generating means so that the image forming means forms an image of each of the sections together with the position information corresponding to the section on a plurality of recording media corresponding to the number of divisions of the section. Create For this reason, according to the present invention, an image for one page is divided into a plurality of sections, an image of each section is formed on a plurality of recording media according to the number of divisions, and an image corresponding to each recording medium is formed. Sectional location information can be formed.

Here, the position information is information for designating the position of the section together with the division state of all the sections. For this reason, it is possible to easily specify how the image of one page is divided and where the image of the section to which the position information is added is located as a whole. Therefore, if the image is divided and formed according to the present invention, it is possible to easily and efficiently execute the arrangement of the divided images in an appropriate order and the restoration of the image before the division. Note that the image data in the present invention is not limited to data such as FAX data, but may be data described in a page description language or the like.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a reading means for reading image data, and data for driving and controlling an image forming means for forming an image on a recording medium, based on the image data read by the reading means. An image data processing apparatus comprising: a data creating unit that creates the image data; a dividing unit that divides an image of one page corresponding to the image data into a plurality of sections; On the other hand, section information creating means for creating section information indicating the name of the section and the name of each section adjacent to the section,
Wherein the data forming means includes a plurality of recording media corresponding to the number of divisions of the section, and the image forming means forms the image of each section together with the section information corresponding to the section. It is characterized by creating data.

According to the present invention, instead of the position information described in claim 1, the section information created by the section information creating means can be formed on the recording medium together with the image of the section.
Here, the section information is information indicating the name of the section and the name of each section adjacent to the section. Therefore, it is possible to easily specify which other image is to be arranged around the image of the section to which the section information is added (for example, up, down, left, and right). Therefore, if the image is divided and formed according to the present invention, it is possible to easily and efficiently execute the arrangement of the divided images in an appropriate order and the restoration of the image before the division. Note that the image data in the present invention is not limited to data such as FAX data, but may be data described in a page description language or the like.

The third aspect of the present invention provides the first or second aspect.
In addition to the configuration described above, the image forming unit is configured separately from the image data processing device. For this reason, in the present invention, various image forming means (for example, various printers) are connected to the image data processing apparatus of the present invention, and the division and the addition of the position information or the section information are performed on the connected image forming means. be able to. Therefore, in addition to the effects of the first and second aspects of the present invention, there is an effect that one apparatus can be used for more various kinds of applications.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the third aspect, an image forming range for one page of the recording medium, which is preset in the image forming means, is detected, and the image forming range is determined. A division mode setting unit for comparing the size of the image of one page corresponding to the image data and setting the division mode of the section by the division unit is further provided.

In the present invention, the division mode setting means detects an image forming area for one page of the recording medium preset in the image forming means, and detects one page corresponding to the image forming area and the image data. By comparing the size of the image with the size of the image, the division mode of the division by the division means is set. For this reason, the image of one page can be automatically divided in a very appropriate manner according to the image forming range. Therefore, according to the present invention, in addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 3, there is an effect that the image can be more appropriately divided and the operability of the apparatus can be further improved.

In the division mode setting means of the present invention, a more remarkable effect is obtained if the image forming range is set by communication with the image forming means. That is, in this case, even if the connected image forming unit changes, it is possible to set an appropriate division mode according to the image forming unit.

The image forming apparatus according to the fifth aspect is the first aspect.
Or an image data processing apparatus according to claim 2, and an image forming means for forming an image on a recording medium based on the data created by the data creation means of the image data processing apparatus. That is, the image forming apparatus of the present invention includes image forming means for forming an image on a recording medium, and the image data processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 for driving and controlling the image forming means. ing. Therefore, in the present invention, the image can be divided by the image forming apparatus itself and the position information or the section information can be added without the help of another computer or the like. Therefore, according to the present invention, in addition to the effects of the first or second aspect of the present invention, other computers and the like are released from processing relating to image division and the position information or the section information, thereby improving the processing efficiency of the entire system. There is an effect that it can be further improved.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the fifth aspect, an image forming range of one page of the recording medium set in advance and a size of an image of one page corresponding to the image data are set. And a division mode setting unit for setting a division mode of the section by the division unit.

In the present invention, the division mode setting means compares the preset image forming range of one page of the recording medium with the size of the image of one page corresponding to the image data, and The division mode of the section by means is set. For this reason, the image of one page can be automatically divided in a very appropriate manner according to the image forming range. Therefore, according to the present invention, in addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 5, there is an effect that the image can be more appropriately divided and the operability of the apparatus can be further improved.

In the present invention, since the image forming means is integrally provided, the image forming range can be set very easily and appropriately. For example, it is also very easy to detect the paper size of a paper tray or the like assigned to the image forming means and to configure the division mode setting means to appropriately set the image forming range based on the detected paper size. . Therefore, the processing can be further simplified.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer for use in an image forming apparatus having an image forming means for forming an image on a recording medium based on image data, and for controlling the driving of the image forming means. A storage medium storing a program, wherein: a division process of dividing an image for one page corresponding to the image data into a plurality of partitions; Position information creation processing for creating position information to be instructed along with the division state of all sections; and forming images of each section together with the position information corresponding to the section on a plurality of recording media corresponding to the number of divisions of the section. And a computer program for executing the driving process for driving the image forming unit.

Therefore, the computer program stored in the present invention can be executed by a computer or the like (which may be integrated with or separate from the image forming means) for controlling the image forming means. It is possible to execute division processing and position information creation processing corresponding to the division means and position information creation means described in Item 1. When the computer or the like executes the driving process, the same operation and effect as when the image forming unit is driven and controlled by the data generated by the data generating unit according to the first aspect of the present invention. Therefore, in the present invention, the same operation and effect as those of the invention described in claim 1 are obtained.
There is an effect that the effect can be generated by various computers and the like.

The invention according to claim 8 is used for an image forming apparatus having an image forming means for forming an image on a recording medium based on image data, and for controlling the driving of the image forming means. A storage medium storing a program, wherein a division process of dividing an image for one page corresponding to the image data into a plurality of partitions, and for each of the partitions after the division by the division process, the name of the partition and its name A section information creating process for creating section information indicating the name of each section adjacent to the section, and an image of each section corresponding to the section on a plurality of recording media corresponding to the number of divisions of the section. And a computer program for executing a driving process for driving the image forming unit so as to form the image forming section together with the section information.

Therefore, the computer program stored in the present invention can be executed by a computer or the like (which may be integrated with or separate from the image forming means) for controlling the image forming means. It is possible to execute the division processing and the division information creation processing corresponding to the division means and the division information creation means described in 2. When the computer or the like executes the driving process, the same operation and effect as when the image forming unit is driven and controlled by the data generated by the data generating unit according to the second aspect of the invention. Therefore, according to the present invention, the same operation and effect as those of the invention described in claim 2 are obtained.
There is an effect that the effect can be generated by various computers and the like.

[0027]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a printer as an image forming apparatus to which the present invention has been applied. As shown in FIG. 1, the present printer includes a printer controller 1 as an image data processing device and a printer engine 2 as image forming means. The printer controller 1 is connected to a computer 3 via a network W. I have.

The printer controller 1 has an input / output interface 4 for transmitting and receiving data to and from the computer 3, and a storage medium for storing emulation programs, control programs for controlling the entire printer, and font data such as characters. ROM5 and ROM5
CPU 6 for executing an emulation program and a control program stored in a memory, and a RAM 7 which functions as a reception buffer or a page memory for storing print data as image data, and also stores various parameters used in the emulation program or the control program.
A printer engine interface 8 for communicating with the printer engine 2, an external hard disk 9 for supplementing the storage capacity of the RAM 7, and a hard disk interface 10 for reading and writing data from the hard disk 9. .

Also, input / output interface 4, ROM
5, a CPU 6, a RAM 7, a printer engine interface 8, and a hard disk interface 10 are mutually connected via a bus 11. The emulation program and the control program may be stored in the hard disk 9 and read out to the RAM 7 as needed, or may be read out from the computer 3 as needed.

In the printer controller 1 thus configured, the computer 3 is controlled under the control of the CPU 6.
Is received via the input / output interface 4 and the print data is stored in the reception buffer in the RAM 7. If the receiving buffer in the RAM 7 does not have a sufficient storage capacity, an area for the receiving buffer is secured in the hard disk 9 and print data is stored therein. Then, after storing the print data, the CPU 6
The above-mentioned print data is read out by executing the above-mentioned emulation program stored in the printer, and the print data is analyzed and developed in the page memory to obtain an image. This image is sent to the printer engine 2 via the printer engine interface 8, and an image is formed (printed) on a sheet P (see FIG. 4) as a recording medium.

In the printer engine 2, a printable range in which printing can be performed is determined in advance based on restrictions on the mechanism and the size of the set sheet P. For this reason,
Conventionally, if the range to be printed based on the print data for one page (hereinafter referred to as a drawing range) exceeds the printable range, printing has not been possible. Therefore, the printer controller 1 enables such printing by the following control.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the processing executed by the printer controller 1. When transmitting print data whose drawing range exceeds the printable range of the printer engine 2 to the printer controller 1, the computer 3 performs tiling control for instructing how to divide an image corresponding to the print data. An instruction is added to the print data and transmitted. Then, when the printer controller 1 receives the print data to which such a tiling control command is added, the printer controller 1 executes the processing of FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, when the process is started, first, in S1 (S represents a step: the same applies hereinafter), the print data is received via the input / output interface 4, and R
It is stored in the AM 7 or the hard disk 9. In S3, the tiling control command is separated from the print data received in S1.

That is, the tiling control command includes a command for instructing what size (for example, what m × what m) the image corresponding to the print data is to be enlarged, and an image after the enlargement. An instruction is given to indicate how many divisions are made vertically and how many parts are made horizontally. For example, the print data corresponding to the image G illustrated in FIG.
Contains data indicating 1. This drawing range H1
May exceed the printable range H2 (see FIG. 4B) when enlarged to a magnification according to the tiling control command. Therefore, when the drawing range H1 exceeds the printable range H2, the drawing range H1 of the image G is divided into a matrix, and the image of each divided section is printed by the printer engine 2. In this printer, since the position information 50 described later is printed at the time of dividing an image, the printable range H2 is set slightly smaller than the range that the printer engine 2 can actually print.

In S7, the number of divisions in the vertical direction read from the tiling control command is set in a counter Cy.
In subsequent S11, it is determined whether or not Cy is larger than 0. Since Cy is usually a natural number of 1 or more, the process first proceeds to S13 with an affirmative determination. In S13, the number of horizontal divisions read from the tiling control command is counted by the counter Cx.
, And in a succeeding step S15, it is determined whether or not Cx is larger than 0. Since Cx is usually a natural number of 1 or more,
Initially, a positive determination is made and the process proceeds to S17.

In S17, various parameters for developing the print data, which is constituted as image description data, into an image for driving the printer engine 2 are updated. Here, the parameters include an image magnification, a reference point, a print area, and the like. These parameters are set as follows.

First, the magnification can be read directly from the tiling control command as described above. When the drawing range H1 is divided according to the tiling control command, the reference point is set as follows. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the upper left vertex of the drawing range H1 before division is set as the reference point P1. When this is divided into 2 rows and 9 columns as exemplified in FIG. 4A, for example, each of the divided sections K1
, K2,..., K18 are the upper left vertices of the respective sections K1 to K18.
Are reference points P1 to P18. In this example, S1
In the process of No. 7, the reference point P1
, P2,... And the sections K1, K2,. In this printer, the sections K1, K
The order of 2 etc. was set sequentially from the upper left section K to the right.

At S19, the print data of the corresponding section K is developed into an image based on the parameters updated at S17 and stored in the page memory of the RAM 7.
In subsequent S21, position information 50 (described in detail later) of the section K is added to the image stored in S19,
In S23, the image of the section K is printed on the sheet P together with the position information 50. That is, drive data for the printer engine 2 is created and output from the printer engine interface 8 so that the image of the section K is printed on the paper P together with the position information 50. Further, in the subsequent S25, the counter Cx is decremented by one, and the process proceeds to S15, where C
The processing of S17 to S25 is repeated until x = 0 (S
15). By repeating this process, printing of all the sections on the first line (sections K1 to K9 in the example of FIG. 4A) is completed.

That is, if the processes (S17 to S23) relating to the above printing are repeated by the number of divisions in the horizontal direction instructed by the tiling control command, Cx = 0 and Sx
A negative determination is made at 15, and the process proceeds to S27. In S27,
The counter Cy is decremented by one, and the routine goes to S11. If Cy> 0 (S11: YE
S), the process proceeds to the above-mentioned S13 and subsequent processes. As a result, the sections K in the second and subsequent rows are printed in the same manner. Then, the above process is repeated for the number of divisions in the vertical direction instructed by the tiling control command. When the printing of the sections K of all the rows is completed, Cy = 0, a negative determination is made in S11, and the process is temporarily terminated. I do.

Here, the position information 50 will be described.
For example, the section K12 shown in FIG. 4A is the second row among the two rows, and the third row among the nine columns. Therefore, in the process of S21, a display such as “2 / 3-3 / 9” as illustrated in FIG. 5A is added to the image as the position information 50, and in the subsequent process of S23, the image of the section K12 is added. The printing is performed within the printable range H2 based on the printing reference point PP, and the position information 50 is printed above and below the image of the section K12 (see FIG. 4B).
For this reason, in this printer, the image G for one page can be divided into a plurality of sections K1 to K18 and printed on the sheet P, and the position information 5 printed together with the image of the section K can be obtained.
By referring to 0, it is easy to specify how the image G for one page is divided and where the image of the section K to which the position information 50 is added is located. Can be. Therefore, if the image is divided and formed by the printer, it is possible to easily and efficiently execute the arrangement of the divided images in an appropriate order and the restoration of the image before the division.

In particular, such a large image is used for an advertisement on a building roof, an outdoor advertisement placed along a road, a huge advertisement at the top of a back screen in a dome stadium, a wallpaper, a guide map at an event, and the like. Often used for. When an extremely large advertisement having a width of 15 m and a height of 10 m is created, an ink jet printer engine or the like capable of printing on roll paper having a width of about 1.8 m is used as the printer engine 2. In many cases, it is divided. In such a case, if the printed materials are pasted in order from the left end for each line, movement of the scaffold or the like becomes difficult, but in the present embodiment, the printed materials can be pasted in order from the adjacent printed materials based on the position information 50. . Accordingly, the operation of attaching such printed matter can be extremely efficient.

In the above embodiment, the processing in S1 is a reading processing, the processing in S7 to S17 is a dividing processing,
The process 21 corresponds to the position information creating process, and the process of S23 corresponds to the driving process, respectively.
6 and a storage area of the ROM 5 which stores the program of each of the above-described processes correspond to a reading unit, a dividing unit, a position information creating unit, and a data creating unit, respectively.

Further, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be implemented in various forms without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, various forms of the position information 50 can be considered.
As illustrated in (B), the division state of all sections may be indicated by blocks, and blocks corresponding to the own section may be painted black. In this case, the position information 50 is displayed so as to be very easy to understand visually, and even when the division state is not a matrix as illustrated in FIG. 5C, the position of the own section can be displayed very easily. .

Further, as illustrated in FIG.
Instead of 0, the number 61 of the own section K12 and the sections K11 and K3 adjacent to the periphery (in the case of the section K12, upper and left and right).
, K13 may be printed. Again,
It is possible to easily specify which other section of the image is arranged around the image of the section K12, and it is easy and easy to restore the image before division by arranging the images after division in an appropriate order. It can be executed efficiently. Further, in the example of FIG. 6, the number 61 of the own section K12 is represented by a circled number so that it can be clearly distinguished from the number 63 of the adjacent sections K11, K3, and K13. K3
, K13, an arrow 65 indicating the adjacent direction is also shown. Therefore, the surrounding sections K11, K3, K13 can be recognized more favorably, and the image G can be restored more easily and efficiently.

As described with reference to the position information 50 of FIG. 5C, even when the division state is not a matrix, as shown in FIG. By printing, it is possible to similarly recognize the sections arranged around. 7 (B) and 7 (C) (respectively,
6 (corresponding to FIG. 7A).

In the present embodiment, reference numerals 61 and 63
7 (B) and 7 (C) correspond to the section information. When such section information is added instead of the position information 50 in the above-described S21, the processing in S21 is performed in the section information creating processing. The CPU 6 that executes the processing and the storage area of the ROM 5 that stores the processing program correspond to the section information creating unit. The name of the section need not be a number as described above, but may be any name that can specify the section. For example, it may be an alphabet or a Japanese alphabet. Further, the section information such as the numbers 61 and 63 and the above-described position information 50 do not necessarily need to be printed around the image.
It may be printed on the back side of the paper P, and may be printed at the center of the image if the section information and the position information 50 have decorativeness or can be read only through a special device. .

Further, in each of the above embodiments, the tiling control command includes a command for setting the division mode. However, the size of the sheet P set in the printer engine 2 is read and the Alternatively, a division mode may be set. That is, if the size of the paper P is known, the printable range H2 is also known, and as shown in FIG. 8B, the horizontal length dx and the vertical length dy of the printable range H2 can be calculated. If at least the size of the image G is instructed by the tiling control command, the drawing range H1 is also known. As illustrated in FIG. 8A, the horizontal length ddx and the vertical direction ddx of the drawing range H1 are determined. Can also be calculated.

Therefore, these calculations are performed in S7 and S13, and Cx and Cy may be set by the following equations. Cx = ceil (ddx / dx) Cy = ceil (ddy / dy) where "ceil" means a process of rounding up a fraction.

When Cx and Cy are set in this way, the reference point other than P1 is set to a point shifted from the reference point P1 by an integral multiple of dx in the horizontal direction and an integral multiple of dy in the vertical direction. it can. For example, as illustrated in FIG.
After printing the section K1 with P1 as a reference point (S23),
In the subsequent process of S17, printing of the section K2 (not shown) is performed with the point distant to the right by dx from the reference point P1 as the reference point P2.

In this case, the image G for one page can be automatically divided in a very appropriate manner according to the printable range H2 of the paper P. Therefore, the image can be more appropriately divided, and the information which must be instructed by the computer 3 can be reduced to further improve the operability of the printer. If the dx and dy are calculated after communicating with the printer engine 2, an appropriate division mode according to a change in the settings of the printer engine 2, a change in the paper size, a version upgrade, or the like can be obtained. Can be set, producing a more pronounced effect. Further, if necessary, the paper P is rotated by 90 °, and FIG.
If it is possible to set a division mode other than the matrix form described in connection with the above, efficient division with less waste can be achieved.

When calculating Cx and Cy using the above equations in S7 and S13, these processes correspond to the division mode setting process, and the CPU 6 for executing the process and the program of the process are stored. The storage area of the ROM 5 corresponds to a division mode setting unit. Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, the case where the present invention is applied to the printer controller 1 integrally formed with the printer engine 2 in one printer has been described. The present invention can also be applied to a server, a personal computer in which a printing application or a printer driver is installed, or the like. In this case, the above-described processing can be performed for various printers.
More devices can be accommodated by a single device. However, when the present invention is incorporated in a printer as in each of the above embodiments, other computers and the like can be released from processing related to image division and the like, and the processing efficiency of the entire system can be further improved. Also, in the case where calculations using the above equations are performed in S7 and S13, the processing can be simplified by incorporating the present invention into a printer.

Further, as a storage medium of the present invention, a ROM
5, various forms other than the elements such as the RAM 7 are conceivable.
For example, a CD-ROM, floppy disk, magneto-optical disk, hard disk, or the like may be used, or a file server on the Internet may be used. Further, the storage medium of the present invention is not limited to an image forming apparatus such as a printer, but can also be used by being read into a device such as a print server or a personal computer that outputs data for driving a printer engine to a printer or the like. . Further, the reading means of the present invention may read image data from a floppy disk or a ROM connected via a bus.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a printer to which the present invention has been applied.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a process executed by a printer controller.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a drawing range of an image for one page.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an image division state and a division printing state.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating position information printed together with the image of the section;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example in which an image of a section is printed together with section information.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating another example of section information.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of automatically setting an image division mode.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printer controller 2 ... Printer engine 5 ... ROM 6 ... CPU 7 ... RAM 50 ... Position information
G ... Image H1 ... Drawing range H2 ... Printable range K1 ~
K18: Section

Claims (8)

[Claims] A reading means for reading image data; a data creating means for creating data for driving and controlling an image forming means for forming an image on a recording medium based on the image data read by the reading means. An image data processing apparatus comprising: a dividing unit that divides an image for one page corresponding to the image data into a plurality of sections; and a position of the section with respect to each of the sections divided by the dividing unit. And position information creating means for creating position information indicating the division state of all the sections, and wherein the image forming means stores the image of each section on a plurality of recording media according to the number of divisions of the section. Wherein the data creating means creates the data so that the data is formed together with the position information corresponding to the section. 2. Reading means for reading image data, and data creating means for creating data for driving and controlling the image forming means for forming an image on a recording medium based on the image data read by the reading means. An image data processing apparatus comprising: a dividing unit that divides an image for one page corresponding to the image data into a plurality of sections; and a name of the section for each of the sections divided by the dividing unit. And section information creating means for creating section information indicating the name of each section adjacent to the section, and wherein the image forming means includes a plurality of recording media corresponding to the number of divisions of the section, An image data processing apparatus, wherein the data creating means creates the data so that an image of each section is formed together with the section information corresponding to the section. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said image forming means is formed separately from said image data processing device.
Or the image data processing device according to 2. 4. An image forming range for one page of the recording medium preset in the image forming means is detected, and the image forming range is compared with the size of an image for one page corresponding to the image data. 4. The image data processing apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a division mode setting unit for setting a division mode of the section by the division unit. 5. The image data processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: the image data processing apparatus further comprises: an image forming unit configured to form an image on a recording medium based on the data created by the data creating unit. An image forming apparatus comprising: 6. A division mode of said division by said division means by comparing a preset image formation range for one page of said recording medium with an image size of one page corresponding to said image data. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a division mode setting unit configured to set the image forming apparatus. 7. A storage medium used for an image forming apparatus having an image forming means for forming an image on a recording medium based on image data and storing a computer program for driving and controlling the image forming means. And a dividing process of dividing an image for one page corresponding to the image data into a plurality of sections; and, for each section after the division by the dividing process, the position of the section is set together with the divided state of all the sections. Position information creation processing for creating the position information to be instructed; and forming the image of each of the sections together with the position information corresponding to the section on a plurality of recording media according to the number of divisions of the section. A storage medium storing a driving process for driving a forming unit, and a computer program for executing the following. 8. A storage medium used for an image forming apparatus having an image forming means for forming an image on a recording medium based on image data and storing a computer program for driving and controlling the image forming means. A division process of dividing an image for one page corresponding to the image data into a plurality of sections; and a name of the section and an area adjacent to the periphery of the section for each of the sections obtained by the division processing. Section information creation processing for creating section information indicating the name of each section, and forming an image of each section together with the section information corresponding to the section on a plurality of recording media according to the number of divisions of the section. A storage medium storing a computer program for executing a driving process for driving the image forming unit and the computer program.