JPH1158872A - Print controller and control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a print controller and control method in which mismatch between the image of a document displayed on the client side and the image of a printed document is eliminated without increasing the print processing time. SOLUTION: At the time of printing a document, a printer information interrogation means 11 interrogates a font usable in a printer prior to transfer of a print job. When a font required by the printer is not present, a format converting section 12 and a font data converting section 13 convert a display font into font of outline font format for printer which is then transferred from a font transfer section 14 to a printer 2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a print control method and apparatus, and more particularly, to a print control method and apparatus that can reduce the time required for printing a document.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There is no printer such as a PostScript printer that stores fonts in a storage device such as a hard disk and prints a document using a font specified by a job transferred from a client. If a font is specified, the document cannot be printed using that font.

In such a case, it is possible to print a document by substituting a specified font with another font. However, by substituting the font, the image of the document displayed on the display of the client and the actual font can be printed. The image of the document printed on the document will be different.

As a method of resolving the inconsistency between the image of the document displayed on the display and the image of the actually printed document, a font for display is converted into a bitmap image on the client side. This is described and embedded in a job in a page description language (PDL).

Here, the flow of the printing process will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of a document printing process.

When printing of a document is started according to a user's instruction (step 501), the client inquires of the printer about available fonts (step 502).

As a result of this inquiry, if the printer does not have the font to be used (N in step 503)
O) Convert the font to be used into bitmap data and embed it in the print job (step 504).

If the embedding of the font is completed (step 504) or if the printer has the font to be used (YES in step 203), the client transfers the print job to the printer (step 505).
The document printing process ends (step 506).

However, when a font is embedded in a job, the job becomes extremely large, so that the transfer time of the job from the client to the printer and the reading time of the job by the printer increase.

Further, even when a font embedded in a job is a font that is repeatedly used between users, the font cannot be cached on the printer side.

The font cache is performed to reduce the processing time required for printing on the printer side.
Since a printer normally holds a font as an outline font, it converts this into bitmap data when printing. However, if this conversion is performed every time a font is created, it takes a long time for the printing process. Therefore, the printing process time is shortened by holding the font of the bitmap data once converted in the memory and reusing it. This is called a font cache.

In order to perform font caching, it is necessary to recognize characters between a plurality of jobs. Therefore, it is necessary to assign a unique identification code to a font converted into bitmap data stored in a memory. is there.

However, fonts embedded in a job are not given this identification code, so that fonts embedded in the job cannot be cached.

By the way, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 3-163622 proposes a printer which can emulate by inputting an emulation program from a print job input interface prior to a print job, and a method similar to the emulation program. There is a statement that fonts can be downloaded, but it is difficult to reduce print processing time even if this technology is used and the client does not have a font for the printer. Conceivable.

[0016]

As described above, a method of converting a display font possessed by a client into a bitmap image and embedding it in a print job to print a document is used to print a font which the printer does not have. When printing a document by using it, the time required to transfer a job from a client to a printer and the time required to read a job by a printer increase, and font caching cannot be performed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a print control method and apparatus which does not cause an inconsistency between a document image displayed on a client side and a printed document image without increasing the print processing time. And

[0018]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention comprises a storage means and stores a font in the storage means, and stores the font in the storage means based on a print job transferred from a client. In a print control method for a printer that prints a document by using a stored font, the client selects a font necessary for printing the document from display fonts for displaying the document on an image display device. The printer is converted to the printer font, the converted printer font is transferred to the printer, and then the print job is transferred to the printer.

Here, the printer has an information storage unit for storing various information of the printer, and the client inquires the information unit about a font stored in the storage means, The fonts not stored in the storage unit among the fonts necessary for printing the document may be converted from the display fonts to the printer fonts based on the fonts and transferred to the printer.

Further, the printer may be configured to store the font transferred from the client in the storage unit in association with an identification code capable of uniquely identifying the font.

Further, according to the present invention, a font is stored in the storage means, the font is stored in the storage means, and printing of a document is performed by using the font stored in the storage means based on the print job transferred from the client. In the print control means of the printer to perform, the client is a font format conversion means for converting a font necessary for printing the document from a display font for displaying the document on an image display device to a font for the printer. Font data conversion means for converting the printer font converted by the font format conversion means into transfer data; and font transfer for transferring the transfer data converted by the font data conversion means to the printer. Means.

Here, the printer has an information storage unit for storing various information of the printer, and the client sends a printer information inquiry to the information storage unit for inquiry about fonts stored in the storage means. Means for converting the fonts not required to be stored in the storage means among the fonts necessary for printing the document based on the result of the inquiry by the printer information inquiring means from the display fonts to the printer font. It can be configured to convert to a font for use.

[0023] The printer may further include a font storage unit that stores the font transferred from the client in the storage unit in association with an identification code capable of uniquely identifying the font. Can be.

Further, according to the present invention, a font is stored in the storage means, the font is stored in the storage means, and printing of a document is performed based on the print job transferred from the client by using the font stored in the storage means. On a medium on which a print control program of a printer to be executed is recorded, the client converts a font necessary for printing the document from a display font for displaying the document on an image display device to a font for the printer. Transmitting the converted printer font to the printer, and then transmitting the print job to the printer.

[0025]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a printing control method and apparatus according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a print control device in a network environment.

In FIG. 1, a client 1 (1-1,
1-2) is connected to the printer 2 via the network 4 and the print server 3.

Further, the client 1-1 is provided with a printer control device 10, and the printer control device 10
1, a font format conversion unit 12, a font data conversion unit 13, and a font transfer unit 14.

The printer information inquiry unit 11 inquires about the fonts and formats of the printer 2 via the network 4 and the print server 3, and the font format conversion unit 12 converts the display fonts of the client into printer fonts. Convert.

The font data conversion unit 13 converts the printer font converted by the font format conversion unit 12 into transfer data for making the printer 2 resident, and the font transfer unit 14 converts the transfer data into the network 4. Is transferred to the printer 2 via the print server 3.

FIG. 2 shows an example of conversion of the font format performed by the font format converter 12.

In FIG. 2, if FIG. 2 (a) is a display format and FIG. 2 (b) is a printer format, the font format converter 12 changes from FIG. 2 (a) to FIG. 2 (b). Will be converted.

First, each format of FIGS. 2A and 2B will be described.

In FIG. 2A, the font is the instruction 21
-1 to 21-6. Instruction 21-1 shows the coordinates
Put the pen on 100 100, and in the instruction 21-2, the coordinates 150 10
Have a line drawn to zero. In the commands 21-3 to 21-5, lines are drawn up to the coordinates 150 300 and the coordinates 100 300 and the coordinates 100 100 respectively. The command 21-6 is a drawing end command.

In FIG. 2B, the font is determined by instructions 22-1 to 22-5. The instruction 22-1 causes the pen to be placed at the coordinate 500 500, and the instruction 22-2 causes the line to be drawn by 2500 from the pen position. In the instruction 22-3, a line is drawn from the pen position by 01000, and in the instruction 22-4, a line is drawn by -2500 from the pen position. Instruction 22-
In step 5, a line is drawn from the pen position to the writing start position, and the drawing is completed.

Next, a method of converting the font format will be described.

In the conversion of the font format, coordinates,
Instructions, which differ from the three points of the positional relationship between instructions and arguments, are converted. For example, from FIG.
In the conversion to (b), all three points are different, and thus all three points are converted.

First, the coordinates in FIG. 2B can be converted by multiplying the coordinates in FIG. 2A by three times.
For instructions, "start" is converted to "moveto" and "line" is converted to "rlineto". The positional relationship between the instruction and the argument is different from the relationship between the instruction and the argument shown in FIG.
In (b), there is a positional relationship of an argument before an instruction.

Next, the operation of the client 1 and the printer 2 when printing a document will be described.

FIG. 3 is a sequence chart showing a data transfer procedure between the client 1 and the printer 2.

When the client 1 prints a document, first, the printer information inquiry unit 11
Is inquired about a font format that can be processed by the printer 2 (procedure 101).
Informs the font format that can be processed (Procedure 1
02).

Next, the printer information inquiry section 11 inquires whether the font to be transferred by the client 1 exists in the printer 2 (step 10).
3) The printer 2 notifies this (step 104).

If the font to be transferred by the client 1 does not exist in the printer 2, the font format converter 12 converts the display font of the client 1 into a printer font in accordance with the format obtained in the step 102. Then, the font data conversion unit 13 further converts the data into transfer data (procedure 105), and the converted transfer data is transferred to the printer 2 by the font transfer unit 14 (procedure 106). The stored data (font) is stored in a memory or disk (not shown) (step 107).

On the other hand, the client 1 that has transferred the data in step 106 converts the document into a print format to create a print job (step 108), and transfers it to the printer 2 (step 109). Is printed (step 110), and the document printing process ends.

When the printer 2 notifies the client 1 of a plurality of font formats in the procedure 102, the client 1 converts the font format into a font format with high conversion accuracy or a font format specified by the user.

If all the fonts queried in step 103 are present in the printer 2, the process proceeds to step 108 after the notification in step 104.

Further, when the font is transferred in step 106, if a font exists in the printer, an instruction for not storing the font can be added, so that the processing in steps 103 and 104 is omitted. be able to.

Therefore, by transferring a font together with an instruction not to store an unnecessary font,
The printer can discard unnecessary (already existing) fonts, or use a printer that does not have a function to respond to an inquiry as to whether a font exists.

When a printer having no function of responding to this inquiry is used, it is not possible to make an inquiry about the font format in steps 101 and 102. Therefore, the font format may be a fixed value or a format selected by the user. Will use it.

The font stored by the printer 2 in step 107 is an outline font, which is stored in a format substantially the same as the font previously installed in the printer 2 in association with a uniquely identifiable identification code. Therefore, font caching is performed at the time of printing, and processing time can be reduced.

Next, a second embodiment of the print control method and apparatus according to the present invention will be described.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a print control device in a locally connected printer.

Referring to FIG. 4, the PC 6 includes a printer control device 60 and is locally connected to the printer 7.

The printer control device 60 includes a printer information inquiry unit 61, a font format conversion unit 62, and a font data conversion unit 63.

The printer control device 60 performs almost the same operation as the printer control device 10 provided in the client 1-1 shown in FIG. 1, and the printer information inquiry unit 61 inquires about the fonts and formats of the printer 7, Font format converter 6
2 converts a display font possessed by the client into a printer font, and a font data conversion unit 63 converts the printer font converted by the font format conversion unit 12 into transfer data for making the printer 7 resident.

Further, since the PC 6 and the printer 7 are connected by a local connection such as a serial connection, the printer control device 60 does not include a device corresponding to the font transfer unit 14 included in the printer control device 10 shown in FIG.

Here, the operation of the PC 6 relating to document printing will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the flow of the operation of the PC 6 relating to document printing. FIG.
FIG. 5B shows the operation of the PC 6 when printing.

When the PC 6 starts to be activated (step 201), the printer information inquiry unit 61
Query about available fonts and available font formats (step 202).

Next, as a result of the inquiry, if there is no font to be used (possibly) in the printer 7 (NO in step 203), the font format converter 62 converts the font for display to the font for printer. Then, the font data conversion unit 63 converts the data into transfer data for making the printer 7 resident and transfers the data to the printer 7 (step 204).

As a result of the inquiry in step 202, when the font to be used is present in the printer 7 (YES in step 203), or when the conversion and transfer of the font is completed (step 204), the PC 6 terminates the activation (step 204). Step 205).

Next, when the PC 6 starts the printing process in accordance with the user's instruction (step 251), the font to be used has been transferred from the PC 6 to the printer 7 at the time of startup, so the PC 6 transfers only the print job (step 25).
2), the printing process ends (step 253).

When the amount of fonts that can be resident on the printer 7 is limited (for example, when the storage capacity of the printer 7 is small), the PC 6 makes an inquiry at the time of startup, and Since a usable font format has been acquired, it is possible to transfer only necessary fonts prior to a print job and perform print processing. .

[0064]

As described above, according to the present invention, when printing a document, prior to transfer of a print job, the printer is queried for available fonts and the printer does not have the fonts to use. Is configured to convert display fonts to printer outline font format fonts and transfer them to the printer.Therefore, there is no need to embed the fonts converted to bitmap data in the print job. The time required for printing can be reduced.

Also, since fonts can be resident in association with unique identification codes in fonts in the same format as when fonts are installed in the printer, font caching and the like can be performed, and printing of documents can be performed. The required processing time can be further reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a font transfer device in a network environment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a conversion example of a font format.

FIG. 3 is a sequence chart showing a data transfer procedure between a client 1 and a printer 2.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a font transfer device in a locally connected printer.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the flow of the operation of the PC 6 regarding document printing.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a conventional document printing process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 1-1, 1-2 Client 2 Printer 3 Print server 4 Network 6 PC 7 Printer 10 Printer control device 11 Printer information inquiry section 12 Font format conversion section 13 Font data conversion section 14 Font transfer section 21-1 to 21- 6 Command 22-1 to 22-5 Command 60 Printer control device 61 Printer information inquiry unit 62 Font format conversion unit 63 Font data conversion unit

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A printer, comprising a storage unit, storing a font in the storage unit, and printing a document using the font stored in the storage unit based on a print job transferred from a client. In the control method, the client converts a font necessary for printing the document from display fonts for displaying the document on an image display device to a font for the printer, and converts the converted printer font to a font for the printer. A print control method, comprising: transferring the print job to the printer after transferring the print job to the printer. 2. The printer has an information storage unit for storing various information of the printer. The client inquires the information unit about a font stored in the storage unit. 2. The font according to claim 1, wherein fonts not stored in the storage unit among fonts necessary for printing the document are converted from the display fonts to the printer fonts and transferred to the printer. Print control method. 3. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the printer associates the font transmitted from the client with an identification code capable of uniquely identifying the font.
2. The print control method according to claim 1, wherein the print control method is stored in the storage unit. 4. A printer having a storage means, storing fonts in the storage means, and printing a document using the fonts stored in the storage means based on a print job transferred from a client. In the control means, the client comprises: a font format conversion means for converting a font necessary for printing the document out of display fonts for displaying the document on an image display device into a font for the printer; Font data conversion means for converting the printer font converted by the format conversion means into transfer data, and font transfer means for transferring the transfer data converted by the font data conversion means to the printer. A print control device. 5. The printer comprises an information storage unit for storing various information of the printer, and the client inquires the information storage unit about a font stored in the storage unit. The font format conversion unit further includes a font not stored in the storage unit among fonts necessary for printing the document, based on a result of the inquiry by the printer information inquiry unit, from the display font to the font for the printer. 5. The print control device according to claim 4, wherein the print control device converts the font into a font. 6. The printer according to claim 1, further comprising a font storage unit that stores the font transferred from the client in the storage unit in association with an identification code capable of uniquely identifying the font. The print control device according to claim 4. 7. A printer for printing, comprising a storage means, storing a font in the storage means, and printing a document using the font stored in the storage means based on a print job transferred from a client. In the medium on which the control program is recorded, the client converts fonts necessary for printing the document from fonts for display of the document on an image display device to fonts for the printer, and converts the font. A medium storing a print control program, wherein a print font is transferred to the printer, and then the print job is transferred to the printer.