JP2003237147A - Image processing method and image processor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image processing method and an image processor in which reprint of different output formats can be carried out from the same print data without requiring a large capacity storage device. <P>SOLUTION: At the time of creating a page image corresponding to externally inputted print data, the page image is created by analyzing the print data in case of normal print. Furthermore, page information of the print data is generated and held together with the print data (S1203, S1204). When reprint is designated, the print data and the page information thus held are read out and the print data is reprinted using the print data and the page information thus read out. The page information includes the starting position of each page in the print data and print environmental information at the time of starting each page. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing method and an apparatus thereof, and more particularly to an image processing method and an apparatus thereof capable of re-outputting input print data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in an image processing apparatus such as a page printer that analyzes a print job input from the outside, generates an image, and outputs the image, the print job input once is held and a part or all of the print job is held. There is an increasing need for a so-called reprint function, in which the process is executed again to reprint. In this case, the reprint function not only outputs the same print result again, but also executes and prints only part of the print job in the middle, changes the page output order in reverse order, or randomly changes it. It is desired to be able to output again by changing the printing environment, such as outputting by double-sided printing, and by outputting by double-sided printing by single-sided printing.

On the other hand, a conventional page printer or the like receives print data in a page description language (PDL) format,
It is configured to generate a bitmap image representing page contents according to the DL analysis result. In such a general PDL, for example, in addition to drawing commands such as various graphic drawing commands such as character print commands and line drawing commands and image drawing commands, drawing logic and clipping area designation, printing position moving commands, It is composed of a wide variety of instructions such as macro instructions that store instructions by grouping and calling them.

Further, the PDL usually includes a command group for setting various printing environments. That is, line width, line type, line end shape processing method, font type, size, decoration (bold / italic), enlargement / reduction, rotation angle, drawing logic (AND or OR), and specification of clipping area. When the image processing apparatus processes the line drawing command, the character printing command, and the like, which are the print parameters, the drawing is performed according to the contents of the current printing environment. In addition, these various printing environments are configured so that the setting contents are valid after the setting is performed once until the setting is performed again or the reset command or the like is received. be called. With the above configuration,
It is possible to save the trouble of making the same setting many times, reduce the size of the print data, and efficiently perform the PDL analysis processing.

Although some of these current graphic states are configured to automatically return to the initial values when the page to be printed is changed, they are usually configured to be effective across pages. There is. For example, in the print mode in which text data is received, the printing position is automatically advanced along with character printing, and line feeds and page breaks are automatically performed for printing, the printing environment returns to the initial value each time the page advances. Would be inconvenient.

[0006]

However, the above-mentioned conventional example has the following problems.

That is, in the PDL described in the above-mentioned conventional example, various printing environments can be handed over between pages. Therefore, in order to determine the current graphic state at the start time of an arbitrary page, before that time It is necessary to know the contents set in. Therefore, even when printing is performed from a page in the middle of a certain print job, or even when partial printing is performed, for example, only odd pages, the print job including pages not actually printed is included. It was necessary to analyze the data and set the environment in order from the beginning. This is because it is necessary to distinguish it from the binary code in the image data or compressed data in order to identify the delimiter position between pages (form feed command in a page printer etc.). It is not enough to search for.

Therefore, when the print job once output is reprinted in the image processing apparatus equipped with the PDL, it is possible to reprint only the arbitrary pages and subsequent pages in the print job, or only some pages. However, it was difficult to improve the printing speed. For the same reason, it is difficult to efficiently perform the reprint in which the page order is reversed and the reprint in which the page order is changed.

For example, in the case of changing a print job output by face-down discharge for discharging the print surface downward to face-up discharge for discharging the print surface upward, for reprinting, page discharge If you do not change the order in reverse order,
When the user picks up the paper, the order is reversed.
That is, when face down, 1, 2, ..., N-1,
The sheets may be discharged in the order of n pages, but at the time of face-up, it is necessary to discharge the sheets in the order of n, n-1, ..., 2, 1 and the printing order must be changed. Normally, in order to discharge a print job of a plurality of pages in the correct order by face-up printing as described above, application software or a printer driver running on the host computer generates PDL data in which the page order is changed in advance. Therefore, even when spooling and reprinting the PDL data, the conventional image processing apparatus must always perform face-up printing.

Further, because of the hardware configuration of the image processing apparatus,
In order to perform stapling, for example, it is necessary to fix the sheet facedown and eject the sheet. Therefore, it is not possible to add stapling designation (perform face-down ejection) using PDL data that has been instructed to print face-up once, that is, created in order from the last page.

Similarly, for a print job in which a plurality of pages are designated at the time of the first printing, book printing (bag binding printing)
It was also difficult to set and reprint. Less than,
The page order in the case of normal two-page printing and book printing will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG.
9A shows the case of a print job in which normal two-page printing is performed on both sides of paper, and FIG. 19B shows the case of book printing. First, in FIG. 19A, pages 1 and 2, 3 and 4, ..., 11 and 12 are printed on the same paper surface, respectively, and when the paper is discharged face down, It shows that the sheets are discharged in the order of A, B, and C. In order to print in this way, the order of the pages in the print job is 1, 2, 3, 4, ..., 1
It should be 1,12. On the other hand, when performing book printing, it is necessary to perform printing and paper ejection in the order of 6 and 7, 5 and 8, ..., 2 and 11, 1 and 12, as shown in FIG. Therefore, when reprinting, it is necessary to change the page order and process.

As described above, in order to efficiently process the reprinting of only a part of the pages or the reprinting performed by reversing the page order or randomly.
The following methods are possible. That is, the page image (bitmap image) once generated is spooled together with the page number in the external storage device and reused. However, in this case, a large-capacity storage device such as a hard disk is required for the generated bitmap image. For example, in order to spool 10 A4 monochrome pages with a resolution of 600 dpi and a paper size of 10 pages, it is necessary to prepare a storage capacity of about 4 MB × 10≈40 MB.

Further, since the bitmap image is reused in page units, it cannot be applied to reprinting such as book printing in which physical page contents are different. As a case where the generated image cannot be reused,
Change double-sided print job with binding width set to single-sided print (because the image offset direction is different on the front and back sides) or when changing the print resolution, change color printing to monochrome printing There are various cases such as when doing.

In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention provides an image processing method and an apparatus thereof which can easily perform reprints of different output formats from the same print data without requiring a large-capacity storage device. To do.

[0015]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an image processing apparatus according to the present invention is an image processing apparatus for generating a page image corresponding to print data input from the outside. And spooling means for holding the print data and analyzing means for analyzing the print data to generate a page image and outputting page information of the print data, wherein the spool means includes the print data and the analyzing means. It is characterized in that it is held together with the output page information. Further, reading means for reading the print data and page information held in the spool means,
Reprinting means for reprinting the print data using the print data and page information read by the reading means is provided.

Here, the page information includes the start position of each page in the print data. The page information also includes print environment information at the start of each page.
The printing environment is in various current graphic states required for drawing. In addition, the reprinting unit includes a determining unit that determines whether to change the printing order of each page from the reprinting designation, reads the start position of the corresponding page from the page information in the order according to the result of the determining unit, and in the above order. Reprint the page image. Further, the reprinting unit includes a determining unit that determines whether to change the printing order of each page based on the reprinting designation, and reads out the start position of the corresponding page and the printing environment information from the page information in an order according to the result of the determining unit. After the print environment is set by setting the print environment, the page image is reprinted in the above order. Further, when partial printing is designated by reprint designation, the reprinting unit retrieves a corresponding page position from the page information, reads the print environment information, sets the print environment, and then prints a page image from the middle of the print data. Reprint. Further, when the reverse printing is designated by the reprint designation, the reprinting unit sequentially searches the corresponding page position from the rear of the page information, further reads the print environment information, sets the print environment, and then prints the print data. Reprint page images in the reverse order of. Further, when book printing is designated by reprint designation, the reprinting unit calculates a print order of each page, sequentially searches corresponding page positions of the calculated page information, and further prints the print environment information. After setting the reading and printing environment, the page images are reprinted in the calculated order.

Further, the printer control device of the present invention is a printer control device which generates a page image corresponding to print data input from the outside and outputs the page image to the external printing device by analyzing the print data. And a spooling unit that holds the print data and the page information output by the analyzing unit together, and the print unit that holds the print data. A read unit that reads data and page information; and a reprint instruction unit that instructs the printing apparatus to reprint the print data using the print data and page information read by the read unit. To do.

Here, the page information includes the start position of each page in the print data. The page information also includes print environment information at the start of each page.
The printing environment is in various current graphic states required for drawing. Further, the reprint instructing means includes a judging means for judging whether to change the printing order of each page from the reprint designation, reads out the start position of the corresponding page from the page information in the order according to the result of the judging means, and executes the order. To instruct to reprint the page image. Further, the reprint instructing means includes a determining means for determining whether to change the print order of each page from the reprint designation, and the start position of the corresponding page and the print environment information are displayed from the page information in an order according to the result of the determining means. After reading out and setting the printing environment, reprinting of the page image is instructed in the above order. Further, the reprint instruction means, when partial printing is designated by reprint designation, retrieves a corresponding page position from the page information,
After the printing environment information is read and the printing environment is set, the reprinting of the page image is instructed from the middle of the print data. Further, when the reverse printing is designated by the reprint designation, the reprinting unit sequentially searches the corresponding page position from the rear of the page information, further reads the print environment information, sets the print environment, and then prints the print data. Instruct to reprint the page image in the reverse order of. Further, when book printing is designated by reprint designation, the reprinting unit calculates a print order of each page, sequentially searches corresponding page positions of the calculated page information, and further prints the print environment information. After setting the read-out printing environment, reprinting of the page images in the calculated order is instructed.

The image processing method of the present invention is an image processing method for generating a page image corresponding to print data input from the outside. In the case of normal printing, the print data is analyzed to generate a page image. At the same time, it generates page information of the print data, holds the print data and the page information together, and when a reprint is instructed, reads the held print data and page information, The print data is reprinted using the read print data and page information.

Here, the page information includes the start position of each page in the print data. The page information also includes print environment information at the start of each page.
The printing environment is in various current graphic states required for drawing. In the reprinting step,
From the reprint designation, it is determined whether the printing order of each page is changed, the start position of the corresponding page is read from the page information in the order according to the determination result, and the page image is reprinted in the order. Further, in the reprint step, it is determined from the reprint designation whether to change the print order of each page, and the print position is set by reading the start position of the corresponding page and the print environment information from the page information in the order according to the determination result. After that, the page image is reprinted in the above order. In the reprinting step,
When partial printing is designated by the reprint designation, the corresponding page position is searched from the page information, the print environment information is read, the print environment is set, and then the page image is reprinted from the middle of the print data. Further, in the reprinting step, when the reverse printing is designated by the reprint designation, the corresponding page position is sequentially searched from the rear of the page information, the print environment information is further read, and the print environment is set, and then the print data is set. Reprint page images in the reverse order of. Further, in the reprint step, when book printing is designated by reprint designation, the print order of each page is calculated, the corresponding page position of the calculated page information is sequentially searched, and the print environment information is further recorded. After setting the reading and printing environment, the page images are reprinted in the calculated order.

The image processing program of the present invention is an image processing program for generating a page image corresponding to print data input from the outside, and in the case of normal printing,
While generating the page image by analyzing the print data, the step of generating page information of the print data, a step of holding the print data and the page information together, when a reprint is instructed, It is characterized by including the steps of reading the held print data and page information, and using the read print data and page information to instruct reprinting of the print data.

Here, in the reprint step, it is determined from the reprint designation whether the printing order of each page is changed, the start position of the corresponding page is read from the page information in the order according to the determination result, and the page image is displayed in the order. Instruct to reprint. Further, in the reprint step, it is determined whether to change the print order of each page from the reprint designation, and the print position is set by reading the start position of the corresponding page and the print environment information from the page information in the order according to the determination result. Then, the reprinting of the page image is instructed in the above order. Further, in the reprint step, when partial printing is designated by reprint designation, the corresponding page position is searched from the page information, the print environment information is read, and the print environment is set, and then a page image is printed in the middle of the print data. Instruct to reprint. Further, in the reprint step, when the reverse printing is designated by the reprint designation, the corresponding page position is sequentially searched from the rear of the page information, the print environment information is further read, and the print environment is set, and then the print data is set. Instruct to reprint the page image in the reverse order of. Further, in the reprint step, when book printing is designated by the reprint designation, the print order of each page is calculated, the corresponding page position of the calculated page information is sequentially searched, and the print environment information is further retrieved. After setting the read-out printing environment, reprinting of the page images in the calculated order is instructed.

With the above arrangement, according to the present invention, at the time of the first printing, the PDL data is spooled, and at the same time, the page start position in the PDL data and the current graphic state at each page start time are combined. Even in an image processing apparatus using a PDL that can hold various current graphic states between pages by holding the same, high-speed processing of printing such as printing a part from a page in the middle of a print job is performed. It becomes possible.

Further, according to the present invention, according to the present invention, it is not necessary to analyze the data in order from the head of the print job when printing is performed in the reverse order of the page order or printing is performed by changing the page order. Reprint processing can be performed easily and at high speed.

In other words, due to the hardware configuration of the image processing apparatus, reprinting (face down) in which a stapling designation is added to a print job (that is, PDL data created sequentially from the last page) for which printing is instructed face-up once Can be easily and rapidly processed.

Similarly, for a print job in which a plurality of pages are designated at the time of the first printing, book printing (bag binding printing)
It is also possible to set and reprint.

As a matter of course, in the reprinting accompanied with the change of the printing order as described above, it is needless to say that there is no problem even if the reverse designation is made.

Further, since the page image (bitmap image) once generated can be reprinted without being reused by spooling it together with the page number in the external storage device, a large-capacity storage device such as a hard disk is prepared. No need.

Further, since the bitmap image is not reused in page units, it can be applied to reprinting in which print results in page units are different, such as switching between normal two-page printing and book printing. . In addition, when a double-sided print job for which a binding width is set is reprinted by single-sided printing, when the print resolution is changed and reprinted, or when color printing is changed to monochrome printing and reprinted, the present invention is used. Is adaptable to various cases.

[0030]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<Example of Configuration of Image Processing Device According to this Embodiment>
First, the configuration of an image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment, which is suitable for applying the present invention, will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic structure of the image processing apparatus of the present embodiment, for example, a case of a laser beam printer. The image processing apparatus to which the present invention can be applied is not limited to the laser beam printer, and may be a printer apparatus of another printing method, or may be applied regardless of the difference in the device configuration such as a monochrome / color printer. It is possible. Further, as long as the functions of the present invention are executed, the printer is not limited to the printer, but a printer controller, a print server, or other dedicated print device, or a printer driver installed in a general computer, and the same image. It is also applicable to control of an image recording device, an image display device, and an image communication device that require processing.

In FIG. 1, 101 is an external device such as a host computer, and 102 is the laser beam printer main body of this embodiment.

The laser beam printer 102 receives print data (character code, graphic data, image data, etc.) in the page description language (PDL) format from the external device 101, and according to the information, the corresponding character pattern, graphic pattern, etc. Is formed and an image is formed on a recording medium, which is a recording medium. Further, the laser beam printer 102 is configured to be able to perform registration of character patterns, form data, macro data, etc. in a data storage unit (not shown), like the print data received from the host computer 101. A page image is generated according to the print data in the storage unit.

In the laser beam printer 102, a printer control unit (controller unit) 103 controls the entire laser beam printer 102 and analyzes print data (character information and the like) supplied from the host computer 101. The control unit 103 is connected to the printer engine unit 105, generates page information composed of dot data based on the print data, and sequentially transmits the dot data (video signal) to the printer engine unit 105.

A printer engine unit 105 actually forms a latent image on the photosensitive drum in accordance with the dot data (video signal), and heat-fixes the latent image on the paper to perform printing. Reference numeral 104 denotes an operation panel on which switches for operation and an LED display are arranged.
By operating the panel unit 104, an operator (user) can specify a predetermined operation for the laser beam printer 102 or set a printing environment.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of the laser beam printer 102 of this embodiment, mainly showing the configuration of the printer engine section 105. The same configurations as those in FIG.

In the figure, a laser driver 201 is a circuit for driving a semiconductor laser 202, and turns on / off a laser beam 203 emitted from the semiconductor laser 202 in accordance with the video signal output from the control unit 103.
Switch off. The laser 203 is oscillated in the left-right direction by the rotary polygon mirror 204 and scans the electrostatic drum 205. As a result, an electrostatic latent image such as a character pattern is formed on the electrostatic drum 205. This latent image is developed by the developing unit 206 around the electrostatic drum 205 and then transferred to the recording paper. A cut sheet is used as this recording sheet, and the cut sheet recording sheet is stored in a sheet cassette 207 mounted on the LBP 102, and is taken into the apparatus by a sheet feeding roller 208 and conveying rollers 209 and 210, and is electrostatic drum. 205.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram for explaining the basic components of the image processing apparatus of this embodiment, showing the internal configuration of the control unit 103 of the image processing apparatus of FIG.
Incidentally, as long as the function of the present invention is executed, it may be a single device or a system in which processing is performed by a plurality of devices arranged via a network such as a LAN.

In the figure, the control unit 1 of the printer
03 is connected to the host computer 101 which is an external device via a predetermined interface 308,
It is configured to execute a predetermined print process in accordance with print data sent from the host computer 101. Here, the print data received from the host computer 101 is temporarily stored in the reception buffer 307 as reception data.

A printer CPU 301 is a program ROM 30 of a ROM 302 which is a read-only memory.
Based on the control program stored in 3, the access to various devices connected to the system bus 306 is comprehensively controlled. First, the print data stored in the reception buffer 307 is analyzed to generate at least one page of a drawing object (print data analyzing unit; drawing object generating unit 303b), and subsequently, one page (based on the drawing object) ( Or 1 divided into multiple bands
A raster image (image data) of a band) is generated (drawing object drawing unit 303c; also referred to as image data drawing unit), and the raster image is sent to the printing unit (printer engine) 105 via the printing unit I / F 309. The video signal is output by turning ON / OFF the bit of (the output of the video signal is hereinafter referred to as "ship"). The printing unit 105 prints an image on the recording paper 201 based on the video signal received from the CPU 301.

In the banding system in which a plurality of band rasters (for example, two) are prepared by dividing a page into bands, and printing is performed, the generation of the raster image and the ship operation are performed at the same time. That is, the drawing object belonging to the other band raster is drawn while shipping the one band raster already drawn.

Further, the control program 303 includes programs for realizing the following functions in addition to the above configuration. That is, according to the analysis result of the print data analysis unit 303b, the page information management unit 303d that checks the delimiter position of each page in the print data and generates the result as page information, the print data analysis unit 303b processes the new page. A print environment management unit 303e that generates a print environment at the time of starting, the print data and page information, a print data writing unit 303a that writes the print environment data to the hard disk 310, and the reception buffer 30.
When the print data in 7 is a reprint instruction command, the print data stored in the hard disk 310, the page information, and the reprint information reading unit 303f for reading the print environment data are configured. Hereinafter, the print data, page information, and print environment data will be collectively referred to as reprint data.

When the print data analysis unit 303b receives the reprint instruction command, it checks whether or not the reprint data to be read out is stored in the hard disk 310 according to the parameters of the reprint instruction command and the printing environment at that time. At the same time, the page order and page range to be reprinted are obtained, and the reprint information reading unit 303f is called based on the result.
It is configured to perform reprint.

The ROM 302 is also used as a memory for storing font data composed of dot fonts and scalable fonts used for character output (font ROM 304).

A RAM 305 functions as a main memory, a work memory, etc. of the CPU 301, and is constructed so that the memory capacity can be expanded by an optional RAM connected to an expansion port (not shown). RAM305
Is a drawing object storage unit 305a for storing the drawing object generated by the print data analysis unit 303b.
Also, a work memory 305e temporarily used by the control program 303, a band buffer 305c that stores a raster image corresponding to two planes of a band area obtained by dividing one page into bands, and the page information management unit 303d. The page information storage unit 305b that temporarily stores the generated page information, the print environment storage unit 305d that temporarily stores the print environment data generated by the print environment management unit 303e, and the scalable data in the font memory 304. It is used as a font cache memory (not shown) for caching a character pattern developed based on the above.

In this embodiment, the banding method is used for printing, but a page buffer 305c capable of holding a raster image for one page is used.
, And the drawing / shipping processing may be performed by the full paint method. The laser beam printer 102 is supplied with power from a power source unit (not shown). Further, although it has been described that the print data is stored in the hard disk 310, a nonvolatile memory such as a flash memory or the RAM 30.
5, or may be stored in a storage device having another configuration.

Further, although it has been described that the device constituting the present invention is supplied as a program stored in the ROM, the present invention is not limited to this, and it is supplied by a medium such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk or a hard disk, and before execution. It may be configured to be executed after being loaded into the RAM or the like. In addition, CD-ROM, CD-R, memory card,
The present invention can be carried out even if a drive (not shown) is removed from a storage medium such as a DVD and the control program is installed and controlled, and the present invention includes this.

<Example of Ordinary Print Job Operation of Image Processing Apparatus According to this Embodiment> (Example of Configuration of Ordinary Print Job) Referring to FIG. 4, a host computer executes ordinary printing to the image processing apparatus. An example of the format of the print command forming the print job to be executed will be described.

Print JL (J
ob Language), and includes the following command groups that specify various environments (job environments) that are uniform within a print job. -Job start command indicating the start of a print job (job ID = JOBID 'is specified as a parameter) -Print resolution specification command for setting the print resolution for processing the print data in the subsequent PDL data format (in this embodiment) Mode: 600 dpi) ・ Binding width setting command (5 mm) and binding direction setting command (left binding) that specify the mapping position of the print content on the paper when binding the paper ・ Whether to print on one side or on both sides of the paper Specified print surface designation command (double-sided) -Paper exit selection command (Paper exit 1 = face down) -PDL or later command (launches LIPS) for instructing to start the PDL analysis processing program for processing print data Up to here are JL commands (hereinafter referred to as job environment setting commands), which will be written in PDL from now on. -PDL data start command indicating the start of PDL data-Paper size selection command (A4) for selecting the paper size of each page: -Character print command-Figure drawing command-Paper discharge command: -PDL meaning the end of PDL data Data end command: Job end command for defining the end of a print job by JL (normal print job processing) FIG. 5 illustrates a normal print data processing procedure without a reprint instruction in the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment. This will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In the present embodiment, the reprint instruction is given by the reprint instruction command in the print data, and the reprint instruction command is specified prior to other drawing commands such as character drawing. And That is, the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment is configured to be able to determine whether the print job is a normal print job or a print job instructing reprint at the time of processing any drawing command. However, for the sake of simplicity, the flowchart of FIG. 5 will be described only when there is no reprint instruction command before the drawing command.

In the figure, first, the control program 303
In step S501, the host computer 101
The print data sent from the server via the predetermined interface 308 is stored in the reception buffer 307. Then, it is checked whether or not there is unprocessed print data in the reception buffer 307 (step S502), and if it does not exist, the process ends. On the other hand, if there is unprocessed print data, the print data is analyzed in the following step S503.

First, in step S503, it is checked whether or not it is the head of the print job. That is, it is checked whether the received print data is a job start command, and if so, the processed data size and the processed page number are initialized to 0 (step S505). On the other hand, if it is determined that it is not the job start command, the processed size is added to the data size (step S504). This data size will be referred to later in step S516 when the page break position is stored as page information. still,
An ID that can uniquely identify the print job is given as a parameter of the job start command, and at the time of reprinting, the print job to be output is determined by the job ID.

In subsequent step S506, the print data temporarily stored in reception buffer 307 is stored in hard disk 310. When the job is started in step S505, the job ID of the print job is stored in the work memory and is stored in the hard disk together with the print data.

(Example of initial storage in hide disk 310)
The data structure stored in the hard disk will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the structure of the entire reprint data stored in the hard disk 310. In the figure, the job ID 1101 is written with a correct value at the start of the job, but only the reprint total size 1101 and the print data size 1103 are reserved for the areas (the values are post-processing at the end of the job; the step of FIG. 13). S120
9 and 1210 to overwrite and set). That is, the area of the print data 1104 is added every time the print data is received, and the area of the page information / print environment 1105 is stored at the end of the job.

Returning to the flowchart of FIG. 5, in step S507 and thereafter, the unprocessed print data, that is, the print command in the page description language format is sequentially analyzed. First, it is checked whether or not the print data is a paper discharge command (form feed code) (step S507), and if not, the analysis is continued as another print command in step S508 and subsequent steps. In the present embodiment, the case of the character print command is described as an example of the main drawing command, and the description of the other commands is omitted. These page analysis procedures may be similar to the known page description language analysis procedures.

When the print command is not the paper discharge command, the analysis is first performed in step S508 to check whether the print command is a character print command. If not, the subsequent step S508 is performed.
At 514, it is checked whether the command is a job end command. If it is not a job end command, a drawing object suitable as another print command such as graphic drawing is generated (step S515).
On the other hand, if the command is a job end command, post-processing is performed on the reprint data in step S516 (see FIG. 13 for details).
(The flow chart will be described later), and the process returns to step S501.

In step S508, if the print data is a character print command, it is searched whether or not the same character pattern has been created in the font cache storage section (steps S509 and S510), and step S510.
In the case where the character pattern has been created, that is, when the search is hit, drawing information necessary for drawing the character pattern is created (step S513). On the other hand, if the same character pattern is not found in step S510, the font scaler generates a character pattern corresponding to the specified character code of the current font (step S511) and a drawing object (step S512).

In the present embodiment, the drawing object representing the character pattern is assumed to be a bitmap pattern, but the present invention is not limited to this, and processing such as compressing a character having a prescribed pattern size or less in a prescribed compression format is performed. May be applied. Then, as in the case of hitting at the time of search, drawing information is created and the analysis of one instruction is completed.

(Structural Example of Drawing Object and Drawing Information) The structure of the drawing object and drawing information in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 to 9. 7 is a diagram showing a memory map of the drawing object storage unit 305a for one page in the present embodiment, FIG. 8 is a drawing object, and FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an outline of a configuration example of drawing information.

First, in FIG. 7, reference numeral 801 denotes a page information header section for storing various information of each page, which includes a print resolution of the page, a paper size, a color mode, a band raster number, and a drawing object belonging to the page. It is composed of information to be managed for each page, such as total capacity (memory usage), page state (drawn / shipped, etc.), page number that is sequentially counted after power-on. The print resolution and the like are determined from the current graphic state at the time of starting the processing of each page,
The number of band rasters can be obtained from the paper size and the printing resolution if the height of each band is fixed. A band table 802 is prepared by the number of band rasters and linked with drawing information 803 (see FIG. 8). As described below, each drawing information indicates where and how to print each drawing object in each band.

The drawing information will be hereinafter referred to as an application (appl: abbreviation). In the present embodiment, the individual application 805 and the drawing object 806 are generated and held in the drawing information storage unit 803 and the drawing object storage unit 804, respectively, but are configured to be held in a mixed manner. It doesn't matter.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of one application, and is configured to include the following information as information for rendering a rendering object. That is, the print position in the band (bit offset value from the upper left end), the drawing height of the drawing object, the drawing logic (AND / OR, etc.) with the band raster, the background information (BG information), and the corresponding drawing object. Start address, amount of obset (number of lines) indicating how much the drawing object should be skipped when the drawing object is drawn from the middle of the band, start address of the next application (link end is NULL)
Including etc. Here, it is assumed that the BG information is composed of gray levels, and a dither pattern corresponding to the gray level is attached as a background of each drawing object at the time of drawing.

When the drawing object is drawn over a plurality of bands, the drawing object has a plurality of applications. In other words, the application is assigned the number of times of drawing. In the example of FIG. 8, the character "A" becomes band0 by appl1 and appl4.
Rendered over band 1, and banded by appl6
The drawing is performed in n.

It should be noted that each piece of information in the above-described application has at least the number of bits enough to represent the designated paper at the designated resolution, and the links between the applications and the drawing objects are limited to the addresses in the RAM. Alternatively, the link may be based on the ID (in this case, the address is converted via an ID table prepared in advance).

With the above configuration, in order to draw each drawing object for each band to generate a band image,
Each linked application may be sequentially read from the band table, and a drawing object may be drawn according to the print position information stored in each application. This process is NU
The drawing process for one band is completed by repeating the process until reaching LL.

Returning to the flowchart of FIG. 5, if it is determined in step S507 that the print command is a paper discharge command, the number of processed pages is incremented (step S517), and then the current data size ( The number of bytes from the beginning of the print job) and the number of pages that have been incremented (the first page becomes 1) are stored in the page information storage unit 305b as page information (step S518). In the following step S519, the current print environment (current graphic state) is stored in the print environment storage unit 305d.

(Example of Configuration of Page Information and Printing Environment) FIG.
11 and FIG. 11, steps S518 and S51 of FIG.
The configuration of the page information and the printing environment generated by 9 will be described. Note that the configuration described below is used when temporarily storing in the page information storage unit 305b in FIG.

First, the page information shown in FIG. 10 is the job ID (130) for uniquely identifying the print job.
1), the total number of pages of the print job n (1302), and the start positions (1303) of pages 1 to n. Here, only the storage area may be allocated to the total number of pages n, and a correct value may be finally written in the post-processing (step S516) at the end of the job when the processing of all pages is completed. The page and the number of processed pages to be incremented may be overwritten. The start position 1303 of each page is the number of bytes of processed data from the beginning of the job at the time of starting each page. The start position of page 1 is the number of processed bytes at the start of PDL data, page n. Is the number of bytes that have been processed at the time when the discharge instruction for page n-1 is processed.

FIG. 11 shows the configuration of the print environment when it is temporarily stored in the print environment storage unit 305d.
In addition to D and the total number of pages n, the data size (1304) of the print environment for each page and the actual print environment (1305) are included.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a more detailed structure of the printing environment (current graphic state) generated in step S519 of FIG. The right side of the figure shows an example of the printing environment at the start of each page. In the figure, 701 is a paper size (= A4) temporarily stored in the page information header portion 801, 702 is the name of the current font (= Ming font), 703 is the current font size (= 10 points), 704 Is the line type (= solid line), 70
Reference numeral 5 is a processing shape of the line end (= cut-off), and 706 is a drawing logic (= overwrite).

In addition to the above, the printing environment need only have graphic information necessary for drawing processing performed by each image processing apparatus to which the present invention is applied. For example, the paper size is changed in one print job. If the configuration is not possible, the paper size 701 may be stored as a job environment (described later).

In the above-described embodiment, the current graphic state is held every time each paper discharge command is processed. However, only the difference is calculated by taking the difference from the preset default environment. You may keep it. (The default environment is the job environment stored in the hard disk at the start of the job and is prepared in the program ROM 303 in advance). Although not shown in the figure, only the printing environment of page 1 is stored when the first drawing command is processed.

Returning to the flowchart of FIG. 5, in the subsequent step S520, rendering is performed. That is, in accordance with a known banding method, a bitmap image representing page contents is rendered using a rendering object for one page and rendering information, and at the same time, the bitmap image of the rendered band is transmitted to the printer engine unit 105. Output as a signal. After the rendering of one page is completed, the process returns to step S501 to analyze the print data of the next page.

In the present embodiment, for simplification, the printing data is analyzed after rendering one page, but in the image processing apparatus such as the laser beam printer, the multitask processing is performed. Is usually configured so that rendering and analysis of print data can be performed simultaneously.

By the processing procedure described above, at the same time as printing each page, page information and a current graphic state are generated, and spooling is performed as reprint data together with print data.

(Execution Example of Job End Command) First, FIG.
An example of the data structure in which the page information of FIG. 10 and the printing environment of FIG. 11 are merged by the job end command will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 14 shows a configuration in which the page information and the printing environment of FIGS. 10 and 11 are merged, and is a data configuration stored in the hard disk 310 as reprint data at the end of the job. In the figure, 601 is a job ID corresponding to 1301, 603 is the total number of pages n corresponding to 1302, 606 is a start position of page 1 corresponding to 1303, 607 and 608 are 1304, respectively.
The data size of the printing environment corresponding to 1305 and the actual printing environment. A job environment 605 is a common print environment for the entire print job, and includes job control language (JL) specification contents specified in a format that covers PDL data as print data. The job environment includes, for example, items such as print resolution, print mode (double-sided / single-sided), binding width, binding direction, presence / absence of stapling designation, and paper ejection port (face-up / face-down). Reference numeral 604 is a data size (number of bytes) of the job environment, and 602 is a total sum of all the data. still,
The job environment is stored in a work memory or the like at the start of PDL.

The processing procedure when a job end command is received as a print command will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 13 (corresponding to the process of step S516 in FIG. 5).

In the figure, first, in step S1201, the header information corresponding to 601 to 605 in FIG. 14 is written in the hard disk (added to the print data of the same job ID). At this point, the total page information size 602 may be obtained in advance, or an undefined value may be written in order to secure the area, and the following step S12 is performed.
The sum may be obtained while repeating 02 to 1205 (the latter in the present embodiment). As the total page number 603, the processed page number at this point may be used.

In subsequent step S1203, the page information (FIG. 10) and the printing environment (FIG. 11) are merged. That is, the page information storage unit 305b and the printing environment storage unit 3
From 05d, the page information and the print environment having the same job ID as the print job being processed are read out respectively,
The data is rearranged so as to have a configuration in which each page is grouped as shown in (step S1203), and is additionally written after the print data in the hard disk having the same job ID (step S1204). At this time, it is checked whether or not the hard disk is full (step S1205). If the disk is not full, the process returns to step S1202 in order to process the next page. on the other hand,
When the disk is full, an error is displayed on the panel or the like (step S1206), and the page information and the printing environment being written to the hard disk are deleted (step S12).
07), and then all the page information and print environment in the RAM 305 are deleted (step S1211). Although not shown in the figure, the disk capacity is also checked when writing the print data in step S506.

After the writing of all pages is completed, in step S1208, the page information and the total size of the printing environment are written (overwritten) in the area 602. In the following step S1209, the total size of the print data (the processed data size at this point) is overwritten in the hard disk, and the data size of the entire reprint data (the print data and the total size of the page information / printing environment is set). (Sum) is overwritten (step S1210). Finally, the page information and the printing environment in the RAM 305 are deleted, and the process ends (step S1211).

According to the above processing procedure, a specific job I
Reprint data for a print job having D is stored in the hard disk.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing the structure of the entire reprint data stored in the hard disk 310. In FIG. 6, the reprint total size 1102, the print data size 1103, the print data 1104, and the page information / printing environment 1105, which have not been determined at the time of starting the job in FIG. 6, are fixed. The configuration in which the page information / printing environment shown in FIG. 14 is merged corresponds to 1105 in FIG.

<Example of Reprint Job Operation of Image Processing Apparatus of this Embodiment> (Example of Configuration of Reprint Job Command) A print job for executing reprint from the host computer to this image processing apparatus is constructed using FIG. The format of the print command will be described.

Reprint The print job is JL at the beginning and end.
It is configured in a language called (Job Language), and includes the following command groups that specify uniform various environments (job environment) in a print job. Here, for simplicity, the job environment is shown in FIG.
The same is explained as. -Job start command indicating the start of a print job (job ID = JOBID 'is specified as a parameter) -Print resolution specification command for setting the print resolution for processing the print data in the subsequent PDL data format (in this embodiment) Mode: 600 dpi) ・ Binding width setting command (5 mm) and binding direction setting command (left binding) that specify the mapping position of the print content on the paper when binding the paper ・ Whether to print on one side or on both sides of the paper Specified print surface designation command (double-sided) -Paper exit selection command (Paper exit 1 = face down) -PDL or later command (launches LIPS) for instructing to start the PDL analysis processing program for processing print data Up to here are JL commands (hereinafter referred to as job environment setting commands), which will be written in PDL from now on. -PDL data start command indicating the start of PDL data-Paper size selection command (A4) for selecting the paper size of each page: -Reprint mode setting command (mode = 1) for specifying the reprint mode Reprint instruction command (job ID / start page number / end page number) indicating that reprint is instructed Here, reprint mode = 0 indicates that all pages are reprinted in the same order as in a normal job. Similarly, 1 = partial printing, 2 = reverse printing, 3 = reverse printing and partial printing, and 4 = random printing, respectively. Also, the parameters of the reprint instruction command differ as follows depending on the reprint mode. That is, mode 0 = no parameter required, mode 1 = start page and end page, mode 2 = no parameter, mode 3 = start page and end page, mode 4 = total number of pages to be reprinted, array of page numbers, etc. Be interpreted. (A mode for reprinting all pages after the designated page may be provided.):-PDL data end command meaning the end of PDL data-Job end command defining the end of a print job by JL It should be noted that, in the above-mentioned configuration, the reprint instruction issued after any drawing command is invalidated (printed as a normal print job). Further, if there is an item that is not designated as a job environment in the print job instructing the reprint, the processing is performed as the same job environment as the normal print job.

(Processing Procedure of Reprint Job: Example of Partial Printing) The processing procedure when a reprint command is received as a print command will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. However, the description of the processing steps S901 and 902 similar to those of a normal print job that does not specify reprint is omitted.
Further, in the present embodiment, a case will be described in which partial printing, in which only a part of a print job is printed, is designated.

First, in step S903, it is checked whether or not it is a job environment setting command in the job control language, and if so, the designated job environment is stored in the work memory (step S915). Here, the job environment is
Although the items are the same as those of the job environment 605 for a normal print job, the setting contents (for example, print resolution) may be different. On the other hand, if it is not a job environment setting command (that is, if it is PDL data), it is checked whether it is a reprint mode setting command (step S9).
04). If the command is a reprint mode setting command, the reprint mode specified by the parameter of the command is checked in step S917. For example, since mode = 1 is designated here, it is interpreted that partial printing is designated.

On the other hand, if it is not the reprint mode setting command, it is checked in step S905 whether it is a reprint instruction command, and if not, it is analyzed as another print command such as a paper size setting command or PDL data end command, Predetermined processing is performed (step S916).

On the other hand, if it is the reprint instruction command in step S905, it is interpreted that the partial print is designated by the reprint mode, and the parameter is set to the job I.
D, start page, end page. And
It is searched whether or not the reprint data having the job ID designated by the parameter is stored in the hard disk (step S906), and if not found, the process proceeds to the next command (at this time, an error may be displayed. However, the parameters of the start page / end page may be checked at the same time). On the other hand, when the reprint data of the designated job ID is found, the page reading range and the reading order are determined from the specified start page / end page and the difference between the job environments (step S907). For example, as a result of comparing the print environment 605 of the normal job with the job environment when the reprint is designated, when it is determined that the face at the time of paper discharge is changed by the smiley example of selecting the paper discharge port, it is substantially partial. Printing will be processed in reverse order.
In the present embodiment, the description will proceed assuming that the reprint is designated in the same print order as the normal print job.

Subsequently, the page information of the print start page and the print environment (606, 608) are sequentially read from the hard disk, the page corresponding to the designation is searched (step S908), the print environment is set, and the printing of the corresponding page is performed. The reading of print data is started from the data start position (step S909). As described above, in reprinting in which the printing order does not change, the printing environment may be set only for the first page.

Thereafter, in steps S910 to 914, the print data is sequentially analyzed until the end page designated by the parameters is obtained, and the corresponding drawing object and drawing information are generated (steps S911 and 912), and the page image is displayed. Generate / output (step S913). Finally, in step S914, the number of output pages is updated (incremented), and the process for the next page is performed.

With the procedure described above, the reprinting process can be easily started from an arbitrary page during partial printing.

(Example of Reprint Job Processing Procedure: Example of Reverse Order Printing) In the present embodiment, the procedure of the reprint in which reverse order printing is designated will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In the figure, steps S1401 to S14
06, and steps S1411-1413, 1415-
Reference numeral 1417 denotes steps S901 to S901 in the partial printing example.
06, and steps S911-913, 915-917.
Since the processing is the same as the above, detailed description will be omitted.

In this embodiment, reprint mode = 2
Therefore, in step S1407, the start page and the end page are exchanged, and the reprint processing is started from the page designated as the end page. Also, the update of the number of pages in step S1414 becomes decrement instead of increment. Further, in order to update the page start position and the printing environment every page, step S
Search and installation are performed inside the loop processing of 1408 to 1414 (steps S1409, 1410).

By the procedure described above, reprint processing in reverse order can be performed easily and at high speed from an arbitrary page.

(Example of Reprint Job Processing Procedure: Example of Book Printing) A case of reprinting a print job in which normal two-page printing is designated by book printing will be described.
As shown in FIG. 19B, pages 1, 2,
It is assumed that the print data configured in the order of 3, ..., 11, 12 is book-printed.

The processing procedure of reprinting in this embodiment may be the same as the flowchart shown in the example of reverse order printing, but only the method of determining the page reading order in step S1407 is different. That is, the total number of pages is read out and is temporarily changed to be a multiple of 4.

For example, if the total number of pages is n = 11, then n '
= (11 + 3) / 4 × 4 = 12. The total number of pages thus obtained is divided by 2 to determine the page m to be output on the left side of the page of the start page. In this case, m = page 6 is the first processed page, and m + 1 = page 7 is the output on the right side on the same paper surface (see FIG. 4-2). Subsequently, the output of the back side of the same page is (m + 1) + 1 = page 8 on the left side and m−1 = page 5 on the right side. Then, with respect to the next sheet, the processing is started from m−2 = page 4, and thereafter, similarly, the printing surface is sequentially determined until the processing of the total number of pages n ′ is completed. When determining the reading order, if the number of pages is less than 1 or exceeds the total number of pages (for example, the 12th page in the case of n = 11), it may be processed as a blank sheet.

In the above embodiments, the example of partial printing for reprinting, the example of reverse printing, and the example of book printing have been described. However, referring to the system configuration, each data configuration, and the flowchart of the above-described embodiment, It is apparent that the present invention can be implemented in all reprint mode settings other than those, and these are also included in the scope of the present invention.

As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of devices (eg, host computer, interface device,
The present invention may be applied to a system including a reader, a printer, etc.) or an apparatus including one device (for example, a copying machine, a facsimile machine, etc.).

Further, an object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium (or a recording medium) recording a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or an apparatus, and a computer of the system or the apparatus ( Needless to say, this can also be achieved by reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium by the CPU or MPU). In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.
Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an operating system (OS) running on the computer is executed based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that a case where some or all of the actual processing is performed and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing is also included.

Further, after the program code read out from the storage medium is written in the memory provided in the function expansion card inserted into the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instruction of the program code. Needless to say, this also includes the case where the CPU included in the function expansion card or the function expansion unit performs a part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

When the present invention is applied to the above storage medium, the storage medium stores the program code including the program code corresponding to the above-described flowchart.

[0106]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an image processing method and an apparatus thereof which can easily perform reprints of different output formats from the same print data without requiring a large-capacity storage device.

That is, according to the present invention, when the first printing is performed, the PDL data is spooled, and at the same time, the page start position in the PDL data and the current graphic state at each page start time are held together. As a result, even in an image processing apparatus using a PDL that can inherit various current graphic states between pages, it is possible to perform reprinting at a high speed such as printing a part of a page in the middle of a print job. Become.

Further, according to the present invention, when reprinting in which the page order is reversed or reprinting in which the page order is changed, it is not necessary to analyze the data in order from the beginning of the print job, and it is easy and fast. It is possible to perform reprint processing. For example, it is possible to set book printing (bag binding printing) and reprint a print job for which multiple page printing is designated at the first printing.

Further, since a page image (bitmap image) once generated can be reprinted without being reused by spooling it together with a page number in an external storage device, a large-capacity storage device such as a hard disk is provided. The present invention can be applied to an image processing apparatus that does not have one.

Since the bitmap image is not reused in page units, it can be applied to reprinting in which the print result in page units is different, such as switching between normal two-page printing and book printing. . In addition, when a double-sided print job for which a binding width is set is reprinted by single-sided printing, when the print resolution is changed and reprinted, or when color printing is changed to monochrome printing and reprinted, the present invention is used. Is adaptable to various cases.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a laser beam printer to which the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of the laser beam printer shown in this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a basic configuration of a control unit (controller unit) of the image processing apparatus shown in this embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a print job (print command) for executing normal printing from the host computer to the image processing apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for normal print data without a reprint instruction in the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of reprint data secured in a hard disk 310 when a job start command is received.

FIG. 7 is a drawing object storage unit 305a for one page.
It is a figure which shows the memory map which shows the content of.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an outline of a link configuration between drawing information / drawing objects.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a structure of drawing information.

10 is a diagram showing a configuration of page information generated in step S518 of FIG.

11 is a diagram showing a configuration of a printing environment generated in step S519 of FIG.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a more detailed configuration of a printing environment (current graphic state) generated in step S519 of FIG.

FIG. 13 is a processing procedure when a job end command is received as a print command in the present embodiment (step S in FIG. 5).
516).

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a configuration (a format when configured on a hard disk) in which the page information and the printing environment of FIGS. 10 and 11 are merged.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of reprint data stored in the hard disk 310 when a job end command is received.

FIG. 16 is a print job (print command) for executing reprint from the host computer to the image processing apparatus.
It is the figure which showed an example.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when a partial print reprint instruction command is received as a print command in the present embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when a reprint instruction command for reverse order printing is received as a print command in the present embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating the page order of normal two-page printing (a) and book printing (b).

Claims (34)

[Claims] 1. An image processing apparatus for generating a page image corresponding to print data input from the outside, comprising: spool means for holding the print data; and a page image generated by analyzing the print data. An image processing apparatus comprising: an analysis unit that outputs page information of print data, wherein the spool unit holds the print data and the page information output by the analysis unit together. 2. A reprint unit for reprinting the print data using the read unit for reading the print data and page information held in the spool unit, and the print data and page information read by the read unit. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: 3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the page information includes a start position of each page in the print data. 4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the page information also includes printing environment information at each page start time. 5. The printing environment includes various current graphic states required for drawing.
The image processing device according to item 1. 6. The reprinting means comprises a judging means for judging whether to change the printing order of each page from the reprint designation, and reads the start position of the corresponding page from the page information in the order according to the result of the judging means, The image processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the page images are reprinted in the order. 7. The reprinting unit includes a determining unit that determines whether to change the print order of each page based on the reprint designation, and the start position of the corresponding page and the printing environment from the page information in the order according to the result of the determining unit. The image processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the page image is reprinted in the order after the information is read and the printing environment is set. 8. The reprinting unit searches for a corresponding page position from the page information when the partial print is designated by the reprint designation, reads the print environment information, sets the print environment, and then prints the print data in the middle of the print data. 5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the page image is reprinted from the page. 9. The reprinting means, when the reverse printing is designated by the reprint designation, sequentially searches the corresponding page position from the rear of the page information, further reads the printing environment information, and sets the printing environment. The image processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the page images are reprinted in the reverse order of the print data. 10. The reprinting unit, when book printing is designated by reprinting designation, calculates a printing order of each page, sequentially searches for a corresponding page position of the calculated page information, and further performs the printing. The image processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the page images are reprinted in the calculated order after the environment information is read and the printing environment is set. 11. A printer controller that generates a page image corresponding to print data input from the outside and outputs the page image to an external printing device, analyzes the print data to generate a page image, and prints the print data. Analyzing means for outputting the page information, spooling means for holding the print data and the page information output by the analyzing means together, and reading means for reading the print data and the page information held by the spooling means And a reprint instruction means for instructing the printing apparatus to reprint the print data using the print data and page information read by the reading means. 12. The image control apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the page information includes a start position of each page in the print data. 13. The printer control device according to claim 12, wherein the page information also includes printing environment information at each page start time. 14. The printer control device according to claim 13, wherein the printing environment is in various current graphic states required for drawing. 15. The reprint instructing means includes a judging means for judging whether to change the print order of each page from the reprint designation, and reads out the start position of the corresponding page from the page information in an order according to the result of the judging means. 13. The printer control device according to claim 12, wherein reprinting of page images is instructed in the order. 16. The reprint instructing means comprises a judging means for judging whether to change the printing order of each page from the reprint designation, and the start position of the corresponding page and the printing from the page information in the order according to the result of the judging means. 14. The printer processing apparatus according to claim 13, wherein after the environment information is read and the printing environment is set, the reprinting of the page image is instructed in the order. 17. The reprint instructing means retrieves a corresponding page position from the page information, reads out the print environment information, sets a print environment, and then prints the print data when partial printing is designated by reprint designation. 14. The printer processing apparatus according to claim 13, wherein a reprint of the page image is instructed from the middle. 18. The reprinting means, when the reverse printing is designated by the reprint designation, sequentially searches the corresponding page position from the rear of the page information, further reads the printing environment information, and sets the printing environment. 14. The printer control device according to claim 13, wherein reprinting of page images is instructed in reverse order of print data. 19. The reprinting unit, when book printing is designated by reprinting designation, calculates a printing order of each page, sequentially searches a corresponding page position of the calculated page information, and further performs the printing. 14. The printer control device according to claim 13, wherein after reading the environment information and setting the printing environment, the reprinting of the page images in the calculated order is instructed. 20. An image processing method for generating a page image corresponding to print data input from the outside, wherein in the case of normal printing, the print data is analyzed to generate a page image, and a page of the print data is generated. When the information is generated, the print data and the page information are held together, and when the reprint is instructed, the held print data and the page information are read out, and the read print data is read out. An image processing method characterized in that the print data is reprinted using the page information. 21. The image processing method according to claim 20, wherein the page information includes a start position of each page in the print data. 22. The image processing method according to claim 21, wherein the page information also includes printing environment information at each page start time. 23. The image processing method according to claim 22, wherein the printing environment is in various current graphic states required for drawing. 24. In the reprinting step, it is determined from the reprint designation whether to change the printing order of each page, the start position of the corresponding page is read from the page information in the order according to the determination result, and the page image is displayed in the order. The image processing method according to claim 21, wherein reprinting is performed. 25. In the reprinting step, it is determined whether to change the print order of each page based on the reprint designation, and the start position of the corresponding page and the print environment information are read from the page information in the order according to the result of the determination to obtain the print environment. 22. The image processing method according to claim 21, wherein the page images are reprinted in the order after setting. 26. In the reprint step, when partial printing is designated by reprint designation, a corresponding page position is searched from the page information, the print environment information is read, and the print environment is set, and then the print data is printed halfway. 22. The page image is reprinted from the page.
The image processing method described in. 27. In the reprinting step, when reverse printing is designated in the reprint designation, corresponding page positions are sequentially searched from the rear of the page information, and the print environment information is read and the print environment is set. 22. The image processing method according to claim 21, wherein the page images are reprinted in the reverse order of the print data. 28. In the reprinting step, when book printing is designated by reprinting designation, a printing order of each page is calculated, a corresponding page position of the calculated page information is sequentially searched, and the printing is further performed. 22. The image processing method according to claim 21, further comprising reprinting the page images in the calculated order after reading the environment information and setting the printing environment. 29. An image processing program for generating a page image corresponding to print data input from the outside, wherein in the case of normal printing, the print data is analyzed to generate a page image, and the print data is generated. Generating the page information, holding the print data and the page information together, and reading the held print data and the page information when a reprint is instructed, And a step of instructing reprinting of the print data using the read print data and page information. 30. In the reprinting step, it is determined from the reprint designation whether to change the printing order of each page, the start position of the corresponding page is read from the page information in the order according to the determination result, and the page image is displayed in the order. 30. The image processing program according to claim 29, which instructs reprinting. 31. In the reprinting step, it is determined from the reprint designation whether to change the print order of each page, and the start position of the corresponding page and the print environment information are read from the page information in an order according to the determination result to print environment. 30. The image processing program according to claim 29, further comprising the step of instructing reprinting of page images in the order after setting. 32. In the reprint step, when partial printing is designated by reprint designation, a corresponding page position is searched from the page information, the print environment information is read, and the print environment is set, and then the print data is printed in the middle. 30. The image processing program according to claim 29, wherein the reprinting of the page image is instructed by the user. 33. In the reprinting step, when reverse printing is designated in the reprint designation, the corresponding page position is sequentially searched from the rear of the page information, and the print environment information is read and the print environment is set. 30. The image processing program according to claim 29, wherein the reprinting of page images is instructed in reverse order of print data. 34. In the reprint step, when book printing is designated by reprint designation, a print order of each page is calculated, a corresponding page position of the calculated page information is sequentially searched, and the print is further performed. 30. After reading the environmental information and setting the printing environment, the reprinting of the page images in the calculated order is instructed.
The image processing program described in.