JP5323421B2 - Image forming apparatus, image forming system, and image creating method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To create a new image page without taking much time and effort, and without increasing the cost. <P>SOLUTION: This image forming apparatus is provided with a reuse component BOX 52B, in which reuse component data extracted from print data described in a page description language is stored in a file format; an instruction input part 352; an image display control part 353 which performs display control of an image creation screen, including a reuse component list for accepting selection of a reuse component file 420 from the instruction input part 352 on a display part 351; and a data processing part 355B, which reads the reuse component file 420 from the reuse component BOX 52B, in response to the instruction of the instruction input part 352 on the image creation screen, creates the new page image by using the read reuse component file, and stores created page image data 354A in the storage area of a second storage part 354. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that receives print data described in a page description language, converts the print data into bitmap data, and performs printing, and in particular, an image that reuses component data included in the print data. The present invention relates to a forming apparatus, an image forming system, and an image creating method.

  Currently, print data created by an external device such as a PC (Personal Computer), that is, data in a page description language (PDL) format represented by PostScript (registered trademark) or PCL (Printer Control Language) Is received via a network such as a LAN, and the received data is temporarily converted into intermediate format data (intermediate data) and stored in the memory, and the intermediate data stored in the memory is sequentially read and bitmapped. 2. Description of the Related Art Image forming apparatuses such as network-type copying machines, printers, or MFPs (Multi Function Peripherals) that perform conversion after converting to data have become widespread.

  Here, as print data to be interpreted by the image forming apparatus, PDF (Portable Document Format), XPS (XML Paper Specification), and the like will become mainstream in the future, instead of print data in the above representative languages.

  A common feature of print data described in these page description languages is a hierarchical structure for each set of data, and includes print control commands, image objects, graphic objects, and text drawing objects (at least drawn). In other words, the data is composed of component data (hereinafter, referred to as component data) such as a character string, and further includes a font object in the embodiment (see Patent Document 1 below).

  In particular, the PDF and XPS have a hierarchical structure further than other page description languages, and their individual component data can be easily distinguished.

  Such component data may be used in other print jobs, and by reusing, it is possible to save time and labor when newly creating an image related to the print job.

  In particular, when print data is created by a single image forming apparatus without using an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer, the mouse and keyboard are not provided with good operability. If the data can be used, it is possible to save much time.

  Therefore, in Patent Documents 2 and 3 below, an edit pad for creating an image for instructing input of a quadrangle, an R rectangle (corresponding to component data in the present invention) or the like without using the information processing apparatus, and the input instruction is used. An image forming apparatus including an image editing apparatus including a program for creating a new page image is disclosed.

In Patent Document 4 below, at least a part of character data in print target data is replaced with specific character data (corresponding to component data in the present invention) stored in advance in the image forming apparatus. There is disclosed a print data creation method including a step of creating print data and a step of outputting the created print data.
JP2007-221604 JP-A-6-189110 JP-A-1-145690 JP2007-304734

  However, in the inventions of Patent Documents 2 and 3, when creating a new page image, only fixed component data included in the edit pad can be used, so the variety of component data is lacking. Since it is necessary for the user to create the editing pad with the editing pen attached to the editing pad, it takes time and effort. In addition, the image forming apparatus must be provided with an edit pad, which increases costs.

  In the invention of the above-mentioned Patent Document 4, it is necessary to create the parts data itself in advance, which is troublesome.

  In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of creating a new page image without taking time and cost.

In the first aspect of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention,
In an image forming apparatus for forming an image on a sheet based on print data described in a page description language,
Storage means for storing reused part data extracted from the print data;
An image creating means for reading the reused part data from the storage means, creating a new page image using the data, and storing the data in the storage means;
It is characterized by providing.

In a second aspect of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention,
The image creating means includes
Screen display control means for controlling display of an image creation screen including a display area of a reusable parts list;
Instruction input means for selecting reused part data from the reused parts list;
Data processing means for creating the page image in response to an instruction from the instruction input means in a state where the image creation screen is displayed;
Having
It is characterized by that.

In a third aspect of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention,
The image creation screen further includes a display area of an image based on the reused part data.
It is characterized by that.

In a fourth aspect of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention,
The image creation screen further includes an image creation display area for the user to visually recognize the page image.
It is characterized by that.

In a fifth aspect of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention,
Receiving means for receiving the print data together with a print command;
A reusable extracting means for extracting a predetermined object in the print data received by the receiving means;
Reusable storage control means for storing the extracted object as the reusable part data in the storage means;
Is further provided.

In a sixth aspect of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention,
Box use means for creating a print job, FAX job, mail job or overlay job using the new page image,
Is further provided.

In a seventh aspect of the image forming system according to the present invention,
An image forming system configured by combining the image forming apparatus according to any one of the above and an information processing apparatus,
The image forming apparatus further includes transmission means for transmitting the reused part data to the information processing apparatus,
The information processing apparatus includes a print data creation unit that creates new print data using the received reuse component data.
It is characterized by that.

In an eighth aspect of the image forming system according to the present invention,
The screen display control means controls the display of the image creation screen on the display means of the image forming apparatus or the display means of the information processing apparatus.
It is characterized by that.

In the ninth aspect of the image creating method according to the present invention,
An image forming apparatus that includes an instruction input unit and a storage unit, and forms an image on a sheet based on print data described in a page description language.
Extracting a predetermined object when the print data is present;
Storing the object extracted from the print data as reusable part data in the storage means;
A step of controlling display of an image creation screen including a display area of a reuse parts list;
Receiving from the instruction input means selection of reusable part data in the reusable part list;
In response to an instruction from the instruction input means in a state where the image creation screen is displayed, creating a new page image including the accepted reused part data and storing the data in the storage means; ,
It is characterized by having.

  In the first aspect, the image forming apparatus reads “a storage unit that stores reused part data extracted from the print data, and reads out the reused part data from the storage unit, and uses this to create a new page image. And image creation means for storing the data in the storage means. According to this configuration, since the parts extracted from the print data are used, there are a wide variety of types, and when creating a new page image, it is less necessary to create an image related to reused part data each time. There is an effect that the labor of image creation can be saved. In addition, since an image creation unit that uses reusable part data is provided, it is not necessary to provide a separate information processing apparatus for creating an image, so a new page image can be created without cost. There is an effect.

  According to the configuration of the second aspect described above, “the image creation means includes screen display control means for controlling display of an image creation screen including a display area of the reuse part list, and reuse part data from the reuse part list. And a data processing means for creating the page image in response to an instruction of the instruction input means in a state where the image creation screen is displayed. By operating the instruction input means on the screen, select the reuse component data in the reuse component list, and create a new page image by combining one reuse component or two or more reuse component data Thus, it is possible to create a new page image freely without taking time and effort. In addition, since an image creation screen including a display area of a reuse part list from which reuse part data can be selected by the instruction input means is displayed, a page image can be easily created without providing an edit pad or the like in the image forming apparatus. There is an effect that a page image can be created without cost.

  According to the configuration of the third aspect, “the image creation screen further includes an image display area based on the reused component data”. Therefore, when creating a page image, the user creates an image of the reused component data. Thus, it is possible to save the trouble of sequentially printing and confirming.

  According to the configuration of the fourth aspect, “the image creation screen further includes an image creation display area for allowing the user to visually recognize the page image”. Therefore, when creating the page image, the user selects the page image. There is an effect that it is possible to save the trouble of performing printing and checking sequentially.

  According to the configuration of the fifth aspect, “a receiving unit that receives the print data together with a print command, and a reuse that extracts a predetermined object in the print data received by the receiving unit” An extraction unit, and a reusable storage control unit that stores the extracted object in the storage unit as the reusable part data ”. As a result, reusable component data can be extracted and stored in the storage means from the print data in the page description language that has a small data size and can be easily distinguished in units of component data before being expanded into bitmap data. Therefore, the reused part data included in the print data can be easily reused without squeezing the storage area of the storage unit.

  According to the configuration of the sixth aspect, the apparatus includes the “box use means for creating a print job, FAX job, mail job, or overlay job using the new page image”. A print job (BOX to Print), a FAX job (BOX to FAX), or a mail job (BOX to E-mail) can be performed using a page image including this, and the reusability of component data can be improved. .

  According to the configuration of the seventh aspect, “the image forming apparatus further includes a transmission unit that transmits the reused part data to the information processing apparatus, and the information processing apparatus receives the received reused part data. Use of print data creation means for creating new print data by using the information processing apparatus, so that the reused part data can be used even when the print data is created by the information processing apparatus. There is an effect that it can be omitted.

  According to the configuration of the eighth aspect, “the screen display control means controls the display of the image creation screen on the display means of the image forming apparatus or the display means of the information processing apparatus”. If there is a display means, the image creation screen can be displayed on the display means, and even when there is no display means, it can be displayed on the display means of the information processing apparatus. There is an effect that can be applied.

  Other objects, configurations and effects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an image forming system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  The image forming system 3 according to the first exemplary embodiment includes a host computer 5 and an image forming apparatus 10 that can communicate with each other.

  When a print job is instructed to execute, the host computer 5 transmits an XPS file described in a page description language and a structured language to the image forming apparatus 10 via the communication path 20.

  The image forming apparatus 10 has an XPS-compatible printer function, receives an XPS file together with a print command from the host computer 5, and temporarily converts the received XPS file into intermediate format data (intermediate data) by an internal printer controller. This is a network type MFP (Multi Function Peripheral) that converts and holds the data in a memory, sequentially reads intermediate data held in the memory, converts the data into bitmap data, and performs printing.

  The communication path 20 is, for example, a network cable such as the Internet, LAN (Local Area Network) or WAN (Wide Area Network) or wireless, or a serial interface or parallel interface.

  FIG. 2 shows the XPS file structure.

  The XPS file 30 is obtained by ZIP-compressing a plurality of files related to the one print job. When this is decompressed, it can be seen that the XPS file 30 is composed of a plurality of structured files (hereinafter referred to as component files) as shown in FIG.

  This file structure has an Images folder 35 when at least one image object is incorporated in the XPS file 30. The Images folder 35 includes, for example, image object files 40 of “test1.tif”, “test2.tif”, and “test3.gif”.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  In the image forming apparatus 10, an EEPROM 13 E 1, EEPROM 13 E 2, DRAM 13 D, HDD 14, operation panel 15, scanner 16 S, printer 16 P, NIC 17, facsimile modem 18, and compression / decompression ASIC 19 are coupled to the MPU 11 via an interface 12. In FIG. 1, a plurality of interfaces are shown as one block for simplification.

  The EEPROMs 13E1 and 13E2 are, for example, flash memories. The EEPROM 13E1 stores BIOS (Basic Input Output System). The EEPROM 13E2 stores an OS (Operating System), various programs operating on the OS, and various setting values.

  The DRAM 13D is for a work area, and the HDD 14 is for data file storage.

  The operation panel 15 is used for inputting a setting value or an instruction and displaying a setting screen or a state. In the first embodiment, a case where the operation panel 15 is configured by a combination of a touch panel and hardware keys will be described.

  The scanner 16S is used for image input in scanning, copying, and fax transmission. The printer 16P includes a print engine, a fixing device, a paper feed unit, a conveyance unit, and a paper discharge unit, and forms an electrostatic latent image on a photosensitive drum of the print engine based on bitmap data developed on the DRAM 13D. This is developed with toner, transferred to a sheet, fixed, and discharged.

  The NIC 17 is for communicating with the host computer 5 on the communication path 20. The facsimile modem 18 is for facsimile transmission / reception.

  The compression / decompression ASIC 19 is used as a coprocessor of the MPU 11.

  FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of a part related to the present invention of the image forming apparatus 10. As shown in the figure, the image forming apparatus 10 mainly includes a receiving unit 50, a printer controller 51, a storage unit 52, and an access control unit 53 in addition to the printer 16P.

  The receiving unit 50 is, for example, the NIC 17 and plays a role of receiving the XPS file 30 from the host computer 5 or the like and passing it to the printer controller 51.

  The storage unit 52 is, for example, the EEPROM 13E2, the HDD 14, or another storage device (for example, a USB memory). The storage unit 52 has a reusable component BOX 52A in the storage unit area, and an image included in the XPS file 30 in the folder 52A. The object file 40 is stored as a reuse part.

  The access control unit 53 controls the storage unit 52 to access (particularly read) the image object file 40 in the reuse component BOX 52A. As long as the image object file 40 can be accessed, it can be reused. In the first embodiment, although there is no particular limitation to the reuse method, for example, there is the following method.

(1) Reading the image object file 40 from the storage unit 52 based on an instruction from the operation panel 15 and printing only that portion as it is.
(2) generating new print data by combining a plurality of image object files 40 in the storage unit 52 based on an instruction from the operation panel 15 and printing the print data;
(3) automatically overlaying an image based on the image object file 40 with an image of a print file newly received by the receiving unit 50;
(4) The image object file 40 in the storage unit 52 is passed to the host computer 5 via the communication path 20 or a removable storage medium such as a USB memory, and is passed when creating print data on the host computer 5 side. Use the image object file 40.

  The printer controller 51 includes an MPU 11, a predetermined program stored in the EEPROM 13E2, and a DRAM 13D. In addition to the known print processing unit 51A as a functional unit, the reuse extraction unit 51B, The utilization saving control unit 51C is newly provided in the first embodiment.

  The print processing unit 51A has a known interpreter function for interpreting the XPS file 30 and converting it into an intermediate language, a rasterizing function for developing this into bitmap data, and image processing of the bitmap data as appropriate to perform the printer 16P. Output function.

  The reuse extraction unit 51B acquires the XPS file 30 before the XPS file 30 received by the reception unit 50 is transferred to the print processing unit 51A, and reuses the image object file 40 included therein. For this purpose, a process of extracting and transferring this to the reuse storage control unit 51C is performed. Details of this process will be described later.

  The reuse storage control unit 51C stores the image object file 40 passed from the reuse extraction unit 51B in the reuse component BOX 52A in the storage unit 52 as a reuse component.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the process of the reuse extraction unit 51B according to the first embodiment. In the following, the step identification codes in the figure are shown in parentheses.

  (S1) The XPS file 30 acquired from the receiving unit 50 is decompressed by ZIP.

  (S2) It is searched whether the Images folder 35 as shown in FIG. 2 exists in the expanded folder group.

  (S3) If the Images folder 35 exists, there is always at least one image object file 40 in the folder 35, so the process proceeds to the next step. If the Images folder 35 does not exist, the process proceeds to step S6.

  (S4) All the image object files 40 in the Images folder 35 are extracted. Note that “extracting” here means copying to the DRAM 13D while leaving the original file.

  (S5) All the extracted image object files 40 are transferred to the reuse storage control unit 51C.

  (S6) The entire XPS file 30 is transferred to the print processing unit 51A and a print processing request is made.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, “the storage unit 52, the receiving unit that receives the XPS file 30 described in the page description language together with the print command, and supplies the XPS file 30 to the inside of the printer controller 51, the printer When there is an image object file 40 in the XPS file 30 that exists inside the controller 51 and is supplied, the reuse unit 51B for extracting the image object file 40 and the extracted image object file 40 as the reuse parts A reusable storage control unit 51C stored in the storage unit 52, and an access control unit 53 for performing control to access the image object to the storage unit 52. For this reason, the access control unit 53 can extract the part data from the XPS file 30 in the page description language, which has a small data size and can be easily distinguished in units of part data before being expanded into bitmap data. Since it can be stored in the storage unit 52, it is possible to easily reuse the parts and the image object file 40 included in the XPS file 30 without squeezing the storage area of the storage unit 52. There is an effect.

  In addition, since the print file is the XPS file 30, the image object included in the print file has a file format, and it is easy to distinguish the image object file 40 from other data included in the XPS file 30, and reuse. There is an effect that the extraction unit 51B can search the image object file 40 quickly. In the case of the PDF file described in the second embodiment below, since the image object cannot be extracted unless the PDF file is read and the language included in the PDF file is interpreted, the search process is troublesome.

  Furthermore, since the reuse storage control unit 51C stores the extracted image object file 40 in the storage unit 52 in the same file format, it is stored in the storage unit 52 as compared with the case where data is stored simply by data formation. This makes it easy to distinguish the image object files 40 from each other, and the access control unit 53 can specify the image object file 40 by the file name, and can be easily accessed.

  In addition, Example 1 of this invention mentioned above is an illustration for description of this invention, and is not the meaning which limits the scope of the present invention only to those Examples. Various modifications can be made to the present invention without departing from the gist thereof. Hereinafter, some of the modifications will be exemplified.

  In the first embodiment, the case where the MFP is used as the image forming apparatus 10 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and other image forming apparatuses such as a copying machine or a printer are used. May be.

  Further, the printer controller 51 transfers the component file (image) when the reusable extraction unit 51B receives the print job by passing the processing to the print processing unit 51A in step S6 after the extraction processing in steps S1 to S5. The configuration for performing both the reuse of the object file 40) and the printing process has been described. However, when the print job is received by storing the reuse execution enable / disable setting information in the EEPROM 13E2, the reuse is performed. The configuration may be such that, based on the execution setting information, only the component file reuse processing, only the printing processing, or both may be switched. Note that a hardware switch may be used as the reusability execution enable / disable setting unit. In such a case, the reuse process can be performed only when necessary, so that the unnecessary image object file 40 is not accumulated in the reuse component BOX 52A, but the data stored in the storage area of the storage unit 52. The amount can be reduced.

  Further, based on the same idea as described above, the print driver of the host computer 5 gives the reusability execution enable / disable setting information to the print job and refers to the reusability execution enable / disable setting information received by the printer controller 51. You may make it prepare. In addition, for each application that creates a print job, the printer driver determines whether or not to apply the reusability execution setting information to the corresponding print job. Good.

  The reuse extraction unit 51B has been described as having a configuration that exists separately from the interpreter of the print processing unit 51A. However, the reuse extraction unit 51B may be included in the interpreter. When included in the interpreter, instead of steps S1 to S6, the image object file 40 may be extracted and reused at the same time as the image object file 40 is converted into an intermediate language. Good.

  In addition, the reuse storage control unit 51C has described the configuration in which the image object file 40 transferred from the reuse extraction unit is stored in the reuse component BOX 52A without changing the file name. In order to avoid duplication of the 40 file names, for example, a file name including a date and time may be newly given instead of the existing file name and stored in the reuse component BOX 52A.

  Further, when storing the image object file 40 in the reuse component BOX 52A, the reuse storage control unit 51C reads the management table file 60 as shown in FIG. The storage information related to the image object file 40 is registered. As shown in the figure, the storage information includes a file number 61 that is a serial number, the extracted file name 62 as it is, a JOBID 63 that is indicated by the serial number of the print job, a combination of this and the file name, etc., and a storage unit The storage location information 64, which is the start address of the image object file 40 in 52 or a storage destination pointer that represents this as a variable, can be mentioned. However, for the same reason as described above, it is newly added separately from the file name 62. A configuration may be included in which the assigned file name, file attributes, and the like are included. In this case, the access control unit 53 refers to the management table file 60 and uses the corresponding storage location information 64 when the storage unit 52 controls access to the predetermined image object file 40, thereby using the storage unit information 64. No. 52 can directly access the image object file 40 and can speed up the access control process.

  Furthermore, the case where the reuse storage control unit 51C stores the extracted image object file 40 directly in the reuse component BOX 52A has been described. However, immediately after the extraction, the reuse storage control unit 51C temporarily stores the extracted image object file 40 in the buffer folder. After determining whether or not the image object file 40 stored in the buffer folder and the image object file 40 already stored in the reuse component BOX 52A have the same contents, only those that are not identical are reused in the reuse component BOX 52A. You may make it store in. In this case, since the image object files 40 having the same contents are not stored in the reuse component BOX 52A, the data amount of the reuse component BOX 52A can be reduced.

  The printer controller 51 may further include an erasing unit that erases from the storage unit 52 what is determined to be unnecessary from a plurality of image objects stored in the storage unit 52. Specifically, when the erasure unit receives an erasure instruction for a file that is determined to be unnecessary from the operation panel 15, when a print job is received or at a predetermined timing such as periodically, all the components in the reuse component BOX are displayed. A configuration may be considered in which the access date and time of the image object file 40 is monitored, and the access date and time determined to be old is considered unnecessary and is erased. In addition, a configuration may be considered in which the management table file 60 is referred to at a predetermined timing, and the image object file 40 with the old JOBID is considered unnecessary and is deleted as needed.

  Furthermore, examples of the page description language applied in the present invention include PDF, PRESCRIBE (registered trademark), PCL, PS (PostScript), and the like in addition to the above XPS. A method of applying the present invention to print data in PDF format will be described in detail in Example 2 below.

  Furthermore, the storage unit 52 is not limited to a fixed storage device such as the HDD 14 or the EEPROM 13E2, and may be a removable storage medium such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk, CD, MD, HDD, SD card, or CF card. .

  In addition to the image object file in the TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) format or the GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) format, the reuse extraction unit 51B, for example, LZW (Lempel Ziv Welch), It is also possible to extract Flate, RunLength, CCITT Fax, JBIG2 (Joint Bi-level Image experts Group 2), DCT, JPX, PNG (Portable Network Graphics), HDP (HD Photo), or the like.

  Furthermore, the image forming apparatus 10 may include components other than the above-described components, or some of the above-described components may not be included.

  In the first embodiment, the case where the print file received by the image forming apparatus 10 is in the XPS format has been described. The processing of the utilization extraction unit 51B is also slightly different. For example, as a difference between the XPS file 30 and the PDF file 100 according to the present invention, in particular, whether the image objects included in these exist in a single file format or an in-file object format. Can be mentioned.

  In the second embodiment, a case where the print file received by the image forming apparatus 10 from the host computer 5 is in the PDF format (hereinafter referred to as a PDF file) will be described. The configuration of the image forming apparatus 10 is the same as that of the second embodiment except that it has a PDF-compatible printer function and that the reuse extraction unit 51B and the reuse storage control unit 51C have different processes. The same as described in Example 1.

  FIG. 7 shows an example in which a PDF file received by the image forming apparatus 10 is browsed in the ASCII code format.

  This PDF file 100 is also composed of components such as a print control command, an image object (corresponding to the image object file 40 in the first embodiment), a graphic object, a text drawing object, and the like, similarly to print data described in other page description languages. Data is gathered and structured.

  Among them, the image object 101 is, for example, data immediately after “Stream” after “/ Subtype / Image” to before “endstream.endobj” in FIG.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the process of the reuse extraction unit 51B according to the second embodiment. In the following, the step identification codes in the figure are shown in parentheses.

  (S10) The above-described reuse execution enable / disable setting information stored in advance in the EEPROM 13E2 is acquired, and based on this, it is determined whether or not to perform the reuse processing. If it is determined to be performed, the process proceeds to the next step, and if not, the process proceeds to step S17.

  (S11) The PDF file 100 received by the receiving unit 50 is acquired and read.

  (S12) The number N of image objects 101 in the PDF file 100 is acquired. For example, if the number of / Subtype / Image in the file is calculated, the number N of image objects 101 can be acquired.

  (S13, S16) The following steps S14 to S15 are repeated N times.

  (S14) The image object 101 corresponding to a predetermined Subtype / Image is extracted.

  (S15) The extracted image object 101 is transferred to the reuse storage control unit 51C.

  (S17) The entire PDF file 100 is transferred to the print processing unit 51A, and a print processing request is made.

  After the reusable storage control unit 51C acquires the extracted image object 101, the reusable storage control unit 51C creates a file so that the access control unit 53 can access it, name it, and create an image object file 40 as shown in FIG. create. Thereafter, as in the first embodiment, the image object file 40 is stored in the reuse component BOX 52A in the storage unit 52 as a reuse component.

  According to the second embodiment, the image object 101 in the component data included in the PDF file 100 can be reused for other purposes.

  In addition, Example 2 of this invention mentioned above is an illustration for description of this invention, and is not the meaning which limits the scope of the present invention only to those Examples. Various modifications can be made to the present invention without departing from the gist thereof. Hereinafter, some of the modifications will be exemplified.

  The reuse storage control unit 51 </ b> C has been described as being configured to file the extracted image object 101, but may be configured to store the image object 101 in a predetermined storage area of the storage unit 52 without being filed. . In this case, it is necessary to be able to distinguish the data 101 from other data so that the access control unit 53 can control access to the image object 101. As a method of distinguishing, the configuration using the management table file described in the modification of the first embodiment can be considered.

  Specifically, when storing the non-file format image object 101 in a predetermined storage area of the storage unit 52, the management table file 110 as shown in FIG. Read and register the storage information related to the image object 101. As shown in the figure, the storage information includes a data number 111 that is a serial number, a data name 112 that is automatically created so that the data 101 can be distinguished, a serial number of the print job, and a combination of this and the data name. And the storage location information 114 (for example, the physical address of the HDD 14) that is a storage destination pointer that represents the start address of the image object data 101 in the storage unit 52 or a variable thereof. In this case, the access control unit 53 refers to the management table file 60 and uses the corresponding storage location information 114 when the storage unit 52 controls access to the predetermined image object 101, thereby storing the storage unit 52. Can access the image object 40 separately from other data.

  The image forming apparatus 10 has a plurality of printer functions that can interpret not only the PDF format but also other types of print data such as the XPS format, the PCL format, and the PS format described in the first embodiment. A configuration may be provided in which the reuse processing method is switched according to the situation.

  In the third embodiment, a case where an XPS file is received as in the first embodiment will be described. However, the reuse extraction unit 51B uses a graphic object or text instead of an image object as the reuse component. Extract drawing objects.

  The configuration of the image forming apparatus 10 according to the third embodiment is the same as that described in the first embodiment except that the reuse extraction unit 51B and the reuse storage control unit 51C have different processes.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an XPS file structure according to the third embodiment.

  This XPS file 200 has a Pages folder 201 and a Fonts folder 202. The Pages folder 201 includes, for example, a page unit file (hereinafter referred to as a page file 203) related to the XPS file 200 of “1.fpage”, “2.fpage”, and “3.fpage”. In addition, the Fonts folder 202 includes a plurality of font object files 204 that are part of a text drawing object and are used for this, as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 10 shows an example of browsing the page file 203 shown in FIG. 9 in the ASCII code format. In the figure, for convenience, a line number is attached to the head of each line. Also, the “row” used in this embodiment is a logical row, and a line from a code beginning with “<” to “>” immediately before the return code (corresponding to “↓” in the figure) is defined as one line. .

  In the figure, the page file 203 includes two graphic objects 230 on the second and fourth lines, and a part of the text drawing object 240 on the third line. These objects 230 and 240 include an identification code and various attribute codes in addition to the drawing data. The identification code of the graphic object 230 is “Path”, and the identification code of the text drawing object 240 is “Glyphs”. As the attribute code, for example, ““ #ffffffff ””, ““ # ff808080 ””, “FontRenderingEmSize =“ 10.9814 ””, “StyleSimulations =“ None ””, etc., shown in FIG. The text drawing object 240 includes the font object file 204 in addition to a character string, style, position, etc. used for drawing as shown in FIG.

  The access control unit 53 illustrated in FIG. 4 extracts the graphic object 230 and the text drawing object 240 that are extracted from the page file 203 and stored in the storage unit 52 through the reuse process described below, on the operation panel 15. In response to an instruction input, the management table file as described in the second embodiment can be referred to and read.

  FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a management table file according to the third embodiment. The management table file 300 includes a data number 301, a data name 302, an object type identification character string 303, an attribute name / value pair 304, a JOBID 305, and a storage destination head physical address 306 in the storage unit 52. Are registered in association with each other. Since the access control unit 53 can refer to such a management table file 300, when there is an access command specifying the data name 302, the data specified based on the storage destination head physical address 306 is directly added. The access control process can be speeded up. Further, by referring to the management table, the user can easily grasp the attribute information of the component data in a shorter time than sequentially accessing the component data stored in the storage unit 52 and grasping the information. be able to.

  FIG. 12 is a process flowchart of the interpreter in the printer controller 51 according to the third embodiment. In the following, the step identification codes in the figure are shown in parentheses. In the third embodiment, it is assumed that the interpreter includes functions similar to those of the reuse extraction unit 51B and the reuse storage control unit 51C described in the first embodiment.

  (S20) The XPS file 200 supplied from the receiving unit 50 shown in FIG. 4 is acquired, and this is decompressed by ZIP.

  (S21, S29) The Pages folder 201 is searched from the decompressed and expanded folder group, and the following steps S22 to S28 are repeated by the number of page files 203 included in this folder.

  (S22) One page file 203 is acquired from the Pages folder 201.

  (S23, S28) The following steps S24 to S27 are repeated from the first line to the last line of the acquired page file 203.

  (S24) One sequential line of data (hereinafter referred to as line data) is read from the acquired page file 203.

  (S25) It is determined whether or not the read line data is the graphic object 230. Specifically, the determination is made based on whether or not “Path” that is the identification code of the graphic object 230 exists in the read line data. If a positive determination is made, the process proceeds to step S25a, and if a negative determination is made, the process proceeds to step S26.

  (S25a) The read line data, that is, the graphic object 230 is extracted.

  (S25b) The extracted graphic object 230 is stored in the predetermined storage area of the storage unit 52 shown in FIG. Next, a data name is assigned to the object 230, the data name 302, the object type identification character string 303 and attribute set 304 included in the graphic object 230, and the storage location of the graphic object 230 in the storage unit 52. The head physical address 306 is registered in association with various fields of the management table file 300 shown in FIG.

  (S26) It is determined whether or not the read line data is a text drawing object 240. Specifically, the determination is made based on whether or not “Glyphs” that is the identification code of the text drawing object 240 is present in the read line data. If a positive determination is made, the process proceeds to step S26a, and if a negative determination is made, the process proceeds to step S27.

  (S26a) The read line data, that is, the text drawing object 240 (excluding some font object files 204) is extracted.

  (S26b) The font object file 204 used for the extracted text drawing object 240 is extracted. Specifically, the font object file 204 used for the text drawing object 240 is specified from the data after “FontUri =” included in the text drawing object 240, and specified from the plurality of font object files 204 included in the Fonts folder 202. This is extracted from the XPS file 200.

  (S26c) The extracted text drawing object 240 (excluding the font object file 204) and the font object file 204 are collected into one data so as to be used together when reused, and stored as reused parts. The data is stored in a predetermined storage area of the unit 52. Next, a data name is assigned to the collected data, the data name 302, the object type identification character string 303 and attribute set 304, and the storage destination head physical address 306 of the collected data in the storage unit 52. Are registered in various fields of the management table file 300 shown in FIG.

  (S27) Generate intermediate language data based on the read line data.

  According to the third embodiment, “the storage unit 52 and the receiving unit 50 that receives the XPS file 200 together with the print command and supplies the XPS file 200 to the interpreter of the printer controller 51, and the received from the receiving unit 50. When the XPS file 200 is read, the page description language is interpreted, and the graphic object 230 or the text drawing object 240 and the font object file 204 exist in the XPS file 200, these are extracted or re-extracted. As components to be used, an interpreter stored in the storage unit and an access control unit 53 that controls the storage unit 52 to read the stored object ”are provided. Therefore, access control is performed by extracting component data such as the graphic object 230 or the text drawing object 240 from the XPS file 200, which has a small data size and can be easily distinguished in units of component data before being expanded into bitmap data. Since the data can be stored in the storage unit 52 that can be read by the unit 53, the part data included in the XPS file 200 can be easily reused without squeezing the storage area of the storage unit 52. There is an effect that there is.

  “The storage unit 52 stores the management table file 300 of the objects 230, 240, and 204, and the interpreter stores the object in the management table file 300 when storing the object in the storage unit 52. The data name 302 that is the identification name and the storage destination head physical address 306 indicating the storage destination are registered in association with each other, and the access control unit 53 performs read control with reference to the management table file 300 ". 53, when there is an access command for the component data of the predetermined data name 302, the corresponding storage destination head physical address 306 can be referred to to directly access the component data, and the read control processing can be performed. There is an effect that it can be speeded up.

  Note that the present invention includes various other modifications.

  In the third embodiment, the configuration in which read control is performed with reference to the management table file 300 has been described. However, as in the first embodiment, a configuration in which the file 300 is not referred to may be used. In this case, the interpreter converts the graphic object 230 and the text drawing object 240 that are not in the file format from the extracted component data into a file and stores them in the storage unit 52.

  Further, the management table file 300 is not limited to the one shown in FIG. 11, for example, when there is no registration field of the attribute set 304, and conversely, when there are a plurality of columns, the registration field of the object type identification character string 303 Or a field in which a registration field for other information such as access date / time and storage date / time is further added.

  Further, the invention according to the third embodiment can also be applied to a PDF file, a RESCRIBE file, a PCL file, a PS file, etc. in addition to the XPS file 200 as in the first embodiment.

  Furthermore, the text drawing object 240 (excluding the font object file 204) and the font object file 204 used therefor are registered in the management table file 300 as separate data instead of being combined into one data in step S1. It may be. In this case, the text drawing object 240 needs to be able to grasp which of the font object files 204 registered in the management table file 300 is used.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 12, the interpreter according to the third embodiment has described the case where both the graphic object 230 and the text drawing object 240 are extracted, but the configuration in which only one of them is extracted, the first embodiment described above. The image object may also be extracted by the method described in the above, or a part of the data of the text drawing object 240, for example, only the character string or the font object file 204 may be extracted.

  Furthermore, based on the same idea as described above, the interpreter may be configured to extract only glyphs that are actually used for drawing from the font object file 204 that is a collection of glyphs.

  In the fourth embodiment, a reuse method for the reused part data obtained in the first to third embodiments will be specifically described.

  FIG. 13 is a functional block diagram of a portion related to the fourth embodiment of the image forming apparatus. The hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the fourth embodiment is the same as that described with reference to FIG.

  As shown in the figure, in addition to the printer 16P, the image forming apparatus 350 according to the fourth embodiment includes a display unit 351, an instruction input unit 352, a first storage unit 353, a second storage unit 354, And an image creation unit 355.

  First, the display unit 351 and the instruction input unit 352 will be described. In the fourth embodiment, these functional units are included in the operation panel 15.

  FIG. 14 is a plan view showing a hardware configuration of operation panel 15 shown in FIG.

  The operation panel 15 is a combination of a part of the instruction input unit 352 and the touch panel 400 as the display unit 351 and a hardware key including the numeric keypad 401 and the start key 402 as the remaining part of the instruction input unit 352. It is configured. On the touch panel 400, in addition to the copy button 403, the print button 404, the scan button 405, the FAX button 406, and the mail button 407, which are each known as a part of the instruction input unit 352, a BOX button 408 used in the present invention. And a software key including an image creation button 409.

  Returning to FIG. 13, the first storage unit 353 includes a part of the storage area of the HDD 14 or the DRAM 13 </ b> D, and the storage area includes a reuse part BOX 52 </ b> B similar to the reuse part BOX 52 </ b> A described in FIG. In the BOX 52B, all of the reusable part data including the extracted image object, graphic object, or text drawing object described in the first to third embodiments is stored in the reusable part BOX 52B in a file format. Yes. Hereinafter, these stored files are referred to as a reuse component file 420.

  The second storage unit 354 is configured to include a part of the storage area of the HDD 14 or the DRAM 13D, and stores the created page image data 354A created by using the reuse component file 420 by the data processing unit 355B. .

  The image creating unit 355 includes an MPU 11, a DRAM 13D, and a UI (User Interface) screen program stored in the EEPROM 13E2. The image creation unit 355 includes a screen display control unit 355A and a data processing unit 355B.

  In response to an instruction from the instruction input unit 352, the screen display control unit 355A performs display control in order to cause the display unit 351 to display an image creation screen 570 as illustrated in FIG. Further, it receives an instruction from the instruction input unit 352 on the screen, and gives a request corresponding to the instruction to another function unit, for example, the data processing unit 355B.

  On the other hand, the data processing unit 355B creates image data in response to an instruction from the instruction input unit 352 received via the screen display control unit 355A on the image creation screen 570 shown in FIG. For example, a new page image is created using a plurality of reuse component files 420, and this data 355 A is stored in the second storage unit 354. If there is a print instruction, a print request is given to the printer 16P together with the storage destination head address of the created page image data 354A. The printer 16P forms a page image including the image of the reusable part file 420 on the output document 600 based on the created page image data 354A.

  Next, the BOX button 408 shown in FIG. 14 will be described.

  FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a reuse component BOX development screen displayed on the touch panel 400 as the display unit 351. In this screen 450, when the BOX button 408 as the instruction input unit 352 is pressed, the image forming apparatus 350 expands the reusable part BOX 52B shown in FIG. is there.

  In the reuse component BOX development screen 450, a list 451 is a list of reuse component files 420 stored in the reuse component BOX 52B. The file name, the date when this file was stored in the BOX 52B, Includes a column with the size of the file. A scroll bar 451A for scrolling the list 451 is displayed on the right end side of the list 451, and buttons 452 to 454 in which names of columns are entered are displayed on the upper end side of the list 451. Sort direction labels 452A to 452A, respectively. 454A is displayed. As generally used, when any one of these buttons is pressed, the items are sorted in ascending or descending order according to the direction of the button, and the result is displayed in a list 451. Also, the direction of the corresponding one of the sort direction labels 452A to 454A is displayed in reverse, and when the button is pressed again, it is sorted in the reverse direction to the previous time.

  A check box 455 is displayed in the left end column of the list 451, and a check mark is added by pressing the inside of the rectangle to select a file, and the right button on the right end side of the list 451 or the lower end of the list 451 is displayed. By pressing the print button 460, the send button 461, the compression / decompression button 462, the move button 463, or the delete button 464 on the side, a transition is made to a menu screen (not shown), and the selected file is processed. Is possible.

  Here, when the compression / decompression button 462 is pressed, the selected file 420 is compressed or decompressed in order to prevent the storage area of the first storage unit 353 from being compressed. If only one file is compressed, the file is related to a reusable component and the file size is originally small, so the effect of compressing is small. However, these multiple files are compressed into one file. If so, the effect is considered to be sufficient. When the move button 463 is pressed, the selected file is moved (copied) to a removable disk such as a USB memory (not shown). When the delete button 464 is pressed, the selected file is deleted and the display of the list 451 is updated.

  When the detail button 459 is pressed, the file name, the type of the object, the attribute, the file size and the file save date, and the print setting resolution, color / monochrome and print paper size are displayed.

  When the close button 465 is pressed, the reused part BOX development screen 450 is closed and the screen returns to the screen of FIG.

  On the upper end side of the scroll bar 451A, a list display icon 456, a thumbnail display icon 457, and a preview icon 458 for selecting a method for displaying information of the reuse part file 420 are displayed. The list display icon 456 corresponds to the display form of FIG. When the thumbnail display icon 457 is pressed, a development screen as shown in FIG. 16 is displayed. When the preview icon 458 is pressed, a preview screen for the selected file is displayed, and the display part can be moved by pressing a direction key (not shown).

  Next, when a predetermined reuse component file 420 is selected on the reuse component BOX development screen 450 and the print button 460 is pressed, a print setting screen as shown in FIG. 17 is displayed.

  On the print setting screen 500, the user appropriately sets print settings and presses the print button 501 in the screen or the start key 402 shown in FIG. 14 to box the image of the reusable part based on the selected file 420. Printing (BOX to Print) can be performed.

  Returning to FIG. 15, when the transmission button 461 is pressed on the reused part BOX development screen 450, a transmission setup screen in the quick setup mode as shown in FIG. 18 is displayed for the file selected in the check box 455.

  On the left side of the transmission setting screen 550, the thumbnail of the first page of the selected file, the document size, the transmission size, and the magnification of the transmission size with respect to the document size are displayed. The magnification or transmission size is set on a setting screen (not shown) displayed by pressing the notation. A destination list 551 is displayed on the right side of the screen, and an icon indicating whether the transmission is facsimile transmission or electronic mail, and the name or electronic mail address of the facsimile transmission destination are displayed on each line. The following processing is performed by selecting a transmission destination by pressing a line on the destination list 551 and pressing a start key 402 shown in FIG.

  In the case of e-mail transmission, an e-mail transmission routine is called and the contents of the file related to the reusable part are transmitted via the NIC 17, and the so-called BOX to E-mail job is completed. In the case of facsimile transmission, a facsimile transmission routine is called, and the format of the file relating to the reusable part is converted for facsimile transmission and then transmitted to the destination via the facsimile modem 18 to complete a so-called BOX to FAX job. .

  When the on / off toggle button 552 is pressed, the mode of whether or not to delete this file after transmission is alternately switched. When the destination button 553 at the bottom of the screen 550 is pressed, a destination mode transmission setting screen as shown in FIG. 19 is displayed. Note that description of this screen is omitted.

  Next, returning to FIG. 14, the image creation button 409 newly provided according to the present invention will be described.

  20 is a diagram showing an image creation screen displayed on the touch panel 400 shown in FIG. When the image creation button 409 as the instruction input unit 352 is pressed, the screen 570 controls the display on the touch panel 400 as the display unit 351 in response to this.

  The image creation screen 570 includes a reused component list 571, a preview display area 572, a part position input box 573, an image creation display area 574, a magnification selection button 575, a paper size selection button 576, a component insertion button 580, and a component deletion button. 581, a save button 582, a print button 583, and a close button 584 are included.

  The reuse component list 571 displays a list of the reuse component file 420 names stored in the reuse component BOX 52B. In the image creation display area 574, an image being created including an image based on the reused part data is displayed.

  A magnification selection button 575 on the right side of the image creation display area 574 is a part of the instruction input unit 352, and is used to select and instruct the magnification of the image creation display area 574 and update its display. A paper size selection button 576 below the magnification selection button 575 is a part of the instruction input unit 352, and a predetermined paper size is selected and instructed by this button 576, and that size is the paper size related to the image creation display area 574. It is intended to be reflected in The rest of the screen 570 will be described with reference to the following flowchart.

  FIG. 21 is a flowchart of processing of the image forming apparatus 350 on the image creation screen 570 shown in FIG. Hereinafter, the parenthesized characters are step identification codes in FIG.

  (S30) The screen display control unit 353 receives a predetermined event from the instruction input unit 352 on the image creation screen 570. The accepted event is given to the data processing unit 355B. The data processing unit 355B proceeds to one of the following steps S31a to S38a depending on the given event type.

  Specifically, the data processing unit 355B proceeds to step S31a when a predetermined file is selected from the reuse component list 571, and proceeds to step S32a when position information is input in the component position input box 573. move on. If the component insertion button 580 is pressed, the process proceeds to step S33a, and if the component deletion button 581 is pressed, the process proceeds to step S34a. If the save button 582 is pressed, the process proceeds to step S35a. If the print button 583 is pressed, the process proceeds to step S36a. If the close button 584 is pressed, the process proceeds to step S37a.

  (S31a) The selected file name is displayed in black and white reversed in the reuse component list 571.

  (S31b) Based on the selected file, an image of the reused part is displayed in the preview display area 572.

  (S32a) The input position information is displayed in the corresponding column of the part position input box 573.

  (S33a) The file selected in the reuse component list 571 is acquired.

  (S33b) The position information input in the component position input box 573 is acquired.

  (S33c) An image of a reuse part is created based on the acquired file, and this is inserted into a specific position in the image creation display area 574 indicated by the acquired position information.

  (S34a) All the images inserted in the image creation display area 574 are deleted.

  (S35a) The new page image created in the image creation display area 574 is saved as created page image data 354A in the second storage unit 354 (mainly HDD 14) shown in FIG.

  (S36a) The new page image created in the image creation display area 574 is temporarily stored in the second storage unit 354 (mainly DRAM 13D) shown in FIG. 13 as created page image data 354A.

  (S36b) A print request is given to the printer 16P together with the storage destination address of the created page image data 354A in the DRAM 13D.

  (S37a) The image creation screen 570 is closed and the screen shown in FIG. 14 is displayed on the touch panel 400.

  FIG. 22 is an example of an output document output by the printer 16P in step 36b shown in FIG. In the output document 600, an image 601 based on a plurality of reusable parts is formed.

  As described above, in the fourth exemplary embodiment, the image forming apparatus 350 performs the “reuse component BOX 52B in which the reusable component data extracted from the print data described in the page description language is stored in the file format, and the instruction input Unit 352, a screen display control unit 353 that controls display on the display unit 351, an image creation screen 570 including a reuse component list 571 that accepts selection of the reuse component file 420 from the instruction input unit 352, and the image creation screen In response to an instruction from the instruction input unit 352 on 570, the reuse part file 420 is read from the reuse part BOX 52B, a new page image is created using the file, and the created page image data 354A is stored in the first page image data 354A. 2 data processing unit 355B to be stored in the storage area of the storage unit 354 ”. According to this configuration, since the parts extracted from the print data are used, the types thereof are abundant, and it is less necessary to create an image related to the reuse part file 420 each time a new image is created. In addition, the user operates the instruction input unit 352 on the image creation screen 570, selects the reuse component file 420 in the reuse component list 571, and selects one reuse component or two or more reuse component files. A new page image can be created by combining 420, and a new page image can be created without taking time and effort. Further, since the image creation screen 570 including the display area of the reusable part list 571 from which the reusable part data can be selected by the instruction input unit is displayed, the page image can be easily obtained without providing an edit pad or the like in the image forming apparatus 350 Can be created, and a page image can be created without cost.

  Note that the present invention includes various other modifications.

  In the fourth embodiment, the case where only one reuse component BOX 52B is provided in the first storage unit 353 has been described, but a plurality of reuse parts BOX 52B may be provided. For example, when the BOX 52B is provided for each user, the BOX selection screen 650 as shown in FIG. 23 is displayed after the BOX button 408 shown in FIG. 14 is pressed and before the reused part BOX development screen 450 shown in FIG. 15 is displayed. Is displayed. On this screen 650, when the user selects his / her reuse component BOX 52B, user authentication may be performed for security.

  Further, the image creation screen using the reuse component file 420 is not limited to the screen 570 shown in FIG. 19, and is any mode in which an image can be created and stored using the reuse component file 420. Also good. FIG. 24 shows a modification of the image creation screen.

  The image creation screen 700 shown in FIG. 24 includes a file list for each type of the reusable part file 420, that is, an image object file list 701, a graphic object file list 702, and a text drawing object so that the user can easily select them. File list 703 is provided. In addition, when a character can be input with a hardware key, an option “Text-Entry” is provided in the file list 703, and a text input box 704 corresponding thereto is provided. In this case, when “Text-Entry” is selected, the text input box 704 becomes active, a character is input into the text input box 704 with a hardware key, and an insertion position is specified in the component position input box 573. Thereafter, when the insert button 510 is pressed, the input character is inserted at a specific position in the image creation display area 574.

  In the image creation display area 574, selection may be made for each image based on the reuse component file 420 in the area. When the image is selected, position information within the area and magnification information of the reused part can be displayed and the information can be changed.

  Further, when the save button 582 is pressed on the image creation screen 700, the new page image created in the image creation display area 574 is not simply data, but in a bitmap format file or a page description language such as XPS. It may be possible to save the file as a described file.

  Furthermore, in addition to the reuse part list 571, the image creation screen 700 includes not only the reuse part file 420, that is, the file obtained by extracting from the print data, but also the part file created by the user in advance and the vendor side. A list of provided component files may also be displayed.

  14 to 24, the screen display control unit 353 has been described as being displayed on the touch panel 400 as the display unit 351, but a display device on a network coupled to the NIC 17, for example, a computer 5 may be configured to be displayed on a display device included in 5.

  Furthermore, the reusable part file 420 is acquired by the computer 5 through mutual communication between the computer 5 and the image forming apparatus 350 via the communication path 20, and displayed on the display device of the computer 5 in FIG. 20. New print data may be created using the reusable component file 420 on the screen as shown.

  Furthermore, although the case where all the reusable parts are filed has been described, they may be stored in the reusable part BOX 52B as simple data. In this case, by referring to the table file shown in FIG. 6B or FIG. 11 and appropriately reading the data related to the reuse component, the various processes shown in FIG. 20 are performed.

  Further, when the print data is received from the computer 5, the image related to the reuse component file 420 may be reused by being overlaid on the print data image or by being overlaid on the image read by the scanner 16 </ b> S. it can.

  Further, the case where the BOX to PRINT, BOX to FAX, and BOX to E-mail jobs are created using the reuse component file 420 alone has been described. However, the above job is created using the created page image data 354A including the image based on the reuse component file 420. It can also be created.

1 is a diagram illustrating an image forming system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the file structure of XPS. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of an image forming apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. 2 is a functional block diagram of a portion related to the present invention of an image forming apparatus. FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a process performed by a reuse extraction unit according to the first embodiment. (A) is explanatory drawing of the management table file which concerns on Example 1. FIG. (B) is explanatory drawing of the management table file which concerns on Example 2. FIG. It is an example in which a PDF file received by the image forming apparatus is browsed in an ASCII code format. It is a flowchart of the process of the reuse extraction part which concerns on the present Example 2. FIG. It is a figure which shows the file structure of XPS which concerns on the present Example 3. It is an example which browsed the page file shown in FIG. 9 in the ASCII code format. It is explanatory drawing of the management table file which concerns on the present Example 3. FIG. 10 is a process flowchart of an interpreter in a printer controller according to a third embodiment. FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram of a portion related to the fourth embodiment of the image forming apparatus. It is a top view which shows the hardware constitutions of the operation panel shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the reuse component BOX expansion | deployment screen displayed on the display part of FIG. It is a figure which shows the reusable component BOX thumbnail expansion | deployment screen displayed on the display part of FIG. It is a figure which shows the print setting screen displayed on the display part of FIG. It is a figure which shows the transmission setting screen of quick setup mode displayed on the display part of FIG. It is a figure which shows the transmission setting screen of the destination mode displayed on the display part of FIG. It is a figure which shows the image creation screen displayed on the display part of FIG. 21 is a flowchart of processing of the image forming apparatus on the image creation screen shown in FIG. It is an example of the output original document output by step 36b shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the BOX selection screen displayed on the display part of FIG. It is a figure which shows the modification of the image creation screen of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

3 Image forming system 5 Host computer 10 Image forming apparatus 20 Communication path 30 XPS file 35 Images folder 11 MPU
12 interface 13E1, 13E2 EEPROM
13D DRAM
14 HDD
15 Operation panel 16S Scanner 16P Printer 17 NIC
18 Facsimile modem 19 Compression / decompression ASIC
40 Image Object File 50 Receiving Unit 51 Printer Controller 52 Storage Unit 53 Access Control Unit 52A Reusable Component BOX
51A Print Processing Unit 51B Reuse Extraction Unit 51C Reuse Storage Control Unit 60 Management Table File 61 File Number 62 File Name 63 JOBID
64 Storage location information 100 PDF file 101 Image object 110 Management table file 111 Data number 112 Data name 113 JOBID
114 Storage location information 200 XPS file 201 Pages folder 202 Fonts folder 203 Page file 230 Graphic object 240 Text drawing object 300 Management table file 301 Data number 302 Data name 303 Object type identification character string 304 Attribute set 305 JOBID
306 Storage destination head physical address 350 Image forming apparatus 351 Display unit 352 Instruction input unit 353 First storage unit 354 Second storage unit 354A Creation page image data 355 Image creation unit 355A Screen display control unit 355B Data processing unit 400 Touch panel 401 Numeric keypad 402 Start key 403 Copy button 404 Print button 405 Scan button 406 FAX button 407 Mail button 408 BOX button 409 Image creation button 420 Reuse part file 52B Reuse part BOX
450 Reusable parts BOX expansion screen 451 list 451A scroll bar 452-454A button 452A-454A sort direction label 455 check box 459 detail button 460 print button 461 send button 462 compression / decompression button 463 move button 464 delete button 465 close button 456 list Display icon 457 Thumbnail display icon 458 Preview icon 500 Print setting screen 501 Print button 550 Transmission setting screen 551 Destination list 552 On / off toggle button 570 Image creation screen 571 Reuse parts list 572 Preview display area 573 Part position input box 574 Image creation Display area 575 Magnification selection button 576 Paper size selection button 580 Component insertion button 581 Component deletion button 82 save button 583 print button 584 closed button 600 output the original 700 image creation screen 701, 702, 703 file list 704 text input box

Claims (10)

In an image forming apparatus including an image forming unit that forms an image on a sheet based on print data described in a page description language,
Storage means for storing reused part data extracted from the print data;
When there is a predetermined object in the print data, when the predetermined object is a text drawing object, the text drawing object is extracted, and a font object file used for the extracted text drawing object is extracted from the image. Reusable extraction means to extract this before forming,
Reusable storage control means for collecting the extracted text drawing object and font object file into one data and storing it in the storage means as the reusable part data;
An image creating unit that reads the reused part data from the storage unit, creates a new page image using the reused part data, stores the data in the storage unit, and gives a print request for the data to the image forming unit; ,
With
The reusable extraction unit extracts the object, and then passes the entire print data to the image forming unit to make a print processing request. The image creating means includes
Screen display control means for controlling display of an image creation screen including a display area of a reusable parts list;
Instruction input means for selecting reused part data from the reused parts list;
Data processing means for creating the page image in response to an instruction from the instruction input means in a state where the image creation screen is displayed;
Having
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1. The image creation screen further includes a display area of an image based on the reused part data.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 2. The image creation screen further includes an image creation display area for the user to visually recognize the page image.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the image forming apparatus is an image forming apparatus. Receiving means for receiving the print data together with a print command;
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: Box use means for creating a print job, FAX job, mail job or overlay job using the new page image,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: An image forming system configured by combining the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, 5 or 6 and an information processing apparatus,
The image forming apparatus further includes transmission means for transmitting the reused part data to the information processing apparatus,
The information processing apparatus includes a print data creation unit that creates new print data using the received reuse component data.
An image forming system. An image forming system configured by combining the image forming apparatus according to claim 2 and an information processing apparatus,
The image forming apparatus further includes transmission means for transmitting the reused part data to the information processing apparatus,
The information processing apparatus includes a print data creation unit that creates new print data using the received reuse component data.
An image forming system. Screen display control means for controlling display of the image creation screen is provided on the display means of the image forming apparatus or the display means of the information processing apparatus.
The image forming system according to claim 8. An image forming apparatus that includes an instruction input unit and a storage unit, and includes an image forming unit that forms an image on a sheet based on print data described in a page description language, and the predetermined object is a text drawing object Extracting the text drawing object, and extracting the font object file used for the extracted text drawing object before forming the image;
After extracting the object, passing the entire print data to the image forming means and requesting a print process;
Collecting the text drawing object and font object file extracted from the print data into one data and storing it as reusable component data in the storage means;
A step of controlling display of an image creation screen including a display area of a reuse parts list;
Receiving from the instruction input means selection of reusable part data in the reusable part list;
In response to an instruction from the instruction input means in a state where the image creation screen is displayed, a new page image including the accepted reused part data is created, and the data is stored in the storage means. Providing a data print request to the image forming means;
An image creating method characterized by comprising: