JPH1074265A - Printing control device, its method and storage medium storing printing control program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent destruction of an original arrangement image data to suppress division of a plotting object in the case of printing out a scrolled document. SOLUTION: In order to divide a scrolled document into plural pages and print out respective pages, an area of one page in the document stored in a document memory is determined (step S2) and the plotting areas of respective objects in the document are determined (step S4). Then, positional relation between the plotting areas of respective objects and the area of one page is judged (step S6). An object judged that the whole plotting area of the object is included in the area of one page as a result of judgement is controlled so as to be printed out in the page (steps S7, S9).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to an HTML document and the like.
The present invention relates to print control for printing a document in the form of a scroll having no concept of pages and not being divided into a plurality of pages (hereinafter referred to as a scroll document) into a plurality of pages and printing on a plurality of sheets.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When printing a scroll document, if a document is cut and output simply by using a certain page length as a unit, if a character, a figure, or an image located exactly at the boundary between pages is present, such a character is deleted. Will be divided.

Therefore, in recent years, a document analysis device (parser) has been developed.
Is prepared, the layout of document drawing objects such as characters, figures, and images on the page is analyzed. If there is a drawing object that touches the page boundary, a certain print is performed to prevent the drawing object from being divided. A method has been adopted in which all objects placed after the position are sent to the next page.

[0004]

However, in a document in which an image or the like is complicated, there is a case where the document is inevitably fragmented.

For example, in the case of a document in which images are alternately arranged as shown in FIG. 5, any image is cut off regardless of where the image is divided. Also, if the cut is not an image but a character, the readability of the document is significantly reduced.

[0006] Even if a break is successfully found, if it is located at the top of the page as shown in FIG.
Most of the pages are output as blank pages, the continuity of the document is impaired, and the original arrangement image is largely destroyed.

Further, in order to send a drawing object after a certain coordinate value to the next page, it is necessary to first calculate the arrangement positions of all the drawing objects, so that the printing start may be delayed. In addition, if the position is deviated by the calculation, it is necessary to perform the calculation again based on the deviated position. Therefore, in practice, some drawing objects may be cut off and cut off.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem. When a scroll document is printed, a drawing determination is performed at a position where each document drawing object is drawn without performing a drawing determination by a parser. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus and a printing method which are simple and fast, can maintain the original layout image, and can suppress the division of the document drawing object.

[0009]

According to the present invention, as a means for achieving the above object, according to the present invention, a document storage means for storing a document and a one-page area in the document are determined in a print control apparatus. Page area determining means for determining, a drawing area determining means for determining a drawing area of each object in the document, determining means for determining a positional relationship between the drawing area of each object and the area of one page, Printing control means for controlling to print on the one page an object determined to be included in the one-page area as a result of the determination by the means.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print control method, comprising: a page area determining step of determining an area of one page in a document stored in a document memory; and a drawing area of each object in the document. Determining a positional relationship between the drawing area of each object and the one-page area, and determining that the entire drawing area is the one-page area And a printing control step of controlling to print the object determined to be included in the one page on the one page.

Further, according to another aspect of the present invention, a page area determining step of determining an area of one page in a document stored in a document memory in a storage medium, and a drawing area of each object in the document is provided. A drawing area determining step of determining, a determining step of determining a positional relationship between the drawing area of each object and the area of one page, and a result of the determination in the determining step;
A print control program for causing a computer to execute a print control step of controlling the object determined to be included in the one-page area to be printed on the one-page area.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

<First Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of a printing apparatus according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, 1
Denotes a CPU, that is, a central processing unit, which performs overall control and arithmetic processing of the entire apparatus. 2 is R
AM, that is, a random access memory, which is a data storage area with no use restriction, and in which various processing programs, data, and the like shown in a flowchart described later are loaded, stored, and executed for each of various processes. It is. Reference numeral 3 denotes a ROM, that is, a read-only memory, which is a storage area for a startup program and character patterns of the present system. Reference numeral 4 denotes a DISK, that is, an external storage device such as a hard disk device, a floppy disk device, or a flash memory, which stores programs and data shown in flowcharts described later.

The processing program in the disk 4 is a CPU
1 as needed during its execution, or R
Loaded to AM2. The processing program is ROM
3 in some cases. Also, a medium from which data and the like can be taken out, such as a LAN or a telephone line, is used as a disk.
Instead of 4, or in combination.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a CRT, that is, a display device. Reference numeral 6 denotes a PRT, that is, a printer device. 7 is KB,
That is, it is a keyboard. Note that any device, such as a touch panel or a button, which allows a user to manually input data, instructions, and the like, can be used instead of the KB8. Reference numeral 8 denotes a system bus, which serves as a data path between the drawing objects described above.

Next, the operation of the printing process in the system of the present embodiment having the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, in step S1, scroll document data is read from the disk 4 and stored in the RAM 2.

Next, in step S2, the vertical and horizontal dot size of the page and the page number (initialized with 1 at the beginning), and in the case of the first page, the value indicating the position of the scroll at the top of this page is initialized to 0. Set information about pages to be converted.

Next, in step S3, step S1
Then, one of the drawing objects such as characters and images constituting the document is extracted from the data read and stored in the RAM 2.

Next, in step S4, step S3
The positional relationship, such as the position of the drawing object read in step 2 with the position of another drawing object, is calculated. And step S
At 5, the drawing command is executed.

A series of processes in steps S3, S4 and S5 correspond to a process of a functional unit called a parser.

Next, in step S6, the drawing area of the object to be drawn is calculated based on the drawing command issued in S5, and the area is compared with the page area of the page information set in step S2. As a result of the comparison, if the drawing area is completely included in the page area (IN), the process proceeds to step S7. If the drawing area partially extends from the page area (CROSS), the process proceeds to step S8. The drawing area is not included in the page area at all (OUT)
In this case, the process proceeds to step S10.

If it is determined in step S6 that the object is within the page area and the process proceeds to step 7, the drawing object is drawn, and then the process proceeds to step S10.

If it is determined in step S6 that the drawing object partially covers the page area and the process proceeds to step S8, the drawing object is not drawn (step S8), and the leading coordinate value of the drawing object is stored. If there is a value already stored, it is compared with that value, and the value located in the upper part is stored. Note that, in the case where a part of the drawing object is located above the page area, no particular value is stored here, and this processing is performed only for the drawing object that protrudes below the page area.

Next, in step S10, it is determined whether or not the drawing processing of all the drawing objects has been completed. If there is any drawing object that has not been processed, the process returns to step S3. If the processing has been completed for all drawing objects, the process proceeds to step S11.

Next, in step S11, the completed 1
The page data is output to PRT6.

Next, in step S12, it is determined whether all pages have been completed. The determination of the end is made based on whether the drawing position to be started next has exceeded or has not exceeded the end of the original scroll document. If it is determined that all pages are completed, the processing is completed. If it is determined that there are still pages to be printed, the process returns to step S2, and the head coordinate position of the drawing object that could not be drawn and stored in step S9 is set in the scroll document to be printed next. Subtract from the position, reinitialize the page information, and continue the same processing thereafter.

Next, the specific operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
An example of a scroll document will be described.

The scroll document in FIG. 3 includes seven drawing objects # 1 to # 7. Further, the physical page length when printing is up to the portion A in FIG.
The drawing objects # 4 and # 6 will be separated.

First, since all the drawing objects of the objects # 1 to # 3 fall within the page area (between the head and A), in the processing of these objects, the process proceeds to step S7, and the actual drawing is performed. Is made. Next, when the object # 4 is read and a drawing command is issued, the boundary line A is protruded in step S6.
S is determined, and the process proceeds to step S8. Then, the start coordinate position B of the object # 4 is stored. object#
No. 4 is not drawn, and the process proceeds to the next object # 5.
Since the object # 5 is in the page area, the process proceeds to step S7, and is drawn.

Next, object # 6 is a page area and CROS
Since S is performed, the head position C is compared with the value of B stored at the time of the object # 4. In this case, the value of C is discarded here because the value of B is higher. Object # 6 is not drawn.

Since the next object # 7 is over the page area, nothing is performed and the process is terminated.

Since the processing has been completed for all objects, the flow advances to step S10 to print the first page. Next, the process proceeds to step S11, where it is determined that the output of all the drawing objects has not been completed, and the process returns to step S2.

In step S2, a higher one of A, which should be the head of the second page, and the value B set in step S8, is set as the head of the page. Here, since B is located on the upper side, the head of the second page is set to the page information as B. Then, the process proceeds as in the case of the first page.

On the second page, since objects # 1 to # 3 are determined to be OUT in step S6, they are not drawn.
Object # 4 is determined to be IN and is drawn. Object # 5 is determined to be CROSS, and drawing is not performed.
Also, since the data protrudes upward, the head position is not stored. The next drawing objects # 6 and # 7 are determined to be IN and are drawn. Then, since all the drawing objects have been processed, the second page is output.

Finally, it is determined in step S11 that there is no more drawing to be made, and the printing of the scroll is completed.

The print result output in this operation example is as shown in FIG. 4, and it can be seen that the original layout image is not destroyed and no drawing object is divided.

Further, since the process of determining not to draw and the process of determining the start position of the next page are simple, it can be easily understood that the speed is high.

<Second Embodiment> Next, a second embodiment according to the present invention will be described.

In the first embodiment described above, it has been described that the drawing object protrudes only above or below the page. However, the case where a drawing object physically larger than the page length appears has not been considered.

In the present embodiment, this problem is further eliminated by adding a conditional branch in the case where the object starts from the top of the page and does not fit on the page in the area determination portion of step S6 in the flowchart of FIG. Means for solving the problem will be described.

Note that the device configuration in this embodiment and each embodiment described later is the same as that of the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.

Although no specific operation example is shown here, if it is determined that the branch added at step S6 starts from the top of the page but does not fit, the drawing object is cut off as an exception. Draw the portion of the object that is on that page. Add processing. As for this object, it is determined that the drawing has been completed normally, and the head position is not stored. This allows
If there are no other protruding objects, the remaining portion of the protruding drawing object is started from the beginning of the next page.

<Third Embodiment> In the second embodiment, a process of automatically reducing an operation after it is determined that the operation starts from the top of the page but does not fit within the page is automatically reduced to fit within the page. By changing to, division can be avoided even for a large drawing object.

<Fourth Embodiment> In the third embodiment, when the development of an extremely large drawing object is requested, the reduction ratio increases, and the original layout image may be destroyed.

Then, after it is determined that the processing starts from the top of the page but does not fit, the condition determination for selectively using the processing of the second embodiment and the processing of the third embodiment is shown in the flowchart of FIG. Insert That is, if a small portion (less than a certain value) protrudes, an automatic reduction process is performed, and if a large portion protrudes (greater than that value), a dividing process is performed. It becomes possible to print.

<Fifth Embodiment> In the above-described embodiment, a line or an image having a very narrow width among the drawing objects is processed as a drawing object of the same level. However, in many cases, these objects are simply used for dividing a block, such as a boundary between columns in a column. Therefore, even if these objects are divided, the printed matter to be outputted should not have any discomfort.

Therefore, if a line or an image with a narrow width is always drawn and no other processing such as storage of a start position is performed, useless ejection of a drawn object can be suppressed.

<Sixth Embodiment> In the first embodiment, a drawing object having a protruding portion is not drawn. However, if a process of drawing a protruding portion is added even if it protrudes, the drawing object can be moved up and down. And the relationship between left and right can be easily grasped.

<Seventh Embodiment> In the above-described embodiment, overlapping portions are formed in the front and rear pages. For example, when a mark is placed in the left and right margins of the sheet, the user can find the overlapping portion. You can easily determine if you are

<Eighth Embodiment> If the final output destination is output not to the PRT but to the CRT, and the printing is executed after the operator further finely adjusts the output, the desired output can be obtained. You will be able to get results.

Note that the present invention may be applied to an apparatus composed of a single device or a system composed of a plurality of devices. In addition, a storage medium storing software program codes for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to an apparatus or a system, and a computer in the apparatus or the system reads out and executes the program codes stored in the storage medium. May be achieved by:

Further, when the computer in the apparatus or system reads out and executes the program code stored in the storage medium, the function of the above-described embodiment is not only directly realized, but also based on the instruction of the program code. The case where the above-described functions are realized by processing of an OS or the like running on a computer is also included.

In these cases, the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

[0054]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In order to divide a series of documents into a plurality of pages and print them, an area of one page in the stored document and a drawing area of each object in the document are determined, and a drawing area of each object and one page of the one page are determined. By determining the positional relationship with the area and controlling the object determined to be included in the one-page area to be printed on the one page, as a result of this determination, simple and high-speed printing is performed. In addition, it is possible to suppress the division of the drawing object without disturbing the original arrangement image.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing system according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a printing process according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an image of a scroll document used in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an image of an output printed matter.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a conventional print result.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating another example of a conventional print result.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 CPU 2 RAM 3 ROM 4 DISK 5 CRT 6 Printer 7 Keyboard 8 Bus

Claims (30)

[Claims] 1. A print control apparatus for dividing a continuous document into a plurality of pages and printing the document, comprising: a document storage unit for storing the document; and a page area determination for determining an area of one page in the document. Means for determining a drawing area of each object in the document; determining means for determining a positional relationship between the drawing area of each object and the area of the one page; As a result, there is provided a print control unit for controlling to print an object determined to be included in the one-page area so that the entire drawing area is included in the one-page area. 2. A position closest to the head position of the one-page area in the object drawing area determined by the determination means to be included in the one-page area and the next-page area. Is provided as a head position of the next page area, based on the head position stored in the head position storage means,
2. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the page area determination unit determines an area of the next one page. 3. The printing control unit, as a result of the determination by the determining unit, changes an object determined to be included in the one-page region and the next-page region from an object to be printed on the one page. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print control apparatus performs control to exclude the print control. 4. The printing control means as a result of the determination by the determination means, the drawing area is included in the one page area and the next page area, and the leading position of the drawing area is the one page area. 2. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control is performed such that the object determined to be the head position of the first page is divided into the first page and the next page and thereafter and printed. 5. The printing control means as a result of the determination by the determining means, the drawing area is included in the one page area and the next page area, and the leading position of the drawing area is the one page area 2. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control is performed such that the object determined to be the head position of the image is reduced and printed so as to fit within the area of the one page. 6. The printing control means, as a result of the determination by the determining means, the drawing area is included in the one page area and the next page area, and the leading position of the drawing area is the one page area. Is controlled so that an object whose size is determined to be equal to or smaller than a predetermined threshold value in the area of the next page is reduced and printed so as to fit within the area of the one page. The drawing area is included in the one page area and the next page area, the head position of the drawing area is the head position of the one page area, and the size of the part included in the next page area is 2. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an object determined to exceed a predetermined threshold is controlled so as to be divided into the first page and the next page and printed. 7. The printing control unit, as a result of the determination by the determining unit, the drawing area is included in the area of the first page and the area of the next page. 4. The printing control apparatus according to claim 3, wherein an object determined to have a width of the drawing area equal to or smaller than a predetermined value is controlled so as to be divided into the first page and the next page and printed. . 8. The one-page area of the object determined to be included in the one-page area and the next-page area by the print control means as a result of the determination by the determination means. 3. The printing control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein control is performed such that a portion to be printed is printed on the one page. 9. The print control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the print control means controls so as to identifiably print an area overlapping with an adjacent page in the page. 10. The print control apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said print control means controls to print a mark in a margin of an area of the page overlapping an adjacent page. 11. A print control method for dividing a continuous document into a plurality of pages for printing, comprising: a page area determining step of determining an area of one page in a document stored in a document memory; A drawing area determining step of determining a drawing area of each object in a document; a determining step of determining a positional relationship between the drawing area of each object and the one-page area; A print control step of controlling an object determined to be included in the area of the one page to be printed on the one page. 12. A position of the object drawing area determined to be included in the one page area and the next page area in the determination step, the position being closest to the top position of the one page area. Is stored in a start position memory as a start position of the next page area. In the page area determination step, an area of the next one page is determined based on the start position stored in the start position memory. The print control method according to claim 11, wherein: 13. In the printing control step, as a result of the determination in the determining step, an object determined to include the drawing area in the area of the one page and the area of the next page is removed from the printing target of the one page. 13. The print control method according to claim 11, wherein control is performed to exclude the print control. 14. In the print control step, as a result of the determination in the determination step, the drawing area is included in the area of one page and the area of the next page, and the leading position of the drawing area is
12. The print control method according to claim 11, wherein the object determined to be the head position of the page area is controlled so as to be divided into the first page and the next page and printed. 15. In the print control step, as a result of the determination in the determination step, the drawing area is included in the area of one page and the area of the next page, and the top position of the drawing area is set to the one page.
12. The print control method according to claim 11, wherein the object determined to be the head position of the page area is controlled so as to be reduced and printed so as to be included in the one page area. 16. In the print control step, as a result of the determination in the determination step, the drawing area is included in the area of one page and the area of the next page, and the leading position of the drawing area is
An object whose position is the head position of the page area and whose size is determined to be equal to or smaller than the predetermined threshold value in the area of the next page is reduced and printed so as to fit within the one page area. And the drawing area is included in the area of one page and the area of the next page, and the leading position of the drawing area is
Control is performed so that an object, which is the head position of the page area and whose size included in the area of the next page is determined to exceed a predetermined threshold, is divided into the one page and the next page and printed. The print control method according to claim 11, wherein: 17. In the print control step, as a result of the determination in the determination step, the drawing area is included in the area of one page and the area of the next page. 14. The print control method according to claim 13, wherein an object for which the width of the drawing area is determined to be equal to or smaller than a predetermined value is controlled so as to be divided into the first page and the next page and printed. . 18. In the print control step, as a result of the determination in the determination step, the drawing area is included in the one page area of the object determined to be included in the one page area and the next page area. 13. The print control method according to claim 12, wherein the control unit controls to print a portion to be printed on the one page. 19. The print control method according to claim 12, wherein, in the print control step, control is performed such that an area overlapping with an adjacent page in the page is identifiably printed. 20. The print control method according to claim 19, wherein in the print control step, control is performed such that a mark is printed in a margin of an area of the page overlapping with an adjacent page. 21. A storage medium storing a print control program for dividing a continuous document into a plurality of pages and printing the divided pages, wherein a page area for determining an area of one page in the document stored in the document memory. A determining step; a drawing area determining step of determining a drawing area of each object in the document; a determining step of determining a positional relationship between the drawing area of each object and the one-page area; As a result, a print control program for causing a computer to execute a print control step of controlling the object determined to be included in the one page area to include the entire drawing area on the one page is stored. A storage medium characterized by the above-mentioned. 22. A position of the object drawing area determined to be included in the one page area and the next page area in the determination step, the position being closest to the top position of the one page area. Is stored in a start position memory as a start position of the next page area. In the page area determination step, an area of the next one page is determined based on the start position stored in the start position memory. 22. The storage medium according to claim 21, wherein: 23. In the print control step, as a result of the determination in the determination step, an object determined to include the drawing area in the area of the one page and the area of the next page is removed from the print target of the one page. The storage medium according to claim 21, wherein the storage medium is controlled to be excluded. 24. In the print control step, as a result of the determination in the determination step, the drawing area is included in the area of one page and the area of the next page, and the leading position of the drawing area is
22. The storage medium according to claim 21, wherein the object determined to be the head position of the page area is controlled so as to be divided into the first page and the next page and printed. 25. In the print control step, as a result of the determination in the determination step, the drawing area is included in the area of one page and the area of the next page, and the leading position of the drawing area is
22. The storage medium according to claim 21, wherein an object determined to be a head position of a page area is controlled so as to be reduced and printed so as to fit within the one page area. 26. In the print control step, as a result of the determination in the determination step, the drawing area is included in the area of one page and the area of the next page, and the leading position of the drawing area is
An object whose position is the head position of a page area and whose size of a part included in the next page area is determined to be equal to or smaller than a predetermined threshold value is reduced and printed so as to fit within the one page area. And the drawing area is included in the area of one page and the area of the next page, and the leading position of the drawing area is
Control is performed so that an object, which is the head position of the page area and whose size included in the area of the next page is determined to exceed a predetermined threshold, is divided into the one page and the next page and printed. 22. The storage medium according to claim 21, wherein: 27. In the print control step, as a result of the determination in the determination step, the drawing area is included in the area of one page and the area of the next page. 24. The storage medium according to claim 23, wherein an object for which the width of the drawing area is determined to be equal to or smaller than a predetermined value is controlled so as to be divided into the first page and the next page and printed. 28. In the print control step, as a result of the determination in the determination step, the drawing area is included in the one-page area of the object determined to be included in the one-page area and the next-page area. 23. The storage medium according to claim 22, wherein control is performed to print a portion to be printed on the one page. 29. The storage medium according to claim 22, wherein in the print control step, control is performed so that an area overlapping with an adjacent page in the page is printed so as to be identifiable. 30. The storage medium according to claim 29, wherein in the print control step, control is performed such that a mark is printed in a margin of an area of a page overlapping an adjacent page.