KR100346186B1 - Apparatus and method for reprinting the printed documents in pc - Google Patents

Abstract

In the present invention, in reprinting a previous document printed while the application program is running on a PC, the previous document printed while the application program is executed is converted into printer code data or bitmap data and stored on a recording medium, and the printed previous document The printer code data or bitmap data of the document, which is selected by the user and is requested by the user when the reprint request is made, is transmitted to the printer to be reprinted.

Description

Apparatus and method for reprinting documents on a personal computer {APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR REPRINTING THE PRINTED DOCUMENTS IN PC}

The present invention relates to a printer system connected to a personal computer (hereinafter, referred to as a "PC"), and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for reprinting a previous document printed while an application program is running on a PC. will be.

In general, when a user using a PC wants to print a specific document in a computer application using a printer connected to the computer, the user selects a document to print on the running application program and executes a print command. Enter it. Accordingly, the print data of the document for which the print command is requested is transmitted from the application program to the corresponding printer through a printer driver to print.

However, when performing the printing as described above, the user inputs a print command in the document being worked on in the application, confirms that the print data is sent to the printer, and then executes the application program without checking the print output of the document from the printer. Sometimes it happens. In this case, if the output of the document from the printer is not normally printed or more copies are required, the application application must be executed again, then the document window is opened and the print job is executed again to execute the reprint. That is, when the need for reprinting occurs after the application program is terminated, the work is complicated and time consuming to reprint as described above.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a reprint apparatus and method capable of performing a reprint in a short time without re-running the corresponding application program upon reprint request.

The present invention for achieving the above object in reprinting a previous document printed during the execution of the application program on the PC, converting the previous document printed during the execution of the application program to the printer code data or bitmap data and stored in the recording medium And, when the reprint request for the printed previous documents is selected by the user characterized in that to transmit the printer code data or bitmap data of the reprint request document to the printer to be reprinted.

1 is a block diagram of a printer connected to a PC to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied;

2 is a block diagram of a PC reprint apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a flowchart of a storage process of a printed previous document for reprint according to an embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a flowchart of a print processing of a previous document for which a reprint is requested according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Many specific details are set forth in the following description and in the accompanying drawings, in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. And a detailed description of known functions and configurations that may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention will be omitted.

1 is a block diagram of a printer system connected to a conventional PC to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied. Referring to FIG. 1, when a user executes a specific application program on the PC 100 to authorize a print command for a specific document, the corresponding application module 102 prints the print data of the requested print document in a printer driver ( 104). The print driver 104 then prints the print data transmitted from the application module 102 to a printer language that the printer 106 can interpret, i.e., printer code data such as PCL 5e, PCL XL, PDL, or the like. The conversion is sent to the printer 106. Accordingly, the print code data converted into the printer language is converted into bitmap data (Bit-Map) in the printer 106 and printed on the paper.

The printer 106 connected to the PC 100 includes a PC interface 108, a controller 112, an operating panel 110, a memory 114, an engine interface 116, and a print engine 118. It consists of. The PC interface 108 provides bidirectional communication between the PC 100 and the printer control unit 112. The controller 112 communicates with the PC 100 and controls the print engine 118 according to various commands input from the PC 100 and the operation panel 110 to perform various functions including printing. The operation panel 110 includes a plurality of keys for inputting various commands and a display device for displaying information according to the operation of the printer 106. The memory 114 includes a non-volatile memory storing IDs as well as a conventional ROM (Random Access Memory) and a random access memory (RAM) as described above. The data according to the processing of 112 is temporarily stored. The engine interface 116 is connected between the control unit 112 and the print engine 118 to interface the input / output signals. The print engine 118 includes various mechanisms for conveying and printing paper sheets and is controlled by the control unit 112 to perform printing.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus for reprinting a previous document printed during execution of an application program in a PC provided in the PC 100 of FIG. 1 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2, the reprint application module 202 stores the printer code data of a document printed while the application program is running on the recording medium 204 or processes the printer code data in a bitmap compression form. Compressed bitmap data is stored in the recording medium 204. In this case, the reprint application module 202 may store the printed document in two forms as described above. If the document is simple, the reprint application module 202 may immediately store the printer language converted by the printer driver 104. Otherwise, if the document is complicated, the printer language converted by the printer driver 104, that is, the printer code data may be up to several megabytes (Mbytes) or tens of megabytes (Mbytes). It can be converted into the form of and then compressed and saved, which allows the user to choose. In addition, upon reprint request, the printer code data or compressed bitmap data of the document reprinted by the user is read from the recording medium 204 and transmitted to the printer 106 connected to the PC 100. The recording medium 204 stores corresponding printer code data of the printed document or compressed bitmap data of the document according to a predetermined control. For example, a hard disk of a conventional PC may be used.

3 and 4 convert the print data of the document into printer code data or compressed bitmap data for reprinting a document to be printed while the application program is executed in the PC 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention, When a reprint is requested, a process flow of reprinting by transmitting printer code data or compressed bitmap data of the document to the printer 106 without re-executing the application program is shown.

First, referring to FIG. 3, a process of converting and storing a printed document into printer code data or compressed bitmap data while executing an application program on the PC 100 is described. The module 102 executes the application program in step 300 of FIG. 3. Accordingly, the user can perform a necessary task in the application program, and when there is a document to be printed, the user can select and print the corresponding document.

The application module 102 then proceeds to step 302 to recognize the selected document from the user and checks whether there is a print request from the user for the selected document in step 304. In this case, if there is no print request from the user for the selected document, the application program module 102 proceeds from step 304 to step 306 to perform a corresponding operation according to a user's command.

On the other hand, if there is a print request from the user for the selected document, the application program module 102 proceeds to step 308 in response to this in step 304 and prints the print data of the document in the printer driver 104. Send to the printer 106 through. Accordingly, the print data of the document is converted into an internal language of the printer, that is, printer code data in the printer driver 104, and then transmitted to the printer 106 to be printed.

When the printing of the document selected by the user is performed in the application program as described above, the reprint application module 202 according to the embodiment of the present invention prints the printed document in response to performing the printing of the document selected in the application program. A print data storage process for reprinting a previous document is performed. In this case, the reprint application module 202 converts the print data of the document through the printer driver 104 according to a storage mode preset by a user in performing a print data storing process for the reprint. It can be stored as printer code data or as compressed bitmap data. That is, if the print data storage mode of the document is set to the printer code data in step 310, the reprint application module 202 proceeds to step 312, and the printer code data of the previous document printed in the application. Is stored in the recording medium 204.

On the contrary, if the print data storage mode of the document is set to the compressed bitmap data, the reprint application module 202 proceeds from step 310 to step 314 to bit print data of the printed previous document. The image data is converted into map data, and is compressed at a predetermined compression rate in step 316 and stored in the recording medium 204. In this case, the printer code data or the compressed bitmap data stored in the recording medium 204 is data that has already been converted to fit the printer 106. The data through the printer driver 104 may be used in the reprint process of FIG. 4 to be described below. It is possible to increase the print speed by being sent directly to the printer 106 without the conversion process.

Next, referring to FIG. 4, a reprint operation of a previous document stored in the recording medium 204 is performed. First, when a user has an error in a document printed by an application program or the number of print output sheets is required, conventionally As described above, since the application program needs to be executed again to select the corresponding document to instruct the reprint, it takes not only a considerable time from the start to the printing of the application program but also the process is complicated. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention, the user requests the reprint to the reprint application module 202 to use the print data of the previous document stored in the recording medium 204 in the process of FIG. The reprint application module 202 then proceeds to step 402 in response to step 400 of FIG. 4 to display a file list of documents stored in the recording medium 204. Accordingly, the user selects a document to be reprinted by viewing the displayed document file list. The reprint application module 202 then recognizes the document selected by the user in step 404 and proceeds to step 406 to transmit the printer code data or compressed bitmap data of the selected document to the printer 106. Will be printed.

Therefore, if a specific document needs to be reprinted, the reprint can be easily performed without rerunning the application.

As described above, the present invention has an advantage in that when a reprint of a previous document printed during execution of an application program on a PC occurs, the reprint can be easily performed without executing the application program again.

Claims (4)

A device for reprinting a previous document printed while an application is running on a personal computer, A recording medium storing corresponding printer code data of the printed previous document or bitmap data of the document according to a predetermined control; The printer code data or bitmap data of the previous document printed while the application program is running is stored on the recording medium, and when the reprint request, the printer code data or bitmap data of the document selected for reprinting from the user is stored on the recording medium. And a reprint application module for reading from and transmitting to a printer connected to the personal computer. The method of claim 1, wherein the recording medium, Reprinting apparatus of a document in a personal computer, characterized in that the hard disk. The method of claim 1, wherein the bitmap data of the document, And recompresses a document at a predetermined predetermined compression rate and stores it in the recording medium. A method for reprinting a previous document printed while an application is running on a personal computer, Storing printer code data or bitmap data of previous documents printed while the application program is executed on a recording medium; Displaying a file list of documents stored on the recording medium and waiting for selection from a user upon request for reprinting the printed previous documents; And reading out the printer code data or bitmap data of the document selected by the user and requested to be reprinted, and transmitting the same to the printer.