JPH11191055A - Printing system, data processing method therefor, and storage medium stored with computer-readable program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform the band drawing of image data of high resolution without expanding memory resources by effective evading the state that image data are lowered in resolution and drawn by pages as the memory resources of a printer are restricted. SOLUTION: On the side of a host computer 101, image data of high resolution are decomposed by a printer driver 1012A into image data of different resolution and transmitted to the printer 100, and a hardware renderer 107 performs the band drawing process of the image data in a band memory 108 as they are or while performing an interpolating process as long as some sent image data of different resolution are stored in a storage buffer 106.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing system capable of communicating between a data processing device and a printing device via a predetermined communication medium, a data processing method of the printing system, and a storage medium storing a computer-readable program. It is about.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a printing system in which a printing apparatus and a data processing apparatus can communicate with each other via a predetermined communication medium, a CA is used.
Printers that can print and record data used in multimedia processing such as D (computer support design), CG (computer graphics), design, and DTP (desktop publishing) in business have been commercialized. I have. As such a printer, a printer control language (PD) sent from a host computer is used.
L (Printer Description Lang)
There is a PDL printer which receives and analyzes a code and renders (rasterizes) the held intermediate language by hardware or software at high speed.

Further, in recent printers, high resolution, high gradation, and colorization have been advanced, and a memory space for rasterization has been reduced to one.
It is difficult to secure pages. Therefore, the page printer does not perform the drawing processing until the intermediate language for one page is stored. When the intermediate language for one page is stored, the page printer processes the intermediate language at high speed using hardware or the like to perform band processing. Many techniques are used to draw images.

[0004] However, depending on the application software, there is a case where a large amount of image data is included in the output PDL code, and the capacity of the intermediate language holding buffer in the printer becomes insufficient, so that output by banding processing becomes impossible. Exists.

In such a case, the conventional apparatus reduces the entire output resolution, secures a memory area for one page, and stores a new intermediate language by drawing the intermediate language stored so far at a low resolution. A technique called page degrading to secure an area was used.

[0006]

Since the conventional printing system is configured as described above, when page degrading occurs, all data sent at high resolution must be converted to low resolution. , The processing speed becomes slow. In addition, there is a problem that the resolution of the entire page is reduced just by increasing the size of some objects.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus which decomposes high-resolution image data into a plurality of different-resolution image data on the data processing apparatus side. As long as the image data of any one of the transmitted resolutions can be stored, the band drawing process is performed on the image data as it is or by performing the interpolation process, so that the drawing data accompanied by the high-resolution image data is printed. When transmitted to the device, it is possible to effectively avoid a situation in which image data is reduced in resolution and printed on a page due to the limitation of the memory resources of the printing device. Printing system capable of significantly increasing the probability of printing image data by band drawing and data processing of the printing system Law and computer is to provide a storage medium storing a readable program.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing system in which a data processing device and a printing device can communicate with each other via a predetermined communication medium, wherein the data processing device includes an application. Image extracting means for extracting image data from print data created in accordance with the execution of the above, and decomposing means for decomposing the image data extracted by the image extracting means into a plurality of image data having a multi-stage resolution, Allocating means for allocating a unique ID number within a page to the image data for each resolution decomposed by the decomposing means, and an image drawing command for each page based on the ID number allocated by the allocating means and the drawing position of each image data Drawing command creation means for creating a page, and an image drawing command for each page created by the drawing command creation means A printing unit that creates print data by arranging decomposed image data for each resolution at the end, and a sending unit that sends the print data created by the creating unit to the printing device; Storing means for storing predetermined internal data converted by analyzing the print data transmitted from the transmitting means; and determining a storage state of image data for each resolution in the print data in the storage means. Means for controlling switching between drawing processing based on predetermined internal data stored in the storage means and image data for each resolution based on a result of the determination by the determination means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the control means is arranged such that, when the determination means determines that image data of any resolution can be stored in the storage means,
A high-resolution band drawing process performed on a band memory secured in a memory resource, and if the determination unit determines that low-resolution image data cannot be stored in the storage unit, the band memory secured in the memory resource; Performs a low-resolution full page drawing process.

[0010] In a third aspect of the present invention, the control means, when the determination means determines that the low-resolution image data can be stored in the storage means, stores the band memory secured. The high-resolution band drawing process is performed while interpolating the high-resolution image data.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the decomposing means converts the high-resolution source image data extracted by the image extracting means into a plurality of images having a multi-step resolution in a line direction or a pixel direction. Decompose into data.

In a fifth aspect according to the present invention, the control means is ensured when the determination means determines that the low-resolution image data in the image data for each resolution cannot be stored in the storage means. In this case, image data having a resolution higher than the resolution dropped to the band memory is discarded from the storage means, and a low-resolution full-page drawing process is performed.

A sixth invention according to the present invention is a data processing method of a printing system in which a data processing device and a printing device can communicate with each other via a predetermined communication medium, and is created when an application is executed. A decomposing step of decomposing the image data from the print data into a plurality of image data having multi-stage resolutions; an allocating step of allocating a unique ID number within the page to the image data of each resolution decomposed by the decomposing step; A drawing command creation step of creating an image drawing command for each page from the ID number assigned in the assignment step and a drawing position of each image data; and a last of the image drawing command of each page created in the drawing command creation step. A creation step of arranging the image data for each resolution separated into tails to create print data, and The print data has been made in which a transmitting step of transmitting to the printing apparatus.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data processing method for a printing system in which a data processing device and a printing device can communicate with each other via a predetermined communication medium. A determining step of determining whether or not the image data for each resolution can be stored on the drawing command area of the memory resource for storing predetermined internal data converted by analyzing the print data; and storing the image data for each resolution by the determining step If it is determined that the image data can be stored, the first drawing step of performing a high-resolution band drawing process on the band memory secured in the memory resource, and if the determination step determines that the image data for each resolution cannot be stored, And a second drawing step of performing a low-resolution full-page drawing process on the band memory secured as a resource.

An eighth invention according to the present invention is a storage medium storing a computer-readable program for controlling a printing system capable of communicating with a data processing apparatus and a printing apparatus via a predetermined communication medium, A decomposing step of decomposing the image data from the print data created with the execution of the application into a plurality of image data having a multi-level resolution, and image data specific to each resolution decomposed by the decomposing step. An assignment step of assigning an ID number; a drawing command creation step of creating an image drawing command in page units from the ID number assigned by the assignment step and a drawing position of each image data; The image data for each resolution is placed and marked at the end of the image drawing instruction for each page. A creation step of creating a data, computer and a transmission step of transmitting the print data created by the creation step to the printing device is obtained by storing the readable program storage medium.

A ninth invention according to the present invention is a storage medium storing a computer-readable program for controlling a printing system capable of communicating with a data processing apparatus and a printing apparatus via a predetermined communication medium, A determination step of determining whether image data for each resolution has been stored in a rendering command area of a memory resource that stores predetermined internal data converted by analyzing the print data transmitted from the data processing apparatus; If it is determined in the determining step that the image data for each resolution could be stored, a first drawing step of performing a high-resolution band drawing process on the band memory secured in the memory resource, and storing the image data for each resolution in the determining step If you determine that you cannot,
A computer-readable program having a second drawing step of performing a low-resolution full-page drawing process on the band memory secured in the memory resource is stored in a storage medium.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [First Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining the arrangement of a printing system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. This corresponds to a case where communication with the host computer 101 is possible via a predetermined communication medium.

In the host computer 101, 10
Reference numeral 11 denotes a CPU which converts data created by using a drawing application for creating an image including characters and natural images by a printer driver 1012A to be executed.
The data is converted into a data format that can be received by the printer 100. The converted data is sent to the printer controller 102. The printer driver 1012A is connected to the external memory 10
13 or a program stored in the main memory 1012.

In the printer 100, an input buffer 103 stores data inputted to the printer controller 102 by DMA transfer. The data stored in the input buffer 103 is analyzed according to a transfer data analysis program in the program ROM 104 executed by the CPU 105. The result of the analysis processing is stored in the intermediate language storage buffer 106 as intermediate data that can be output at high speed by the hardware renderer 107 or the like.

Reference numeral 104 denotes a program ROM, which is a memory for storing processing procedures (control programs) shown in the figures described later. The CPU 105 reads data according to the control programs and executes each processing. The CPU 105 controls internal processing of the printer controller 102.

The CPU 105 sets parameters such as the drawing position described in the intermediate data stored in the intermediate language storage buffer 106 in the hard renderer 107. The hard renderer 107 is an intermediate language storage buffer 10
The rendering processing is performed on the intermediate language data in the band memory 108 in the band memory 108.

The band memory 108 (page width × 2)
(A band height of about 00 lines) at least two, and a drawing process is performed by tracking a shipping state and an intermediate data development state. The information of the band in the shipping state is immediately sent to the printer engine 110 via the printer interface (printer I / F) 109.

A printer interface 109 transmits commands to the printer engine 110 and receives status from the printer engine 110 to and from the band memory 108 between the printer engine 110, for example, the LBP.

Reference numeral 110 denotes the printer controller 102
The printer engine prints the video signal sent from the printer, and may be an LBP based on electrophotography or an ink jet system, or may be a color printer or a monochrome printer.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a first data output processing mode in the printing system according to the present invention. In the processing, the host computer 101 creates data in which images and graphics are mixed, and the printer controller 102 outputs the data. Corresponding.

Referring to FIG. 1, reference numeral 201 denotes an editing screen, which corresponds to a state in which the result of drawing by the drawing application of the host computer 101 is schematically shown on the display, and a graphic or natural image formed by using the application is displayed. Objects such as images are respectively generated as drawing commands.

Note that an image 2 is displayed on the edit screen 201.
011 (which may be referred to as image 1), a star graphic 2012 is drawn, and an image 20
13 (may be referred to as image 2).

A conventional printer command has a form in which the image data body is combined with information such as a drawing position when a drawing command is created from these data.

On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the image drawing commands 2021 and 2023 and the image data
Decompose 1,2032. Reference numeral 2022 denotes a polygon drawing command.

The print data 204 creates an image drawing command together with other drawing commands.
They are placed together at the end of the page drawing command. The image data part is the image data body 20 when the resolution is high.
When the resolution is decomposed in multiple stages as shown in FIGS. 31 and 2032 and transferred, as shown in the print data 204, the images 1.1, 2.1, 1.2, 2.2, 1.3, and 1.3 are used. They are sent together for each resolution in the order of 2.3.

An image drawing command and an image data body are linked by an ID number. Normally, the print data 204 is stored in the input buffer 103 of the printer 100, and is stored in the program ROM 1 executed in the CPU 105.
Analysis processing is performed in accordance with the program in 04 to generate an intermediate language. Then, the generated intermediate language command unit 205 is stored in the intermediate language storage buffer 106, and the image drawing commands 205A and 205B and the image data main bodies 2051 and 2052 are linked on the stored address space.

When one page of data is stored, the intermediate language is drawn on the band memory 108 by the hard renderer 107 at high speed. At this time, the image drawing method is based on the image body (1.
1, 1.2, 1.3 or 2.1, 2.2, 2.3)
Are synthesized and a high-resolution drawing process is performed at the position specified by the drawing command. 206 is a band image to be developed.

A case where a part of image data out of print data for one page does not enter the intermediate language storage buffer 106 of the printer will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a second data output processing mode in the printing system according to the present invention. The processing in which the host computer 101 creates data in which images and graphics are mixed and the printer controller 102 outputs the data. Corresponding.

Referring to FIG. 3, reference numeral 301 denotes an editing screen, which corresponds to a state in which the result of drawing by the drawing application of the host computer 101 is schematically shown on the display, and a graphic or natural image formed by using the application is displayed. Objects such as images are respectively generated as drawing commands.

Note that an image 3 is displayed on the edit screen 301.
011 (sometimes called image 1), an asterisk figure 3012 is drawn, and an image 30
13 (may be referred to as image 2). 3022 is a polygon drawing command.

In the conventional printer command, when a drawing command is created from these data, the image data itself is combined with information such as a drawing position.

On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the image drawing commands 3021 and 3023 and the image data body 303
Decompose 1,3032.

The print data 304 creates an image drawing command together with other drawing commands.
They are placed together at the end of the page drawing command. The image data part is the image data body 30 when the resolution is high.
When the resolution is decomposed in multiple stages as shown by 31, 3032 and transferred, as shown in the print data 304, the images 1.1, 2.1, 1.2, 2.2, 1.3, They are sent together for each resolution in the order of 2.3. 30
Reference numeral 7 denotes a developed high-resolution band memory.

The image drawing command and the image data body are linked by an ID number. Normally, the print data 304 is stored in the input buffer 103 of the printer 100, and is stored in the program ROM 1 executed in the CPU 105.
Analysis processing is performed in accordance with the program in 04 to generate an intermediate language. Then, the generated intermediate language command unit 305 is stored in the intermediate language storage buffer 106, and the image drawing instructions 305A and 305B and the image data main bodies 3051 and 3052 are linked on the stored address space.

When one page of data is stored, the intermediate language is drawn on the band memory 108 by the hard renderer 107 at high speed. At this time, the image drawing method is based on the image body (1.
1, 1.2, 1.3 or 2.1, 2.2, 2.3)
Are synthesized and a high-resolution drawing process is performed at the position specified by the drawing command.

However, as in FIG.
04 was transmitted to the printer, the intermediate language command buffer 305 was all stored in the intermediate language storage buffer 106.
2 shows a state 306 in which the intermediate language storage buffer 106 has become full at the time when 2 is stored.

In such a state, image 1 is 1.1,
The two data of 1.2 are used for the image 2 and the data of 2.1 are used, and the missing part is subjected to the interpolation processing to perform the drawing processing in the high-resolution band memory.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a third data output processing mode in the printing system according to the present invention. The host computer 101 creates data in which images and graphics are mixed, and the printer controller 102 outputs the data. At this time, it corresponds to the processing of the printer when the minimum image data cannot be stored.

In the figure, reference numeral 801 denotes an editing screen, which corresponds to a state in which the result of drawing by the drawing application of the host computer 101 is schematically shown on the display, and the drawing created by the application and the Objects such as images are respectively generated as drawing commands.

Note that an image 8 is displayed on the edit screen 801.
011 (which may be referred to as image 1), a star graphic 8012 is drawn, and an image 80
13 (may be referred to as image 2). 8012 is a polygon drawing command.

In a conventional printer command, when a drawing command is created from these data, the image data itself is combined with information such as a drawing position.

On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the image drawing commands 8021 and 8023 and the image data
Decompose 1,8032.

The print data 804 creates an image drawing command together with other drawing commands.
They are placed together at the end of the page drawing command. The image data part is the image data body 80 when the resolution is high.
When the resolution is decomposed in multiple stages as shown in FIGS. 31 and 8032 and transferred, as shown in the print data 804, the images 1.1, 2.1, 1.2, 2.2, 1.3, They are sent together for each resolution in the order of 2.3.

The image drawing command and the image data body are linked by an ID number. Normally, the print data 804 is stored in the input buffer 103 of the printer 100, and is stored in the program ROM 1 executed in the CPU 105.
Analysis processing is performed in accordance with the program in 04 to generate an intermediate language. Then, the generated intermediate language command unit 805 is stored in the intermediate language storage buffer 106, and the image drawing commands 805A and 805B and the image data main bodies 8051 and 8052 are linked on the stored address space.

When one page of data is stored, the intermediate language is drawn on the band memory 108 at high speed by the hard renderer 107. At this time, the image drawing method is based on the image body (1.
1, 1.2, 1.3 or 2.1, 2.2, 2.3)
Are synthesized and a high-resolution drawing process is performed at the position specified by the drawing command. 807 is a low resolution full band memory.

As in the above two cases, print data 804 is generated from the data generated on the edit screen 801.

However, when print data is transmitted to the printer 100, the image 1 stores the image data main body 8051 having the lowest resolution, and the image 2 stores the image data main body 8052 halfway, and the intermediate language storage buffer 106 becomes full. 806 is shown.

Then, the low-resolution full-band memory 807 is secured, and the rendering processing of the intermediate language stored so far is started. As a result, the remaining image data of the image data body 8052 can be stored in the empty area. By reducing the resolution of the entire page, images 1, 2 and 1.1, 1.2, 2..
Data 2 and 2.3 are unnecessary for drawing processing. High-speed low-resolution full-band drawing can be performed on image data sent later by skipping processing.

Hereinafter, a characteristic configuration of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

A printing system in which a data processing device (host computer 101) and a printing device (printer 100) can communicate via a predetermined communication medium (network, bidirectional interface) configured as described above, The data processing device includes an image extracting unit that extracts image data from print data created with the execution of an application (the CPU 1011 executes a printer driver 1012A to perform an extraction process), and an image extracting unit that extracts the image data. A decomposing unit (the CPU 1011 executes the printer driver 1012A to decompose) the image data into a plurality of image data having multi-stage resolutions; Unique ID
Assigning means for assigning a number (the CPU 1011 executes the printer driver 1012A to perform assignment processing);
A drawing command creating means for creating an image drawing command in page units from the ID number assigned by the assigning means and the drawing position of each image data (the CPU 1011 executes the printer driver 1012A to execute the command creating process); Creation means for arranging the decomposed image data for each resolution at the end of the image drawing instruction for each page created by the drawing instruction creation means and creating print data (the CPU 1011 executes the printer driver 1012A to perform the creation processing ) And transmitting means (C) for transmitting the print data created by the creating means to the printing apparatus.
The PU 1011 executes a printer driver 1012A to perform transmission processing), and the printing apparatus stores predetermined internal data converted by analyzing the print data transmitted from the transmission means (storage means). Buffer 1
06), a determination unit for determining the storage state of the image data for each resolution in the print data in the storage unit (the CPU 105 performs a determination process by executing a control program stored in the ROM 104 or an external memory), and Control means (CPU1) for switching and controlling drawing processing based on predetermined internal data stored in the storage means and image data for each resolution based on the determination result by the means;
05 executes the control program stored in the ROM 104 or the external memory to perform the switching process), so that when the image rendering command accompanied by the high-resolution image data is transferred from the data processing device to the printing device, Even if a situation occurs in which high-resolution image data cannot be stored due to the limitation of memory resources, different rendering processing can be performed on the image data based on whether or not any of the decomposed image data can be stored, High-resolution band drawing processing is performed as much as possible, and in the worst case, low-resolution image data can be drawn.

Also, the CPU 105 operates in the storage buffer 106.
If it is determined that the image data of any one of the resolutions has been successfully stored, a high-resolution band drawing process is performed on the band memory secured in the memory resources, and the CPU 1
If the storage unit 05 determines that the low-resolution image data cannot be stored in the storage unit, the low-resolution full page drawing process is performed on the band memory 108 secured in the memory resource. When transferring an image drawing command with data from the data processing device to the printing device, even if a situation occurs in which high-resolution image data cannot be stored due to the memory resource limitations of the printing device, If the data can be stored, band drawing processing can be performed based on the image data. It is possible to process image data having the highest possible resolution at high speed by effectively avoiding the situation.

Further, when the CPU 105 determines that the low-resolution image data can be stored in the storage means, a high-resolution band drawing process is performed on the secured band memory while interpolating the high-resolution image data. Therefore, even if the image data that cannot be stored is low-resolution image data, high-resolution image data can be drawn and high-speed printing can be performed.

Further, the printer driver 1012A
Since the high-resolution source image data extracted by the image extracting means is decomposed into a plurality of image data having a multi-stage resolution in the line direction or the pixel direction, at the time of band drawing processing on the printing apparatus side,
High-resolution image data can be drawn from the low-resolution image data to the band memory without delaying the drawing speed by relatively simple interpolation processing.

Further, the CPU 105
If it is determined that low-resolution image data in the image data for each resolution cannot be stored for image data No. 6, image data having a resolution higher than the dropped resolution in the secured band memory 108 is discarded from the storage means, and the low-resolution image data is discarded. Since the resolution full page drawing process is performed, a memory area for performing the low resolution full page drawing process is always secured by maximizing the use of the memory resources, and the low resolution drawing process can be reliably executed.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of a first data processing procedure in the printing system according to the present invention, and corresponds to a data processing procedure by a printer driver of the data processing apparatus. Note that (1) to (6) indicate each step.

First, an image object is read from the data created by the application in step (1), and the flow advances to step (2).

Next, in step (2), it is determined whether the image data is high-resolution or high-gradation image data. If it is determined that the image data is high-resolution or high-gradation image data, the process proceeds to step (3). The image data is decomposed into multi-level resolutions, each of which is assigned a unique ID number within the page, spooled to, for example, the external memory 1013, and proceeds to step (4) and thereafter.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step (2) that the image data is not high-resolution or high-gradation image data, that is, it is low-resolution, the ID number of the spooled data and the drawing position in step (4) Image drawing data is generated with the information of

Next, it is determined whether or not the image data of the page is completed. If it is determined that the image data is not completed, the process returns to step (1), and if it is determined that the image data is completed, Is the step (6)
Then, the entire drawing command data is transmitted to the printer 100, and the image data spooled in the external memory 1013 is transmitted at the end, and the process is terminated.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of the second data processing procedure in the printing system according to the present invention, and corresponds to the drawing processing procedure of the printer on the printer 100 side. Note that (1) to (11) indicate each step.

First, in step (1), the input buffer 1
03 is analyzed, the process proceeds to step (2), and it is determined whether the command is an image drawing command. If it is determined that the command is not an image drawing command, step (3) is performed.
Then, a print command other than an image is created, and the process proceeds to step (5).

On the other hand, if it is determined in step (2) that the command is an image drawing command, an image intermediate language is created in step (4).

Next, it is determined in step (5) whether or not the drawing command has been completed. If it is determined that the drawing command has not been completed, the process returns to step (1). If it is determined that the drawing command has been completed, the process returns to step (1). In step (6), the header part of the image data part is analyzed to determine whether the size of the image data body is within the size of the intermediate language storage buffer 106, that is, whether the image data body is in the intermediate language storage buffer 106.
It is determined by calculating (comparison operation between the size of the entire image data body and the capacity of the intermediate language storage buffer 106) whether it can fit or not. If it is determined that it cannot fit, the process proceeds to step (9) and subsequent steps.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step (6) that the image data itself can be stored in the intermediate language storage buffer 106, the process proceeds to step (7).
06, the image data body is stored, and the address stored in the ID number registration table is registered.

Next, in step (8), it is determined whether or not all image data has been completed. If it is determined that all image data has not been completed, the process returns to step (6).

On the other hand, if it is determined in step (8) that all the image data has been completed, it is determined in step (9) whether or not all the minimum resolution data of the image data present on the page are stored. If it is determined that the minimum resolution data is all stored, high-speed drawing processing is performed on the intermediate language stored in the intermediate language storage buffer 106 in step (10) in band units. The composition of the image data into the high resolution is also performed at the time of drawing, and the processing is terminated.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step (9) that all the minimum resolution data of the image data present on the page are not stored, the process proceeds to step (11).
Then, the resolution of the entire page is reduced, a full band memory space is secured, an area is opened by rendering processing of the already stored intermediate language, processing of unstored image data is performed, and the processing is terminated.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a state in which image data is decomposed into multi-step resolutions by the printer driver of the host computer 101 shown in FIG.

In the figure, reference numeral 601 denotes source image data passed to the printer driver, which is composed of image data of 14 × 15 dots, and corresponds to a case where an image is output to a 600 DPI printer at the same magnification of 600 DPI. Note that a small rectangle in the figure indicates one pixel of the image.

In the above case, the result of grouping by the remainder of “3” of the number of scan lines in the vertical direction is image data 602, 603, and 604 which are decomposed into three.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram for explaining a process of complementing image data in the printer 100 shown in FIG. Hereinafter, the interpolation processing performed by the printer when all the image data are not completed will be described.

In the figure, reference numerals 701 and 702 denote image data corresponding to two of the image data obtained by decomposing a high-resolution source image into three.

Intermediate language storage buffer 1 of printer 100
When only these two data can be stored in the line 06, it is necessary to output the line 3 from the line 2 and the line 4 in order to output at the original resolution.
Are interpolated using the values of the pixel data of the preceding and succeeding lines, such as line 4 and line 6 to line 5....

As for the interpolation method, a method of taking the average value of the neighboring pixels of the preceding and succeeding lines may be used, or the previous line may be simply copied.

Hereinafter, the characteristic configuration of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS.

A data processing method of a printing system in which a data processing device (host computer 101) and a printing device (printer 100) can communicate via a predetermined communication medium (bidirectional interface, network) configured as described above. Or a storage medium storing a computer-readable program for controlling a printing system capable of communicating with a data processing apparatus and a printing apparatus via a predetermined communication medium, the program being created along with execution of an application. (Step (3) in FIG. 5) for decomposing the image data into a plurality of image data having a multi-step resolution from the print data to be processed, An assigning step of assigning a unique ID number, and A drawing command creation step (step (4) in FIG. 5) for creating an image drawing command for each page from the ID number and the drawing position of each image data; and an image drawing command for each page created by the drawing command creation step. (Step (5) in FIG. 5) for creating print data by arranging the decomposed image data for each resolution at the end of the process, and transmitting the print data created in the creation process to the printing apparatus. 5 (step (3) in FIG. 5), when transferring an image drawing command accompanied by high-resolution image data from the data processing device to the printing device, the high resolution Image data can be transmitted to the printing device in anticipation of a situation where the image data cannot be stored. Greatly increases the probability that the image data is stored in one of the resolution Te, can generate print drawing data to enable subsequent band rendering process.

A data processing method of a printing system in which a data processing device (host computer 101) and a printing device (printer 100) can communicate with each other via a predetermined communication medium (bidirectional interface, network),
Alternatively, a storage medium storing a computer-readable program for controlling a printing system capable of communicating with a data processing apparatus and a printing apparatus via a predetermined communication medium, wherein the print data transmitted from the data processing apparatus is stored. A determination step (step (6) in FIG. 6) for determining whether or not image data for each resolution has been stored in a rendering command area of a memory resource for storing predetermined internal data converted by analyzing the image data; If it is determined that the image data for each resolution can be stored by the first step, a first drawing step (step (10) in FIG. 6) of performing a high-resolution band drawing process on a band memory secured in a memory resource;
If it is determined in the determining step that the image data for each resolution cannot be stored, a low resolution full page drawing process is performed on the band memory secured in the memory resource.
(Step (11) in FIG. 6), when an image drawing command accompanied by high-resolution image data is transferred from the data processing device to the printing device, a high resolution Even if a situation occurs in which image data of any resolution can be stored, band drawing processing can be performed based on that image data, and high-resolution image data can be stored. , The page drawing with full band is executed to effectively avoid the situation where the print processing time is long, and high-resolution image data can be processed at high speed as much as possible.

[Second Embodiment] In the above embodiment, when a high-resolution source image is decomposed into three, the result of grouping by the remainder of the number of vertical scan lines “3” is image data. Although the case of disassembly into 602, 603, and 604 has been described, the disassembly may be performed as shown in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing a state in which image data is decomposed into multi-step resolutions by the printer driver of the host computer 101 shown in FIG.

In the figure, reference numeral 901 denotes a pixel which has a different resolution from that of a pixel on a white background. Image data 902 is obtained by extracting a diagonal pixel portion, and image data 903 is a white portion.

As a result, when the complementing process shown in FIG. 7 is performed using the decomposed image data 902 and 903 shown in FIG. 9, the complementing process can be performed finely.

However, the hard renderer 107 must be able to perform drawing processing by synthesizing this data so as to be in time for the paper discharge speed, or by complementing the data.

[Third Embodiment] The image file format used by applications in recent years includes F
Lush Pix (Kodak), IVUE (Live
(e.Picture) format, image data having a multi-stage resolution.

When these are used, when displaying on a low-resolution device such as a display, a low-resolution portion is used to output the data at high speed without data conversion processing. When outputting to a high-resolution printer, the low-resolution portion and the high-resolution portion are used. It is possible to combine and output.

In this format, the image processing on the application is performed by displaying only the low-resolution image, and the same image processing operation is performed on the high-resolution part at the time of output, thereby shortening the working time. It is also possible to do.

Since conventional printers do not support image data of such a format, at the time of output, an application combines them into an image format of a single resolution and transfers it to the printer. In the present embodiment, the image data format exchanged between the printer driver and the printer may be such a standard multi-step resolution image format.

Hereinafter, the configuration of a data processing program readable by the printing system according to the present invention will be described with reference to a memory map shown in FIG.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining a memory map of a storage medium for storing various data processing programs which can be read by the printing system according to the present invention.

Although not shown, information for managing a group of programs stored in the storage medium, for example, version information, a creator, etc. are also stored, and information dependent on the OS or the like on the program reading side, for example, a program is stored in the storage medium. An icon or the like for identification display may also be stored.

Further, data dependent on various programs is also managed in the directory. In addition, a program for installing various programs on a computer or a program for decompressing a program to be installed when the program to be installed is compressed may be stored.

The functions shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 in this embodiment may be performed by a host computer by a program installed from the outside. And in that case, CD-ROM, flash memory, FD
The present invention is applicable even when a group of information including a program is supplied to an output device from a storage medium such as the above or from an external storage medium via a network.

As described above, the storage medium storing the program codes of the software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to the system or the apparatus, and the computer (or CPU or MP) of the system or the apparatus is supplied.
It goes without saying that the object of the present invention is also achieved when U) reads and executes the program code stored in the storage medium.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the novel function of the present invention, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, C
DR, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, RO
M, EEPROM and the like can be used.

The functions of the above-described embodiments are realized when the computer executes the readout program codes, and the OS (Operating System) running on the computer is executed based on the instructions of the program codes. ) And the like perform part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instruction of the program code, The CPU provided in the function expansion board or function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing,
It goes without saying that a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by the processing is also included.

[0103]

As described above, the first embodiment according to the present invention is described.
According to the invention, there is provided a printing system in which a data processing device and a printing device can communicate with each other via a predetermined communication medium, wherein the data processing device converts image data from print data created with the execution of an application. Image extracting means for extracting the image data, decomposing means for decomposing the image data extracted by the image extracting means into a plurality of image data having multi-stage resolution, and image data for each resolution decomposed by the decomposing means. Allocating means for allocating a unique ID number within a page; drawing command generating means for generating an image drawing command for each page from the ID number allocated by the allocating means and a drawing position of each image data; Image for each resolution decomposed at the end of the image drawing instruction for each page created by the means And a transmitting unit for transmitting the print data generated by the generating unit to the printing device, wherein the printing device transmits the print data to the printing device. Storage means for storing predetermined internal data converted by analyzing the print data; determining means for determining a storage state of resolution-specific image data in the print data in the storage means; and a determination result by the determining means Control means for switching between drawing processing based on predetermined internal data stored in the storage means and image data for each resolution based on the image data, so that an image drawing command accompanied by high-resolution image data is printed from the data processing device. When transferring data to the printer, a situation may occur where high-resolution image data cannot be stored due to the memory resource constraints of the printing device. However, different drawing processes can be performed on the image data based on whether image data of any of the resolutions can be stored, and the highest resolution band drawing process can be performed. Image data can be drawn.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, if the control means determines that the storage means can store image data of any resolution in the storage means, the band memory secured in the memory resource If the determination unit determines that low-resolution image data cannot be stored in the storage unit, the low-resolution full page rendering is performed on the band memory secured in the memory resource. Since the processing is performed, when transferring an image drawing instruction accompanied by high-resolution image data from the data processing apparatus to the printing apparatus, a situation may occur in which high-resolution image data cannot be stored due to a limitation of memory resources of the printing apparatus. Also, if image data of one of the decomposed resolutions can be stored, band drawing is performed based on that image data. High-resolution image data can be processed at a lower resolution to perform full band page drawing, effectively avoiding long print processing times, and as high a resolution as possible. Data can be processed at high speed.

According to the third aspect, when the control means determines that the low-resolution image data can be stored in the storage means, the control means stores the high-resolution image data in the secured band memory. Since high-resolution band drawing processing is performed while interpolating image data, even if the image data that cannot be stored is low-resolution image data,
High-resolution image data can be drawn and high-speed printing can be performed.

According to the fourth aspect, the decomposing means converts the high-resolution source image data extracted by the image extracting means into a plurality of image data having a multi-step resolution in a line direction or a pixel direction. Since the image data is decomposed, high-resolution image data can be drawn from the low-resolution image data to the band memory without delaying the drawing speed by relatively simple interpolation processing during band drawing processing on the printing apparatus side.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, when the control means determines that the storage means cannot store low-resolution image data in the image data for each resolution, the band to be secured is determined. A memory area for performing low-resolution full-page drawing processing by always making full use of memory resources because image data having a resolution higher than the resolution dropped into the memory is discarded from the storage means and low-resolution full-page drawing processing is performed. , And low-resolution drawing processing can be executed reliably.

According to the sixth and eighth aspects of the present invention, there is provided a data processing method for a printing system in which a data processing device and a printing device can communicate with each other via a predetermined communication medium, or via a predetermined communication medium. A storage medium storing a computer-readable program for controlling a printing system capable of communicating with a data processing device and a printing device, wherein image data is converted from print data created with the execution of an application into multi-stage resolutions. A decomposing step of decomposing the image data into a plurality of image data, a allocating step of allocating a unique ID number within the page to the image data for each resolution decomposed by the decomposing step, and the ID number allocated by the allocating step. A drawing command creating step of creating an image drawing command for each page from a drawing position of each image data; A creating step of arranging decomposed image data for each resolution at the end of an image drawing instruction of each page created by the instruction creating step to create print data, and the print data created by the creating step A transmission step of transmitting the image data to the printing device. When transferring an image drawing command accompanied by high-resolution image data from the data processing device to the printing device, the high-resolution image data is stored due to a limitation of memory resources of the printing device. Assuming a situation where image data cannot be resolved, image data decomposed into multiple resolutions can be sent to the printing device, and the probability of storing image data of any resolution according to the memory resources of the printing device is significantly increased. Print drawing data that enables band drawing processing to be performed.

The seventh and ninth aspects of the present invention relate to a data processing method of a printing system in which a data processing device and a printing device can communicate with each other via a predetermined communication medium, or a data processing method using a predetermined communication medium. A storage medium storing a computer-readable program that controls a printing system capable of communicating with an apparatus and a printing apparatus, wherein a predetermined internal part that analyzes and converts the print data transmitted from the data processing apparatus is provided. A determining step of determining whether or not the image data for each resolution can be stored on the rendering command area of the memory resource for storing the data; A first drawing step of performing a high-resolution band drawing process on a band memory to be performed, and an image data for each resolution in the determination step. If it is determined that the data cannot be stored, a second drawing step of performing a low-resolution full-page drawing process on the band memory secured in the memory resource is provided. When transferring image data from the data processing device to the printing device, even if a situation occurs in which high-resolution image data cannot be stored due to the limitation of memory resources of the printing device, image data of any decomposed resolution can be stored. In
A band drawing process can be performed based on the image data, a high-resolution image data is reduced to a low resolution, and a page drawing with a full band is executed, thereby effectively avoiding a situation in which the printing processing time is long. It can process image data of the highest possible resolution at high speed.

Therefore, when drawing data accompanied by high-resolution image data is transmitted to the printing apparatus, it is effective to reduce the resolution of the image data and draw a page due to the limitation of the memory resources of the printing apparatus. And the likelihood of significantly increasing the probability of band drawing and printing of high-resolution image data without expanding memory resources is achieved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a first data output processing mode in the printing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a second data output processing mode in the printing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a second data output processing mode in the printing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a first data processing procedure in the printing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a second data processing procedure in the printing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a process of complementing image data in the printer illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating a process of complementing image data in the printer illustrated in FIG. 1;

9 is a schematic diagram showing a state in which image data is decomposed into multi-step resolutions by a printer driver of the host computer shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a memory map of a storage medium that stores various data processing programs that can be read by the printing system according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 printer 101 host computer 102 printer controller 103 input buffer 104 program ROM 105 CPU 106 intermediate language storage buffer 107 hard renderer 108 band memory 110 printer engine 1011 CPU 1012 memory 1013 external memory

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A printing system in which a data processing device and a printing device can communicate with each other via a predetermined communication medium, wherein the data processing device converts image data from print data created with the execution of an application. Image extracting means for extracting; decomposing means for decomposing the image data extracted by the image extracting means into a plurality of image data having a multi-level resolution; Allocating means for allocating a unique ID number in the image data; drawing command generating means for generating an image drawing command for each page from the ID number allocated by the allocating means and a drawing position of each image data; Image for each resolution decomposed at the end of the image drawing instruction for each page created by And a transmitting unit that transmits the print data generated by the generating unit to the printing device, wherein the printing device is transmitted from the transmitting unit. Storage means for storing predetermined internal data converted by analyzing the print data; determination means for determining a storage state of image data for each resolution in the print data in the storage means; determination result by the determination means And a control unit for switching and controlling a drawing process based on predetermined internal data stored in the storage unit and image data for each resolution based on the image data. 2. A high-resolution band drawing process for a band memory secured in a memory resource when the control unit determines that image data of any resolution has been stored in the storage unit. If the determination means determines that the low-resolution image data cannot be stored in the storage means, a low-resolution full page drawing process is performed on the band memory secured in the memory resource. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein 3. The control means, when the determination means determines that the low-resolution image data can be stored in the storage means, while interpolating the high-resolution image data into the secured band memory. 3. The printing system according to claim 2, wherein a high-resolution band drawing process is performed. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the decomposing means decomposes the high-resolution source image data extracted by the image extracting means into a plurality of image data having a multi-step resolution in a line direction or a pixel direction. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein 5. The control means drops the secured band memory when the determination means determines that the low-resolution image data in the image data for each resolution cannot be stored in the storage means. 2. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein image data having a resolution equal to or higher than the resolution is discarded from said storage means, and a low-resolution full-page drawing process is performed. 6. A data processing method of a printing system in which a data processing device and a printing device can communicate with each other via a predetermined communication medium, wherein image data is multi-staged from print data created when an application is executed. A decomposing step of decomposing the image data into a plurality of image data having resolutions of the following; an allocation step of allocating a unique ID number within the page to the image data of each resolution decomposed by the decomposing step; and the ID allocated by the allocation step A drawing command creating step of creating an image drawing command for each page from a number and a drawing position of each image data; and a resolution for each resolution decomposed at the end of the image drawing command of each page created by the drawing command creating step. A creation step of creating print data by arranging image data; and the print data created by the creation step. Data processing method of the printing system, wherein a and a transmission step of transmitting to the printing apparatus. 7. A data processing method for a printing system in which a data processing device and a printing device can communicate with each other via a predetermined communication medium, wherein the printing data transmitted from the data processing device is analyzed and converted. A determining step of determining whether or not the image data for each resolution can be stored on the rendering command area of the memory resource that stores predetermined internal data.If it is determined that the image data for each resolution can be stored in the determining step, A first drawing step of performing a high-resolution band drawing process on the band memory secured in the memory resource, and if it is determined in the determination step that image data for each resolution cannot be stored, the band memory secured in the memory resource 2nd to perform low resolution full page drawing processing
A data processing method for a printing system, comprising: 8. A storage medium storing a computer-readable program for controlling a printing system capable of communicating with a data processing apparatus and a printing apparatus via a predetermined communication medium, wherein the storage medium is created when an application is executed. A decomposing step of decomposing the image data into a plurality of image data having a multi-level resolution from the print data to be processed; and A drawing command creating step of creating an image drawing command for each page from the ID number assigned by the assigning step and a drawing position of each image data; and an image drawing command of each page created by the drawing command creating step. To create print data by arranging the decomposed image data for each resolution at the end of Process and the storage medium from which a computer stores readable program characterized by having, a transmission step of transmitting to the printing device the print data created by the creation step. 9. A storage medium storing a computer readable program for controlling a printing system capable of communicating with a data processing device and a printing device via a predetermined communication medium, wherein the storage medium stores a program readable from the data processing device. A determining step of determining whether or not image data for each resolution can be stored in a drawing instruction area of a memory resource for storing predetermined internal data converted by analyzing the print data; and When it is determined that the image data can be stored, a first drawing step of performing a high-resolution band drawing process on the band memory secured in the memory resources, A second low-resolution full-page drawing process for the band memory secured in the memory resource;
A storage medium storing a computer-readable program.