Facsimile and static presentation processing – Static presentation processing – Communication
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-01
2003-05-20
Garcia, Gabriel (Department: 2624)
Facsimile and static presentation processing
Static presentation processing
Communication
C358S001130, C358S001140
Reexamination Certificate
active
06567180
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer utilized by a computer such as a personal computer or a workstation, a document print system using the printer, and a document printing method using the printer and the document print system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional printer and print system, contents to be printed prepared by a computer are transferred to a printer, where the contents are printed. Thus, the principal objective of the conventional printer and print system resides in the act of printing itself.
In some printers and print systems, a document is stored in the printer, and the thus-stored document is re-used for re-printing or re-editing purposes. Here, the document comprises an arbitrary combination of characters, symbols, graphic and image.
In a conventional printer and print system, when the printer stores the document, the document is not stored in the form of a print command prepared by an individual computer and transmitted (hereinafter referred to also as a “PDL”) but is stored in the form of a dot image expanded in the printer (the dot image will hereinafter be simply referred to also as an “image”). Storage of a document in the form of a dot image provides superior performance in terms of re-printing but provides a lower degree of freedom in editing and causes deterioration of picture quality when the document is edited. More specifically, if the stored document is subjected to assembly editing or imposition, such as saddle stitching, Japanese-style binding, or perfect binding, or n-up which define disposing logical n sheets in a physical 1 sheet, the corresponding stored dot image is enlarged or reduced. If the dot image is enlarged or reduced by a factor of “x” (x-times or one over x, where “x” is not 1), the picture quality of the dot image is in principle deteriorated.
Further, in the conventional printer and print system, extraction of the document stored in the printer and editing of the document by means of an application program for editing (hereinafter referred to simply as an “application program”) are effected on the premise that a match exists between a document format required by the application program and the format of the stored document. Hence, if no match exists, the stored document cannot be edited by means of the application program. Such a match can be ensured when a single manufacturer offers a printer for storing documents and an application program or when the printer and the program are developed by a printer manufacturer in collaboration with an application program manufacturer. However, such a match cannot be ensured when a printer and an application program are developed independently of each other. In fact, in many cases, printer manufacturers and application program manufacturers develop their own products independently.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The primary object of the present invention is to solve the aforementioned problem and to provide a print system and a document printing method, both of which have improved performance and provide improved ease of use without involvement of deterioration in picture quality of a document image.
The second object of the present invention is to solve the aforementioned problem and to provide a print system and a document printing method, both of which enable coexistence of a printer and an application program even when a format in which the printer stores a document is different from a document format required by the application program, thereby enhancing convenience and ease-of-use.
To solve the problem, the present invention employs the following measures.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing method for use with a print system including a computer and a printer connected to the computer directly or by way of a network, the method comprising the steps of:
directing the printer to effect printing and storage of a document prepared by the computer in an arbitrary combination;
transmitting the document to the printer;
effecting receipt by the printer of the document transmitted from the computer; and
effecting printing and storage of the document according to the instruction from the computer.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing method for use with a print system including a computer and a printer connected to the computer directly or by way of a network, wherein
the computer comprises a program for preparing a document and a logical printer driver for converting the document into a PDL document, directs the printer to effect printing and storage of the PDL document prepared by the computer in an arbitrary combination, and transmits the PDL document to the printer; and
the printer receives the document from the computer, and effects printing and storage of the document according to the instruction from the computer.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing method for use with a print system including a computer and a printer connected to the computer directly or by way of a network, wherein
the computer comprises a program for directing the printer to effect printing and storage of a PDL document in an arbitrary combination and transmits a PDL document to the printer; and
the printer receives the PDL document from the computer and effects printing and storage of the PDL document according to the instruction from the computer.
Preferably, when directing the printer to store a document, the computer directs use of an arbitrary combination of PDL format and dot image format as a storage format; and, in accordance with the direction relating to the storage format issued by the computer, the printer stores the document in an arbitrary combination of PDL format and dot image format.
Preferably, the computer issues a request to the printer for reprinting the document stored in an archive, and the printer determines whether or not a document of dot image format is stored in the archive, reprints the document of dot image format if the document of dot image format is found, and reprints the document after having RIPed a document of PDL format if the document of dot image format is not found in the archive.
Preferably, when the computer issues a request to the printer to display and edit a document, which has been stored in a PDL format in the archive of the printer from the computer, the document of PDL format is read from the printer and is subjected to display and editing.
Preferably, when the computer issues a request to the printer to display and edit a document, which has been stored in a storage format in the archive of the printer from the computer,
the printer determines whether or not the format of the document stored in the printer is identical with the display/editing format required by an application program for editing purposes installed in the computer;
if the formats are identical, the document is read and transferred to the computer without modification; but if the formats differ from each other, the document stored in the archive is converted into a document of display/editing format, through use of a document format conversion section provided in the printer.
Preferably, when the computer issues a request to the printer for displaying and editing a document, which has been stored in PDL format in an archive of the printer from the computer, the printer converts the document of PDL format stored in the archive into a document of display/editing format through use of a PDL format conversion section provided in the printer and transfers the thus-converted document to the computer, and
an application program
1
for editing purpose, which is one of a document preparation program and a combination instruction program and is installed in the computer, reads the document of display/editing format transferred from the printer, and subjects the document to display and editing.
Preferably, a document transmitted from the computer is stored in a storage format called PDL format in an a
Akabane Tatsuro
Kageyama Seiji
Kitaura Tomoko
Kumagai Katsumi
Mitome Kazuyuki
Garcia Gabriel
Hitachi Koki Co,. Ltd.
Tran Douglas
LandOfFree
Document printing method does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Document printing method, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Document printing method will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3061693