Facsimile and static presentation processing – Static presentation processing – Attribute control
Reexamination Certificate
1997-07-29
2004-01-13
Couso, Yon J. (Department: 2625)
Facsimile and static presentation processing
Static presentation processing
Attribute control
C358S001200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06678072
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a printer control apparatus and printer control method for allowing a printer to convert a drawing object which is formed by an application program into print information that can be printed.
2. Related Background Art
Hitherto, an operation such that a processing resolution of a rasterization is switched on an object unit basis or on a page unit basis until data is transmitted from a drawing control system (for example, GDI) to a printer driver and an output image is formed is not performed.
For example, in case of executing a printing process on the host side, an application program converts data to be printed into a drawing control system (for example, GDI) command by using a drawing control system (for example, GDI or the like) function. Such a system accumulates data into a relevant command disk, rasterizes the data of one band, and transmits the rasterized data to the printer driver. The printer driver executes an image process to the rasterized data and transmits the print data obtained by converting the data after completion of the image process into a printer control command to the system. The system repeats a process such that the print data is outputted to a printer or the like until the end of one page.
According to a present application to form a document and draw in a data processing apparatus, a data processing function is remarkably improved and the user can form a composite document including a text, a figure (hereinafter, referred to as graphics), and an image. The number of opportunities such that the user prints such a composite document including the text, graphics, and image by a printer increases.
FIG. 15
is a block diagram for explaining a construction of such a kind of print control system. The print control system is constructed by a host (PC)
100
serving as a data source, a printer
102
serving as an output source, and the like.
In the diagram, an application program
103
sequentially transmits formed print job data to a drawing control system
104
. The drawing control system
104
converts the print job data into data of a form such that a drawing process can be performed by the printer driver
111
and transmits the converted data to a spooler
105
. The data is made up of a logical drawing object and drawing control information for the printer
102
. The drawing control system
104
is ordinarily a program at a system level and, for example, the GDI corresponds to it in the Windows (trade name).
The spooler
105
sets an output of the drawing control system
104
into a spool file
108
and notifies a queue controller
106
of a fact that the spool has been completed, thereby allowing a queueing process of a print job to be executed.
The queue controller
106
manages the executing order of the printing process on a print job unit basis. A message informing that the print job has been set into the spool file
108
is received from the spooler
105
and the print job is registered into a print queue. A despooler
109
is activated, thereby allowing an output of the print job to be executed ordinarily from the head (the oldest print job) of the queue.
The despooler
109
extracts a spool file of the print job instructed in the queue controller
106
and transmits the spool file to a printer driver
111
.
The printer driver
111
converts the logical drawing object and the drawing control information for the printer
102
which were formed by the drawing control system
104
into physical drawing information and control information which can be recognized by the printer
102
and transmits those information to the printer
102
through an I/O controller
112
.
The I/O controller
112
performs a data buffering and an I/O control to transmit a data stream formed by the printer driver
111
to the printer
102
.
A user interface
901
is an interface for the user to instruct an operating mode of the printer driver
111
. When the printing process is started, the application generally opens a dialog box. In the dialog box, the user instructs an operating mode and parameters concerning the other driver processes.
As a processing resolution of the printer driver
111
and a resolution provided for the printer
102
, hitherto, the driver process is ordinarily executed at a resolution of a printer engine.
However, in association with the realization of a high resolution of the printer engine in recent years, in the driver process of the inherent resolution, the processing time is long and in data such as image data or the like which needs a gradation, it is difficult to perform a print expression at a high quality in a mere high resolution processing.
Therefore, there is considered a method whereby a low resolution processing is executed for the image data by a raster process of the driver and a gradation expression is effectively used by a density pattern method or the like in order to realize a high resolution of the printer engine.
For example, assuming that the printer engine has a resolution of 600 dpi, the raster process and printing of 600 dpi are executed in case of the print job printing of a text and graphics in which an edge quality is needed, and the printer driver executes the raster process at 300 dpi in case of the print job of image data in which a gradation expression is necessary, thereby enabling a gradation expression to be executed every block of (2×2) dots of the printer engine. In this instance, although a raster-unit resolution can be switched every print job by the user interface
901
, since the processing resolution and a rasterization bit length are fixed every print job, they cannot be switched in the job.
However, in the printer driver which is assembled in the above conventional data processing apparatus, in the case where a composite document including text, graphics, and image in the same page is printed, in order to obtain a high precision image output, it is necessary to process at a high resolution. There is, consequently, the following problems.
That is, when the composite document including text, graphics, and image is printed and an image forming process is executed at a high resolution, it takes a time for the image process, so that the print processing time is long.
Therefore, in order to reduce the print processing time, the process can be executed by setting the resolution of the data to be rasterized to a normal resolution (about ½ of the maximum resolution on the printer side). However, even if an image is processed at a normal resolution, in case of forming an image on the printer side, a priority is given to gradation and a problem is small.
However, according to the process at the normal resolution, a deterioration in image quality of text/graphics cannot be avoided and only a print result in which a jaggy of text/graphics is conspicuous is derived.
As mentioned above, in case of print processing a page in which drawing objects of different attributes mixedly exist in the same page, there is a problem such that it is impossible to satisfy a requirement of the user such that he wants to obtain an image with good gradation and to obtain text/graphics at a high resolution.
In the foregoing conventional apparatus, the data formed by various applications is constructed by a plurality of drawing objects in the same print job and each object has an attribute of any one of the image, graphics, and text. In this case, the apparatus is designed in a manner such that the drawing objects are rendered at the same resolution in the same job and its expressing means (color converting process, rendering resolution, dot pattern formation) is preferably balanced even in any object attribute.
The conventional apparatus, however, has the following problems (1) to (3).
(1) If the whole print job is rasterized at a high resolution in order to keep a quality of text, the rasterizing process itself requires a time for a color converting process and a use amount of a memory increases.
(2) When the raster process is executed at a low resol
Honma Hideo
Matsuoka Yasushi
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Couso Yon J.
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
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