Facsimile and static presentation processing – Static presentation processing – Character or font
Reexamination Certificate
1998-06-24
2001-10-23
Coles, Edward (Department: 2722)
Facsimile and static presentation processing
Static presentation processing
Character or font
C358S001160, C358S001170, C358S296000, C399S008000, C399S408000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06307637
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a printing control apparatus and method and, more particularly, to a printing control apparatus and method through which printed matter is output in a state in which it can be bound in book form in a system comprising an information processor such as a personal computer and an output unit such as a printer.
When bookbinding printing is performed using a printer having a double-sided printing unit, i.e., when printing is performed so that the printed pages are arranged in order by folding printed sheets of paper in half, the prior art is such that pages to be printed are accumulated in the memory of the printer and are output after the pages are arranged internally of the printer. In accordance with this technique, four consecutive pages are arranged and printed on one sheet of paper in such manner that the pages will follow one another in numerical order if the sheet of paper is folded in half.
With this conventional method of printing using a printer according to the prior art, bookbinding cannot be carried out unless the printed matter that has been output by the printer is first folded in half sheet by sheet and then arranged so that the proper page order is obtained for the entire document. Consequently, the user must fold each sheet of the paper in half one sheet at a time. This entails a great amount of labor on the user's part if the number of pages is large.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a printing control apparatus and method whereby labor required of the operator is reduced, the operator is provided with a greater degree of freedom in terms of selections that can be made and documents can be printed and bound in simple fashion.
According to the present invention, the foregoing object is attained by providing a printing control apparatus connected to a printing apparatus, comprising input means for inputting a bookbinding setting which indicates a layout of pages on a printing medium before the printing medium is bound into book form, storage means for storing print data so that the print data can be read out in a desired sequence in units of individual pages, layout means for deciding, in accordance with the bookbinding setting, layout of pages of the print data to be sent to the printing apparatus, and output means for reading print data out of the storage means in a sequence that is in accordance with the layout decided by the layout means, and outputting the print data to the printing apparatus.
Further, according to the present invention, the foregoing object is attained by providing a printing control method for controlling a printing apparatus, comprising an input step of inputting a bookbinding setting which indicates a layout of pages on a printing medium before the printing medium is bound into book form, a storage step of storing print data so that the print data can be read out in a desired sequence in units of individual pages, a layout step of deciding, in accordance with the bookbinding setting, layout of pages of the print data to be sent to the printing apparatus, and an output step of reading out print data from the storage step in a sequence that is in accordance with the layout decided by the layout step, and outputting the print data to the printing apparatus.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing system comprising a printing apparatus and a printing control apparatus connected to the printing apparatus, the system having input means for inputting a bookbinding setting which indicates a layout of pages on a printing medium before the printing medium is bound into book form, storage means for storing print data so that the print data can be read out in a desired sequence in units of individual pages, layout means for deciding, in accordance with the bookbinding setting, layout of pages of the print data to be sent to the printing apparatus, and output means for reading print data out of the storage means in a sequence that is in accordance with the layout decided by the layout means, and outputting the print data to the printing apparatus, wherein the printing apparatus prints on both sides of the printing medium in the sequence sent from the output means.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer readable storage medium storing a program by which the following means are implemented by a computer connected to a printing apparatus: input means for inputting a bookbinding setting which indicates a layout of pages on a printing medium before the printing medium is bound into book form, storage means for storing print data so that the print data can be read out in a desired sequence in units of individual pages, layout means for deciding, in accordance with the bookbinding setting, layout of pages of the print data to be sent to the printing apparatus, and output means for reading print data out of the storage means in a sequence that is in accordance with the layout decided by the layout means, and outputting the print data to the printing apparatus.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5442432 (1995-08-01), Tani
patent: 5872900 (1999-02-01), Tsuchitoi
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Coles Edward
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
Lamb Twyler
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