Facsimile and static presentation processing – Static presentation processing – Communication
Reexamination Certificate
1998-04-01
2001-10-30
Mancuso, Joseph (Department: 2624)
Facsimile and static presentation processing
Static presentation processing
Communication
C358S001900, C358S001110
Reexamination Certificate
active
06310693
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing control apparatus connected to, for example, a printing apparatus for performing printing based on an input command, to a printing method for such an apparatus, and to a printing system including the printing control apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, when registering font data in a printing apparatus in a printing system of this kind, data is transferred to the printing apparatus after compressing the data in a host computer. In general, data compression is performed for all font data, and there is no means for performing data compression for a part of font data, or for selecting different data compression functions for each font data.
When registering font data after performing compression for all font data, the printing processing speed decreases due to the processing required for expanding compressed data during printing. On the other hand, when registering font data in an uncompressed state for all font data, the memory size required for registration is large.
When performing compression for all font data, the same compression method is generally used, and characteristics, such as the compression ratio, the expansion speed and the like, of each font data are not taken into consideration.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-described problems.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a printing control apparatus and method, and a printing system in which the execution of data compression is determined and switching among compression methods is performed based on information relating to the frequency of use of a registered font, the data size, the printing resolution for the printing data, compression conditions such as the data compression ratio, the expansion speed and the like, and the result of analysis of printing data, so that it is possible to efficiently use the registration memory and to reduce the load for expansion processing.
According to one aspect, the present invention, which achieves these objectives, includes a printing control apparatus for controlling a printing apparatus which receives, in advance, a character image and performs printing using the character image. The printing control apparatus includes means for determining whether or not a character image of the character data included in input printing data is to be compressed in accordance with a specific characteristic and determining, when performing compression, a method of compression, and means for compressing the character image in accordance with the determined compression method and transmitting the compressed character image to the printing apparatus.
According to another aspect, the present invention, which achieves these objectives, includes a printing control method for controlling a printing apparatus which receives, in advance, a character image and performs printing using the character image. The printing control method includes the steps of determining whether or not a character image of character data included in input printing data is to be compressed in accordance with a specific characteristic and determining, when performing compression, a method of compression, and compressing the character image in accordance with the determined method and transmitting the compressed character image to the printing apparatus.
According to still another aspect, the present invention, which achieves these objectives, includes a printing system having a printing apparatus which receives, in advance, a character image and printing out the character image when an identifier corresponding to the character image has been received. A printing control apparatus is used for determining whether or not a character image of character data included in inputprinting data is to be compressed in accordance with a specific characteristic. When performing compression, a method of compression is determined and the character image is compressed in accordance with the determination. The compressed character image and an idenifier corresponding to character data are transmitted to the printing apparatus as printing data.
According to yet another aspect, the present invention, which achieves these objectives, includes a computer readable memory which stores a program for controlling a printing apparatus which receives, in advance, a character image and performs printing using the character image. The program includes means for determining whether or not a character image of character data included in input printing data is to be compressed in accordance with a specific characteristic. When performing compression, a method of compression is determined and the character image is compressed in accordance with the determination. The compressed character image is transmitted to the printing apparatus.
According to yet a further aspect, the present invention which, achieves these objectives, includes a printing control apparatus for controlling a printing apparatus which receives, in advance, a character image and performs printing using the character image. The printing apparatus includes an information processing apparatus having first means for controlling a memory capacity for font registeration which has already been secured, second means for storing information for identifying a font registered in a font registration memory of the printing apparatus, and third means for determining whether or not a font of a document to be printed is to be registered in the font registering memory of the printing apparatus based in information of the second means. The printing apparatus also has fourth means for calculating a vacant memory capacity of the font registration memory, when the third means has determined that a font to be printed is not registered in the printing apparatus, fifth means for determining whether or not a font can be registered in the printing apparatus based on the calculation by the fourth means, sixth means for transferring font data to be registered to the printing apparatus when the fifth means has determined that the font can be registered, and seventh means for transferring a control command for deleting a font registered in the printing apparatus when the fifth means has determined that the font cannot be registered. The apparatus further includes eighth means for recalculating the vacant memory capacity of the font registration memory when the seventh means has deleted the font, ninth means for causing the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth means to repeat their respective processing until it is determined that a font can be registered based on the vacant memory capacity calculated by the eighth means, and tenth means for transferring an image control command and font data for performing printing to the printing apparatus without performing registration, when the seventh means has determined that there is no font data to be deleted. The apparatus also includes eleventh means for transferring, when the third means has determined that the font of the document to be printed is registered in the printing apparatus, a character printing control command for printing the registered font, twelfth means for determining whether or not the font data to be registered is to be transferred by compressing the data during data transfer by the sixth means, thirteenth means for performing compression processing by selecting data compression means, when the twelfth means has determined that the data is to be compressed, fourteenth means for analyzing data of the document to be printed determined by the third means, and fifteenth means for determining the processing of the twelfth means and thirteenth means in accordance with the result of the analysis by the fourteenth means. The printing apparatus also includes means for registering a font, printing the registered font and deleting the registered font in accordance with a control command transferred from the information processing apparatus. The execution of data compression of font d
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
Mancuso Joseph
Tran Douglas
LandOfFree
Printing control apparatus and method, and printing system... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Printing control apparatus and method, and printing system..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Printing control apparatus and method, and printing system... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2616514