Facsimile and static presentation processing – Static presentation processing – Communication
Reexamination Certificate
1998-08-31
2001-10-09
Coles, Edward (Department: 2722)
Facsimile and static presentation processing
Static presentation processing
Communication
C358S001200, C358S001130, C358S001140, C358S296000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06301013
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing control apparatus and a printing control method that control printing by a printing device, which is connected, for example, with a personal computer. The present invention also pertains to a computer program product that gives the function of the printing control to the personal computer.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a printer or printing device is connected to a personal computer and print data prepared by the personal computer are printed by the printer, it is generally required to incorporate a device driver for the printer (hereinafter referred to as the printer driver) into the personal computer. The printer driver is a computer program that sets various pieces of information regarding the printer, such as functions of the printer, an interface, font data, and control codes, in the computer to control the printer, and is provided for each model of the printer used for printing.
The functions of the printer set by the printer driver include a function of expanding the area on a printing sheet on which an image is printed and a function of simultaneously printing a plurality of pages on one printing sheet. A known printing control apparatus having the latter function is disclosed, for example, in JAPANESE PATENT LAID-OPEN GAZETTE No. 60-178530. In this printing control apparatus, switches disposed on a switch panel are operated to specify the number of pages to be printed on one printing sheet and the output position of data from the left end of the printing sheet. The print data are edited according to these specified conditions and output to the printer. This realizes printing with respect to the plurality of pages to be printed simultaneously on one printing sheet.
In the conventional printing technique, it is required to specify the number of pages to be printed on one printing sheet and the output position of data from the left end of the printing sheet, in addition to the size of the printing sheet. This makes the operation rather complicated and results in the poor convenience of the user.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is thus to facilitate an operation for setting print attribute information, which represents attributes relating to printing, such as magnification-reduction and layout of plural pages on one printing plane, so as to enhance the convenience of the user.
At least part of the above and the other related objects is realized by a first printing control apparatus that sets various pieces of information used for printing by a predetermined printing device and causes the printing device to record print data according to the various pieces of information. The first printing control apparatus includes: a logic sheet information storage unit that stores plural pieces of logic sheet information that represent possible sheet sizes of the print data; an attribute information setting unit that sets print attribute information, which represents an attribute with respect to printing of the print data, mapped to at least part of the plural pieces of logic sheet information stored in the logic sheet information storage unit, based on input data from an input device; a selection unit that selects one piece of logic sheet information among the plural pieces of logic sheet information including the at least part of logic sheet information for which the print attribute information is set; and a printing information setting unit that sets the selected one piece of logic sheet information with the print attribute information, when the print attribute information has been set corresponding to the selected piece of logic sheet information, as the various pieces of information for printing.
In the first printing control apparatus of this structure, the operator previously sets the print attribute information mapped to the logic sheet information with the input device. When one piece of logic sheet information is selected by the selection unit, both the selected piece of logic sheet information and the corresponding print attribute information are set as the various pieces of information for printing.
The first printing control apparatus of the present invention facilitates the process of setting the print attribute information, which represents attributes relating to printing, for example, magnification-reduction and a layout of a plurality of pages in one printing plane, corresponding to the logic sheet information, thereby enhancing the convenience of the user.
In accordance with one preferable application, the selection unit of the first printing control apparatus includes: a display control unit that causes the plural pieces of logic sheet information to be displayed with index information, which is an index of the print attribute information set by the attribute information setting unit, on a display device; and a selecting unit that selects one piece of logic sheet information among the plural pieces of logic sheet information displayed by the display control unit, based on input data from the input device.
This structure enables the operator to operate the input device and select a desired piece of logic sheet information with the print attribute information, while observing the logic sheet information and the index information displayed on the display device. This accordingly improves the operatability of the printing control apparatus.
In the first printing control apparatus, the index information may be sheet type information representing a type of a printing sheet set in the printing device. Some of the attributes with respect to printing of the print data are unequivocally specified according to the type of the printing sheet. Displaying the type of the printing sheet as the index information on the display device thus enables the operator to recognize the print attribute information specified by the type of the printing sheet.
In the first printing control apparatus of the above structure, it is preferable that the display control unit causes a specific window to be displayed on the display device. The specific window includes the plural pieces of logic sheet information arrayed in rows and the index information with respect to the print attribute information added to specific rows of the logic sheet information, for which the print attribute information has been set by the attribute information setting unit.
This structure enables the operator to easily select a desired piece of logic sheet information with the index information added to the same row in the displayed window.
In accordance with another preferable application, the first printing control apparatus is further provided with a data generation unit that generates the print data for the printing device; and a notification unit that informs the data generation unit of the contents set by the attribute information setting unit.
In this structure, the data generation unit generates the print data based on the notified settings and outputs a printing instruction.
One typical example of the print attribute information is a magnification-reduction ratio that is calculated from a size of a printing sheet actually set in the printing device and the logic sheet information. Another example is a number of pages to be laid out in one printing plane of a printing sheet set in the printing device and a sequence of layout arrangement. Still another example is an orientation of a printing image by the printing device, which includes a rotation by 180 degrees. Another example is a watermark printed on a printing sheet set in the printing device as well as a specification of the watermark, that is, a printing position, a size, a color, and a density of the watermark. The print attribute information mapped to the logic sheet information can be displayed with the corresponding logic sheet information as a print form image. The watermark here does not mean a marking in paper, such as banknotes, resulting from differences in thickness, but denotes a specific mark like Confidential or Urge
Momose Hiroaki
Nimura Kazunobu
Coles Edward
Oblon & Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.
Seiko Epson Corporation
Wallerson Mark
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