JP2003125188A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide an image forming apparatus for realizing a form overlay of data described in different printer languages. An input / output unit (6) develops received print data into a bitmap. The input / output unit 6 compresses data that has undergone bitmap expansion. The HDD 2 stores the data compressed by the input / output unit 6 as document data. The management file creation unit 3 creates a management file related to the stored data together with data storage. The created management file is stored in the HDD 2. The user specifies two documents from the stored data 101 using the operation unit 5 and makes an output request for the specified documents. The image editing unit 4
Form overlay processing is performed on the first designated document CMYK each edition 102 and the second designated document CMYK each edition 103 for each page of each edition and combined. As a result of combining the documents, output data 104 is generated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus having a form overlay function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, with the development of printing technology, image forming apparatuses having various functions have been devised and used.
As a function of the image forming apparatus as described above, there is a form overlay function. The form overlay function is a function of combining an image / character requested to be output with a predetermined image / character form stored in advance and outputting the combined image / character form. For example, when the image forming apparatus prints character data to be printed by superimposing it on a stored form form containing ruled lines, it is possible to suppress deviation between the positions of the ruled lines and the positions of the characters for printing.

As a conventional technique having a form overlay function, a network print system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-207659 (hereinafter, Conventional Example 1).
was there. In Conventional Example 1, when an abnormality occurs in the printer that prints the print data, the server detects the abnormality and causes the operator to select a substitute printer. that time,
The server determines whether the print data includes the form overlay registration sequence. If it is determined that the form overlay registration sequence was included, the server sends the form overlay registration sequence to the alternate printer.

In the integrated business network system disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3135094 (hereinafter referred to as Conventional Example 2), a printing system, a facsimile system, a copy system, The electronic circulation system was able to be expanded successively without changing the input / output device that had already been installed. Further, the print server software in the network system of Conventional Example 2 has a function including a macro file such as form overlay.

[0005]

However, in the prior art, form overlay in the same printer language was possible, but form overlay of data described in mutually different printer languages was impossible. There was a problem such as.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus which realizes form overlay of data described in different printer languages.

[0007]

In order to achieve such an object, the invention according to claim 1 has two or more storage means for storing document data in page units and two or more document data stored by the document storage means. It is characterized by comprising a document designating unit for designating document data and an image synthesizing unit for superimposing and outputting two or more document data designated by the document designating unit on an image for one page.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect, the document storage means stores the document data in a bitmap format.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the first or second aspect, the image synthesizing means is a predetermined one of the two or more document data designated by the document designating means. It is characterized in that data for one page in the document data is set as a form, and the form and data for each page in two or more document data excluding a predetermined document are respectively combined.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, the image synthesizing means is designated by the document designating means.
One of the two or more pieces of document data has a predetermined number of pages in the predetermined document data, and two or more pieces of document data excluding the predetermined document have the same page number. To do.

According to a fifth aspect of the invention, in the image forming apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, two or more designated document data are displayed on an image for one page. It is characterized in that it has a position designation means for designating a position to be arranged.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, the image synthesizing means outputs color data of two or more designated document data. If it is, the specified two or more pieces of document data are combined for each CMYK plate.

According to the seventh aspect of the invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the sixth aspect, when two or more pieces of document data which are color data are combined by the image forming means, three colors of CMY overlap. BG / to replace the part with K
It is characterized by having BG / UCR means for performing UCR processing.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION (First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a view showing the arrangement of an image forming apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of the image forming apparatus 10 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

The image forming apparatus 10 is connected to a predetermined terminal, a printer and the like via a predetermined network. The image forming apparatus 10 also includes a control unit 1 and an HDD 2.
The management file creation unit 3, the image editing unit 4, the operation unit 5, and the input / output unit 6 are provided.

The control unit 1 controls each part of the image forming apparatus 10. The HDD 2 stores data (including document data). Document data is images in page units
Composed of documents. The management file creation unit 3 is the HDD 2
Create a file (hereinafter, management file) to manage the data stored in.

The image editing section 4 is a section for processing the document data stored in the HDD 2. The image editing unit 4
An arbitrary number of document data stored in the HDD 2 are overlaid on a predetermined image for one page and combined.

The operation section 5 is a section for inputting commands and settings to the image forming apparatus 10, and may be, for example, an operation panel. In addition, the operation unit 5 is LC
It may have an indicator such as D.

The input / output unit 6 is connected to a predetermined network and inputs / outputs data. Also, the input / output unit 6
Performs bit map expansion, compression, etc. on the data received via the network.

In the present embodiment, the image forming apparatus 10
Is connected to an external device such as a printer via a network, but the device may have the function of the external device.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the operation of the image forming apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Further, FIG. 3 shows an image forming apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a flowchart showing the flow of a document data storage operation according to 0. The operation of the image forming apparatus 10 according to the present exemplary embodiment will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 and with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 10 in this embodiment has an HDD 2 for storing and registering print data, and a system configuration for managing the stored data 101.

When the input / output unit 6 receives the print data (step S11), it expands the received print data into a bitmap (step S12).

The input / output unit 6 compresses the bit map expanded data (step S13). The HDD 2 stores the data compressed by the input / output unit 6 as document data (step S14). Note that the document data is stored in page units.

The management file creation unit 3 stores the data and creates a management file related to the stored data (step S15). The created management file is HD
It is stored in D2. As described above, the image forming apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment ends the document data storage operation.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the flow of the output data 104 generating operation by the image forming apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, FIG. 1 and FIG.
The output data 104 generating operation by the image forming apparatus 10 according to the present exemplary embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

After the document data is stored and a management file for the stored document data (stored data 101) is created, the user uses the operation unit 5 to store the stored data 10
It becomes possible to select an arbitrary document from among the above items. In this embodiment, it is assumed that two documents are selected.

First, the user uses the operation unit 5 to specify two documents (the first designated document and the second designated document) from the stored data 101 and makes an output request for the designated documents (step S21). ).

Next, the image editing section 4 makes the first designated document C
MYK editions 102 and second designated document CMYK editions 10
OR of 3 and. That is, the image editing unit 4 includes the first designated document CMYK plates 102 and the second designated document CMY.
Form overlay processing is performed on each of the pages of each version 103 and each version of K to combine them (step S2).
2). As a result of the documents being combined, the output data 104 is generated. As described above, the image forming apparatus 10 according to the present exemplary embodiment
Ends the output data generation operation.

As described above, in the present embodiment, print data is registered in the storage area (HDD 2) of the image forming apparatus 10, and a plurality of registered documents are designated and output (printed on one page). By doing so, the function of form overlay printing can be realized. By using the print data stored in the storage area of the image forming apparatus 10 as data in the bitmap data format, the function can be realized even if the print data is described in different printer languages.

(Second Embodiment) Hereinafter, unless otherwise specified, the second embodiment of the present invention is the same as the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the operation of the image forming apparatus 10 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. Further, FIG. 6 shows an image forming apparatus 1 according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
9 is a flowchart showing the flow of a form overlay process by 0. Hereinafter, the form overlay processing by the image forming apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 5 and with reference to FIG.

First, the user uses the operation unit 5 to specify two documents from the stored data (step S31).

Next, the control unit 1 determines that the designated document is 1
A document composed of pages (hereinafter, one-page document),
It is determined whether or not the document is a document including a plurality of pages (hereinafter, a multi-page document) (step S32). When it is determined that the designated document is not a combination of a one-page document and a multi-page document (step S32 / N
o), the image forming apparatus 10 ends the operation.

When it is determined that the specified document is a combination of a one-page document and a multi-page document (step S32 / Yes), the image editing unit 4 determines that each page of the one-page document and the multi-page document is correct. And are ORed. That is, the form overlay processing is performed on the one-page document and each page of the multi-page document, and they are combined (step S33).

Specifically, the image editing section 4 is, as shown in FIG. 5, the first designated document 1 which is a one-page document.
Form overlay processing is performed on the page 200a and the first page 201a of the second designated document, which is a multi-page document. In addition, the image editing unit 4 includes the first designated document first page 200a and the second designated document second page 20a.
1b, the first designated document first page 200a and the second designated document third page 201c are respectively subjected to form overlay processing. As described above, the image forming apparatus 10 is
The operation ends.

As described above, in this embodiment, 1
When printing one multi-page document, it is possible to specify one one-page document and realize the form overlay function for all other pages. In the past, in order to print a form overlay document, it was necessary to notify that fact and to request a print, but the form overlay document may be any document registered in the HDD 2 in the image forming apparatus 10. .

(Third Embodiment) Hereinafter, unless otherwise specified, the third embodiment of the present invention is the same as the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the operation of the image forming apparatus 10 according to the third embodiment of the present invention. Further, FIG. 8 shows an image forming apparatus 1 according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
9 is a flowchart showing the flow of a form overlay process by 0. Hereinafter, the form overlay processing by the image forming apparatus 10 according to the present exemplary embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 7 and FIG.

First, the user uses the operation unit 5 to specify two documents from the stored data (step S41).

Next, the control unit 1 determines that the specified document is 2
At the same time, it is determined whether the document is a multi-page document (step S42). When it is determined that at least one of the designated documents is not a multi-page document (step S42 / No), the image forming apparatus 10 ends the operation.

When it is determined that both the specified documents are multi-page documents (step S42 / Ye)
s), the image editing unit 4 ORs the two page documents with the same page number. That is, 2
Form overlay processing is performed for each same page number for two multi-page documents, and they are combined (step S43).

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 7, the image editing section 4 includes a first designated document first page 300a which is a multi-page document and a second designated document which is a multi-page document. Form overlay processing is performed on the first page 301a. In addition, the image editing unit 4 determines the second page 300b of the first designated document and the second page 3 of the second designated document.
01b, the third page 300c of the first designated document and the third page 301c of the second designated document are respectively subjected to form overlay processing. With the above, the image forming apparatus 10
Ends the operation.

As described above, in the present embodiment, when the designated plurality of documents are mutually multi-page documents, the form overlay function of the multi-page document is performed by printing the pages having the same page numbers in an overlapping manner. Can be realized.

(Fourth Embodiment) Unless otherwise specified, the fourth embodiment of the present invention is the same as the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the operation of the image forming apparatus 10 according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. Further, FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of the form overlay processing by the image forming apparatus 10 according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, FIG. 1 and FIG.
The form overlay processing by the image forming apparatus 10 according to the present exemplary embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

First, the user uses the operation unit 5 to extract two document images (document image 401,
402) is designated (step S51).

Next, the user uses the operation unit 5 to specify the position on the image for one page where the two document images are arranged when the two document images are combined (step S52). The arrangement position is the composite image 404.
It may be designated by the xy rectangular coordinates above, or may be designated based on other criteria.

The image editing section 4 performs a form overlay process on the two document images based on the designation of the layout position of the document images.

Specifically, as shown in FIG.
Form overlay processing is performed. Image editor 4
In this case, the document image 401 and the document image 402 are combined to generate a combined image 404. When developing the document image 402 into an output image (composite image), the user performs position designation (x, y) 403 on the document image 402, so that the image (document image 402) is displayed on the composite image 404. It is possible to specify at which position to expand.

After the position designation (x, y) 403, the image editing section 4 performs form overlay processing on the document images 401 and 402 (step S53). Above,
The image forming apparatus 10 ends the form overlay processing.

As described above, in this embodiment,
When outputting (printing) multiple specified document images,
By being able to specify at which position on the composite image 404 (on the print surface) the document is to be developed, the document editing function can be realized. By this,
For example, it is possible to combine an office document application and data of an image editing application on a printer and print.

(Fifth Embodiment) Hereinafter, unless otherwise specified, the fifth embodiment of the present invention is the same as the first embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the operation of the image forming apparatus 10 according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention. Also,
FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of form overlay processing by the image forming apparatus 10 according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, using FIG. 1 and FIG.
The image forming apparatus 10 according to the present exemplary embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
Of color image document using form overlay processing by BG and BG (black plate generation) / UCR (undercolor removal)
The processing will be described. Note that the document data in this embodiment is color data and is output (printed) with C (cyan), M (magenta), Y (yellow), and K (black) inks.

First, the user designates an arbitrary number of document data from the document data stored in the HDD 2 (step S61). In this embodiment, the first designated document (C
It is assumed that the MYK) 501 and the second designated document (CMYK) 502 are designated.

The image editing unit 4 ORs the first designated document (CMYK) 501 and the second designated document (CMYK) 502 designated by the user. That is, the image editing unit 4 performs the form overlay processing on the first designated document (CMYK) 501 and the second designated document (CMYK) 502 and synthesizes them (step S62). The result of the synthesis,
A combined document (CMY) 503 and a combined document (K) 504 are generated.

Next, the image editing section 4 causes the composite document (CM
Y) AND each CMY version generated in 503. That is, the image editing unit 4 uses C of the composite document (CMY) 503.
In each of the MY plates, a gray (black) generation component (K ′) 505 is generated from the overlapping portion of C, M, and Y (step S63).

Next, the image editing section 4 causes the composite document (CM
Y) 503 is removed from the gray generation component (K ′) 505,
A final composite document (CMY) 506 is generated (step S
64).

Further, the image editing section 4 uses the composite document (K) 5
04 and the gray generation amount (K ′) 505 are ORed. That is, the composite document (K) 504 and the gray generation component (K ') 5
And 05 are combined to generate a final combined document (K) 507 (step S65).

The image editing section 4 uses the final composite document (CMY).
A final composite document (CMYK) 508 is generated from 506 and the final composite document (K) 507 (step S66). Thus, the image forming apparatus 10 ends the operation.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when the designated document is a color document, the image forming apparatus 10 processes each CMYK plate (binary data) for each plate. A color image is formed by applying. At this time, the image forming apparatus 10 realizes BG / UCR and obtains a clearer print result by replacing the portion where the three colors of CMY overlap with K and removing the replaced portions from CMY. .

When performing form overlay processing,
It is assumed that it is possible to select arbitrary values for the number of document data designated from the HDD 2, the number of pages, the page number, and the like.

Further, the image forming apparatus carries out a process of storing document data in page units and a process of storing document data stored in two pages.
Processing for designating one or more pieces of document data, processing for outputting the designated two or more pieces of document data over one page of an image, and processing for designating two or more pieces of designated document data for one page A process of designating a position to be arranged on the image and a BG / UCR process of replacing a portion where three colors of CMY overlap with K after the document data is combined are performed. The above processing is executed by a computer program included in the image forming apparatus, but the above program may be recorded in a recording medium such as an optical disk or a magnetic disk and loaded from the above recording medium, It may be loaded from an external device connected via a predetermined network.

The above embodiment is an example of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to this, and various modifications may be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. It becomes possible to carry out.

[0065]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Register print data in the storage area of the image forming device,
A function of form overlay printing can be realized by designating a plurality of registered documents and outputting (printing) them on one page.

Also, by using the print data stored in the storage area of the image forming apparatus as data in the bitmap data format, the form overlay function can be realized even if the print data is described in different printer languages.

Further, when printing one multi-page document, by designating one one-page document and performing a form overlay function on that page for all the other pages, the image composition according to the purpose is performed. Can be easily performed.

Further, when a plurality of designated documents are mutually multi-page documents, pages having the same page numbers are overlaid and printed, and a form overlay function of the multi-page document is performed, so that an image according to the purpose is obtained. It becomes possible to easily perform the synthesis.

Further, when outputting (printing) a plurality of designated document images, by designating the position on the printing surface where the document is developed, the data of the office document application and the image editing application data can be obtained. It becomes possible to print by combining and on the printer.

When the designated document is a color document, the image forming apparatus displays each CMYK plate (binary data).
A color image is formed by performing form overlay processing for each plate. At this time, BG / UCR is realized by replacing the portion where the three colors of CMY overlap with K and removing the replaced portions from CMY respectively.
It is possible to obtain a clearer print result.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an operation of the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of document data storage operation by the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of an output data generating operation by the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing operations performed by the image forming apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a flow of an output data generating operation by the image forming apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing operations performed by the image forming apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a flow of an output data generating operation by the image forming apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing operations performed by the image forming apparatus according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a flow of an output data generating operation by the image forming apparatus according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing operations performed by the image forming apparatus according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a flow of an output data generating operation by the image forming apparatus according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 control unit 2 HDD 3 management file creation section 4 Image editing department 5 Operation part 6 Input / output section 10 image forming apparatus 101 Stored data 102 First designated document CMYK versions 103 Second designated document CMYK versions 104 output data 200a, 300a First designated document 1st page 201a, 301a First page of second designated document 201b, 301b Second page of second designated document 201c, 301c Second page of second designated document 300b Second page of first designated document 300c Third page of the first designated document 401, 402 Document image 403 Position designation (x, y) 404 Composite image 501 First designated document (CMYK) 502 Second designated document (CMYK) 503 Composite document (CMY) 504 Composite document (K) 505 Gray generation amount (K ') 506 Final Composite Document (CMY) 507 Final composite document (K) 508 Final composite document (CMYK)

Front page continuation (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) H04N 1/00 H04N 1/00 C 5C076 1/21 1/21 5C077 1/60 1/40 DF Term (reference) 2C087 AB05 BA06 BC02 BD08 BD09 BD13 BD31 BD40 CA02 CA05 5B021 AA01 AA02 DD09 LA00 5B057 AA11 BA23 BA24 CB01 CE08 CE16 CH12 5C062 AA05 AB11 AB20 AB42 AC24 AC60 AE03 AF07 5C073 CA16 523C013 SS05 TT02

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A storage unit for storing document data in page units, a document designation unit for designating two or more document data from the document data stored by the document storage unit, and a document designation unit designated by the document designation unit. An image forming apparatus comprising: an image synthesizing unit that outputs two or more pieces of document data by superimposing them on an image for one page. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the document storage unit stores the document data in a bitmap format. 3. The image synthesizing unit sets, as a form, data for one page in predetermined document data among the two or more document data designated by the document designating unit, and the form and the predetermined 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the two or more pieces of document data excluding a document is combined with data for each page. 4. The image synthesizing unit excludes the predetermined document and a predetermined number of pages of the predetermined document data out of the two or more document data specified by the document specifying unit. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein one or more pieces of document data and pieces of data having the same page number are combined with each other. 5. The position specifying means for specifying a position for arranging the specified two or more pieces of document data on the image for one page, according to any one of claims 1 to 4. The image forming apparatus according to item 1. 6. The image synthesizing means, when the designated two or more document data are color data, C-converts the designated two or more document data.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the MYK plates are combined. 7. When the two or more pieces of document data, which are color data, are combined by the image forming unit, CMY
7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising BG / UCR means for performing a BG / UCR process for replacing a portion in which the three colors overlap with K.