JP7232402B2 - PRINTING CONDITION SETTING DEVICE, PRINTING DEVICE AND PROGRAM - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a printing condition setting device, a printing device, and a program for receiving a printing condition setting operation.

Printing conditions for printing images on a printing device include various items such as Nin1, double-sided printing, booklet settings, binding position, image magnification, image orientation, paper size and orientation, etc. It is difficult for an inexperienced user to set the printing conditions correctly when creating. If the setting screen of the target setting item is in a deep hierarchy, the difficulty of setting will increase further.

Incorrect setting of top binding/horizontal binding during double-sided printing, inconsistency between document image and paper orientation (LEF (Long Edge Feed), SEF (Short Edge Feed)), document portrait/landscape specification and paper orientation This is a mistake that is likely to cause inconsistency with

As a technique for facilitating the setting operation of printing conditions, JP-A-2006-200002 discloses a technique that uses a scanned image obtained by scanning an original for the preview display of a printed matter, so that the user can print while viewing a preview display that is close to the actual printed matter. A printing device is disclosed that enables a condition setting operation.

JP 2011-164836 A

In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-200013, although the print conditions can be set while viewing a preview display that is close to the actual printed matter, in order to set the print conditions, the user must select desired items from among many setting buttons displayed on the setting screen. It is necessary to locate the setting button and select or enter the setting value. Therefore, a user who does not know the names of the items does not know which setting button to operate, and it is difficult to set as intended. Even if it is performed by voice operation, it cannot be operated unless the name is known. In addition, there are cases where the target setting button is in another hierarchy and cannot be found. Furthermore, if you do not correctly understand the meaning of setting values (terms related to setting), you cannot make desired settings.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is intended to solve the above problems, and provides a printing condition setting device, a printing device, and a program that enable even an inexperienced user to easily set printing conditions for obtaining an intended printed matter. It is intended to

The gist of the present invention for achieving this object lies in the following inventions.

[1] an image input unit for inputting an image to be printed by a printing device;
a three-dimensional object generation unit that generates a three-dimensional manuscript object that resembles a sheet of paper on which the image input by the image input unit is printed;
a three-dimensional display control unit for three-dimensionally displaying the manuscript object on a predetermined three-dimensional display device;
a gesture-linked control unit that creates a virtual printed matter using the document object according to a user's gesture operation on the document object that is three-dimensionally displayed on the three-dimensional display device and displays it three-dimensionally on the three-dimensional display device;
a print setting deriving unit for deriving set values of printing conditions for creating a printed material corresponding to the virtual printed material displayed in three dimensions on the three-dimensional display device;
has
The three-dimensional display control unit displays a manuscript box in which a manuscript object of each page is stored,
The gesture-linked control unit moves and displays the document object of an arbitrary page out of the document box according to a user's gesture of taking out the document object of an arbitrary page from the document box, and displays the document object of the page taken out of the document box. creating the virtual printed matter in accordance with a user's gesture operation on the manuscript object;
A printing condition setting device characterized by:

In the above invention, the printing condition setting device three-dimensionally displays a manuscript object imitating a sheet on which an image to be printed is printed on a head-mounted display or the like, and performs user gesture operations (moving, rotating, combining, separating, etc.) on these objects. ), a virtual printed matter using the document object is created in the virtual reality space, and set values of printing conditions for creating an actual printed matter corresponding to the virtual printed matter are derived. That is, if the user creates a virtual printed matter of the desired form in the virtual reality space by performing a gesture operation on the manuscript object, the user can set printing conditions for obtaining an actual printed matter of the same form. In addition, the manuscript box that stores the manuscript object of each page is displayed, and any page can be taken out from the manuscript box by gesture operation to create a virtual printed matter. can be added.

[2] The gesture-linked control unit moves the document object according to a user's gesture operation,
The printing condition setting device according to [1], wherein the printing setting deriving unit derives the setting values of the printing conditions according to the positional relationship between the document objects.

In the above invention, the set values of the printing conditions are derived based on the positional relationship between the document objects after being moved by the gesture operation.

[3] Printing according to [1] or [2], characterized in that the gesture-linked control unit unites a plurality of manuscript objects in the form of Nin1 or a booklet when they approach within a predetermined distance. Conditioning device.

[4] When a plurality of manuscript objects approach within a predetermined distance at a first relative angle, the gesture-linked control unit merges the manuscript objects into a Nin1 form, and causes the plurality of manuscript objects to move at a second relative angle to a predetermined distance. The printing condition setting device according to [1] or [2], wherein when they come within a distance, they are combined into a booklet form.

[5] The gesture-linked control unit separates the united manuscript object into a plurality of manuscript objects when receiving a gesture operation for separating the united manuscript object from the user. 3] or the printing condition setting device according to [4].

In the above invention, for example, when a manuscript object, which is a manuscript object formed by combining two manuscript objects in a 2-in-1 setting, is cut into two with scissors by a gesture operation, the manuscript object is divided into the original two manuscript objects. To separate.

[6] The gesture-linked control unit rotates the manuscript object in accordance with a gesture operation for rotating the manuscript object,
The printing condition according to any one of [1] to [5], wherein the printing setting derivation unit changes a setting value of the printing condition related to the printing orientation according to the orientation of the document object. setting device.

[7] the gesture-linked control unit enlarges/reduces the image in response to a predetermined gesture operation on the image in the document object;
Any one of [1] to [6], wherein the print setting derivation unit sets a setting value of a print condition regarding the magnification of the image during printing according to the magnification of the image in the document object. The printing condition setting device according to 1.

[8] The gesture-linked control unit enlarges/reduces the document object according to a predetermined gesture operation on the document object,
The print condition setting according to any one of [1] to [7], wherein the print setting deriving unit sets the set value of the print condition related to the paper size according to the size of the document object. Device.

[9] Any one of [1] to [8], wherein the gesture-linked control unit collectively reflects a gesture operation received by a part of the manuscript objects on other manuscript objects. A printing condition setting device as described.

[10] The printing device according to any one of [1] to [8], further comprising a warning unit that issues a warning when a gesture operation that results in a set value of printing conditions that cannot be executed by the printing apparatus is received from the user. The printing condition setting device according to .

[11] A virtual setting mode in which setting values of printing conditions are set using the document object and a normal setting mode in which setting values of printing conditions are set by another method are switchable. ] to [10].

[12] The printing condition setting device according to any one of [1] to [11];
a print execution unit that creates a printed material by printing the image according to the setting values derived by the print setting derivation unit of the print condition setting device;
[13] A program for causing an information processing device to function as the printing condition setting device according to any one of [1] to [11].

According to the printing condition setting device, the printing device, and the program according to the present invention, even an inexperienced user can easily set the printing conditions for obtaining the intended printed matter.

1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a printing system including a printing device having functions of a printing condition setting device according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printing device; FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a manuscript object created by a three-dimensional object generation unit; 1 is a diagram showing an example of a virtual reality space viewed by a user wearing a head-mounted display; FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing operations performed by the printing device when setting printing conditions in a virtual setting mode; FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating how manuscript objects are taken out from a manuscript box in a virtual reality space and combined. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example in which 2-in-1 printing conditions are set by a gesture operation for combining document objects of the first page and the second page; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an operation example when applying setting contents for some document objects 2 to all pages; It is a figure which shows the gesture operation used as the setting of the right-opening booklet. It is a figure which shows gesture operation used as the setting of the left-opening booklet. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a gesture operation for contracting a manuscript object; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a gesture operation (pinch-out operation) for enlarging an image portion within a document object; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a gesture operation for rotating a manuscript object; FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a gesture operation for setting the double-sided setting by pasting the back surfaces (the inner surfaces of the images) of two document objects. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing steps S104 to S107 of FIG. 5. FIG. FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the details of step S122 (rotating motion determination processing) in FIG. 15; FIG. FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the details of step S123 (union/separation operation determination processing) in FIG. 15; FIG. FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing details of step S124 (enlargement/reduction operation determination processing) in FIG. 15; FIG.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of a printing system 3 including a printing device 10 having the function of a printing condition setting device according to an embodiment of the invention. The printing system 3 includes a printing device 10 , a head-mounted display 5 as a three-dimensional display device, and a detection glove 7 as a gesture-operation detection device that detects a gesture operation by a user wearing the head-mounted display 5 .

The head-mounted display 5 and detection globe 7 are connected to the printing device 10 by wireless communication. The gesture operation by the user may be detected by, for example, motion recognition by analyzing an image obtained by photographing the user with a camera instead of the detection glove 7, or by any method. Also, the three-dimensional display device may be a hologram, a display, or the like, in addition to the head-mounted display 5 .

The printing apparatus 10 has a copy function of optically reading a document and printing a duplicate image on recording paper, a scanning function of saving the image data of the read document as a file and transmitting it to an external terminal via a network, a PC A so-called multifunction peripheral (MFP) equipped with a printer function that prints and outputs images related to print data received over a network from a personal computer, etc., on recording paper, and a facsimile function that transmits and receives image data according to facsimile procedures. be. The printing apparatus 10 includes a post-processing device 24 that performs post-processing such as folding, binding, punching, and the like on the printed recording paper, and can create a booklet.

The printing apparatus 10 has a print condition setting mode that can be switched between a virtual setting mode using the head-mounted display 5 and the detection glove 7 and a normal setting mode that accepts the setting of the printing conditions from an operation panel or the like. Switching of the printing condition setting mode is accepted by a selection button provided on the operation panel 17, for example. The printing conditions include Nin1, double-sided printing, booklet setting, binding position, image magnification, image orientation, paper size and orientation, and the like.

In the virtual setting mode, the image data of the document to be printed is input by reading the document with the scanner unit 21, etc., and the three-dimensional document object 2 imitating the paper on which the image corresponding to the image data is printed is placed on the head. It is displayed on the mount display 5. The user performs gesture operations such as moving, rotating, pulling/retracting, combining, and separating one or more manuscript objects 2 three-dimensionally displayed on the head-mounted display 5 .

The printing apparatus 10 uses the detection glove 7 to detect a user's gesture operation (hand movement), and moves, rotates, enlarges/reduces each document object 2, or 2 according to the gesture operation received from the user. The two manuscript objects 2 are combined, or the combined object is separated into two. That is, by performing a gesture operation on the manuscript object 2 three-dimensionally displayed on the head-mounted display 5, the user can create a virtual reality space in which the head-mounted display 5 displays a virtual printed matter having the same form as the desired printed matter. to create.

A printing device 10 derives setting values of printing conditions for actually creating a printed matter identical to a virtual printed matter three-dimensionally displayed on a head-mounted display 5, sets the set values, and executes printing and post-processing. Accordingly, the user can cause the printing apparatus 10 to create an intended printed matter without performing complicated setting operations from the operation panel 21 .

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the printing apparatus (composite machine) 10. As shown in FIG. The printing device 10 has a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11 as a control section that controls the operation of the printing device 10 in an integrated manner. A ROM (Read Only Memory) 12, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 13, a non-volatile memory 14, a hard disk device 15, a network communication section 16, an operation panel 17, a scanner section 21, an image processing section 22, a printer section 23 are connected to the CPU 11 via a bus. , post-processing device 24, facsimile communication unit 25, connection I/F unit 26, and the like are connected.

The CPU 11 is based on an OS (Operating System) program, and executes middleware, application programs, and the like. Various programs are stored in the ROM 12, and each function of the printing apparatus 10 is realized by the CPU 11 executing various processes according to these programs.

The RAM 13 is used as a work memory for temporarily storing various data and an image memory for storing image data when the CPU 11 executes processing based on a program.

The nonvolatile memory 14 is a memory (flash memory) whose stored contents are not destroyed even when the power is turned off, and is used for storing various setting information.

The hard disk device 15 is a large-capacity non-volatile storage device, and stores print data, display screen data, as well as various programs and data.

The network communication unit 16 has a function of communicating with various external devices, servers, etc. through a network such as a LAN.

The operation panel 17 has an operation section 18 and a display section 19 . The display unit 19 functions to display various operation screens, setting screens, and the like. The display unit 19 is composed of a liquid crystal display and its driver. The operation unit 18 has a function of receiving various operations from the user. The operation unit 18 includes various hardware switches such as a start button and numeric keys, a touch panel provided on the display surface of the display unit 19, and the like.

The scanner unit 21 has a function of optically reading a document to acquire image data. The scanner unit 21 has an automatic document feeder for sequentially feeding and reading a plurality of documents set on a document platen. The scanner unit 21 can read both sides of a document. The network communication unit 16 and scanner unit 21 function as an image input unit for inputting an image to be printed.

The image processing unit 22 performs processing such as enlargement/reduction and rotation of images, rasterization processing for converting print data into image data, and compression and decompression processing of image data.

The printer unit 23 has a function of forming an image on recording paper according to image data. It has a recording paper conveying device, a photosensitive drum, a charging device, a laser unit, a developing device, a transfer separating device, a cleaning device, and a fixing device, and forms an image by an electrophotographic process. It is configured as a so-called laser printer. Other methods may be used for image formation.

The post-processing device 24 receives the paper output from the printer section 23 and performs post-processing such as folding, binding, and punching. These functions allow the printing device 10 to create a booklet. The print execution unit that executes printing according to the set values of the printing conditions is composed of the printer unit 23, the post-processing device 24, and the CPU 11 that controls them.

A facsimile communication unit 25 performs a function of transmitting and receiving image data to and from an external device having a facsimile function through a telephone line.

The head mounted display 5 and the detection glove 7 are connected to the connection I/F section 26 . Here, the connection is made using short-range wireless communication.

In addition to controlling the operation of the printing apparatus 10, the CPU 11 also functions as a three-dimensional object generation unit 31, a three-dimensional display control unit 32, a gesture-linked control unit 33, a print setting derivation unit 34, and a warning unit 35 as functions related to the virtual setting mode. etc.

The three-dimensional object generation unit 31 has a function of generating a three-dimensional manuscript object (basic data of the object) 2 imitating a sheet of paper on which an image to be printed is printed. An image to be printed is read from a document by the scanner unit 21 or input from an external device.

The three-dimensional display control unit 32 performs control for displaying a virtual document based on the document object 2 on the head mounted display 5 . Hereinafter, the virtual document displayed on the head mounted display 5 based on the document object 2 will also be referred to as the document object 2 . The gesture-linked control unit 33 detects a user's gesture operation on the document object 2 three-dimensionally displayed on the head-mounted display 5 with the detection glove 7, and moves, rotates, and enlarges/reduces the document object 2 according to the detected gesture operation. , united, separated, etc., to create a virtual printed matter of the document object 2, and control is performed to three-dimensionally display this on the head-mounted display 5 via the three-dimensional display control unit 32. FIG.

The print setting deriving unit 34 derives setting values of printing conditions for creating an actual printed material corresponding to the virtual printed material three-dimensionally displayed on the head-mounted display 5 using the printer unit 23 and the post-processing device 24. perform the function of The CPU 11 sets the setting values derived by the print setting derivation unit 34, causes the printer unit 23 to execute printing, causes the post-processing device 24 to perform post-processing, and controls the operation of creating a desired printed matter.

The warning unit 35 performs control to issue a warning to that effect by display or voice when a gesture operation that becomes a set value of a printing condition that cannot be executed by the printing apparatus 10 is received from the user.

FIG. 3 shows the manuscript object 2 created by the three-dimensional object generator 31 . For example, a drawing program such as OpenGL is used to create a thin rectangular plate-shaped cubic object resembling a piece of paper. A three-dimensional manuscript object 2 that simulates the printed paper is created. The manuscript object 2 is added with the attributes of upper end, lower end, left end, right end, front and back. The surface on which the image is pasted is the front surface. With these attributes, the positional relationship and the like when the two document objects 2 are close to each other are recognized.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a virtual reality space viewed by a user wearing the head-mounted display 5 . In the virtual reality space viewed by the user, there are a virtual desk 41, a manuscript box 42 storing a manuscript object (virtual manuscript) 2 created by the three-dimensional object generation unit 31, scissors (cutting tool), and a stapler (binding). A tool box 43 storing three-dimensional objects imitating tools such as tools, punching tools, etc. is arranged. Also, in the virtual reality space, a start button 44 for instructing the start of printing upon completion of a gesture operation, an OK button 45 that is pressed by the user when the user approves the setting contents recognized by the apparatus after detecting the gesture operation, and the like. is displayed.

Next, the flow of work when setting printing conditions in the virtual setting mode will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing operations performed by the printing apparatus 10 when setting printing conditions in the virtual setting mode.

The printing device 10 inputs a document image to be printed (step S101). A document image is read by the scanner unit 21, or image data of the document is input from an external device through a network. For example, after setting the virtual setting mode, the user sets a document on the document platen and presses a VR scan start button (not shown) on the operation panel 17 . As a result, the printer 10 scans the document to be printed with the scanner unit 21 . At this time, default settings (for example, auto color, automatic reading size, double-sided reading) are set for reading.

The three-dimensional object generation unit 31 of the printing device 10 creates the manuscript object 2 corresponding to each input manuscript image (step S102). Here, a document object 2 is created for each side of the read document (both front and back in the case of a double-sided document).

The three-dimensional display control unit 32 of the printing device 10 displays the manuscript object 2 created by the three-dimensional object generation unit 31 on the head mounted display 5 (step S103). As shown in FIG. 2, a state is initially displayed in which document objects 2 created for each document to be printed are stored in the document box 42 in page order (reading order).

The user puts on the head-mounted display 5 and the detection glove 7 included in the printing system 3, and starts creating a virtual printed matter through gesture operations.

First, the user grabs a desired manuscript object 2 (for example, the manuscript object 2 of the first page and the manuscript object 2 of the second page) from the manuscript box 42 and takes it out onto the desk 41 . , movement, rotation, enlargement/reduction, unity, separation, etc. are performed (step S104). That is, the user performs various gesture operations on the manuscript object 2 so that a virtual printed matter having the same shape as the intended printed matter is formed in the virtual reality space.

The gesture-linked control unit 33 of the printing apparatus 10 analyzes the virtual printed matter of the manuscript object 2 created in the virtual reality space based on the user's gesture operation, and performs printing for creating the actual printed matter corresponding to this. A set value of the condition is derived (step S105). Here, the positional relationship (positional relationship between adjacent document objects 2, vertical adjacent, horizontal adjacent, etc.), orientation (vertical, horizontal, rotation angle, etc.), shape (mountain fold, etc.) of the document objects 2 arranged by gesture operation , valley folds, etc.) are analyzed to derive the setting values of the printing conditions for actually creating the same printed matter as the virtual printed matter. The movement of the manuscript object 2 caused by the gesture operation may be analyzed.

For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the user selects the document object 2 on the first page (in this example, the document object 2 pasted with the image of "A") and the document object 2 on the second page (in this example, " B” pasted with the document object 2) is taken out from the document box 42, and the right end of the document object 2 on the first page and the left end of the document object 2 on the second page are placed at an angle close to 180 degrees (first relative angle, for example, within a range of 180°±10°), perform a gesture operation to bring it closer within a certain distance (for example, within 1 cm or until it touches).

The gesture-linked control unit 33 of the printing apparatus 10 moves each document object 2 according to this gesture operation, and the print setting deriving unit 34 moves the right end of the document object 2 on the first page and the document on the second page according to this gesture operation. By analyzing the positional relationship that the left end of the object 2 approaches (or touches) within a certain distance at an angle of 180°±10°, the 2-in-1 printing conditions are derived as shown in FIG. step S105). The gesture-linked control unit 33 displays one double-sized manuscript object 2 in which the first page and the second page are combined.

In FIG. 7, two document objects 2 of A4 size are combined to generate a document object 2 of A3 size. At this time, a pop-up display or the like may be used to receive a selection of whether the document size is doubled or reduced to the size of the document before combining, and the document size may be changed according to the user's selection. The document size may be changed by a gesture operation for enlargement/reduction.

If the print start instruction is not received from the user (step S106; No), the operations of steps S104 and S105 are continued. That is, until receiving an instruction to start printing from the user, every time a gesture operation is received from the user, the manuscript object 2 in the virtual reality space is moved or the like based on the gesture operation. The operation of deriving the setting values of the printing conditions for actually creating the same printed matter as the created virtual printed matter is repeated.

The user instructs the start of printing when the virtual printed matter becomes what he or she intends. When receiving an instruction to start printing from the user (step S106; Yes), the printing apparatus 10 sets the set values of the printing conditions derived so far and executes printing (step S107).

Note that when a certain printing condition is set (when a set value is derived) by a gesture operation on the document object 2 taken out from the document box 42, the printing apparatus 10 applies the same setting to all the remaining document objects 2. , automatically, or with the user's consent.

For example, as shown in FIG. 8, when 2-in-1 printing conditions are set by a gesture operation, a pop-up display 51 is displayed to inquire whether to apply this to all pages. Apply to page. In FIG. 8, the 2-in-1 setting is applied to the third page document object 2 (“C” image document object) and the fourth page document object 2 (D image document object) in the document box 42 . state.

The setting of Nin1 is not limited to 2in1. For example, the gesture-linked control unit 33 derives the 4-in-1 setting from the positional relationship of the four manuscript objects 2 when receiving a gesture operation of bringing four manuscript objects 2 close to each other or in contact with each other. Alternatively, the 4in1 setting may be determined when a gesture operation is received to vertically approach or touch two document objects 2 combined in the 2in1 setting.

Next, other gesture operations will be described.

<Booklet settings>
FIG. 9 shows gesture operations for setting a booklet. A gesture operation is performed to bring the two document objects 2 closer to each other or in contact with each other at a predetermined angle (a second relative angle, for example, any angle between 90 degrees and 160 degrees) within a certain distance (the print setting deriving unit 34 recognizing that two manuscript objects 2 approach or touch each other at a predetermined angle), combine these manuscript objects 2 into one manuscript object 2 of double size, and set a booklet. is derived. At this time, when the right end of the document object 2 on the first page and the left end of the document object 2 on the second page are brought close to each other as shown in FIG. When the left edge of the object 2 and the right edge of the document object 2 on the second page are brought close to each other, left opening is set. The size change of the document object 2 after combination and the application of the same setting contents to all pages are the same as in the case of Nin1.

Note that when a gesture operation is received to fold the document object 2 in the 2-in-1 setting into a valley fold at the center, it may be recognized as a booklet setting.

Printing conditions for creating a booklet by double-sided printing, upon receiving a gesture operation of pasting the backs of the two combined manuscript objects 2 together, automatically (or with user's consent) applying this operation to all pages. is set. In the case of double-sided printing, it is determined whether or not the two document objects are open to the top depending on the positional relationship in which the top, bottom, left, and right of the two document objects are pasted together. That is, if the top and bottom are reversed, it is determined that the top opening is performed.

<Scale>
As shown in FIG. 11 , when a gesture operation such as shrinking the manuscript object 2 by pressing opposite corners of the manuscript object 2 toward the center of each other is received, the gesture-linked control unit 33 moves the manuscript object 2 accordingly. Reduce the size (display size of document object 2). When a gesture operation for extending the manuscript object 2 by pulling the opposite corners of the manuscript object 2 away from each other is received, the gesture-linked control unit 33 accordingly adjusts the manuscript size (the display size of the manuscript object). Expanding.

A desk 41 displayed in the virtual reality space is provided with a memory for confirming the document size such as A3 or A4, and the user can perform a gesture operation to enlarge/reduce the document object 2 accordingly. . The print setting derivation unit 34 changes the setting value of the print condition related to the paper size to the paper size corresponding to the size of the document object 2 .

<Change image magnification>
As shown in FIG. 12, by performing a gesture operation such as pinch-in or pinch-out on an image portion in the document object 2, the image in the document is enlarged/reduced. As a result, the setting value of the printing condition related to the magnification of the image is changed. The original size remains the same.

<Rotation operation>
As shown in FIG. 13 , when a gesture operation of holding and rotating a manuscript object 2 is received, the printing conditions related to the rotation angle and orientation are set to values corresponding to the manuscript object 2 . For example, when the manuscript object 2 is rotated 90 degrees and becomes landscape orientation, the print setting derivation unit 34 determines that the orientation is landscape orientation, and prints in landscape orientation (paper orientation so that the image is not cut off during printing). select SEF/LEF).

<Duplex Print Settings>
As shown in FIG. 14, double-sided printing is set when a gesture operation of pasting the back sides (sides without images) of two document objects 2 is received. In FIG. 14, the document object 2 before double-sided setting is drawn so that the image of the front side is transparent to the back side.

<Separate>
When a user's hand or a scissors tool (cutting tool) is used to perform a gesture operation to cut the manuscript object 2 that has been united by Nin1 or the booklet setting into two, the united manuscript object 2 is divided into two. , and cancel the Nin1 and booklet settings.

<WARNING>
When a gesture operation is received that causes printing conditions to be set unexecutable in the printing apparatus 10, the warning unit 35 warns the user to that effect by display or sound.

<Others>
If a tool in the tool box 43 is used to punch or bind the manuscript object 2, setting values for printing conditions for punching holes at the punched positions and printing conditions for binding the binding positions with a stapler are set. A value is derived.

FIG. 15 is a flow chart showing in more detail the portion of steps S104-S107 of FIG. In particular, the details of steps S104 and S105 are shown in steps S121 to S124. The printing apparatus 10 monitors the position and orientation of the document object 2 taken out from the document box 42 and held by the user (step S121), performs determination processing related to the rotation operation (step S122), and determines the combination/separation operation. Processing (step S123) and determination processing (step S124) relating to enlargement/reduction operation are sequentially performed.

The user performs the gesture operation until the print intended by the user is formed in the virtual reality space (step S106; No). Then, when the intended printed material is formed in the virtual reality space by the manuscript object 2, the start button 44 displayed in the virtual reality space is operated to input an instruction to start printing.

Upon receiving the print start instruction from the user (step S106; Yes), the printing apparatus 10 sets the set values of the printing conditions that have been derived and stored based on the gesture operations thus far, and executes printing (step S107). ), the process ends.

FIG. 16 is a flow chart showing the details of step S122 (rotating motion determination processing) in FIG. The gesture-linked control unit 33 of the printing apparatus 10 determines whether or not a gesture operation for rotating the document has been received (step S201). do.

If a gesture operation for rotating the document is received (step S201; Yes), it is determined whether the direction of rotation is counterclockwise or clockwise (step S202). If counterclockwise (step S202; left), all document objects 2 are rotated counterclockwise by the same angle (step S203), and the process proceeds to step S205. The manuscript object 2 is rotated clockwise by the same angle (step S204), and the process proceeds to step S205. It is also possible to inquire of the user whether or not to apply the rotation operation to all documents, and to apply the rotation operation to all documents when consent is obtained.

In step S205, the rotation angle and orientation of the manuscript object 2 are stored as the setting values of the printing conditions related to the orientation of the manuscript, and this process ends.

FIG. 17 is a flow chart showing details of step S123 (union/separation operation determination process) in FIG. When the gesture-linked control unit 33 of the printing apparatus 10 detects that the ends of the two manuscript objects 2 have approached each other within a certain distance (step S301; Yes), the relative motion of the two manuscript objects 2 when the two manuscript objects 2 approach each other is detected. It is determined whether or not the angle is within a predetermined angle range (for example, 180°±10°) for determining Nin1 (step S302). This angular range may be arbitrarily set around 180 degrees, for example, 170 degrees or more.

If the relative angle between the two document objects 2 is within the predetermined angle range determined to be Nin1 (step S302; Nin1), the 2in1 setting is stored as the setting value of the printing conditions (step S303), and the process proceeds to step S305. Transition. If the relative angle between the two manuscript objects 2 is within the predetermined angle range for judging that it is a booklet (step S302; booklet), the booklet setting is stored as the setting value of the printing conditions (step S304), and the process proceeds to step S305. Transition.

In step S305, it is checked whether the first page is on the left side. If the first page is on the left side (step S305; Yes), a set value is stored to set the print setting relating to the opening direction of pages in the booklet to left opening (step S306), and the process proceeds to step S310. If the first page is on the right side (step S305; No), a set value is stored to set the print setting relating to the opening direction of the pages in the booklet to right opening (step S307), and the process proceeds to step S310.

When a gesture operation to separate the united manuscript object 2 is received (step S301; No, step S308; Yes), the manuscript object is separated into two manuscript objects, and settings related to uniting (Nin1 and booklet settings) are performed. ) is canceled (step S309), and the process proceeds to step S310.

In step S310, the operations received on the first and second pages are applied to all document objects, and then this process ends. It is also possible to inquire of the user whether or not to apply to all manuscript objects, and to apply to all manuscripts when consent is obtained.

If neither the union/separation gesture operation has been received (step S308; No), this processing ends.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing details of step S124 (enlargement/reduction operation determination processing) in FIG. The gesture-linked control unit 33 of the printing apparatus 10 determines whether or not a gesture operation of pulling or shrinking the manuscript object 2 has been received (step S401).

If a gesture operation to pull or shrink the manuscript object 2 is received (step S401; Yes), the size of the manuscript object 2 is changed to the size corresponding to the gesture operation, and the size of the manuscript object 2 after the change is changed. The set value of the document size (paper size) is changed to the size (step S402), and this processing ends.

If no gesture operation for pulling or contracting the manuscript object 2 has been received (step S401; No), it is determined whether or not an operation such as pinch-in/pinch-out has been received for the image in the manuscript (step S403).

If an operation such as pinch-in/pinch-out is received for the image in the document (step S403; Yes), the image in the document is resized to the size corresponding to the gesture operation, and the size of the image after change is changed. and the original size of the image (step S404), and the process ends.

In the printing system 3 according to the present embodiment described above, if a virtual printed matter is created by moving, rotating, combining, separating, etc. the document object 2 displayed in the virtual reality space by a gesture operation of the user, the virtual printed matter can be created. Since the setting values of the printing conditions for creating the actual printed matter having the same form as the printed matter are automatically derived and set, the user can easily obtain the intended form of the printed matter.

In addition, since the image to be printed is attached to the manuscript object 2, it is easy to visualize the printed matter that is actually created from the virtual printed matter using the manuscript object 2 displayed in the virtual reality space.

In addition, since the settings set by the gesture operation for some document objects 2 can be collectively reflected in all the document objects 2, there is no need to apply the same gesture operation to each document object 2, and the intended printing conditions can be applied to all the document objects 2. It can be easily set for the manuscript.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the drawings, the specific configurations are not limited to those shown in the embodiments, and modifications and additions may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. is also included in the present invention.

The gesture operation shown in the embodiment of the present invention is an example, and is not limited to this.

The printing device 10 is not limited to a multifunction device, and may be a device that performs printing according to set printing conditions, and may be a single-function printer or the like.

The present invention may be a printing condition setting device that sets printing conditions, and does not need to have a function to execute printing. In the case of the printing condition setting device, for example, the derived printing condition setting values are output to the printing device, or a print job including the derived printing condition setting values is created and transmitted to the printing device.

The printing apparatus and the printing condition setting apparatus according to the present invention only need to be able to connect a three-dimensional display device such as the head-mounted display 5 and a gesture operation detection device such as the detection glove 7. does not need to be equipped with However, they may be configured to be provided in the printing device or the printing condition setting device. Furthermore, the present invention may be a program that causes the information processing device to function as a printing condition setting device.

The close distance and relative angle between document objects when determining Nin1 or a booklet are not limited to those exemplified in the embodiment. As for the rotation of the manuscript object 2, the rotation angle by the user's gesture operation may be standardized in units of 90 degrees.

Further, when a setting value of some printing condition is derived based on a gesture operation, the setting value (setting item name or setting value) of the set printing condition may be notified to the user by displaying characters or the like. Further, each time, the user may receive a selection operation as to whether or not to accept the setting contents.

2 Document object 3 Printing system 5 Head mounted display 7 Detection glove 10 Printing device 11 CPU
12 ROM
13 RAM
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 14... Non-volatile memory 15... Hard disk drive 16... Network communication part 17... Operation panel 18... Operation part 19... Display part 21... Scanner part 22... Image processing part 23... Printer part 24... Facsimile communication part 24... Post-processing device 25... Facsimile communication unit 26 Connection I/F unit 31 Three-dimensional object generation unit 32 Three-dimensional display control unit 33 Gesture linkage control unit 34 Print setting derivation unit 35 Warning unit 41 Desk 42 Document box 43 Tools Box 44 Start button 45 OK button 51 Pop-up display

Claims (13)

an image input unit for inputting an image to be printed by the printing device;
a three-dimensional object generation unit that generates a three-dimensional manuscript object that resembles a sheet of paper on which the image input by the image input unit is printed;
a three-dimensional display control unit for three-dimensionally displaying the manuscript object on a predetermined three-dimensional display device;
a gesture-linked control unit that creates a virtual printed matter using the document object according to a user's gesture operation on the document object that is three-dimensionally displayed on the three-dimensional display device and displays it three-dimensionally on the three-dimensional display device;
a print setting deriving unit for deriving set values of printing conditions for creating a printed material corresponding to the virtual printed material displayed in three dimensions on the three-dimensional display device;
has
The three-dimensional display control unit displays a manuscript box in which a manuscript object of each page is stored,
The gesture-linked control unit moves and displays the document object of an arbitrary page out of the document box according to a user's gesture of taking out the document object of an arbitrary page from the document box, and displays the document object of the page taken out of the document box. creating the virtual printed matter in accordance with a user's gesture operation on the manuscript object;
A printing condition setting device characterized by: The gesture-linked control unit moves the document object according to a user's gesture operation,
2. The printing condition setting device according to claim 1, wherein the printing setting deriving unit derives the setting values of the printing conditions according to the positional relationship between the document objects. 3. The printing condition setting device according to claim 1, wherein when a plurality of manuscript objects approach within a predetermined distance, the gesture-linked control unit unites the manuscript objects into a form of Nin1 or a booklet. When a plurality of manuscript objects approach within a predetermined distance at a first relative angle, the gesture-linked control unit merges the plurality of manuscript objects into a Nin1 form, and the plurality of manuscript objects come within a predetermined distance at a second relative angle. 3. The printing condition setting device according to claim 1, wherein when they come close to each other, they are combined into a booklet form. 4. The gesture-linked control unit separates the united manuscript object into a plurality of manuscript objects when receiving a gesture operation for separating the united manuscript object from the user. 5. The printing condition setting device according to 4. The gesture-linked control unit rotates the manuscript object in accordance with a gesture operation for rotating the manuscript object,
6. The printing condition setting device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the printing setting deriving unit changes a setting value of the printing conditions related to the printing orientation according to the orientation of the document object. . the gesture-linked control unit enlarges/reduces the image in response to a predetermined gesture operation on the image in the document object;
7. The print setting derivation unit according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the print setting derivation unit sets a set value of a print condition relating to the magnification of the image during printing according to the magnification of the image in the document object. A printing condition setting device as described. the gesture-linked control unit enlarges/reduces the document object in accordance with a predetermined gesture operation on the document object;
8. The print condition setting device according to claim 1, wherein the print setting deriving unit sets the set value of the print condition related to the paper size according to the size of the document object. The printing condition setting according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the gesture-linked control unit collectively reflects gesture operations received by some document objects on other document objects. Device. The printing conditions according to any one of claims 1 to 8, further comprising a warning unit that issues a warning when a gesture operation that results in a set value of printing conditions that cannot be executed by the printing apparatus is received from a user. setting device. 11. The apparatus is capable of switching between a virtual setting mode in which setting values of printing conditions are set using the document object and a normal setting mode in which setting values of printing conditions are set by another method. The printing condition setting device according to any one of the above. a printing condition setting device according to any one of claims 1 to 11;
a print execution unit that creates a printed material by printing the image according to the setting values derived by the print setting derivation unit of the print condition setting device;
A printing device comprising: A program that causes an information processing device to function as the printing condition setting device according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

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