JPH10162092A - Form overlay printing device and method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily print document using an overlay. SOLUTION: The file name of regular printing data is previously related with the file name of a document form corresponding to it and they are preserved in document form relating and registration file 130 by providing a document form association/registration part 104 for a printer driver 100. At the time of printing a form overly, the printer driver 100 retrieves the file name of regular printing data and obtains the file name of the corresponding document form in the document form relating and registration file 130. When the file of the corresponding document form exists, it is automatically registered in printer 140 and a user can set the correct document form without being conscious of it.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a form overlay printing apparatus and a form overlay printing method, and more particularly, to a method in which specific form data, such as ruled lines and bitmaps, and normal print data, such as numerical values and items, are placed on the same page. The present invention relates to a form overlay printing apparatus and a form overlay printing method for printing on top of each other.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this type of form overlay printing apparatus, one disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-61756 is known.

The form overlay apparatus disclosed in the above publication prints form data and normal print data in a superimposed manner. The form form is automatically created and stored as a file. Sometimes form data read from a file is overlaid and printed. That is, when printing a form, the operator specifies a form form data file that matches the data format of the normal print data,
By performing printing, overlay printing becomes possible.

[0004]

The conventional form overlay printing apparatus described above has the following problems. When printing a form, the operator must specify a form form data file that matches the data format of the normal print data, resulting in poor operability and incorrect form printing if incorrectly specified. I will.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a form overlay printing apparatus and a form overlay printing method capable of easily performing form printing using an overlay.

[0006]

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a form overlay printing apparatus for performing overlay printing based on normal print data and form data, comprising ruled lines and the like. A form data holding means for holding a plurality of form data of the form, a form data association means for holding information of the form data of the form corresponding to the classification of the normal print data, and a classification of the normal print data at the time of printing. A normal print data classification obtaining unit that obtains, and a form data acquisition unit that obtains and outputs form data of a corresponding form from the form form data holding unit based on the obtained classification of the normal print data. There is a configuration to do.

[0007] In the invention according to claim 1 configured as described above, the form data holding means holds a plurality of form data of a form including ruled lines and the like, and the form data acquisition means holds the form data. By obtaining and outputting the form data of the form from the means, overlay printing can be performed based on the normal print data and the form data. On the other hand, the form data association means holds information on the form data of the form corresponding to the classification of the normal print data, and the normal print data classification acquisition means acquires the classification of the normal print data at the time of printing. Accordingly, the form data acquisition unit acquires the form data of the corresponding form from the form data holding unit based on the acquired classification of the normal print data, and performs overlay printing as described above.

That is, by associating the classification of the normal print data with the form data of the form in advance, if the normal print data is printed without any awareness of the form data of the form, the form data of the corresponding form Are printed together with. For example, based on the association between the print data file name and the form file name in the form form association registration file set by the user in advance, automatically select the form file from the print data file name that can be obtained at the time of printing, Register the form image in the printer and execute form overlay printing.

More specifically, prior association is performed by the file association registration unit in the printer driver, and at the time of form overlay printing, the form association file is acquired by the file association acquisition unit, and overlay printing is executed. Here, the association between the print data file name created by the application and the name of the form file to be overlaid on the print data file name is registered in a file by the form form association registration unit. Then, at the time of executing form overlay printing, the form form association acquisition unit may acquire a form form file name corresponding to the print data file name from the application and automatically set the form name.

[0010] Therefore, the user does not need to set the file once associated, and the operability is improved. Also, once the correct settings are made, erroneous printing such as inadvertently printing in an unintended form format since resetting is unnecessary is also eliminated. In this example, the association is performed by using the file name of the print data as the classification. However, the association is not necessarily required by the file name, and the classification set for the information file or the property may be used. good.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the form overlay printing apparatus according to the first aspect, the form form data associating means includes information of form data of the form corresponding to the classification of the normal print data. And an association setting means for setting the
In the invention according to claim 2 configured as described above, the form data association means has an association setting means, and the association setting means converts the form data of the form corresponding to the classification of the normal print data. Set information.

Further, according to a third aspect of the present invention, in the form overlay printing apparatus according to the first or second aspect, the print data is formed by superimposing character data on a form. In the invention according to claim 3 configured as described above, the print data is formed by superimposing the form form on the character-based print data based on the normal print data according to the above-described correspondence, so that the print data is printed. Accordingly, overlay printing is performed by a normal printing apparatus without an overlay function.

Further, the invention according to claim 4 is a form overlay printing method for performing overlay printing based on normal print data and form data, wherein a classification of the normal print data is associated with the form data in advance. At the time of printing, the form data is automatically selected from the classification of the normal print data. In the invention according to claim 4 configured as described above, the form data is automatically selected from the classification of the normal print data at the time of printing based on the information of the pre-associated normal print data and the form data. And overlay printing is automatically performed.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a form overlay printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, a printer driver 100
It comprises a driver processing setting unit 101, a form form association acquisition unit 102, a print execution unit 103, and a form form association registration unit 104. Further, as related files used by these components, there are a form form association registration file 130 and a form form file 120.

Here, the driver processing setting unit 101
Is for distinguishing whether to perform form overlay printing or file association. Specifically, the upper application (or operating system OS) 1
The determination is made according to whether printing has been executed or printer setting has been called by the CPU 10.

A form form association registration unit 104 associates a file name of normal print data composed of characters and the like created and printed by the application 110 with a form form file for performing overlay printing on the normal print data. Form association registration file 1
Save to 30. FIG. 2 shows a more specific file image of the association stored in the form form association registration file 130.

In FIG. 1, a print data file name 30
1 and the form file name 302 are associated with each other by an equal sign “=”. More specifically, the form form association registration unit 104 associates a normal data file name created and printed by the application 110 with the form form file 120 for performing overlay printing, and the form form association registration file 13
0, for example, if the print data file name is "update1.abc ..." and the form file is "formabc.fn2 ...", a file image as shown in FIG. 2 is obtained.

Of course, the format of such an associated image does not matter, and any format may be used. On the other hand, the form form association acquisition unit 102 searches the form form association registration file 130 for the file name of the normal print data to be printed at the time of form printing, and when there is a match, the form form The file is read and registered in the printer 140. The print execution unit 103 transmits the print data to the printer 140
And the printer 140 executes overlay printing.

That is, the form form association acquisition unit 1
In step 02, when printing a form, the print data file name to be printed is searched from the form form association registration file 130 on the disk, and if there is a match, the form is registered in the printer. Then, the print data from the application software is output to the printer 140 via the print execution unit 103. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure of such overlay printing.

Form form association registration file 130
Is registered, the user calls the setting screen of the printer driver 100 from the application software or the operating system (OS) (step 2).
01, 202, 210), and form forms are associated (step 211). Then, a plurality of combinations of associations can be registered in the created form form association registration file 130.

On the other hand, when the user executes form overlay printing from the application software or the operating system (OS) to the printer driver 100, the form form association acquisition unit 102 loads the form form association registration file 130 (step 20).
3) Search for a file name that matches the print data file name (step 204). If there is no file name, an error message is displayed (step 209) and the process is terminated. If there is a file name, a form file is searched (step 205).
At this time, if there is no form file, an error is displayed and the process ends (step 209). If there is a form file, the file is loaded (step 206), and the form is registered in the printer. (Step 207).

Accordingly, the print execution unit 103 outputs the print data by the application software to the printer (step 208), and finally the normal print data is overlaid on the form.

Next, the operation of this embodiment having the above configuration will be described. Referring to FIG. 1, a printer driver 10
When a print setting is designated from a higher-level application or an operating system via the driver processing setting unit 101, an associating process 0 includes a form form association registration unit 104. That is, when the user inputs the print data file name and the corresponding form file name here, the form form association registration unit 104 stores it on the disk as a file image as shown in FIG. Of course, when registering a plurality of associations, this operation is repeated.

Referring to the flowchart, the user calls the setting screen of the printer driver 100 from the application software or the operating system (OS) (steps 201, 202, 210) and associates the form (step 211). The association is stored in the disk in association with the print data file name and the corresponding form file name, and the file name of the normal print data is "a" as described above.
pdata1. abc ... ”and the file name of the form is“ formabc. fn2..., the file image is as shown in FIG. 2. To register a plurality of form forms, these operations are repeated.

On the other hand, when such a pre-association is performed, the user forms a form overlay on the file of the normal print data “update1.abc” from the application software or the operating system (OS) to the printer driver 100. When printing is performed, the form form association acquisition unit 10
2 loads the form form association registration file 130 (step 203), and searches whether “update1.abc” is registered (step 204).

If there is no file name, a message indicating that the file name of the normal print data is not registered is displayed (step 209), and the process is terminated. However, if there is a file name, the corresponding file "f"
ormabc. fn2 "(step 20).
5). At this time, if there is no form form file, an error indicating that the print data file cannot be found is displayed and the process is terminated (step 209). If there is, the file is loaded (step 206) and the form form is deleted. It is registered in the printer 140 (step 207).

After the registration, the print execution unit 103 transmits the normal print data by the application software to the printer 14.
0 (step 208), and the normal print data is finally overlaid on the form.

FIG. 4 shows a modification of the present invention. Comparing the printer driver 100 shown in FIG. 4 with the printer driver shown in FIG. 1, the printer driver 1 shown in FIG.
At 00, the form form association registration unit 10 shown in FIG.
4 is removed.

In this case, a text-based form form association registration file is employed, and the contents of the file can be changed using a text editor or the like.
Then, the form form association acquisition unit 402 searches the form form association file in the text format for a corresponding form form file. It should be noted that substantially the same processing as the flowchart shown in FIG. 3 is executed except for the form form association processing.

In the above-described embodiment, the overlay printing is executed by registering the overlay file in the printer 140. However, even in a printer having no overlay function, the print execution unit 103 can be used. The form overlay printing may be executed by superimposing the form form and the characters of the normal print data in a bit image.

As described above, by providing the form registration unit 104 in the printer driver 100,
The file name of the normal print data and the file name of the corresponding form are associated with each other in advance and can be stored in the form form association registration file 130.
At the time of form overlay printing, the printer driver 100 reads the form form association registration file 1.
Since the file name of the corresponding form is obtained by searching for the file name of the normal print data in 30, if there is a file of the corresponding form, it is automatically registered in the printer 140 if the corresponding form file exists, You can set the correct form without having to do it.

[0032]

As described above, according to the present invention, when performing form overlay printing, it is not necessary for the user to specify the form data even when the printing form is changed. In addition to reducing the burden on the user at the time, it is possible to prevent inadvertent specification of unintended form form data and output of an incorrect form print result.

Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, since the association setting means is provided, the setting for associating the form data of the form with the classification of the normal print data becomes easy. Furthermore, according to the third aspect of the present invention, characters of normal print data and the like are superimposed on the form data of the form data as the print data, so that overlay printing can be performed regardless of the type of printing apparatus. Further, according to the invention of claim 4, it is possible to provide a form overlay printing method capable of automatically selecting the form data from the classification of the normal print data and performing overlay printing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a form overlay printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an image of an association file in the form overlay printing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart corresponding to the operation of the form overlay printing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a form overlay printing apparatus according to a modification.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart corresponding to the operation of the form overlay printing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 printer driver 101 driver processing setting section 102 form form association acquisition section 103 print execution section 104 form form association registration section 110 application 120 form form file 130 form form association registration file 140 printer 301 print data file name 302 form form file name 402 form Form association acquisition section

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A form overlay printing apparatus for performing overlay printing based on normal print data and form data, comprising: form data holding means for holding a plurality of form data of forms including ruled lines; A form data association means for holding information on the form data of the form corresponding to the classification of the form; a normal print data classification obtaining means for obtaining the classification of the normal print data at the time of printing; A form overlay printing apparatus, comprising: a form data acquisition section for acquiring form data of a corresponding form from the form form data holding section based on the classification and outputting the form data. 2. The form overlay printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said form data association means has association setting means for setting information of form data of said form corresponding to the classification of said normal print data. A form overlay printer. 3. The form overlay printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the form overlay printing apparatus forms print data in which character data is superimposed on a form. 4. A form overlay printing method for overlay printing based on normal print data and form data, wherein the classification of the normal print data and the form data are associated in advance, and the classification of the normal print data is performed during printing. A form overlay printing method characterized by automatically selecting form data.