JPH07240836A - Image processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the image processor in which data formed by diversified sizes by a host device or other device are printed by a unified size. CONSTITUTION:When a fixed size mode is set by a mode is set by a mode setting section 132, a control section uses a magnification automatic setting section 142 to calculate a magnification data of a paper sheet size commanded by a host device such as a host computer are printed on a sheet of paper of a fixed size such as a size A4 via a communication control section 12. A print section 16 expands received data by a magnification commanded from the magnification automatic setting section 142 to execute printing with magnification on a fixed size paper sheet supplied from a paper cassette 15.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, and more particularly, to a printer, a copying machine, etc., which is used alone or connected to a peripheral device of a computer, an image forming apparatus, or a composite device. The present invention relates to an image processing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Image processing apparatuses such as printers and copiers have become widespread in offices and factories along with various office automation equipment. Such an image processing apparatus has been improved so as to be able to be connected to various different devices in order to effectively use resources, and to meet various demands of users. For example, with the spread of LAN (Local Area Network), it has become possible for a plurality of users to commonly use a common printer, or to connect a copying machine, which has been conventionally used alone, to a host computer by digital signal processing. ing. Further, in an image processing apparatus such as a printer or a facsimile apparatus, there has been proposed an apparatus capable of controlling a printing state when receiving data from a host apparatus such as a host computer and printing the data.

For example, when the paper size of the destination after switching is different from the previous one, an "image forming apparatus" for changing image forming conditions such as scaling according to the paper size (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 18263/1990).
5) "Printer automatic reduction / enlargement method of printer" for reducing / enlarging print data according to paper size
-184156), if the paper size required by the host and the paper size set in the printer are different, both sizes are displayed, and printing is performed with the paper size set in the printer by rotation and enlargement / reduction. A printing method of a printer "(Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-185463) is proposed. In addition, an "image printing device" (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-277676) that reduces the size of image data larger than the printable area and prints the entire image without fail, when the tray of the specified size is not installed, the image is displayed. A "page printer" that prints information as it is or after reducing it on the currently loaded paper (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-277677),
"Document processing device" for reducing or enlarging print data according to the paper size when the set paper size is different from the print paper size (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-21637)
0) is also proposed.

[0004]

However, each of the devices proposed in these publications is a technique based on the premise that there is no paper having a size matching the size requested by the host device, the host device, etc. In this case, printing is performed by reducing the existing paper size. in this way,
The conventional technology is for the case where there is no required paper size, and in a device capable of selecting a plurality of paper sizes, if there is a paper size requested by a higher-level device, etc. Printing is performed on the paper.
As described above, each conventional device, in the case of a device that selects and prints a paper of an appropriate size from a plurality of papers prepared in advance, prints on paper of various sizes requested by a host device or the like. It was For this reason, when data of various sizes are created by a plurality of host devices, printing this results in printing on paper of various sizes, which is inconvenient for filing.

Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the problems in the conventional image processing apparatus as described above.
An object of the present invention is to provide an image processing device capable of printing data created in various sizes in a host device or another device in a uniform size.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided data receiving means for receiving data from a host device,
Mode selecting means for selecting a fixed size mode, and when the fixed size mode is selected by the mode selecting means, the paper size data instructed by the host device and received by the data receiving means is set to a predetermined size. And a scaling means for calculating a scaling factor when printing on fixed paper, and a printing means for printing the data received by the data receiving means on the fixed paper with the scaling ratio calculated by the scaling ratio calculating means. , And are provided in the image processing apparatus to achieve the above object. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image processing apparatus according to the first aspect, when the fixed size mode is not selected by the mode selecting means, is it equal to the paper size instructed by the higher-level device and received by the data receiving means? Or select the paper selection means to select paper of similar paper size.
Prepare.

[0007]

According to the present invention, when the fixed size mode is selected by the mode selection means, the paper size data instructed by the higher-order device by the scaling factor calculation means and received by the data receiving means is used as the predetermined fixed paper. Calculate the scaling factor when printing on the paper size. Then, the printing unit prints the data received by the data receiving unit on the fixed paper at the calculated scaling ratio.

[0008]

EXAMPLE An example of the image processing apparatus of the present invention will be described below.
A case where the invention is applied to a communicable page printer will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the image processing apparatus. The page printer 11 includes a communication processing unit 12 that receives various data sent from a host device, and an operation unit 1 on which various input operations are performed by an operator.
3, a control unit 14 for controlling the entire page printer 11 and the operation control of the present embodiment, a paper cassette unit 15 in which a plurality of papers of a plurality of sizes are accommodated in a cassette for each paper size, and printing The printing unit 16 is provided. The various data received by the communication processing unit 12 include various data such as print content, various control data such as a size instruction command for instructing the size of the paper to be printed, and the like.

The operation unit 13 is provided with various keys required for the page printer 11 such as the number of prints and print density, and is provided with, for example, a numeric keypad and a keyboard having function keys for designating various functions. As a function key,
A size specifying unit 131 for the operator to select the size of the paper stored in the paper cassette 15, and an instruction size mode for selecting the paper of the size instructed by the host computer or the like via the communication control unit 12. A mode setting unit 132 for setting one of a fixed size mode for selecting a fixed size paper regardless of the designated size and a fixed size mode. The paper size used fixedly in the fixed size mode is usually a fixed size preset in the apparatus, for example, JIS standard A4.
Although the plate size is selected, when the fixed size setting (for example, B5 plate) is made from the size designation unit 131 when the operator sets the fixed size mode, the size is set by the operator.

The control unit 14 performs various controls as a page printer, and in the present embodiment, performs processing according to the mode set by the mode setting unit 132. As a processing unit for that purpose, the control unit 14 includes a paper size selection unit 141 and a scaling ratio setting unit 142. The paper size selection unit 141 operates when the instruction size mode is selected by the mode setting unit 132, determines the paper size instructed via the communication control unit 12, and determines the determined size or the size by the operator. Designating part 13
A paper feed port having a size equal to or close to the size designated by 1 is selected from the paper cassette unit 15. In addition, the variable magnification automatic setting unit 142 selects a fixed-size paper feed port from the paper cassette unit 15 and automatically calculates a variable scale in which the data to be printed fits on this fixed-size paper, and calculates this variable scale. The printing unit 16 is instructed.

The control unit 14 is, for example, a CPU (central processing unit), a ROM in which various programs and data are stored.
It is realized by a microcomputer provided with (read only memory), RAM (random access memory) used as a working area, and the like. RA
The M also stores the mode set by the mode setting unit 132 and the fixed size when the fixed size is set by the operator in the fixed size mode.

The paper cassette unit 15 is provided with a plurality of cassettes for accommodating a plurality of papers of various practical sizes, and each cassette is set in each paper feed port. The paper cassette unit 15 uses the paper feed port selected by the control unit 14 to print the paper stored in the cassette into the printing unit 16.
It is designed to be supplied to.

The printing unit 16 prints the data received by the communication control unit 12 on the paper supplied from the paper cassette 15. Printing includes variable-magnification printing that performs variable-magnification processing and normal printing that does not. The former is printing in the fixed size mode and the latter is printing in the instructed size mode.

Next, the operation of the embodiment thus constructed will be described. That is, in the present embodiment, in a printing apparatus capable of supplying sheets of various types of sizes from a plurality of sheet feeding ports, various types of size designation sent from the host apparatus via the communication control unit 12 are involved. Print data
This is a method for printing at a optimum scaling ratio on paper of a fixed size forcibly without finding the paper size. Figure 2
It shows the printing operation of the page printer. As shown in FIG. 2, the control unit 14 of the page printer 11
When print data is received from the host computer or the like via the communication control unit 12 (step 11), it determines the mode set from the mode storage area of the RAM (step 12).

When the fixed size mode is set (step 12; Y), the control unit 14 controls the paper cassette 1
A fixed size paper feed port is selected from among the plurality of paper feed ports 5 (step 13). At this time, in the case of the image processing apparatus of a system in which the paper of the instructed size is selected and printed, and then the paper is returned to the fixed-size paper feed port, the paper feed equal to the paper size instructed via the communication control unit 12 is supplied. Even if there is a paper mouth, the paper feed mouth remains the paper feed mouth of the fixed size selected at that time. On the other hand, in the case of an image processing apparatus that maintains the state of the paper feed port of the size selected at the time of printing, the fixed size paper feed port stored in the RAM is selected.

Then, the variable magnification automatic setting unit 1 of the control unit 14
Reference numeral 42 compares the size of the sheet instructed via the communication control unit 12 with the fixed size, automatically calculates the variable ratio suitable for the fixed size in different cases, and the printing unit 16
The scale factor is designated (step 14). For example, when the A4 size is designated as the fixed size and the B4 size paper is instructed from the host computer or the like, the scaling automatic setting unit 142 instructs the printing unit 16 to perform reduction printing of 82% as the scaling. To do. If the instruction from the host computer is B5 size, the printing unit 16 is instructed to perform enlarged printing of 141%. When the scaling ratio is supplied, the printing unit 16 expands the received data at the instructed scaling ratio, executes the scaling printing on the fixed size paper supplied from the paper cassette 15 (step 15), and executes the processing. finish.

On the other hand, when the instructed size mode is set (step 12; N), the paper size selection unit 141 of the control unit 14 causes the paper size sent from the host computer or the like via the communication control unit 12. Instruction commands,
The paper size designated by the size instructing unit 131 is discriminated (step 16), and a paper feed port equal to or close to the designated paper size among the paper sizes fed to the plurality of paper feed ports of the paper cassette 15 is selected. Search and select (Step 1
7). Then, the control unit 14 supplies the data received by the communication control unit 12 to the printing unit 16, and the printing unit 16 performs normal printing on the paper selected and supplied from the paper cassette unit 15 (step 18). The process ends.

As described above, according to this embodiment,
Even if there is a paper feed port of the same size as the specified size, and the current paper feed port is different from that, it is forcibly set to print on the paper of the current paper feed port (fixed size) automatically. There is a function. As a result, it becomes possible to print the data of the host device having various sizes in a uniform size, which is effective for filing and the like.

The present invention can be variously modified within the scope of the invention described in the claims other than the embodiment described above. For example, when the paper size instructed by the host computer or the like is smaller than the fixed size, in the described embodiment, the variable magnification for uniformly performing the enlargement processing is calculated and the variable magnification printing is performed. . As another embodiment of the present invention, the scaling factor is calculated for the reduction process only when the fixed size is smaller, and the enlargement process is not performed when the fixed size is larger, Data received from a computer or the like may be printed on fixed-size paper without scaling. In this case, the fixed size mode option further includes a mode for designating the presence / absence of enlargement processing, and a mode setting key for that is arranged in the mode setting unit 132. Also,
When the enlarging process is not performed, the received data to be printed is smaller than the fixed-size paper, so a position designation key or operation for instructing the printing position may be provided. For example, in the case of no instruction, the received data may be printed at the center of a fixed size, and the print instruction may be made to the upper, lower, left, and right positions by specifying the position.

[0020]

According to the present invention, data created in various sizes in a host device or another device can be printed in a uniform size.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram when an embodiment of an image processing apparatus of the present invention is applied to a communicable page printer.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the printing operation of the page printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 page printer 12 communication control unit 13 operation unit 131 size instruction unit 132 mode setting unit 14 control unit 141 paper size selection unit 142 variable magnification automatic setting unit 15 paper cassette unit 16 printing unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A data receiving means for receiving data from a host device, a mode selecting means for selecting a fixed size mode, and a fixed size mode selected by the mode selecting means, which is instructed by the host device. The paper size data received by the data receiving means is used to calculate a scaling ratio when printing on fixed paper of a predetermined size, and a scaling ratio calculated by the scaling ratio calculating means. An image processing apparatus comprising: a printing unit that prints the data received by the data receiving unit on the fixed paper. 2. When the fixed size mode is not selected by the mode selection means, a paper selection means for selecting a paper size equal to or close to the paper size instructed by the host device and received by the data receiving means. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: