Print control apparatus and method, computer program, computer-readable storage medium, preview apparatus and method, printer driver, and preview method thereof
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorHideo Natori
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Compatibility with an operating system is maintained, and a high-quality print image is efficiently previewed with a simple arrangement and small memory area. A printer driver program executed by a host computer (15) which controls the operation of a printer (7) adopts a processing arrangement in which a print processor (5) is interposed between a preview request from a previewer (8) and generation of image data by a printer graphic driver (6). This processing arrangement causes the printer graphic driver (6) to create image data for a preview display. The created image data is transferred to the previewer (8) in accordance with an instruction from the print processor (5).
Claims21
A print control apparatus which uses a spooler to receive print data and temporarily save the print data as intermediate data in accordance with a document data print instruction, comprising:
- a previewer configured to read out image data that is generated based on the intermediate data and perform a preview operation;
- and
- a print processor configured to activate said previewer if a preview operation is designated when said print processor is activated by the spooler, generate a preview file in response to issuing of an image generation request by said previewer, cause an image data generator to save the image data generated based on the intermediate data in the preview file, and notify said previewer of a file identifier of said preview file,
- wherein said previewer reads out the image data based on the file identifier sent by said print processor, and performs the preview operation.
A print control method of controlling an apparatus which uses a spooler to receive print data and temporarily to save the print data as intermediate data in accordance with a document data print instruction, comprising:
- an activating step of activating a previewer if set to a preview display of image data that is generated based on the intermediate data when a print processor is activated by the spooler;
- a processing step of generating a preview file in response to the issuing of an image generation request by the previewer, causing an image data generator to save the image data generated based on the intermediate data in the preview file, and notifying the previewer of a file identifier of the preview file in response to an image generation request from the previewer activated in said activating step;
- a reading step of reading the image data from the preview file based upon the file identifier;
- and
- a displaying step of displaying the image data.
A computer program stored on a computer-readable medium, for print control operating under an operating system included in a computer, which uses a spooler provided by the operating system to receive print data and for temporarily storing the print data as intermediate data to be output, said program enabling a computer to perform a method comprising:
- an activating step of activating a previewer if set to preview display of image data that is generated based on the intermediate data when a print processor is activated by the spooler;
- a processing step of generating a preview file in response to the issuing of an image generation request by the previewer, causing an image data generator to save the image data generated based on the intermediate data in the preview file, and notifying the previewer of a file identifier of the preview file in response to an image generation request from the previewer activated in said activating step;
- a reading step of reading the image data from the preview file based upon the file identifier;
- and
- a displaying step of displaying the image data.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.