Image forming apparatus, method for controlling image forming apparatus, and storage medium for performing printing based on collection settings

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9924051-B2
Application number	US-201514924516-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 27, 2015
Priority date	Oct 30, 2014
Publication date	Mar 20, 2018
Grant date	Mar 20, 2018

Abstract

A controller in an image forming apparatus, which stores print data generated based on a collection setting received from an external apparatus and performs printing in response to an instruction from a user, acquires information about the collection setting of the print data, uses information about the collection setting and coordinate information contained in each of drawing commands included in the print data to divide the drawing command for each page, and lays out, when an instruction to change the collection setting has been issued to the print data by the user, the divided drawing commands based on the instruction to change the collection setting.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A printing apparatus comprising:
a controller which includes at least one processor and a memory, wherein the controller is configured to function as:
a receiving unit configured to receive, from an external device, first PDL data of one page including drawing commands for drawing vector graphics objects, each of the drawing commands having coordinates within the one page, the first PDL data being generated based on N-in-1 print setting by the external device;
a classifying unit configured to classify the drawing commands into N pages, based on the coordinates of the drawing commands; and
a conversion unit configured to shift the coordinates of the drawing commands according to a result of the classification, multiply the shifted coordinates by a multiplying factor which is more than 1, and insert a page separation command at a separation of pages of the plurality of pages, in order to convert the first PDL data into second PDL data of the N pages, whose respective sizes are same as the one page, including drawing commands having the multiplied coordinates for drawing larger versions of the vector graphics objects, the larger versions being also vector graphics objects.

2. A printing apparatus comprising:
a printer engine; and
a controller which functions as:
a reception unit configured to receive, via a local area network from an external device, first page description data for printing N (N>1) pages onto one sheet;
an accepting unit configured to accept, from a user, a predetermined instruction to change a page layout;
a conversion unit configured to convert, according to the accepted instruction, the received first page description data into second page description data for printing N larger versions of the N pages onto N sheets respectively; and
a print control unit configured to control the printer engine to print the larger versions of the N pages onto the N sheets respectively, based on the converted second page description data.

3. The printing apparatus according to claim 2 ,
wherein the conversion unit is configured to insert a page separation command indicating separation between adjacent two pages of the N pages into the first page description data, in order to convert the first page description data into the second page description data.

4. The printing apparatus according to claim 2 ,
wherein the print control unit is capable of controlling the printer engine to print the one page onto a single sheet, based on the first page description data which has not been converted into the second page description data.

5. The printing apparatus according to claim 2 ,
wherein the reception unit is configured to receive the first page description data from an external device which has generated the first page description data.

6. The printing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the first page description data includes graphics objects and the second page description data includes larger versions of the graphics objects.

7. The printing apparatus according to claim 6 ,
wherein the conversion unit is configured to perform translation and/or scale-up of the graphics objects included in the first page description data, in order to acquire the larger versions of the graphics objects.

8. The printing apparatus according to claim 7 ,
wherein, in order to acquire the larger versions of the graphics objects, the conversion unit is configured:
to classify each of the vector graphics objects included in the first page description data into any one of the N pages, based on a drawing position of the graphics object within the one page;
not to perform translation but to perform scale-up on each graphics object which is classified into a predetermined one of the N pages; and
to perform translation and then to perform scale-up on each graphics object which is classified into any one of the N pages other than the predetermined one.

9. The printing apparatus according to claim 6 ,
wherein the conversion unit is configured to perform coordinate conversion on the graphics objects included in the first page description data, in order to acquire the larger versions of the graphics objects.

10. The printing apparatus according to claim 9 ,
wherein the conversion unit is further configured to classify each of the graphics objects included in the first page description data into any one of the N pages, based on coordinates of the graphics objects,
wherein the conversion unit is configured to perform different coordinate conversions on the graphics objects according to a result of the classification.

11. The printing apparatus according to claim 6 ,
wherein the first page description data and the second page description data are described in a page description language, and the graphics objects and the larger versions are represented by commands in the page description language.

12. The printing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein a size of each of the N sheets is the same as a size of the one sheet.

13. The printing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the conversion unit scales up the N pages according to the number N.

14. The printing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the reception unit is further configured to accept a selection of the first page description data from the user, and accept, after the accepting of the selection, the instruction.

15. A printing method comprising:
receiving, via a local area network from an external device, first page description data for printing N (N>1) pages onto one sheet;
accepting, from a user, a predetermined instruction to change a page layout;
converting, according to the accepted instruction, the received first page description data for printing N larger versions of the N pages onto N sheets respectively; and
printing the larger versions of the N pages onto the N sheets respectively, based on the converted second page description data.

Assignees

• Canon Kk

Inventors

• Kubota Tomohide

Classifications

• G06F3/1255

  Settings incompatibility, e.g. constraints, user requirements vs. device capabilities · CPC title

• H04N1/4413

  involving the use of passwords, ID codes or the like, e.g. PIN · CPC title

• H04N1/2323

  according to characteristics of the reproducing medium, e.g. type, size or availability · CPC title

• H04N1/00408 Primary

  Display of information to the user, e.g. menus · CPC title

• G06F3/1208 Primary

  resulting in improved quality of the output result, e.g. print layout, colours, workflows, print preview · CPC title