Image processing apparatus, server apparatus, image processing method and memory medium

Claim 2

1 . An image processing apparatus for generating image data by processing document data described in a predetermined structured description language, comprising: analysis means for analyzing said document data and recognizing font size information which is information on the font size contained in said document data; instruction input means for entering a standard font size at the output of an image indicated by said document data by allotment to a physical page; and drawing means for executing a drawing process in such a manner that a character or a character train recognized by said analysis means is outputted with a font size entered by said instruction input means.

Claim 3

2 . An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein: said analysis means calculates a magnification change rate utilizing the font size information contained in said document data, and information indicating the standard font size entered by said instruction input means; and said drawing means executes a drawing process by changing the magnification of a character or a character train, to which said font size information is applied, by said magnification change rate so as to achieve output with said standard font size.

Claim 4

3 . An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein: said document data include information for designating a font size to a specified character recognized by said analysis means; and said drawing means executes drawing in such a manner that a character or a character train, to which said specified font size is applied, is outputted with the standard font size entered by said instruction input means regardless of the information instructing the font size.

Claim 5

4 . An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein: said document data are capable of designating the standard size font in said document data; said analysis means calculates the magnification change rate utilizing a base font size and the standard font size entered by said instruction input means; and said drawing process is executed by applying said magnification change rate to the entire character information contained in said document data in such a manner that a character or a character train, to which said base font size is applied, is outputted with the standard font size entered by said instruction input means.

Claim 6

5 . An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein: said analysis means recognizes a most frequent font size in said document information; and said drawing means executes a drawing process in such a manner that a character or a character train, to which said most frequent font size recognized by said analysis means is applied, is outputted with the standard font size entered by said instruction input means.

Claim 7

6 . An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein: said analysis means recognizes a minimum font size in said document data; and said drawing means executes a drawing process in such a manner that character information in layout on the physical page is outputted with a font size at least equal to the standard font size entered by said instruction input means.

Claim 8

7 . An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein: said document data includes at least an object data and character information; said analysis means detects the size of an image represented by said object data; and said drawing means executes a drawing process in such a manner that an object held by an image or a table represented by said object data can be accommodated in a physical page and that a character or a character train indicated by said character information contained in said document data is outputted with a standard font size entered by said instruction input means.

Claim 9

8 . An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein: said document data includes at least an object data and character information; said analysis means detects the size of an image represented by said object data; and said drawing means executes a drawing process in such a manner that the image represented by said object data is subjected to a magnification change according to the width of a physical page and that a character or a character train indicated by said character information contained in said document data is outputted with a standard font size entered by said instruction input means.

Claim 10

9 . An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said apparatus communicates with an arbitrary server apparatus for receiving and processing said document data.

Claim 11

10 . An apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising selection means for selecting a layout method according to the instruction of the user, wherein the calculation method for said magnification change rate is determined according to the result of selection by said selection means.

Claim 12

11 . An apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a printing unit for outputting image data generated by said drawing means.

Claim 13

12 . An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said apparatus is a printer.

Claim 14

13 . An image processing method for generating image data by processing document data described in a predetermined structured description language, comprising: an analysis step of analyzing said document data and recognizing character information contained in said document data; an instruction input step of entering a standard font size at the output of an image indicated by said document data by allotment to a physical page; and a drawing step of executing a drawing process in such a manner that a character or a character train recognized by said analysis step is outputted with a font size entered by said instruction input step.

Claim 15

13 . An image processing method for generating image data by processing document data described in a predetermined structured description language, comprising: an analysis step of analyzing said document data and recognizing character information contained in said document data; an instruction input step of entering a standard font size at the output of an image indicated by said document data by allotment to a physical page; and a drawing step of executing a drawing process in such a manner that a character or a character train recognized by said analysis step is outputted with a font size entered by said instruction input step.

Claim 16

14 . A method according to claim 13 , wherein: said analysis step calculates a magnification change rate utilizing the font size information indicated by specified character information contained in said document data, and the standard font size entered by said instruction input step; and said drawing step executes a drawing process in such a manner that a character or a character train, indicated by said specified character information is outputted with a font size changed with said magnification change rate.

Claim 17

15 . A method according to claim 13 , wherein: said document data include information for designating a font size to a specified character recognized by said analysis step; and said drawing step executes a drawing process in such a manner that a character or a character train, to which said specified font size is applied, is outputted with the standard font size entered by said instruction input step regardless of the information instructing the font size.

Claim 18

16 . A method according to claim 13 , wherein: said document data are capable of designating the standard size font in said document data; said analysis step calculates the magnification change rate utilizing a base font size and the standard font size entered by said instruction input step; and said drawing step is executed by applying said magnification change rate to the entire character information contained in said document data in such a manner that a character or a character train, to which said base font size is applied, is outputted with the standard font size entered by said instruction input step.

Claim 19

17 . A method according to claim 13 , wherein: said analysis step recognizes a minimum font size in said document data; and said drawing step executes a drawing process in such a manner that character information in layout on the physical page is outputted with a font size at least equal to the standard font size entered by said instruction input step.

Claim 20

18 . A method according to claim 13 , wherein: said document data includes at least an object data and character information; said analysis step detects the size of an image represented by said object data; and said drawing step executes a drawing process in such a manner that an object held by an image or a table represented by said object data can be accommodated in a physical page and that a character or a character train indicated by said character information contained in said document data is outputted with a standard font size entered by said instruction input step.

Claim 21

19 . A method according to claim 13 , wherein: said document data includes at least an object data and character information; said analysis step detects the size of an image represented by said object data; and said drawing step executes a drawing process in such a manner that the image represented by said object data is subjected to a magnification change according to the width of a physical page and that a character or a character train indicated by said character information contained in said document data is outputted with a standard font size entered by said instruction input step.

Claim 22

20 . A method according to claim 13 , further comprising an acquisition step of communicating with an arbitrary server apparatus for receiving and processing said document data.

Claim 23

21 . A method according to claim 13 , further comprising a selection step of selecting a layout method according to the instruction of the user, wherein the calculation method for said magnification change rate is determined according to the result of selection by said selection step.

Claim 24

22 . A method according to claim 13 , further comprising a printing step of outputting image data generated by said drawing step.

Claim 25

23 . A method according to claim 13 , wherein said method is used in a printer.

Claim 26

24 . A computer readable memory medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute an image processing method for generating image data by processing document data described in a predetermined structured description language, the method comprising: an analysis step of analyzing said document data and recognizing character information contained in said document data; an instruction input step of entering a standard font size at the output of an image indicated by said document data by allotment to a physical page; and a drawing step of executing a drawing process in such a manner that a character or a character train recognized by said analysis step is outputted with a font size entered by said instruction input step.

Claim 27

24 . A computer readable memory medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute an image processing method for generating image data by processing document data described in a predetermined structured description language, the method comprising: an analysis step of analyzing said document data and recognizing character information contained in said document data; an instruction input step of entering a standard font size at the output of an image indicated by said document data by allotment to a physical page; and a drawing step of executing a drawing process in such a manner that a character or a character train recognized by said analysis step is outputted with a font size entered by said instruction input step.

Claim 28

25 . An image processing apparatus for processing document information described by a predetermined structured description language by communicating with an arbitrary server apparatus, comprising: instruction input means for entering print set information to be referred to for allotting an image indicated by said document information to a physical page or executing a printing process; transmission means for transmitting a reference print instruction including the print set information entered by said instruction input means to a designated server apparatus; acquisition means for acquiring, from said server apparatus, document data which are acquired from an acquisition source indicated by the reference print instruction and processed by said server apparatus; and drawing means for drawing an image indicated by the document data acquired by said acquisition means from said server apparatus.

Claim 29

25 . An image processing apparatus for processing document information described by a predetermined structured description language by communicating with an arbitrary server apparatus, comprising: instruction input means for entering print set information to be referred to for allotting an image indicated by said document information to a physical page or executing a printing process; transmission means for transmitting a reference print instruction including the print set information entered by said instruction input means to a designated server apparatus; acquisition means for acquiring, from said server apparatus, document data which are acquired from an acquisition source indicated by the reference print instruction and processed by said server apparatus; and drawing means for drawing an image indicated by the document data acquired by said acquisition means from said server apparatus.

Claim 30

26 . An apparatus according to claim 25 , wherein said print set information designates a standard font size in the layout of said document data to the physical page.

Claim 31

27 . An apparatus according to claim 25 , wherein said print set information designates the resolution in the drawing by said drawing means.

Claim 32

28 . An apparatus according to claim 25 , wherein said print set information designates a sheet size for printing the image drawn by said drawing means.

Claim 33

29 . An apparatus according to claim 25 , wherein said information to be referred to at the printing indicates whether or not to execute stapling.

Claim 34

30 . A server apparatus for controlling the transmission of document information described by a predetermined structured description language by communicating with an arbitrary image processing apparatus, comprising: storage means for storing document information described by a predetermined structured description language; acquisition means for acquiring a resource required for logic layout; detection means for analyzing a reference print instruction acquired from any image processing apparatus and detecting print set information; format process means for allotting the document information searched from said storage means to a physical page based on the print set information detected by said detection means and the resource acquired by said acquisition means; and transmission means for transmitting the document information, subjected to layout by said format process means, to any image processing apparatus requesting the reference print instruction.

Claim 35

30 . A server apparatus for controlling the transmission of document information described by a predetermined structured description language by communicating with an arbitrary image processing apparatus, comprising: storage means for storing document information described by a predetermined structured description language; acquisition means for acquiring a resource required for logic layout; detection means for analyzing a reference print instruction acquired from any image processing apparatus and detecting print set information; format process means for allotting the document information searched from said storage means to a physical page based on the print set information detected by said detection means and the resource acquired by said acquisition means; and transmission means for transmitting the document information, subjected to layout by said format process means, to any image processing apparatus requesting the reference print instruction.

Claim 36

31 . A server apparatus according to claim 30 , wherein said format process means executes layout by scaling each character in the document information to a base character size for allotment to the physical page, based on a font size designated in said print set information and a standard font size designated by said resource.

Claim 37

32 . An image processing method for processing document information described by a predetermined structured description language and executing a drawing process by communicating with an arbitrary server apparatus, the method comprising: an instruction input step of entering print set information to be referred to in allotting an image indicated by said document information to a physical page or executing a printing process; a transmission step of transmitting a reference print instruction including the print set information entered by said instruction input step to a designated server apparatus; an acquisition step of acquiring, from said server apparatus, document data which are acquired from an acquisition source indicated by the reference print instruction and processed by said server apparatus; and a drawing step of drawing an image indicated by the document data acquired by said acquisition step from said server apparatus.

Claim 38

32 . An image processing method for processing document information described by a predetermined structured description language and executing a drawing process by communicating with an arbitrary server apparatus, the method comprising: an instruction input step of entering print set information to be referred to in allotting an image indicated by said document information to a physical page or executing a printing process; a transmission step of transmitting a reference print instruction including the print set information entered by said instruction input step to a designated server apparatus; an acquisition step of acquiring, from said server apparatus, document data which are acquired from an acquisition source indicated by the reference print instruction and processed by said server apparatus; and a drawing step of drawing an image indicated by the document data acquired by said acquisition step from said server apparatus.

Claim 39

33 . A method according to claim 32 , wherein said print set information designates a standard font size in the layout of said document data to the physical page.

Claim 40

34 . A method according to claim 32 , wherein said print set information designates the resolution in the drawing by said drawing step.

Claim 41

35 . A method according to claim 32 , wherein said print set information designates a sheet size for printing the image drawn by said drawing step.

Claim 42

36 . A method according to claim 35 , further comprising a search step of searching the source of acquisition of the document data described by said predetermined structured description language.

Claim 43

37 . An image processing method in a server apparatus provided with storage means for storing document information described by a predetermined structured description language and adapted for controlling the transmission of document information described by a predetermined structured description language by communicating with an arbitrary image processing apparatus, the method comprising: an acquisition step of acquiring a resource required for logic layout; a detection step of analyzing a reference print instruction acquired from any image processing apparatus and detecting print set information; a format process step of allotting the document information searched from said storage means to a physical page based on the print set information detected by said detection step and the resource acquired by said acquisition step; and a transmission step of transmitting the document information, subjected to layout by said format process step, to any image processing apparatus requesting the reference print instruction.

Claim 44

37 . An image processing method in a server apparatus provided with storage means for storing document information described by a predetermined structured description language and adapted for controlling the transmission of document information described by a predetermined structured description language by communicating with an arbitrary image processing apparatus, the method comprising: an acquisition step of acquiring a resource required for logic layout; a detection step of analyzing a reference print instruction acquired from any image processing apparatus and detecting print set information; a format process step of allotting the document information searched from said storage means to a physical page based on the print set information detected by said detection step and the resource acquired by said acquisition step; and a transmission step of transmitting the document information, subjected to layout by said format process step, to any image processing apparatus requesting the reference print instruction.

Claim 45

38 . An image processing method according to claim 19 , wherein said format process step executes layout by scaling each character in the document information to a base character size for allotment to the physical page, based on a font size designated in said print set information and a standard font size designated by said resource.

Claim 46

39 . A computer readable memory medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute an image processing method for processing document information described by a predetermined structured description language and executing a drawing process by communicating with an arbitrary server apparatus, the method comprising: an instruction input step of entering print set information to be referred to in allotting an image indicated by said document information to a physical page or executing a printing process; a transmission step of transmitting a reference print instruction including the print set information entered by said instruction input step to a designated server apparatus; an acquisition step of acquiring, from said server apparatus, document data which are acquired from an acquisition source indicated by the reference print instruction and processed by said server apparatus; and a drawing step of drawing an image indicated by the document data acquired by said acquisition step from said server apparatus.

Claim 47

39 . A computer readable memory medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute an image processing method for processing document information described by a predetermined structured description language and executing a drawing process by communicating with an arbitrary server apparatus, the method comprising: an instruction input step of entering print set information to be referred to in allotting an image indicated by said document information to a physical page or executing a printing process; a transmission step of transmitting a reference print instruction including the print set information entered by said instruction input step to a designated server apparatus; an acquisition step of acquiring, from said server apparatus, document data which are acquired from an acquisition source indicated by the reference print instruction and processed by said server apparatus; and a drawing step of drawing an image indicated by the document data acquired by said acquisition step from said server apparatus.

Claim 48

40 . A computer readable memory medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute an image processing method in a server apparatus provided with storage means for storing document information described by a predetermined structured description language and adapted for controlling the transmission of document information described by a predetermined structured description language by communicating with an arbitrary image processing apparatus, the method comprising: an acquisition step of acquiring a resource required for logic layout; a detection step of analyzing a reference print instruction acquired from any image processing apparatus and detecting print set information; a format process step of allotting the document information searched from said storage means to a physical page based on the print set information detected by said detection step and the resource acquired by said acquisition step; and a transmission step of transmitting the document information, subjected to layout by said format process step, to any image processing apparatus requesting the reference print instruction.

Claim 49

40 . A computer readable memory medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute an image processing method in a server apparatus provided with storage means for storing document information described by a predetermined structured description language and adapted for controlling the transmission of document information described by a predetermined structured description language by communicating with an arbitrary image processing apparatus, the method comprising: an acquisition step of acquiring a resource required for logic layout; a detection step of analyzing a reference print instruction acquired from any image processing apparatus and detecting print set information; a format process step of allotting the document information searched from said storage means to a physical page based on the print set information detected by said detection step and the resource acquired by said acquisition step; and a transmission step of transmitting the document information, subjected to layout by said format process step, to any image processing apparatus requesting the reference print instruction.

Claim 50

41 . An image processing apparatus for generating image data by processing document data described by a predetermined structured description language, comprising: analysis means for analyzing said document data and recognizing character information contained in said document data; and drawing means for executing a drawing process in such a manner that a character or a character train indicated by the character information recognized by said analysis means is outputted with a predetermined font size regardless of information for designating a font size, set for said character information in said structured document.

Claim 51

41 . An image processing apparatus for generating image data by processing document data described by a predetermined structured description language, comprising: analysis means for analyzing said document data and recognizing character information contained in said document data; and drawing means for executing a drawing process in such a manner that a character or a character train indicated by the character information recognized by said analysis means is outputted with a predetermined font size regardless of information for designating a font size, set for said character information in said structured document.

Claim 52

42 . An apparatus according to claim 41 , wherein: said predetermined font size is entered by instruction input means of the image processing apparatus; said analysis means calculates a magnification change rate based on the font size of a specified character or a specified character train and a predetermined font size; and said drawing means executes a drawing process by changing the magnification of said specified character with said magnification change rate, in such a manner that said specified character or character train is outputted with said predetermined font size, regardless of information information for designating the font size, set for said character information in said structured document.

Claim 53

43 . An apparatus according to claim 41 , wherein: said document data include at least an object; said specified character or character train is outputted with said predetermined size; and an image indicated by the object included in said document data is subjected to a change in the magnification according to the sheet size for outputting said object.

Claim 54

44 . An apparatus according to claim 41 , wherein the information designating said font size and set for said character in said structured document is described by tag information designating the font size in HTML or XML.

Claim 55

45 . An image processing method for generating image data by processing document data described by a predetermined structured description language, comprising: an analysis step of analyzing said document data and recognizing character information contained in said document data; and a drawing step of executing a drawing process in such a manner that a character or a character train indicated by the character information recognized by said analysis step is outputted with a predetermined font size regardless of information for designating a font size, set for said character information in said structured document.

Claim 56

45 . An image processing method for generating image data by processing document data described by a predetermined structured description language, comprising: an analysis step of analyzing said document data and recognizing character information contained in said document data; and a drawing step of executing a drawing process in such a manner that a character or a character train indicated by the character information recognized by said analysis step is outputted with a predetermined font size regardless of information for designating a font size, set for said character information in said structured document.