IMAGE FORMATION APPARATUS AND PRINT CONTROL METHOD FOR THE SAME

• US 20100053660A1
• Filed: 08/25/2009
• Published: 03/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Konica Minolta Business Technologies Incorporated (Konica Minolta Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Konica Minolta Business Technologies Incorporated (Konica Minolta Inc.)
• Inventors: Takeuchi, Yasuji, Kamei, Nobuo, Okamoto, Tomoyuki, Tsuboi, Tomo
• Granted Patent: US 8,319,985 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/1.140
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 15/02 using printers
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 15/1811 including high level document description only
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 15/1828 characterized by the kind of storage accessed

Abstract

The present invention provides an image formation apparatus that reconstructs and prints a document based on document data written in a markup language. The image formation apparatus arranges, by using browser software, text data included in the document data within a page of the document, and acquires image data from servers and arranges the image data within the page of the document. If the image formation apparatus fails to acquire one or more pieces of the image data, it judges whether each of the pieces of image data is important or not according to the attribute information of the image data. If judged negatively, the image formation apparatus executes printing of the document reconstructed based on the text data and/or the acquired pieces of image data. If judged affirmatively, the image formation apparatus cancels the printing of the reconstructed document.

Claims

1. An image formation apparatus that reconstructs and prints a document including text data and image data, based on document data written in a markup language,

the document data including (i) one or more pieces of text data, (ii) text layout information for the one or more pieces of text data, and (iii) one or more pieces of image data attribute information that show identifiers of one or more pieces of image data respectively, locations of the one or more pieces of image data respectively, and image layout information for the one or more pieces of image data,

the image formation apparatus comprising:

a reconstructor operable, by using browser software, to arrange the one or more pieces of text data included in the document data within a page of the document according to the text layout information, and attempt to acquire the one or more pieces of image data from relevant servers according to the identifiers and the locations of the one or more pieces of image data and arrange acquired pieces among the one or more pieces of image data within the page of the document according to the image layout information;

a judgment part operable, in a case where the reconstructor has failed to acquire some of the one or more pieces of image data, to judge whether each of the some of the one or more pieces of image data is important or not according to a corresponding piece of the image data attribute information; and

a controller operable to execute printing of the document reconstructed based on the one or more pieces of text data and/or the acquired pieces of image data if the judgment part judges negatively as to all of the some of the one or more pieces of image data that the reconstructor has failed to acquire, and to cancel the printing if the judgment part judges affirmatively as to any of the some of the one or more pieces of image data that the reconstructor has failed to acquire.

2. The image formation apparatus of claim 1, further comprising

a storage that prestores therein locations of one or more pieces of low-importance image data, wherein

if a location of a piece of image data that the reconstructor has failed to acquire is identical to any one of the locations of the one or more pieces of low-importance image data, the judgment part judges that the piece of image data that the reconstructor has failed to acquire is not important.

3. The image formation apparatus of claim 1, wherein

if the image layout information shows that a piece of image data that there constructor has failed to acquire is to be arranged in a peripheral area of the page of the document, the judgment part judges that the piece of image data that the reconstructor has failed to acquire is not important.

4. The image formation apparatus of claim 1, wherein

if the image layout information shows that a size of a piece of image data that the reconstructor has failed to acquire is smaller than a predetermined size, the judgment part judges that the piece of image data that the reconstructor has failed to acquire is not important.

5. The image formation apparatus of claim 1, wherein

if an identifier of a piece of image data that the reconstructor has failed to acquire shows that the piece of image data is a movie, the judgment part judges that the piece of image data that the reconstructor has failed to acquire is not important.

6. The image formation apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the judgement part judges, for each piece of image data that the reconstructor has failed to acquire, whether or not a proportion of a count of locations that are identical with a location of the piece of the image data that the reconstructor has failed to acquire is smaller than a predetermined proportion with respect to a total count of the locations of the one or more pieces of image data included in the document data, and if judged affirmatively, judges that the piece of image data that the reconstructor has failed to acquire is not important.

7. An image formation method for use by an image formation apparatus that reconstructs and prints a document including text data and image data, based on document data written in a markup language,

the document data including (i) one or more pieces of text data, (ii) text layout information for the one or more pieces of text data, and (iii) one or more pieces of image data attribute information that show identifiers of one or more pieces of image data respectively, locations of the one or more pieces of image data on respectively, and image layout information for the one or more pieces of image data,

the image formation method comprising:

a reconstructor step of, by using browser software, arranging the one or more pieces of text data included in the document data within a page of the document according to the text layout information, and attempting to acquire the one or more pieces of image data from relevant servers according to the identifiers and the locations of the one or more pieces of image data and arranging acquired pieces among the one or more pieces of image data within the page of the document according to the image layout information;

a judgment step of, in a case where the reconstructor has failed to acquire some of the one or more pieces of image data, judging whether each of the some of the one or more pieces of image data is important or not according to a corresponding piece of the image data attribute information; and

a controller step of executing printing of the document reconstructed based on the one or more pieces of text data and/or the acquired pieces of image data if the judgment step judges negatively as to all of the some of the one or more pieces of image data that the reconstructor step has failed to acquire, and to cancel the printing if the judgment step judges affirmatively as to any of the some of the one or more pieces of image data that the reconstructor step has failed to acquire.

8. The image formation method of claim 7, wherein

the image formation apparatus further comprises a storage that prestores therein locations of one or more pieces of low-importance image data, and

if a location of apiece of image data that the reconstructor step has failed to acquire is identical to any one of the locations of the one or more pieces of low-importance image data, the judgment step judges that the piece of image data that the reconstructor step has failed to acquire is not important

9. The image formation method of claim 7, wherein

if the image layout information shows that apiece of image data that the reconstructor step has failed to acquire is to be arranged in a peripheral area of the page of the document, the judgment step judges that the piece of image data that the reconstructor step has failed to acquire is not important.

10. The image formation method of claim 7, wherein

if the image layout information shows that a size of a piece of image data that the reconstructor step has failed to acquire is smaller than a predetermined size, the judgment step judges that the piece of image data that the reconstructor step has failed to acquire is not important.

11. The image formation method of claim 7, wherein

if an identifier of a piece of image data that the reconstructor step has failed to acquire shows that the piece of image data is a movie, the judgment step judges that the piece of image data that the reconstructor step has failed to acquire is not important.

12. The image formation method of claim 7, wherein

the judgement step judges, for each piece of image data that the reconstructor step has failed to acquire, whether or not a proportion of a count of locations that are identical with a location of the piece of the image data that the reconstructor step has failed to acquire is smaller than a predetermined proportion with respect to a total count of the locations of the one or more pieces of image data included in the document data, and if judged affirmatively, judges that the piece of image data that the reconstructor step has failed to acquire is not important.