Abstract: An ink jet printer with a double-side printing function enables to print page images at a proper position on both surfaces of a cut paper, is provided. When feeding the cut paper A having an image printed on the front surface, the feeding roller 407 is rotated in the direction C1 to feed the cut paper A and simultaneously the registering rollers 410a, 410b are rotated in the direction D1 to push back the cut paper. In addition, the double-side printing is easily realized in both of the cases where the ink jet printer with the double-side printing function is connected to the host, and where the ink jet printer without double-side printing function is connected to the host by having the host make an inquiry of the printer whether or not double-side printing is available (step 6). Based on the results of the inquiry, printing commands are generated and sent to the printer.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus has a mode selecting unit for selecting one of plural image selection modes having different objects. There is also an image selecting unit for selecting a set of composite image reproduction data and items of component image data from a group of the sets of the composite image reproduction data formed of items of the component image data or from a group of the items of the component image data. The selection is performed in accordance with the image selection mode selected by the mode selecting unit. The group of the sets of the composite image reproduction data, and the group of the items of the component image data, are objects for selection. A processing unit executes a process for the set of the composite image reproduction data or the item of the component image data selected by the image selecting unit.

Abstract: Selection of a main file and entry of the name of a package file, an output destination folder, etc., are accepted (step S100), the files in the folder of the same name as the main file existing in the same folder as the selected main file are packaged as related files (step S110), and the packaged files are output as a package file based on the entered name and the output destination folder (S120). Consequently, a plurality of electronic files can be packaged for easy handling.

Abstract: An ink jet printer with a double-side printing function enables to print page images at a proper position on both surfaces of a cut paper, is provided. When feeding the cut paper A having an image printed on the front surface, the feeding roller 407 is rotated in the direction C1 to feed the cut paper A and simultaneously the registering rollers 410a, 410b are rotated in the direction D1 to push back the cut paper. In addition, the double-side printing is easily realized in both of the cases where the ink jet printer with the double-side printing function is connected to the host, and where the ink jet printer without double-side printing function is connected to the host by having the host make an inquiry of the printer whether or not double-side printing is available (step 6). Based on the results of the inquiry, printing commands are generated and sent to the printer.

Abstract: The procedure of the invention sets a transparent area on an image consisting of multiple pixels. Each pixel has, as parameters, three channels respectively having tone values in a predetermined range with regard to three primary colors, R, G, and B and an alpha channel having a tone value in a predetermined range that represents a degree of transparency. In response to specification of a degree of transparency and its range to set a transparent area, the procedure inputs a data value Ain of the alpha channel representing the specified degree of transparency and the specified range of the transparent area, and compares the input data value Ain with a current setting of data value A of the alpha channel with respect to each of the pixels in the specified range.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus has a mode selecting unit for selecting any one of a plurality of image selection modes having different objects for selection. There is also an image selecting unit for selecting any set of composite image reproduction data and items of component image data from a group of the sets of the composite image reproduction data formed of items of the component image data or from a group of the items of the component image data. The selection is performed in accordance with the image selection mode selected by the mode selecting unit. The group of the sets of the composite image reproduction data, and the group of the items of the component image data, are objects for selection that can be selected by the selected image selection mode. Also, a processing unit executes a predetermined process for the set of the composite image reproduction data or the item of the component image data selected by the image selecting unit.

Abstract: On a setup computer-readable medium, there are recorded a USB port driver file, an INF file including information about a folder in which the USB port driver file is recorded, a printer driver file, and a setup program. After having installed a printer driver on the assumption that a printer is connected to a parallel port (step S102), the setup program copies the INF file to a folder ¥WINDOWS¥INF and a USB port driver file to a folder specified by designation information stored in the INF file (step S103). The setup program performs a connection monitoring operation (step S104) for switching a connection port to which the printer is to be connected when a printer is detected to have been connected to the USB port.

Abstract: A printing control apparatus that facilitates settings, such as magnification-reduction and a layout of plural pages on one printing plane, and thereby improves the operatability. The operator sets in advance print attribute information, such as an orientation, a printable area, and magnification-reduction, mapped to plural pieces of logic sheet information with a data input device 5. The plural pieces of logic sheet information with the print attribute information mapped thereto are accordingly registered in a pull-down menu 47. The operator selects one piece of logic sheet information out of the pull-down menu 47, so as to set the print attribute information corresponding to the selected piece of logic sheet information. In the printing control apparatus, bit map data based on print data are edited according to these various pieces of information.

Abstract: The technique of extending a printable area, in which an image can be recorded, by carrying out a sub-scan with rollers in a delivering section of a printer having a lower accuracy of sheet feeding often causes dropout of raster lines and thereby deteriorates the picture quality of a resulting printed image. In an ink jet printer of the present invention, the interlace method is applied to record an image in a first area where rollers in a feeding section ensure the accuracy of sheet feeding, in order to attain the high picture quality. The printable area Is extended to a second area, where the rollers in the delivering section are used to carry out the sheet feeding of the lower accuracy after the lower end of a printing medium comes off the rollers in the feeding section. In the present invention, recording of dots is carried out by the interlace method with a reduced number of working nozzles in the second area. This decreases each amount of sub-scan and thereby reduces an error in sheet feeding.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a paper-feed control apparatus for a printer that reduces the frequency of paper-feed failures by automatically performing a clearing operation if a malfunction should occur in the supply of paper. Paper stacked in a paper tray 1 is separated one sheet at a time by separator tabs 5, and then is sent in a conveyor direction by the rotation of a feed roller 3. If the paper should jam partway during this separation and conveyor process, a paper-feed motor that drives the feed roller 3 is driven intermittently. This intermittent operation produces a large paper conveyor force from repeated generation of a large frictional force between the roller and the paper, and thus the frequency of paper-feed failures is reduced.

Abstract: In a method and an apparatus of controlling the movement of a printing head in a printer for printing characters along a print pass while selectively reversing the moving direction of the printing head, in which the character heights of a plurality of character series are checked, image data of a plurality of lines are read out, the image data being contained in a pass which can be printed within the height of the printing head, are printed at once. It is then checked whether or not the printed image data is continuous to the image data of the next pass, the same moving direction of the printing head is kept for printing the image of the next pass if it is continuous, and the moving direction of the printing head is reversed for printing the image of the next pass if it is not continuous. The method and the apparatus can print characters in excess of the height of the printing head with a high quality.

Abstract: A printer that includes a means for storing print data of a character; a first converter for converting print data to be read into a single dot pattern by performing the function of logical OR of a total of four dot patterns, assuming that a print head moving direction is a horizontal direction. The four dot patterns are: the print data, data next to such print data, data four pieces of data ahead, and data five pieces of data ahead. The printer also includes an inverter for inverting the single dot pattern generated by the first converter; a second converter for converting two dot patterns into a single dot pattern by performing the function of logical AND of two dot patterns. These two dot patterns are: a dot pattern newly generated by the first converter and the dot pattern inverted by the inverter, so that the number of horizontally extending data of a bold character is changed and compressed to thereby create a reduced bold character and print such reduced bold character.