JP2000305925A - Method and device for print control and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To discriminatingly confirm a print result after the function unique to a printer driver is implemented on a display screen by reading a managed spool file out and displaying an image of the print result according to the read- out spool file. SOLUTION: A spool file management part 104 writes page image data which are expanded and compressed by an image information generating means 103, in the spool file. The spool file which is stored in the spooler is read out in order and passed to a print instruction generating means 105. The print instruction generating means 105 transfers the sequentially read-out spool file to a printer 101 in synchronism with the spool file management part 104. A preview display means 106 reads a spool file that a user specifies among spool files managed by the spool file management part 104, and expands the compressed page image data and displays them on a display device.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing control method and apparatus for controlling a printing system for recording image information using, for example, an electrophotographic process, and a storage medium storing a control program for controlling the printing control apparatus. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of printing system, a printer driver receives print data emitted from an application program running on a host computer, decompresses and compresses the data into page-based image data, and then performs a spool process. To transfer the expanded data to the printing device. The printing apparatus decompresses and outputs one page of the compressed image data received from the host computer, and ends a series of printing processes.

[0003] Here, it is difficult to know whether a document created by an application will produce a print result as intended by the user unless the document is actually printed out.

Therefore, many applications generally have a preview function of displaying a print output image on a display before printing is actually performed.

[0005] With this preview function, it is possible to explicitly check the print result without actually printing out.

Here, in the above-described printing apparatus,
When a document created by an application is simply printed as it is, a correct print result can be confirmed before printing by using a preview function of the application.

However, recently, apart from the application, as functions unique to the printer driver, “enlargement / reduction function”, “overlay function”, “multi-page function (function of printing a plurality of pages on one sheet)”, “ Those having a "bookbinding function", a "page frame function" and the like have appeared.

[0008]

However, when the print processing is performed by designating the function unique to the printer driver as described above, it is almost impossible to confirm the print result explicitly with the preview function of the application. It is possible, and it is not possible to determine whether the print result is intended by the user without actually printing it out. If the print result is contrary to the intention of the user, wasteful paper output is performed. There was a problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art described above, and a first object of the present invention is to provide a printing result after performing a function unique to a printer driver. It is an object of the present invention to provide a print control method and apparatus capable of explicitly checking on a display screen.

A second object of the present invention is to provide a storage medium storing a control program capable of smoothly controlling the above-described print control apparatus of the present invention. .

[0011]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print control method for converting image information generated based on a recording command in an external device into image data. Managing as a spool file, sequentially transferring the managed spool file to a printing device, storing the image data in a storage area of the printing device, and storing the stored image data in an engine controller of the printing device. A print control method for controlling a printing system for printing by outputting to the external device, a read step of reading the spool file managed in the external device, and a print control method based on the spool file read in the read step. And displaying a print result image (preview).

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print control method according to the first aspect, wherein the external device is a host computer.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print control apparatus for converting image information generated based on a recording command in an external device into image data and managing the image data as a spool file. Transferring the managed spool file to a printing device sequentially, storing the image data in a storage area of the printing device, and outputting the stored image data to an engine controller of the printing device. A print control device that controls a printing system that performs printing by using a read unit that reads the spool file managed in the external device; and a print result based on the spool file that is read by the read unit. Display means for displaying an image (preview).

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print control apparatus according to the third aspect, wherein the external device is a host computer.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print control method for generating image information based on a recording command in an external device, and the print control method includes the steps of: Management means for converting image information into image data and managing it as a spool file; transfer means for sequentially transferring the spool file managed by the management means to a printing device; and storing the image data on the printing device. A print control method for controlling a printing system, comprising: a storage unit that stores the image data stored in the storage unit as a video signal to an engine controller in the printing apparatus; A reading step of reading the spool file managed by the management means in an external device; And having a display step of displaying the print result of the image based on the read the spool file by extent (preview).

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print control method according to the fifth aspect, wherein the external device is a host computer.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print control apparatus for generating image information based on a recording command in an external device, and a print control apparatus for generating image information. Management means for converting image information into image data and managing it as a spool file; transfer means for sequentially transferring the spool file managed by the management means to a printing device; and storing the image data on the printing device. A print control apparatus for controlling a printing system, comprising: a storage unit that stores the image data stored in the storage unit as a video signal to an engine controller in the printing apparatus; Reading means for reading the spool file managed by the management means in an external device; And having a display means for displaying the printing results based on the spool file read by the step image (preview).

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print control apparatus according to the present invention, wherein the external device is a host computer.

In order to achieve the second object, a storage medium according to a ninth aspect converts image information generated based on a recording command in an external device into image data and manages the image data as a spool file. By sequentially transferring the managed spool file to a printing device, storing the image data in a storage area of the printing device, and outputting the stored image data to an engine controller of the printing device. A storage medium storing a control program for controlling a print control device that controls a printing system for printing, wherein the control program includes a reading module that reads the spool file managed in the external device; An image of a print result based on the spool file read by the read module And having a display module for displaying a preview).

In order to achieve the second object, a storage medium according to claim 10 is the storage medium according to claim 9, wherein the external device is a host computer.

In order to achieve the second object, a storage medium according to claim 11 is the storage medium according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the storage medium is a floppy disk.

In order to achieve the second object, a storage medium according to claim 12 is the storage medium according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the storage medium is a hard disk.

In order to achieve the second object, a storage medium according to claim 13 is the storage medium according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the storage medium is an optical disk.

In order to achieve the second object, a storage medium according to claim 14 is the storage medium according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the storage medium is a magneto-optical disk. .

In order to achieve the second object, a storage medium according to claim 15 is a storage medium according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the storage medium is a CD-ROM (C
ohmpact Disk Read Only Mem
ory).

In order to achieve the second object, the storage medium according to claim 16 is the storage medium according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the storage medium is a CD-R (Com).
(Practical Disk Recordable).

In order to achieve the second object, a storage medium according to claim 17 is the storage medium according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the storage medium is a magnetic tape.

In order to achieve the second object, a storage medium according to claim 18 is the storage medium according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the storage medium is a nonvolatile memory card. I do.

In order to achieve the second object, a storage medium according to claim 19 is the storage medium according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the storage medium is a ROM (Read).
Only Memory) chips.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage medium, comprising: a generating means for generating image information based on a recording command in an external device; and an image generated by the generating means. Management means for converting information into image data and managing it as a spool file; transfer means for sequentially transferring the spool file managed by the management means to a printing device; and a storage area on the printing device for transferring the image data Control means for controlling a printing control device for controlling a printing system, comprising: a storage means for storing the image data stored by the storage means as a video signal to an engine controller in the printing apparatus. A storage medium storing a program, wherein the control program is managed by the management unit in the external device. A reading module for reading the spool file being characterized by having a display module that displays a print result of an image based on the spool file read by the read module (preview).

In order to achieve the second object, a storage medium according to claim 21 is the storage medium according to claim 20, wherein the external device is a host computer.

In order to achieve the second object, a storage medium according to claim 22 is the storage medium according to claim 20 or 21, wherein the storage medium is a floppy disk.

In order to achieve the second object, a storage medium according to claim 23 is the storage medium according to claim 20 or 21, wherein the storage medium is a hard disk.

In order to achieve the second object, a storage medium according to claim 24 is the storage medium according to claim 20 or 21, wherein the storage medium is an optical disk.

In order to achieve the second object, a storage medium according to claim 25 is the storage medium according to claim 20 or 21, wherein the storage medium is a magneto-optical disk. .

In order to achieve the second object, a storage medium according to claim 26 is the storage medium according to claim 20 or 21, wherein the storage medium is a CD-ROM.
(Compact Disk Read Only M
emory).

In order to achieve the second object, the storage medium according to claim 27 is the storage medium according to claim 20 or 21, wherein the storage medium is a CD-R (Co-R).
(act. disk recordable).

In order to achieve the second object, a storage medium according to claim 28 is the storage medium according to claim 20 or 21, wherein the storage medium is a magnetic tape.

In order to achieve the second object, a storage medium according to claim 29 is the storage medium according to claim 20 or 21, wherein the storage medium is a nonvolatile memory card. I do.

Further, in order to achieve the second object, the storage medium according to claim 30 is the storage medium according to claim 20 or 21, wherein the storage medium is a ROM (Rea).
(dOnly Memory) chip.

[0041]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(First Embodiment) First, the first embodiment of the present invention will be described.
1 will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a printing system controlled by a printing control apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 denotes a host computer (external device); Is a printing device.

The host computer 100 has a print analysis unit 102, an image information generation unit 103, a spool file management unit 104, a print command generation unit 105, and a preview display unit 106.

The print analyzing unit 102 analyzes print information output from the application program when the print processing of the application program running on the host computer 100 is executed, and outputs image information. . The image information generating means 103 expands the image information analyzed and output by the print analyzing means 102 into image data (dot data) for one page as output data. In this case, since the capacity of the image data is usually large, the image data compression processing is also generally performed by the image information generating means 103.

The image information generating means 103 includes "enlargement / reduction function", "overlay function", and "multi-page function (function of printing a plurality of pages on one sheet)" as functions unique to the printer driver described later. , A “bookbinding function”, a “page frame function”, and the like.

For example, an “overlay function” and a “multi-page function” as shown in FIGS. 13 and 14 are realized.

In FIG. 13, reference numeral 1301 denotes a document body; 1302, overlay data designated in the printer driver; and 1303, an actual print result.

Similarly, in FIG.
04 designates a document consisting of four pages, and 1405 designates the documents 1401 to 1404 by the "multi-page function (4
“in1)” respectively shows the results of actual print output.

Returning to FIG. 1, the spool file management unit 104 writes the page image data (dot data) expanded and compressed by the image information generating means 103 into the spool file, or once written into the spooler. The spool files are sequentially read out and passed to the print command generating means 105. Print command generation means 10
Reference numeral 5 denotes a printer that transfers spool files sequentially read out in synchronization with the spool file management unit 104 to the printing apparatus 101. The preview display unit 106 reads out a spool file specified by the user from the spool file managed by the spool file management unit 104, decompresses the compressed page image data, and displays it on the display device of the host computer 100. .

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a preview display displayed on the display device of the host computer 100 using the preview display means 106. By using the preview display means 106, an operation screen as shown in FIG. Is displayed. Here, information of each document stored in the spool file is displayed as a list, and a preview display as shown in FIG. 2 is performed according to a user's instruction.

Returning to FIG. 1, the printing apparatus 101 includes a print information control unit 107 and a printing mechanism (printer engine) 108.

The print information control means 107 is provided for the printing apparatus 10.
1 is a function inside the controller. Printing mechanism 108
The printing mechanism includes a printing mechanism that controls printing and a control mechanism that controls a sheet feeding and conveyance system (sheet feeding mode and sheet discharging process) in the printing mechanism unit 108.

Next, the operation of each function shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram for explaining the operation of each function shown in FIG. 1. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 301 denotes an application program; , 303 is an image information generation unit 303 (corresponding to the image information generation unit 103 in FIG. 1), 304 is a print command generation unit 304 (corresponds to the print instruction generation unit 105 in FIG. 1), and 305 is a print environment detection unit. ,
306, a screen display / operation control unit 307; a printer controller (corresponding to the print information control unit 107 in FIG. 1);
8 is an engine controller, 309 is a printer engine,
Reference numeral 310 denotes a printing mechanism (corresponding to the printing mechanism 108 in FIG. 1).
Thus, the engine controller 308 and the printer engine 30
9.

In FIG. 3, the host computer 100
At the same time, the print information analysis unit 302 (corresponding to the print information analysis unit 102 in FIG. 1), the print environment detection unit 306, and the print command generation unit (FIG.
(Corresponding to the print command generating means 105 of FIG. 3) is activated.

Here, when the user instructs a print output during execution of any application program 301, the application program 301 sends print information to the print information analysis unit 302. The print information analysis unit 302
After analyzing the print information output from the application program 301, the image information is output. Here, print information refers to data such as character codes, figures, image data, etc., for actual printing processing, printing positions, sizes, etc.
This is print data for designating orientation (print direction) and the like.

The print information analyzer 302 generates image information from the print information and sends it to the image information generator 303 (corresponding to the image information generator 103 in FIG. 1). The image information generation unit 303 converts the image information into image data (dot data) for one page according to print information such as a print position, a size, an orientation (print direction), and the like, as shown in FIG. It is written into the spool file 402 once. At this time, since the image data for one page has a large capacity, the image data for one page is generally compressed and written into the spool file 402.

When the writing to the spool file 402 is completed, the print command generation unit 304 in FIG. 3 (corresponding to the print command generation unit 105 in FIG. 1) is activated. The print command generation unit 304 converts one page of image data compressed in synchronization with the printer controller 307 of the printing apparatus 101 into
The data is sent to the printing apparatus 101 through the interface cable.

The screen display / operation control unit 306 displays the status of the printing apparatus 101 through the screen of the host computer 100 or allows the user to
This is for setting a printing environment for the printer 1. The preview display unit 106 of FIG. 1 operates in conjunction with the screen display / operation control unit 306.

The compressed image data sent from the print command generator 304 is sent to the printer controller 307.
The data is decompressed by a decompression circuit (not shown) and transferred to an image memory (RAM).
The print command is transferred to the engine controller 308 in synchronization with the reception of the print start command from the printer 08, and further sent to the printer engine 309 which performs the actual print processing.

The printing environment information of the printing mechanism 310 is transferred to the host computer 100 via the printer controller 307. Host computer 100
The print environment detecting unit 305 in the printer receives the print environment information transmitted from the printing apparatus 101 and notifies the print information analysis unit 302 and the screen display / operation control unit 306 of the print environment.

Next, the relationship between the image information generating unit 303 and the spool file 402 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4, 5 and 6.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the relationship among the print information analysis unit, the image information generation unit, the print instruction generation unit, the spool file management unit, and the spool file.
Reference numeral 01 denotes a program called a printer driver, which is a combination of a print information analysis unit 302 and an image information generation unit 303. The image information generation unit 303 includes a print instruction generation unit 30.
4 is connected. Reference numeral 402 denotes a spool file.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a screen display on which spooler management information is displayed.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a flow of a series of image data in page units. In FIG. 6, reference numeral 101 denotes a printing apparatus, 401 denotes a printer driver, 402 denotes a spool file, 601 denotes image data for each page, 602 603 is compressed image data, 603 is compressed image data in the spool file 402, 604 is a decompression circuit, 605
Represents image data expanded by the expansion circuit 604;
Reference numeral 06 denotes image data displayed by the preview display unit 106.

The printer driver 401 generates image data 601 for each page shown in FIG. 6 based on print information from the application 301, compresses the image data, and compresses the image data 602 as shown in FIG.
After obtaining the spool file 402 shown in FIGS.
Write to. At this time, it is general that the image data is compressed and written into the spool file 402 as described above.

Here, the spool file 402 corresponds to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, spool file information can be displayed on the display device of the host computer 100, and further, the transfer of the spool file 402 to the printing apparatus 101 is temporarily stopped by an operation on the screen shown in FIG. It is also possible.

The printer driver 401 operates in the host computer 100, and the spool file 402
It is generally stored in a secondary storage device in the host computer 100.

The print command generation unit 304 stores the compressed image data 603 shown in FIG.
Is sequentially read out and the image data is transferred to the printing apparatus 101 as described above. Printing device 1
01 is expanded to the original image data by passing through the decompression circuit 604 in FIG. 6, and the image data 605 decompressed by the decompression circuit 604 as shown in FIG. The printout is performed from 101.

Next, a laser beam printer as the printing apparatus 101 will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration of a general printing apparatus 101, and FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a configuration of a paper feed system of the printing apparatus 101. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 denotes a host computer, and 101 denotes a printing device. The printing apparatus 101 includes a printer controller 701 (corresponding to the printer controller 307 in FIG. 3), a printing mechanism (printer engine).
702 (corresponding to the printing mechanism 310 in FIG. 3), the engine controller 703 (the engine controller 30 in FIG. 3).
8), an optical system 704 in the printing mechanism 702, an electrophotographic process in the printing mechanism 702, and a paper feeding / conveying system 705.
have.

The printer controller 701 receives image data and a print command transmitted from the host computer 100, and sequentially transmits image information to a printing mechanism 702 described later. The printing mechanism 702 actually performs printing on the photosensitive drum based on a video signal (image information) transmitted from the printer controller 701. Engine controller 703
Controls the entire printing mechanism 702,
It receives a video signal from the printer controller unit 701, receives a control command converted from a print command by the printer controller unit 701, and sends the status of the printing mechanism unit 702 to the printer controller unit 7.
01, an optical system 704 in the printing mechanism unit 702, an electrophotographic process and a paper feeding / conveying system 705.
And a part for controlling

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the paper feeding and conveying system 705. In FIG. 8, reference numeral 801 denotes a paper feeding cassette for accommodating a large number of printing papers, 802 denotes a paper feeding roller, Is a roller for feeding print paper from the printer.
Reference numeral 803 denotes a conveyance roller that conveys the printing paper. Reference numeral 804 denotes a photosensitive drum, reference numeral 805 denotes a fixing device, and reference numeral 806 denotes printing paper in a transport state in a paper transport system.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the printer controller 307 of the printing apparatus 101. In FIG. 9, reference numeral 307 denotes a printer controller, and 310 denotes a printing mechanism, which are connected to each other by an interface circuit. . The printing mechanism 310 receives a print command and an image signal from the printer controller 307,
A print sequence is performed.

The printer controller 307 includes a host interface circuit 901, a decompression circuit 902 (corresponding to the decompression circuit 604 in FIG. 6), an image memory (RAM) 903, an address generation unit 904, an output buffer register 905, a synchronous clock generation circuit 906, A printer I / F (interface) circuit 907 is provided.

The host interface circuit 901 is an input / output unit for signals with the host computer. Extension circuit 9
02 decompresses the compressed image data transmitted from the host computer 100. The image memory 903 is a memory that stores the image data expanded by the expansion circuit 902. Address generator 904
Generates an address of the image memory 903. The output buffer register 905 includes an image memory 903
The image data read from the image signal (VDO)
This is a register for converting to. The synchronous clock generation circuit 906 generates an image clock signal (VCLK) synchronized with the BD signal output from the printing mechanism 310. The printer I / F circuit 907 includes the printing mechanism 3
10 is an input / output unit for signals.

Here, the printing mechanism 310 and the printer I
The exchange of information (control command, engine status, PRNT signal, etc.) with the / F circuit 907 is performed by the host computer via the host interface circuit 901.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the format of the spool file 402. In the spool file 402, one document is stored as one file, and each file has a format as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 10, reference numeral 1001 denotes document start information in which information on the entire document is stored, including information such as the number of copies to be printed. Reference numerals 1002 and 1003 denote information for each page, and reference numeral 1004 denotes page start information in each page information, which includes information such as paper size and paper supply / discharge. Reference numeral 1005 denotes the compressed image data in which the actual expanded image data of each page is stored in a compressed format; 1006, page end information of the page; 1007, end information of the entire document.

Next, the operation of the print control apparatus according to this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, if the operator wants to confirm the print result in a preview display before performing the actual print processing, the print processing is executed from the application with the spooler set to the pause state. , The print data is not actually output, and the print data remains in the spooler. Next, the preview display program is started.

Then, the preview display program first reads the spool file information in step S1101, and displays a screen as shown in FIG. Here, when the operator indicates spool file information of a preview to be viewed with a pointing device or the like, the preview display program reads the designated spool file.

Next, in step S1102, the page information is extracted from the spool file read in step S1101. Usually, it is the first page. When the operator specifies, the information of the specified page is extracted.

Next, in step S1103, compressed image data is extracted from the page information extracted in step S1102, and decompression processing is performed.

Next, in step S1104, the resolution of the image data expanded in step S1103 is converted in accordance with the resolution of the display device.

Next, in step S1105, the image data whose resolution has been converted in step S1104 is displayed on the display device, and then this processing operation ends.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of printed output using the overlay function of the printer driver 401. In FIG. 13, reference numeral 1301 denotes one page to be overlaid, 1302 denotes another page to be overlaid,
Reference numeral 3 denotes a page which is overlaid and printed out.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of printed output using the multi-page function of the printer driver 401. In FIG. 14, reference numeral 1401 denotes the first page; 1402, the second page;
403 indicates the third page, 1404 indicates the fourth page, and 1405 indicates the first page 1401 to the fourth page 1404 by the multi-page function.
This is a page printed out on a sheet of printing paper.

In the printing control apparatus according to the present embodiment, the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized by a computer reading and executing a control program stored in a storage medium. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and performs a part or all of actual processing such as an OS (Operating System) running on a computer based on an instruction of the control program, and performs the processing described above. It goes without saying that a case where the function of the present embodiment is realized is also included.

The storage medium for storing the control program is, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM (Co-ROM).
mpact Disk Read Only Memo
ry), CD-R (Compact Disk Rec)
order, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM chip, or the like.

(Other Embodiments) In the above-described first embodiment, a laser beam printer has been exemplified as the printing apparatus. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention is not limited to this.
(Light Emitting Diode) The present invention is also applicable to a printing apparatus having a light emitting element such as an array or a liquid crystal shutter.

In the first embodiment described above, a printing device using an electrophotographic process is assumed as the printing mechanism. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Regardless, the present invention can be applied to any printer (for example, ink jet, serial, etc.) as long as it performs a printing process on a page basis.

[0094]

As described above in detail, according to the print control method and apparatus of the present invention, the print result after performing the function unique to the printer driver is explicitly confirmed on the screen of the display device before printing. It has the effect that it can be done.

Further, according to the storage medium of the present invention, there is an effect that the above-described print control device of the present invention can be smoothly controlled.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing system to which a printing control device according to a first embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen display displayed by a preview function of a printing apparatus in a printing system to which the printing control apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an operation of each function in a printing system to which the print control device according to the first embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a relationship among an image information generation unit, a print command generation unit, a spool file management unit, and a spool file in a printing system to which the print control device according to the first embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen display displaying spooler management information in a printing system to which the print control device according to the first embodiment of the present invention is applied;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a flow of a series of page-based image data in a printing system to which the print control device according to the first embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing device in a printing system to which the printing control device according to the first embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration of a paper feed system in a printing apparatus of a printing system to which the print control apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer controller in a printing apparatus of a printing system to which the print control apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a format of a spool file in a printing system to which the print control device according to the first embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a preview display operation in the printing system to which the print control device according to the first embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen display of spool file information displayed by a preview display program in a printing system to which the print control device according to the first embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of printing output using an overlay function of a printer driver in a printing system to which the print control device according to the first embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of a print output using a multi-page function of a printer driver in a print system to which the print control device according to the first embodiment of the present invention is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 host computer 101 printing device 102 print information analysis means 103 image information generation means 104 spool file management unit 105 print instruction generation means 106 preview display means 107 print information control means 108 printing mechanism unit (printer engine) 301 application 302 print information analysis unit 303 Image information generation unit 304 Print instruction generation unit 305 Printing environment detection unit 306 Screen display / operation control unit 307 Printer controller 308 Engine controller 309 Printer engine 310 Printing mechanism unit 401 Printer driver 402 Spool file 601 Image data per page 602 Compressed Image data 603 Compressed image data 604 Decompression circuit 605 Decompressed image data 606 Displayed in preview display means Printed image data 701 Printer controller 702 Printing mechanism (printer engine) 703 Engine controller 704 Optical system in printing mechanism 702 705 Electrophotographic process and paper feed system in printing mechanism 702 801 Paper cassette 802 Paper feed roller 803 Transport roller 804 Photosensitive drum 805 Fixing device 806 Printing paper in the transport state in the paper transport system 901 Host interface circuit 902 Expansion circuit 903 Image memory (RAM) 904 Address generation section 905 Output buffer register 906 Synchronous clock generation circuit 907 Printer I / F (interface) circuit 1001 Document start information 1002 Information for each page 1003 Information for each page 1004 Page start information in each page information 1005 Compressed image data 10 6 Page end information of the page 1007 End information of the whole document 1301 One page to be overlaid 1302 Another page to be overlaid 1303 Page that is overlaid and printed out 1401 First page 1402 Second page 1403 Third page 1404 4 Page 1405 The first page 1401-4 by the multi-page function
A page in which page 1404 is printed out on one print sheet

Claims (30)

[Claims] An image processing apparatus converts image information generated based on a recording command in an external device into image data, manages the image data as a spool file, and sequentially transfers the managed spool files to a printing device. A print control method for storing data in a storage area of the printing apparatus, and controlling a printing system for printing by outputting the stored image data to an engine controller of the printing apparatus. A print control method comprising: a read step of reading the managed spool file; and a display step of displaying an image (preview) of a print result based on the spool file read in the read step. . 2. The print control method according to claim 1, wherein the external device is a host computer. 3. An external device converts image information generated based on a recording command into image data and manages the image data as a spool file, and sequentially transfers the managed spool files to a printing device. A print control device that stores data in a storage area of the printing device, and controls a printing system that performs printing by outputting the stored image data to an engine controller of the printing device. A print control apparatus comprising: a reading unit that reads the managed spool file; and a display unit that displays an image (preview) of a print result based on the spool file read by the reading unit. . 4. The print control device according to claim 3, wherein the external device is a host computer. 5. A generating means for generating image information based on a recording command in an external device, a managing means for converting the image information generated by the generating means into image data and managing the image data as a spool file; Transfer means for sequentially transferring the spool file managed by the means to a printing device, storage means for storing the image data in a storage area on the printing device, and video data for storing the image data stored by the storage means. A print control method for controlling a printing system, comprising: an output unit that outputs a signal to an engine controller in the printing apparatus, wherein a reading step of reading the spool file managed by the management unit in the external device; , An image of a print result based on the spool file read in the reading step. A display step of displaying a page (preview). 6. The print control method according to claim 5, wherein the external device is a host computer. 7. A generating means for generating image information in an external device based on a recording command, a managing means for converting the image information generated by the generating means into image data and managing the image data as a spool file; Transfer means for sequentially transferring the spool file managed by the means to a printing device, storage means for storing the image data in a storage area on the printing device, and video data for storing the image data stored by the storage means. A printing control device for controlling a printing system, comprising: an output unit that outputs a signal to an engine controller in the printing device, wherein a reading unit that reads the spool file managed by the management unit in the external device; An image of a print result based on the spool file read by the reading unit. And a display unit for displaying a page (preview). 8. The print control apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the external device is a host computer. 9. Converting image information generated based on a recording command in an external device into image data and managing it as a spool file, sequentially transferring the managed spool file to a printing device, A control program for storing data in a storage area of the printing apparatus, and for controlling a printing control apparatus for controlling a printing system for printing by outputting the stored image data to an engine controller of the printing apparatus. A storage module, the control program comprising: a read module for reading the spool file managed in the external device; and a print result image (preview) based on the spool file read by the read module. And a display module for displaying Storage media. 10. The storage medium according to claim 9, wherein said external device is a host computer. 11. The storage medium according to claim 9, wherein said storage medium is a floppy disk. 12. The storage medium according to claim 9, wherein the storage medium is a hard disk. 13. The storage medium according to claim 9, wherein said storage medium is an optical disk. 14. The storage medium according to claim 9, wherein said storage medium is a magneto-optical disk. 15. The storage medium is a CD-ROM (Co-ROM).
mpact Disk Read Only Memo
11. The storage medium according to claim 9, wherein the storage medium is ry). 16. The storage medium is a CD-R (Comp)
The storage medium according to claim 9, wherein the storage medium is an act disk recordable. 17. The storage medium according to claim 9, wherein the storage medium is a magnetic tape. 18. The storage medium according to claim 9, wherein said storage medium is a nonvolatile memory card. 19. The storage medium may be a ROM (Read)
11. The storage medium according to claim 9, wherein the storage medium is an only memory (chip) chip. 20. A generating means for generating image information based on a recording command in an external device, a managing means for converting the image information generated by the generating means into image data and managing it as a spool file, Transfer means for sequentially transferring the spool file managed by the means to a printing apparatus, storage means for storing the image data in a storage area on the printing apparatus, and video data for storing the image data stored by the storage means. A storage medium storing a control program for controlling a printing control apparatus for controlling a printing system, comprising: an output unit that outputs the signal to an engine controller in the printing apparatus; A reading module for reading the spool file managed by the management means; A display module for displaying an image (preview) of a print result based on the spool file read by the reading module. 21. The storage medium according to claim 20, wherein said external device is a host computer. 22. The storage medium according to claim 20, wherein the storage medium is a floppy disk. 23. The storage medium according to claim 20, wherein said storage medium is a hard disk. 24. The storage medium according to claim 20, wherein said storage medium is an optical disk. 25. The storage medium according to claim 20, wherein said storage medium is a magneto-optical disk. 26. The storage medium is a CD-ROM (Co-ROM).
mpact Disk Read Only Memo
22. The storage medium according to claim 20, wherein the storage medium is ry). 27. The storage medium is a CD-R (Comp)
22. The storage medium according to claim 20, wherein the storage medium is an act disk recordable. 28. The storage medium according to claim 20, wherein the storage medium is a magnetic tape. 29. The storage medium according to claim 20, wherein the storage medium is a nonvolatile memory card. 30. The storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the storage medium is a ROM (Read
22. The storage medium according to claim 20, wherein the storage medium is an Only Memory) chip.