JP2009220344A - Printing system and printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing system and printer which perform a high-speed printing of the printing data to which a color printing limitation has been applied by determining at a high speed whether the printing data is of color or monochrome. <P>SOLUTION: A host computer 10 transmits a printing job in which a limited number of color printing sheets has been applied to the printing data to the printer 100. By the printer 100 receiving the printing job, the job is printed if the page number of printing job computed by the page-number determination section 108 is below the limited number of printing sheets, or printed if the page number computed by an intermediate-language monochrome determination section 109 is below the limited number of printing sheets, or printed if the page number computed by an image monochrome determination section 110 is below the limited number of printing sheets. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing system and a printing apparatus.

  In recent years, the colorization of data output has progressed in the field of printing apparatuses, and the demand for color printers has increased.

  However, since color printing uses more types of toner than monochrome printing, it costs more for consumables such as toner.

  For this reason, there is a system that conserves consumables by limiting the number of sheets that can be color-printed.

  For example, Patent Document 1 proposes a color printer apparatus configured such that the number of color and monochrome images that can be formed is limited for each user.

Further, in Patent Document 2, it is determined whether or not image formation processing based on an image formation request sent from a transmission terminal is possible based on the function restriction information for each transmission terminal stored in the storage unit, and the function restriction information There have been proposed an image forming apparatus and an image forming system for forming an image within the range of the above limitation.
JP 2002-103753 A JP 2006-346944 A

  It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing system and a printing apparatus that perform printing of print data on which color printing restrictions are imposed by determining whether the print data is color or monochrome at high speed.

  In order to achieve the above object, the printing system of the invention of claim 1 includes a printing instruction apparatus that transmits print data described in a page description language capable of distinguishing pages by syntax analysis and issues a printing instruction, and the printing apparatus. A printing apparatus that receives the print data transmitted from the printing apparatus and performs printing, and a management unit that manages a limited number of color prints in the printing apparatus, and the printing apparatus includes a storage unit that accumulates the print data. An intermediate language generation unit that parses the print data stored in the storage unit to generate an intermediate language composed of a set of drawing elements, a drawing processing unit that generates drawing data based on the intermediate language, and the storage First discrimination means for analyzing the print data stored in the means to determine the total number of pages of the print data, and each page based on the intermediate language generated by the intermediate language generation means A second discriminating means for discriminating, for each page, whether or not a drawing element having a color other than black and white is included, and determining a first page number including a drawing element having a color other than black and white; Based on the drawing data generated by the processing means, it is determined for each page whether each page has a pixel including designation of a color other than black and white, and the second number of pages including a pixel designated with a color other than black and white is determined. Third discriminating means for discriminating, and when the total number of pages does not exceed the color printing limit number, the total page number exceeds the color printing limit number, but the first page number is If the color printing limit number is not exceeded, the first page number exceeds the color printing limit number, but if the second page number does not exceed the color printing limit number, the print data A printing permission / prohibition judging means for judging that printing is possible. Constructed.

  The invention according to claim 2 is the invention according to claim 1, wherein the management means is provided in the print instruction apparatus, and the printing apparatus transmits the number of pages printed in color to the print instruction apparatus. An update instruction means for instructing an update of the color printing limit number managed by the management means is provided.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the management unit is provided in the printing apparatus, and the printing apparatus is managed by the management unit based on the number of pages printed in color. An updating means for updating the color printing limit sheet number is provided.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to third aspects, when the printing apparatus determines that the printing data cannot be printed by the printing permission / prohibition means, the color page is printed with toner save printing. A first determination unit that determines whether printing of the print data is possible, and if the first determination unit determines that printing of the print data is possible by toner save printing, the color page is set to toner. First switching means for switching to save printing.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the fourth aspect of the present invention, when the printing apparatus determines that the print data cannot be printed even by the toner save printing by the first determination means, Second determination means for determining whether or not black and white printing is possible, and determining whether or not printing of the print data is possible using the number of pages obtained by subtracting the number of pages determined to be capable of black and white printing from the total number of color pages; A second switching unit configured to switch the page, which is determined to be monochrome printable by the second determination unit, to monochrome printing when the determination unit determines that the print data can be printed. .

  The invention of claim 6 is not switched to the black and white printing in the case of the invention of claim 5 when the second judging means judges that the print data cannot be printed even by the black and white print switching printing. Third determination means for determining whether or not printing of the previous period print data is possible by performing toner save printing on the color page; and when the third determination means determines that the previous period print data can be printed, And a third switching means for switching color pages that cannot be switched to toner save printing.

  The invention according to claim 7 is the invention according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the printing apparatus determines whether or not black-and-white printing of a color page is possible when the printing permission unit determines that printing of the previous printing data is impossible. The first determination means for determining whether or not the print data can be printed by using the number of pages obtained by subtracting the number of pages determined to be capable of monochrome printing from the total number of color pages, and the first determination means When it is determined that printing of the print data is possible, a first switching unit that switches the page determined to be monochrome printable by the first determination unit to monochrome printing is provided.

The invention according to claim 8 is the invention according to claim 7, wherein the printing apparatus determines that the printing data cannot be printed even by the monochrome printing switching printing by the first judging means. It is determined by the second determination means that it is possible to print the previous period print data by performing toner save printing on a color page that cannot be switched to printing, and the second determination means determines that the previous period print data can be printed. The second switching means for switching the color page to toner save printing.
According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing apparatus for receiving print data described in a page description language capable of distinguishing pages by syntax analysis from a print instruction apparatus, and storing the print data. Storing means for generating, intermediate language generating means for synthesizing the print data stored in the storing means to create an intermediate language comprising a set of drawing elements, and drawing processing means for generating drawing data based on the intermediate language A first determination unit that analyzes the print data stored in the storage unit to determine the total number of pages of the print data, and each page other than black and white based on the intermediate language generated by the intermediate language generation unit A second discriminating unit that discriminates for each page whether a color includes a designated drawing element and discriminates a first page number that includes a drawing element in which a color other than black and white is designated; and the drawing processing unit Generated Based on the drawn data, it is determined for each page whether each page has a pixel including designation of a color other than black and white, and the second number of pages including a pixel designated with a color other than monochrome is determined. And when the total number of pages does not exceed the color printing limit number managed by the management unit of the print instruction apparatus, the total number of pages exceeds the color printing limit number. When the number of one page does not exceed the color printing limit number, the first page number exceeds the color printing limit number, but the second page number does not exceed the color printing limit number. In the case, the print availability determination means for determining that the print data can be printed;
Update instruction means for sending the number of pages printed in color to the print instruction apparatus and instructing to update the limited number of color prints managed by the management means.

  According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing apparatus for receiving print data described in a page description language capable of distinguishing pages by syntax analysis from a print instructing apparatus, and performing printing. Management means for managing; storage means for storing the print data; intermediate language generating means for synthesizing the print data stored in the storage means to create an intermediate language composed of a set of each drawing element; and the intermediate Generated by drawing processing means for generating drawing data based on a language, first determination means for analyzing the print data stored in the storage means and determining the total number of pages of the print data, and the intermediate language generation means Based on the intermediate language, it is determined for each page whether each page includes a drawing element for which a color other than black and white is specified, and the first page number including a drawing element for which a color other than black and white is specified is determined. 2 And determining whether each page has a pixel including designation of a color other than black and white based on the rendering data generated by the rendering unit and the rendering processing unit, and includes a pixel for which a color other than monochrome is designated for each page. A third discriminating unit for discriminating a second page number; and, if the total page number does not exceed the color print limit number managed by the management unit, the total page number is less than the color print limit number. If the first page number does not exceed the color printing limit number, the first page number exceeds the color printing limit number, but the second page number exceeds the color printing limit number. If the print limit number has not been exceeded, the printability determination means for determining that the print data can be printed, and the color print limit number managed by the management means based on the number of pages printed in color are updated. Update means Configured.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to shorten the processing time required to start printing for printing managed by the limited number of color printing, as compared with the case where the determination is always made by an intermediate language or drawing processing.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, there is an effect that the color printing limit number managed by the print instruction apparatus is updated after color printing.

  According to the invention of claim 3, there is an effect that the color printing limit number managed by the printing apparatus is updated after color printing.

  According to the fourth aspect of the invention, there is an effect that printing limited by the color limit number is printed by toner save printing.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, even when the print data limited by the color limit number cannot be printed even if the reduction of the color material due to toner save printing is taken into consideration, only the page satisfying the monochrome printing condition is printed in monochrome. This produces the effect of printing.

  According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the print data limited by the color limit number of sheets cannot be printed even if the reduction of the color material due to the toner save printing is considered, and only the pages satisfying the monochrome printing condition are printed in monochrome. Even when printing cannot be performed even if the reduction of color pages due to the above is taken into consideration, the color page that satisfies the monochrome printing condition is printed in black and white, and the color page that does not satisfy the monochrome printing condition is printed by toner save printing. Play.

  According to the invention of claim 7, there is an effect that the print data limited by the color limit number is printed by monochrome printing a color page satisfying the monochrome printing condition.

  According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, even if the print data limited by the color limit number of sheets cannot be printed even if the monochrome printing of the color page satisfying the monochrome printing condition is considered, the color page satisfying the monochrome printing condition is satisfied. Is printed in black and white, and a color page that does not satisfy the black and white printing condition is printed by toner save printing.

  According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to shorten the processing time required to start printing for printing managed by the limited number of color printing, as compared with the case where the determination is always made by an intermediate language or drawing processing.

  According to the tenth aspect of the present invention, there is an effect that printing is performed with the limited number of color printing managed by the printing apparatus.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  First, the configuration of the printing system 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an outline of the configuration of the printing system 1.

  As shown in FIG. 1, in a printing system 1, a host computer 10 that is a print job transmission terminal and a printing apparatus 100 are connected to each other via an interface 50 so that they can communicate with each other.

  The interface 50 is communicably connected to a client computer 18 that instructs printing using the host computer 10 as a print server.

  With respect to the interface 50, a print job output from the host computer 10 or the client computer 18 can be transmitted to the printing apparatus 100, and the number of color pages printed by the printing apparatus 100, which will be described later, is transmitted to the host computer 10 or the client computer 18. As long as the interface can transmit, any connection form such as the Internet, a network connection such as a LAN (Local Area Network), a USB (Universal Serial Bus), and a parallel port may be used.

  Next, the configuration of the host computer 10 and the printing apparatus 100 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the host computer 10 and the printing apparatus 100.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the host computer 2 includes an application 11, a PDL generation unit 12, a color printing restriction management unit 13, and a transmission / reception unit 14.

  In addition, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the printing apparatus 100 includes a transmission / reception unit 101, a PDL storage unit 102, a PDL syntax analysis unit 103, an intermediate language generation unit 104, a drawing processing unit 105, a print page number return unit 106, and a print permission determination. A unit 107, a page number determination unit 108, an intermediate language monochrome determination unit 109, an image monochrome determination unit 110, and a print output unit 111.

  The application 11 included in the host computer 2 is a document application that generates document data.

  The PDL generation unit 12 converts document data generated by the application 11 into PDL data in the PDL language.

The color printing restriction management unit 13 counts the number of pages of paper that can be printed in color (hereinafter,
The number of pages of paper that can be printed in color is referred to as “number of pages that can be printed in color”. ) Is managed. The color print number limit information may be managed in association with an arbitrary attribute such as for each host computer, for each user, or for each printing apparatus.

  Further, the color printing restriction management unit 13 generates a print job by adding color printing number restriction information to the PDL data generated by the PDL generation unit 12.

  The transmission / reception unit 14 exchanges information with the printing apparatus 100 through the interface 50.

  The transmission / reception unit 101 of the printing apparatus 100 exchanges information with the host computer 2 through the interface 50. In addition, when the transmission / reception unit 101 receives a print job from the host computer 2, the transmission / reception unit 101 sends color print number limit information included in the print job to the printability determination unit 107 and sends PDL data included in the print job to the PDL storage unit 102. .

  The PDL storage unit 102 stores the PDL data of the print job sent from the transmission / reception unit 101.

  The PDL syntax analysis unit 103 performs syntax analysis of PDL data stored in the PDL storage unit 102.

  The intermediate language generation unit 104 generates intermediate language data from the PDL data.

  The drawing processing unit 105 generates bitmap-format image data to be printed.

  The print page number returning unit 106 sends the number of color prints actually printed by the print output unit 111 to the host computer 50 through the transmission / reception unit 101 and the interface 50.

  The printability determination unit 107 determines whether or not printing is possible based on the information regarding the number of pages sent from the page number determination unit 108, the intermediate language monochrome determination unit 109, and the image monochrome determination unit 110, and the color print number limit information.

  The page number determination unit 108 performs processing for calculating the number of pages of the print job based on the data analyzed by the PDL syntax analysis unit 103.

  Based on the intermediate language data generated by the intermediate language generation unit 104, the intermediate language monochrome determination unit 109 determines whether each drawing element is color or monochrome, and calculates the number of color pages included in the print job. To do.

  The image monochrome determination unit 110 determines whether each page is color or monochrome based on the bitmap data drawn by the drawing processing unit 105, and calculates the number of color pages included in the print job.

  Then, information on the number of pages and the number of color pages calculated by the page number determination unit 108, the intermediate language monochrome determination unit 109, and the image monochrome determination unit is sent to the print permission determination unit 107 to be used as a material for determining whether printing is possible. .

  The print output unit 111 performs a process of printing out the bitmap data generated by the drawing processing unit 105 on paper. In addition, the print output unit 111 performs the same determination as the image monochrome determination unit 110 as to whether each page of the bitmap data printed out is color or monochrome, and sends the number of color printed pages to the print page number return unit 106. .

  In the printing apparatus 100 configured as described above, the page number determination unit 108 counts the NewPage command of the PDL data as shown in FIG.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 4B, the intermediate language monochrome determination unit 109 determines whether each drawing element is color or monochrome based on the intermediate language data generated by the intermediate language generation unit 104. The number of color pages of the print job is calculated. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 4B, it is determined that only the drawing elements of Image (0,0)-(160,100) are in color.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 4C, the image monochrome determination unit 110 determines whether the bitmap data actually used for printing generated by the drawing processing unit 105 is printed in color or monochrome. To be judged. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 4C, the image of the drawing element (reference number 401) is set to color and the logo mark (reference number 402) is set to monochrome in the determination based on the intermediate language data. In the determination based on the data, since the logo mark is arranged in front of the image, only the logo mark is printed when printed (reference number 403), and the page where the image and the logo mark overlap is determined to be monochrome.

  Next, processing when the printing apparatus 100 receives a print job will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating processing when the printing apparatus 100 receives a print job.

  When a print job in which color print number limit information is added to PDL data is sent from the host computer 10 to the printing apparatus 100, the print job is received by the transmission / reception unit 101 of the printing apparatus 100.

  For the print job received by the transmission / reception unit 101, the included color print number limit information is sent to the printability determination unit 107, and the included PDL data is sent to the PDL storage unit 102.

  In the PDL data sent to the PDL storage unit 102, the total number of pages when the PDL data is printed is calculated by the PDL syntax analysis unit 103 and the page number determination unit 108 (step 301).

  When the total number of pages of PDL data is calculated in step 301, the total number of pages and the color print number limit information are compared by the printability determination unit 107, and whether or not the total number of pages exceeds the number of pages that can be color printed. Determination is made (step 302).

  If the total number of pages does not exceed the number of pages that can be printed in color (NO in step 302), the PDL data is processed by the PDL syntax analysis unit 103, the intermediate language generation unit 104, the drawing processing unit 105, and the print output unit 111. Is printed out (step 305).

  However, when the total number of pages exceeds the number of pages that can be color-printed in step 302 (YES in step 302), the next print propriety determination unit 107 performs the print propriety determination unit 107.

  In step 302, whether to print or not is determined based on whether the number of color pages and the color print number limit information calculated by the intermediate language monochrome determination unit 109 are determined for each drawing element. It is determined in step 303 whether or not the number of color pages calculated and compared exceeds the number of pages that can be printed in color (step 303).

  If the number of color pages calculated by the intermediate language monochrome determination unit 109 does not exceed the number of pages that can be printed in color (NO in step 303), the PDL data is printed out (step 305).

  However, if the number of color pages calculated by the intermediate language monochrome determination unit 109 in step 303 exceeds the number of pages that can be printed in color (YES in step 303), the next printability determination is performed.

  The next print permission determination in step 303 is described in the number of color pages calculated by the image monochrome determination unit 110 by determining whether the bitmap data to be printed is color or monochrome, and the color print number limit information. The number of pages that can be printed in color is compared by the printability determination unit 107, and it is determined whether or not the number of color pages calculated by the image monochrome determination unit 110 exceeds the number of pages that can be printed in color (step 304).

  If the number of color pages calculated by the image monochrome determination unit 110 does not exceed the number of pages that can be printed in color (NO in step 304), PDL data is printed out (step 305).

  However, if the number of color pages calculated by the image monochrome determination unit 110 in step 304 exceeds the number of pages that can be printed in color (YES in step 304), printing of the received print job is stopped.

  When PDL data is printed by the printing apparatus 100 (step 305), the number of color pages actually printed out by the print output unit 111 is sent from the print output unit 111 to the print page number return unit 106. Then, the data is transmitted from the transmission / reception unit 101 to the host computer 10 through the interface 50.

  The host computer 10 that has received the number of color pages actually printed out is actually printed out from the number of pages that can be printed in the color print number limit information managed by the color print limit management unit 13. The number of color pages is subtracted, and the calculated value is overwritten and stored as the number of pages that can be printed in color, and the color print number limit information is updated.

  As described above, the printing apparatus 100 compares the total number of pages (step 302), the comparison with intermediate data (step 303), and the comparison with bitmap data (step 303) for the print job to which the color print number limit information is added. Whether or not printing is permitted by the color printing number limit information by performing step 304) ((the number of sheets on which color printing is output is within the number of pages that can be color printed in the color printing number limit information)). Determine and print. As a result, the printing apparatus 100 determines a color page and a monochrome page at high speed and strictly.

  The host computer 10 is a print server. When a print job is generated by the client computer 18 and a print instruction is issued, the print job transmitted from the client computer 18 is stored in the host computer 10. The host computer 10 sequentially sends print jobs to the printing apparatus 100. When a print job is transmitted from the client computer 18, the client computer 18 has the same configuration as the host computer 10 described in FIG. 2, and has the same function.

  In the second embodiment, the host computer 20 configured to further include the monochrome conversion permission information management unit 24 in the configuration of the host computer 10 in the first embodiment, and the monochrome conversion unit 212 in the configuration of the printing apparatus 200 in the first embodiment. Further, a description will be given of the printing system 2 in which the printing apparatus 200, which is a printing apparatus that is provided, is connected by the interface 50.

  In addition, since what has the same reference number as the reference number demonstrated in Example 1 has the same function as the same structure, the description about it is abbreviate | omitted.

  First, the configuration of the host computer 20 and the printing apparatus 200 constituting the printing system 2 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the host computer 20 and the printing apparatus 200 that constitute the printing system 2.

  The host computer 20 includes an application 11, a PDL generation unit 12, a monochrome conversion permission information management unit 21, a color printing restriction management unit 13, and a transmission / reception unit 14.

  The host computer 20 is communicably connected to the printing apparatus 200 via the interface 50.

  The printing apparatus 200 includes a transmission / reception unit 101, a PDL storage unit 102, a PDL syntax analysis unit 103, a monochrome conversion unit 212, an intermediate language generation unit 104, a drawing processing unit 105, a print page number return unit 106, a print availability determination unit 207, a page A number determination unit 108, an intermediate language monochrome determination unit 109, an image monochrome determination unit 110, and a print output unit 211.

  The monochrome conversion permission information management unit 21 of the host computer 20 manages the monochrome conversion permission information, and adds arbitrary monochrome conversion permission information to the PDL data when the user gives a print instruction.

  The monochrome conversion permission information is information regarding whether or not the print data may be converted into monochrome when the bitmap data used for printing is color.

  For example, depending on the print job, you may want to print only pages with photographic images in color, but other pages may be in black and white, or if all pages cannot be printed due to the limited number of color prints, print all pages in black and white. The monochrome conversion permission information is included in the print job, and the printing apparatus 200 performs printing corresponding to such a request. The color printing number limit information is information in which the number of pages of paper that can be printed in color (hereinafter, the number of pages of paper that can be printed in color is referred to as “number of pages that can be printed in color”). is there.

  Specific contents of the monochrome conversion permission information include “information on the color print number correction coefficient when printing in the toner save mode and information indicating whether or not the print job may be printed in the toner save mode”, "Information indicating whether characters can be printed in monochrome", "Information regarding whether characters other than the specified color can be printed in monochrome", "Characters other than the specified color in monochrome "Printing information and specified color information", "Information indicating whether or not an image can be printed in monochrome", "Printing a specific format image in monochrome "Information indicating whether or not it is acceptable", "information indicating whether or not an image with a certain number of colors can be printed in monochrome", "printing an image with a certain number of colors as monochrome May "Information indicating whether or not graphics may be printed in monochrome", "information indicating whether or not graphics other than the specific color may be printed in monochrome", " Information indicating whether graphics other than the designated color can be printed in monochrome ”or the like.

In the toner save mode, since the amount of toner used is reduced, the amount of toner used for one sheet of paper to be printed is equivalent to the number of sheets less than 1 for normal printing compared to one for normal printing. Can be considered.
For example, if the limit number of color printing is 100 and the correction coefficient in the toner save mode is 0.5, the maximum of 200 sheets can be printed by using the toner save mode.

  The monochrome conversion permission information added to the PDL data may be set in advance in the host computer 20 or may be selected by the user when the user issues a print instruction.

  Also, the monochrome conversion unit 212 included in the printing apparatus 200 performs a process for converting the PDL data into monochrome when the printability determination unit 207 determines to print the page after performing monochrome conversion.

  The print page number return unit 206 calculates a color page to be transmitted to the host computer 20 based on the number of printed color pages sent from the print output unit 211.

  The printability determination unit 207 receives the monochrome conversion permission information included in the print job, the number of pages of the print job sent from the page number determination unit 108, and the intermediate language monochrome determination unit 109 calculated based on intermediate language data. Whether or not printing is possible is determined based on the number of color pages to be sent, the number of color pages sent from the image / monochrome determination unit 110 calculated based on the bitmap data, and the color print number limit information.

  In the host computer 20 configured as described above, when a print instruction is issued from the user, the document data generated by the application 11 is converted into PDL data by the PDL generation unit 12.

  Then, the monochrome conversion permission information management unit 24 adds monochrome conversion permission information to the PDL data, and the color printing restriction management unit 13 adds color printing number restriction information to generate a print job.

  The generated print job is transmitted from the transmission / reception unit 15 to the printing apparatus 200 through the interface 50.

  Next, processing in the printing apparatus 200 that has received a print job will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating processing of the printing apparatus 200 that has received a print job.

  A print job transmitted from the host computer 20 is received by the transmission / reception unit 101 of the printing apparatus 200.

  The transmission / reception unit 101 sends the monochrome conversion permission information and the color print number limit information included in the received print job to the printability determination unit 207, and sends the PDL data included in the received print job to the PDL storage unit 102.

  In the PDL data sent to the PDL storage unit 102, the total number of pages when the PDL data is printed is calculated by the PDL syntax analysis unit 103 and the page number determination unit 108 (step 601).

  When the total page number of the PDL data is calculated in step 601, the total page number and the color print number limit information are compared by the printability determination unit 207, and the total page number is the color described in the color print number limit information. It is determined whether or not the number of pages that can be printed is exceeded (step 602).

  If the total number of pages does not exceed the number of pages that can be printed in color (NO in step 602), the PDL data is processed by the PDL syntax analysis unit 103, the intermediate language generation unit 104, the drawing processing unit 105, and the print output unit 211. Is printed out (step 609).

  However, when the total number of pages exceeds the number of pages that can be color-printed in step 602 (YES in step 602), the next print propriety determination unit 207 performs the print propriety determination unit 207.

  In step 602, whether printing is possible or not is determined based on whether the number of color pages calculated by the intermediate language monochrome determination unit 109 is determined for each drawing element and whether the number of color pages is monochrome or the number of color prints. It is determined whether or not the number of color pages calculated and compared by the unit 207 exceeds the number of pages that can be color printed (step 603).

  If the number of color pages calculated by the intermediate language monochrome determination unit 109 does not exceed the number of pages that can be printed in color (NO in step 603), the PDL data is printed out (step 609).

  However, if the number of color pages calculated by the intermediate language monochrome determination unit 109 in step 603 exceeds the number of pages that can be printed in color (YES in step 603), the next print propriety determination is the print propriety determination unit 207. Done in

  In step 603, whether or not printing is possible is determined based on whether or not the bitmap data to be printed is color or monochrome and the number of color pages calculated by the image monochrome determination unit 110 and the color printing number limit information. It is determined whether or not the number of color pages compared by the determination unit 207 and calculated by the image monochrome determination unit 110 exceeds the number of pages that can be printed in color (step 604).

  If the number of color pages calculated by the image monochrome determination unit 110 does not exceed the number of pages that can be printed in color (NO in step 604), PDL data is printed out (step 609).

  However, if the number of color pages calculated by the image monochrome determination unit 110 in step 604 exceeds the number of pages that can be color-printed (YES in step 604), then all pages of the PDL data are saved as toner. The printability determination unit 207 determines whether printing is possible depending on the mode.

  Whether or not printing can be performed in the toner save mode is determined by the printability determination unit 207 based on the monochrome conversion permission information and the color print number limit information included in the print job (step 605).

  In other words, the monochrome conversion permission information includes “information that allows the print job to be printed in the toner save mode”, and the total number of pages of the PDL data calculated in step 601 is multiplied by the color print number correction coefficient. When it is confirmed that the number of pages calculated in this way does not exceed the number of pages that can be printed in color described in the color print number limit information, it is determined that printing in the toner save mode is possible (YES in step 605). .

  If it is determined in step 605 that printing in the toner save mode is possible (YES in step 605), the print output unit 211 is instructed to switch so that the received PDL data is printed in the toner save mode (step 608). The bitmap data obtained by converting the received PDL data is printed in toner save mode by the print output unit 211 (step 609).

  When all the PDL data of the print job is printed in the toner save mode (when printing is YES from step 605), the print page number return unit 206 prints the actual color page printed by the print output unit 211. The number of pages obtained by multiplying the number of sheets by the correction coefficient at the time of toner save is calculated as a color page to be sent to the host computer 20.

Then, the calculated number of color pages is sent from the transmission / reception unit 101 to the host computer 20 (step 610). In the host computer 20, the color printed in the color print number limit information stored in the color print limit management unit 13 is recorded. A value calculated by subtracting the received number of color pages from the number of printable pages is written in the color print number limit information as the number of new color printable pages.
If it is determined in step 605 that all of the PDL data cannot be printed in the toner save mode (NO in step 605), the print enable / disable determining unit 207 then switches part of the PDL data to monochrome printing to change color. It is determined whether printing can be performed while keeping the number of printable pages.

  Whether or not printing that is permitted by switching to monochrome printing (printing within the number of pages that can be printed in color as specified in the color printing number limit information) can be performed in a print job Based on the included monochrome conversion permission information and color print number limit information, the print permission determination unit 207 performs the determination (step 606).

  That is, printing conditions that can be converted to monochrome described in the monochrome conversion permission information are selected, and PDL data in which some of the components are converted to monochrome by applying the printing conditions is generated by the monochrome conversion unit 212. Bitmap data of the PDL data is generated by the rendering processing unit 105, and the number of color pages printed by the bitmap data is calculated by the image monochrome determination unit 110. Examples of print conditions that can be converted to monochrome described in the monochrome conversion permission information include, for example, “print an image with a certain number of colors in monochrome” or “print an image with a certain number of colors into monochrome”. To print ". When the color pages of the printed matter calculated by the image monochrome determination unit 110 and printed with some components converted to monochrome are less than or equal to the number of pages that can be printed in the color printing number limit information Is determined to be able to execute printing permitted by switching to monochrome printing (printing within the number of pages that can be printed in color, which is printed in the color printing number limit information) (step 606). YES)

  If it is determined that it can be executed (YES in step 606), the bitmap data generated by the drawing processing unit 105 at the time of determination and in which some components are converted to monochrome is used (step 608), and printed out. Printing processing is performed in the unit 211 (step 609).

  When printing is performed, the number of color pages actually printed is calculated by the print output unit 211, and the number of color pages is sent from the transmission / reception unit 101 to the host computer 20 via the print page return unit 206. (Step 610).

  In the host computer 20, a value calculated by subtracting the number of received color pages from the number of pages that can be printed in the color printing number limit information stored in the color printing limit management unit 13 is newly set as a color. The number of pages that can be printed is written in the color print number limit information.

  If it is determined in step 606 that permitted printing cannot be executed even when switching to monochrome printing (NO in step 606), then the printability determination unit 207 does not convert to monochrome according to the determination in step 606. By printing the color page in the toner save mode, it is determined whether printing can be performed while keeping the number of pages that can be color printed (step 607).

  That is, first, it is confirmed that the monochrome conversion permission information included in the print job describes a print condition “the print job may be output in the toner save mode”.

  Next, in the monochrome conversion permission information, the number of color pages of the printed matter that is printed by converting some of the components into monochrome determined by the image monochrome determination unit 110 at the time of determination in step 606 is written. It is determined whether or not the number of pages calculated by multiplying the color printing number correction coefficient is equal to or less than the number of pages that can be color printed (step 607).

  If the calculated number of pages is less than or equal to the number of pages that can be color-printed, it is determined that printing that is permitted is possible by printing some color pages that are not monochrome-converted in toner save mode (YES in step 607). ).

  If YES is determined in step 607, the page number of the page to be printed in the toner save mode is sent from the printability determination unit 207 to the print output unit 211 (step 608), and is generated by the drawing processing unit 105 in step 606. Bit map data in which some components are converted to monochrome is used (step 608), and color page printing and monochrome printing in the toner save mode are performed by the print output unit 211 (step 609).

  When printing is performed, the number of color pages actually printed is calculated by the print output unit 211, and the value obtained by multiplying the number of color pages by the color print number correction coefficient in the toner save mode is the number of printed pages. Calculated by the return unit 206.

  The calculated value is sent from the transmission / reception unit 101 to the host computer 20 (step 610).

  In the host computer 20, the value calculated by subtracting the received value from the number of pages that can be printed in the color printing number limit information stored in the color printing limit management unit 13 is a page that can be newly printed in color. The number is recorded in the color print number limit information.

  As described above, when the host computer 20 sends a print job including the monochrome conversion permission information and the color print number limit information to the printing apparatus 200 and the printing apparatus 200 does not have the PDL data permitted by the color print number limit information. Is subjected to monochrome conversion processing based on the monochrome conversion permission information, and printing is performed so that the number of sheets to be printed with color printing is equal to or less than the number of pages that can be printed in the color printing number limit information.

  In the third embodiment, a host computer that transmits a print job is not provided with a color print restriction management unit that manages color print number limit information, and a color printing restriction management unit is provided in a printing apparatus that receives a print job. The printing system 3 will be described.

  In addition, since what has the same reference number as the reference number demonstrated in Example 1 and Example 2 has the same function as the same structure, the description about it is abbreviate | omitted.

  First, the configuration of the printing system 3 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing an outline of the configuration of the printing system 3.

  As shown in FIG. 7, in the printing system 3, a host computer 30 that generates and transmits a print job and a printing apparatus 300 are connected via an interface 60 so that they can communicate with each other.

  With respect to the interface 60, any connection form such as the Internet, a network connection such as a LAN, a USB, a parallel port, or the like may be used as long as it can transmit a print job from the host computer 30 to the printing apparatus 300. Note that the interface 60 may be a one-way communication interface from the host computer 30 to the printing apparatus 300, unlike the interface 50 described in the first and second embodiments.

  Unlike the printing systems 1 and 2 described in the first and second embodiments, the printing system 3 described in the third embodiment has a color printing control management unit installed in the printing apparatus 300.

  Next, the configuration of the host computer 30 and the printing apparatus 300 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an outline of the configuration of the host computer 30 and the printing apparatus 300.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the host computer 30 includes an application 11, a PDL generation unit 12, and a transmission / reception unit 14.

  The printing apparatus 300 includes a transmission / reception unit 101, a PDL storage unit 102, a PDL syntax analysis unit 103, an intermediate language generation unit 104, a drawing processing unit 105, a page number determination unit 108, an intermediate language monochrome determination unit 109, and an image monochrome determination unit. 110, a print output unit 111, a print availability determination unit 307, and a color print restriction management unit 313.

  The print propriety determination unit 307 determines whether the print job can be printed based on the color print number limit information stored in the color print limit management unit 313.

  A color printing restriction management unit 313 manages color printing number restriction information. The number-of-color-print limit information is information in which the number of pages of paper that can be printed in color (hereinafter, the number of pages of paper that can be printed in color is referred to as “number of pages that can be printed in color”) is described. It may be managed in association with an arbitrary attribute such as each host computer that transmits a print job, each user, or each printing apparatus.

  Next, processing when the printing apparatus 300 receives a print job transmitted from the host computer 30 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating processing when the printing apparatus 300 receives a print job.

  First, based on document data generated by the application 11 of the host computer 30, a print job is generated by the PDL generation unit 12, and then the print job is transmitted from the transmission / reception unit 14 to the printing apparatus 300.

  The transmitted print job is received by the transmission / reception unit 101 of the printing apparatus 300, and PDL data included in the print job is accumulated in the PDL accumulation unit 102.

  In the PDL data, the total number of pages when the PDL data is printed is calculated by the PDL syntax analysis unit 103 and the page number determination unit 108 (step 901).

  When the total number of pages of the PDL data is calculated in step 901, the printable / unusable determination unit 902 can perform color printing on the total number of pages and the color print number limit information recorded in the color print limit management unit 313. The number is compared (step 902).

  As a result of the comparison, if the total number of pages does not exceed the number of pages that can be printed in color (NO in step 902), the PDL data stored in the PDL storage unit 102 is stored in the PDL syntax analysis unit 103, the intermediate language generation unit. 104, processed by the drawing processing unit 105 and the print output unit 111, and printed out (step 905).

  However, if the total number of pages exceeds the number of pages that can be color-printed in step 902 (YES in step 902), the next print propriety determination unit 307 performs the print propriety determination unit 307.

  In step 902, whether printing is possible or not is determined by determining whether each drawing element is color or monochrome and the number of color pages calculated by the intermediate language monochrome determination unit 109 and the color printing number limit information. It is determined in step 903 whether the number of color pages compared and calculated in step 307 exceeds the number of pages that can be printed in color (step 903).

  If the number of color pages calculated by the intermediate language monochrome determination unit 109 does not exceed the number of pages that can be printed in color (NO in step 903), PDL data is printed out (step 905).

  However, if the number of color pages calculated by the intermediate language monochrome determination unit 109 in step 903 exceeds the number of pages that can be printed in color (YES in step 903), the next printability determination is performed.

  In step 903, whether or not printing is possible is described in the number of color pages calculated by the image monochrome determination unit 110 by determining whether the bitmap data to be printed is color or monochrome, and in the color print number limit information. The number of pages that can be printed in color is compared by the printability determination unit 307, and it is determined whether or not the calculated number of pages of color pages exceeds the number of pages that can be printed in color (step 904).

  If the number of color pages calculated by the image monochrome determination unit 110 does not exceed the number of pages that can be printed in color (NO in step 904), the PDL data is printed out (step 905).

  However, if the number of color pages calculated by the image monochrome determination unit 110 in step 904 exceeds the number of pages that can be printed in color (YES in step 904), printing of the received print job is stopped.

  When PDL data is printed by the printing apparatus 300 (step 905), the number of color pages actually printed out by the print output unit 111 is calculated and sent to the color print restriction management unit 313.

  The color printing restriction management unit 313 subtracts the number of color pages actually printed out from the number of pages that can be printed in color, which is described in the color printing number restriction information that is managed, and a page that can be used for color printing of the calculated value. The color print number limit information is updated by overwriting and storing as a number.

  As described above, the printing apparatus 300 includes the color printing restriction management unit 313, and determines whether the received print job can be printed or not, based on the color printing number restriction information stored in the color printing restriction management unit 313. Based on the restriction information.

  In the fourth embodiment, a host computer 40 configured to further include a monochrome conversion permission information management unit 24 in the configuration of the host computer 30 in the third embodiment, and a monochrome conversion unit 212 in the configuration of the printing apparatus 300 in the third embodiment. Further, a description will be given of the printing system 4 in which the printing apparatus 400, which is a printing apparatus that is provided, is connected via the interface 60.

  In addition, since what has the same reference number as the reference number demonstrated in Example 1, 2, 3 has the same function as the same structure, description about it is abbreviate | omitted.

  First, the configuration of the host computer 40 and the printing apparatus 400 constituting the printing system 4 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the host computer 40 and the printing apparatus 400 that constitute the printing system 4.

  The host computer 40 includes an application 11, a PDL generation unit 12, a monochrome conversion permission information management unit 21, and a transmission / reception unit 14.

  The host computer 40 is communicably connected to the printing apparatus 400 via the interface 60.

  The printing apparatus 400 includes a transmission / reception unit 101, a PDL storage unit 102, a PDL syntax analysis unit 103, a monochrome conversion unit 212, an intermediate language generation unit 104, a drawing processing unit 105, a color printing restriction management unit 313, a print availability determination unit 407, a page. A number determination unit 108, an intermediate language monochrome determination unit 109, an image monochrome determination unit 110, and a print output unit 211.

  As described in the second embodiment, the monochrome conversion permission information management unit 21 of the host computer 20 manages the monochrome conversion permission information, and when the user issues a print instruction, the monochrome conversion permission information is stored in the PDL data. Append to

  The monochrome conversion permission information added to the PDL data may be set in advance in the host computer 40, or may be selected by the user when the user issues a print instruction.

  In addition, as described in the second exemplary embodiment, the monochrome conversion unit 212 included in the printing apparatus 400 converts the PDL data into monochrome when the printability determination unit 207 determines to print the page after performing monochrome conversion. Process.

  In the printing system 4 configured as described above, a print job including monochrome conversion permission information is sent from the host computer 4 to the printing apparatus 400.

In the printing apparatus 400, the color printing limit management unit 313 manages color printing number limit information. The color print number limit information describes the number of pages of paper that can be color-printed (hereinafter, the number of pages of paper that can be color-printed is referred to as “number of pages that can be color-printed”). In the printing apparatus 400, the printability determination unit 407 determines whether or not the PDL data included in the print job is the number of pages that can be printed in color, and if it is not the number of pages that can be printed in color. A monochrome conversion process or the like based on the monochrome conversion permission information is performed, and printing is performed in accordance with the number of pages that can be printed in color described in the color print number limit information.
Next, processing performed by the printing apparatus 400 that has received a print job sent from the host computer 40 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating processing performed when the printing apparatus 400 receives a print job.

  A print job transmitted from the host computer 40 is received by the transmission / reception unit 101 of the printing apparatus 400.

  The transmission / reception unit 101 sends monochrome conversion permission information included in the received print job to the print permission determination unit 407, and sends PDL data included in the received print job to the PDL storage unit 102.

  In the PDL data sent to the PDL storage unit 102, the total number of pages when the PDL data is printed is calculated by the PDL syntax analysis unit 103 and the page number determination unit 108 (step 1101).

  When the total page number of the PDL data is calculated in step 1101, the total page number and the color print number limit information stored in the color print limit management unit 313 are compared by the printability determination unit 407, and the total page number is calculated. It is determined whether or not the number of pages that can be printed in color described in the color print number limit information is exceeded (step 1102).

  If the total number of pages does not exceed the number of pages that can be printed in color (NO in step 1102), the PDL data is processed by the PDL syntax analysis unit 103, the intermediate language generation unit 104, the drawing processing unit 105, and the print output unit 211. Is printed out (step 1108).

  However, if the total number of pages exceeds the number of pages that can be printed in color in step 1102 (YES in step 1102), the next print propriety determination unit 407 performs the print propriety determination unit 407.

  In step 1102, whether or not printing is possible is determined by determining whether the number of color pages calculated by the intermediate language monochrome determination unit 109 is determined for each drawing element and whether the number of color pages is monochrome or the number of pieces of color printing. A comparison is made in the section 407, and it is determined whether or not the calculated number of color pages exceeds the number of pages that can be color printed (step 1103).

  If the number of color pages calculated by the intermediate language monochrome determination unit 109 does not exceed the number of pages that can be printed in color (NO in step 1103), the PDL data is printed out (step 1108).

  However, if the number of color pages calculated by the intermediate language monochrome determination unit 109 in step 1103 exceeds the number of pages that can be printed in color (YES in step 1103), the next print propriety determination is the print propriety determination unit 407. Done in

  In step 1103, whether to print is determined based on whether the bitmap data to be printed is color or monochrome and the number of color pages calculated by the image monochrome determination unit 110 and the color print number limit information. It is determined whether or not the number of color pages compared by the determination unit 407 and calculated by the image monochrome determination unit 110 exceeds the number of pages that can be color printed (step 1104).

  If the number of color pages calculated by the image monochrome determination unit 110 does not exceed the number of pages that can be printed in color (NO in step 1104), PDL data is printed out (step 1106).

  However, if the number of color pages calculated by the image / monochrome determination unit 110 in step 1104 exceeds the number of pages that can be printed in color (YES in step 1104), then all pages of the PDL data are saved as toner. The printability determination unit 407 determines whether printing is possible depending on the mode.

  Whether or not printing can be performed in the toner save mode is determined based on the monochrome conversion permission information included in the print job and the color print number limit information managed by the color print limit management unit 313. (Step 1105).

  In other words, the monochrome conversion permission information includes “information that the print job may be printed in the toner save mode”, and the total number of pages of the PDL data calculated in step 1101 is multiplied by the color print number correction coefficient. When it is confirmed that the number of pages calculated in this way does not exceed the number of pages that can be printed in the color printing number limit information, it is determined that printing in the toner save mode is possible (YES in step 1105). .

  If it is determined in step 1105 that printing in the toner save mode is possible (YES in step 1105), a switching instruction is issued to the print output unit 211 so that the received PDL data is printed in the toner save mode (step 1107). The bitmap data obtained by converting the received PDL data is printed in toner save mode by the print output unit 211 (step 1109).

  When all the PDL data of the print job is printed in the toner save mode (when printing is started from YES in step 1105), the actual number of color pages printed by the print output unit 211 is the color print restriction management unit 313. Sent to.

  Then, the color printing restriction management unit 313 calculates the number of pages obtained by multiplying the number of actually printed color pages by the correction coefficient at the time of toner save, and calculates the number of pages that can be color printed from the color printing number restriction information. The calculated number of pages is reduced, and the value calculated by the reduction is overwritten and stored as the number of pages that can be newly printed in color, and the color print number limit information is updated (step 1110).

  If it is determined in step 1105 that not all of the PDL data can be printed in the toner save mode (NO in step 1105), the print enable / disable determination unit 407 then switches a part of the PDL data to monochrome printing to change the color. It is determined whether printing can be performed while keeping the number of printable pages.

  Whether or not printing that is permitted by switching to monochrome printing (printing within the number of pages that can be printed in color as specified in the color printing number limit information) can be performed in a print job Based on the included monochrome conversion permission information and the color print number limit information managed by the color print limit management unit 313, the print permission determination unit 407 performs the process (step 1106).

  That is, printing conditions that can be converted to monochrome described in the monochrome conversion permission information are selected, and PDL data in which some of the components are converted to monochrome by applying the printing conditions is generated by the monochrome conversion unit 212. The number of color pages printed with the bitmap data is calculated by the image monochrome determination unit 110. Examples of print conditions that can be converted to monochrome described in the monochrome conversion permission information include, for example, “print an image with a certain number of colors in monochrome” or “print an image with a certain number of colors into monochrome”. To print ". When the color pages of the printed matter calculated by the image monochrome determination unit 110 and printed with some components converted to monochrome are less than or equal to the number of pages that can be printed in the color printing number limit information Is determined to be permitted to be performed by switching to monochrome printing (YES in step 1106).

  If it is determined that it can be executed (YES in step 1106), bitmap data generated by the drawing processing unit 105 at the time of determination and in which some components are converted to monochrome is used (step 1108), and printed out. Printing processing is performed in the unit 211 (step 1109).

  When printing is performed, the number of color pages actually printed is calculated by the print output unit 211, and the number of color pages is sent to the color printing restriction management unit 313.

  In the color print restriction management unit 313, a value calculated by subtracting the number of received color pages from the number of pages that can be printed in color stored in the stored color print number limit information is used as the number of pages that can be newly printed in color. The color print number limit information is updated by overwriting (step 1110).

  If it is determined in step 1106 that permitted printing cannot be executed even if switching to monochrome printing (NO in step 1106), then the printability determination unit 407 does not convert to monochrome according to the determination in step 1106. By printing the color page in the toner save mode, it is determined whether printing can be performed while keeping the number of pages that can be color printed (step 1107).

  That is, first, it is confirmed that the monochrome conversion permission information included in the print job describes a print condition “the print job may be output in the toner save mode”.

  Next, the color recorded in the monochrome conversion permission information is the number of pages of the color page of the printed matter that is printed by converting some of the components into monochrome determined by the image monochrome determination unit 110 at the time of determination in step 1106. It is determined whether or not the number of pages calculated by multiplying the print number correction coefficient is equal to or less than the number of pages that can be printed in color (step 1107).

  If the calculated number of pages is less than or equal to the number of pages that can be color-printed, it is determined that printing is permitted by printing some color pages that are not monochrome-converted in the toner save mode (YES in step 1107). ).

  If YES is determined in step 1107, the page number of the page to be printed in the toner save mode is sent from the printability determination unit 407 to the print output unit 211 (step 1108), and is generated by the drawing processing unit 105 in step 1106. Bit map data in which some components are converted to monochrome is used (step 1108), and color page printing and monochrome printing in the toner save mode are performed by the print output unit 211 (step 1109).

  When printing is performed, the number of color pages actually printed by the print output unit 211 is calculated and sent to the color print restriction management unit 313.

  The color print limit management unit 313 calculates the value by multiplying the number of received color pages by the color print number correction coefficient in the toner save mode, and calculates the value from the number of pages that can be color printed in the color print number limit information. The calculated value is decremented, and the value calculated by decrementing is overwritten and stored as the number of pages that can be newly printed in color, and the color print number limit information is updated (step 1110).

  The present invention can be used in a printing system and a printing apparatus.

1 is a schematic diagram showing an outline of a configuration of a printing system 1. FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a host computer 10 and a printing apparatus 100. 6 is a flowchart showing processing in the printing apparatus 100. Schematic diagram showing an example of reading the number of color pages. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a host computer 20 and a printing apparatus 200. 5 is a flowchart showing processing in the printing apparatus 200. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an outline of a configuration of a printing system 3. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a host computer 30 and a printing apparatus 300. 6 is a flowchart illustrating processing in the printing apparatus 300. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating configurations of a host computer 40 and a printing apparatus 400. 5 is a flowchart illustrating processing in the printing apparatus 400.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Printing system 2 Printing system 3 Printing system 4 Printing system 10 Host computer 20 Host computer 30 Host computer 40 Host computer 100 Printing apparatus 200 Printing apparatus 300 Printing apparatus 400 Printing apparatus 50 Interface 60 Interface 11 Application 12 PDL generation part 13 Color printing restrictions Management unit 14 Transmission / reception unit 21 Monochrome conversion permission information management unit 101 Transmission / reception unit 102 PDL storage unit 103 PDL syntax analysis unit 104 Intermediate language generation unit 105 Rendering processing unit 106 Print page number return unit 107 Print availability determination unit 108 Page number determination unit 109 Intermediate language monochrome determination unit 110 Image monochrome determination unit 111 Print output unit 206 Print page number return unit 207 Print availability determination unit 211 Print output 212 monochrome conversion unit 307 print permission determination unit 313 color print restriction management unit 407 print permission determination unit

Claims (10)

A print instruction device that sends print data described in a page description language that can distinguish pages by parsing and issues a print instruction;
A printing apparatus that receives and prints the print data transmitted from the printing apparatus;
Management means for managing the color printing limit number in the printing apparatus,
The printing apparatus includes:
Storage means for storing the print data;
Intermediate language generation means for synthesizing the print data stored in the storage means to create an intermediate language consisting of a set of drawing elements;
Drawing processing means for generating drawing data based on the intermediate language;
First determination means for analyzing the print data stored in the storage means and determining the total number of pages of the print data;
Based on the intermediate language generated by the intermediate language generation means, each page includes a drawing element in which a color other than black and white is specified by determining whether each page includes a drawing element in which a color other than black and white is specified. Second discriminating means for discriminating the number of pages;
A second page including a pixel for which a color other than black and white is specified by determining for each page whether there is a pixel including a designation for a color other than black and white on each page based on the drawing data generated by the drawing processing means A third discriminating means for discriminating the number;
When the total number of pages does not exceed the color printing limit number, the total number of pages exceeds the color printing limit number, but when the first page number does not exceed the color printing limit number, If the first page number exceeds the color print limit number, but the second page number does not exceed the color print limit number, it is determined whether the print data can be printed. And a printing system. The management means includes
Provided in the print instruction device;
The printing apparatus includes:
2. The printing system according to claim 1, further comprising: an update instruction unit that transmits the number of pages printed in color to the print instruction apparatus and instructs the update of the color printing limit number managed by the management unit. The management means includes
Provided in the printing apparatus;
The printing apparatus includes:
The printing system according to claim 1, further comprising an updating unit configured to update the color printing limit number managed by the management unit based on the number of pages printed in color. The printing apparatus includes:
First determination means for determining whether printing of the print data is possible by performing toner save printing on a color page when the print permission means determines that printing of the print data is impossible;
4. The printing system according to claim 1, further comprising: a first switching unit that switches a color page to toner save printing when the first determination unit determines that the print data can be printed. 5. . The printing apparatus includes:
If it is determined by the first determination means in the previous period that printing of the print data is impossible even by the toner save printing, it is determined whether the color page can be printed in black and white, and the number of pages determined to be capable of monochrome printing is determined as the total color page. Second determination means for determining whether or not the print data can be printed using the number of pages subtracted from the number;
And a second switching means for switching the page determined to be black and white printable by the second determination means to black and white printing when the second determination means determines that printing of the print data is possible. Item 5. The printing system according to Item 4. The printing apparatus includes:
If it is determined by the second determination means that printing of the print data is impossible even by the previous black and white print switching printing, the print data can be printed by performing toner save printing on the color page that cannot be switched to the black and white printing. A third determination means for determining whether or not
6. The third switching unit according to claim 5, further comprising: a third switching unit configured to switch a color page that cannot be switched to monochrome printing to toner save printing when it is determined by the third determination unit that printing of the previous print data is possible. Printing system. The printing apparatus includes:
When it is determined by the print enable / disable means that printing of the print data is not possible, it is determined whether or not color pages can be printed in black and white. First determining means for determining whether the print data can be printed;
And a first switching unit configured to switch a page, which is determined to be monochrome printable by the first determination unit, to monochrome printing when the first determination unit determines that the print data can be printed. Item 4. The printing system according to any one of Items 1 to 3. The printing apparatus includes:
If it is determined by the first determination means that the print data cannot be printed even by the monochrome print switching printing, the print data can be printed by toner-saving printing a color page that cannot be switched to the monochrome printing. A second determination means for determining whether or not
The printing system according to claim 7, further comprising: a second switching unit that switches the color page to toner save printing when it is determined by the second determination unit that printing of the previous print data is possible. A printing apparatus that receives print data described in a page description language that can distinguish pages by syntax analysis from a print instruction apparatus and performs printing,
Storage means for storing the print data;
Intermediate language generation means for synthesizing the print data stored in the storage means to create an intermediate language consisting of a set of drawing elements;
Drawing processing means for generating drawing data based on the intermediate language;
First determination means for analyzing the print data stored in the storage means and determining the total number of pages of the print data;
Based on the intermediate language generated by the intermediate language generation means, each page includes a drawing element in which a color other than black and white is specified by determining whether each page includes a drawing element in which a color other than black and white is specified. Second discriminating means for discriminating the number of pages;
A second page including a pixel for which a color other than black and white is specified by determining for each page whether there is a pixel including a designation for a color other than black and white on each page based on the drawing data generated by the drawing processing means A third discriminating means for discriminating the number;
If the total number of pages does not exceed the color printing limit number managed by the management means of the print instruction apparatus, the total number of pages exceeds the color printing limit number, but the first page number If the color printing limit number is not exceeded, the first page number exceeds the color printing limit number, but if the second page number does not exceed the color printing limit number, the printing is performed. A printability determination unit that determines that data can be printed;
A printing apparatus comprising: update instruction means for sending the number of pages printed in color to the print instruction apparatus and instructing to update the color printing limit number managed by the management means. A printing apparatus that receives print data described in a page description language that can distinguish pages by syntax analysis from a print instruction apparatus and performs printing,
A management means for managing the color printing limit number;
Storage means for storing the print data;
Intermediate language generation means for synthesizing the print data stored in the storage means to create an intermediate language consisting of a set of drawing elements;
Drawing processing means for generating drawing data based on the intermediate language;
First determination means for analyzing the print data stored in the storage means and determining the total number of pages of the print data;
Based on the intermediate language generated by the intermediate language generation means, each page includes a drawing element in which a color other than black and white is specified by determining whether each page includes a drawing element in which a color other than black and white is specified. Second discriminating means for discriminating the number of pages;
A second page including a pixel for which a color other than black and white is specified by determining for each page whether each page has a pixel including designation of a color other than black and white based on the rendering data generated by the rendering processing means. A third discriminating means for discriminating the number;
If the total number of pages does not exceed the color printing limit number managed by the management means, the total number of pages exceeds the color printing limit number, but the first page number is the color printing limit number. If the number of pages does not exceed the number, the first page number exceeds the color printing limit number, but if the second page number does not exceed the color printing limit number, the print data is printed. Means for determining whether or not printing is possible;
And a updating unit configured to update the color printing limit number managed by the management unit based on the number of pages printed in color.

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