JP2010218325A - Printing controller and printing system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten printing time by preventing data processing in a printer from being wasted when outputting data to be processed to the printer in advance for printing. <P>SOLUTION: A printing controller determines whether the data being processed by application software is changeable, in an information processor 2. When the data is unchangeable, the printing controller outputs the data to the printer 1 before indicating printing. When the data is printable, the printing controller does not output the data to the printer 1 until a printing request is issued. The printer 1 performs printing processing with respect to the received data. When a user performs a printing request operation, the printing controller indicates a print start to the printer. The printer 1 prints the printing-processed data as an image. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a print control apparatus that receives a print request from a user and outputs data to a printing apparatus to request printing.

  A print control apparatus mounted on an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer is operated by a printer driver. The printer driver is called when a printing instruction is issued in the application software used by the user. The print control apparatus converts the data processed by the application software into print data by PDL, and outputs the print data to a printing apparatus such as a printer.

  When receiving the print data, the printing apparatus performs rendering processing on the print data, converts the print data into raster image data, and starts printing according to the print information.

  As described above, printing processing for printing such as rendering processing is started after the user makes a print request. When the data capacity is large, the printing process takes time. For this reason, it takes a long time from when an instruction to start printing is issued until printing is performed on the recording sheet.

  Therefore, in Patent Document 1, operation information is acquired during document operation of application software, and print data is created in advance based on the operation information. Thus, the data rendering process can be completed before the print instruction is issued, and the time required for printing can be shortened.

JP 2005-1003006 A

  Usually, an instruction to start printing is given after the data processing by the application software is completed. However, if the data is changed before an instruction to start printing, the already printed data is different from the data to be printed. Since the data after the printing process is raster image data, it is difficult to correct only a part of the data. Therefore, the printing apparatus must perform the printing process again for the changed data, and the printing process performed in advance becomes useless. Therefore, by performing the printing process again, the time required for printing becomes longer, and since the data subjected to the printing process is stored in advance, resources such as the memory of the printing apparatus are wasted and the processing efficiency is improved. It has the adverse effect of causing a decrease and an increase in power consumption.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a print control apparatus that can perform printing efficiently while eliminating unnecessary processing.

  The present invention is a print control device that requests printing to a printing device that prints input data. The output unit outputs data to the printing device and instructs printing, and the data being processed can be changed. And a determination unit for determining whether or not.

  When the data being processed is data that cannot be changed, the output unit outputs the data being processed to the printing apparatus before instructing printing. In addition, when the data being processed is changeable data, the output unit instructs the printing apparatus to start printing and outputs the data to the printing apparatus.

  In the case of data that cannot be changed, the data being processed and the data to be printed are the same. Even if the data is output to the printing apparatus before the print request is made, the data is not changed. Therefore, the printing process may be performed in advance. When there is a print request after the printing apparatus outputs data, the output unit of the print control apparatus instructs the printing apparatus to start printing. The printing apparatus performs printing on data that has been input in advance. Therefore, the time from when the printing instruction is given until the printing is completed is shortened.

  In the case of data that can be changed, the data being processed may differ from the data to be printed. When the processing for the data is completed, the data to be printed is completed and printing is requested. Therefore, the output unit outputs the data to the printing apparatus after receiving a print request, and instructs to start printing. The printing apparatus performs printing after performing printing processing on the received data.

  The determination unit performs determination based on the file attribute of the data, the file format of the data, and the type of application software that processes the data. If it is determined from any one of these determination conditions that the data cannot be changed, the data is output to the printing apparatus prior to printing.

  A printing system is formed by the printing control apparatus and a printing apparatus that prints input data. The print control apparatus is operated by a printer driver.

  When the data being processed is data that cannot be changed, the output unit of the print control device outputs the data being processed to the printing device before instructing printing, and the printing device prints the input data. In response to the request for printing, the output unit of the print control apparatus instructs the printing apparatus to start printing, and the printing apparatus prints the print-processed data. Then, when there is no print start instruction from the print control apparatus, the printing apparatus deletes the printed data.

  When the data being processed is changeable data, the output unit of the print control apparatus instructs the printing apparatus to start printing and outputs the data to the printing apparatus. When the printing apparatus receives the instruction to start printing, Then, print processing is performed on the input data, and the printed data is printed.

  According to the present invention, when the data being processed is data that cannot be changed, data transmission to the printing apparatus and printing processing for the data are performed in the background. Accordingly, it is possible to shorten the time required for apparent printing from when the start of printing is instructed to when printing is completed. Further, since data that can be changed is not output to the printing apparatus prior to an instruction to start printing, useless processing such as re-execution of printing processing can be prevented.

The figure which shows schematic structure of the printing system of this invention Block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an information processing apparatus and a printing apparatus provided with a printing control apparatus The figure which shows operation | movement of the printing system until the completion of printing in the case of normal processing Flowchart for printing data being processed The figure which shows operation | movement of the printing system until the completion of printing in the case of transmitting data in advance

  A printing system of this embodiment is shown in FIG. The printing system is formed by communicably connecting a printing apparatus 1 that performs printing and an information processing apparatus 2 that requests printing to the printing apparatus 1. The printing apparatus 1 and a plurality of information processing apparatuses 2 are connected by a network such as a LAN. The network is connected to the Internet, and the information processing apparatus 2 can communicate with an external information processing apparatus. Note that the printing apparatus 1 may be locally connected to the information processing apparatus 2. At this time, if the printing apparatus 1 is set to be shared, the plurality of information processing apparatuses 2 can use the printing apparatus 1.

  The printing apparatus 1 is, for example, a multifunction peripheral, and as illustrated in FIG. 2, a printing unit 10 that prints an image on a recording sheet, a processing unit 11 that performs a printing process on data input for printing, and stores data. It has the memory | storage part 12, the communication part 13 which communicates with the information processing apparatus 2, and the control part 14 which controls operation | movement of the whole apparatus. The printing apparatus 1 not only prints data output from the information processing apparatus 2, but also performs copying, facsimile communication, and data communication.

  The information processing apparatus 2 includes an input unit 20 such as a keyboard and a mouse, a display unit 21 having a display, a storage unit 23 such as an HDD, an SSD, and a memory, a communication unit 24 that transmits and receives data through a network, a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM. A general personal computer or server including the control unit 25 is provided. Application software is installed in the information processing apparatus 2, and the control unit 25 executes various processes according to the application software. For example, document creation software creates document data, and image processing software creates image data. The browsing software acquires and displays image data through the Internet, or displays image data read from the storage unit 23.

  When these data are output to the printing apparatus 1, the printing apparatus 1 prints and outputs the data. Therefore, the information processing apparatus 2 includes a print control apparatus 26 for controlling the printing apparatus 1 as shown in FIG. The print control apparatus 26 is operated by a printer driver that causes the printing apparatus 1 to execute printing. The printer driver is activated by a command from the control unit 25 and operates the print control device 26.

  The print control device 26 includes an output unit 27 that outputs data to the printing device 1 and instructs printing. The output unit 27 converts the print target data into print data, and outputs the print data to the printing apparatus 1 together with the print information input by the user.

  In response to a user operation, the control unit 25 starts up application software, and the application software processes data. Here, as shown in FIG. 3, when the user performs a print request operation, the print control device 26 starts to operate in response to an instruction from the control unit 25 through the application software. The output unit 27 converts the data processed by the application software into print data and transmits the print data to the printing apparatus 1 through the communication unit 24, and print information such as a 2-in-1 paper feed tray to the printing apparatus 1 using the PJL command. Send and instruct to start printing. As described above, the transmission of print data and the instruction to start printing are usually performed simultaneously.

  The printing apparatus 1 starts printing according to the received print data and print information. When the control unit 14 completes reception of the print data from the information processing apparatus 2, the control unit 14 operates the processing unit 11. The processing unit 11 performs a printing process such as a rendering process (RIP process) for converting print data into raster image data. The control unit 14 temporarily stores the image data created by the printing process in the storage unit 12. When the printing process is completed, the control unit 14 sets the printing conditions based on the printing information and operates the printing unit 10. The printing unit 10 prints image data as an image on a recording sheet.

  The information processing apparatus 2 outputs data processed by the application software to the printing apparatus 1 in advance in order to shorten the time required for printing. The printing apparatus 1 performs a printing process on the received data. At this time, in order to prevent the printing apparatus 1 from performing unnecessary printing processing, the printing control apparatus 26 includes a determination unit 28 that determines whether or not the data being processed by the application software can be changed.

  When determining that the data being processed is data that cannot be changed, the determination unit 28 permits the data being processed to be output to the printing apparatus 1 in advance. When the data being processed is changeable data, it is prohibited to output the data being processed to the printing apparatus 1 in advance. Data that cannot be changed does not change before and after the processing even if the processing on the data is completed. Therefore, even if the print control apparatus 26 outputs the data in advance, the printing apparatus 1 can finish the printing process. On the other hand, the changeable data changes before and after the process when the process on the data is completed. When the printing control device 26 performs print processing when the print control device 26 outputs the data in advance, if a print instruction for the changed data is transmitted thereafter, the previous print processing is wasted. . For this reason, when the data being processed is changeable data, it is prohibited to output the data being processed to the printing apparatus 1 in advance.

  The determination unit 28 determines whether data can be changed based on determination conditions such as a file attribute of data, a file format of data, and a type of application software. In the file attribute of data, if the file property attribute is read only or change prohibition, it is determined that the data cannot be changed. Otherwise, the data is determined to be changeable. In the file format of the data, whether or not it can be changed is determined based on the extension of the file. For example, in the case of a PDF file, it is determined that the data cannot be changed, and in other cases, it is determined that the data can be changed. In the application type, if the application software displaying data is browsing software such as a browser or a viewer, it is determined that the data cannot be changed. Otherwise, the data is determined to be changeable.

  As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, when the application software starts processing data in response to a user operation, the determination unit 28 of the print control device 26 starts to operate according to a command from the control unit 25. The determination unit 28 determines whether the file opened by the application software can be changed (S1).

  When the determination unit 28 determines that the file data can be changed, the output unit 27 stops outputting the data to the printing apparatus, and the control unit 25 performs normal processing (S2). That is, when the user performs a print request operation, the print control device 26 outputs print data to the printing device 1 as shown in FIG. The printing apparatus 1 prints the received print data, and prints an image based on the data at the time when the print request operation is performed in the information processing apparatus 2.

  When the determination unit 28 determines that the file data cannot be changed, the output unit 27 converts the data being displayed into print data and transmits the print data to the printing apparatus 1 in advance through the communication unit 24 (S3). ).

  When the printing apparatus 1 completes reception of the print data, the printing unit 1 performs print processing on the data received by the processing unit 11 to create image data, and temporarily stores the image data in the storage unit 12. The printing apparatus 1 waits for an instruction to start printing from the print control apparatus 26 (S4).

  Thereafter, when the user sets the print information and requests printing, the print control device 26 transmits the print information to the printing device 1 through the communication unit 24 and instructs the start of printing.

  When the printing apparatus 1 receives the printing information, the control unit 14 sets printing conditions and instructs the printing unit 10 to start printing. The printing unit 10 prints and outputs the image data as an image according to the printing conditions (S5).

  By the way, although data was output prior to the printing apparatus 1, the user may not make a print request. That is, when the control unit 25 detects that the file is closed (S6), the control unit 25 instructs the print control device 26 to stop printing. The output unit 27 notifies the printing apparatus 1 of the print cancellation. The control unit 14 of the printing apparatus 1 deletes the image data stored in the storage unit 12 (S7).

  As described above, when the data being processed by the application software is data that cannot be changed, the data is output to the printing apparatus 1 in advance without waiting for the user's print request, and the print processing for the data is performed in advance. As a result, the time from when the user makes a print request until the end of printing can be significantly reduced compared to normal printing. That is, since data transmission and processing in the printing apparatus 1 are executed in the background, transmission time and processing time are concealed, and apparent time required for printing can be shortened.

  In addition, when data is transmitted in advance, data that may be changed is not transmitted, so unnecessary printing processing that occurs when the data is changed can be eliminated, and deterioration in processing efficiency can be prevented. It is unnecessary to use resources such as the memory of the printing apparatus 1 more than necessary.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, Of course, many corrections and changes can be added to the said embodiment within the scope of the present invention. In the above description, the printing apparatus performs print processing on the data. However, the print control apparatus may convert the data into print data, perform print processing, and create image data. The output unit outputs the image data to the printing apparatus when the data being processed is data that cannot be changed. The printing apparatus stores the received image data in the storage unit. When a print start instruction is issued from the print control apparatus, the printing apparatus prints the image data.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Printing apparatus 2 Information processing apparatus 10 Printing part 11 Processing part 12 Storage part 14 Control part 25 Control part 26 Printing control apparatus 27 Output part 28 Discrimination part

Claims (9)

A print control device that requests printing to a printing device that prints input data, and outputs data to the printing device to instruct printing, and whether or not the data being processed can be changed. A control unit for determining, and when the data being processed is unchangeable data, the output unit outputs the data being processed to a printing apparatus before instructing printing. apparatus. 2. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the data being processed is changeable data, the output unit instructs the printing apparatus to start printing and outputs the data to the printing apparatus. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines based on a file attribute of the data. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines based on a file format of the data. The printing control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines based on a type of application software that processes data. A printing system comprising: a printing device that prints input data; and a printing control device that outputs data to the printing device and requests printing. The printing control device outputs data to the printing device, An output unit for instructing printing and a determination unit for determining whether or not the data being processed can be changed. The output unit instructs printing when the data being processed is unchangeable data Before processing, the data being processed is output to the printing device. The printing device performs a printing process on the input data, and when the output unit of the printing control device receives a request for printing, the printing device instructs the printing device to start printing. And a printing system that prints the print-processed data. When the data being processed is changeable data, the output unit of the print control apparatus instructs the printing apparatus to start printing and outputs the data to the printing apparatus. When the printing apparatus receives the instruction to start printing, The printing system according to claim 6, wherein a printing process is performed on the input data, and the printed data is printed. 8. The printing system according to claim 6, wherein the printing apparatus deletes the print-processed data when there is no print start instruction from the print control apparatus. The printing system according to claim 6, wherein the printing control apparatus is operated by a printer driver.

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