JP2013061823A - Image processing device, image forming device, image formation control method, and image formation control program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To generate a combined print job by combining page data of a plurality of print jobs in units of pages.SOLUTION: A print system 1 stores a plurality of print jobs transmitted from a host device in a hard disk 13. When a user operates an operation panel 40 for specifying and combining optional pages of the plurality of print jobs stored in the hard disk 13, on receiving a combined print job indicating the operation from the operation panel 40, a job management unit 17 generates the combined print job by combining data of the specified pages of the plurality of print jobs specified in the combined print job, and a print control unit 18 causes a printer engine 30 to execute printing on the basis of the combined print job.

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image forming apparatus, an image formation control method, and an image formation control program, and more specifically, an image processing apparatus that generates combined print jobs by combining page data of a plurality of print jobs in units of pages. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, an image formation control method, and an image formation control program.

  When document data created by an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer is printed out by an image forming apparatus such as a printer apparatus, copying apparatus, or composite apparatus, the document data created by an application installed in the information processing apparatus It is converted into PDL (Page Description Language) that can be interpreted by the image forming apparatus that is the printing destination by a printer driver installed in the processing apparatus, and is transmitted to the printing apparatus as a print job together with a print command. The sent print job is analyzed, and the image is printed out on a recording medium such as paper or film (hereinafter simply referred to as paper) by a predetermined printing method.

  The information processing apparatus is equipped with various applications such as text creation software, spreadsheet software, and graphic drawing software, and sends document data created by a plurality of applications to the image forming apparatus as a print job for printing. In this case, it is necessary to give a print instruction for each application, and printing cannot be performed together. When printing together, it is necessary to combine the documents created by each application into any one application.

  Conventionally, image data is stored in a storage unit in units of jobs, and when a basic job consisting of a plurality of pages and other jobs are selected from the jobs, a predetermined page of the basic job and the other pages are selected. An image forming apparatus that combines and outputs all pages of a job has been proposed (see Patent Document 1).

  However, in the prior art described in the above publication, since a plurality of print jobs are combined in units of jobs, if there are overlapping pages in the combined print jobs, the overlapping pages will be printed respectively. However, unnecessary printing has been performed, and improvements have been necessary in order to reduce resources and costs. In addition, when confidential information exists on some pages of a print job to be combined, in the above conventional technique, pages with confidential information are also combined and printed to prevent leakage of confidential information. There was a need for improvement. That is, in the prior art, it is not possible to appropriately respond to user's wide-ranging demands, and improvement is necessary for improving usability.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to improve the usability of a print job by combining a plurality of print jobs in units of pages.

  To achieve the above object, the image processing apparatus according to claim 1 designates a job storage means for storing a plurality of print jobs and an arbitrary page of the plurality of print jobs stored in the job storage means. Job page designation information acquisition means for obtaining job page designation information to be performed, and print job generation means for generating a combined print job by combining data of designated pages of the plurality of print jobs designated by the job page designation information And image forming means for executing the combined print job generated by the print job generating means to form an image on a recording medium.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to improve the usability of a print job by combining a plurality of print jobs in units of pages.

1 is a system configuration diagram of a printing system to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied. 1 is a block configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus. 1 is a functional block configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus. The figure which shows an example of the data format of a print request. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data format of a print job held by a job holding function unit. 6 is a flowchart showing print control processing. The figure which shows an example of a print setting screen. The figure which shows an example of the data format of a combined job reference request. The figure which shows an example of the data format of reference print job information. The figure which shows an example of a job list screen. The figure which shows an example of the data format of a combined print request. The figure which shows an example of the data format of a combined print job.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, since the Example described below is a suitable Example of this invention, various technically preferable restrictions are attached | subjected, However, The range of this invention is unduly limited by the following description. However, not all the configurations described in the present embodiment are essential constituent elements of the present invention.

  1 to 12 are diagrams showing an embodiment of an image processing apparatus, an image forming apparatus, an image forming control method, and an image forming control program according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is an image processing apparatus and image forming apparatus according to the present invention. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a printing system 1 to which an embodiment of an apparatus, an image formation control method, and an image formation control program are applied.

  In FIG. 1, a printing system 1 includes a plurality of host devices Hs1 to Hsn and an image forming device Gk connected to a network NW such as a LAN (Local Area Network), and the number of host devices Hs1 to Hsn and the image forming device. The number of Gk is not limited at all.

  The host devices Hs1 to Hsn have, for example, a computer having a normal hardware configuration and a normal software configuration. An OS (Operating System) such as Windows (registered trademark) and document creation software are used on a hard disk or the like. Application software (hereinafter simply referred to as an application) such as graphic creation software, spreadsheet software, database software, and printer driver is stored. The host devices Hs1 to Hsn create / edit a document using an application by a user, and when a print instruction is issued from the application or the like to the document, the document data and the printer driver are sent to the printer driver through the OS. Print setting information is passed, and the printer driver generates image data (print data) that can be interpreted by the image forming apparatus Gk that prints the document data received from the application, and includes the print setting information. A job is generated, and the print job is transmitted to the image forming apparatus Gk via the network NW.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus Gk includes a controller 10, a printer engine 30, an operation panel 40, and the like, and is connected to host devices Hs1 to Hsn via a network NW.

  The controller 10 includes a host I / F 11, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 12, a hard disk (HDD) 13, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 14, an operation I / F 15, a status control unit 16, a job management unit 17, and a print control unit 18. And an engine I / F 19 and the like, and each part is connected by a bus 20.

  A network NW is connected to the host I / F 11, and the host I / F 11 exchanges data and commands with the host apparatuses Hs1 to Hsn via the network NW to receive print jobs and print Various commands such as results are transmitted to the host devices Hs1 to Hsn.

  The hard disk (job storage means) 13 stores a basic program as the image forming apparatus Gk, an image formation control program to be described later, necessary data and image data, a print job, and the like. And the necessary data are expanded in the RAM 14 and executed, thereby executing basic processing as the image forming apparatus Gk and image processing to be described later.

  An operation panel 40 is connected to the operation I / F (job page designation information acquisition means) 15, and the operation panel 40 includes various operation keys, a display panel (for example, a liquid crystal panel) and the like. Various key operations necessary to give an operation instruction to the image forming apparatus Gk are performed from the operation keys of the operation panel 40, and the operation contents of the operation keys are controlled on the display panel via the panel I / F 17 under the control of the CPU 12. And display various information. In particular, the operation panel 40 is used to generate a combined print job (job page designation information) for designating an arbitrary page of a plurality of print jobs stored in the hard disk 13, and the operation I / F 15 includes a plurality of operations. A combined print job designating an arbitrary page of the print job is received and output to the job management unit 17.

  The state control unit 16 controls the state of the image processing apparatus 1 under the control of the CPU 12, and the job management unit (print job generation unit) 17 is sent from the host devices Hs 1 to Hsn under the control of the CPU 12. Manage print jobs.

  The print control unit 18 executes print processing based on the print job in the printer engine 30.

  A printer engine 30 is connected to the engine I / F 19, and exchanges control signals and video signals from the controller 10 to the printer engine 30 and status signals from the printer engine 30 to the controller 10.

  The printer engine (image forming means) 30 performs image formation (printing process) by, for example, an electrophotographic method based on image data and control signals received from the controller 10 via the engine I / F 19. That is, the printer engine 30 is not shown in the case of the electrophotographic system, but is necessary for recording and outputting the drawing data on the recording paper by the electrophotographic system, such as a photoconductor, an optical writing unit, a developing unit, a charging unit. Part and a cleaning part. The printer engine 30 operates the optical writing unit based on the image data and the control signal to form an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive member, and the developing unit supplies toner (image forming material) to the photosensitive member for development. To form a toner image. The printer engine 30 feeds the recording paper from the paper feeding unit between the photosensitive member and the transfer unit, transfers the toner image on the photosensitive member to the recording paper, and fixes the recording paper on which the toner image is transferred to the fixing unit. The image is formed by fixing the toner image on the recording paper by heating and pressurizing in the fixing unit.

  When the image forming apparatus Gk receives a print job from the host apparatus 40 via the host I / F 13, the CPU 12 stores the received print job in the hard disk 13, and the job management unit 17 stores the print job in the hard disk 13. Manage print jobs.

  The image forming apparatus Gk includes ROM, EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory), EPROM, flash memory, flexible disk, CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory), CD-RW (Compact Disc Rewritable), DVD (Digital A hard disk by reading an image formation control program for executing the image formation control method of the present invention recorded on a computer-readable recording medium such as a Versatile Disk (SD), a Secure Digital (SD) card, or an MO (Magneto-Optical Disc) 13 is constructed as an image forming apparatus that executes an image forming control method for generating and printing a combined print job that combines specified pages of a plurality of print jobs, which will be described later. This image formation control program is a computer-executable program written in a legacy programming language such as assembler, C, C ++, C #, Java (registered trademark), an object-oriented programming language, or the like, and is stored in the recording medium. And can be distributed.

  Then, the image forming apparatus Gk introduces the image forming control program, and thus the functional blocks as shown in FIG. That is, the image forming apparatus Gk has the host I / F function unit 51, the operation I / F function unit 52, the job management function unit 53, the print control function unit in the controller 10 by introducing the image formation control program. 54, the engine I / F function unit 55, and the like are constructed. The operation I / F function unit 52 includes an input reception function unit 52a and a display function unit 52b. The job management function unit 53 includes a job management unit I / F function unit 53a, a job reference function unit 53b, and a job combination. A function unit 53c and a job holding function unit 53d are constructed.

  The host I / F function unit 51 is constructed by the host I / F 11 and exchanges commands and data with the host devices Hs1 to Hsn. For example, the host I / F function unit 51 receives control signals and print request data including print jobs sent from the host devices Hs1 to Hsn, and outputs status signals from the image forming device Gk to the host devices Hs1 to Hsn. Send out. The print request data has, for example, a data format configuration as shown in FIG. 4 and is used to determine the request source ID and data type for specifying the host devices Hs1 to Hsn that are the request sources of the print request. It consists of data type, print settings that are setting information such as designation of paper feed tray and paper discharge tray and designation of post-processing, page information that is information such as the number of pages, page data, etc. To determine the data type such as print request (print job registration request and composite designation), print job registration request (normal print request and composite designation), print job reference request, print job reference request response, combined print request, etc. Is the data type. The page data includes a page ID and image data which is a data body.

  The operation I / F function unit 52 is constructed by the operation I / F 15, and the input reception function unit 52 a receives an input from the operation panel 40, and the job management unit I / F function unit 53 a of the job management function unit 53 receives the input. Output. The display function unit 52b causes the display panel of the operation panel 40 to display and output information on the result processed by the job management function unit 53, in particular, job reference result information passed from the job reference function unit 53b.

  The job management function unit 53 is configured such that the job management unit I / F function unit 53 a receives a request from the host I / F function unit 51 for the job management function unit 53 and an input reception function unit 52 a of the operation I / F function unit 52. The request is received and passed to the job reference function unit 53b, the job holding function unit 53d, and the job combination function unit 53c. The job reference function unit 53b is based on the request received by the job management unit I / F function unit 53b. Then, the job holding function unit 53d is referred to, and job information related to the print job of the reference result is output to the display function unit 52b of the operation I / F function unit 52.

  The job holding function unit (job storage unit) 53d receives a print job sent from the host devices Hs1 to Hsn, delivered from the host I / F function unit 51, and received from the job management unit I / F function unit 53a. For example, a job ID is assigned and stored and managed, and information related to a necessary print job is passed in response to a job reference request from the job reference function unit 53b or a job request from the job combination function unit 53c, or print job data give. For example, when a job reference request is instructed from the operation panel 40, the input reference function unit 52a receives the instruction reference job reference request and passes it to the job management I / F function unit 53a, where the job management unit I / F function The unit 53a passes the job reference request to the job reference function unit 53b. The job reference function unit 53b receives the information of the print job held / managed by the job holding function unit 53d from the job holding function unit 53d, passes it to the display function unit 52b of the operation I / F function unit 52, and displays the display function unit. 52b is displayed on the display panel of the operation panel 40. The operation I / F function unit 52 and the job management unit I / F function unit 53a function as job page designation information acquisition means as a whole.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the print job held by the job holding function unit 53d includes a job ID and job data. The job data includes a request source ID, print settings, and print request data shown in FIG. Page information and page data including page ID and image data are included.

  The job combination function unit (print job generation unit) 53c is a target to be combined that is instructed by the operation panel 40 that is input from the job management IF function unit 53a via the input reception function unit 52a of the operation I / F function unit 52. A plurality of pages of a plurality of print jobs are read from the job holding function unit 53d, and a plurality of pages of the plurality of print jobs are combined by a combining method according to the instruction content to generate a new combined print job. The combined print job is held in the job holding function unit 53 d and is output to the print control function unit 54.

  The print control function unit 54 is constructed by the print control unit 18, and based on the print job received from the host devices Hs1 to Hsn passed from the job management IF function unit 53a or the combined print job received from the job combination unit 53c. The printer engine 30 is controlled via the I / F function unit 55 to control a printing process for printing an image on paper.

  The engine I / F function unit 55 is constructed by the engine I / F 19 and exchanges control signals, video signals, and status signals from the printer engine 30 to the printer engine 30.

  Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. The image forming apparatus Gk in the printing system 1 according to the present embodiment performs a printing process based on a normal print job in response to a request from the host apparatuses Hs1 to Hsn, and a plurality of print jobs held by the job holding function unit 53d. A combined print job is generated by combining page data specified in units of pages, and printed out.

  As shown in FIG. 6, when the host I / F function unit 51 receives a request from the host devices Hs1 to Hsn, the image forming apparatus Gk passes the request to the job management unit I / F function unit 53a. When the input reception function unit 52a of the operation I / F function unit 52 receives a request from the operation panel 40, the request is transferred to the job management unit I / F function unit 53a (step S101).

  The job management unit I / F function unit 53a determines whether the received request is a normal print request from the host devices Hs1 to Hsn or a combined job reference request from the operation panel 40 or a combined print request ( In step S102), if it is a normal print request, it is determined whether or not it is a print job registration request, that is, whether or not it is registered (step S103).

  That is, when the user performs print settings in the host apparatuses Hs1 to Hsn, for example, on the print setting screen G1 as shown in FIG. It is possible to set whether to register in the image forming apparatus Gk. In the print setting screen G1 in FIG. 7, the image forming apparatus Gk that is the printer of the print destination, the printer setting item for setting properties, the print range setting item (designation of all pages or designated pages), and the number of copies to be set are set. A setting item for setting the number of copies to be printed, a registration designation item for setting whether or not to register a print job in the job holding function unit 53d constructed in the hard disk 13 of the image forming apparatus Gk to be printed, and an “OK” and “Cancel” button. It is displayed.

  When a print job registration request is made in step S103 (when registering in step S103), the job management unit I / F function unit 53a holds the print job sent from the host devices Hs1 to HSn as a job. It is transferred to the functional unit 53d for storage registration (step S104), and the presence / absence of printing (no printing) is determined (step S105). The request at this time is a print request for a data format as shown in FIG.

  The job management unit I / F function unit 53a registers the print job in the job holding function unit 53d when print job registration is not requested in step S103 (when registration is not performed in step S103). Whether printing is performed or not is determined (step S105).

  When printing is performed in step S105 (when printing is performed in step S105), the job management unit I / F function unit 53a passes the print job received from the host devices Hs1 to Hsn to the print control unit function unit 54. The print control function unit 54 controls the printer engine 30 via the engine I / F function unit 55 to cause the printer engine 30 to print based on the print job, and the print control process is terminated (step S106). ).

  When printing is not performed in step S105 (when printing is not performed in step S105), the job management unit I / F function unit 53a ends the print control process without performing printing based on the print job.

  In step S102, if the received request is a combined job reference request from the input reception function unit 52a, the job management unit I / F function unit 53a passes the combined job reference request to the job reference function unit 53b to refer to the job. The function unit 53b acquires the print job information held by the job holding function unit 53d as reference print job information, and displays the acquired reference print job information on the display panel of the operation panel 40 via the display function unit 52b. It is displayed (step S107). The combined job reference request at this time is a data format request as shown in FIG. 8, and includes a request source ID, a data type, and a reference job ID. The request source ID is the ID of the request source that issued the combined job reference request, and the data type is a specification for determining the data type, and the job reference request is specified. The reference job ID is an ID that designates a job to be referred to. Further, as shown in FIG. 9, the reference print job information generated by the job reference function unit 53b includes a request source ID, a data type, and reference job information (job data). This is the same as FIG. The reference job information is information of a print job specified by the combined job reference request, and includes a request source ID, print settings, page information, and page data. The page data includes a page ID and image data.

  The user looks at the reference print job information displayed on the display panel of the operation panel 40 and selects and operates the page of the print job to be combined by operating the operation panel 40.

  At this time, the host devices Hs1 to Hsn display, for example, a job list screen G2 as shown in FIG. 10, and the user performs an operation of designating a job to be combined and a page in the job on the job list screen G2. . In the job list screen G2 in FIG. 10, the print job list item, which is a list of print jobs stored in the job holding function unit 53d of the image forming apparatus, and the contents of the print job selected from the print job list item are displayed. Selected job content item to be displayed, “Select” button to perform selection operation when there is a page to be combined and printed from the selected job content item, selected job information to display the ID of the selected print job and the selected page ID List items and “OK” and “Cancel” buttons are displayed.

  The operation panel 40 sends the selected print job to be combined and its page information as a combined print request to the input reception function unit 52a, and the input reception function unit 52a sends the combined print request to the job management unit I / F function. Send to part 53a. The combined print request has a data format as shown in FIG. 11, for example, and includes a request source ID, a data type, print settings, and selected job information. The request source ID and the data type are the same as described above. However, the data type is designated as a combined print request. The selected job information includes job ID and selected page information indicating which page of the print job with the job ID is to be combined, and the selected page information includes page IDs for specifying pages (multiple pages can be specified). It is made up of.

  In step S102, if the request is a combined print request, the job management unit I / F function unit 53a passes the received combined print request to the job combination function unit 53c, and the job combination function unit 53c receives the received combination print request. Corresponds to the job ID and selected page information of the selected job information of the combined print request among the print jobs stored in the job holding function unit 53d based on the job ID and selected page information of the selected job information of the print request. The print job and the page of the print job are combined to generate one combined print job (job page designation information), which is passed to the print control function unit 54 (step S108). This combined print job has a data format as shown in FIG. 12, for example, a request source ID indicating the request source, a data type indicating the data type of the combined print request, and a print job specified by the user. It consists of combined page information combining page information and combined page data combining page data specified by the user. The combined page data includes a job ID and page data, and the page data further includes a page ID and image data.

  The print control function unit 54 controls the printer engine 30 via the engine I / F function unit 55 based on the combined print job passed from the job combination function unit 53c, Printing based on the print job is performed, and the print control process is terminated (step S109).

  In the above description, the job list screen is displayed on the operation panel 40 of the image forming apparatus Gk and the print job and the page to be combined are specified on the operation panel 40. However, the combined job and page are described. Is not limited to the operation panel 40 of the image forming apparatus Gk, and may be performed, for example, in the host devices Hs1 to Hsn. In this case, when receiving the combined job reference request from the host apparatuses Hs1 to Hsn, the image forming apparatus Gk transmits reference print job information to the requesting host apparatuses Hs1 to Hsn. Based on the reference print job information, the host apparatuses Hs1 to Hsn display a job list screen similar to the job list screen G2 shown in FIG. 10 on the display, and print that the user combines with reference to the job list screen When the job and page are selected and specified, the page information of the print job to be combined that has been selected is transmitted to the image forming apparatus Gk as a combined print request. In the image forming apparatus Gk, as described above, the job management unit I / F function unit 53a receives the combined print request via the host I / F function unit 51, and the job management unit I / F function unit 53a receives the print request. If the request is a combined print request, the combined print request is transferred to the job combining function unit 53c. Based on the combined print request, the job combination function unit 53c, among the print jobs stored in the job holding function unit 53d, the print job corresponding to the job ID of the selected job information of the combined print request and the selected page information And a page of the print job are combined to generate one combined print job. In this case, the host I / F function unit 51 and the job management unit I / F function unit 53a function as job page designation information acquisition means as a whole.

  As described above, the printing system 1 according to the present embodiment includes the job holding function unit (job storage unit) 53d constructed by the hard disk 13 that stores a plurality of print jobs, and the plurality of job holding function units 53d that are stored in the job holding function unit 53d. A job management unit I / F function unit (job page designation information acquisition unit) 53a for obtaining reference print job information (job page designation information) for designating an arbitrary page of the print job, and the reference print job information. A job combination function unit (print job generation unit) 53c that combines the data of the specified pages in the plurality of print jobs to generate a combined print job.

  Accordingly, it is possible to create a combined print job by combining pages of a plurality of print jobs designated by the user in units of pages with respect to a plurality of print jobs, thereby improving the usability of the print job.

  The image forming apparatus Gk according to the present exemplary embodiment also includes a job storage processing step for storing a plurality of print jobs in the job holding function unit 53d configured on the hard disk 13, and a plurality of printings stored in the job holding function unit 53d. A job page designation information acquisition processing step for obtaining job page designation information in which an arbitrary page of a job is designated is combined with data of designated pages in a plurality of print jobs designated by the job page designation information. An image forming control method including a print job generation processing step for generating a print job is executed.

  Accordingly, it is possible to create a combined print job by combining pages of a plurality of print jobs designated by the user in units of pages with respect to a plurality of print jobs, thereby improving the usability of the print job.

  Further, the image forming apparatus Gk according to the present exemplary embodiment includes a job storage process in which a plurality of print jobs are stored in the job holding function unit 53d configured on the hard disk 13 and a plurality of job jobs stored in the job holding function unit 53d. Job page designation information acquisition processing for obtaining job page designation information in which an arbitrary page of the print job is designated, and data of designated pages in the plurality of print jobs designated by the job page designation information are combined. An image forming control program for executing print job generation processing for generating a combined print job is installed.

  Accordingly, it is possible to create a combined print job by combining pages of a plurality of print jobs designated by the user in units of pages with respect to a plurality of print jobs, thereby improving the usability of the print job.

  In the image forming apparatus Gk according to the present exemplary embodiment, the job management unit I / F function unit 53a uses the reference print in which the print job and the page of the print job are sequentially specified as the reference print job information as a pair. The job information is acquired, and the job combination function unit 53c generates a combined print job in which pages are sequentially arranged on the print job designated by the reference print job information and the page of the print job.

  Therefore, it is possible to create a combined print job by combining the pages of a plurality of print jobs designated by the user in units of pages for a plurality of print jobs in the designated order, thereby further improving the usability of the print job. Can do.

  Further, in the image forming apparatus Gk of the present embodiment, the page data of the print job is image data.

  Therefore, the job combination function unit 53c can combine page data of a plurality of print jobs into one combined print job easily and easily.

  The image forming apparatus Gk according to the present exemplary embodiment causes the printer engine 30 to execute the combined print job combined by the job combining function unit 53c under the control of the print control function unit 54, and prints an image on a sheet (recording medium). Output (form output).

  Therefore, it is possible to create a combined print job by combining pages of a plurality of print jobs specified by the user for a plurality of print jobs, and to print out, thereby improving the usability of the print job. it can.

  The invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described based on the preferred embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to that described in the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. It goes without saying that it is possible.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Printing system NW network Hs1-Hsn Host apparatus Gk Image forming apparatus 10 Controller 30 Printer engine 40 Operation panel 11 Host I / F
12 CPU
13 Hard disk (HDD)
14 RAM
15 Operation I / F
16 Status control unit 17 Job management unit 18 Print control unit 19 Engine I / F
20 Bus 51 Host I / F function section 52 Operation I / F function section 52a Input reception function section 52b Display function section 53 Job management function section 53a Job management section I / F function section 53b Job reference function section 53c Job combination function section 53d Job holding function section 54 Print control function section 55 Engine I / F function section G1 Print setting screen G2 Job list screen

JP 2007-19798 A

Claims (6)

Job storage means for storing a plurality of print jobs;
Job page designation information obtaining means for obtaining job page designation information for designating arbitrary pages of the plurality of print jobs stored in the job storage means;
Print job generation means for generating combined print jobs by combining data of specified pages of the plurality of print jobs specified in the job page specification information;
An image processing apparatus comprising: The job page designation information acquisition means includes:
As the job page designation information, obtain the job page designation information in which the print job and the page of the print job are sequentially designated as a pair,
The print job generation unit includes:
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print job specified by the job page specification information and a combined print job in which pages are sequentially arranged on the page of the print job are generated. The image processing apparatus includes:
3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the page data of the print job is image data. In an image forming apparatus that performs image processing on a print job by an image processing unit and forms an image on a recording medium by an image forming unit.
An image forming apparatus comprising the image processing apparatus according to claim 1 as the image processing unit. A job storage processing step for storing a plurality of print jobs in the job storage means;
Job page designation information acquisition processing step for acquiring job page designation information in which arbitrary pages of the plurality of print jobs stored in the job storage unit are designated;
A print job generation processing step for generating a combined print job by combining data of a plurality of specified pages of the print job specified by the job page specification information;
An image forming process step for executing the combined print job generated in the print job generating process step to form an image on a recording medium;
An image formation control method comprising: On the computer,
Job storage processing for storing a plurality of print jobs in the job storage means;
Job page designation information acquisition processing for acquiring job page designation information in which arbitrary pages of the plurality of print jobs stored in the job storage unit are designated;
Print job generation processing for generating a combined print job by combining data of specified pages of the plurality of print jobs specified in the job page specification information;
An image forming process for executing the combined print job generated in the print job generating process to form an image on a recording medium;
An image formation control program for executing

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