JP2013208824A - Variable printing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve such a problem that operation in a post-printing processing step is complicated because print setting in which the post-printing processing step is taken into account is not set to a print job, when performing subgroup printing for performing group printing for each designated number of copies in a variable printing system.SOLUTION: Device capability information of a printing device and a post-printing processing device is acquired in print setting of subgroup printing, and the printing exceeding the capability of the post-printing processing device is not performed on the basis of the same. Furthermore, the print setting is changed on the basis of record information of variable data included in a print job in variable printing so that operation is facilitated in post-printing processing. Furthermore, when the printing device has a group printing function but cannot perform the subgroup printing, the subgroup printing is divided into a plurality of jobs and processed to replace the processing.

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing system, a control method therefor, and a program.

  Conventionally, in a printing device such as MFP (Multi Function Peripheral) that performs digital printing, a group printing function that prints the same number of pages of content data consisting of multiple pages continuously for the specified number of copies and outputs them to the same paper discharge destination. (Figure 1A).

  On the other hand, there is a collating function that is an output method in which content data is printed one page at a time in order of the content data and repeatedly stacked a specified number of times (Fig. 1B).

  As an example of use of group printing, by outputting the same page together by group printing, the output can be used as it is as an input to a post-processing device (finishing process) of the printing process. In particular, in a post-processing step of POD (Print On Demand) printing, there is a case where a bookbinding process is performed by using as input a paper set in which printed materials output by a printing apparatus in the pre-processing are collected using a collator. A printed material having different contents for each sheet created in advance by variable printing is merged with another printed material using a collator, and bookbinding processing is performed to create a booklet having different contents for each copy.

  The following is an example of prior art related to group printing and collate printing.

  In Patent Document 1, the content of a plurality of printed print products is read again by a reading device, and processing for rearranging the print products according to the read result and the usage form of the output material is performed.

  In Patent Document 2, when the number of paper discharge trays is smaller than the number of print content pages in collate printing, there is provided a means for designating a paper discharge destination that exceeds the number of paper discharge trays.

  In Patent Document 3, when a plurality of copies are printed, a process for switching the printing order and the paper discharge destination is performed according to the attribute and file format of the print content data.

JP 2002-328799 A JP 07-117917 A JP 2008-080708 A

  In the POD printing system that performs the variable printing described above, when the number of printed materials that can be stacked on the sheet feeding stage of the collator is small, it is necessary for an operator to handle the same page of printed materials in several bundles.

  When merging preprinted paper printed by such variable printing, if you insert a wrong page or insert it wrongly, it will affect not only the book but also other books. It is necessary to merge.

  In such a situation, it is very complicated work for an operator to count and accurately sort the number of printed materials to be merged manually, and mistakes are likely to occur.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a printing system, a control method, and a program capable of accurately and easily sorting printed materials to be merged by a user.

A printing system that solves the above problems
Device capability information acquisition means for acquiring device capability information;
Subgroup print setting means for setting subgroup printing for performing group printing for each specified number of sheets using the capability information of the post-processing apparatus acquired by the device capability acquisition means;
Subgroup printing means for printing the print job set by the subgroup print setting means;
Sub-group printing discharge means for discharging the printed matter printed by the sub-group printing means according to the sub-group printing setting set by the sub-group printing setting means;
Is a printing system.

  In subgroup printing, by performing optimum subgroup print settings according to the print job settings and the post-printing processing apparatus capabilities, the burden on the user in post-printing processing is reduced.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of output products of group printing and collate printing (part 1). FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of output products of group printing and collate printing (part 2). It is a schematic diagram which shows the module structure of a variable printing system. 2 is a configuration diagram of an MFP. FIG. It is a schematic diagram which shows the module structure of a printing application. It is a schematic diagram which shows the module structure of a printing apparatus. It is a schematic diagram which shows the module structure of a post-printing processing apparatus. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a print job. It is a print output example of subgroup printing. It is a schematic diagram of a customer information database. It is an example of capability information of a paper feed stage of the post-printing processing apparatus, which is one piece of device capability information. It is an example of capability information of a discharge tray of a printing apparatus, which is one piece of device capability information. 3 is a flowchart of the first embodiment. 10 is a flowchart of Example 2. 10 is a flowchart of Example 3. It is a description example of print settings of a print job in which subgroup printing is set. 10 is a description example of print settings when a subgroup print job is divided into a plurality of group print jobs. It is an example of a progress information description at the time of printing of a divided print job.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[Example 1]
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the concept of a variable printing system to which the present invention is applied.

  In the printing system 200, 201 is a database that stores customer information to be converted into print content as a record.

  A print application 202 generates content data to be used for printing based on the customer information record acquired from the DB 202, generates a print job including a job ticket including the content data and print settings, and transmits the print job to the printing apparatus 203 It is.

  The job ticket has a variable print setting for printing using the content data.

  A printing apparatus 203 receives a print job generated by the print application 202 and prints the print job according to the setting.

  Reference numeral 204 denotes a post-processing device that performs post-processing on a printed matter that has been printed by the printing device 203 and output. As the post-processing device, various devices such as a collator, a bookbinding device, a binder, and a puncher can be considered.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the MFP that is the printing apparatus 203 of FIG. An MFP is a device having a plurality of functions such as copying, printing, and scanning.

  In FIG. 3, reference numeral 305 denotes a controller unit that controls the entire device. As an internal configuration of the controller, reference numeral 301 denotes a CPU, that is, a central processing unit, which controls the controller and performs arithmetic processing.

  Reference numeral 302 denotes a ROM, that is, a read-only memory, which is a storage area for information such as system startup programs.

  Reference numeral 303 denotes a RAM, that is, a random access memory, which is a data storage area having no use restriction, and 304 denotes a HD, that is, a nonvolatile storage device such as a hard disk or SRAM.

  The 303 RAM is an area where programs such as an operating system, communication control, and engine control are loaded and executed, and data is stored. A scanner 306 performs an image reading operation.

  A printer 307 performs a printing operation under the control of the controller. There are several printing methods such as an inkjet method and an electrophotographic method.

  In the electrophotographic system, toner, which is fine particles having charging properties, is transferred to paper by static electricity, and is fixed by a fixing device to perform printing. The toner is often composed of four colors of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black.

  Reference numeral 308 denotes a UI (user interface) unit that accepts an instruction from a user or performs display.

  A communication unit 309 performs network communication control and can communicate with other devices and computers. A system bus 310 serves as a data path between the above-described components.

  Reference numeral 311 denotes a post-processing portion. Perform necessary processing after printing, such as saddle stitching, cutting, punching, and case binding. In this figure, the post-processed part is integrated with the MFP, but the post-processed part does not necessarily have to be integrated with the MFP.

  FIG. 4 is a module diagram of the printing application indicated by 202 in FIG.

  A control unit 401 is a module that controls all modules of the printing application. The database communication unit 402 is a module that communicates with the database 201 that stores variable data records and acquires record information that is the contents of printing. The content generation unit 403 generates print content data based on the record information acquired by the database communication unit 402. Typical print contents include PDF (Portable Document Format), PS (Post Script), TIFF (Tagged Image File Format), JPEG image data, and various PDL (Page Description Language) data. . The device capability information receiving unit 404 communicates with the printing device 203 and the post-printing processing device 204 to acquire capability information of each device. An operation unit 405 is an operation UI of a print application, and can display a print setting screen for a print job and a printing progress status. The print job generation unit 406 is based on the print content data generated by the content generation unit 403, the print settings set by the operation of the operation unit 405, and the capability information received by the device capability information reception unit 404. Generate a print job for printing with. The print job transmission unit 407 transmits the print job to the printing apparatus 203. Further, when the transmitted job is subjected to print processing by the printing apparatus 203, the printing progress status from the printing apparatus 203 is received. The progress status received here is displayed on the operation unit 405.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an internal module of the printing apparatus 203 of FIG.

  A control unit 501 controls the entire printing apparatus 203. A print job receiving unit 502 receives a print job transmitted from the print application 202. A device capability information receiving unit 503 is a module that acquires device capability information of the post-printing processing apparatus 204. The printing unit 504 prints the received print job based on the print settings. A paper discharge unit 505 is a part that controls paper discharge of the printed matter printed by the printing unit 504.

  FIG. 6 is a module diagram showing the internal structure of the post-printing processing apparatus 204.

  The control unit 601 is a module that controls the entire post-printing processing apparatus. The post-processing information receiving unit 602 receives information regarding post-processing included in the print job or set in the print job itself. This post-processing information is set in the post-processing device in addition to information included in the print job set by the print application 202 and the printing device 203 or transmitted after being extracted from the print job by the printing device 203 and transmitted. It is possible. The device capability information transmission unit 603 transmits device capability information of the post-processing device. A sheet feeding unit 604 controls a sheet feeding portion of a sheet to be processed by the post-processing device. The post-processing unit 605 is a module that processes the paper set in the paper feeding unit 604 in accordance with the post-processing information received by the post-processing information receiving unit 602. A paper discharge unit 606 is a module that discharges the product processed by the post-processing unit.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an outline of the internal structure of a print job generated by the print application 202.

  The print job 701 includes content data 702 and a job ticket 703. The content data 702 is print contents. The job ticket 703 includes an ID for managing a print job, control information, and a processing history in addition to print settings.

  FIG. 8 shows an output example of subgroup printing performed by the printing apparatus 203.

  For example, it is assumed that a print content page is composed of three pages of data at the time of printing, and the job ticket is set to print this data in 10 copies in total and every 3 copies. At this time, the printing apparatus 203 divides the print job into four subgroups and performs group printing. First, in subgroup 1, the first page of content data is continuously printed on three sheets and discharged. Next, in subgroup 1, the second page is continuously printed on three sheets and discharged. Subsequently, in subgroup 1, the third page is continuously printed and discharged. This is the end of the printing process for subgroup 1. Subsequently, the subgroup 2 is printed in the same manner as the processing of the subgroup 1. The same applies to subgroup 3. The last subgroup 4 prints and discharges each page of content one sheet at a time and ends.

  FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a database indicated by 201 in which customer information is stored as a record.

  Reference numeral 901 denotes an attribute field indicating an ID for uniquely identifying each record. Reference numerals 902 and 903 denote the name and address (delivery destination of printed matter) of each customer. These pieces of information are included in the print job as content data, and are printed on printed matter. Reference numeral 904 designates a scheduled print date and time for each record. Printing processing is performed according to this date and time. Reference numeral 905 denotes a priority order among all records in the database. When the same print date and time is set for a plurality of records, the print order of each record is determined according to this priority order. Reference numeral 906 denotes a customer member number.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the paper feed stage capability information, which is an example of the device capability information transmitted by the device capability information 603 of the post-printing processing apparatus 204.

  The stacking height of sheets that can be installed in each paper feed stage and the load resistance when stacked are disclosed as device capability information.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram showing discharge tray capability information, which is an example of device capability information of the printing apparatus 203. As the information of each paper discharge tray, the height at which the discharged paper can be stacked and the load resistance are disclosed.

  FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating the processing of the first embodiment.

  In step 1201, when the control unit 501 of the printing apparatus 203 receives a print job from the print application 202 in the job reception unit 502, the job ticket included in the print job is analyzed.

  In step 1202, the control unit 501 determines whether the setting for performing subgroup printing is set to the print job as a result of analyzing the job ticket by the job receiving unit in step 1201. If the sub group print setting has been made, the process proceeds to step 1203 and the subsequent steps, and the optimum sub group print setting for the print job is performed. If sub-group printing is not set, the process proceeds to step 1209, where printing is performed as set in the print job, and the process ends.

  If the control unit 501 determines in step 1203 that the post-processing setting is included in the job ticket, the control unit 501 proceeds to step 1204 and tries to acquire the device capability information of the post-processing device 204 in order to perform optimal post-processing setting.

  In step 1204, the control unit 501 determines whether the device capability information of the post-processing device 204 can be acquired. When the post-processing device can transmit the device capability information and the device capability information receiving unit 503 of the printing apparatus 203 can receive the device capability information, the control unit 501 determines that the device capability information can be acquired and performs acquisition.

  For example, it is assumed that a list of the number of sheets that can be installed in each paper feed stage controlled by the paper feed unit 604 of the post-processing apparatus can be acquired as device capability information of the post-processing apparatus 204 in step 1204.

  In step 1205, the control unit 501 compares the number of sheets that can be set and the print setting of the print job.

  If the set number of print jobs is larger than the settable number of sheets in step 1205, the print job subgroup is set in step 1206 with the settable number of sheets as the upper limit of the number of copies of each subgroup.

  If the set number of print jobs for the print job is smaller than the number of sheets that can be set in step 1205, in step 1207, the control unit 501 outputs the number of output bins that can be output by the discharge unit 505 of the printing apparatus 203. Get as. The control unit 505 obtains the number of sheets that can be output from the output bin of the printing apparatus and the number of sheets to be printed for each discharge bin according to the sub group print setting of the print job, or the sub number changed in step 1206. The number of sheets printed by the group print setting is compared with the number of sheets for each discharge bin. As a result of the comparison, when the number of print outputs exceeding the upper limit of the discharge bin is set in the print job, the control unit 505 changes the setting of the print job so as not to exceed the upper limit of the discharge bin.

  When the above procedure is repeated and the setting of the number of prints is completed so that all the subgroups do not exceed the device capability information of the printing apparatus and the post-printing processing apparatus, the process proceeds to step 1209 to perform the printing process. After the printing process, the paper is output to the designated paper discharge tray of the printing apparatus 203 according to each print job setting.

  By processing according to the above flow, a sub group of print jobs set according to the device capability information of the post-printing processing apparatus can be configured.

  The device capability information of the printing device may constitute a subgroup with arbitrary device capability information other than the number of sheets that can be installed in the paper feed tray and the number of sheets that can be output from the paper discharge bin.

[Example 2]
FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the processing of the second embodiment.

  In step 1301, the control unit 501 acquires device capability information of the printing apparatus 203. The control unit 501 connects to the database 201 in which data record information used for variable printing is stored, and acquires record information used in the print job.

  In step 1303, the control unit 501 sequentially refers to the record information included in the print job. At this time, it is compared whether any attribute value for the print date / time, address, name, and print priority of the record matches the attribute value included in the record referred to before the record being referred to. At this time, as a threshold value of whether or not they match, in the case of an address, if the prefectures match, it is regarded as a group belonging to the same address. As for the names, if the last name lines (A line, Ka line, etc.) match, they are regarded as names belonging to the same group. If the records have attribute values included in the same group, the two records are treated as the same record. By handling these same or similar records together as one subgroup, in the post-printing process, complicated operations such as sorting by name and grouping by distribution destination after printing mail addresses are performed. Can be eliminated.

  When it is determined that they are the same record, the control unit 501 attempts to refer to the next record in order to determine whether the next record can be continuously handled as one subgroup.

  When it is determined that they are not the same record, in step 1305, the control unit 501 defines a subgroup including a plurality of continuous record groups configured up to that record. Then, the next record is referred to in order to determine whether the record after that can form another subgroup.

  In step 1304, the control unit 501 compares the number of sheets that can be set obtained by referring to the device capability information and the print settings of the print job. If the set number of print jobs is larger than the number of sheets that can be set, the maximum number of sheets that can be ejected as a subgroup until that record has been reached. Set the subgroup.

  In step 1306, the control unit 501 refers to all the records and determines whether or not the comparison determination process for determining whether or not it can be processed as a subgroup has been completed. If there are still unreferenced records, the process proceeds to step 1303 again to repeat the determination process.

  According to the above processing flow, all the records included in the print job are classified into several subgroups according to their attribute values, and the contents of the print settings of the subgroups are set according to the device capability information. The attribute value referred to in the subgroup setting process may be an attribute other than those described above, and the threshold value may be based on another scale.

[Example 3]
FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing the processing of the third embodiment.

  It is assumed that a job ID attribute that is an ID for identifying and managing the job is set in advance in the job ticket 703 included in the print job.

  When the print job receiving unit 502 of the printing apparatus 203 receives a print job from the print application 201, the control unit 501 determines in step 1402 whether the print job is a job for which subgroup printing is set. A print job that has not been subgroup printed is subjected to normal print processing. However, if the printing apparatus 203 has a subgroup printing function for a print job for which subgroup printing is set, in step 1409, Print sub-groups of print jobs by function. If the printing apparatus 203 does not have the subgroup printing function even though the print job is set to the subgroup printing, the process after step 1404 is performed instead of the group printing function of the printing apparatus.

  In step 1405, the control unit 501 analyzes the print job set for subgroup printing and divides a plurality of jobs for each subgroup.

  In step 1406, the control unit 501 assigns the same job ID as the pre-division print job to the divided print jobs. Information defining the mutual relationship of each job divided simultaneously is given to each job. By referring to this information, it is possible to determine which part of the divided print job corresponds to each divided job.

  In step 1407, the control unit 501 prints each divided print job using the group print function. At this time, the control unit 501 performs print job control so that the divided print jobs are continuously printed.

  In step 1408, the control unit 501 summarizes the statuses of the divided print jobs having the same job ID executed or being executed in group printing, and the status of the print job in which the subgroup before division is set. To the printing application 201.

  With the above processing, a printing apparatus having a group printing function but not a subgroup printing function divides a job into subgroups and performs printing processing as a plurality of group printings in order to perform subgroup printing instead. . At this time, the printing apparatus assigns a common job ID to each group print job, and handles each group print job after printing as one subgroup print job.

  FIG. 15 is a description example of print settings of a print job in which subgroup printing is set.

  Print 1000 copies of the specified print content. At that time, sub-group printing is set to perform group printing of 120 pages of print contents one by one. The last subgroup is set to print 40 pages of each page.

  FIG. 16 is a description example of a print job in which the print job in which the subgroup printing shown in FIG. 15 is set is divided for each subgroup.

  A job whose print job ID is SubGroupPrintJob-00001 is defined as a different print job for each subgroup. The divided jobs have the same job ID indicating the relationship with the print job before the division and the job sub ID indicating the relationship between the divided print jobs. The printing apparatus 203 performs job progress management for each of the divided print jobs, and manages the status of each job.

  FIG. 17 is a description example of progress information sent from the printing apparatus 203 to the print application 202 as a print progress notification when all divided print jobs are printed.

  When printing of all the divided print jobs is completed, the printing apparatus 203 transmits a summary of the status of each print job to the print application 202 as information on the print job before the division. The number of copies completed and the total number of pages are also the numerical values of the job before the division, and this is the sum of the processing status of each print job by the printing apparatus 203. The progress status of the printing process is obtained by averaging the progress rates of the divided print jobs. The time required for processing is notified of the difference between the print start time of the first divided print job and the print completion time of the last divided print job.

200 Printing System 201 Database 202 Printing Application

Claims (3)

In variable printing system (200) that performs subgroup printing (Fig. 8),
Based on the device capability information (404) for acquiring the device capability information of the printing apparatus and the post-printing processing device and the device capability information (FIG. 10) (FIG. 11) acquired by the device capability information acquisition unit, the subgroup print setting is set in the print job. Means for setting (406) (FIG. 12);
Printing means (504) for printing a print job for which subgroup printing has been set by the print job setting means;
A printing system comprising: The print job setting means (406) performs subgroup print settings using arbitrary data included in the content data (702) of the print job (FIG. 13). Printing system. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the print job setting unit (406) divides and prints the print job in a printing apparatus that does not include the subgroup printing unit (504) (Fig. 14).