JP2014093019A - Information processor, and method and program for controlling the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve efficiency of a workflow by controlling a processing sequence of a plurality of components constituting a print result.SOLUTION: The information processor 2 receives order information from a client 1 (S1). The information processor 2 acquires business material information and process information (S3), and determines the outputting sequence of jobs of components on the basis of an output sequence determination condition for improving efficiency of a post-processing process (S4). If the outputting sequence of print data of a first component (such as a cover) is modified, processing for modifying the outputting sequence of print data of a second component (such as a wraparound) is performed according to the modified outputting sequence of print data of the first component (S6). The determined outputting sequence is reflected on jobs of components constituting a print result, and the information processor 2 transmits print data of the components to a printer and a post-processing device according to the modified outputting sequence (S7).

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus that performs a process of generating a print result composed of a plurality of components, a control method therefor, and a program.

  A so-called photo merchandise ordering service is known in which a user freely arranges image data for a layout having a plurality of pages on a personal computer, creates a booklet, and places an order. Photo merchandise such as a photo book and a photo album is composed of a plurality of parts (elements) such as a text, a cover, and a belt. When the user orders a photo product through the service after the layout is confirmed, the order information and the laid-out content data are transmitted to the printing base apparatus, and the photo product is actually produced.

  For a plurality of parts constituting a photo product, post-processing after printing is generally executed by different types of post-processing apparatuses for each part. Therefore, when transporting the printed matter to the post-processing apparatus, it is desirable to control the output order so that the same type of printed matter is continuously printed and output collectively so as not to take time for sorting. In addition, this control can reduce the operation of replacing the paper feed tray during printing, improving the overall performance. As a method for controlling the output order, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228561 sets the execution order so that print jobs using paper fed from the same paper feed tray are continuously executed based on the paper attributes designated by the job. I have control.

JP 2011-244158 A

  In the above-described conventional technology, efficiency related to print processing is considered. However, consideration must be given to the environment in the workflow including the printing process and the post-processing process.

  Further, in the above-described prior art, order control between components is not considered. In the case of photo merchandise, basically, a specific user does not order a large number of booklets of the same content, but different users often order small amounts of different booklets for each user. Therefore, in the process of assembling the parts of the product, which is the final process of product production, when the printed matter of each part is viewed in turn, the first is the composition of book A and the second is the composition of book B It is desirable that the items are arranged in the same order as the items. For example, it is assumed that the printed matter of the cover and the band are arranged in different order orders. The printed matter on the cover is in the order of books A, B, C, D in order of order. The print order of the band prints is changed in order of the efficiency of the post-processing process, and the books A, D, B, and C are set in this order. In this case, at the stage of assembling parts and creating a printed product, the operator needs to search and rearrange at the time of combination, which may cause an assembly error. Therefore, in order to save the trouble of searching and rearranging the corresponding parts, it is necessary to determine the order of the parts so that the printed materials of the parts are arranged in the same order order between the parts.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to improve the efficiency of a workflow by controlling the processing order of a plurality of parts constituting a printed product.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, an apparatus according to the present invention is an information processing apparatus that processes print data of each component to generate a print result composed of a plurality of components including first and second components. When the receiving unit that receives the print data of each part and the output order of the print data of the first part are changed, the output order of the print data of the first part is changed according to the changed output order of the print data of the first part. Output order determining means for changing the output order of the print data of the second part, and transmission means for transmitting the print data of the plurality of parts according to the output order determined by the output order determining means.

  According to the present invention, the workflow efficiency can be improved by controlling the processing order of a plurality of components.

It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the commercial material production system which concerns on this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the example of an internal structure of information processing apparatus. It is a figure which illustrates the structure of a photo book, and the process of a photo book production. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the print job in photobook production. It is a figure which illustrates the process information and merchandise information which a workflow management part manages. It is a figure which illustrates the order information which an information processor manages. It is a flowchart which shows the process example which information processing apparatus performs. FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an output order determination process performed by the information processing apparatus in order to describe the first embodiment of the present invention together with FIGS. 9 and 10. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of job transmission processing. It is a figure explaining the example of an output before and after an output order determination process. It is a flowchart explaining the example of an output order determination process which concerns on 2nd embodiment. It is a figure explaining the example of an output before and after the output order determination process which concerns on 2nd embodiment. It is a flowchart explaining the example of an output order determination process concerning 3rd embodiment. It is a figure explaining the example of an output before and after the output order determination process which concerns on 3rd embodiment.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a production system for photo merchandise (hereinafter simply referred to as merchandise) according to an embodiment of the present invention. This system includes a client machine (hereinafter simply referred to as a client) 1, an information processing apparatus 2, a printing apparatus 3, and a post-processing apparatus 4.

The client 1 is a computer device used when, for example, the user selects, edits, or orders a product layout. When the user completes the layout editing of the product and confirms the order, the client 1 generates order information related to the product created by the user. The order information is data including information related to the ordered product, and the order information is different for each user. A plurality of clients 1 exist and are connected to the information processing apparatus 2 via a communication network such as the Internet.
The information processing device 2 is a computer device that receives order information from the client 1, manages the order information, and controls output to the printing device 3 and the post-processing device 4 in accordance with a print instruction and print data. The information processing apparatus 2 that processes the print data of each part constituting the product includes an order information reception unit 5, a job generation unit 6, a workflow management unit 7, a user interface unit 8, an output order determination unit 9, and a job transmission unit 10. Is provided.

  The printing apparatus 3 interprets the print job transmitted from the job transmission unit 10, performs rasterization processing, and performs printing. The post-processing device 4 interprets the post-processing job transmitted from the job transmission unit 10, automatically sets the post-processing parameters, and performs post-processing of the printed material at the timing when the printed material is set. Examples of the post-processing device 4 include a case binding machine, a cutting machine, a creasing machine, and a laminator.

Next, each component of the information processing apparatus 2 will be described.
The order information receiving unit 5 receives product order information and content data from the client 1. The job generation unit 6 generates a print job and a post-processing job from the order information received from the order information reception unit 5. The workflow management unit 7 manages data related to the workflow at the printing base that produces the product. The workflow management unit 7 manages the process information 11 and the product information 12. These pieces of information will be described later in detail with reference to FIG.
The user interface unit 8 has a graphical interface for the administrator to display a list of order information, execute it, and make various settings. The output order determination unit 9 determines in which order the jobs generated by the job generation unit 6 are output, or changes the order. The output order determination unit 9 may determine the output order based on a condition (output order determination condition) for determining the output order set via the user interface unit 8. The output order determination process will be described later in detail.

  The job transmission unit 10 executes and manages job transmission to the printing apparatus 3 and the post-processing apparatus 4. The job transmission unit 10 has a function of acquiring capability information and configuration information from the printing apparatus 3 and the post-processing apparatus 4, transmits a print job to the printing apparatus 3, and sends a post-processing job to the post-processing apparatus 4. Send. Note that when there is no particular distinction between a print job and a post-processing job, it is simply referred to as a job.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of the information processing apparatus 2.
A CPU (central processing unit) 21 executes programs stored in a program area in the ROM 26 or programs such as an OS and general-purpose applications loaded from the hard disk 23 to the RAM 22. The ROM is a read-only memory, and the RAM is a random access memory. The OS is an operating system.
The RAM 22 functions as a main memory and work area for the CPU 21. The hard disk 23 stores a boot program, various applications, font data, user files, electronic document files, and the like. All data received by the information processing apparatus 2 is sent to and stored in the hard disk 23. The display controller 24 performs display control of the display device. The network controller 25 executes communication control processing with other devices connected to the network. The external storage drive 27 acquires information from a portable medium 28 such as a CD (Compact Disc) or a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), or writes information to the medium. The keyboard controller 29 controls key input processing from a keyboard or pointing device. Each unit is connected to the CPU 21 by an internal bus 2a.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the configuration of a photo book that is a printed product, and an example of the processing steps of photo book production. A configuration example of the photo book is shown at the right end of FIG. It is assumed that one photo book is created by combining four types of parts, the cover 31, the body 32, the band 33, and the jacket 34. The cover 31 and the text 32 are bound by a case binding process, and a booklet is created by covering the jacket 34 and covering the band 33 from above.
FIG. 3 illustrates the processing steps for each part in the creation of the photo book. Each part is printed by the printing apparatus 3, and the printed matter is conveyed manually or by a conveying apparatus to a post-processing apparatus (see 35 to 38) for post-processing.

  In the post-processing for the printed matter on the cover sheet 31, the laminator 38 performs a laminating process on the surface of the cover sheet 31, and then the processed printed matter is conveyed to the case binding machine 35. The printed matter of the text 32 is conveyed to the case binding machine 35 without laminating. Each printed matter of the cover 31 and the text 32 is case bound by the case binding machine 35 to produce one booklet. When carrying out case binding, the printed matter of the cover 31 and the body 32 is transported to the case binding machine 35, and paper is set at different designated locations. After the case binding, the booklet is cut by the cutting machine 36.

On the other hand, there are two processes for the band 33 depending on the type of content data. If the content data of the band 33 is only text data, the laminator 38 does not perform the laminating process, and the creasing machine 37 performs the creasing and cutting process on the paper. If the content data of the band 33 includes image data, the laminator 38 performs a laminating process on the printed matter of the band 33, and then the creasing machine 37 performs the creasing and cutting process on the paper. Done.
The printed matter of the jacket 34 is subjected to a laminating process on the surface by a laminator 38, and then the creasing machine 37 performs creasing and cutting on the paper.

  Finally, one photo book is completed by manually assembling each processed printed matter. As described above, in the process of each part, the printing process is first performed by the printing apparatus 3, but in the post-processing process, the type and number of post-processing apparatuses 4 to be used and the contents of the processing process are each different. Different.

Next, a print job will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 shows a configuration example of a print job in photobook production.
When the client 1 accepts an order by a user operation, the client 1 transmits order information and content data corresponding to the order to the information processing apparatus 2. The print job is generated for each part in the job generation unit 6 of the information processing apparatus 2 based on the received order information. A print job 40 generated by ordering one photo book is composed of jobs corresponding to the respective components shown in FIG. That is, it is composed of a cover print job 41, a body print job 42, a band print job 43, and a jacket print job 44. Each print job includes content data and a job ticket. The content data has information to be printed. The job ticket includes setting parameters at the time of printing. Examples of setting parameters at the time of printing include the number of copies, printing surface setting information, and attribute information of the paper to be used. The information processing apparatus 2 instructs the printing apparatus 3 to perform print processing by transmitting a print job for each component by the job transmission unit 10. The post-processing job has a similar configuration.

Next, information managed by the workflow management unit 7 of the information processing apparatus 2 will be described.
FIG. 5A illustrates the configuration of the product information 12 managed by the workflow management unit 7. FIG. 5B illustrates the configuration of the process information 11 managed by the workflow management unit 7.
The merchandise information 12 shown in FIG. 5A includes identification information indicating the type of the printed product, and is, for example, table data for managing what kind of merchandise the system targets. The merchandise information 12 is registered in the information processing apparatus 2 when the system is constructed. The product information 12 includes a product ID 51, a product name 52, and a process ID 53. The product ID 51 is an identifier for uniquely identifying the product to be handled. The product name 52 is a name for uniquely identifying the product. The product name 52 is displayed to the user of the application through the user interface. Therefore, it is desirable to use a name that can specifically understand what kind of merchandise is represented, such as the photo book 1 or the photo album 1. The process ID 53 is an identifier for uniquely identifying the process information of the target product. By referring to the product information 12, the workflow management unit 7 acquires the registered product and information indicating in which process it is necessary to produce each product.

  The process information 11 shown in FIG. 5B is table data for managing the type of parts in an arbitrary product, the order of processes for each part, and detailed information of each process. The process information 11 includes a part name 54, a device name 55 for a printing process, and a device name 56 for a post-processing process. The part name 54 is a name for uniquely identifying a part constituting the product. The part name 54 is, for example, a cover, a text, a band (monochrome), a band (color), a jacket, or the like. The band is registered as a name of a separate part because the post-processing process differs between monochrome data and color data. The device name 55 of the printing process is the name of the printing apparatus 3 used for printing the target part. By referring to the printer information corresponding to this name, the workflow management unit 7 acquires capability information and configuration information of the printing apparatus 3. The device name 56 of the post-processing step is the name of the post-processing apparatus 4 used for post-processing of the target part. There may be a plurality of device names 56 for the post-processing steps, and in this case, the order of post-processing devices to be used is defined.

FIG. 6 shows a configuration example of order information received by the information processing apparatus 2. The order information includes an order ID 61, a product ID 51, a finished size 62, and a band type 63. As items included in the order information, there are many other information such as the number of books to be ordered, the name and address of the orderer, and the description of items not directly related to the present embodiment is omitted.
The order ID 61 is an identifier for uniquely identifying order information. The merchandise ID 51 is an ID having the same meaning as the merchandise ID described with reference to FIG. 5A, and it is possible to determine which merchandise type each order has. The finished size 62 represents the size of the ordered product. For example, if “A4”, the finished size is A4 size. In the case of the non-standard size, information on the vertical size and the horizontal size is set. The band type 63 represents the type of the band 33. As described above, the user can select a favorite size and color from a plurality of patterns for the plurality of parts constituting the product. FIG. 6 illustrates color and monochrome. “Color” represents data including a color image, and “monochrome” represents data including only monochrome text without including a color image. As shown in FIG. 5B, it is assumed that the contents of the post-processing process are different between color and monochrome.

  Next, a series of processing examples performed by the information processing apparatus 2 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. A program related to this processing is stored in the hard disk 23 of the information processing apparatus 2, read out to the RAM 22, and executed by the CPU 21.

  First, in S1, the order information receiving unit 5 receives the order information transmitted by the client 1. The order information is as described with reference to FIG. 6, and information corresponding to the number of times the order is placed is received from a plurality of users. In the case of FIG. 6, since 5 orders are received in total, an example in which products are produced according to 5 orders will be described below. In next step S <b> 2, the job generation unit 6 acquires the product information 12 of each order information from the workflow management unit 7. Specifically, referring to the value of the product ID 51 of each order information, a search is made as to what kind of product is the order, and a process ID 53 corresponding to the searched product is acquired. In the case of FIG. 6, since the value of the product ID 51 of all the order information is “001”, referring to FIG. 5A, “process 001” is acquired as the process ID. In step S <b> 3, the job generation unit 6 acquires process information 11 from the workflow management unit 7. Specifically, referring to the table of the process information 11 corresponding to the process ID 53 acquired in S2, processing for acquiring the part name 54, the process order of each part, and the device name is performed. Thereby, the job generation unit 6 grasps what kind of part job should be generated for each received order information, and reconfigures the order information as a plurality of jobs. In the case of the present embodiment, the configuration of the reconfigured print job is as described with reference to FIG. 4, and 4 (parts) × 5 (order) = 20 print jobs are generated.

  When a print job for each received order information is generated in this way, in S4, a process for determining the output order of the print job for the target component (output order determination process) is performed based on specific conditions. Do. Details thereof will be described later with reference to FIGS. 8, 10, and 11. In S5, the job generation unit 6 determines whether or not the product corresponding to each order information is composed of a plurality of parts. As a result of the determination, if the product is not composed of a plurality of parts, the process proceeds to S7. If the product is composed of a plurality of parts, the process proceeds to S6, and the output order determined in the output order determination process of S4 is reflected on another type of job in the same product. Finally, in S7, the job transmission unit 10 transmits a job for each component based on the output order determined in S4 and S6.

[First embodiment]
Next, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an output order determination process performed by the information processing apparatus 2 according to the present embodiment. In the first embodiment, a case will be described as an example where the efficiency of processing in the cutting process of the cover and the text is set as the output order determination condition. In this case, the printed matter input to the cover and body cutting process is combined as one book in the case binding process of the previous process, and thus is one printed matter for each order. Further, the processing efficiency in the cutting process is realized by collectively controlling orders of the same finished size, for example. In other words, by collectively controlling orders of the same finished size, the operator does not need to change the setting parameter each time. In addition, by collectively setting the printed matter on the cutting machine, it is possible to cut a plurality of volumes in a single process, leading to an increase in processing efficiency.

  First, in step S11, the output order determination unit 9 acquires an output order determination condition. In the case of this embodiment, the finished size of the product is an output order determination condition. The setting of the conditions is performed, for example, by an administrator at the printing base using the user interface unit 8 at the time of workflow construction, and the output order determination unit 9 stores and manages the condition information. Alternatively, means for dynamically determining the output order determination condition from the process information of each product and each information of the printing apparatus 3 and the post-processing apparatus 4 may be provided. In the next S12, the output order determination unit 9 acquires the finished size of each order. The size value is acquired with reference to the finished size 62 (see FIG. 6) in the order information. In step S13, the output order determining unit 9 rearranges the print order so that data having the same finish size is continuous in the cover and body print jobs. For example, when two types of orders of finished size A4 and B5 are mixed, rearrangement is performed so that orders of finished size A4 are continuous and orders of finished size B5 are continuous. Finally, in S14, the output order determination unit 9 generates a group for each data having the same finished size. For example, an order with a finish size of A4 is defined as one group (first group), an order with a finish size of B5 is defined as one group (second group), and processing for storing the group information is performed.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary job transmission process performed by the information processing apparatus 2. In the job transmission process, the job transmission unit 10 transmits the job generated by the job generation unit 6 to the printing apparatus 3 and the post-processing apparatus 4 according to the output order determined by the output order determination unit 9.
In step S <b> 21, the job transmission unit 10 acquires priority information of a component job to be transmitted. In the present embodiment, there are four types of parts: cover, body, band, and jacket, so it is necessary to determine which part of the job is sent in order. Therefore, a priority is provided for each component, and job transmission processing is executed according to the priority. The priority determination process can be determined according to the priority setting information input from the user interface by the user of the application. Alternatively, the information processing apparatus 2 may dynamically determine the system workflow configuration, order status, and the like. Examples of the condition to be dynamically determined include increasing the priority of a component having a large number of post-processing steps and increasing the priority of a component having a small number of printed sheets. When the priority of a part having a large number of post-processing steps is increased, an effect is obtained that post-processing can be advanced faster than other parts by outputting the part first. In addition, when the priority is given to a component with a small number of printed sheets and output first, post-processing can be performed during a period in which the number of printed sheets is large and it takes time to print, so it takes a long time, which is a bottleneck. The effect that process time can be shortened is acquired.

  In next step S22, the job transmission unit 10 transmits a job of a part related to the order in the order information. In accordance with the priority information of the parts acquired in S21, transmission processing is performed in order from the higher priority and in the output order determined in S4. In step S <b> 23, the job transmission unit 10 determines whether the job transmission has been performed without any problem. As a result of the determination, if the job cannot be transmitted, the process proceeds to S24, and the transmission process of the job to be transmitted next to the job is executed. If the target job can be transmitted, the process proceeds to S25. In step S <b> 25, the job transmission unit 10 determines whether transmission of all jobs has been completed for the component job to be transmitted. If it is not completed, that is, if there is still an order job to be transmitted next, the process returns to S22 and transmission of the next job is continued. If transmission of all jobs in the target part is completed, the process proceeds to S26. In S26, it is determined whether all jobs to be transmitted have been transmitted. When all the jobs have been transmitted, the series of processing ends. If the transmission of the job has not been completed, the process returns to S22, and the job related to the component with the next highest priority is transmitted in the determined output order.

In the above processing, when jobs to be performed in the order according to the priority acquired in S21 cannot be temporarily transmitted, the order can be dynamically changed to align the job output order among the parts. .
For example, it is assumed that print jobs for each part are output in the order of orders A, B, E, C, and D in accordance with the output order determination condition, and the priority among parts is higher in the order of cover, body, band, and jacket. . Here, if the cover B print job for Order B cannot be temporarily transmitted for some reason, the order is as follows.

・ Cover print job: A → × → E → C → D → B
-Text print job: A → B → E → C → D
・ Band print job: A → B → E → C → D
・ Jacket print job: A → B → E → C → D
An “x” mark represents a temporary transmission impossible state. In this example, after the order D cover print job, the order B cover print job is transmitted. This breaks the consistency of the output order between components. Therefore, as described in S23 and S24 of FIG. 9, the job to be transmitted is changed to the next print job for each component following the cover, and the following order is obtained.

・ Cover print job: A → × → E → C → D → B
-Text print job: A->p->E->C->D-> B
・ Band print job: A → p → E → C → D → B
・ Jacket print job: A → p → E → C → D → B
“P” represents that the print job corresponding to the order B is passed and advanced to the next print job. Since the transmission order of the body, band, and jacket print jobs that follow the cover page is dynamically changed in accordance with the cover print job, the consistency of the output order between components is guaranteed.

FIG. 10 shows an example of output results before and after the output order determination process performed by the information processing apparatus 2. In FIG. 10, one job is represented by one rectangular frame, and the jobs are transmitted in order from the order located above.
FIG. 10A illustrates an output result before the output order determination process. As shown in FIG. 6, the finished sizes from orders A to E are A4, A4, B5, B5, and A4 in order from the top. When the cutting process is performed in this order, the process order is as follows.

(1) A step of cutting the covers of orders A and B and the printed matter of the text together into a finished size A4.
(2) A step of cutting the covers of orders C and D and the printed matter of the text together into a finished size B5.
(3) A step of cutting the cover of Order E and the printed matter of the text with a finished size A4.
In this case, since it is necessary to change the setting parameter twice, the efficiency of the cutting process is not optimal.

FIG. 10B illustrates an output result after the output order determination process. In S13 of FIG. 8, as a result of rearranging so that the orders are continuous in the finished sizes A4 and B5, the cover and body texts are in the order of order A, order B, order E, order C, and order D. A job is submitted. That is, the following process sequence is performed.
(1) A step of cutting the covers of orders A, B, and E and the printed matter of the text together into a finished size A4.
(2) A step of cutting the covers of orders C and D and the printed matter of the text together into a finished size B5.
Further, in S6 of FIG. 7, the output order of the cover and body jobs is also reflected in the belt and jacket jobs, respectively. Thus, the efficiency of the cutting process is optimized.

  In the first embodiment, when a print result is generated with a plurality of parts, when the printing order of the first parts (for example, cover) is changed for processing efficiency, the second parts (for example, belt) are used. The printing order is also changed. By performing the print job transmission process in accordance with the determined output order, the order is arranged in the same order over the respective parts during the assembling operation in the final product process. As a result, it is not necessary to rearrange or search the printed materials during the assembling work, so that work efficiency is improved. Further, as described with reference to FIG. 10B, in the process of the cutting process after the case binding of a plurality of parts (cover, body), it is possible to cut the printed matter collectively in the finished size unit. For this reason, it is possible to eliminate waste of operations such as switching of setting parameters and individual cutting during the cutting process. Since the output order of the job of each part is determined based on the output order determination condition for streamlining the workflow, the processing efficiency is improved.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. Detailed description of the same configuration as that of the first embodiment will be omitted, and differences will be mainly described. The way of omitting such description is the same in the embodiments described later.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an output order determination process performed by the information processing apparatus 2 according to the second embodiment. In the present embodiment, a case where the efficiency of processing in the band creation process is set as the output order determination condition will be described as an example. In the band creating process described with reference to FIG. 3, when the band content data includes color image data, the creasing process is performed after the laminating process. When the content data of the band does not include color image data, the creasing process is performed without performing the laminating process.
First, in S31, the output order determination unit 9 acquires an output order determination condition. In the case of this embodiment, the output order determination condition is whether the band content data includes color image data or is monochrome data that does not include color image data. The acquisition method is as described in S11 of FIG.

  In the next S32, the output order determination unit 9 determines the content data of each order band. That is, it is determined whether the data is color data or monochrome data. This process can be determined by referring to the band type 63 (see FIG. 6) in the order information. Alternatively, when the band type information cannot be acquired from the order information, it is possible to determine color and monochrome by directly analyzing the content data. In step S33, the output order determination unit 9 rearranges the output order so that the color content data and the monochrome content data are continuous with each other in the band job. In S34, the output order determination unit 9 generates a group for each band type. For example, a process is performed in which a group of order information whose band content data is color is defined as a first group, a group of order information whose band content data is monochrome is defined as a second group, and the group information is stored. Is done.

FIG. 12 shows an example of output results before and after the output order determination process performed by the information processing apparatus 2. In FIG. 12, one rectangular frame represents one job, and transmission processing is performed in order from the order positioned above.
FIG. 12A illustrates an output result before the output order determination process. As shown in FIG. 6, the types of bands from orders A to E are color, monochrome, color, monochrome, and color in order from the top. If the strips are post-processed in this order, the color strips must be transported to the laminator, and the monochrome strips must be transported to the creasing machine without the laminator. It must be sorted. This sorting work takes time, and at the same time, the uniformity of the order between parts is lost. For this reason, the efficiency of the workflow is not optimal.

  FIG. 12B illustrates an output result after the output order determination process. In S33 of FIG. 11, as a result of rearranging so that the orders are continuous in both cases of color and monochrome, the order A, order C, order E, order B, order D are Band jobs are sent in order. Each job of order A, order C, and order E constitutes a first group whose color is a band type, and each job of order B and order D constitutes a second group whose color is a monochrome. Further, in S6 of FIG. 7, the output order of the band jobs is reflected in the cover, body, and jacket print jobs. In this way, workflow efficiency is optimized.

  In the second embodiment, as in the case of the first embodiment, since the orders are arranged in the same order over the respective parts at the time of the assembling work in the final process of the product, work efficiency is improved. In addition, when there are a plurality of types in the band and the post-processing process differs depending on the content data, jobs can be output in units of processes by rearranging. There is no need to rearrange or search for printed materials in the middle of the post-processing process, and the waste of work can be saved.

[Third embodiment]
Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an output order determination process performed by the information processing apparatus 2 according to the present embodiment. In the present embodiment, an explanation will be given by taking as an example a case in which two conditions of efficiency of processing in the cutting process of the cover and the body and efficiency in the band process are combined. When there are a plurality of output order determination conditions, a priority is assigned to each condition, and processing for determining the output order in descending order of priority is executed. As a result, workflow efficiency can be improved in a plurality of post-processing steps. In this embodiment, when the condition for improving the processing efficiency in the cutting process of the cover and the text is the first condition, and the condition for improving the efficiency in the band process is the second condition, the first condition is more The following description will be made assuming that the priority is higher than that of the second condition.

  First, in step S41, the output order determination unit 9 acquires information on output order determination conditions. In the case of the present embodiment, there are two conditions for determining the output order: the finished size of the product (first condition) and whether the content data of the band is color or monochrome (second condition). The first condition for higher processing efficiency in the cover and body cutting process has a higher priority than the second condition. Therefore, in step S42, the output order determination unit 9 acquires information on the finished size of the product. In step S43, the output order determination unit 9 rearranges the output order so that data with the same finish size is continuous between the cover and body jobs. In the next S44, the output order determination unit 9 generates a group for each same finished size. Here, a group of order information with a finish size of A4 is defined as a first group, and a group of order information with a finish size of B5 is defined as a second group. Note that the processing from S42 to S44 is as described in FIG. 8 of the first embodiment.

In step S45, the output order determination unit 9 determines whether another output order determination condition exists. If another output order determination condition does not exist, the process ends. In this embodiment, another output order determination condition is the second condition, and the process proceeds to S46.
S46 to S48 are processing steps relating to efficiency in the band process, which has the second highest priority. In step S46, the output order determination unit 9 acquires the first group order information. In the example shown in FIG. 14, three orders (A, B, E) with a finished size A4 belong to the first group. In step S47, the output order determination unit 9 determines whether the content data of the band is color or monochrome for each order belonging to the first group. In step S48, the output order determining unit 9 rearranges the output order of the band jobs belonging to the first group so that the color content data and the monochrome content data are continuous. In step S49, the output order determination unit 9 determines whether another group exists. When another group exists, it progresses to S50, and when another group does not exist, it progresses to S51. Here, since the process for the first group is completed and the process for the second group is incomplete, the process proceeds to S50.

In S50, the output order determination unit 9 acquires order information of the next group. In this case, the next group indicates the second group. In the example shown in FIG. 14, the second group includes two orders (C, D) with a finished size of B5. Then, the process proceeds to S47, and the output order determination unit 9 determines whether the content data of each order band belonging to the second group is color or monochrome. In S48, the output order is rearranged so that the same type of content data is continuous.
As a result of the determination in S49, when the processing for all the groups is completed, the processing proceeds to S51, processing for combining the results of the output order between the groups is executed, and the series of processing ends. S51 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

FIG. 14 shows an example of output results before and after the output order determination process performed by the information processing apparatus 2. In FIG. 14, one job is represented by one rectangular frame, and transmission processing is performed in order from the order positioned above.
FIG. 14A illustrates an output result before the output order determination process. As shown in FIG. 6, the finished sizes from order A to E are A4, A4, B5, B5, and A4 in order from the top, and the types of bands are color, monochrome, color, monochrome, Color. When the cutting process is performed in this order, the workflow efficiency is not optimal as described in the first and second embodiments.

FIG. 14B illustrates an output result after the output order determination process when rearrangement is performed by applying the first condition for improving the efficiency of the cutting process, which is the first priority item. As a result of rearranging the orders of finished sizes A4 and B5 so as to be continuous, order A, order B, order E, order C, and order D are obtained. In this case, the band types are in the order of color, monochrome, color, color, monochrome from the top. Therefore, there is room for improvement in the band cutting process.
FIG. 14C illustrates an output result after the output order determination process when the second condition for further improving the efficiency of the band process, which is the second priority item, is further applied. Rearrangement is performed so that color and monochrome orders in the same group are consecutive. As a result, it is determined that the job of each part is transmitted according to the order of order A, order E, order B, order C, and order D. In this case, the band types are in the order of color, color, monochrome, color, monochrome from the top.

  In the third embodiment, work efficiency is improved as in the first embodiment. In addition, when there are a plurality of types of bands and the post-processing steps are different, print jobs can be output in units of groups for each group. Therefore, the work efficiency in the post-processing step can be improved as compared with the first embodiment. When combining a plurality of conditions for improving the efficiency of the post-processing process, it is possible to improve the efficiency of processing by setting a priority for each condition.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Client machine 2 Information processing apparatus 3 Printing apparatus 4 Post-processing apparatus 9 Output order determination part

Claims (10)

An information processing apparatus that processes print data of each component in order to generate a print result composed of a plurality of components including a first component and a second component,
Receiving means for receiving print data of each component;
When the output order of the print data of the first part is changed, the output order determination for changing the output order of the print data of the second part according to the changed output order of the print data of the first part Means,
An information processing apparatus comprising: a transmission unit configured to transmit print data of the plurality of parts in accordance with the output order determined by the output order determination unit. Job generation means for generating a job for each of the plurality of parts is provided,
The output order determination means determines the output order of the job of each part generated by the job generation means according to the output order determination condition relating to the printing and post-processing steps,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmission unit transmits a job for each component to a printing apparatus and a post-processing apparatus in accordance with the output order determined by the output order determination unit.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the output order determination condition is information indicating a finished size of the printed product or a type of data related to the part. Management means for managing identification information indicating the type of the printed product and process information indicating printing and post-processing of the printed product,
4. The job generation unit according to claim 2, wherein the job generation unit acquires the identification information and the process information from the management unit according to a print instruction for the print product, and generates a job for the plurality of parts. 5. Information processing device.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the process information includes information on a plurality of parts corresponding to the identification information and information on an apparatus used for a process related to the plurality of parts.   The output order determination means determines the output order of the job of each part generated by the job generation means according to the priority set for each output order determination condition when there are a plurality of the output order determination conditions. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the information processing apparatus is an information processing apparatus.   3. The transmission unit according to claim 2, wherein the transmission unit transmits a job for each component according to the job priority among the components determined by the output order determination unit according to the number of printed sheets of each component or the status of a post-processing step. 7. The information processing apparatus according to any one of items 6 to 6.   When the transmission unit cannot temporarily transmit the job in an output order according to the priority determined by the output order determination unit, the transmission unit dynamically changes the order and aligns the job output order among the components. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein: A control method executed by an information processing apparatus that processes print data of each component in order to generate a print result composed of a plurality of components including a first component and a second component,
A receiving step for receiving print data of each component;
When the output order of the print data of the first part is changed, the output order determination for changing the output order of the print data of the second part according to the changed output order of the print data of the first part Steps,
An information processing apparatus control method comprising: a transmission step of transmitting print data of the plurality of parts in accordance with the output order determined by the output order determination step. A program executed by a computer in an information processing apparatus that processes print data of each component in order to generate a print result composed of a plurality of components including a first component and a second component,
A receiving step for receiving print data of each component;
When the output order of the print data of the first part is changed, the output order determination for changing the output order of the print data of the second part according to the changed output order of the print data of the first part Steps,
A program comprising: a transmission step of transmitting print data of the plurality of parts in accordance with the output order determined in the output order determination step.

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