JP4507716B2 - Print control system, print control method, and program therefor - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a print control system, a print control method, and an improvement of a program for controlling a print process of a plurality of print data.

  Conventionally, whether or not print data is saved in a predetermined storage area such as a folder set in a storage unit such as a memory or a hard disk is monitored, and when the print data is saved, the folder is set to the folder. There has been proposed a system for executing print processing based on the print conditions. As a result, for example, even if the operator does not constantly monitor that the print data has been sent to the print server, the printing process can be executed, and the work load can be reduced.

For example, Patent Document 1 below discloses a print control apparatus that monitors the storage of print data in a hot folder and registers the print data as a print output job when the print data is stored in the hot folder. .
JP 2000-118095

  However, in the above-described conventional technology, since the print condition is set in the folder for storing the print data, when preparing a plurality of folders to correspond to a plurality of print data, or when executing the print processing of the print data, There is a problem that it is necessary to reset the corresponding printing conditions in one folder each time, and in any case, the printing work becomes complicated. For example, in the case of a booklet such as a magazine, it may be necessary to switch CMS (color management system) settings and color profile settings for each page because the printing conditions used on individual pages are different. In such a case, with a conventional hot folder or the like, it is difficult to systematically set printing conditions for a plurality of print data.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a print control system, a print control method, and a print control system capable of easily setting a plurality of print conditions and easily executing print processing of a plurality of print data. The purpose is to provide a program for this purpose.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a print control system for controlling print processing of a plurality of print data, wherein the print data is stored in a predetermined storage area in which a plurality of print conditions are set in a hierarchical structure in advance. Storage means for storing, monitoring means for monitoring whether or not print data is stored in the storage area, and when the monitoring means determines that the print data is stored in the storage area, based on the print data A printing condition selection unit that selects the printing condition; and a printing condition transmission unit that transmits the printing condition selected by the printing condition selection unit to a predetermined printing apparatus. Here, it is preferable that the hierarchical structure of the printing conditions includes a hierarchy for setting conditions for each file name and each page number.

  The print control system preferably further includes a display unit, and when print data is stored in the storage area, an input screen for inputting the print conditions is preferably displayed.

  In the print control system, it is preferable that the print conditions are set in advance in print data.

  In the print control system, it is preferable that the printing condition selection unit selects the printing conditions by sorting each file and each page when a plurality of print data is stored in the storage area. It is.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print control method for controlling print processing of a plurality of print data, the step of storing the print data in a predetermined storage area in which a plurality of print conditions are set in a hierarchical structure in advance, Monitoring whether print data is stored in the storage area; selecting print conditions based on the print data when the print data is stored in the storage area; and selecting the selected print And transmitting the condition to a predetermined printing apparatus.

  The present invention also provides a program for causing a computer to operate as a print control system that controls print processing of a plurality of print data, wherein the print data is stored in a predetermined storage area in which a plurality of print conditions are set in a hierarchical structure in advance. And monitoring whether the print data is stored in the storage area, and when the print data is stored in the storage area, the print condition is selected based on the print data, and the selected It is characterized by causing a computer to execute processing for transmitting printing conditions to a predetermined printing apparatus.

  Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention (hereinafter referred to as an embodiment) will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a print control system according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, a client computer (hereinafter referred to as a client PC) 10, a print server 12, and a printer 14 that generate print data such as documents and images are connected via a network 16. The client PC 10 is configured by a personal computer, for example, and print data is created and edited by a user. The created print data is transmitted via the network 16 to a print server 12 configured with a personal computer or the like with predetermined printing conditions. The print server 12 controls the printing machine 14 to execute print processing of print data transmitted from the client PC 10 based on predetermined print conditions. The network 16 is not particularly limited, and for example, an intranet, the Internet, a satellite line network, a telephone line network, or the like can be used.

  In the present embodiment, a graphic representing the print data and a folder graphic representing a predetermined storage area are displayed on the display screen of the client PC 10, and printing is performed from the client PC 10 by dragging and dropping the print data into the folder. An instruction for print processing is issued to the server 12.

  FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a configuration example of the client PC 10. In FIG. 2, the client PC 10 includes a processing condition setting unit 18, a monitoring unit 20, a processing condition selection unit 22, a communication unit 24, a log management unit 26, and a storage unit 28. In addition, an operation unit 30, a display unit 32, and the like are connected as peripheral devices.

  The processing condition setting unit 18 sets a plurality of printing conditions in a predetermined storage area secured in the storage unit 28 based on an operation input from the operation unit 30. This print condition is a condition for causing the print server 12 to print the print data created by the client PC 10. In addition, the printing conditions are set in a hierarchical structure. For example, a user of the print control system according to the present invention such as a company name as the first hierarchy, a file name, booklet name or booklet to be printed as the second hierarchy. For example, an identification code for identification, a section or chapter as the third layer, a page number as the fourth layer, and a printout condition as the fifth layer can be set. Here, the printout conditions are conditions necessary for operation control for operating the printing machine 14 such as the number of copies, color profile, CMS (color management system) system, paper type, and the like. The printout condition may include the network address of the printer 14 to be used. Further, the number of hierarchies in the hierarchical structure can be appropriately determined based on print data or the like.

  The monitoring unit 20 monitors whether print data created by the client PC 10 is stored in the predetermined storage area. In order to store the print data in a predetermined storage area, for example, it is preferable that the print data is dragged and dropped to a folder representing the predetermined storage area with a mouse or the like included in the operation unit 30 and executed. is there.

  When the monitoring unit 20 determines that the print data is stored in the predetermined storage area, the processing condition selection unit 22 selects the print data from a plurality of print conditions set in the predetermined storage area. Based on this, suitable printing conditions are selected. That is, when print data is stored in a predetermined storage area, the processing condition selection unit 22 displays a field for inputting information to be a key for selecting a print condition on the display unit 32, and an operation is performed on this field. A user inputs predetermined key information through the operation unit 30. The key information includes a file name, a booklet name, an identification code for identifying the booklet, a page number, and the like. The processing condition selection unit 22 selects a printing condition having information that matches the input key information. The processing condition selection unit 22 in this case functions as a printing condition selection unit of the present invention. In addition, the processing condition selection unit 22 transmits the print condition selected together with the print data to the print server 12 via the communication unit 24. In this case, the processing condition selection unit 22 and the communication unit 24 function as a printing condition transmission unit of the present invention.

  In addition, when the key information is described in advance in the header portion of the print data, it is preferable that the processing condition selection unit 22 performs the selection of the print condition based on the key information. In this case, it is not necessary to display a column for inputting the key information on the display unit 32.

  The communication unit 24 communicates with other client PCs 10 and the print server 12 via the network 16 to exchange data. In a configuration in which a printing press is directly connected to the client PC 10 without going through the network 16, the communication unit 24 exchanges data with the printing press.

  The log management unit 26 causes the storage unit 28 to store the results of print data creation, printing condition selection, communication processing with the print server 12, and the like as a log.

  The storage unit 28 includes a CPU working RAM, a magnetic storage medium, and the like, and stores various data such as printing conditions and programs.

  The operation unit 30 is configured to input various operation signals to the client PC 10, and includes, for example, an area designation unit such as a keyboard and a mouse.

  The display unit 32 includes various displays and the like for displaying the output of the client PC 10 on the screen.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of the predetermined storage area formed in the storage unit 28. In FIG. 3, hierarchical printing conditions are set in a predetermined storage area. A group folder is set as the first layer of the printing conditions of this example, and the name of the company who is the user of the printing control system is stored therein. Note that print data dragged and dropped is also stored in the group folder. A file name or booklet name is set as the second hierarchy, and the name of the booklet to be printed is stored here. Also, page numbers are set as the third hierarchy, and the page number range of the booklet to be printed is stored. Furthermore, a printout condition is set as the fourth hierarchy, and conditions necessary for operation control for operating the above-described printing press 14 are stored therein. Although the number of hierarchies is four in FIG. 3, as described above, it can be appropriately increased or decreased based on print data or the like.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of the flow of print data in the print control system according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 4, for example, when the print data file is dragged and dropped into the ABC Group folder in order to print out the print data of the page for which the page creation person B is in charge, the monitoring unit 20 sets the predetermined storage area. It is determined that the print data is stored in the group folder. At this time, as described above, a field for inputting key information may be displayed on the display unit 32, and the operator may input the key information. The processing condition selection unit 22 receives the determination result of the monitoring unit 20 and selects a printing condition having information that matches the key information. The key information used in this example is “Weekly OOO” which is the book name of the second layer and “5-8” which is the page number of the third layer. The processing condition selection unit 22 selects a printing condition having such a booklet name and page number, reads the printout condition, and transmits the printout condition together with the print data from the communication unit 24 to the print server 12. For example, in the case of the page creator D, for example, the processing condition selection unit 22 reads out the printout conditions corresponding to the page numbers 17-32 of “Week AAA” and prints the print data from the communication unit 24 together with the print data. Send to. The print server 12 causes the printing machine 14 to print the transmitted print data based on the printout condition.

  FIG. 5 shows a flow of operations of the print control system according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 5, the monitoring unit 20 monitors whether the print data created by the client PC 10 is stored in the group folder as a predetermined storage area (S1).

  When the print data is stored in the group folder by the above-described operation such as drag and drop, the processing condition selection unit 22 extracts key information for selecting the print condition included in the print data (S2). Specifically, as described above, the file name, booklet name, identification code for identifying the booklet, page number, etc. are used as key information and displayed by the operator when the print data is stored in the group folder. The key information may be input in a predetermined field displayed on the display screen of the unit 32, or the key information may be described in advance in the header portion of the print data.

  In the processing condition selection unit 22, based on the key information, the processing condition setting unit 18 sets the printing conditions stored in a hierarchical structure in each group folder in advance as shown in FIG. 3 or 4. A print condition including information that matches the key information is searched (S3). The search process will be described later.

  The printing condition searched in S3 is read from the storage unit 28 by the processing condition selection unit 22 (S4). The read print condition is transmitted to the print server 12 together with the print data via the communication unit 24, and the print condition is set in the print server 12 (S5).

  The print server 12 causes the printing machine 14 to print the received print data based on the printing conditions (S6).

  Accordingly, by simply storing the print data created by the client PC 10 in a predetermined group folder by drag and drop, an appropriate print condition is selected and a desired print process is executed. In the above example, the configuration in which the printing machine 14 is connected to the network 16 has been described. However, a configuration in which the printing machine 14 is directly connected to the client PC 10 can operate similarly. In this case, the client PC 10 is provided with an operation control function for the printing press 14.

  FIG. 6 shows a flow of the search process. In FIG. 6, the processing condition selection unit 22 reads the hierarchy conditions necessary for the search from the group folder, for example, the file name of the second hierarchy and the page number of the third hierarchy in the case of FIG. 3 or 4 (S10).

Next, the processing condition selection unit 22 performs matching processing between the key information extracted in S2 of FIG. 5 and the conditions read in S10. That is, first, the second hierarchy having a file name that matches the file name included in the key information is selected (S11), and then a natural number n = n ₀ representing the page number is set (S12). Here, n ₀ is an initial value of the page range of the print data stored in the group folder. For example, n ₀ = 1 for the print data of the page creator A and n ₀ = 5 for the print data of the page creator B. Processing condition selection unit 22 reads out the print-out conditions in the case of n = n ₀ in the hierarchy below the relevant page number (fourth layer), is stored in a predetermined area of the storage unit 28 (S13).

Here, the processing condition selection unit 22 determines whether or not the value of n matches the maximum value n _max of the page range of the print data stored in the group folder (S14). This maximum value is, for example, n _max = 4 for the print data of the page creator A and n _max = 8 for the print data of the page creator B. If n and n _max do not match in S14, n = n + 1 is set (S15), and the processes from S12 are repeated.

If n and _nmax match in S14, the processing condition selection unit 22 determines whether another key name is included in the key information extracted in S2 of FIG. 5 (S16). . If any other file name is included, the process from S11 is repeated for the new file name. If no other file name is included, the search process is terminated, and the process proceeds to S4 in FIG. Note that the retrieved printing conditions in S4 of FIG. 5 are read from the predetermined area in S13.

  In the search process shown in FIG. 6 above, in S11 and S12, the processing condition selection unit 22 reads out the hierarchical conditions necessary for the search and executes the key information and matching processing. For this reason, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, the page (1-4) handled by the page creator A and the page (5-8) handled by B are collectively stored in the group folder. The condition selection unit 22 can sort the print data stored in the group folder using the file name and page number as keys, and can read out the printout conditions. Also, as shown in FIG. 4, when print data having different file names for page creators A and B and page creators C, D, and E are collectively stored in the group folder, Each print data can be sorted using the name and page number as a key, and the printout condition can be read out.

  As described above, it is possible to search for an appropriate print condition for the print data stored in the group folder.

  In the embodiment described above, an example in which the configuration shown in FIG. 2 is included in the client PC 10 has been described. However, the print server 12 may have all or part of the configuration shown in FIG. .

1 is a block diagram of a configuration of a print control system according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a configuration example of a client PC shown in FIG. 1. It is a figure which shows the example of the predetermined | prescribed storage area formed in the memory | storage part shown by FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the flow of the printing data in the printing control system concerning this invention. It is a figure which shows the flow of operation | movement of the printing control system concerning this invention. It is a figure which shows the flow of the search process shown by FIG.

Explanation of symbols

10 client PC, 12 print server, 14 printing machine, 16 network, 18 processing condition setting unit, 20 monitoring unit, 22 processing condition selection unit, 24 communication unit, 26 log management unit, 28 storage unit, 30 operation unit, 32 display Department.

Claims (3)

A print control system for controlling print processing of print data,
And print data, a storage unit and a printing condition set in advance in a plurality of hierarchical structures are stored,
From the printing conditions set in the storage means, the printing conditions corresponding to any hierarchy of the printing conditions and including information matching the information for selecting the printing conditions are changed from the upper hierarchy to the lower hierarchy. Search means for searching in order ,
Monitoring means print data in the storage unit monitors whether stored,
Said monitoring means, if the print data is determined to have been stored in the storage means, based on the retrieved printing condition by said retrieval means, a printing condition selection means for selecting the printing condition,
A printing condition transmission unit that transmits the printing condition selected by the printing condition selection unit to a printing apparatus ;
The printing control system, wherein the printing condition selection unit distributes printing data for each layer corresponding to information for selecting the printing condition and selects the printing condition . The print control system according to claim 1, wherein the information for selecting the print condition is set in advance in print data. A program for controlling print processing of print data,
Computer
Storage means for storing print data and printing conditions set in advance in a plurality of hierarchical structures;
From the printing conditions set in the storage means, the printing conditions corresponding to any hierarchy of the printing conditions and including information matching the information for selecting the printing conditions are changed from the upper hierarchy to the lower hierarchy. Search means to search in order,
Monitoring means for monitoring whether print data is stored in the storage means;
A printing condition selection unit that selects the printing condition based on the printing condition searched by the searching unit when the monitoring unit determines that the printing data is stored in the storage unit;
The printing condition selected by the printing condition selection unit is operated as a printing condition transmission unit that transmits to the printing apparatus,
The program according to claim 1, wherein the printing condition selection unit distributes printing data for each layer corresponding to information for selecting the printing condition and selects the printing condition.

Images