JPH10305631A - Equipment and method for controlling printing - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable simple execution of double-side printing by a printer for single-side printing. SOLUTION: Print data generated from an application are stored in a spooler file 303 on a page-by-page basis. When a spool file manager 304 judges the data to be printable, on the occasion of executing double-side printing, it gives a despooler 305 an instruction to output a request for printing. On the occasion, the sequence of the output is determined on the basis of the direction of paper feeding and the direction of paper delivery obtained from a printer 1500. In the case of face-up feeding and face-up delivery and in the case of the data of six pages in total, for instance, the output is made first in the sequence of 6, 4 and 2 and then in the sequence of 5, 3 and 1 after paper is reset. In this way, the double-side printing can be executed simply by a single-side printer as well, according to the type of the printer.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing control apparatus and method, and more particularly to a printing control apparatus and method for performing double-sided printing from a printing apparatus for single-sided printing with the intervention of an operator.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when printing is performed on both sides of a sheet in order to save paper by using a printing apparatus having no duplex unit for performing a duplex printing, an operator determines the order of output pages. I had to. In order to determine the page output order, it is necessary to consider the paper feed direction and paper discharge method of the printing apparatus used.

[0003]

As described above, in the conventional manual duplex printing, the user must change the order of the pages output from the application in consideration of the order of the pages to be output. For this reason, it is necessary for the user to perform test printing or the like in order to know the paper feeding direction and the paper discharging method of the printing apparatus. Further, the output order of the pages must be changed so that the intended knowledge can be obtained from the obtained knowledge.

[0004] As described above, there are drawbacks in that the operator is forced to perform complicated operations and a test is wasted of paper.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and it is possible to easily perform double-sided printing using a printing apparatus for single-sided printing without performing complicated operations or test printing by an operator. It is an object to provide a print control device and method.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following arrangement. That is, the printing control device is connected to a printing device, and includes a storage unit that stores print data in a desired order in a page unit in a readable manner, and includes a direction of supply and discharge of a recording medium from the printing device. A characteristic reading unit that reads characteristic information; an order determining unit that determines an order of reading and printing from the storage unit in a procedure according to a supply and discharge direction of the recording medium; and Output means for printing out from the printing device.

Alternatively, there is provided a printing control method for controlling an order of printing by a printing apparatus, comprising: a characteristic reading step of reading characteristic information including a direction of supply and discharge of a recording medium from the printing apparatus; And an order determining step of determining the order of reading and printing from a storage unit that stores print data so that the print data can be read in a desired order in a desired order on a page basis in a procedure according to a discharge direction; And a print requesting step of making a print request from the device.

Alternatively, there is provided a printing system connected to a printing apparatus and a printing control apparatus, wherein the printing control apparatus includes:
Storage means for storing print data in a desired order in a page unit in a readable manner; characteristic reading means for reading characteristic information including a direction of supply and discharge of a recording medium from the printing apparatus; The printing apparatus, comprising: an order determining unit that determines an order of reading and printing from the storage unit in a procedure according to a discharge direction; and an output unit that causes the printing device to print out each page by the order determining unit. Prints out in the order sent by the output means.

Alternatively, there is provided a computer readable memory for storing a print control program connected to a printing apparatus, the program comprising: storage means for storing print data in a desired order in a page unit in a desired order; A characteristic reading unit for reading characteristic information including a direction of supply and discharge of a recording medium from an apparatus; and an order for determining an order of reading and printing from the storage unit in a procedure according to the direction of supply and discharge of the recording medium. Determining means; and output means for causing the printing device to print out each page by the order determining means.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A printing system suitable for applying the present invention will be described below. <Configuration of Printing System> FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a printer control system according to the present embodiment. Note that if the functions of the present invention are executed, even a single device,
Even if the system consists of multiple devices, LAN, WA
The present invention can be applied to a system in which connection is made via a network such as N and processing is performed.

In FIG. 1, a host computer 300
0 is provided with a CPU 1 for executing document processing in which graphics, images, characters, tables (including spreadsheets and the like) are mixed based on a document processing program or the like stored in the program ROM of the ROM 3 or the external memory 11. I have. CPU1
Controls the devices connected to the system bus 4. An operating system program (hereinafter referred to as O) which is a control program of the CPU 1 is stored in the program ROM of the ROM 3 or the external memory 11.
S) are stored in the ROM 3 for fonts or the external memory 11 for storing font data and the like used in the document processing, and the data ROM in the ROM 3 or the external memory 11 performs the document processing or the like. Various data used at the time are stored. RAM2 is CPU1
Function as a main memory, work area, etc.

The keyboard controller (KBC) 5
It controls key input from a keyboard 9 or a pointing device (not shown). CRT controller (CRTC)
6 controls the display of a CRT display (CRT) 10. The disk controller (DKC) 7 includes a boot program, various applications, font data,
Hard disk (HD), floppy disk (FD) for storing user files, edit files, printer control command generation program (hereinafter, printer driver), etc.
Access to the external memory 11 is controlled. The printer controller (PRTC) 8 is connected to the printer 1500 via the bidirectional interface (interface) 21 and executes a communication control process with the printer 1500.

The CPU 1 executes an outline font developing (rasterizing) process on, for example, a display information RAM provided on the RAM 2, and outputs the W on the CRT 10.
YSIWYG is possible. In addition, the CPU 1
Various registered windows are opened based on a command specified by a mouse cursor or the like (not shown) on T10, and various data processes are executed. When performing printing, the user opens a window related to print settings, and can set a printer and a print processing method for a printer driver including selection of a print mode.

The printer 1500 is controlled by the CPU 12. The printer CPU 12 outputs an image as output information to a printing unit (printer engine) 17 connected to the system bus 15 based on a control program or the like stored in the program ROM of the ROM 13 or a control program or the like stored in the external memory 14. Output a signal. The program ROM of the ROM 13 includes a CPU 1
2 and the like. The font ROM of the ROM 13 stores font data and the like used when generating the output information.
In the case of a printer having no external memory 14 such as a hard disk, information used on the host computer is stored in the OM.

The CPU 12 can communicate with the host computer via the input unit 18 and can notify the host computer 3000 of information in the printer 1500 and the like. The RAM 19 functions as a main memory of the CPU 12, a work area, and the like. The RAM 19 is configured so that the memory capacity can be expanded by an optional RAM connected to an expansion port (not shown). In addition,
The RAM 19 is used for an output information development area, an environment data storage area, an NVRAM, and the like. The access to the external memory 14 such as a hard disk (HD) and an IC card is controlled by a memory controller (MC) 20. The external memory 14 is connected as an option and stores font data, an emulation program, form data, and the like. The operation panel 1501 includes:
An operation switch, an LED display, and the like are provided.

The number of external memories 14 is not limited to one, and a plurality of external memories may be provided. In addition to the built-in fonts, an optional card and a plurality of external memories storing programs for interpreting printer control languages of different languages may be connected. It may be configured. Further, an NVRAM (not shown) may be provided to store the printer mode setting information from the operation panel 1501.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a typical printing process in a host computer to which a printing device such as a printer is directly connected or connected via a network. The application 201, the graphic engine 202, the printer driver 203, and the system spooler 204 exist as files stored in the external memory 11, and when executed, are loaded into the RAM 2 and executed by the OS or a module using the module. It is a program module. Further, the application 201 and the printer driver 203
It can be added to the FD of the external memory 11, a CD-ROM (not shown), or the HD of the external disk 11 via a network (not shown). External memory 1
Application 201 stored in RAM 2
Is loaded and executed, but this application 2
01 to the printer 1500,
Similarly, output (drawing) is performed using the graphic engine 202 which is loaded into the RAM 2 and is executable. The graphic engine 202 also stores a printer driver 203 prepared for each printing device in the external memory 11.
From the application 210, and converts the output of the application 210 into a printer control command using the printer driver 203. The converted printer control command is sent to the printer 15 via the interface 21 via the system spooler 204 loaded into the RAM 2 by the OS.
00 is output.

The printing system according to the present embodiment has a configuration in which print data from an application is temporarily spooled as intermediate code data, as shown in FIG. 3, in addition to the system including the printer and the host computer shown in FIG. . <Structure of Print Control System> FIG. 3 is an extension of the system of FIG. 2, and when a print command is sent from the graphic engine 202 to the printer driver 203, a spool file 303 composed of an intermediate code is once generated. FIG.
In this system, the application 201 is released from the printing process when the printer driver 203 has converted all print commands from the graphic engine 202 into printer control commands. On the other hand, in the system of FIG. 3, the spooler 302 converts all print commands into intermediate code data and
03. Usually, the latter requires less time. Further, in the system shown in FIG. 3, the contents of the spool file 303 can be processed.
This makes it possible to realize functions that the application does not have, such as enlargement / reduction of print data from the application, reduction of a plurality of pages to one page, and printing.

For these purposes, the system shown in FIG. 2 is spooled with intermediate code data as shown in FIG.
The system has been extended. In order to process the print data, the operator normally makes settings on a setting screen provided by the printer driver 203, and the printer driver 203 stores the set contents in the RAM 2 or the external memory 11.

The details of FIG. 3 will be described below. As shown in the figure, in this extended processing method, the dispatcher 301 receives a print command from the graphic engine 202. Dispatcher 301 is graphic engine 2
02 received from the application 20
1 to the graphic engine 202, the dispatcher 301 uses the external memory 11
Is loaded into the RAM 2 and a print command is sent to the spooler 302 instead of the printer driver 203.

The spooler 302 converts the received print command into an intermediate code and outputs it to the spool file 303. In addition, the spooler 302 includes a printer driver 203.
The processing settings relating to the print data set for the printer driver 203 are acquired from the printer driver 203 and stored in the spool file 303. Although the spool file 303 is generated as a file on the external memory 11, the
2 may be generated. Further, the spooler 302
The spool file manager 304 stored in the external memory 11 is loaded onto the RAM 2, and the spool file manager 304 is notified of the generation status of the spool file 303. After that, the spool file manager 304 determines whether or not printing can be performed according to the contents of the processing settings related to the print data stored in the spool file 303. When the spool file manager 304 determines that printing can be performed using the graphic engine 202, the despooler 305 stored in the external memory 11 is loaded into the RAM 2, and the despooler 305 is described in the spool file 303. An instruction is issued to perform an intermediate code printing process.

The despooler 305 stores the spool file 30
3 is processed in accordance with the contents of the processing settings included in the spool file 303, and output again via the graphic engine 202.

The print command received by the dispatcher 301 from the graphic engine 202 is transmitted to the despooler 30.
In the case of a print command issued to the graphic engine 202 from the printer 5, the dispatcher 301
Instead, a print command is sent to the printer driver 203.

The printer driver 203 generates a printer control command according to the received print command, and outputs it to the printer 1500 via the system spooler 204 and the bidirectional interface 21. <Configuration of Printer> FIG. 12 is a sectional view of an example of a printer used in the present embodiment. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of a laser beam printer (hereinafter abbreviated as LBP). The LBP can input character pattern data or the like and print it on a print medium such as recording paper.

In the figure, an LBP main body 740 forms an image on recording paper, which is a recording medium, based on a supplied printer control command or the like. The operation panel 1501 includes a switch for operation, an LED display, and the like. The printer control unit 1000 is a printer control unit that controls the entire LBP 740 and analyzes character pattern information and the like. The printer control unit 701 mainly converts a printer control command into a video signal and outputs the video signal to the laser driver 702. An external memory 711 for supplying font data, a page description language emulation program, and the like can be connected to the printer control unit 701.

The laser driver 702 is a semiconductor laser 70
And a laser beam emitted from the semiconductor laser 703 in response to an input video signal.
04 is turned on / off. The laser beam 704 is swung right and left by a rotary polygon mirror 705 to scan on an electrostatic drum 706. Thus, an electrostatic latent image of a character pattern is formed on the electrostatic drum 706. This latent image is developed by a developing unit 707 around the electrostatic drum 706,
Transferred to recording paper. A cut sheet is used as the recording paper, and the cut sheet recording paper is stored in a paper cassette 708 mounted on the LBP 740, taken in the apparatus by a paper feed roller 709 and a transport roller 710, and
06. Further, the recording paper can be supplied from a manually inserted paper feed tray provided on the upper surface of the lid portion of the paper cassette 708.

The toner image transferred to the recording paper is fixed by a fixing unit 71.
2 and is fixed on the recording paper. When the switching wedge 713 is turned upward, the recording paper on which the image is formed is discharged from the face-up discharge unit 714 to the discharge tray 716 with the recording surface facing up, and the wedge 713
When the sheet is turned downward, the sheet is ejected from the face-down ejection section 715 with the recording surface facing down. <Print Control Procedure> Next, a detailed description will be given of a control procedure at the time of manual duplex printing in the printing system of the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 shows the spool file manager 30.
4 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for outputting a print command from a spool file according to a fourth embodiment. Here, the print data from the application 201 is the graphic engine 2
02, a print command is stored in the spool file 303 as a print command via the dispatcher 301 and the spooler 302 in units of logical pages. Note that a logical page is a unit of page breaks in print data created by an application and subsequently reduced or enlarged as necessary. On the other hand, one side of the recording paper printed out from the printer is called a physical page. One physical page is output by one printing request. In the present embodiment, the logical page matches the physical page.

When the spool file manager 304 determines that the spool file can be output from the spool file 303, it executes the procedure shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 3, in step 401, initial settings required for printing are performed.

In step 402, print settings are obtained. The information includes a paper feed type and a paper discharge type as hardware characteristic information of the printer. This information is transmitted to the printer 15 via the bidirectional interface 21.
Read from 00. Note that this information is not read by the spool file manager directly accessing the printer. The spool file manager acquires the information read by the printer driver from the printer driver. The printer shown in FIG. 12 is of a type capable of switching between face-up for paper feed and face-up and face-down for paper discharge, and notifies the host of the currently set state in this step.

In step S403, it is determined whether or not manual double-sided printing is to be performed. If so, the process proceeds to step 404. If not, the process proceeds to step 409 assuming that normal printing processing is performed. In step 409, the print data is read out and printed out in the order of the logical pages or in the designated order.

In step 404, the number of logical pages of the print data from the application is obtained.

In step 405, step 404
It is determined whether or not the number of logical pages acquired in step 1 is one.
If it is one page, it is determined that the manual-feed double-sided printing process does not need to be performed, and the process proceeds to step S409.

In step 406, it is calculated how many times the printer should make a request to turn over the printed recording paper to the operator. That is, in order to perform double-sided printing with a single-sided printer,
The recording paper on which one side has been printed is placed again on the paper feed tray so that printing can be performed on the back side, and the number of the physical page is calculated. The operator who has received the flip-over request takes out the paper from the paper discharge tray and places it on the paper feed tray in the designated direction. The request is made by displaying a dialog as shown in FIG.

In step 407, step 402
From the paper feed type and paper discharge type of the printer obtained in
Determine how to calculate the printing order of logical pages. In printing, first, only odd-numbered pages or even-numbered pages are printed on one side, and the remaining pages are printed after turning over. Since the printing order changes depending on the combination of two paper feeding types (face-up / face-down) and two paper ejection types (face-up / face-down), there are four calculation methods. One is selected. As shown in FIG. 5, the combinations include face-up paper feed / face-up discharge (calculation type 1), face-up paper feed / face-down discharge (calculation type 2), and face-down paper feed / face-up discharge. (Calculation type 3), Face down paper feeding / Face down paper ejection (Calculation type 4)
There is. Details of the calculation method will be described later.

At step 408, a manual double-sided printing process is performed. Details of the processing will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 6 describes the details of manual double-sided printing processing.

In step 601, it is determined whether or not printing of all print data from the application has been completed. If the printing has been completed, the process ends. If not, the process proceeds to step 602.

In step 602, a logical page number for which a print request is made is calculated according to the calculation method set in step 407 in FIG. Depending on the type of calculation, the order of the logical page numbers requested for printing is:
For example, in the case of print data of six pages, the following is performed. For calculation type 1, print requests are issued in the order of 6, 4, 2, (reversal request), 5, 3, 1. For calculation type 2, print requests are issued in the order of 6, 4, 2, (reversal request), 1, 3, and 5. For calculation type 3, print requests are made in the order of 2, 4, 6, (reversal request), 5, 3, and 1. For calculation type 4, print requests are made in the order of 2, 4, 6, (reversal request), 1, 3, and 5.

In step 602, as described above,
The logical page number requested to be printed is determined so that the logical pages are output in the order according to the calculation type. The details of each type of calculation method are as follows. The print request page is a logical page number for which print is requested.

First, if the page to be printed is the first physical page, the result is as shown in FIG. In the figure, if it is a blank page, a blank page flag is set.
For the second and subsequent physical pages, the calculation is performed in the following procedure. In the case of calculation type 1 Print request page ← Page immediately before print request-2 If the above expression becomes 0 or less, it is recalculated by the following expression.

When the total number of pages is an odd number Print request page ← Last page of print data When the total number of pages is even Print request page ← Last page of print data -1 In the case of calculation type 2 The last print request page is an odd number In the case of (1) Print request page <-page immediately before print request +2 If the print request page exceeds the total number of print data pages, the blank page flag is turned ON.

When the immediately preceding page requested for printing is an even number: Requested page ← Page immediately requested for printing-2 If the above expression is 0 or less Printed page ← 1 For calculation type 3 Last requested printing If the number of pages is odd Print request page ← page immediately before print request-2 If the page just before print request is even number Print request page ← page just before print request + 2 If the above formula exceeds the last page of print data If the total number of pages is odd number Print request page ← last page of print data If the total number of pages is even print request page ← last page of print data -1 If calculation type 4 If the last print request page is total page If it is more than the number, print request page ← 1 otherwise Print request page ← last print request page + 2 if print request page If the number exceeds the total number of pages of the print data, the blank page flag is turned ON.

In step 602, the page number requested to print is calculated as described above.

In step 603, if the number of print requests to be made is equal to the number of print requests up to the issuance of the reverse request calculated in step 406 in FIG. 4, the process proceeds to step 604;
Skip to 07.

In step 604, a flip-over request dialog is displayed to the user. Regarding the display of the dialog, the paper feed type acquired in step 402 in FIG. 4 and the orientation of the image with respect to the paper (portrait: POR)
TRAIT, landscape: LANDSCAPE) can change the contents of the dialog displayed. FIG. 7 is a table showing a pattern of the inside-out method. Turn over method 1 to 1
The content of the display dialog is changed corresponding to 6. FIG. 8 shows an example of the display dialog.

At step 605, the process waits for an event from the user indicating the completion of paper feed preparation.

In step 606, it is determined whether or not an event indicating completion of paper feed preparation has been received from the user. If the event is a completion event, the process proceeds to step 607; otherwise, the process returns to step 605.

In step 607, since the user has completed refeeding and received the event, it is determined whether or not a print request can be made to the printer. If possible, the process proceeds to step S608, and if not, it becomes possible. Wait until.

In step 608, step 60
For the print data of the logical page number calculated in 2,
A print request is issued to the despooler 305.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining the print request processing of step S608 including the blank page processing.

In step 901, if the blank page flag is ON, the process proceeds to step 902, and if it is OFF, the process proceeds to step 905.

In step 902, an imaginary print request page number is calculated for calculating the next print request page. The blank page here is a page that is considered to be printed on the back side of the last page when the number of pages is an odd number, and becomes the last page number of the print data + 1 when it is set as a logical page number.

In step 903, a blank page output request is made.

In step 904, the blank page output request has been completed, so the blank page flag is turned off.

In step 905, step 602
Request output of the page calculated in. In this way, the print data including the blank page is printed.

In step 609, the despooler 30
It is determined from step 5 whether or not a print end notification has been received.
Return to 01, and if not, wait until the end notification comes.

By performing the print control process in the above-described procedure, the operator can realize double-sided printing simply by placing a sheet having one side printed on the paper feed tray in the displayed direction. For this reason, the operator does not need to adjust the printing order in consideration of the paper feeding type and the paper discharging type, and does not need to perform test printing.

Although a laser beam printer is used in the present embodiment, any printing method may be used. [Second Embodiment] In the above-described embodiment, printing of one page (logical page) per one side of a sheet, that is, one physical page is assumed. However, a plurality of logical pages are grouped into one physical page. In printing, the present invention can be applied by extending the calculation method of each calculation type. For simplicity, the number of logical pages stored in one physical page is represented as N. In this embodiment, if "logical page" in FIGS. 4, 6, 9, and 10 is replaced with "physical page", print control can be realized in the same procedure as in the first embodiment. This procedure will be described below on a logical page basis.

When printing N logical pages per physical page, the despooler 3 for each calculation type is used.
Regarding the page number for making the first print request to 05,
As shown in FIG. In FIG. 11, type 1 and type 2 indicate "blank page output when blank page determination criteria are satisfied". The blank page determination criteria are as follows.

The P-th logical page is included in the (P / N) -th physical page when the N logical pages are combined into one physical page (however, the operation “X / Y” divides X by Y). And represents the value with the decimal part rounded up). The P / N-th physical page includes the ((P / N−1) × N + 1) th logical page to the ((P / N) × N) th logical page (or the last page). Therefore, if the P-th logical page is the last page, the fact that the physical page number P / N that includes it is an odd number is a criterion for determining the first physical page in type 1 or type 2 as a blank page.

In the case of type 1 or type 2, if the blank page determination condition is not satisfied, the (((P
/N)-1).times.N+1) First, a print request is issued for a physical page in which the logical page to the Pth logical page (final logical page) are combined.

The logical page to be printed described in the table is the maximum logical page number included in the physical page for which a print request is to be made. The physical page printed for the print request page includes the (print request page-N +
1) -th (print request page) logical pages are included.

The method of calculating a logical page requested to be printed after the second physical page is as follows. The requested print request page is the maximum logical page number included in the physical page for which a print request is to be made. The print request page may be larger than the last logical page to be printed in some cases. Such logical pages are not printed.

Note that the fractional part after the division is rounded up unless otherwise noted. The number F of physical pages required for the logical page L to be printed is F = L / N. For example, if a document of all 13 pages is printed so as to constitute one physical page by collecting four pages at a time, F = 13/4 = 4. Hereinafter, the print request page is described as NEXT. NEXT on the left side is a newly requested print request page, and NEXT on the right side represents a page for which printing was requested immediately before. In the case of calculation type 1 NEXT ← (NEXT / N−2) × N If the above expression becomes 0 or less, it is recalculated by the following expression.

When F is an odd number NEXT ← F × NF When F is an even number NEXT ← (F−1) × N In the case of calculation type 2 When the last physical page requested for printing is an odd number NEXT ← NEXT + 2 × N If the physical page requested for printing is an even number NEXT ← NEXT−2 × N If the above equation becomes 0, it is recalculated by the following equation.

NEXT ← N In the case of calculation type 3 NEXT is greater than F × N F is odd NEXT ← F × NF F is even NEXT ← (F−1) × N NEXT ← NEXT−2 × N NEXT ← NEXT−2 × N NEXT ← NEXT + 2 × N In the case of calculation type 4 NEXT is larger than F × N Case NEXT ← N Other cases NEXT ← NEXT + 2 × N By the above procedure, the logical page to be requested to be printed is determined in step 602 in FIG. 6, and a plurality of logical pages are collectively printed as one physical page. Even if
The operator can perform double-sided printing simply by placing the paper with one side printed on the paper feed tray in the displayed direction. For this reason, the operator does not need to adjust the printing order in consideration of the paper feeding type and the paper discharging type, and does not need to perform test printing. [Third Embodiment] As an application of the above-described first and second embodiments, two logical pages are arranged on one physical page and not only printed on both sides of paper, but also folded in two. As a result, so-called bookbinding printing, in which printing is performed in a page order, is possible.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 13, all pages to be printed are collectively folded in half, so that the pages are printed in order.

As shown in FIG. 14, the bookbinding format output by bookbinding printing includes the following cases. 1. 1. Arrange pages in ascending order from the left (left open) Pages are arranged in ascending order from the right (right-opening). Also, when the pages to be printed are in the horizontal direction, the page order is not changed just by rotating the pages.

In the case of manual bookbinding printing, the subsequent processing is the same as that of the above-described embodiment, except that the method of calculating the print request page is different.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart in which a procedure for manual bookbinding printing is added to FIG. In step 1501 in FIG. 15, it is determined whether or not manual bookbinding printing is to be performed. If manual bookbinding printing is to be performed, the process proceeds to step 1502 described below. Without manual binding printing,
Proceeding to step 409, normal printing is performed. Step 1
The determination in 501 is performed in accordance with a print format instruction input from the keyboard 9 or the like of the host computer 3000.

In step 1502, step 40
4, the number of pages to be printed is acquired, and the number of sheets required for bookbinding and the number of printed pages (FAC) at that time are obtained.
E) is calculated by the following equation.

The number of sheets ← the number of pages to be printed / 4 (rounded up to the decimal point) In bookbinding printing of the present embodiment, two logical pages are printed on one physical page on both sides. 4 logical pages are printed. For example, in the printing example 41 of FIG. 13, the number of sheets is 20/4 = 5 because the number of sheets is 20 logical pages.

The number of print faces FACE is calculated by the following equation since there are two front and back faces for one sheet.

FACE ← the number of sheets × 2 1 One printed surface corresponds to one physical page in the above embodiment. In the example of FIG. 13, FACE = 5 × 2 = 10. The first and 20th logical pages are on the printing surface 1, the second and 19th logical pages are on the printing surface 2,.
One logical page will be printed. Therefore, if the printing surface in the present embodiment is considered to be a logical page in the first embodiment, the output order of the printing surface can be considered in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

Note that. Once calculated, the value calculated in step 1502 does not need to be recalculated and is omitted in the repetitive processing.

Hereinafter, the process of manual bookbinding printing, in particular, the determination of the page arrangement requested for printing will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing Step 6 of FIG.
02 is replaced with step 1602, and the other is not changed.

Step 1202, that is, the method of calculating the print request page in the manual bookbinding printing, roughly includes the following two steps.
It consists of step processing. 1. On the basis of the printing surface, in the manner of the first embodiment,
Calculate the print surface for which a print request is to be made. 2. Calculate logical pages to be arranged to realize bookbinding printing on the printing surface for which a print request is made.

For item 1, the logical page in the first embodiment may be replaced with a print surface. This is performed in step 1600 of FIG.

Item 2 corresponds to step 1601 and below,
The printing surface selected in step 1600 is NEXTF
If ACE is set, the larger one of the corresponding logical pages arranged on the printing surface NEXTFACE is calculated by the following equation.

Corresponding logical page 1 ← FACE + NEXTFACE Further, the second logical page is calculated by the following equation.

Corresponding logical page 2 ← 2 × FACE + 1−corresponding logical page 1 For example, in the case of performing manual binding printing of a document of 11 pages,
The required number of sheets is 11/4 = 3 sheets, the number of printed pages FACE =
3 × 2 = 6.

For example, when this is performed for calculation type 1, the print request is made in the order of 6, 4, 2 (reversal request), 5, 3, 1 print surface, and the print surface for which the print request is made first is made. NEXTFACE is 6. Therefore, the printing surface 6
Corresponding logical page 1 is 6 + 6 = 12 pages, and corresponding logical page 2 is 2 × 6 + 1-12 = 1 page.

Step 1602 and subsequent steps are performed in step 160
1 shows a process of deciding how to arrange two logical pages calculated in 1 according to the set bookbinding style.

In step 1602, it is determined whether or not the calculated corresponding logical page 1 is larger than the number of print pages from the application. If it is larger, the page is treated as a margin, and the flow advances to step 1603. If not larger, the process skips to step 1604.

In step 1603, a blank is arranged in the corresponding logical page 1. For this purpose, for example, a page number 0 representing a margin is assigned as a corresponding logical page 1.

Step 1604 and step 160
At 5,1607, print format (left or right)
And the layout of the two logical pages calculated from the printing surface (whether they come inside or outside when folded).

Specifically, the inside / outside determination is made inside when the printing surface is even, and outside when the printing surface is odd. Step 1
As a result of the determination in step 604 and steps 1605 and 1607, the processing proceeds as follows.

In the case of a page that opens leftward and is inside the fold, the process proceeds to step 1606.

In the case of a page that is opened left and is outside the folding, the process proceeds to step 1608.

In the case of a page that is opened rightward and is outside the folding, the process proceeds to step 1606.

In the case of a page that opens rightward and is inside the fold, the process proceeds to step 1608.

In step 1606, the corresponding logical page 2 on the printing surface is arranged on the left side, and the corresponding logical page 1 is arranged on the right side.

In step 1608, the corresponding logical page 2 on the printing surface is arranged on the right side, and the corresponding logical page 1 is arranged on the left side.

The printing surface arranged as described above is requested to be printed in step 608 in FIG. 16, and is printed. The print format determined in step 1604 is
The setting is performed using a setting window or the like from the keyboard of the host computer 3000 or the like.

With the above processing, bookbinding printing in manual-feed double-sided printing is realized. In the present embodiment, by manually calculating the print request surface according to the paper feeding and discharging characteristics of the printer and then calculating the corresponding logical page, it is possible to easily perform the manual double-sided printing without being aware of the characteristics of the hardware. The used bookbinding printing becomes possible.

[0098]

[Other Embodiments] Even if the present invention is applied to a system including a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.), an apparatus (for example, a copying machine) Machine, facsimile machine, etc.).

Further, an object of the present invention is to provide a storage medium storing a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or an apparatus, and to provide a computer (or CPU)
Or MPU) reads and executes the program code stored in the storage medium.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD
-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

The functions of the above-described embodiments are implemented when the computer executes the readout program codes, and the OS (Operating System) running on the computer is executed based on the instructions of the program codes. ) Performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instruction of the program code, The case where the CPU of the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by the processing.

[0104]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The operator can perform double-sided printing simply by placing the paper with one side printed on the paper feed tray in the displayed direction. For this reason, the operator does not need to adjust the printing order in consideration of the paper feeding type and the paper discharging type, and does not need to perform test printing. In this case, one page can be printed on one side of the sheet, or a plurality of pages can be printed. It is also possible to perform bookbinding printing.

[0105]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a printing system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing typical print data generation in a host computer.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating print data generation that is an extension of FIG. 2 for generating an intermediate code.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a print control procedure according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between hardware characteristics and calculation types.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a printing process in FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a classification of a method of requesting a user to turn over.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a flip request dialog for a user.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of blank page printing processing.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a page for which a print request is first made in each calculation type.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the number of pages for which a first print request is made for each calculation type when printing a plurality of logical pages per physical page.

FIG. 12 is a sectional view of a laser beam printer.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating bookbinding printing.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a format of bookbinding printing.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of manual bookbinding printing processing.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of manual bookbinding printing processing.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart of a page arrangement process at the time of manual bookbinding printing.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 CPU 2 RAM 3 ROM 4 System bus 12 CPU 13 ROM 19 RAM 3000 Host computer 1500 Printer

Claims (31)

[Claims] 1. A printing control device connected to a printing device, comprising: storage means for storing print data so as to be readable in a desired order in page units; A characteristic reading unit that reads characteristic information including a direction; an order determining unit that determines an order of reading and printing from the storage unit in a procedure according to a supply and discharge direction of the recording medium; and a page that is determined by the order determining unit. Output means for causing the printing device to print out the print data every time. 2. A page number obtaining means for obtaining the number of pages to be printed, and a reset request for requesting an operator to reset a recording medium when a printing request for half of the obtained page number is made. The printing control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a unit. 3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining means for determining whether or not to perform double-sided printing, wherein when not performing double-sided printing, each page is read out from the storage means in a predetermined order and a print request is issued. 3. The print control device according to 2. 4. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the page number acquisition unit counts the number of pages when the print data is stored in the storage unit. 5. The characteristic information includes image direction information relating to a direction in which an image is formed on a recording medium, and the reset request unit resets a printed recording medium according to the image direction information. 3. The print control device according to claim 2, wherein the print control device indicates a direction of the print control. 6. The reset determining unit reads the odd-numbered page or the even-numbered page continuously before issuing the resetting request by the resetting requesting unit, and issues the resetting request after issuing the resetting request. 6. The printing control apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the reading order is determined so that the remaining pages are printed on the recording medium reset in the direction indicated by the means. 7. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: reconstructing means for reducing print pages stored in said storage means and reconstructing a predetermined number of pages collectively into one printed page. 7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the order of reading and printing the configured pages from the storage unit is determined by a procedure according to the direction of supply and discharge of the recording medium. Print control device. 8. The method according to claim 1, wherein when the number of recording media to be printed is within one page, the order determination unit issues a print request for each page in a predetermined order stored in the storage unit. The print control device according to claim 1. 9. A printing apparatus further comprising: a determination unit for determining whether or not to perform bookbinding printing; and an input unit for inputting a bookbinding setting indicating a page layout before bookbinding on a recording medium, wherein the layout unit includes the input unit. 8. The printing method according to claim 7, wherein when the first value is input as the bookbinding setting, the pages are arranged on the recording medium such that the pages are arranged in order when the entire print output is overlapped and folded in half. Control device. 10. The bookbinding setting further includes appearance information for setting right-opening or left-opening, and the order determination unit determines an arrangement of pages according to the appearance information. 3. The print control device according to claim 1. 11. A printing control method for controlling an order of printing by a printing apparatus, comprising: a characteristic reading step of reading characteristic information including a direction of supply and discharge of a recording medium from the printing apparatus; And an order determining step of determining the order of reading and printing from a storage unit that stores print data so as to be readable in a desired order on a page basis in a procedure according to a discharge direction, and printing for each page by the order determining step. A print requesting step of requesting a print from the apparatus. 12. A page number obtaining step for obtaining the number of pages to be printed, and a reset request for requesting the operator to reset the recording medium when a printing request for half of the obtained page number is made. The print control method according to claim 11, further comprising a step. 13. The printing apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising a determination step of determining whether or not to perform double-sided printing, wherein when not performing double-sided printing, each page is read from the storage unit in a predetermined order and a printing request is issued. 13. The print control method according to item 12. 14. The print control method according to claim 11, wherein in the page number obtaining step, the number of pages is counted when print data is stored in the storage unit. 15. The characteristic information includes image direction information relating to a direction in which an image is formed on a recording medium, and the reset requesting step resets a printed recording medium in accordance with the image direction information. 13. The print control method according to claim 12, wherein a direction of the print control is indicated. 16. The order determination step includes: reading out an odd-numbered page or an even-numbered page before issuing a resetting request in the resetting requesting step; and issuing a resetting request. 16. The print control method according to claim 15, wherein the reading order is determined so that the remaining pages are printed on the recording medium reset in the direction indicated by the step. 17. The printing apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising: a reconfiguring step of reducing print pages stored in the storage unit and reconfiguring a predetermined number of pages into one page to be printed. 17. The printing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the order of reading and printing the configured pages from the storage unit is determined by a procedure according to the supply and discharge directions of the recording medium. Print control method. 18. The printing method according to claim 18, wherein when the number of recording media to be printed is within one page, a request for printing each page is issued in a predetermined order stored in the storage unit. The print control method according to claim 11. 19. A printing method further comprising: a determination step of determining whether or not to perform bookbinding printing; and an inputting step of inputting a bookbinding setting indicating a page layout before bookbinding on a recording medium.
18. The method according to claim 17, wherein when the first value is input as the bookbinding setting from the input step, the pages are arranged on a recording medium such that the pages are arranged in order when all print outputs are overlapped and folded in two. The print control method described in the above. 20. The bookbinding setting further includes appearance information for setting right-opening or left-opening, and the order determining step determines an arrangement of pages according to the appearance information. 3. The printing control method according to 1. 21. A printing system connected to a printing device and a printing control device, wherein the printing control device stores printing data so as to be readable in a desired order in page units; A characteristic reading unit for reading characteristic information including a direction of supply and discharge of a recording medium from an apparatus; and an order for determining an order of reading and printing from the storage unit in a procedure according to the direction of supply and discharge of the recording medium. Determining means, and an output means for causing the printing device to print out each page by the order determining means, wherein the printing device performs print output in the order sent by the output means. system. 22. A computer-readable storage medium storing a print control program connected to a printing device, comprising:
A storage unit configured to store print data in a desired order in a page unit in a desired order; a characteristic read unit configured to read characteristic information including a supply direction and a discharge direction of a recording medium from the printing apparatus; An order determining unit that determines an order of reading and printing from the storage unit in a procedure according to a direction of supply and discharge of a medium; and an output unit that causes the printing device to print and output by the order determining unit for each page. A storage medium characterized by the above-mentioned. 23. The program, comprising: a page number acquiring means for acquiring the number of pages to be printed; and a request for resetting the recording medium to the operator at the time of requesting printing of half of the acquired number of pages. 23. The storage medium according to claim 22, further comprising: a reset requesting unit that issues the reset. 24. The program further comprises a determination unit for determining whether or not to perform double-sided printing, and when not performing double-sided printing, reads out each page in a predetermined order from the storage unit and issues a print request. The storage medium according to claim 22. 25. The storage medium according to claim 22, wherein said page number obtaining means counts the number of pages when storing the print data in said storage means. 26. The characteristic information includes image direction information relating to a direction in which an image is formed on a recording medium, and the reset request unit resets a printed recording medium in accordance with the image direction information. 24. The storage medium according to claim 23, wherein the storage medium indicates a direction in which to perform the operation. 27. The sequence determining means reads the odd-numbered page or the even-numbered page continuously before issuing the resetting request by the resetting requesting means, and issues the resetting request after issuing the resetting request. 27. The storage medium according to claim 26, wherein the reading order is determined so that the remaining pages are printed on the recording medium reset in the direction indicated by the means. 28. The program according to claim 28, wherein the program further comprises: a reconfiguring unit configured to reduce a print page stored in the storage unit and reconfigure a predetermined number of pages into one printed page. 28. The method according to claim 22, further comprising determining an order in which the reconstructed pages are read out from the storage unit and printed in a procedure according to the supply and discharge directions of the recording medium. A storage medium according to any one of claims 1 to 3. 29. The printing apparatus according to claim 29, wherein when the number of recording media to be printed is within one page, the order determining unit issues a print request for each page in a predetermined order stored in the storage unit. A storage medium according to any one of claims 22 to 28. 30. The program further comprises: a determination unit that determines whether or not to perform bookbinding printing; and an input unit that inputs a bookbinding setting indicating a page layout before bookbinding on a recording medium. 29. When the first value is input as the bookbinding setting from the input unit, the pages are arranged on the recording medium such that the pages are arranged in order when all the print outputs are overlapped and folded in two. A storage medium according to claim 1. 31. The bookbinding setting further includes appearance information for setting right-opening or left-opening, and the order determining unit determines an arrangement of pages according to the appearance information. A storage medium according to claim 1.