JPH11165450A - Print controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a print controller having a dilatability adaptable to any of a single engine type printer and a tandem engine type printer and a commonality of components. SOLUTION: A plurality of slots are formed on a CPU board 21, and the same number of transfer boards 14 as that of printing engines in a printer are connected to the slots. Each transfer board executes a transfer of image data based on a synchronizing signal from the corresponding printing engine. A job managing unit 26 executes queuing of data specific information for specifying the image data. The data is transferred from an image data memory 28 to the specific transfer board 14. In the case of a single engine type, only one transfer board 14 is utilized. In the case of a tandem engine type, the same number of the boards 14 as that of the engines are utilized. The CPU board 21 is commonly usable even in any type.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a print control device for supplying image data to an image output device (IOT) such as a printer, a copier, a facsimile machine, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an image output device, a single engine type printing device, a tandem engine type printing device and the like are known. In a single-engine printing apparatus, when performing color printing according to the electrophotographic method,
For example, an image is sequentially formed on a sheet on a transfer drum by one print engine, and one color image is printed in each color of CMYK by rotating the transfer drum four times.

On the other hand, in a four-tandem engine type printing apparatus, four engines are provided along a paper path.
Printing of four colors can be performed simply by transporting the paper. Therefore, according to the tandem engine system, the printing time can be greatly reduced, but on the other hand, the apparatus becomes complicated. An apparatus having two print engines, an apparatus having five or more print engines, and the like are also conceivable. By the way, for black and white printing,
Generally, a printing device having one print engine is used.

[0004] A printing control device is known as a device for controlling the above-described various printing devices. The image data is supplied from the print control device to the printing device, whereby the image data is printed. Here, the print control device is, for example, a print server provided with a unit that develops a print job described in a page description language into image data of each page.

[0005] As described above, the specifications of the printing apparatus vary depending on the number of print engines, and also vary depending on the resolution, operation speed, and the like.
For each connected printing device, a dedicated printing control device has been designed and commercialized according to the method of the printing device.

[0006]

Therefore, conventionally, the print control device or its main parts have not been shared, and it is necessary to develop a print control device individually for each printing device. , Resulting in increased development costs.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-147272 discloses that a selector for selecting image data and a delay circuit for delaying the image data are incorporated in a predetermined module connected to the print control device. A device for supplying image data correspondingly is disclosed. That is, in the case of the single engine system, image data of each color is transmitted serially with a predetermined delay time, while in the case of the tandem engine system, image data of each color is output in parallel. However, since the configuration is always compatible with each system, there is a problem that when connected to a specific printing device, there is a waste in circuit or performance. In addition, there is a problem that the product is expensive. Further, there is a problem that it is impossible to cope with an unexpected tandem engine system, for example, a five-unit system. Therefore, there is a problem that expandability and versatility are poor.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printing control apparatus capable of eliminating unnecessary parts and flexibly adapting to a printing apparatus system. It is to make.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a print control apparatus having expandability and commonality of components.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a print control device which can effectively use a general-purpose CPU board and is excellent in economic efficiency.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is connected to a printing apparatus having one or a plurality of print engines for performing printing, and to the one or more print engines. A print control device for supplying image data, wherein at least one of the print control devices is used in the same number as the number of print engines in the printing device and transfers the image data to the corresponding print engine according to a synchronization signal from the corresponding print engine. One transfer board, a plurality of slots to which the transfer boards are connected, and a control unit that controls to distribute image data to the connected transfer boards according to the number of connected transfer boards. And a control board.

According to the above configuration, the same number of transfer boards (transfer modules) as the number of connected printing apparatuses are provided in the control board (platform) slot (I / O slot).
In each transfer board, image data is individually transferred in accordance with a synchronization signal provided from a print engine of the printing apparatus. That is, it is not necessary for the print control device to control the transfer timing of image data (for example, the timing between colors), and as a result, interdependency between transfer boards can be eliminated.

According to the present invention, a print control device can be rationally constructed for the configuration of the connected printing device. In other words, the control board can be shared regardless of the printing method, and the required minimum number of transfer boards may be used. Here, as the transfer board, for example, various types can be configured according to the type of image compression algorithm, etc., but in any case, the input / output specifications can be standardized. Can be configured as a general-purpose product.

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, for example, one transfer board is used for a single-engine type printing device, and one transfer board is used for a four-tandem engine type printing device. Uses four transfer boards. Of course, it can flexibly cope with two or five tandem engine systems.

[0015] In a preferred aspect of the present invention, each of the connected transfer boards includes means for executing a transfer board control process independently of each other.

According to this configuration, mutual independence is maintained in the image data transfer processing in terms of both hardware and software, and concentration of control load can be avoided.
For this reason, there is no excessive demand for performance of the control board, and it becomes possible to design a system using a commercially available CPU board. The transfer board control process is software for controlling the transfer boards. For example, according to automatic recognition of the number of transfer boards by the control unit, a required number of the processes are started in parallel. The activation may be managed by a control unit in the control board. The transfer control is performed by software, and the transfer is performed in synchronization with the synchronization signal from the printing apparatus side, so that the delay circuit and the like described in the conventional example becomes unnecessary. In addition, since the control of each transfer board is independent of each other in such software control, there is no timing problem.

In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the control unit includes:
A queue for queuing the specific information of the image data is formed for each of the connected transfer boards, and the specific information is obtained from the corresponding queue by each transfer board control process. .

[0018] According to the above configuration, the control section only performs queuing of the specific information, and each transfer board actively acquires the specific information in accordance with the synchronization signal, and the image data specified by the specific information is obtained. Will be transferred. The number of queues is equal to the number of print engines, that is, the number of transfer boards. According to the queuing, image data can be distributed to each transfer board irrespective of a shift in transfer timing between the transfer boards.

In a preferred aspect of the present invention, when the image data is color data, the specific information is generated for each page and each color. In the queuing described above, image data specifying information corresponding to the assigned color of the print engine is inserted into each queue.

In the present invention, preferably, the control board is composed of one CPU board. For example, when the number of slots is insufficient by itself, or when the transfer rate required for the internal bus is reduced. From
The following configuration can be adopted.

That is, the control board is composed of a first board on which the control section is mounted, and at least one of the plurality of slots formed separately from the first board and having the plurality of slots formed therein.
And two second boards, and the first and second boards may be connected by communication means. The control board may further include a first board on which the control unit and at least one of the slots are formed, and at least one second board on which at least one of the slots is formed.
And the first and second boards may be connected by communication means. If necessary, the first board and the second board may have different performances from each other.

That is, according to the present invention, the required performance of the control board (such as the performance required of the CPU inside the print control device) can be reduced as compared with the conventional one, and as a result, the control board itself can be replaced with a commercially available CPU (Platform), so that a printing control device can be configured by appropriately combining a plurality of commercially available platforms. As a result, the number of slots can be easily increased, and a system capable of providing more various services using boards having different performances can be easily designed.

In particular, the transfer rate of image data flowing through the internal bus is increased due to the increase in the number of print engines, speeding up of printing, higher image quality, higher resolution, addition of peripheral I / O, and higher performance. If it becomes higher, the transfer load of image data can be distributed by adding a platform.

Thus, according to the present invention, there is an advantage that the components (including software) in the print control device can be shared to greatly reduce the design cost, the product production cost, and the maintenance cost. is there.

[0025]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show the concept of a printing system using a printing control device according to the present invention. The print control device 10 functions as a controller that controls a printing device such as a printer, a facsimile device, and a copy device. That is, it has a function of receiving a print job from an external device and supplying image data to the printing apparatus according to the print job.

The configuration of the print control apparatus 10 of this embodiment can be freely configured according to the number of print engines 18 included in the printing apparatus. That is, a plurality of slots, which will be described in detail later, are formed in the print control device 10, and the required number of transfer boards 14 can be connected to these slots to configure the print control device 10. Here, as described later in detail, the transfer board 14 transmits the image data 1 according to the synchronization signal 102 output from the printing apparatus.
04 is transferred.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a system configuration in a case where a print control device 10 is connected to a single-engine type printing device 12. FIG. 2 shows a print control device 10 for a four-tandem engine type printing device.
The figure shows an example of a system configuration in the case where is connected.

In FIG. 1, the printing apparatus 12 is provided with one print engine 18, which performs printing on a sheet on a transfer drum. The control unit 16 is a unit that controls the operation of the print engine 18. The print engine 18 outputs a synchronization signal 102 at a predetermined timing when printing is performed. The synchronization signal 102 is received by the transfer board 14, and the image data 104 is output from the transfer board 14 at the timing when the synchronization signal 102 is obtained. Here, the printing device 1
When color printing is performed in the transfer board 1, the transfer board 1
4, the image data 104 of each color is sequentially output according to the synchronization signal 102, and a color image is printed on a sheet based on the image data 104 supplied as such.

On the other hand, in the system configuration example shown in FIG. 2, the printing apparatus 20 is provided with four print engines 18. The four print engines 18 are arranged side by side in the paper path (process direction). In the print controller 10, four transfer boards 14 are connected to four slots. That is, the print engine 18 and the transfer board 14 are provided in a one-to-one relationship. When the synchronization signal 102 is output from the print engine 18, the image data 104 is output to the print engine 18 from the corresponding transfer board 14. Therefore, each transfer board 14
In the meantime, there is no need to perform timing collective control, and the print control device 10 only needs to distribute image data to each transfer board 14 in an appropriate order. As a result, there is no need for management such as a delay circuit or delay control provided in the conventional device.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, in the print control apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment, if the transfer boards 14 are incorporated by a number corresponding to the number of print engines 18 provided in the printing apparatus. Therefore, the print control apparatus 10 can be constructed with a minimum necessary configuration. At this time, the control board (CPU board) in which the slot is formed can be shared by both the single engine system and the tandem engine system. Incidentally, a transfer board control process (software) for managing the transfer boards 14 is also executed independently between the transfer boards 14, so that timing control by software does not cause a conventional timing problem. .

It should be noted that predetermined information 100 is exchanged between the printing control device 10 and the printing device, and the printing control device 10 executes printing control based on such information, and the printing device has The control unit 16 manages each print engine 18 based on such information.

A specific configuration example of the above-described print control apparatus 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. The configuration example shown in FIG. 3 corresponds to the print control device 10 shown in FIG. 1, and the configuration example shown in FIG. 4 corresponds to the print control device 10 shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 3, in this embodiment,
Five slots are formed in the CPU board 21 serving as a control board. This slot is an I / O slot, and various boards can be incorporated in addition to the transfer board 14. In the example shown in FIG. 3, only one print engine 18 is provided in the printing apparatus 12, that is, one transfer board 1 corresponding to the single engine system.
Only four are connected to the slots. Each slot is connected to the internal bus 22 and the job management unit 26
And an image data storage unit 28 are connected. The job management unit 26 includes, for example, a CPU and predetermined software, and the image data storage unit 28 includes a storage device such as a memory or a hard disk.

In this embodiment, the communication section 24 is directly connected to the job management section 26. However, the job management section 26 and the communication section 24 may of course be connected via the internal bus 22. . The predetermined information 100 is exchanged with the control unit 16 of the printing apparatus via the communication unit 24. For example, a command is transmitted from the printing control device 10 to the printing device 12, while status information of the printing device and information of a page number described later are transmitted from the printing device 12 to the printing control device 10.

The job management section 26 receives a print job from the outside and executes print control according to the print job. Image data input from the outside is stored in the image data storage unit 28, and under management such as queuing executed by the job management unit 26, necessary image data is read out from the image data storage unit 28,
It is supplied to the transfer board 14. The transfer board 14 outputs image data to the corresponding print engine 18 at the timing when the synchronization signal 102 is obtained.

In this case, when color printing is performed in the printing apparatus, in this embodiment, data transfer is performed in the order of image data of each color of K, Y, M, and C.

The transfer board 14 is a board on which, for example, control logic for controlling data transfer based on a synchronization signal, an interface circuit, a buffer for buffering a transfer rate, and the like are mounted. A decoding circuit for image data and the like are mounted in accordance with. That is, the transfer board 14 functions as a driver or an interface card. For example, the internal bus 22 is a general-purpose PCI bus, and each slot includes a connector connected to the internal bus, and a terminal board of a transfer board is detachably inserted into the connector so as to be electrically and physically connected. A connection is made. By the way, without adopting such a detachable configuration, the transfer board 1 is not used during product manufacture.
4 may be fixedly connected to the internal bus 22. In this case, the connection part is positioned substantially as a slot.

FIG. 4 shows a specific configuration example of the print control device 10 in the system configuration example shown in FIG. 2 as described above. The same CPU board 21 as that shown in FIG. 3 can be used, and the same transfer board 14 as that shown in FIG. 3 can be used.

In the configuration example shown in FIG.
Corresponding to the provision of one print engine 18, four transfer boards 14 are connected to the respective slots. The transfer board 14 connected to the slot A transfers the K color image data in accordance with the K synchronization signal from the print engine 18 that executes the K color printing. Similarly, other transfer boards also accept a synchronization signal for the color they are responsible for and output image data of that color.

Therefore, as described above, no timing adjustment between the transfer boards 14 is performed.
Each transfer board 14 operates in response to a request from the print engine. For this reason, the job management unit 26
Does not perform timing control at the time of transferring each image data, and in that sense, the load in job management is greatly reduced.

Incidentally, as described above, the operation of each transfer board 14 is controlled by the transfer board control process, and this process is activated by the job management unit 26 for each connected transfer board 14. . These processes are executed in parallel and multiple times. Therefore, the image data transfer processing is independent in both hardware and software.

Next, queuing executed by the job management section 26 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG.
5 conceptually shows a queuing process corresponding to the configuration example shown in FIG.

In FIG. 5, when a printing apparatus prints a certain page, the printing apparatus first transmits request page information 106 to the print control apparatus 10. The request page information is information indicating a page number for executing printing. The request page information 106 is stored in the communication unit 2 described above.
The job management unit 26 receives the data specifying information 108 for identifying and specifying the image data of each color to execute queuing based on the requested page information 106 via the job management unit 26. Generate. This data specifying information 108 is stored in each of the queues 110C to 110K. Here, when the four-tandem tandem engine system is applied, four transfer boards 14 are used, and four transfer board control processes 102C to 102K are executed. One queue 110C-110K is formed. Each queue has a data identification information 108 of the corresponding color.
Will be stored.

Each transfer board control process 102C-10
2K extracts the data specifying information 108 from the corresponding queue at a predetermined timing, and
Is supplied from the image data storage unit 28 to the transfer board 14.

Therefore, mutual independence between the transfer boards 14 and their control processes can be completely maintained by such queuing, and the control load on the job management unit 26 is reduced as described above.

In the above queuing, when sending black and white data to a printing apparatus that performs color printing, if there is CMY data (level is zero) other than K data, the same queuing process is performed. Just do it. On the other hand, if there is no CMY data other than the K data, dummy data representing them may be generated and sent to the queue. According to such processing, it is possible to obtain an appropriate print result even when color data and black and white data are mixed.

By the way, the job management section 26 always keeps track of the slot to which the transfer board 14 is connected among the plurality of slots provided on the CPU board 21, and queues according to the number of connected transfer boards. The formation of. In the configuration example shown in FIG. 3, only one queue is formed by the job management unit 26. In this case, the data identification information 108 of each color is stored in the queue in a predetermined order. The connection relationship between the print engine that executes printing of each color and the transfer board is determined by the job management unit 26 based on information from the printing apparatus and the contents of the job.
May be automatically determined. Alternatively, the relationship between the transfer board and the color may be input by the user. Or you may comprise so that it can set by software. In any case, appropriate queuing is performed based on the arrangement of the print engines 18.

Next, the transfer timing of the image data will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 6 shows the timing of image data in the configuration examples shown in FIGS.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, page information is output from the control unit 16 of the printing device to the job management unit 26 of the printing control device. After queuing by the job management unit 26, the image data of each color is serially transmitted from the transfer board 14 at the start timing and the end timing as shown in FIG. 6 according to the synchronization signal from the print engine. Of course, each image data is transferred according to the synchronization signal. By the way, in the so-called paper gap between the synchronization signals, the transfer end processing of all image data and the transfer start processing of the next image data can be completed, so that the single transfer board 14 can sufficiently cope with the single engine system.

FIG. 7 shows a comparative example. In this comparative example, the timing when the job management unit itself manages the transfer of all image data or when all the image data is transferred by one transfer board is shown. In the example shown in FIG. 7, four synchronization signals are input in accordance with the four-tandem engine system, and image data of each color is transferred at a predetermined timing according to each synchronization signal. However, as shown in FIG. 7, the transfer start timing and the transfer end timing of each image data are complicatedly entangled, and the control of the transfer timing of each image data becomes complicated.

Further, when a paper hole or the like occurs, each timing slightly changes due to the influence of the paper hole. When such control is performed only by the job management unit,
There is a problem that the load in the control is large. As a result, there arises a problem that hardware-based delay control must be used as shown in the conventional example.

According to the print control apparatus of this embodiment, FIG.
As shown in (1), even in the case of the four-tandem engine system, the transfer is performed while the transfer boards are independent of each other, so that the load in the job management is greatly reduced.

FIG. 8 shows the timing of the image data corresponding to the print control device shown in FIGS. A synchronization signal is input to each transfer board, and each image data is transferred according to the synchronization signal.
In the data transfer processing of each color, the processing is performed at the same timing as the timing shown in FIG. 6, and complicated timing control is not required.

As described above, according to the printing control apparatus of the present embodiment, first, the transfer board and the platform are shared for both the single engine system and the tandem engine system, and the device design or product This makes it possible to significantly reduce the cost of the process. Further, in transferring image data, parallelization and multiplexing are realized in terms of both hardware and software, so that timing control can be greatly reduced in conjunction with queuing in the job management unit.

Next, the operation of the print control apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

The following description is an example, and the present invention can be realized by various operation methods as long as the above advantages can be obtained.

When a print job is received from a client (not shown) by the job management unit 26, the job management unit 26 first enters the image data storage unit 2.
8, the presence of image data to be output by the print job is confirmed. After that, a start command is given to the printing apparatus via the communication unit 24, and status information and specification information of the printing apparatus sent from the printing apparatus are acquired.

On the other hand, in the printing apparatus which has received the start command, the control unit 16 starts up each print engine 18 and also starts up the entire printing apparatus. As a result, the printing apparatus shifts from the idle state to the standby state.

The job management section 26 in the print control apparatus 10 starts the printing operation via the communication section 24 after confirming that the preparation for the output of the image data is ready and the printing apparatus is in the standby state. (For example, information such as the total number of pages to be output) is provided to the printing apparatus. The information of the operation start is received by the control unit 16 in the printing apparatus, and the control unit 16 executes, for example, a control for starting the feeding of the sheet, and then specifies the information (request) for specifying the image formed on the sheet. Page information 1
06) to the print control device.

The requested page information 106 is received by the job management unit 26, and as shown in FIG. 5, necessary data specifying information 108 is generated by queuing based on the requested page information 106. Specifically, CMY
When full-color printing is performed for each color of K, data identification information 108 is generated for each color. At the same time, the job management unit 26 stores the data identification information 1 in each queue.
Distribute 08. Each queue is formed when the transfer board control process is started.

The transfer board control process for managing each transfer board acquires the queued data specifying information 108 and takes in the image data specified by the specifying information 108 from the image data storage unit 28 into the transfer board 14. Execute

For example, in the case of the single engine system, only one transfer board 14 is used. In that case, image data of a certain page is transferred to the transfer board 14 in the order of K, Y, M, and C. Will be. In the case of a four-tandem engine system, four tandem engines are provided for each color.
Image data of each color is distributed to each of the transfer boards. For example, K color image data is transferred to the transfer board 14 to which the K synchronization signal 102K is input.

When the paper is fed to a predetermined position in the printing apparatus, a synchronization signal is output from the print engine 18 to the transfer board 14 at a predetermined timing.
The transfer board 14 executes a process of transferring image data immediately when the synchronization signal is input. The image data is supplied to the print engine 18, and as a result, an image of any color is formed on the paper.

When the image forming process for a certain page in the printing apparatus is completed, the synchronization signal output from the print engine 18 is negated. When the negation of the synchronizing signal is detected by the transfer board control process, the process of transferring the image data on the transfer board 14 is completed by the process. In this case, a termination process in the image data storage unit 28 by the job management unit 24 is also performed as necessary.

A series of processes from the process of obtaining the requested page information from the queue by the transfer board control processes to the process of ending the transfer of the image data are repeated until the entire image forming cycle is completed. At the end of the image forming cycle, a full-color image has been transferred onto the paper, so that the printing apparatus performs a fixing process on the image, and as a result, a final printed matter is output.

When there is a page to be printed, the requested page information is transferred as described above, and the above-described processes are repeatedly executed in accordance with the transfer.

By the way, when the processing of all the pages specified in the print job is completed, the job management unit 26 notifies the printing device of the completion of the printing. As a result, the control unit 16 of the printing device controls the printing device. It returns to the idle state, and itself becomes the idle state.

In the single engine system, even when a specific paper size is selected and a special image forming cycle called two-cutter is performed, the above control process can sufficiently cope with the case. That is, even in such a special image forming cycle, the above processing can be applied as it is, only by changing the relationship between the page order and the color order.

Next, another embodiment will be described.

Even if the job management unit 26 receives the requested page information, transfer of each image data does not start until paper is fed to each print engine. For this reason, in the case of the tandem engine system, the time from the reception timing of the requested page information to the start of the image data transfer on the transfer board becomes longer as the print engine is located at a later stage of the process. Therefore, it can be said that one or a plurality of transfer boards 14 corresponding to the print engine located at such a later stage have a large time allowance in supplying image data thereto.

Therefore, an embodiment as shown in FIG. 9 may be adopted as long as there is no problem in time.

In FIG. 9, the CPU board which is the control board shown in FIG.
And a second CPU board 21B. The CPU boards are connected by communication means. More specifically, the communication unit 24, the job management unit 26, and the image data storage unit 28 described above are formed on the first CPU board 21A, and a plurality of slots are formed. One or a plurality of transfer boards 14 are connected to these slots. Job management unit 2
6, a communication unit 30 is connected, and the communication unit 30 is connected to a communication unit 32 of the second CPU board 21B via a communication line or a network. In the second CPU board 21B, data transfer is managed by the CPU. The CPU 34 actually performs the same function as the job management unit 26. 2nd CPU board 21
In B, the image data storage unit 28 is connected to the CPU 34 via the internal bus 22, and one or more slots are connected. One or a plurality of transfer boards 14 are connected to those slots.

In the configuration example shown in FIG. 9, two transfer boards 14 are connected to the first CPU board 21A corresponding to the quadruple tandem engine system, while the second CPU board 2
Two transfer boards 14 are connected to 1B.

Here, the queuing shown in FIG. 5 is performed by the job management unit 26. Further, of the image data of each page, only the K image data and the Y image data are stored in the image data storage unit 28 of the first CPU board 21A, while the M image data and the C image are stored in the second CPU board 21A.
The image data is stored in the image data storage unit 28 of the board 21B. As a result, the data transfer rate on the internal bus 22 can be reduced.

As described above, according to the printing control apparatus of the present embodiment, when the number of slots is insufficient or the bandwidth of the internal bus is insufficient, for example, the apparatus is configured by appropriately combining another CPU board. There is an advantage that you can. That is, it is possible to configure a print control device that is highly expandable and versatile.

Note that, in order to realize the above-described image data management, the job management unit 26 also performs control for distributing the image data of each color to each image data storage unit 28 when the image data is input.

FIG. 10 shows another embodiment. In this embodiment, the first board is used as the control board.
The PU board 21C and the second CPU board 21D are used. Here, job management is performed in the first CPU board 21C, and connection of a transfer board is performed in the second CPU board 21D. Then, the queuing shown in FIG. 5 is executed by the job management unit 26, and the image data is transferred from the image data storage unit 28 to a predetermined transfer board via the interfaces 36 and 38 by this queuing. Of course, prior to such queuing, the image data storage unit 28
The image data may be transferred from the memory 42 to the memory 42 after queuing. Incidentally, the interfaces 36 and 38 correspond to the communication units 30 and 32 shown in FIG. CPU4
0 manages data transfer in the second CPU board 21D.

When the configuration example shown in FIG. 9 is adopted, each transfer board control process may be collectively executed by the job management unit 26. The unit 26 and the CPU 34 may each execute two transfer board management processes. In the configuration example shown in FIG. 10, the control process of each transfer board may be executed by the job management unit 26, but a part or all of the control process may be executed by the CPU 40 of the second CPU board 21D.

As shown in the above-described embodiments shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the print control apparatus of the present embodiment is rich in scalability, can cope with various types of printing apparatuses, and has a high speed printing apparatus. It is possible to configure an apparatus capable of exhibiting sufficient performance even when the resolution is increased or the resolution is increased.

In another embodiment shown in FIG. 11, two control devices 50 and 52 are connected to a printing device 54. The printing device 54 employs the above-described four-tandem engine system, and the control device 50 is provided with a print control unit 60 to which the two transfer boards 14 are connected. The 52 is provided with a print control unit 64 to which the two transfer boards 14 are connected. The print control units 60 and 64 realize a data transfer process equivalent to the configuration shown in FIG.

Further, the control unit 50 has an image processing unit 56.
Also, other processing units such as a PDL interpretation unit 58 are mounted, and these processing units can perform additional processing on the print job. The same applies to the control device 52, and a PDL interpretation unit 62 is mounted.
Here, the PDL interpreter 58 and the PDL interpreter 62 have the same function or different functions, respectively. For example, an appropriate PD according to the type of job and the contents required for job processing
It is possible to use the L interpreter selectively or in parallel. That is, according to the embodiment shown in FIG.
If necessary, by connecting platforms of different types by communication means, it becomes possible to provide other services to the client in addition to the image data transfer processing as shown in FIG. Here, the control devices 50 and 52
Is, for example, a computer system, and the system can be loaded with various applications suitable for each platform and used as needed.

[0084]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In the configuration of the print control device, useless portions can be eliminated as much as possible, and it is possible to flexibly cope with a method in the printing device. According to the present invention, for example, a general-purpose C
An economically superior printing system can be constructed by effectively utilizing the PU board and the like.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing a case where a print control device is connected to a single engine type printing device.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a system configuration in a case where a print control device is connected to a four-tandem engine type printing device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a specific configuration example of the print control device illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a specific configuration example of the print control device illustrated in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram illustrating queuing in a job management unit.

FIG. 6 is a timing chart showing a case where image data transfer conforming to the single engine system is performed using one transfer board.

FIG. 7 is a timing chart showing a comparative example.

FIG. 8 is a timing chart showing a case where image data transfer corresponding to a quadruple tandem engine system is performed using four transfer boards.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a configuration of another embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a configuration of another embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a configuration of another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 10 printing control device, 12 single engine printing device, 14 transfer board, 16 control unit, 18 printing engine, 20 four-tandem engine printing device, 2
6 job management unit, 28 image data storage unit, 102
Sync signal, 104 image data.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A printing control apparatus connected to a printing apparatus having one or a plurality of print engines for executing printing and supplying image data to the one or a plurality of print engines. At least one transfer board that is used by the same number as the number of print engines and transfers image data to the corresponding print engine according to a synchronization signal from the corresponding print engine; and a plurality of slots to which the transfer boards are connected. A control unit that performs control for distributing image data to the connected transfer boards according to the number of connected transfer boards,
A control board comprising: and a print control device comprising: 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for executing a transfer board control process independently of each other for each of the connected transfer boards. 3. The transfer board control process according to claim 2, wherein the control unit forms a queue for queuing specific information of the image data for each of the connected transfer boards, Wherein the specific information is obtained from a corresponding queue. 4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein when the image data is color data, the specific information is generated for each page and each color. 5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control board is configured separately from the first board on which the control unit is mounted, and the plurality of slots are formed separately from the first board. And at least one second board, wherein the first and second boards are connected by communication means. 6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control board comprises: a first board on which the control unit and the at least one slot are formed; and at least one first board on which at least one slot is formed. And a second board, wherein the first and second boards are connected by a communication unit. 7. The printing control device according to claim 6, wherein the first board and the second board have different performances from each other.