JP2000071582A - Printing system, printing control device used therefor and method for estimating necessary amount of ink - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow a user to know prior to printing whether or not an out-of-ink condition occurs during printing by a printer in a printing system. SOLUTION: When an instruction for executing printing is provided by a user, an RIP(raster image processor) turns off a printing start flag so that the printing is interrupted. The RIP requests transmission of a residual quantity of ink in a printer (S200) and receives the residual quantity of ink transmitted from the printer in response to the request (S210). The RIP predicts a quantity of ink necessary for the printing in the printer based on preview data. A residual quantity of the ink and the predicted necessary quantity are compared with each other by each color of the ink to be indicated by using a graph (S260 and S250). When the ink is deficient (S260: YES), the result is indicated (S270).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a technique for grasping a shortage of ink in a printing apparatus connected to a printing control apparatus before executing a printing process.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known a print system for printing data to be printed created by an information processing terminal by a printing apparatus. In this system, a print control device called a RIP (Raster Image Processor) for converting data to be printed into print data that can be processed by the printing device is interposed between the information processing terminal and the printing device. Become. That is, the data to be printed is usually PostScript
Since it is PDL (Page Description Language) such as TIFF or image data such as TIFF or JPEG, a conversion device to print data that can be processed by a printing device is required.

In some small-scale systems, for example, personal systems, some information processing terminals have a function as the print control device. On the other hand, large systems,
For example, in a system constructed as a network, a configuration in which a print control device is connected on a network separately from the information processing terminal is adopted for the purpose of reducing the processing load on the information processing terminal. At this time, when the print control device receives the data to be printed from the information processing terminal via the network, the print control device converts the data to be printed into print data, and transmits the data to the connected printing device.

[0004]

However, in such a printing system, the ink of the printing apparatus may run short during printing. At this time, some printing apparatuses continue printing without ink.
In this case, since color missing occurs, it is necessary to execute the printing process again.

[0005] Also, when the ink is exhausted,
Some printing devices interrupt the printing process at that stage. In such a printing apparatus, after refilling the ink, the printing process can be continued from the interrupted portion. However, even in this case, if the recording medium such as paper temporarily stops in the middle of printing, the recording medium may be set or shifted, resulting in uneven printing, or printing before and after the interrupted portion. It will be discontinuous.

In other words, if the printing device runs out of ink during printing, it is often necessary to perform printing again. In particular, in the case of large-format printing, for example, printing of A0 size or larger, if such printing is performed again, the cost of the recording medium and the ink is large, so that significant damage occurs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem, and enables a user to know whether or not ink is insufficient during printing in a printing apparatus before printing. The purpose is to:

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print system comprising: an information processing terminal for generating data to be printed; A printing apparatus for performing printing on a recording medium, a printing control apparatus interposed between the information processing terminal and the printing apparatus, and converting at least data to be printed into print data that can be processed by the printing apparatus; and This is a print system provided with.

The printing control device includes a required ink amount predicting unit that predicts a required amount of ink, which is a required amount of printing, based on data to be printed from the information processing terminal. The printing apparatus includes an ink information requesting unit that requests transmission of ink information that is information for confirming the remaining amount of ink, and an ink information receiving unit that receives ink information transmitted from the printing apparatus. When there is an ink information management unit that manages the ink information and a request for transmission of the ink information by the ink information requesting unit,
An ink information transmitting unit that transmits ink information managed by the ink information managing unit.

Further, at least one of the information processing terminal and the print control device transmits the required ink amount predicted by the required ink amount predicting unit and the ink information received by the ink information receiving unit before executing the printing process in the printing device. Based on the above, there is provided an ink amount information notifying unit for directly or indirectly notifying whether or not the ink runs short during the execution of the printing process.

The print system of the present invention includes an information processing terminal such as a personal computer, a printing device such as an ink jet printer, a laser printer, or other various printers or plotters. And an intervening print control device.
This print control device converts at least the data to be printed generated by the information processing terminal into print data that can be processed by the printing device. The printing device performs printing on the recording medium based on the print data.

Here, in the print system of the present invention, in particular, the required ink amount predicting means of the print control device determines the required ink amount, which is the amount of ink required for printing, based on the data to be printed from the information processing terminal. Predict. For example,
If the printing device is a color printer, the required amount is predicted for each color.

In the printing control apparatus, the ink information requesting unit requests the printing apparatus to transmit the ink information. In response to the inquiry, in the printing apparatus, the ink information transmission unit transmits the ink information managed by the ink information management unit to the print control device. Then, in the print control device, the ink information receiving unit receives the transmitted ink information.

Note that the ink information is information for confirming the remaining amount of ink in the printing apparatus. For example, it may be the remaining amount of ink itself, or may be the amount of ink consumed up to the time when a transmission request is made by the ink information requesting unit. When the ink information is the amount of ink consumption, the amount of ink at the time of refilling the ink is stored, and the remaining amount of ink can be confirmed by subtracting the amount of ink consumption from this amount of ink. Therefore, the ink information management means included in the printing apparatus detects and updates the ink remaining amount at predetermined time intervals, for example, when the ink information is the remaining ink amount, or, for example, when the ink information is the ink consumption amount. In some cases, it is conceivable to accumulate and manage the amount of ink used when executing the printing process.

[0015] Further, the ink amount information notifying means of at least one of the information processing terminal and the printing control device may be provided with a required ink amount and ink amount predicted by the required ink amount predicting means prior to execution of the printing process in the printing apparatus. Based on the ink information received by the information receiving unit, whether or not the ink runs short during the execution of the printing process is notified directly or indirectly. The notification may be performed visually, for example, using a display using a CRT or a liquid crystal, or may be performed through hearing using synthesized speech.

As described above, the ink amount information notifying means includes:
At least one of the information processing terminal and the print control device has the information processing terminal. Therefore, the information processing terminal may have it, the print control device may have it, or both devices may have it. If the information processing terminal has an ink amount information notifying unit, the necessary ink amount acquired by the print control device and the received ink information are transmitted to the information processing terminal, and the necessary information transmitted from the print control device is transmitted. Based on the ink amount and the ink information, the ink amount information notifying unit performs the above-described notification.

The indirect notification of whether or not the ink is insufficient corresponds to, for example, a case where the required ink amount and the remaining ink amount based on the ink information are displayed side by side. For example, the required amount of ink and the remaining amount of ink are displayed in a graph. In this case, the user can know whether or not the ink is insufficient by comparing the displayed remaining ink amount with the required ink amount.

On the other hand, the direct notification of whether or not the ink is insufficient means, for example, comparing the required amount of ink with the remaining amount of ink based on the ink information, and determining whether or not the ink is insufficient or not. The case to notify is applicable. In this case, the user does not need to determine whether or not the ink is insufficient.

Conventionally, if the ink in the printing apparatus runs short during the printing process, the quality of the printing cannot be maintained, and it may be necessary to restart the printing. In particular, large format printing,
For example, in printing of A0 size or larger,
When such re-printing occurs, the cost of the recording medium and the ink increases.

On the other hand, in the print system of the present invention, the print control device acquires the remaining ink amount in the printing device based on the ink information from the printing device, and
The required amount of ink required for the printing process is predicted. Then, the information processing terminal or the print control device notifies, based on the ink information and the required ink amount, whether or not the ink is insufficient during the printing prior to the execution of the printing. Therefore, the user can replenish the ink before the printing process is started, and as a result, it is possible to prevent the ink from running out during the printing.

The above-mentioned "ink" includes an ink made by kneading a pigment with oil or resin, a liquid ink comprising a dye and an aqueous or oily solvent, and a toner which is attracted to a charged portion and fixed by heat. , And an ink ribbon.
Further, when the printing apparatus is a color printer, it may be possible to notify whether or not ink is insufficient for each color such as cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.

By the way, if the required ink amount and the remaining ink amount based on the ink information are displayed side by side as described above,
It is considered that the user can determine how much ink should be replenished from this display. However, more preferably, for example, as set forth in claim 2,
It is more preferable that the ink amount information notifying unit is configured to compare the remaining amount of ink based on the ink information with the required amount of ink, and to notify the insufficient amount of ink when the amount of ink is insufficient. This eliminates the need for the user to determine how much ink must be replenished, thereby improving user convenience.

Further, if the configuration is such that it can be determined whether the replenished ink is really sufficient after replenishing the ink, it is more convenient for the user. Therefore, it is preferable that the ink information requesting unit is configured to repeatedly request the transmission of the ink information at predetermined time intervals.

If the ink information requesting unit repeatedly requests the transmission of the ink information at predetermined time intervals, the printing apparatus transmits the managed ink information as described above. At this time, if the ink has been replenished by the user, the refilled ink information is received by the ink information receiving means of the print control device. Therefore,
The ink amount information notifying unit notifies, based on the updated ink information, whether ink runs short during the printing process. As a result, it is possible to confirm whether or not the refilled ink is really sufficient, which is very convenient. Also,
In a color printer, for example, when ink of a certain color is insufficient, even if ink of another color is accidentally refilled, such a configuration increases the possibility of noticing the error. .

The required ink amount predicting means of the print control device predicts a required ink amount, which is a required ink amount for printing, based on data to be printed from the information processing terminal. For example, considering the printing of general image data, the density of a full-color image in which one pixel is displayed on a screen in RGB with 256 levels of luminance is expressed by a printing apparatus using cyan, magenta, yellow, Black 4
It is represented by a color ink dot pattern. That is, in this case, the image on the recording medium is represented by dots where ink is ejected and dots where ink is not ejected. At this time, the print control device converts the image data that is the data to be printed into print data that is a bitmap in which one dot of the print image corresponds to one bit for each color. Therefore, by counting "1" in this bitmap data, that is, the dots from which ink is ejected, the required amount of ink can be accurately predicted.

However, when estimating the required amount of ink by such a method, it takes a lot of calculation time. In particular, in large-format printing, for example, printing of A0 size or larger, the operation clock is several hundreds.
When the calculation is performed by a personal computer such as MHz, a calculation time such as several minutes to tens of minutes may be required depending on the calculation speed. That is, the above-described method of estimating the amount of ink is similar to the actual printing process.

Therefore, as set forth in claim 4, the print control device includes preview data generating means for generating preview data for a print preview based on the data to be printed generated by the information processing terminal. Preferably, the required ink amount predicting means is configured to predict the required ink amount based on the preview data generated by the preview data generating means.

The print preview refers to confirming a print image on a screen before actually printing on a recording medium. Generally, preview data generated for this purpose is reduced data of image data that is data to be printed, and differs only in the enlargement ratio. Therefore, if the required amount of ink is predicted based on the preview data, the time required for predicting the amount of ink can be reduced. This will be described below.

Specifically, the necessary ink amount predicting means averages the gradation of each pixel of the image based on the preview data, and calculates the average of the print image corresponding to the averaged gradation. It is conceivable to determine the density and predict the amount of ink that will be the average density in the actual print size as the required amount of ink.

As described above, assuming that the density of image data displayed on the screen is expressed as a dot pattern on a recording medium, the amount of ink is proportional to the gradation of the image data. Become. Therefore, by averaging the gradation of each pixel of the image based on the preview data,
It is normalized, that is, converted into a value from 0 to 1 to obtain the average density of the print image, and the amount of ink when the actual print size is solid-filled is multiplied by the average density of this print image. May be considered as the required ink amount.
Since the number of pixels of the image based on the preview data to be calculated is smaller than the number of pixels of the image based on the data to be printed, the calculation time required for estimating the ink amount can be shortened in this manner. is there.

Although the invention has been described above as an invention of an information processing terminal, a printing control device, and a printing system including a printing device, the invention can be realized as a printing control device that is effective when used in the system. . That is, an information processing terminal that generates data to be printed, and printing on a recording medium based on the printing data,
When there is a request for transmission of ink information that is information for confirming the remaining ink amount from the outside, it is used by being interposed between the printing apparatus that transmits the managed ink information and at least data to be printed is A printing control device that converts the printing data into printable data that can be processed by the printing device; An ink information requesting unit for requesting the printing device to transmit ink information, an ink information receiving unit for receiving ink information transmitted from the printing device, and an estimation of a required ink amount prior to execution of a printing process in the printing device. Based on the required ink amount predicted by the means and the ink information received by the ink information receiving means, Whether a print control apparatus, characterized in that it comprises an ink amount information informing means for directly or indirectly informed.

The description of the operation of the print control device in this case is the same as that described above as the operation of the print control device constituting the print system. That is, the required ink amount predicting unit predicts the required ink amount, which is the amount of ink required in the printing process, based on the data to be printed. The ink information requesting unit requests the printing device to transmit the ink information, and the ink information receiving unit receives the ink information transmitted from the printing device in response to the request. Then, prior to execution of the printing process in the printing apparatus, the ink amount information notifying unit directly determines whether or not the ink amount is insufficient during the execution of the printing process based on the predicted required ink amount and the received ink information. Notify indirectly or indirectly. Therefore, the user can replenish the ink before the printing process is started, and as a result, it is possible to prevent the ink from running out during the printing.

Of course, like the print control device in the print system according to the second, third, and fourth aspects, the ink amount information notifying means is configured to notify the ink shortage amount, and the ink information requesting means is controlled for a predetermined time. In a case where the transmission of the ink information is repeatedly requested at intervals or the print control device generates preview data for a print preview, the required ink amount prediction unit predicts a required ink amount based on the preview data. It can also be configured as follows.

Although the above-described print control apparatus has a configuration in which the print control apparatus itself includes the ink amount information notifying means, the print control apparatus performs information processing of the required ink amount and ink information instead of the ink amount information notifying means. It may be configured to include information transmitting means for transmitting to the terminal. In this case, if the information processing terminal is configured to notify whether or not the ink is insufficient during the execution of the printing process based on the required ink amount and the ink information, prior to the execution of the printing process in the printing apparatus, the information processing terminal may be used. The user can replenish the ink before the printing process is started, and as a result, it is possible to prevent the ink from running out during the printing.

By the way, the printing system according to the fifth aspect is characterized in that the required amount of ink is predicted. Therefore, if this characteristic portion is regarded as an invention, a method for estimating a necessary ink amount as described in claim 8 can be considered. That is, based on the data to be printed generated by the information processing terminal, preview data for a print preview is created, the gradation of each pixel of the image based on the created preview data is averaged, and the averaged floor is averaged. This is a method for estimating a required ink amount, which calculates an average density of a print image corresponding to a tone and predicts an amount of ink having an average density in an actual print size as a required ink amount.
The description of this method is the same as that described above as the operation of the required ink amount predicting means in the print system according to the fifth aspect, and thus will not be described here. As described above, the number of pixels of the image based on the preview data to be calculated is smaller than the number of pixels of the image based on the data to be printed. Can be shortened.

[0036]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a print system according to the present embodiment. The print system of the present embodiment is a network system as shown in FIG. That is, a terminal 10 as an “information processing terminal” and a raster image processor (hereinafter, referred to as “RIP”) 2 as a “print control device” via a network 40 such as a local area network.
0 is connected to the RIP, and a printer 30 as a “printing device” is connected to the RIP.

The printing system according to the present embodiment is a large-format printing system for printing, for example, a banner for advertisement, and a recording medium having a width of 1.5 m and a length of several tens m is set in the printer 30. Is done. Therefore, in the print system of the present embodiment, the processing data amount for printing is large, so that the RIP 20 having the print control function is prepared separately from the terminal 10 to reduce the processing load on the terminal 10. ing.

The terminal 10 includes a display 11, a mouse 12, a keyboard 13, and a terminal computer 14. Similarly, the RIP 20 includes a display 21, a mouse 22, a keyboard 23,
Computer 24. The terminal computer 14 and the RIP computer 24 are C
It is configured as a computer system mainly including a PU, a RAM, a ROM, an input / output circuit, a network interface, and a bus connecting these. Then, via the input / output circuit, the displays 11, 21 described above,
The mice 12, 22 and the keyboards 13, 23 are connected to the terminal computer 14 and the RIP computer 24, respectively. Since the configuration of such a computer system is well known, a detailed description of the configuration is omitted.

The printer 30 includes a printing mechanism for printing on a recording medium, and a control mechanism mainly including a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM. The CPU executes a printing process described later. . The printer 30 is an ink-jet type color printer, and performs color printing using four colors of ink of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. Hereinafter, the four colors of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black are also described as “CMYK”.

The terminal 10 responds to an instruction from the user,
It generates print target data that is image data such as TIFF or JPEG. Then, when there is a print instruction from the user, the data to be printed is transmitted to the RIP 20 via the network 40. When the data to be printed is transmitted from the terminal 10, the RIP 20 performs a predetermined process, and then prints the data to be printed on the printer 30, such as bitmap data indicating each dot of the print image. The data is converted to data for use and output to the printer 30. The printer 30 executes a printing process based on the printing data, and as a result, an image based on the data to be printed transmitted from the terminal 10 is printed on the recording medium. In this embodiment, the terminal 10 and the printer 30 are connected one by one in order to avoid complication. However, a plurality of terminals are connected to the network 40 and a plurality of terminals are connected to the RIP 20. May be connected.

The printing system according to the present embodiment is characterized in that the user is notified whether or not the printer 30 runs out of ink during printing before printing is performed. Therefore, the processes executed by the RIP 20 and the printer 30 will be described below in order based on the flowcharts shown in FIGS.

First, the print setting process executed in the RIP 20 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. This print setting process is a process executed by the CPU included in the RIP computer 24 of the RIP 20, and is a process executed prior to printing.

First, in the first step S100, preview data for print preview is generated. The print preview refers to confirming a print image on a screen before actually performing printing on a recording medium.
Generally, the preview data generated for this purpose is
This is reduced data of image data which is data to be printed, and only the enlargement ratio is different. Here, based on image data as data to be printed transmitted from the terminal 10 and stored in the RAM of the RIP computer 24,
The preview data is generated, and an image based on the preview data is displayed on the display 21.

In S110, print settings are made by the user based on the image displayed in S100. That is, the user refers to the image based on the preview data displayed on the display 21 provided in the RIP 20 and enlarges / decreases the print size via the mouse 22 or the keyboard 23.
Print settings such as scaling as reduction, trimming as selection of a print area, and rotation of a print image are performed. And
When the print setting is completed, an instruction to execute printing is issued. That is, as described above, the print target data created by the terminal 10 is transmitted to the RIP 20 according to the instruction of the user via the terminal 10, and subsequently, the final data by the user is transmitted via the RIP 20. Print settings are made, and execution of printing is instructed.

At S120, the required amount of ink is predicted. This process predicts the amount of ink required for printing image data. The prediction of the ink amount is performed with reference to the print settings set in S110 based on the preview data generated in S100.

Here, a method for estimating the required amount of ink in this embodiment will be described. When printing an image based on image data on a recording medium, for example, one pixel is 2 pixels.
The density of a full-color image displayed on a screen in RGB with 56 levels of luminance is expressed by, for example, a dot pattern of four CMYK inks, or
It is expressed by adjusting the ejection amount of the color ink in accordance with the gradation of the image data. In the latter method, since the apparatus becomes expensive, it is common to express the density of the image with a dot pattern as in the former method, but in any case, the ink amount is proportional to the gradation of the image data Will do.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, the gradation of each pixel of the image based on the preview data is averaged, and the average is normalized, that is, converted to a value from 0 to 1 to obtain the average density of the print image. Then, the required ink amount is calculated by multiplying the ink amount when the actual print size is solid-coated by the average density of the print image. When trimming is performed as a print setting in S110 described above, the tone of the pixel corresponding to the trimmed portion is averaged and normalized, and the average density of the print image corresponding to the trimmed portion is calculated. The required ink amount is obtained by multiplying the average density by the amount of ink when the actual print size corresponding to the trimming portion is solid-coated. When the image data on the screen is expressed in RGB and the print image is expressed in CMYK, the gradation set for each of RGB is converted into the gradation for each of CMYK, and then the above-described processing is performed. The average density may be calculated by such a method.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the amount of ink required for printing is predicted based on the preview data. Returning to the flowchart of FIG. 2 again, the description of the print setting process will be continued. In S130, the print settings set in S110 and the required ink amount predicted in S120 are stored. These pieces of information are stored in a print setting area prepared in a RAM included in the RIP computer 24.

At S140, the print start flag is turned off.
Then, the print setting process ends. The print start flag is a variable that can take two values, “ON” or “OFF”, and is prepared in the RAM of the RIP computer 24. Next, the ink amount notification processing executed in the RIP 20 will be described based on the flowchart shown in FIG. This ink amount notification process is also a process executed by the CPU included in the RIP computer 24 of the RIP 20, similarly to the above-described print setting process.

First, in step S200, the printer 30 is requested to transmit the remaining amount of ink in the printer 30. In response to this transmission request, the printer 30
When the remaining ink amount is transmitted from the printer, in S210, the transmitted remaining ink amount is received. Then, in S220, the remaining amount of ink is displayed on the display 21 of the RIP 20. In the present embodiment, the remaining amount of ink is graphically displayed as in the screen display example shown in FIG. In FIG. 6, the remaining amount of ink is displayed in the area A at the center of the screen.
It is displayed as a bar graph with a scale of 00. Here, the shaded area indicates the remaining amount of each color ink.

In S230, it is determined whether the print settings are stored. As described above, print settings are made by the user prior to printing (S110 in FIG. 2), and the settings are stored in the print setting area prepared in the RAM of the RIP computer 24 (S13 in FIG. 2).
0). Therefore, here, the RIP computer 24 is used.
It is determined whether or not the print setting by the user is stored by referring to the print setting area prepared in the RAM. Here, when the print settings are stored (S230: YE
S), and proceed to S240. On the other hand, when the print settings are not stored (S230: NO), the process proceeds to S290.

In S240, the RIP computer 24
The required amount of ink stored in the RAM is read. Then, in S250, the display 2 provided in the RIP 20
1 shows the read required ink amount. In the present embodiment, as shown in the screen display example of FIG. 6, for a bar graph indicating the amount of ink displayed in the area A, the required amount of ink is displayed by a triangular mark indicating a position on the graph. That is, in FIG. 6, since the hatched area in the bar graph indicates the remaining amount of ink, the position indicated by this triangular mark is
If the area is beyond the shaded area, that is, if the area is close to the scale of "100", the ink will be insufficient. Accordingly, it can be seen from the display screen shown in FIG. 6 that the cyan, magenta, and yellow inks do not run short, but the black ink runs short.

In S260, it is determined whether or not the ink is insufficient. This processing is based on the ink remaining amount received in S210 and the RAM of the RIP computer 24 in S240.
The required ink amount read from the printer is compared for each color to determine whether or not ink is insufficient. If it is determined that the ink is insufficient (S260: YES),
In S270, the fact that the ink is insufficient is displayed on the display 21 of the RIP 20, and then the process proceeds to S300. On the other hand, when it is determined that the ink is not insufficient (S260:
NO), the print start flag is turned on in S280, and then the process proceeds to S300.

The display of the lack of ink executed in S270 is displayed in an area B different from the graph display, for example, as shown in FIG. In FIG. 6, since the black ink is insufficient, the message "Black ink is insufficient" is output.

In step S290, which is performed when the result of the determination in step S230 is negative, the display of the required ink amount is cleared. This processing is executed when a negative determination is made in S230, that is, when the print setting is not stored in the print setting area prepared in the RAM of the RIP computer 24, but the information stored in the print setting area is , Are deleted after the transmission of the print data to the printer 30 as described later. That is, when printing is started by the printer 30,
Since the display of the required ink amount is not necessary, the display of the required ink amount is cleared. Thereafter, the process proceeds to S300.

In S300, it is determined whether or not a predetermined time such as 3 seconds has elapsed. If it is determined that the predetermined time has elapsed (S300: YES), S2
The processing from 00 is repeated. On the other hand, this processing is repeated until the predetermined time has not elapsed (S300: NO). By the process of S300, the RIP 20 requests the printer 30 to transmit the remaining amount of ink to the printer 30 at predetermined time intervals (S200). If the user refills the ink, the screen display is updated accordingly. Will be done.

Next, based on the flowchart of FIG.
The print control processing in the RIP 20 will be described. This print control process is also executed by the CPU of the RIP computer 24 included in the RIP 20, and is executed following the print setting process described above with reference to FIG.

First, in the first step S400, it is determined whether or not the print start flag is ON. If the print start flag is ON (S400: YES),
Move to S410. On the other hand, this process is repeated until the print start flag is not turned on (S400: NO), that is, when the print start flag is turned off.

In S410, the RIP computer 24
The print setting and image data as data to be printed stored in the RAM are read. Then, in S420,
The read image data is converted into print data that can be printed by the printer 30 based on the print settings.

Then, in S430, the print data is transmitted to the printer 30. By the transmission process in S430, the printer 30 executes printing on a recording medium as described later. In S440, the print setting area is cleared, that is, the stored print settings are deleted.
This print control process ends. By clearing the print setting area, a negative determination is made in S230 in the ink amount notification process shown in FIG.

The above-described processing is the processing executed in the RIP 20. Next, the printing-side processing executed in the printer 30 in correspondence with the above-described processing will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, in the first step S500, it is determined whether or not data has been received from the RIP 20. If it is determined that data has been received from the RIP (S500: YES), the process proceeds to S510. On the other hand, this process is repeated until data is not received from RIP 20 (S500: NO). That is, by receiving some data from the RIP 20, the processing after S510 is performed for the first time.

In S510, the data received from the RIP 20 is analyzed. Then, in S520, a branching process is performed based on the data analysis result. If the data from the RIP 20 is a transmission request for the remaining amount of ink, the process proceeds to S530. This is a case where the data transmitted in the process of S200 shown in FIG. 3 is determined. In this case, S
At 530, the remaining amount of ink is detected, and at S540, the detected remaining amount of ink is transmitted to RIP20. The RIP 20 receives the transmitted remaining ink amount by the processing of S210 in FIG. After that, the printing-side processing ends.

If the data from the RIP 20 is print data, the flow shifts to S550. This is a case where the data transmitted in the process of S430 shown in FIG. 4 is determined. In this case, in S550, printing on the recording medium is performed based on the received print amount data. After that, the printing-side processing ends.

If the data from the RIP 20 is neither the transmission request of the remaining ink amount nor the print amount data, in S560, other processes are executed in accordance with the received data, and thereafter, the printing side process ends. Next, effects exerted by the print system of the present embodiment will be described. Note that, in order to facilitate understanding of the description here, conventional problems will be described first.

Conventionally, in a printing system, if the ink in the printer 30 runs short during printing, the quality of printing cannot be maintained, and printing may need to be performed again. In particular, in the case of large-format printing, for example, printing of A0 size or larger, if such re-printing occurs, the cost of the recording medium and the ink increases.

On the other hand, in the print system according to the present embodiment, when a print execution instruction is given from the user (S110 in FIG. 2), the print start flag is turned off (S140 in FIG. 2), and the printing is started. Is not executed (S400: NO in FIG. 4). The RIP 20 requests the printer 30 to transmit the remaining ink amount (S200 in FIG. 3), and receives the remaining ink amount transmitted from the printer 30 in response to the request (S210 in FIG. 3). Also, RIP2
At 0, the required amount of ink, which is the amount of ink required by the printer 30 for printing, is predicted based on the data to be printed transmitted from the terminal 10 and the print settings from the user (S120 in FIG. 2). . And printer 3
The ink remaining amount received from 0 and the estimated required amount of ink are compared and displayed using a graph for each color ink (see S220 and S250 in FIG. 3, FIG. 6). That is,
Prior to execution of printing, the remaining ink amount and the required ink amount are displayed in a state where they can be compared. Further, the remaining ink amount and the required ink amount are compared (S260 in FIG. 3), and when the ink is insufficient (S260 in FIG. 3: YES), the fact is displayed (S270 in FIG. 3). . As a result, the user can replenish the ink before the printing process is started, and as a result, it is possible to prevent the ink from running out during printing.

Further, in the print system of the present embodiment, the RIP 20 makes a transmission request of the remaining ink amount at predetermined time intervals (S300: YES, S200 in FIG. 3). Therefore, if the ink is replenished by the user after the display indicating that the ink is insufficient, the ink remaining amount after the replenishment is received (S210 in FIG. 3). Therefore, the remaining ink amount is updated and displayed (S220 in FIG. 3), and after the ink is replenished, it is determined again whether or not the ink is insufficient during the printing process (S260 in FIG. 3). As a result, it is possible to confirm whether or not the refilled ink is really sufficient, which is very convenient for the user. Also,
Since the printer 30 is a color printer as described above, for example, even when the ink of one color is erroneously refilled when the ink of one color is insufficient,
You are more likely to notice the mistake.

Further, in the print system of the present embodiment, the RIP 20 estimates the required ink amount based on the data to be printed transmitted from the terminal 10 and the print setting from the user. The preview data is generated from the data to be printed (S1 in FIG. 2).
00), the required ink amount is predicted based on the preview data (S120 in FIG. 2). That is, since the number of pixels of the image based on the preview data to be calculated is smaller than the number of pixels of the image based on the data to be printed, the calculation time required for estimating the ink amount can be reduced.

The RIP 20 of the present embodiment has the R
The CPU of the IP computer 24 corresponds to “necessary ink amount predicting means”, “ink information requesting means”, “ink information receiving means”, and “preview data generating means”. Quantity information notifying means ".

The processing of S100 in the print setting processing shown in FIG. 2 corresponds to the processing as the preview data generating means, and the processing of 120 corresponds to the processing as the necessary ink amount predicting means. In addition, the processing of S200 and S300 in the ink amount notification processing shown in FIG. 3 corresponds to processing as ink information requesting means, and the processing of S210 corresponds to processing as ink information receiving means. Further, the processing of S220 to S270 in FIG. 3 corresponds to the processing as the ink amount information notification means.

In step S5 in the print-side processing shown in FIG.
The processing of 30 corresponds to the processing as ink information management means, and the processing of S540 corresponds to the processing as ink information transmission means. As described above, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment at all, and can be implemented in various forms without departing from the gist of the present invention.

For example, in the above embodiment, the information of the ink amount is displayed on the display 21 of the RIP 20, but it may be displayed on the display 11 of the terminal 10. In such a case, the remaining amount of ink is transmitted to the terminal 10 instead of the process of S220 in FIG. 3, and the required amount of ink is transmitted to the terminal 10 instead of the process of S250 in FIG. , Based on the remaining ink amount and the required ink amount transmitted from the RIP 20, S2 in FIG.
As an example, a configuration in which the terminal 10 executes the same processing as in steps S60 to S280 can be considered. At this time, S28
The print start flag in the process of 0 may be prepared in the RAM of the RIP computer 24 included in the RIP 20, and the terminal 10 may output to the RIP 20 a signal instructing ON or OFF of the print start flag. . More specifically, the RIP computer 2
0 has a program having a Web server function, and the terminal 10 has a program having a Web browser function. In a Web browser operating on the terminal 10, a JAVA program for displaying a graph as shown in FIG. 6 is executed. On the other hand, the We
The server b periodically updates the required ink amount and remaining ink amount
Send to browser. Web running on terminal 10
The JAVA program executed by the browser receives the ink amount and the ink remaining amount transmitted from the Web server in the RIP computer 20, and realizes the same functions as S260 to S280 in FIG. 3 based on these. . Note that, of course, the display 21 of the RIP 20 and the terminal 1
It is also conceivable to display the ink amount information on both of the displays 11 of 0.

The display format of the RIP 20 on the display 21 is such that, in the above embodiment, the remaining amount of ink and the required amount of ink are displayed using one graph for each color ink as shown in FIG. However, it is of course conceivable to display graphs corresponding to the remaining ink amount and the required ink amount side by side, or to display the remaining ink amount and the required ink amount as numerical values.

If the required ink amount and the remaining ink amount based on the ink information are displayed side by side in a graph or numerical value, the user may be able to judge how much ink should be replenished from this display. However, it is more preferable that the remaining amount of ink is compared with the required amount of ink, and when the amount of ink is insufficient, the shortage of ink is notified. This eliminates the need for the user to determine how much ink needs to be replenished, thereby improving convenience.

Further, in the above embodiment, RIP2
0 requests the printer 30 to transmit the remaining ink amount to the printer 30 and receives the remaining ink amount transmitted from the printer 30. However, the RIP 20 separates the remaining ink amount in the printer 30 as a result. I just need. Therefore, for example, the printer 30 may be configured to accumulate and transmit the ink consumption since the ink replenishment time. In this case, if the RIP 20 stores the ink amount at the time of ink replenishment, the remaining ink amount can be calculated by subtracting the ink consumption amount from the ink amount.

Although the above-described embodiment is directed to the ink jet printer 30, the technical idea of the present invention is to notify the user whether or not the ink is insufficient before executing the printing. In this sense, the present invention,
The present invention may be applied to a laser printer using a toner that is attracted to a charged part and fixed by heat, or a printer using an ink ribbon.

In the above embodiment, when estimating the required ink amount, preview data is generated from data to be printed, and the required ink amount is estimated based on the preview data. As a result, the time required for estimating the required ink amount can be reduced as described above, but at the same time,
Since the average density of the printed image is calculated by calculating the gradation of the image based on the preview data, it is advantageous in that the required ink amount can be obtained with a certain degree of accuracy. That is, although the calculation time and the accuracy in obtaining the required ink amount are in conflict with each other, it can be said that the above method considers the balance between the two.

If only the reduction of the time required for estimating the required amount of ink is emphasized, the following method may be used. A method for estimating the ink amount when the actual print size is solid-filled as the required ink amount. In connection with this, the density of the past print image (the ratio of dots ejected with ink to all dots of the print size The same applies to the following.) A method of estimating the required ink amount by multiplying the ink amount when the actual print size is solid coated by this density, and storing the maximum density of the past print image In addition, there is a method of estimating, as a necessary ink amount, a value obtained by multiplying the ink amount when the actual print size is solid-coated by the maximum density. In these methods, since the density of the printed image is not calculated in the prediction,
The time required for prediction can be reduced.

Conversely, when importance is placed on the accuracy in obtaining the required ink amount, the following method may be used. When the printer 30 prints the shading of an image in a dot pattern, the RIP 20 converts the image data that is the data to be printed into printing data that is a bitmap in which one dot of the printing image corresponds to one bit for each color. Convert to Therefore, a method of estimating the required amount of ink by counting "1" in the bitmap data, that is, the dots from which ink is ejected, is considered.
In this way, the required amount of ink can be accurately predicted.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a print system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating print setting processing in RIP.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an ink amount notification process in RIP.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating print control processing in RIP.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating print-side processing in the printer.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a screen display of ink amount information.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Terminal 11 ... Display 12 ... Mouse 13 ... Keyboard 14 ... Terminal computer 20 ... RIP (Raster Image Processor) 21 ... Display 22 ... Mouse 23 ... Keyboard 24 ... RI
Computer for P 30 ... Printer 40 ... Network

Claims (8)

[Claims] An information processing terminal that generates data to be printed, a printing device that prints on a recording medium based on print data, and an information processing terminal interposed between the information processing terminal and the printing device. A print control device that converts at least the data to be printed into the print data that can be processed by the printing device, wherein the print control device is configured to print data from the information processing terminal. A required ink amount predicting unit for predicting a required amount of ink that is a necessary amount of printing based on the information transmission of the ink information to the printing device for confirming a remaining amount of ink in the printing device. And an ink information receiving unit that receives the ink information transmitted from the printing device. Ink information management means for managing ink information; and ink information transmission for transmitting the ink information managed by the ink information management means to the print control device when there is a request for transmission of ink information by the ink information requesting means. And at least one of the information processing terminal or the print control device, the required ink amount predicted by the required ink amount prediction unit and the ink information, prior to execution of print processing in the printing device. An ink amount information notifying unit for notifying directly or indirectly whether or not the ink runs short during the execution of the printing process based on the ink information received by the receiving unit. Printing system. 2. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein said ink amount information notifying unit compares the remaining amount of ink based on said ink information with said required amount of ink, and when the amount of ink is insufficient. A print system configured to notify a shortage of ink. 3. The print system according to claim 1, wherein said ink information requesting means is configured to request transmission of said ink information repeatedly at predetermined time intervals. 4. The print system according to claim 1, wherein the print control device is configured to execute preview data for print preview based on print target data generated by the information processing terminal. Wherein the required ink amount predicting unit is configured to predict the required ink amount based on the preview data generated by the preview data generating unit. Printing system. 5. The print system according to claim 4, wherein the required ink amount estimating means averages the gradation of each pixel of the image based on the preview data, and calculates a print image corresponding to the averaged gradation. A printing system characterized in that an average density is obtained, and an amount of ink having the average density in an actual print size is predicted as a required amount of ink. 6. An information processing terminal for generating data to be printed, and printing of a recording medium based on the print data, and transmission of ink information as information for confirming the remaining ink amount from outside. When there is a request, it is used by being interposed between the printer and the printer that transmits the managed ink information, and converts at least the data to be printed into the print data that can be processed by the printer. In the print control apparatus, based on data to be printed from the information processing terminal, a required ink amount predicting unit that predicts a required ink amount that is a required amount of ink for printing, and transmission of the ink information to the printing apparatus. An ink information requesting unit that requests the printer device; an ink information receiving unit that receives the ink information transmitted from the printing device; Previously, based on the required ink amount predicted by the required ink amount predicting means and the ink information received by the ink information receiving means, it is determined whether or not ink is insufficient during the execution of the printing process, directly or A printing control device comprising: an ink amount information notifying unit that notifies indirectly. 7. An information processing terminal for generating data to be printed, and a request for transmission of ink information for performing printing on a recording medium based on print data and confirming a remaining ink amount. The print control that is used by being interposed between the printer and the printer that transmits the managed ink information and converts at least the data to be printed into the print data that can be processed by the printer. In the apparatus, based on data to be printed from the information processing terminal, a required ink amount predicting unit for predicting a required ink amount that is a required ink amount for printing, and a request to transmit the ink information to the printing apparatus An ink information requesting unit that receives the ink information transmitted from the printing apparatus; and an ink information receiving unit that receives the ink information. A print control apparatus comprising: an information transmission unit that transmits the required ink amount and the ink information received by the ink information reception unit to the information processing terminal. 8. A preview data for a print preview is created based on data to be printed generated by the information processing terminal, and a tone of each pixel of an image based on the created preview data is averaged. A required ink amount predicting method for calculating an average density of a print image corresponding to an averaged gradation and predicting an amount of ink having the average density in an actual print size as a required ink amount.