JP2001047699A - Printing device, printing control device and printing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To correctly estimate the number of printable copies based on a remaining amount of ink lest the ink runs out halfway through the printing process. SOLUTION: An ink consumption measuring part 71 measures the amount of ink to be used for printing after receiving a measurement start command from a printer host computer until a measurement end command is received. Next the measurement value is stored in an ink amount storage part 63 as an ink consumption per printing unit. When a request for the estimation of the number of printable copies is received from the printer host computer, a part 72 for estimating the number of printable copies estimates the number of printable copies based on the ink consumption per printing unit and the residual amount of ink and returns an estimate to the printer host computer.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing control technique for a printer or the like, and more particularly to a technique for accurately estimating the number of printable copies based on the remaining amount of ink.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an ink-jet printer, if printing is performed without knowing the remaining amount of ink, the ink may run out during printing. In such a case, the ink used for printing that has been interrupted halfway and the printing paper are wasted. This is a common problem in both monochrome printing and color printing.

In the prior art, the following measures are taken to solve this problem. That is, when a print instruction is issued from a user, the print control device implemented on the host computer develops print data therein.
For example, in the case of color printing, the number of dots of the developed print data is counted for each of C (cyan), M (magenta), Y (yellow), and K (black). Thus, the number of dots required for printing, that is, the amount of ink required for printing is predicted in advance. Then, if it is determined from the predicted value and the current ink remaining amount that ink runs out during printing, the print control device issues a warning to the user before printing.

As another method of grasping the remaining amount of ink, there is the following method. That is, a dot counter for measuring the number of dots is provided inside the printer, and the printer counts the number of dots each time printing is performed. Then, after receiving the count value from the printer, the host computer calculates the current ink remaining amount and notifies the user.

[0005]

In the above-described prior art, after the user instructs the execution of printing, the user is notified that the printing may not be completed. In this,
There are the following inconveniences. That is, for example, when trying to print the same page 100 sheets, in the prior art,
It is understood that 100 sheets cannot be printed with the current ink remaining amount. However, it is not informed how many remaining sheets can be printed.
In this case, the replacement timing of the ink cartridge is not determined.

Accordingly, a first problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus for grasping the amount of ink used in a designated printing unit.

A second object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus, a printing control apparatus, a printing control method, and a recording medium that can estimate how much a specified print unit can be printed.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing apparatus, comprising: a printing apparatus for printing in one printing unit determined by a measurement start command and a measurement end command; Receiving means for receiving data, and ink usage measuring means for measuring the amount of ink used to print the print unit when printing of the print unit is performed based on the print data of the print unit; and And an output unit for outputting the ink usage amount.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing apparatus for receiving print data of one print unit determined by a measurement start command and a measurement end command. And when the printing of the printing unit is executed based on the printing data of the printing unit, an ink usage measuring unit that measures an amount of ink used to print the printing unit; and the measured ink. Estimating means for estimating the printable amount based on the printing unit from the used amount and the ink remaining amount of the printing apparatus, and output means for outputting the printable amount estimated by the estimating means, A printing device is provided.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, a printer system according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described.

As shown in FIG. 1, the printer system according to the present embodiment includes a printer host 10 and a printer 30 for printing image data output from the printer host 10.

The printer host 10 includes a host body 11
, A display device 12 and a keyboard 13. The host body 11 includes a CPU 20 for executing various programs, a ROM 21 for storing various data and various programs, a RAM 22 for temporarily storing various data and various programs, and a display for controlling the display device 12. A controller 23, a keyboard controller 24 for controlling the keyboard 13,
A floppy disk drive 25, a hard disk drive 26, a CD-ROM drive 27, a printer interface 28, a net interface 29,
have.

The function of the printer host 10 is as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, an application 40 and a printer driver 50 are provided. The printer driver 50 further includes
Print management unit 51, spool file storage unit 52, print unit designation unit 53, display control unit 54, cost calculation unit 55, cost database 56, transmission / reception control unit 57
And

The print management unit 51 includes the application 40
And print data based on a print request from the keyboard 13 is developed into an image. The converted data is converted into a control code in a form readable by the printer 30 and then stored in the spool file storage unit 52 as a spool file. The print management unit 51 is generally called a print manager.

Before transmitting the print data, the print unit designating section 53 transmits a measurement start command (hereinafter referred to as a “start command”).
Called. ) To the printer 30. Then, after transmitting the print data for the print unit, the print unit designation unit 53 transmits a measurement end command (hereinafter, referred to as an “end command”) to the printer 30. The print data sandwiched between the start command and the end command is set as a print unit. The method of specifying the printing unit is arbitrary. For example, various designations such as line units, paragraph units, page units, and several sheet units are possible.

The display control unit 54 includes a print instruction screen 80 (see FIG. 7) for receiving a print instruction and a result screen 90 (FIG. 8) for notifying the result of estimating the remaining amount of ink and the number of printable copies.
(See FIG. 9) and a cost screen 95 (see FIG. 9) for displaying the cost required to print the number of printable copies. The print instruction screen 80 is, for example,
As shown in FIG. 7, a print execution button 81, a cancel button 82, a toolbar 83, an ink designation button 84 for designating color printing or black-and-white printing, and a printing condition input area that can be designated by the user. Be composed. One button in the toolbar 83, for example, 83
“a” is a button for executing the printable copy number estimation process described later, and another button, for example, 83b is a button for executing the cost calculation process. The result screen 90 includes, for example, as shown in FIG. 8, a display area 91 of the number of printable copies, which is the result of the printable estimation processing, and a display area 92 of the remaining ink amount for each color. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, the cost screen 95 includes an area 96 for displaying the ink cost when the number of printable copies is printed, and an area 97 for displaying the paper cost when the number of printable copies are printed. Prepare.

The cost calculation unit 55 calculates the ink cost from the amount of ink used for printing in the designated printing unit, and print cost combining the ink cost and the paper cost when printing is performed for the number of printable copies. Has the function of calculating The cost database 56 stores the unit prices of ink and paper. A plurality of unit prices can be provided for each type of ink or paper.

The transmission / reception control unit 57 controls communication with the printer 30.

The printer driver 50 is realized by the CPU 20 executing a print control program.
The print control program is usually recorded in a form readable by the host computer 10 on a flexible disk or CD-ROM and distributed. When the printer 30 is used, the floppy disk drive 25 or the CD-R
It is installed in the host computer 10 through the OM drive 26 or the network interface 29.

The printer 30 is, for example, an ink jet printer capable of performing color printing.
When a print data is received from the printer, a predetermined print process is executed to form an image on print paper. The printer 30 includes a monitor 37 for performing various operations,
It has a printing mechanism 38 that actually performs printing, and a print control unit 31 that controls these. The print control unit 31 includes a CPU 32 for executing various programs, a ROM 33 for storing various data and various programs, and a RAM 3 for temporarily storing various data and various programs.
4 and a monitor controller 35 for controlling the monitor 37
And an interface 36. Printing mechanism 3
8 is provided with a mechanism for separating dots having different diameters.

As shown in FIG. 2, the print control unit 31 has a print mechanism control unit 61 and an ink amount management unit 62.
, An ink amount storage unit 63, and a transmission / reception control unit 64.

The printing mechanism control section 61 controls the printing mechanism 38. The ink amount storage unit 63 stores an ink remaining amount table 63a (FIG. 10) for storing the current ink remaining amount for each color.
(see FIG. 10A) and a unit ink consumption table 63b (see FIG. 10B) for storing the ink consumption required for printing the designated print unit for each color. The ink remaining amount table 63a holds, for example, as shown in FIG. 10A, the percentage of the current ink remaining amount for each color when the ink cartridge is fully filled. The unit ink usage table 63b holds, for example, as shown in FIG. 10B, the percentage of the amount of ink used for printing in a printing unit when the ink cartridge is fully filled.

The ink amount management unit 62 further includes an ink usage amount measurement unit 71, an ink remaining amount calculation unit 72, and a printable amount estimation unit 73. The ink usage measuring unit 71
Count the total number of dots corresponding to the print request. Then, the ink consumption is calculated for each color from the count value. The ink remaining amount calculation unit 72 includes an ink usage amount measurement unit 7.
The ink remaining amount is calculated from the ink usage amount measured in step 1, and the contents of the ink remaining amount table 63a are updated. The printable amount estimating unit 73 receives the inquiry about the number of printable copies from the printer host 10, refers to the ink amount storage unit 63, and calculates the current ink remaining amount and the ink usage amount of the designated print unit. Estimate the amount (number of copies) that can be printed in the print unit. For example, if the printing unit is one line, how many lines can be printed, or if the printing unit is one page,
Estimate how many pages can be printed.

Next, a processing flow for measuring the amount of ink used will be described with reference to FIG.

Upon receiving the start command from the printer host 10, the ink usage measuring section 71 starts counting the number of dots for each color (S110, S120). Then, during the actual execution of the printing process, the ink usage amount measuring unit 71 continues to count the number of dots (S13).
0). When a measurement end command is received from the printer host 10, the counting of the number of dots is ended (S140, S140).
150). Then, the amount of ink used is calculated for each color from the counted number and the amount of ink of one dot, and stored in the unit ink usage table 63b (S160, S17).
0).

Next, the flow of the printable copy number estimation process will be described with reference to FIG.

According to the printer user, for example, FIG.
When the execution button 83a of the printable estimation process on the toolbar 83 of the print instruction screen 80 is pressed, the display control unit 54 issues an inquiry command for the number of printable copies to the printer 30 (S210, S220). .
The printable amount estimating unit 73 that has received the inquiry command estimates the number of printable copies (S240). The detailed procedure is as shown in FIG. That is, the ink amount necessary for printing in the printing unit stored in the unit ink usage amount table 63b is read (S241). The read ink usage amounts of the respective colors are represented by C1 and M, respectively.
1, Y1, and K1. Next, the ink remaining amount table 63
The remaining ink amount is read from a (S242). The read ink remaining amounts of the respective colors are represented by C2, M2, and Y, respectively.
2, K2. For each color, the remaining amount of ink is divided by the amount of ink required for printing in printing units. That is, C2
/ C1, M2 / M1, Y2 / Y1, and K2 / K1 are calculated. The minimum value among these values is the current ink remaining amount, which is the number of copies that can be printed in the specified print unit (S243). Then, the number of printable copies and the remaining amount of ink are returned (S250). In response to the reply, the display control unit 54 displays the printable copy number display area 9 on the result display screen 90.
1 and the remaining ink amount are displayed in the display area 92.

Next, the processing flow of the cost calculation processing will be described with reference to FIG.

According to the printer user, for example, FIG.
When the execution button 83b of the cost calculation process on the toolbar 83 of the print instruction screen 80 is pressed, the cost calculation unit 55 issues a cost calculation inquiry command to the printer 30 (S310). The printer 30 that has received the inquiry command performs estimation processing of the number of printable copies (S320). This estimation processing is the same as the processing shown in FIG. 5 (S330). Then, the number of printable copies and the amount of ink used for printing in the printing unit are returned with reference to the unit ink usage amount table 63b (S34).
0). The cost calculation unit 55 receives this (S32)
0). The unit price of ink and the unit price of paper are acquired with reference to the cost database 56 (S360). Then, the ink cost when the print unit is printed by the number of printable copies is calculated (S370). Next, the paper cost when the print unit is printed by the number of printable copies is calculated (S380). Then, the ink cost and the paper cost are displayed on, for example, a cost display screen 95 shown in FIG.

As described above, in the present embodiment, when printing a designated print unit, it is possible to accurately grasp the amount of ink actually used. Further, it is possible to accurately estimate how much the specified printing unit can be printed from the actually measured ink usage amount and the remaining ink amount. Therefore, it is possible to avoid a situation in which ink runs out during printing.

Next, a second embodiment will be described.

The printing mechanism 38 is provided with a mechanism for separating dots having different diameters. This is because the size of the dot is different depending on the image to be printed. In the present embodiment, the difference in the amount of ink used due to the difference in the dot diameter is corrected, and the number of printed sheets is more accurately predicted.

In the present embodiment, the ink consumption measuring section 71
Counts the number of dots for each dot diameter. That is,
The ink usage amount measuring unit 71 measures the number of dots for each dot diameter from the gradation expression data included in the print data, that is, the data when the printing mechanism 38 separates dots of a plurality of diameters.

Here, for convenience, the description will be made using a normal dot which is a reference diameter and a microdot which is about half the reference diameter as the dot diameter. However, the dot diameter is
Of course, it is not limited to these two types.

Normal dots are used when high-speed printing of, for example, text is performed, and microdots are used, for example, when performing high-gradation expression of a photograph or the like. In the case of normal dots, the frequency of the head drive signal waveform used in the printing mechanism 38 is about 28.
8 [kHz], and the frequency of the drive signal waveform in the case of microdots is about 14.4 [kHz]. When ink is actually ejected, the weight of the ejected ink droplet (Celsius)
25 degrees), according to actual measurements, the normal dot was about 11.3.
ng and microdots are about 6.2 ng, and the ratio between them is about 2: 1.

In the present embodiment, the flow of processing for measuring the amount of ink used is as shown in FIG. In other words, after receiving the start command, for each color,
The counting of the number of dots is started for each of the normal dots (S310, S320). The counting of the number of dots is continued until the end command is received, and ends when the end command is received (S330, S340,
S350). After the completion of the counting of the number of dots, the total number of microdots is converted into a normal dot diameter (S360). Then, the amount of ink used is calculated using the converted value (S370). The calculated ink usage is stored in the unit ink usage table 63b (S38).
0).

For example, when the number of measured dots is 1400,
If the breakdown is 400 normal dots and 1000 microdots, 500 microdots
The number of measurement dots is converted into 900 normal dots, and the number of measured dots is corrected to 900. This makes it possible to more accurately detect the amount of ink consumption, so that the number of printable sheets can be grasped more accurately than in the case where this function is not provided.

In each of the above two embodiments, an ink jet printer has been described as an example. However, it goes without saying that a laser printer using toner can also be applied. In addition, the measurement of the amount of ink used was performed by counting the number of dots, but it is also possible to attach a sensor for measuring the remaining amount to the ink cartridge and measure the amount of ink reduction between the start command and the end command. Good.

In the above two embodiments, the display of the number of printable sheets and the display of the cost are both performed by the printer host 1.
0, but it goes without saying that the display may be performed on the printer 30 side.

Further, in the above two embodiments, the printer 30 estimates the number of printable copies. However, from the printer 30 to the printer driver 50,
The amount of ink used for printing in the printing unit and the remaining amount of ink are transmitted, and the estimated number of printable copies is calculated by the printer driver 5.
It may be performed at 0. Further, regarding the conversion of the dot diameter and the correction of the amount of ink used in the second embodiment, the total number of microdots and normal dots is determined by the printer 3.
0 may be transmitted to the printer driver 50 and performed by the printer driver 50.

[0042]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to grasp the amount of ink used in a designated printing unit.

Further, it is possible to accurately estimate how much the designated print unit can be printed after performing actual printing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the printing system according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an ink usage amount measurement process according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a printable copy estimation process according to the embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a detailed process of estimating the number of printable copies according to the embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a cost calculation process according to the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a print instruction screen for receiving a print instruction in the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a result screen displaying an estimation result of the remaining amount of ink and the number of printable copies in the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a cost screen displaying a result of cost calculation in the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of an ink remaining amount table and a unit ink usage amount table.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of an ink usage amount measurement process according to the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Printer host 11 ... Host body 30 ... Printing device 31 ... Printing control unit 38 ... Printing mechanism 50 ... Printer driver 51 ... Print management unit 52 ... Spool file storage unit 53 ... Printing unit designation unit 54 ... Display control unit 55 ... Cost Calculation unit 56 Cost database 57 Transmission / reception control unit 61 Printing mechanism control unit 62 Ink amount management unit 63 Ink amount storage unit 64 Transmission / reception control unit

Continued on the front page F-term (reference) 2C056 EB03 EB27 EB49 EB50 EB58 EC03 EC28 ED01 2C061 AQ05 BB15 CQ24 CQ25 CQ38 CQ40 HJ10 HK11 HK18 HN05 HN16 HQ17 HV14 HV19 HV26 HV35 BB01 BB01 BB01 BB01

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A printing apparatus, comprising: receiving means for receiving print data of one print unit determined by a measurement start command and a measurement end command; and printing of the print unit is executed based on the print data of the print unit. A printing apparatus comprising: an ink usage amount measuring unit that measures an amount of ink used to print the printing unit when the printing unit is printed; and an output unit that outputs the ink usage amount. 2. A printing apparatus, comprising: receiving means for receiving print data of one print unit determined by a measurement start command and a measurement end command; and printing of the print unit is executed based on the print data of the print unit. When the ink unit is used to print the print unit, an ink use amount measuring unit, and the measured ink use amount and the remaining ink amount of the printing apparatus, based on the print unit. A printing apparatus, comprising: estimating means for estimating a printable amount; and output means for outputting a printable amount estimated by the estimating means. 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ink usage amount measuring unit measures the number of dots and uses the ink to print the printing unit. A printing device for calculating an amount. 4. The printing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein when the dots include dots having different dot diameters, the ink usage amount measuring unit measures the number of dots for each dot diameter, A printing apparatus that corrects a difference in the amount of ink used due to the difference between the two and calculates the amount of ink used to print the printing unit. 5. A control device connected to a printing device for controlling the printing device, comprising: a measurement start command, a measurement end command, and printing in one print unit determined by the measurement start command and the measurement end command. And transmitting means for transmitting data to the printing apparatus; and receiving means for receiving the amount of ink used when the printing apparatus performed printing based on the print data of the print unit. Printing control device. 6. A control device connected to a printing device for controlling the printing device, comprising: a measurement start command, a measurement end command, and printing in one print unit determined by the measurement start command and the measurement end command. Transmitting means for transmitting data to the printing apparatus; receiving, based on the print data of the print unit, the amount of ink used when the printing apparatus executes printing, and the remaining ink amount of the printing apparatus. A print control device for: estimating a printable amount based on the print unit from the received ink usage amount and the received ink remaining amount. 7. A printing system comprising: the printing device according to claim 1; and the printing control device according to claim 6. 8. A printing system comprising: the printing device according to claim 2; and a printing control device, wherein the printing control device prints one print unit determined by a measurement start command and a measurement end command. A printing system comprising: a transmitting unit that transmits a print unit to the printing device; and a receiving unit that receives the estimated printable amount, which is the estimation result, transmitted from the printing device. 9. The printing system according to claim 7, further comprising a display unit for displaying the printable amount as the estimation result. 10. The print control apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a cost calculation unit that calculates a cost of ink required to print the printable amount estimated by the estimation unit. Print control device. 11. The printing control apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said cost calculating means further calculates the cost of the paper required to print the printable amount estimated by said estimating means. Printing control device. 12. A printing apparatus, comprising: receiving means for receiving print data of one print unit determined by a measurement start command and a measurement end command; and printing of the print unit is executed based on the print data of the print unit. A printing apparatus, comprising: a toner use amount measurement unit that measures a toner amount used to print the print unit when the print unit is printed; and an output unit that outputs the toner use amount. 13. A computer-readable recording medium recording a program for causing a computer to execute a control method for controlling a printing apparatus, comprising: a measurement start command, a measurement end command, the measurement start command, and the measurement start command. Transmitting print data of a print unit determined by a measurement end command to a printing apparatus; and an ink usage amount used when the printing apparatus executes printing based on the print data of the print unit; and the printing apparatus. And estimating a printable amount from the received ink usage amount and the received ink remaining amount on the basis of the print unit. Computer-readable recording medium for recording a program for causing a computer to execute the print control method