JP2001247253A - Document printing method and device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide document printing method and device needing printing mediums successively arranged in order like the copying-type printing paper or the like. SOLUTION: This document printing method comprises a step for loading sheets of desired printing mediums on two or more paper trays so that the printing medium to be loaded on at least one of the two or more paper trays is different from that to be loaded on the other of the two or more paper trays; a step for selecting one or more paper trays from the loaded paper trays and supplying a selected sheet of the printing medium of the order set; and a step for printing a document in a state that each page of the document is printed on at least one of the selected sheets of the printing medium of the order set.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates generally to document printing methods and apparatus (printers and printing systems), and more particularly to a printing system for printing a multi-part form.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Current and future printers and printing systems are typically designed to provide the operator or user with a choice of as many job programming options and features as reasonably possible. . One of the highly desirable features is that one can select the type of print media on which to print. One desirable type of media is a color-coded paper of a document or paper copy, which is often used, for example, to track distribution. Another important programming feature is the ability to print on sequential print sheets, i.e., a series of different color sheets, on the same printer or printing system used for separate printing tasks. There is that.

[0003] Currently, one method for printing reproducible printing paper, and also for printing the information required by such paper, is to simultaneously print across multiple sheets of ordered print media. Printed impression (i
This is a method using an impact printer such as a dot matrix wire printer capable of forming a mpression. However, this usually requires maintaining an older printer that has only one application. Furthermore, 1
It is necessary to use pre-sorted and specialized print media that has been placed in an ordered set.

Another current solution is to use pre-sorted and ordered print media located in a single bin or paper tray in a laser or ink jet printer. . Then, for example, copy-type printing paper is printed as a job, and each sheet of the printing medium is sequentially pulled out from the paper tray. However, when using ordered print media, care must be taken to ensure that the correct pages or images are printed on the correct print media throughout the print job.
For example, when using an ordered print media with pre-cut tabs, it is very important that the page being printed match the correct tab and that it be maintained for the entire duration of the print job. It is. Instead, if for any reason a mismatch occurs during the printing process,
Not only does the affected page or image end up being printed on the wrong tab, but also the entire sequence of pages printed thereafter is incorrect, leaving the remaining pages printed on the wrong tab. Become. Similarly, if a paper jam occurs during a print job, the print media in the paper tray must be re-classified to ensure that the print job continues to print properly.

[0005]

The pre-classified print media is usually more expensive than the same, but not pre-classified, print media. The use of a single pre-sorted print media package for many different types of print jobs increases the cost and complexity of using the pre-sorted print media in a single paper tray. Some of the print jobs may not use all of the sheets of print media in the sequence provided by the pre-sorted print media package. If a particular print job does not use all of the sheets provided in a pre-sorted sequence, the number of excess sheets must be determined to maintain the match between the printed page and the print media. At the end of printing each set of print media from the sequence, such excess sheets must be removed.

[0006] Accordingly, there is a need for a method and apparatus for printing documents that require ordered print media, such as copy-type printing paper, to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art described above.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In a preferred embodiment, the present invention provides a method for processing a print job that requires an ordered print medium. The method uses a virtual paper tray (vi) configured to provide ordered print media without using pre-sorted print media.
rtual paper tray). The method of the present invention utilizes a virtual paper tray as an interface to configure a paper tray of a printer and provide different types of pre-loaded bulk print media sheets to a print engine in a predetermined sequence. Process print jobs that require sequentially arranged print media. Thus, by using the virtual paper tray of the present invention, a laser or ink jet printer can process such print jobs without the complexity and expense of prior art solutions.

One embodiment of the present invention is used in a printing system that includes a printer having multiple paper trays for providing different print media that can be selected, and a host computer that includes a printer driver that controls the operation of the printer. A method for copyable printing paper is provided. In this method, each of a number of paper trays is loaded with a sheet of a different print medium, and one or more of the loaded paper trays is selected in a desired sequence. Next, the print job or document is printed, and as the print job proceeds, sheets of print media are pulled out of each of the selected paper trays in the selected order. Each page of the print job is collated after being printed on a respective sheet of the selected print media, and a set of print sheets of the selected print media in the desired order for each page of the print job. Is provided.

[0009] Other embodiments and advantages of the present invention will be readily and correctly appreciated when they are better understood with reference to the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The claims, rather than the means for solving the above problems or the following detailed description, define the invention.

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, by way of example, together with the following detailed description, illustrate the principles of the invention. Each component in the drawings is not necessarily drawn to scale, but rather focuses on clearly illustrating the principles of the invention. In the drawings, like reference numbers indicate identical or functionally similar elements.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As shown in the drawings for purposes of illustration, the present invention preferably employs a pre-sorted print media to print jobs that require ordered print media. Instead, it is implemented in a processing method. Existing methods of print jobs that require ordered print media, such as copy-on printing paper, etc., use a dedicated impact printer or a pre-sorted print media drawn from a single paper tray or box. It is a method that involves use. This method both adds to the cost and complexity of the printing process.

The method of the present invention is a virtual interface that is used as an interface to configure a paper tray of a printer to provide sheets of different types of preloaded bulk print media in a predetermined sequence. Specifies the paper tray. In this way, a print job requiring ordered print media can be processed using a laser or inkjet printer without the additional complexity and expense of prior art solutions.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown an exemplary printing system, including a printer and a host computer, in which the present invention may be implemented. The printing system 20
For example, the printer 22 includes a laser printer. The printer 22 is connected to a host computer 24 via a communication network 26. Communication network 2
6 may be a direct connection such as a cable connecting the printer 22 and the host computer 24, for example, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), or a world wide web (W).
WW). The host computer 24 includes an input device such as a keyboard 28 and a display device such as a monitor 30. The host computer 24 outputs host data such as a print job to the printer 22 in a driver format such as Hewlett-Packard's Printer Instruction Language (PCL) or Adobe's PostScript. The printer 22 converts the host data into a bitmap containing raster data for each pixel to be printed. During printing, the printer 22 sends the raster data to a print engine, where the raster data is printed on a print medium.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the printing system 20 in more detail. The printer 22 has a control device 32 that processes and prints host data. The controller 32 of the printer 22 performs two tasks: processing host data in preparation for printing and facilitating actual data printing. The controller 32 includes a data processing unit or CPU (central processing unit) 34, a volatile memory (ie, RAM) 36, and a non-volatile memory 38 such as a solid-state storage device (ROM or flash) or a magnetic disk drive. I have. The printer 22
It also has a printing mechanism 40. This printing mechanism 40
Is a rotating drum for laser printers and a shuttle carriage for inkjet printers.
age) on one or more printheads. Printer 22 also includes a print engine 42 that has the function of receiving the raster data and activating printing mechanism 40 to deposit the corresponding image on a print medium. Printer 22 also includes a print media source 44 that provides print media to printing mechanism 40. The print media source 44 typically comprises paper trays 44a, 44b.
(See FIG. 1), which includes one or more paper trays or boxes, such as by tray number or paper size, as a source for a particular print job for which the printer 22 is to be processed. Can be specified individually.

The printer controller 32 controls the operation of the printing mechanism 40 and the print engine 42. The CPU 34 of the controller 32 preferably supports serial and parallel I / O functionality with the host computer 24, compresses and decompresses raster data,
And exchanges host information with the print engine 42.
Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASI)
C).

The host computer 24 includes a processor 4
6, a volatile memory (ie, RAM) 48, and a non-volatile memory 50 such as a solid-state storage device (ROM or flash), a magnetic disk drive, or a CD-ROM. The host computer 24 may be implemented as a general-purpose computer such as a desktop personal computer, a laptop, a server, and the like. Host computer 24 also operates a software-based printer driver 52 stored in non-volatile memory 50 and running on processor 46 whenever a print job is sent to printer 22. The printer driver 52 adds appropriate printer instructions to the print job, configures the print data into an appropriate format such as PCL or PostScript, and outputs the formatted data to the printer 22 via the communication network 26 together with the printer instructions. .

Referring now to FIG. 3, there is shown a block diagram of the printer 22 showing a conceptual diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. In the printing system 20 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the printer 22 includes a print media source 44 having a number of paper trays 44 a-44 e that provide selectable print media to the printing mechanism of the printer 22. Each of the paper trays 44a-44e may be loaded with a different type, ie, a variety of print media. For example,
Tray 1 (first tray) 44a, tray 2 (second tray) 44b, and tray 3 (third tray) 44c
Each sheet is loaded with a standard letter size paper sheet (8.5 inches x 11 inches) of various colors such as pink, yellow, blue, etc., and tray 4 (fourth tray) 44d is filled with ordinary white letter size paper. The fifth paper tray, tray n (n-th tray) 44e, may be loaded with ordinary white legal-size paper (8.5 inches × 14 inches).
One or more selected paper trays 44a-44e
Of the print medium from the printer 22
0 and the image is printed thereon. The printed sheet is then transported further to an output tray or box 56 of the printer 22 to form a printed document 58 upon completion of the print job.

The print document 58 includes text and / or
Or any document containing graphic information, but for the purposes of the present invention, printed document 58 may be a copy-formed printing paper or paper that requires the use of an ordered set of different print media. Assumed in some other document context. For example, the document 58 may include one or more insurance sheets, medical sheets, application forms, questionnaire forms, specifica- tions.
), a graphics-rich document, or an income tax return. Document 58 includes any document that includes a blank space to write that requires the user to add additional information into the document, such as within a square or blank line corresponding to the content printed on the document. good. Further, document 58 may include any document in which textual and / or graphic information is arranged in sequence. For example, document 58 is 3
Pages, and each of the three pages is white, blue,
Medical paper may need to be printed on four different colored sheets in a particular order, such as the order of pink and yellow sheets. Document 58 prints one or more of the pages of the document on different types of print media, such as sheets of different colors, sizes, or shapes (eg, pre-cut and tabbed sheets). Any document, such as a letter or a specification sheet, may be used, if necessary.

In a preferred embodiment, the printer 22
A virtual paper tray 54 is defined (configured) that is provided in conjunction with and is recognized by the printer 22 as an additional selectable print media source. The virtual paper tray 54 is also associated with each of the physically actual paper trays 44a-44e and serves as an interface between the printer 22 and the paper trays 44a-44e. The virtual paper tray 54 is a paper tray 4 in a desired order.
The print media corresponding to the print media loaded in the selected paper trays 44a-44e, which can be configured or programmed to select one or more of the paper trays 4a-44e. Are loaded in the virtual paper tray 54 in a desired order. In a preferred embodiment, the selection and order of the paper trays is programmed using one or more menus, as described in more detail below with reference to FIG. In another preferred embodiment, the paper trays 4 of the printer 22 are arranged in a predetermined default order.
A print medium sheet may be pulled out from 4a to 44e. The user, knowing the default order, loads the paper tray with the appropriate paper or print media and then selects the appropriate paper tray 44a-44e to achieve the desired order. If the print job is being processed by the printer 22 and the virtual paper tray 54 has been selected as the print media source, the sheets of print media are sorted in the order specified for that virtual paper tray 54 into the selected paper trays 44a-44. Each of the printers 44 e is pulled out of the printer and transported to the printing mechanism 40 of the printer 22. The printed sheet is sent to the printing mechanism 4 of the printer 22.
0 to the output tray or bin 56 of the printer 22 and collated to the required state, the printed sheets of the completed document 58 (print job) are transferred to the virtual paper tray 54.
Are output in the same sequence as specified for.

In the preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the present invention is embodied in a virtual paper tray 54 based on software in the printer driver 52 shown in FIG. In this case, the virtual paper tray 54 is configured using, for example, the control panel 60 and the printer driver 52.
And displayed on the monitor 30 of the host computer 24 accessible via a pull-down menu (not shown) of the printer driver 52.
Control panel 60 is shown as an example of a "user interface" suitable for this purpose. This user interface may be implemented, for example, in software or hardware, as is known to those skilled in the art. The control panel 60 includes "push buttons" 62, 64 for selecting / configuring the virtual paper tray 54 and physically existing paper trays 44a-44e, respectively. By clicking the push button 62,
The virtual paper tray 54 is selected as a print media source for the printer 22, allowing the user to program (or configure) the virtual paper tray 54 using other controls presented on the panel 60. ing. When the virtual paper tray 54 is selected, “O” is displayed on the push button 62.
The letter "K" is displayed, and nothing is left if not selected.

Similarly, the paper trays 44a to 44d are displayed as trays 1 to 4 which are the corresponding push buttons 64 on the control panel 60, respectively. By clicking the push button 64, the corresponding paper tray is selected. When the corresponding paper tray is selected, "OK" is displayed on the push button. The window 68 displays the order number or sequence number of the paper tray when the corresponding paper tray is selected.
ce number). This order number can be changed using the up / down arrow 70. In a preferred embodiment, the default order number is the order in which the various paper trays were last selected. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, tray 1, tray 2, and tray 3 are selected in the order of 1, 3, and 2, respectively, and tray 4 is not selected.
Since the push button 62 indicates “OK”, the virtual paper tray 54 has been selected as the print media source for the printer 22 and a program is provided to provide the sheets of print media as shown on the control panel 60. Have been. Optionally, additional window fields 72, 76 may be manipulated with their associated up / down arrows 74, 78 to provide more detailed programming of virtual paper tray 54 or to provide additional information regarding the corresponding paper tray. Information can be provided. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the window 72 indicates the color of the paper loaded in the corresponding paper trays 44a to 44d. Since the tray 4 is not selected, no information about the corresponding paper tray is provided. Information about the loaded print media shown in various windows, such as the color of the print media shown in window 72,
User or system administrator when loading individual paper trays
(system administrator). Similarly,
As shown in FIG. 4, the window 76 displays the number of sheets of the print medium provided from the corresponding paper tray. Using the up / down arrows 78, the desired number of sheets to be provided from each selected paper tray is set.

Next, in another preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the virtual paper tray 54 can be selected and configured by a printer control panel 80 provided in the printer 22, for example. As described with reference to FIG. 4, the printer control panel 80 includes buttons 82 and 84 for selecting the virtual paper tray 54 and the paper trays 44a to 44e, respectively. In one embodiment, for example, the order number or sequence number for one paper tray 44a-44e corresponds to the order in which a particular paper tray is selected on printer control panel 80. In another preferred embodiment, the printer 2
2, the sheet of the print medium may be pulled out from the selected paper trays 44a to 44e in a preset default order.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart 90 showing the processing of a print job according to the present invention. Incoming job (incoming
A job 92 indicates a print job that has been processed by the printer driver 52 of the host computer 24 and received by the control device 32 of the printer 22. The incoming job 92 may be a multi-page sheet downloaded by a user from a sheet server to a word processing application in the host computer 24 via, for example, a LAN. After an operation by the user such as writing the requested information in a blank,
The paper is "printed" from the word processing application and sent to the printer 22 via the printer driver 52. For the purposes of this example, the incoming job 92 displays a three page copyable print sheet. In this case, each page is printed on a sheet of white, yellow, and pink paper in that order, and in a set of three sheets, each page is ordered (ie, one page is white, yellow, pink). , 2 pages are white, yellow, pink, 3
Pages must be white, yellow, and pink).

When an incoming job 92 is received at the controller 32 of the printer 22, the job is checked and
It is determined whether a particular paper tray (i.e., print media source) is required (see step 94). If "NO", a default paper tray is set at the control panel 60 of the printer 22 and the printer 22 uses the default paper tray (step 96). The incoming job 92
If a specific paper tray is requested in step (1), it is determined whether a virtual paper tray is requested (see step 98). If a virtual paper tray has not been requested, the printer 22 uses the requested (selected) paper tray (step 100). If a virtual paper tray is requested (in this example, the incoming job 92 is a copy type print paper, a virtual paper tray is required), a virtual paper tray map is set (step 10).
2). The virtual paper tray map is a configuration information (configuration infor) that is programmed by the user on the control panel 60 (described above with reference to FIG. 4).
mation). Once the virtual paper tray map is set, it is determined whether or not the printer 22 can actually print the job as requested (see step 104). If the job cannot be printed, the user is notified and the correct action is taken (see step 106). For example, some or all of the selected paper trays may not be loaded. If the job can be printed, or once any necessary correct actions have been completed, print the job.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an algorithm 110 that can be used to print the print job of the present example. Basically, the algorithm 110 first prints the first page of the print job from all of the selected paper trays in the specified order and continues to repeat for each next page, completing the print job. First, 2
Index, X = page number and Y = paper tray number, 1
, That is, the first page and the first paper tray (see step 112). Next, the first page is printed from the first paper tray (see step 114). Next, the current paper tray is checked to determine whether or not that paper tray is the last paper tray selected in the sequence (see step 116). Otherwise, the index for the paper tray is incremented by one and the process is repeated until the last paper tray is used (see step 118). When the last paper tray in the specified sequence is reached, the page is checked to determine if the page is the last page in the print job (120). If not, the page number index is incremented by one, the paper tray index is reset to one, and the process is repeated until the last page in the print job is printed and the print job is completed (see step 124). ).

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an alternative algorithm 130 that may be used to print the example print job. This algorithm 130 is similar to the algorithm 110 described with reference to FIG. The algorithm 130 prints all pages of the print job from the first selected paper tray and then repeats for each of the selected paper trays in the specified order to complete the print job.

In addition to the foregoing, the logic of the present invention can be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof. In the preferred embodiment, the logic is implemented in software or firmware stored in memory and executed by a suitable instruction execution system. When implemented in hardware, as in alternative embodiments, the logic may be implemented with any of the techniques described below, or a combination thereof, all of which are well known to those skilled in the art. That is, the technique comprises a separate logic circuit having logic gates that perform logic functions on the data signals,
Application specific integrated circuits (AS) with appropriate logic gates
IC), programmable gate array (PGA), field programmable gate array (FPGA), and the like.

The flow charts of FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 also illustrate the possible architecture, functionality, and operation of this logic. In this regard, each block represents a module, segment, or portion of code, which contains one or more executable instructions for performing the specified logical function. It should also be noted that, in alternative embodiments, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of the order noted in FIGS. 6, 7, and 8. For example, depending on the functionality involved, two or more blocks shown in succession in FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 may actually be executed substantially simultaneously, with each block being executed in reverse order. May be performed.

Finally, the logic, including an ordered listing of executable instructions for performing the logical functions, may be implemented on a computer-based system, a system including a processor, an instruction execution system, apparatus, or Instruction execution systems, devices, such as other systems capable of retrieving instructions from devices and executing the instructions, etc.
Or, it may be embodied in all computer readable media for use by or in connection with a device. As used herein, "computer-readable medium" includes a program used by or associated with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.
Any means capable of storing, communicating, transmitting or transporting. For example, a computer-readable medium may be, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor, system, apparatus, device, or transmission medium. . A more specific example (non-exhaustive list) of computer readable media would include: That is, as a computer-readable medium, 1
Electrical connection (electronic) with or more wires, portable computer diskette (magnetic), random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read only memory ( EPROM or flash memory), optical fiber (optical), and portable compact disk read only memory (CDROM) (optical). It should be noted that the computer readable medium may be paper or even any other suitable medium on which the program is printed. By optically scanning the paper or other medium, for example,
The program can be obtained electronically, compiled (edited), translated (interpreted), and processed in any other suitable manner, if necessary, and then stored in computer memory.

Having described and illustrated the principles of the present invention with reference to various preferred embodiments and alternatives, those skilled in the art will appreciate that
It will be apparent that the structure and details of the invention can be further modified without departing from such principles. Accordingly, it is understood that the present invention includes all such variations that fall within the terms of the following claims and equivalents thereof.

In summary, the present invention is directed to a printing system for printing documents that require an ordered print medium. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, an interface for configuring the paper trays 44a-44e of the printer 22 to supply different types of preloaded sheets of print media to the print engine 42. Is defined as a virtual paper tray 54 used by the printer 22. A settings menu 60 is generated by the printer driver 52 to select and program the virtual paper tray 54. Based on the setting menu 60, sheets of different print media are selected in the sequence required for the document to be printed in the selected loaded paper trays 44a-44.
e to the print engine 42 of the printer 22.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a printing system including a printer and a host computer in which the present invention can be implemented.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the printing system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a printer showing a conceptual diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a menu screen of a printer driver constituting the virtual paper tray of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a control panel of a printer constituting the virtual paper tray of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating processing of a print job according to the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an alternative algorithm for printing a print job according to the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating another alternative algorithm for printing a print job in accordance with the principles of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 20 printing system 22 printer 24 host computer 32 printer controller 44 print medium source 44a to 44e paper tray 52 printer driver 54 virtual paper tray 60 setting menu

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing the front page (72) Inventor Rich Fossil, East Powerline Road, Nampa, 83687, Idaho, USA 6523 (72) Inventor Robert e Pentecost 83713, Idaho, United States, Boise, Hinsdale Street 11079 (72) Inventor Mark Magillah 83713, Idaho, USA, North Tumbleweed Place, Boise 5521 (72) Inventor Chris Earl Livingston, 83713, Idaho, USA, Boise, West Hickory Burke Dora Eve 11232

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A document printing method for printing a document in a printing system including a host computer and a printer having a plurality of paper trays for providing selectable different print media, comprising: (A) at least two paper trays; The desired printing medium is configured such that a printing medium loaded in at least one of the at least two paper trays is different from a printing medium loaded in the other of the at least two paper trays. Loading a sheet of media; and (B) selecting one or more of the loaded paper trays to provide a selected sheet of print media in the order set; (C) printing a document, wherein each page of the document is a print medium of the order set; Printing on at least one of the selected sheets of the body, respectively. 2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of paper trays for providing different selectable print media, wherein at least one of the plurality of paper trays is loaded into the other of the plurality of paper trays. A document printing method for printing a document in a printing system including a printer loaded with a print medium of a type different from the type of the print medium and a host computer including a printer driver for controlling the operation of the printer,
(A) defining a virtual paper tray provided in association with the printer and at least two paper trays of the plurality of paper trays and serving as a print medium source for the printer; (B) Selecting one or more of the loaded paper trays in a desired sequence, wherein the selected paper trays are:
Displaying in the virtual paper tray as an ordered set of selected sheets of different types of print media loaded in each of the selected paper trays;
(C) printing a document, wherein each page of the document is printed on at least one of the selected sheets of the print media of the order set, wherein a continuous sheet of print media is printed. And the steps provided by the virtual paper tray in the desired sequence. 3. A printer having a plurality of selectable paper trays for providing different print media, wherein at least one of the plurality of paper trays has the other of the plurality of paper trays. In a document printing apparatus that prints a document in a printing system including a printer in which a print medium of a type different from the type of the print medium loaded in the paper tray is loaded, and a host computer connected to the printer, (A)
A printer driver associated with the host computer, the machine comprising: (a) a printer driver associated with the printer and the selectable number of paper trays; Means for defining a virtual paper tray that provides sheets of print media to the printer in a desired sequence from at least two paper trays selected from the selectable paper trays; and (b) associated with the virtual paper tray; A printer driver having means for generating a setting menu for performing control for user programming of the virtual paper tray, and (B) a printer control device for controlling the operation of the printer, wherein: Means: (a) whether the virtual paper tray is designated as a print media source for the printer Means for determining the at least two selections to provide a sheet of print media to the printer according to a programmed sequence during printing of the document in response to user programming of the virtual paper tray. A printer control device having a means for setting a selected paper tray,
And a document printing device comprising: 4. The control provided by the setting menu includes: a user selecting the virtual paper tray as a print media source for the printer, and selecting one or more of the multiple selectable paper trays. 4. The apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising control for selecting a paper tray.
Document printing device according to claim 1.