JP2001256030A - Print system, print controller and program recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a print controller capable of efficiently using performance of a printer. SOLUTION: The printer 20 to generate print job data for printer to enable 1UP/2UP color print and monochrome print and to switch the color print and the monochrome print according to page data to be included in the received print job data is constituted of a plotting instruction file creating part 21 to output a color information table to indicate whether each page is a color page or a monochrome page, a language information table creating part 23 to create print job data to include color page data to make the printer perform the color print for each color page and one monochrome page before and after odd- numbered continuous color pages and to include monochrome page data to make the printer perform the monochrome print to each of other monochrome pages based on the color information table and a print job data creating/ transmitting part 24.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing system including a printing apparatus in which the processing speed of monochrome printing is different from the processing speed of color printing, a printing control apparatus for generating print job data for such a printing apparatus, and The present invention relates to a program recording medium for causing a computer to operate as a print control device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, some color printing apparatuses have both a color printing mode and a monochrome printing mode having different processing speeds. For example, in recent years, many commercially available color laser beam printers are configured such that one sheet of paper is fed (“supplied”), and each color is printed on a transfer medium, as schematically shown in FIG. Processing for forming a toner image is sequentially performed (“Y” (yellow), “M” (magenta), “C” (cyan), “K” (black)), and one color-printed sheet 13B is discharged (“discharge”), and one sheet of paper is fed (“feed”) as schematically shown in FIG. 13B.
Only a process (“K”) for forming a K color toner image on the transfer medium is performed, and monochrome printing 1 is performed.
A monochrome print mode in which sheets are discharged ("discharge").

[0003] Conventionally, such a color printing apparatus includes:
The apparatus cannot switch between the color print mode and the monochrome print mode in a print job. However,
In this apparatus, processing of a print job including N pages including only one page requiring color printing requires the same time as processing of a print job of N pages requiring all pages for color printing. Will be.
For this reason, printing apparatuses and printing systems that can switch between a color printing mode and a monochrome printing mode in page units have been proposed. For example, a host computer that determines whether each page requires color printing and notifies the printing device of the determination result, and a printing device that switches the print mode for each page according to the notified determination result Has also been proposed.

In order to prevent the time required for processing a print job from being lengthened due to the time required for switching the print mode, page data (1
There has also been proposed a printing apparatus in which switching from the color print mode to the monochrome print mode is performed when data defining print contents for pages are continuously received.

[0005]

Some color printing apparatuses having both a color printing mode and a monochrome printing mode having different processing speeds as described above include a predetermined size (1/1 of a maximum printable paper size). 2) When printing on the following multiple sheets is instructed, the maximum paper size is 1
2. Description of the Related Art There is an apparatus that prints each page on two sheets supplied in a continuous manner without gaps in a single process similar to the case of printing on a sheet. Printing according to this procedure is generally called 2UP printing, and some printing apparatuses capable of performing 2UP color printing and 2UP monochrome printing are also known as 2UP printing.
A printing apparatus that can perform only UP color printing is also known.

When a printing apparatus capable of 2UP color printing is configured such that printing of color pages is performed in a color printing mode and processing of a monochrome page is performed in a monochrome printing mode, a certain type of print job may be used. On the other hand, if all pages are printed in the color print mode, the processing is completed in a short time.

For example, the first of the contents that can be printed in monochrome
Consider a print job that prints a page and a second page that must be color printed. When all pages are printed in color, this print job is processed in the 2UP color print mode.

On the other hand, a printing apparatus configured to print each page in a print mode corresponding to the type of the page prints the print job by printing the first page in the monochrome print mode and printing the second page. Processing is performed by printing in a normal color print mode (hereinafter, referred to as a 1UP print mode) other than the 2UP color print mode. Therefore, even if the time required to switch the print mode is “0”, it takes extra time to process the print job by the time required for printing in the monochrome print mode.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a printing system that performs printing at high speed by effectively utilizing the functions of a printing apparatus, a printing control apparatus capable of constructing such a printing system, and a computer as a printing control apparatus. An object of the present invention is to provide a program recording medium for operating.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a printing system according to the present invention has a first color printing function for performing color printing on one sheet of paper of a predetermined size, and a printing function substantially similar to the first color printing function. A second color printing function for performing color printing on two sheets of predetermined size in the same time, and a monochrome printing function for performing monochrome printing on one sheet of predetermined size in a shorter time than the first color printing function With respect to each type 1 page data included in the received print job data, monochrome printing according to the type 1 page data is performed using the monochrome printing function, and the print job data For one or more second-type page data included in succession, color printing in accordance with the second-type page data is performed using the first color printing function with the least number of uses. A printing device that uses the second color printing function and the first color printing function in a form, and each page of a print document including a plurality of pages to be printed by the printing device is a monochrome page that does not require color printing. And a determination unit that determines whether the page is a color page that requires color printing. Based on the determination result of the determination unit, a second page is determined for each color page of the print document.
One monochrome page before or after each of the odd-numbered continuous color pages included in the print document includes the second type page data, and the other monochrome pages include the same type page data. 1
Print job data generating and transmitting means for generating print job data including the seed page data and transmitting the generated print job data to the printing apparatus.

According to this printing system, in the printing apparatus, color pages and monochrome pages are printed not by the first color printing function and the monochrome printing function but by the second color printing function. A print job for printing a print document in which pages and monochrome pages are mixed can be completed at high speed.

A printing apparatus used in the printing system of the present invention handles page data described in a specific language as first-type page data, and treats page data described in another specific language as second-type page data. The page data described in a predetermined language may be handled as page data including information indicating that the page data is the first type page data, and the page data may be handled as the second type page data. The page data including the information indicating the type page data may be handled as the second type page data.

[0013] The print control apparatus according to the present invention determines whether each page of a print document composed of a plurality of pages to be printed by the printing apparatus is a monochrome page that does not require color printing or a color page that requires color printing. A print job data comprising a plurality of page data for causing a printing apparatus to print each of a plurality of pages of the print document based on the determination result of the print document. One monochrome page before or after each of the odd-numbered continuous color pages included in the print document, including second-type page data for which color printing is performed in the printing apparatus as page data relating to each color page Printing in the printing device as page data related to That includes a second type page data, and a print job data generation means for generating print job data including the first one page data as page data for each non their monochrome page.

By using this print control device, it is possible to generate print job data for a printing device having the above-described configuration, the processing of which is completed at a high speed.

The specific format of each page data generated by the print job data generating means may be any format as long as it corresponds to the printing apparatus used for printing. For example, as print job data generation means, the first type page data is data described in a predetermined language including information indicating that the first type page data is itself the first type page data, and the second page data is Means for generating print job data, which is data described in a predetermined language and includes information indicating that the data is the second type page data, can be employed.

The print control apparatus according to the present invention further comprises a print job data generating unit which generates page data relating to the determined page each time the determination unit determines whether the page is a monochrome page or a color page. The function may be realized by using a print job data generating unit that functions after the determination unit determines whether the page is a monochrome page or a color page for all pages of the print job. May be realized. When the latter configuration is adopted, it becomes possible to configure a print control device that can generate print job data that most efficiently uses the functions of the printing device.

Further, based on the result of the discrimination of the predetermined number of pages on the leading side of the print document by the discriminating means, second-type page data is generated for the color pages in the predetermined number of pages, and the printing apparatus generates And a generating / transmitting means for generating the first type page data for the monochrome pages in the predetermined number of pages and transmitting the generated data to the printing apparatus, and as a print job data generating means. , Generate
Means for generating page data for each page for which page data has not been generated and transmitted by the transmission unit and transmitting the page data to the printing apparatus may be employed. By configuring the print control device in this way, it is possible to cause the printing device to print the first few pages of the print document quickly.

Further, the computer-readable program recording medium of the present invention may be arranged such that each page of a print document consisting of a plurality of pages to be printed by a printing apparatus is a monochrome page which does not require color printing or a color page. Determining means for determining whether the page is a color page requiring printing, and print job data comprising a plurality of page data for causing a printing apparatus to print each of the plurality of pages of the print document based on the determination result of the determining means Means for generating, as page data relating to each color page of the print document, a second portion of page data to be subjected to color printing in the printing apparatus, and each portion consisting of an odd number of continuous color pages included in the print document For a single monochrome page before or after Print job data generating means for generating print job data including type 2 page data for monochrome printing in the printing apparatus as the print data and type 1 page data as page data relating to each of the other monochrome pages A program for operating as a program is recorded.

Therefore, by using this program recording medium, a computer can be operated as the print control device of the present invention.

[0020]

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

<First Embodiment> A printing system according to a first embodiment of the present invention comprises a printing device and a printing control device connected by a cable.

FIG. 1 shows a functional block diagram of a printing apparatus 10 used in the printing system according to the first embodiment. The printing device 10 is a so-called color laser beam printer, and includes a control unit 14 and a color printing mechanism 15.

The color printing mechanism 15 includes a paper feeder, a paper transport mechanism, a print engine, and the like. The color printing mechanism 15 has a function of performing printing in a 1UP color print mode, a 2UP color print mode, or a monochrome print mode on a sheet under the control of the control unit 14.

In the 1UP color print mode, as schematically shown in FIG. 2A, one sheet of paper is fed ("supplied") to form a toner image of each color on a transfer medium. The processing is performed sequentially (“Y”, “M”, “C”, “K”),
This is a print mode in which one sheet on which color printing has been performed is discharged ("discharge"). In the 2UP color print mode, as schematically shown in FIG. 2B, two sheets of paper are fed (“supplied”) and two toner images of each color are formed on a transfer medium. The processing is performed sequentially (“YY”,
"MM", "CC", "KK") and a print mode in which two sheets on which color printing has been performed are discharged ("discharge"). In other words, the 2UP color print mode is a mode in which the processing in the same procedure as the 1UP color print mode is performed not on one sheet but on two sheets. The available paper size is limited to half or less of the maximum printable paper size in the printing apparatus 10 (1UP color print mode).

In the monochrome print mode, as shown schematically in FIG. 2C, only processing for forming a K color toner image on the transfer medium is performed, and the paper on which monochrome print has been performed is performed. This is the print mode that is ejected. That is, printing in the monochrome printing mode is completed at a higher speed than printing in the 1UP / 2UP color printing mode because the number of steps for forming a toner image is small. The monochrome print mode is
At the time of continuous printing, as schematically shown in FIG.
Printing is performed according to a procedure that can be considered assuming that the feeding time of the second sheet is “0” (the printing of the second sheet (“K”) is performed immediately after the printing of the first sheet (“K”) is performed). Is performed) mode.

As shown in FIG. 1, the control unit 14
It includes a language determination unit 11, a color language page data processing unit 12, and a monochrome language page data processing unit 13. In addition,
The control unit 14 includes a CPU and its peripheral circuits (RAM, ROM, interface circuit, etc.) as in a general printer.
It is composed of

The printing apparatus 10 includes data defining print content for one page in a monochrome language (hereinafter referred to as monochrome language page data) and data defining print content for one page in a color language (hereinafter, referred to as color data). The language discriminating unit 11 converts each page data included in the received print job data into monochrome language page data. It is determined whether the data is color page data or color language page data. Then, when the received page data is color language page data, the language determining unit 11 supplies the page data to the color language page data processing unit 12. On the other hand, if the received page data is monochrome language page data, the language discriminating unit 1
1 supplies the page data to the monochrome language page data processing unit 13. In the present embodiment, the monochrome language page data and the color language page data correspond to the first type page data and the second type page data, respectively.

The monochrome language page data processing unit 13
Each time the monochrome language page data is supplied, the color printing mechanism 15 is caused to perform printing in the monochrome print mode based on the monochrome language page data. When two color language page data are supplied within a predetermined time, the color language page data processing unit 12 sends a 2 UP to the color printing mechanism 15 based on the color language page data.
Causes printing in the color print mode. Further, when only one color language page data is supplied within a predetermined time, the color language page data processing unit 12 outputs the color printing mechanism 1 based on the color language page data.
5 causes printing to be performed in the 1UP color printing mode. More precisely, when the intermediate codes of the two color language page data are prepared within a predetermined time, the color language page data processing unit 12 expands the intermediate codes into image data, thereby providing a color printing mechanism. 15 is caused to perform printing in the 2UP color print mode. On the other hand, if two intermediate codes (intermediate codes for two pages) cannot be prepared within the predetermined time, the color language page data processing unit 12
Expands one prepared intermediate code (intermediate code for one page) into image data, and causes the color printing mechanism 15 to perform printing in the 1UP color printing mode.

Next, referring to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the printing control device 2 used in the printing system according to the first embodiment will be described.
An outline of the configuration of 0 and the operation will be described. FIG. 3 is a hardware configuration diagram of the print control device 20, and FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of the print control device 20.

As shown in FIG. 3, the print control device 20
The printer driver 40 for the printing apparatus 10 is installed in the HDD 32 of the computer 30 having a general configuration from a CD-ROM 35 as a program recording medium to a CD-ROM.
The device is installed using the drive 33. The printer driver 40, as shown in FIG. 4, converts the computer 30 into a drawing command file creator 21, a drawing command file storage 22, and a language information table creator 2.
3, and a program that operates as the print control device 20 including the print job data creation / transmission unit 24. In the present embodiment, the drawing command file creating unit 21 corresponds to a determining unit, and the language information table creating unit 23 and the print job data creating / transmitting unit 24
It corresponds to a print job data generation and transmission unit or a print job data generation unit.

The drawing command file creator 21 in the print controller 20 is provided from the OS (from the application via the OS) as schematically shown in FIG.
Based on a print request including a plurality of OS drawing commands, a drawing command file is generated and stored in the drawing command file storage unit 22 for each page of a print document for which the print request requests printing. The drawing command storage file created by the drawing command file creation unit 21 is a drawing command for the print job data creation / transmission unit 24 (for the printer driver 40) corresponding to one page according to the OS drawing command for one page. Holding. Further, the drawing command file creator 21 determines whether or not each page requested to be printed by the print request is a page including a character or graphic which must be printed with a color. Generate color information shown. Then, the drawing command file creator 21 creates a color information table, which is a list of color information on all pages for which printing is requested by the print request, and supplies the color information table to the language information table creator 23. The drawing command file creating unit 21 also stores information on the print format requested to be printed by the print request (information on the paper size and the print format (multiple copy printing or collated printing)).
To the language information table creation unit 23.

The language information table creator 23 designates language information relating to each drawing command file (the language used when the print job data creator / transmitter 24 creates page data from each drawing command file, based on the color information table). A language information table, which is a list of information to be transmitted, is created and supplied to the print job data creation / transmission unit 24. Note that the language information table creation unit 23 knows the paper size that allows 2UP color printing in the printing apparatus 10, and considers the relationship between the paper size and the paper size requested to be printed in the print request. Create a language information table.

Then, the print job data creation / transmission unit 2
4 converts each drawing command file in the drawing command file storage unit 22 into page data described in the language specified by the corresponding language information in the language information table when the language information table is supplied. Then, the process of transmitting the print job data to the printing apparatus 10 as an element is started.

Hereinafter, the print control device 2 will be described with reference to a flowchart and the like.
The operation of each unit within 0 will be described more specifically.

As shown in FIG. 5, upon receiving a print request from the OS, the drawing command file creator 21 first creates a drawing command storage file for each page in the drawing command file storage unit 12, (Step S101) for generating color information about
That is, in step S101, the drawing command file creator 21 converts each OS drawing command into a drawing command for the print job data creation / transmission unit 24, and includes an OS drawing command that requires color printing. By checking whether or not there is a drawing command storage file and color information for each page.

When the processing for all the pages is completed, the drawing command file creator 21 creates a color information table in which all the generated color information are arranged in the order in which the corresponding pages are printed in the printing apparatus 10 (step). S102). In step S102, when the print request is a general print request (when the print request is not a multiple copy print or a collated print), the drawing command file creator 21 generates the color information in which the color information is arranged in the order of the corresponding page number. Create an information table. Further, when the print request is for multiple copies or collated printing, the drawing command file creator 21 creates a color information table including a plurality of pieces of color information on the same page.

Thereafter, the language information table creation unit 23 starts operating. The language information table creation unit 23 first determines that the size of the paper requested to be printed is a size that allows the printing apparatus 10 to perform 2UP color printing. Is determined (step S103). If the size of the paper requested to be printed is a size that allows 2UP color printing (step S103; YES), the language information table creating unit 23 executes the language information table creating process (step S103).
By executing 104), the print job data creation / transmission unit 24 creates a language information table which is a list of language information for specifying a language used when creating page data from each drawing command file.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a language information table creation process.
5 shows an operation procedure of the language information table creation unit 23. As shown in the drawing, at the time of the language information table creation processing, the language information table creation unit 23 first sets "A" to the status flag and sets "1" to the variable i (step S201).

Next, the language information table creation unit 23
The color information #i (the i-th color information; i is an integer of 1 or more) in the color information table is obtained (step S2).
02). Then, the language information table creator 23 determines the language used to create the page data #i based on the contents of the color information #i and the status flag, and sets numerical data (monochrome language → “1”, Color language →
"2") is set (added) in the language information table as language information #i (step S20).
3, S210 to S214 and S220 to S224). At the time of the linguistic information determination processing, if the language cannot be determined, the linguistic information table creation unit 23 sets numerical data “0” indicating that as the linguistic information #i in the linguistic information table. Further, at the time of the linguistic information determination processing, the linguistic information table creating unit 23 also performs processing of rewriting the contents of the status flag to one suitable for determining the next linguistic information.
At this time, if the color information “monochrome” is to be processed, the status flag indicates “A” (indeterminate), which means that the language information cannot be determined. "D" indicating that the linguistic information is "monochrome", "C" indicating that the previously determined linguistic information is "color", and linguistic information is determined to be "monochrome" twice or more consecutively. Any of "B" indicating that the operation is performed is set.

Specifically, the color information #i indicates that the corresponding page is a color page (hereinafter, referred to as a color page).
(Described as "color") (step S20).
3; color), the language information table creator 23 rewrites the status flag and sets the language information #i according to the content of the status flag as follows.

If the status flag is "A" (step S210; A), the language information table creating unit 13 indicates that the language information #i indicates that the language to be used for creating the page data is a color language. It is set to “2” and the status flag is set to “C” (step S211). Even when the status flag is "B" (step S210; B), the language information table creation unit 23 sets the language information #i to "2" and sets the status flag to "C" (step S212).
If the status flag is "C" (step S2
10; C), the language information table creating unit 23 sets the language information #i to “2” and the status flag to “A” (step S213). Even when the status flag is "D" (step S210; D), the language information table creating unit 23
Sets the language information #i to "2" and sets the status flag to "A" (step S214).

On the other hand, when the color information #i indicates that the corresponding page is a monochrome page (hereinafter, referred to as “monochrome”) (step S 203;
(Monochrome), the language information table creation unit 23 operates as follows according to the status flag.

If the status flag is "A" (step S220; A), the language information table creator 23 sets the language information #i to "0" indicating that the language used to create the page data is undecided. And the status flag is set to "D".
(Step S221). When the status flag is “B” (Step S220; B), the language information table creating unit 23 sets the language information #i to “1” indicating that the language used for creating the page data is a monochrome language. The status flag is set to "B" (step S222). If the status flag is “C” (step S220;
C), the language information table creation unit 23 sets the language information #i to “2” and sets the status flag to “A” (step S2).
23). When the status flag is “D” (step S
220; D), the language information table creating unit 23 sets the language information #i to “1” and sets the status flag to “B” (step S224).

Steps S211 to S214, S221 to S221
After rewriting the status flag and setting the language information #i in any of S224, the language information table creation unit 2
No. 3 determines whether unprocessed color information remains in the color information table (step S230). If color information remains (step S230; YE
S), after adding “1” to i (step S211), the language information table creating unit 23 returns to step S202 and executes the language information determination process for the next color information.

When the linguistic information determination processing is performed on all the color information in the color information table (step S230; NO), the linguistic information table creating unit 23
Indicates that the value of each piece of linguistic information indicating "undecided" is changed to "2" / "1" in accordance with the odd / even number of pieces of linguistic information having a value of "2" that is continuous before or after the linguistic information. "(Step S212). That is, the linguistic information table creator 23 determines whether or not each linguistic information #j whose value is “0” in this step S212,
The number of linguistic information having a value of “2” that is continuously present before that is counted. Then, the language information table creating unit 23 changes the language information #j to “2” when the count result is an odd number, and changes the language information #j to “2” when the count result is an even number. Change it to 1 ".

The color information table 5 shown in FIG.
The procedure for creating the language information table 60 by this language information table creation processing will be specifically described, taking as an example the case where 0 is the processing target.

As for the color information # 1 which is "monochrome" in the color information table 50, since the status flag is "A", the status flag is rewritten to "D" and the language information #i is set to "0". It is said. For the color information # 2 that is “color”, the status flag is “D”, so the status flag is rewritten to “A”, and the language information # 2 is displayed.
i is set to “2”. “Monochrome” color information #
For 3, the status flag is "A", so the status flag is rewritten to "D" and the language information #i is set to "0". For the color information # 4 that is “monochrome”, since the status flag is “D”, the status flag is rewritten to “B” and the language information #i is set to “1”.

For the color information # 5 that is "monochrome", the status flag is "B", so the status flag is maintained at "B" and the language information #i is set to "1".
For the color information # 6 that is “color”, the status flag is “B”, so the status flag is set to “C” and the language information #i is set to “2”. For the color information # 7 that is “monochrome”, the status flag is “C”, so the status flag is set to “A” and the language information #i is set to “2”.
It is said. As for the color information # 8 that is “monochrome”, since the status flag is “A”, the status flag is set to “D” and the language information #i is set to “1”.

As described above, immediately before the execution of step S212, the language information # 1 to # 8 are set to 0, 2, 0,
A state of 1, 1, 2, 2, 1 is formed. And
In step S232, language information # having a value of "0"
1. For each of the linguistic information # 3, a process of changing its value to “2” / “1” according to the odd / even number of “2” consecutive before or after that is performed. Will be That is, after that, language information # 1 in which one "2" exists.
Is changed to “2”. Then, due to the change, the language information # 2 in which two “2” exist before that
3 is changed to “1”. As a result, the language information # 1
As # 8, respectively, 2,2,1,1,1,2,2
A language information table 60 holding “1” is created.

As is apparent from this example, the linguistic information table creation processing is performed by setting some of the linguistic information corresponding to the color information of "monochrome" to "2".
The linguistic information corresponding to the color information “color” is “2”, and the linguistic information table “2” is a process for creating a linguistic information table in which an even number of linguistic information are continued.

Returning to FIG. 5, the language information table creating unit 2
The description of the operation 3 will be continued.

If the size of the paper requested to be printed is not a size that allows 2UP color printing (step S103; NO), the language information table creating unit 23 creates a second language information table (step S105). Execute At the time of the second language information table creation processing, the language information table creation unit 23 determines that the language information whose corresponding color information is “color” is “2” and the language information whose corresponding color information is “monochrome” is A language information table that is “1” is created.

When the creation of the language information table by the language information table creation section 23 is completed, the print job data creation / transmission section 24 starts the print job data creation / transmission processing (step S106).

As shown in FIG. 8, during the print job data creation / transmission processing, the print job data creation / transmission unit 24
Sets "1" to the variable i (step S30).
1). Then, the print job data creation / transmission unit 24
Acquire language information #i from the language information table (step S
302) If the acquired language information #i indicates a monochrome language (“1”) (step S303; monochrome), the corresponding drawing command storage file in the drawing command file storage unit 22 On the basis of the command, monochrome page data including a monochrome language command group is generated and transmitted to the printing apparatus 10 (step S304). on the other hand,
If the language information #i indicates color language ("2") (step S303; color), color language page data composed of color language commands is generated based on the corresponding drawing command storage file. Printing device 1
0 (step S305).

Step S304 or step S305
After the execution, the print job data creation / transmission unit 24 determines whether or not the processing of all the language information in the language information table has been completed (step S306). If the processing of all the language information in the language information table is not completed (step S306; NO), the print job data creation / transmission unit 24 adds “1” to i (step S307), and then proceeds to step S307. It returns to S302. Then, the print job data creation / transmission unit 24 terminates the processing of all the language information in the language information table (step S306; Y
In ES), the print job data creation / transmission processing ends.

That is, the print control device 20 according to the first embodiment, when the print request given from the OS includes a portion where an odd number of color pages are continuous,
It is configured to generate print job data of an even number of continuous color language page data and transmit the generated print job data to the printing apparatus 10. As already described, the printing device 10
When the monochrome language page data is received, the printing according to the page data is performed in the monochrome print mode. In addition, when color language page data to be printed on paper of a predetermined size or less is continuously received, the printing apparatus 10 switches the printing corresponding to the page data to the 1UP color print mode or the 2UP color print mode. Do it.

Therefore, if the printing system according to the first embodiment is used, processing of a print job including an odd number of continuous color pages (processing of a print request from the OS) is
The process is completed in a shorter time than in a printing system in which print job data in which color page data is used for color pages and monochrome page data is used for monochrome pages is supplied.

More specifically, print job data (hereinafter referred to as conventional data) composed of page data described in a language corresponding to the color information in the color information table 50 shown in FIG. (Hereinafter referred to as a conventional system) will be considered. In this case, the printing apparatus 10 that has received the conventional data prints the first page in the monochrome print mode and prints the second page in the 1UP color print mode. Further, the printing apparatus 10 prints the third to fifth pages in the monochrome print mode, prints the sixth page in 1UP color print, and prints the seventh and eighth pages in the monochrome print mode.

On the other hand, the printing control device 20 supplies the printing device 10 with print job data composed of page data created in a language corresponding to the language information in the language information table 60. Therefore, the printing apparatus 10 that has received the print job data from the print control apparatus 20 stores the first and second pages in 2U.
Printing is performed in the P color print mode, and the third to fifth pages are printed in the monochrome print mode. Then, the printing apparatus prints the sixth and seventh pages in the 2UP color print mode, and prints the eighth page in the monochrome print mode.

Printing in the 2UP color print mode is performed in the following manner:
Since the printing can be performed at substantially the same speed as the printing in the UP color printing mode, the printing system according to the first embodiment is not concerned with the printing job, because the printing of the first page and the printing of the seventh page are not performed in the monochrome printing mode. The process is completed earlier than the conventional system.

<Second Embodiment> The basic configuration and operation of the printing system according to the second embodiment are the same as those of the printing system according to the first embodiment. For this reason,
The configuration and operation of the printing system according to the second embodiment will be described using the reference numerals used in the description of the printing system according to the first embodiment.

The printing system according to the second embodiment is different from the printing system according to the first embodiment only in the operation of the language information table creating unit 23 in the print control device 20. Specifically, the language information table creator 23 according to the second embodiment performs step S104 in FIG.
At a corresponding step, the language information table creating process of the procedure shown in FIG. 8 is executed.

That is, at the start of the language information table creation processing, the language information table creation unit 23 according to the second embodiment sets “1” for the variable i, “0” for the variable M, and “0” for the variable P. , "0" (step S40)
1). The value of the variable i is used as a color information number and a language information number in each step described later. The value of the variable M is determined by whether the number of pieces of linguistic information having the value “2” that is continuously present at the end of the linguistic information group generated up to that point is odd or even. Is used as information for determining the The use of the value of the variable P will be described later.

After the execution of step S401, the language information table creating unit 23 determines whether or not the i value exceeds the total number imax of the language information held in the language information table (step S402). When the i value is equal to or smaller than imax (step S402; NO), the language information table creating unit reads out the color information #i from the color information table (step S403).

If the color information #i is "color" (step S404: color), the language information table creation unit 23 sets the language information #i to "2" (step S4).
05). Next, the language information table creation unit 23 adds “1” to M (step S406), adds “1” to i (step S411), and returns to step S402.

On the other hand, if the color information #i is "monochrome" (step S404: monochrome), the language information table creation unit 23 determines whether or not the M value is an odd number (step S407). If the M value is not an odd number (step S407; NO), the language information table creating unit 23 sets the language information #i to “1” (a value indicating a monochrome language) and sets the variable P to the i value Is set (step S408). Also, when the M value is odd
(Step S407; YES), the language information table creating unit 23 sets the language information #i to “2” (a value meaning a color language) (Step S409). Step S40
8 or S409, the language information table creator 23 sets the M value to “0” (step S41).
0), and then proceed to step S411.

The language information table creating section 23 sequentially determines the language information # 1 to #imax in such a procedure. When the determination of the language information #imax is completed,
That is, when i> imax is satisfied (step S40)
2; YES), the processing from step S412 is started.

In step S412, the language information table creating section 23 determines whether or not the M value at that time is an odd number. And if the M value is odd
(Step S412; YES), the language information table creating unit 23 determines whether or not P = 0 holds (Step S413). When P = 0 is not established
(Step S413; NO), the language information table creating unit 23 changes the language information #P from “1” to “2”.
(Step S414), and the process ends.

That is, as is clear from the above procedure, the variable P at the time of execution of step S413 is
If it is not “0”, it indicates the number of the last generated linguistic information whose value is “1”. Therefore, step S414
The value "2" at the end of the language information table
Thus, an even number of linguistic information can be formed.

On the other hand, when the M value is an even number (step S412; NO) and when P = 0 (step S413; YES), the language information table creation unit 23
Ends the language information table creation processing without changing the language information. That is, when an even number of pieces of language information having a value of “2” are arranged at the end of the language information table,
If there is no linguistic information having a value of "1", the linguistic information table immediately before the execution of step S412 is used as it is as the linguistic information table to which the print job data creation / transmission unit 24 refers to the contents. You.

Hereinafter, a procedure for creating the language information table 61 by the language information table creation processing will be described based on a specific example.

First, a case where the color information table 51 shown in FIG. 10 is a processing target will be described. In this case, at the time of processing regarding color information # 1 that is “monochrome” in the color information table 51, M = 0 (even number), so that step S408 is executed. as a result,
The P value becomes 1 (= i), and the language information # 1 becomes “1”. That is, the number of the linguistic information whose value is “1” is
Set to P.

At the time of processing for color information # 2 which is "color", steps S405 and S406 are executed, so that language information # 1 is set to "2" and M is set to "1". That is, a numerical value whose odd / even coincides with the continuous number of language information #i whose value is “2” (in this case, the continuous number itself)
Is set to M.

At the time of processing for color information # 3 which is "color", steps S405 and S406 are executed, so that language information # 1 is set to "2" and M is set to "2". Then, at the time of processing regarding color information # 4 that is “monochrome”, since M = 2, step S408 is executed, P is set to “4” (= i), and language information # 1 is set.
Is set to “1”. That is, this time, the number of the language information whose value is determined to be “1” is set to P. Also, M
Is set to "0", which is odd or even coincident with the original M value (M value in step S407).

At the time of processing for color information # 5 that is "monochrome", M is "0", so that language information # 5 is set to "1" and P is set to "5". At the time of processing for color information # 6 that is "color", language information # 6 is set to "2" and M is set to "1". Then, at the time of the processing relating to the color information # 7 of “monochrome”, since M is “1”, the processing after step S409 is executed. That is, the language information # 7 is set to "2" without changing the P value. Further, M is set to “0”, which is equal to the value obtained by adding “1” to the original M value (the M value in step S407) and whether the value is odd or even.

The same processing as that for the color information # 6 and # 7 is performed for the color information # 8 and # 9. Therefore, when the step S412 is executed, the language information # 1 to # 9 are set to 1, 2, and 2,1,1,2,2,2,2 and M
Is "0". Accordingly, the process ends without executing step S414, and the language information # 1 to # 9 is 1, 2, 2,
A language information table 61 holding 2,1,1,2,2,2,2 is created.

Step S414 is executed when the color information table 52 as shown in FIG. 11 is to be processed. The color information table 52 is obtained by removing the color information # 9 from the color information table 51. Therefore, when step S412 is performed on the color information table 52, the language information # 1 to # 8
1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, respectively, and M
Is "1" and P is "5". Therefore, a branch to the “YES” side is performed in step S412. Since P is not "0", the language information # 5 which was "1" in step S414.
A process for changing (= P) to “2” is performed. As a result, as language information # 1 to # 8, respectively, 1, 2,
Language information table 6 holding 2, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2
2 will be created.

As described above, the language information table creating unit 23 according to the second embodiment also performs printing in the 1UP color print mode and print in the monochrome print mode.
The print job data creation / transmission unit 24 creates a language information table in which print job data not to be performed in step S1 is generated and transmitted. Therefore, also in the printing system according to the second embodiment, the processing of the print job including the odd-numbered continuous color pages is completed in a shorter time than in the conventional system.

<Third Embodiment> The basic configuration of a printing system according to the third embodiment is the same as that of the printing system according to the first embodiment. Therefore, hereinafter, the configuration and operation of the printing system according to the third embodiment will be described using the reference numerals used in the description of the printing system according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 12 shows an overall operation procedure of the print control device 20 used in the printing system according to the third embodiment.

As shown in the drawing, in the print control apparatus 20 according to the third embodiment, first, the drawing command file creation unit 21 starts the top J (J is specified in advance based on the OS drawing command given from the OS). The drawing command storage file for the page is stored in the drawing command file storage unit 22.
And a process of generating a color information table relating to those pages is performed (step S).
501). That is, the same processing as the processing in steps S101 and S102 is performed on the top J page for which printing is requested by the print request.

Next, based on the color information table for the J page, the language information table creating unit 23
The processing (steps S503 to S505) that is exactly the same as that of the language information table creation unit 23 according to the first embodiment is performed, and a language information table for J pages is created. Thereafter, the print job data creation / transmission unit 24 performs print job data creation / transmission processing (step S506) having the same contents as the processing shown in FIG. 8 based on the language information table for the J pages.

Then, based on the OS drawing command given by the OS, the drawing command file creator 21 creates a drawing command storage file for the remaining pages in the drawing command file storage 22 and color information about those pages. Processing for generating a table is performed (step S511).

Then, based on the color information table, the linguistic information table creator 23 performs the same processing (steps S513 to S515) as the linguistic information table creator 23 according to the first embodiment. A table is created. Thereafter, the print job data creation / transmission unit 24 performs print job data creation / transmission processing (step S516) having the same contents as the processing shown in FIG. 8 based on the language information table.

That is, the print control device 20 used in the printing system according to the third embodiment has a configuration in which page data for one print job is transmitted twice. Therefore, if this printing system is used, the printing result of the top page can be obtained earlier than in the printing systems according to the first and second embodiments.

<Modifications> The printing system according to each embodiment can perform various modifications. For example, in the printing system according to each embodiment,
An apparatus for processing print job data in which color language page data and monochrome language page data are mixed (including two types of page data having different languages) is used, and a technique used in each embodiment is used. Has a color printing function that can perform one-page color printing and two-page (or n-page) color printing in substantially the same time, and a monochrome printing function that can perform printing faster than the color printing function. The present invention can be applied to any printing apparatus that performs printing by a printing function corresponding to the type of each page data described above. For example, the printing device 10
The page data including a predetermined first command at the beginning is recognized and processed as data to be printed, and the page data including the predetermined second command different from the first command is processed. When using an apparatus that recognizes and processes data to be printed in monochrome, the print control apparatus 20 (print job data creation / transmission unit 24) may create print job data in such a form. good.

When a device having a color printing function capable of performing one-page color printing and n-page color printing in substantially the same time is used as the printing device 10, for example,
In the language information table creation process shown in FIG. 9, the color information # "i-1" is "monochrome" (more precisely, the language information # "i-1" is "1") When #i is "color", language information #i to language information # "i
The deformation may be performed so that + n-1 "becomes" 2 ".

The print control device 20 according to each embodiment
After preparing several pages of drawing instruction files,
This is an apparatus that creates a language information table, creates and transmits print job data according to the language information table. In the language information table creation process (FIG. 6) performed by the print control device 20 according to the first embodiment, the language information table cannot be created unless some pages of color information are available. However, the processing up to step S411 of the language information table creation processing (FIG. 9) performed by the print control device 20 according to the second embodiment is processing that can sequentially determine language information for each page. I have.

Therefore, every time the drawing command file and the color information are generated, the language information is determined by the processing of steps S404 to S410, and the page data is created and transmitted according to the language information. The print control device 20 according to the second embodiment can be modified. Note that such a modification may cause a certain type of print job (OS
In response to the print request from the printer, print job data (FIG. 11
Is transmitted to the printing apparatus 10. The processing time of such print job data in the printing apparatus 10 does not become longer than the processing time in the printing apparatus 10 of print job data simply generated from the print job. However, if the processing after step S412 is performed, as described with reference to FIG.
Since print job data that completes printing at the highest speed can be generated and transmitted, if the processing time of the print job data in the printing apparatus 10 is to be shortened as much as possible, the configuration of the second embodiment is adopted. It is desirable to keep.

Further, the printing system according to the third embodiment may be configured such that after step S101 is executed, step S505 is always executed (independent of the paper size). Further, the printing system according to the third embodiment may be configured such that the processes having the same contents as those in steps S501 and S503 to S506 are executed for each predetermined even-numbered page.

Further, the printing system according to each embodiment
Although the print control device 20 is a device that knows the size that allows 2UP color printing in the printing device 10, the print control device 20 obtains the size that allows 2UP color printing from the connected printing device 10 and operates. A printing system may be configured. Further, the print control device 20 may be configured to acquire information on the type and speed of executable printing from the printing device 10 and create a language information table in a procedure according to the acquired information. . That is, the print control device 20 (printer driver 40) may be configured so that print job data can be transmitted to a plurality of types of printing devices 10 having different specifications.

The print control device 20 may be configured so that the created print job data can be saved as a file.

[0093]

According to the present invention, a print job in which color pages and monochrome pages are mixed can be processed at high speed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a hardware configuration diagram of a printing apparatus used in a printing system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a print mode of the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of a print control device used in the print system according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure of a print control device (a drawing command file creating unit, a language information table creating unit, and a print job data creating / transmitting unit) according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a language information table creation process executed by a language information table creation unit according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a language information table creation procedure of a language information table creation unit according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of print job data creation / transmission processing executed by the print job data creation / transmission unit according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a language information table creation process executed by a language information table creation unit included in the print control device of the printing system according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining a language information table creation procedure of a language information table creation unit according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining a language information table creation procedure of a language information table creation unit according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining a language information table creation procedure of a language information table creation unit according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating an overall operation procedure of a print control apparatus according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of a color printing procedure and a monochrome printing procedure in a general color laser beam printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Printing apparatus 11 Language discriminating part 12 Color language page data processing part 13 Monochrome language page data processing part 14 Control part 15 Color printing mechanism 12 Control panel 13 Color printing mechanism 20 Print control device 21 Drawing command file creation part 22 Drawing command file storage Unit 23 language information table creation unit 24 print job data creation / transmission unit 30 computer 35 CD-ROM (program recording medium) 40 printer driver

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2C061 AP01 AR01 HH07 HJ06 HK03 HN02 HN15 2C087 AA15 AB05 AB08 BB20 BD01 BD42 BD46 CA03 CA05 CB13 DA02 5B021 AA01 CC02 KK02 LG07 9A001 BB06 HH34 JJ35 KK42

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A first color printing function for performing color printing on one sheet of a predetermined size, and a color printing on two sheets of the predetermined size in substantially the same time as the first color printing function. It has a two-color printing function and a monochrome printing function for performing monochrome printing on one sheet of the predetermined size in a shorter time than the first color printing function, and includes each of the functions included in the received print job data. For the first-type page data, monochrome printing corresponding to the first-type page data is performed by using the monochrome printing function, and one or more second-type print data successively included in the print job data are printed. For the seed page data, color printing in accordance with the second kind page data is performed by using the second color printing function and the previous A printing apparatus using the first color printing function; and each page of the print document including a plurality of pages to be printed by the printing apparatus is a monochrome page that does not require color printing or a color that requires color printing. Discriminating means for discriminating whether the page is a page, based on the discrimination result of the discriminating means, for each color page of the print document, including the second type page data, and for an odd number of continuous color pages included in the print document The second type page data is included for one monochrome page before or after each portion consisting of
A print system comprising: print job data generating and transmitting means for generating print job data including seed page data and transmitting the generated print job data to the printing apparatus. 2. The first-type page data is data described in a predetermined language including information indicating that the first-type page data is the first-type page data. 2. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the data is data described in the predetermined language and includes information indicating that the data is seed page data. 3. A discriminating means for discriminating whether each page of a print document composed of a plurality of pages to be printed by a printing apparatus is a monochrome page not requiring color printing or a color page requiring color printing. Generating print job data including a plurality of page data for causing the printing apparatus to print each of the plurality of pages of the print document based on a determination result of the determination unit; One monochrome page before or after each portion consisting of an odd number of continuous color pages included in the print document, including second type page data for performing color printing in the printing apparatus as page data relating to each color page Monochrome data in the printing device A print job data generating means for generating print job data including the second type page data to be performed and the first type page data as page data relating to each other monochrome page. . 4. The print job data generating means, wherein the first type page data is data described in a predetermined language including information indicating that the first type page data is the first type page data, and 4. The print control apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the page control unit generates print job data that is data described in the predetermined language and includes information indicating that the page data is the second type page data. 5. The print job data generating means generates page data relating to the determined page each time the determination means determines whether the page is a monochrome page or a color page. The print control device according to claim 3 or 4, wherein 6. The print job data generation unit functions after the determination unit determines whether the page is a monochrome page or a color page for all pages of the print job. The print control device according to claim 3 or 4, wherein: 7. The second type page data is generated for a color page in the predetermined number of pages based on the determination result of the predetermined number of pages on the top side of the print document by the determination unit. To the printing device,
Generating means for generating the first type page data for the monochrome pages in the predetermined number of pages and transmitting the generated data to the printing apparatus, the print job data generating means comprises: 5. The print control apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the generation / transmission unit generates page data for each page for which page data has not been generated and transmitted, and transmits the page data to the printing apparatus. 8. A computer determines whether each page of a print document including a plurality of pages to be printed by a printing device is a monochrome page that does not require color printing or a color page that requires color printing. Determining means for generating print job data including a plurality of page data for causing the printing apparatus to print each of the plurality of pages of the print document based on a determination result of the determining means; One page before or after each part consisting of an odd number of continuous color pages included in the print document, including second type page data on which color printing is performed in the printing apparatus as page data relating to each color page of the print document. Print data as page data for monochrome pages The print job data generating means for generating print job data including the first type page data as page data relating to each monochrome page other than the second type page data on which monochrome printing is performed. Readable program recording medium on which a program for recording is recorded.