JP2001260486A - Printing system, its control method, and recording medium which can read its control program by housed computer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform finishing (abbreviated to F) treatment without a difficulty even when the printer driver of an upper apparatus and a printing apparatus do not support an F function in a printing system comprising the upper apparatus, the printing apparatus, and a finisher. SOLUTION: The CPU 1 of the upper apparatus, when F information for assigning optional F treatment by an operator is inputted from a key board 9, adds it to data on a printing job and makes the data be outputted to the printing apparatus. The CPU 12 of the printing apparatus, when the data on a printing job added with the F information is inputted from the upper apparatus, prepares printing data on the basis of the data and makes the data be printed on paper in a printing part and the F information be forwarded to the finisher. The CPU of the finisher receives the printed paper from the printing apparatus and, when the F information is forwarded to it, controls the F treatment assigned by this to be done for the paper.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an upper apparatus for outputting data of a print job to a printing apparatus, and a print apparatus for generating print data based on print job data input from the upper apparatus and printing the data on paper. A printing system including a printing apparatus, a finisher that receives a sheet printed from the printing apparatus and performs finishing processing on the sheet, a control method thereof, and a computer storing the control program. It relates to a simple storage medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a printing system including a host device such as a personal computer and a printing device (printer), when an operator (user) prints a document created by software or the like of an application of the host device, the operator uses the printing device. A setting screen for performing various printing settings by a software driver that creates and outputs print job data of the higher-level device, that is, a so-called printer driver, is displayed on the display of the higher-level device in response to the above operation. Then, on the setting screen, the number of copies, the number of characters per line, the number of lines per page, the margin, the font, the paper size, the printing direction, and the like are set by the operator. The printer driver creates print job data including character information, image information, control commands, and the like for printing the document according to the various settings, and transmits the data to the printing apparatus. The printing apparatus creates print data based on the received print job data and prints it on paper.

Further, a printing system in which a finisher as shown in FIG. 10 is added to the above printing system has been used in recent years. As shown in FIG.
Reference numeral 000 denotes a staple that is coupled to a paper discharge unit that discharges printed sheets of the printing apparatus 2000 and that binds a plurality of sheets to the printed sheets sent from the printing apparatus 2000 with a staple, and centers the plurality of sheets on the center. Various finishing processes such as a booklet (Booklet) that binds and binds at the center of booklet, a Collate (Collate) that discharges pages in the same order when printing a plurality of copies, and a reverse order output that discharges paper in reverse order of page numbers. Perform These processes are performed by the printing apparatus 2000 controlling the finisher 1000 according to a control command for a finishing process in the data of the print job.

[0004]

However, in a conventional printing system including a host device, a printing device, and a finisher, the printer driver of the host device and the printing device do not support a finishing function for performing various finishing processes of the finisher. In other words, the printer driver allows the operator to set various finishing processes that can be performed by the finisher on the setting screen for performing the various printing settings described above, and prints a control command for the finishing process in accordance with the settings. Does not have a function to create as part of the job data,
If the printing apparatus does not have a function of controlling the finisher in accordance with the control command for the finishing process and performing the finishing process, the printing device cannot perform various finishing processes that can be performed by the finisher.

Further, even if the printer driver and the printing apparatus of the host device support the finishing function, there is a limit lower than the finisher's capability due to the setting conditions of each finishing process (for example, the number of sheets that can be stapled is limited). 20 sheets, the number of stapled jobs that can be output at one time is 3 copies, etc.), and it takes a long time to process, so that the finishing process may not be performed satisfactorily with the setting desired by the operator. there were.

[0006] The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and the problem is to solve the above-described host device,
In a printing system including a printing device and a finisher, even if the printer driver and the printing device of the higher-level device do not support the finishing function of the finisher or support the finishing function, the finishing process intended by the operator is performed. The objective is to enable efficient and high-speed operation without limitation within the range of the finisher's ability.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided, according to the present invention, a host apparatus for outputting print job data to a printing apparatus and a print job data input from the host apparatus. A printing system comprising a printing device for creating print data and printing it on paper, a finisher for receiving the printed paper from the printing device and performing a finishing process on the paper, a control method thereof, and a control program therefor. In a storage medium readable by a stored computer, the host device may include an input unit for inputting finishing information to be transferred to the finisher, the information designating an arbitrary finishing process by the operator. The finishing information input from the input means, In the case where the data of the print job is input from the higher-level device and the finishing information is added to the data, The print data is created based on the data of the print job and printed on a sheet, and the finishing information is controlled to be transferred to the finisher.The finisher receives the printed sheet from the printing apparatus and receives the printed sheet. When the finishing information is transferred, control is performed so that a finishing process specified by the finishing information is performed on the sheet.

[0010] In the upper device, the finishing information may be added to the data of the print job as, for example, a header at the beginning of the data of the print job or a footer at the end of the data of the print job. I do.

[0009]

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

First, the configuration of a host device and a printing device that constitute the printing system of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 3000 denotes a higher-level device configured as a document processing device, a personal computer, or the like.
Reference numeral 01 denotes a control unit of the host device 3000.

In the configuration of the control unit 3001, 1 is the CP
U, which comprehensively controls each device connected to the system bus 4. And RO for program in ROM3
M based on the document processing program and the like stored in M
A document creation process in which images, characters, tables (including spreadsheets and the like) are mixed is executed.

Reference numeral 2 denotes a RAM, which is a main memory of the CPU 1;
Functions as a work area.

Reference numeral 3 denotes a ROM. A program ROM in the ROM 3 stores a control program of the CPU 1 including the above-described document processing program, and a font ROM stores font data used in the document processing. Are stored in the data ROM, and various data used when performing the above-described document processing and the like are stored.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a keyboard controller (KBC) which controls a keyboard 9 for the operator to make key inputs and a pointing device such as a mouse (not shown) for making other inputs.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a CRT controller (CRTC), which is a CRT display (CRT) for performing various displays.
10 is controlled.

7 is a memory controller (MC),
It controls access to an external memory 11 such as a hard disk (HD) storing a boot program, various application programs, font data, user files, editing files, and the like, and a floppy (registered trademark) disk (FD).

Reference numeral 8 denotes a printer controller (PRTC), which is connected to the printing apparatus 2000 via a predetermined bidirectional interface 21 and executes communication control processing with the printing apparatus 2000.

The CPU 1 executes, for example, rasterization of the outline font in the display information RAM set on the RAM 2 and executes WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) on the screen of the CRT 10.
Is possible. Further, the CPU 1 opens various registered windows based on commands specified by a mouse cursor or the like (not shown) on the screen of the CRT 10, and executes various data processing.

On the other hand, 2000 is a printing device, for example, a laser beam printer. Of course, an ink jet printer or another dot matrix printer may be used. The printing apparatus 2000 analyzes print job data transmitted from the host apparatus 3000 to create print data (bitmap data) and prints it on paper. The material of the paper is not limited to paper, but may be another material such as a plastic film.

In the configuration of the printing apparatus 2000, 200
A control unit 1 controls the entire printing apparatus, creates the print data described above, and outputs the print data to the printing unit 17 for printing. As an output form, when the printing apparatus is a laser beam printer, a video signal corresponding to print data is output.

In the configuration of the control unit 2001, 12 is C
PU, and as a subject of control of the control unit 2001, RO
Various devices connected to the system bus 15 are comprehensively controlled based on a control program or the like stored in the program ROM in the M13 or a control program or the like stored in the external memory 14. Then, the above-described print job data is analyzed and developed into bitmap data as print data. The analysis and deployment functions are analyzed by the analysis unit 25.
And the unfolding section 26. The bitmap data expanded by the expansion unit 26 is converted into a video signal by the output unit 23, and output to the printing unit (printer engine) 17 via the output interface 16. Also, C
The PU 12 is capable of communicating with the host device 3000 via the input unit 18 and is configured to be able to notify information and the like in the printing device 2000 to the host device 3000.

Reference numeral 13 denotes a ROM. A program ROM in the ROM 13 stores various control programs executed by the CPU 12, and a font ROM stores font data and the like used when generating the print data. The data ROM stores information used on the host device 3000 when the external memory 14 does not exist.

The external memory 14 includes a hard disk, an IC,
The access is controlled by a memory controller (MC) 20. The external memory 14 is connected as an option and stores font data, an emulation program, form data, and the like.

Reference numeral 19 denotes a RAM, which functions as a main memory, a work area, and the like of the CPU 12, and is configured so that the memory capacity can be expanded by an optional RAM connected to an additional port (not shown). In addition,
The RAM 19 stores a page buffer 19 in FIG.
1. In addition to being used for the frame buffer 192, it is used for an environment data storage area, NVRAM, and the like.

Reference numeral 22 denotes an operation panel, on which switches for operation, an LED display, and the like are arranged, and input / output is controlled via a panel control unit 27.

Reference numeral 28 denotes a finisher interface through which communication for exchanging information with the finisher 1000 is performed.

Next, the configuration of the finisher 1000 will be described. As described above with reference to FIG. 10, the finisher 1000 is coupled to the paper output unit of the printing apparatus 2000, and performs finishing processes such as stapling, booklet, collate, and reverse output on printed sheets. Note that the finisher 1000 has a plurality of paper output trays 90 for discharging paper of a plurality of printed documents separately for each copy. This finisher 100
0 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1001 denotes a control unit of the finisher 1000. In the configuration of the control unit 1001, the CPU 30 controls the ROM 31
Controls each unit connected to the bus 34 according to the control program stored in the. The RAM 32 is used as a work area of the CPU 30 and the like.

The CPU 30 communicates with the printing apparatus 2000 via the bidirectional printer interface 33, and the printing apparatus 2000 allows the operator to perform finishing processing such as stapling, booklet, collate, and reverse order output as described later. , Or control information for the printing apparatus 2000 to directly control the finisher 1000.

The finisher 1000 is provided with a paper sensor group 43.
The presence / absence or position of the paper on the conveyance path of the paper from the paper feed port 000 to the paper output port, and the presence / absence of the paper on the plurality of paper output trays 90 are detected. The detection signal is input to the CPU 30.

The CPU 30 controls the paper feed mechanism 38, the tray moving mechanism 39 or the staple mechanism 40 according to the finishing information or control information given from the printing apparatus 2000 and the detection result of the paper sensor group 43 to the respective control units 35 and 36. Or 37 to perform a designated finishing process. The paper feed mechanism 38 is a mechanism that conveys paper from a paper feed port of the finisher 1000 to one or a plurality of paper discharge ports. The tray moving mechanism 39 is a mechanism that moves the plurality of paper discharge trays 90 up and down and selectively moves them to the position of one or more paper discharge ports.
The stapling mechanism 40 is, of course, a mechanism for performing stapling.

The CPU 30 drives a display 42 such as an LCD via a display controller 41 as necessary.
For example, a warning message to the operator is displayed.

In the configuration of the host device 3000, the printing device 2000, and the finisher 1000 described above, C
The ROM 3 or the external memory 11 storing the control program of the PU 1 and the R storing the control program of the CPU 12
The OM 13 and the ROM 31 storing the control program of the CPU 30 correspond to an embodiment of a computer-readable storage medium storing the control program of the printing system according to the present invention.

Next, the printing output operation of the printing system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, a user creates a document in the host device 3000 using a document creation program, and the CRT 10
By pressing the print icon on the screen of
000 printer driver is activated, and the operator sets the number of copies, the number of characters per line, the number of lines per page, margins, fonts,
A setting screen for performing various settings such as a paper size and a printing direction is displayed. When the operator completes the setting, the printer driver creates print job data including character information, image information, control commands, and the like for printing the document according to the setting.

Here, if the printer driver supports the finishing function, the printer driver
A setting screen for setting the finishing processing such as staple, booklet, collate, reverse output, etc. is displayed, and the operator can make settings related to finishing processing on the setting screen, and the printer driver corresponds to the setting accordingly Create print job data including the finished finishing control command.

However, in this embodiment, the host device 300
It is assumed that the printer driver of No. 0 does not support the finishing function at all, or it does support the finishing function but has a limitation.

For this reason, in the host device 3000,
After the print driver creates print job data based on various print settings other than the finishing process, the operator designates any finishing process with the keyboard 9 or the like.
000, the finishing information is added to the data of the created print job by inputting the finishing information to be transferred.

Specifically, the finishing information is, for example, data in a text file format as shown in FIG.
A header is added to the head of the print job data. Note that the finishing information shown in FIG. 3 indicates that five sheets of the document to be printed out are output in reverse order, collated, and stapled.

Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 4, the finishing information is converted into code format information together with the data of the total number of pages and the number of copies, and is added to the end of the print job data as a footer. The finishing information of the code shown in FIG. 4 indicates that the collation of five copies is to be performed. According to the method of adding finishing information as shown in FIG. 4, the data amount of the entire print job can be reduced as compared with the method of FIG. 3, and the total number of pages can be checked. The certainty of creating a printed document can be increased.

The input and addition of the finishing information are controlled by the CPU 1 in accordance with a control program for inputting and adding the finishing information stored in the ROM 3 or the external memory 11 of the host device 3000. Note that the control program may be configured as a part of a printer driver. The control operation is shown in FIG.
This will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

After print job data is created by the printer driver based on various print settings other than the finishing process, a predetermined input on the screen of the CRT 10 or a predetermined key input of the keyboard 9 by the operator. The above-mentioned control program for inputting and adding finishing information is started in response to
1 starts the processing of FIG.

First, in step S51, an input screen for inputting finishing information as, for example, the above-described header or footer information of the print job is displayed on the CRT.
Display at 10.

In the determination loop of step S52, the operator waits for the completion of the input of the finishing information performed on the input screen, and when finished, the finishing information input in step S53 is added to the data of the print job by, for example, a header. Alternatively, it is added as a footer, and this processing ends.

Next, the operation from the output of the print job from the host device 3000 to the completion of the finishing process by the finisher will be described along the data flow with reference to FIG.

In the host device 3000, the data of the print job to which the finishing information is added as described above, or the data of the print job including the control command for the finishing process when the printer driver supports the finishing function, Once stored by the driver in the storage area of the RAM 2 as a spooler,
From there, it is output to the printing device 2000.

The output print job data is temporarily stored in the reception buffer 24 of the input unit 18 via the input interface 21 in the printing apparatus 2000, and thereafter, the data is stored in the ROM 1 by the analysis unit 25 as a function of the CPU 12.
3 is stored in a page buffer 191 in the RAM 19 after being analyzed in accordance with the analysis program stored in the RAM 3.

Next, the developing unit 2 as a function of the CPU 12
In step 6, based on the print job data stored in the page buffer 191, arithmetic processing for printing characters and drawing graphics is performed, and bitmap data as print data is developed and generated.
2 is stored.

Next, the bitmap data is output from the frame buffer 192 to the output unit 23, and is converted into a video signal in the output unit 23.
Is output to the printing unit 17 via the. And the printing unit 17
The image based on the bitmap data is printed on a sheet, and the sheet is sent to the finisher 1000.

On the other hand, the CPU 12 of the printing device 2000
When print job data is received from the host device 3000 and stored in the reception buffer 24, it is checked whether finishing information is included in the received print job data as a header or a footer. Finishing information is extracted from the data and output to the finisher 1000 via the finisher interface 28.

If the received print job data does not include finishing information, and if the print job data includes a finishing processing control command, the control unit analyzes the command and executes the command. Control information for the finisher 1000 to be generated and output to the finisher 1000 via the finisher interface 28.

The CPU 30 of the finisher 1000
When finishing information is received from the printing apparatus 2000 via the printer interface 33, it is analyzed and the paper feed mechanism 38, the tray moving mechanism 39, or the staple mechanism 40 is controlled so as to perform a finishing process designated by the information. . Further, when the above control information is received, each mechanism 38, 3
The finishing process is performed by controlling 9 to 40.

Next, the host device 3000 and the printing device 200
0, each CPU 1, 12, 30 of the finisher 1000
The processing operation at the time of print output, including the processing of finishing information, will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

First, according to FIG.
The output processing operation of U1 will be described.

The CPU 1 performs the processing shown in FIG. 7 when outputting the data of the print job. First, in step S71, it is determined whether or not the printer driver of the host device 3000 supports the finishing function. If it does not, the process proceeds to step S72. If it does, the process proceeds to step S73.

In step S72, the number of print copies other than the finishing process specified by the operator is set by a printer driver that does not support the finishing function.
A print job based on various settings such as the number of characters in a line, the number of lines in a page, and the paper size (hereinafter, referred to as a standard setting job)
After that, by the processing of FIG. 5 described above, the finishing information is input by the operator, added to the data of the print job, and it is determined whether transmission of the data is selected.

If it is not selected, that is, if the finishing information is not added to the data of the standard setting job, in step S74, the data of only the standard setting job is printed by the printer device 20 by the printer driver.
00, and then the process ends.

If transmission of finishing setting information to the data of the standard setting job is selected, the data of the standard setting job to which the finishing information is added is transmitted to the printing apparatus 2000 by the printer driver in step S75. Then, the process ends.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S71 that the printer driver supports the finishing function,
In step S73, various printing settings including finishing processing settings are made by the operator's designation, and it is determined whether or not to transmit a print job created based on the settings (hereinafter referred to as an all-settings job). If so, the data of all the setting jobs is transmitted to the printing apparatus 2000 in step S76, and then the processing is terminated.

The result of the determination in step S73 is "No".
In other words, if the printer driver supports the finishing function, but the operator does not specify the finishing process at all because of insufficient support, etc., and the printer driver creates a standard setting job, Proceeding to S72, after performing the above-described determination of step S72, step S74 or S7
Step 5 is performed.

By the above processing, the host device 300
Data of the standard setting job to which finishing information is added from 0, only the data of the standard setting job, or the data of all the setting jobs is transmitted to the printing apparatus 2000.

Next, the processing operation of the CPU 12 of the printing apparatus 2000 at the time of print output will be described with reference to FIG.

In the process shown in FIG. 8, the CPU 12 first performs a receiving process of receiving print job data from the host device 3000 via the input interface 21 and storing it in the reception buffer 24 in step S81. Is received, the data of the print job received is analyzed in step S82 and stored in the page buffer 191.

Next, in step S83, as a result of the above analysis, it is determined whether or not finishing information has been received (whether or not finishing information has been added to the received print job data). S
The process jumps to step S85, but proceeds to step S84 if received.

In step S84, a finishing information flag f indicating that finishing information has been received is set, and thereafter, the flow proceeds to step S85.

In step S85, bitmap data as print data to be printed is developed and created based on the data of the print job, and stored in the frame buffer 192.

Next, in step S86, the bitmap data is converted into a video signal from the frame buffer 192 via the output unit 23 and output to the printing unit 17, and the image of the bitmap data is printed on paper. Note that a page number is usually added to the image. Printing unit 17
Is sent to the finisher 1000. If the finishing information flag f is set in step S86, the finishing information added to the data of the print job is extracted and transmitted to the finisher 1000 via the finisher interface 28.

Here, although the finishing information flag is not set (the finishing information is not added to the received print job), the received print job is all the setting jobs described above, and the data is subjected to finishing processing. Control commands for
In step S86, control information for finishing processing corresponding to the control command is transmitted to the finisher 1000 via the finisher interface. However, this function may not be provided.
That is, the printing apparatus 2000 may not support the finishing function.

Next, the flow proceeds to step S87, and if the finishing information flag f has been set, it is reset.

Next, the process proceeds to step S88, where the host device 3
Judge whether the reception of all information from 000 has been completed,
If not, the process returns to step S81 and returns to step S81.
The processing from step 81 onward is repeated.

With the above processing, the printing apparatus 200
0, when the data of the standard setting job to which the finishing information is added is received from the higher-level device 3000, print data based on the data of the standard setting job is created and printed on a sheet, and the sheet is sent to the finisher 1000, Finishing information to Finisher 100
Send to 0.

Next, the CPU 3 of the finisher 1000
The processing operation of 0 will be described with reference to FIG.

In the process of FIG. 9, the CPU 30 first determines in step S91 whether the finishing information transmitted from the printing apparatus 2000 and the printed sheet as a print output result of the printing apparatus 2000 are both present.
If not, the process ends. If there is, the process proceeds to step S92.

In step S92, the finishing information is analyzed, the finishing process specified by the analyzing is performed on the output result sheet, and the final output document is created.

Next, in step S93, is there any inconsistency between the finishing information and the above-described printout result (for example, whether collate, staple, or booklet is specified even though the number of pages of one copy is one)
Determine whether or not.

If there is no contradiction, step S
Proceeding to 94, it is determined whether or not the final document has been created. If the creation has not been completed yet, the process returns to step S92 to repeat the processing of S92 and subsequent steps. If the creation has been completed, this processing ends.

If there is a contradiction in the judgment in step S93, a warning message for the operator is displayed on the display 42 in step S95 to notify the operator, and in step S96, the processing is interrupted to reset the initial state. Return to.

With the above processing, the printing apparatus 200
There is finishing information and printout result from 0,
If there is no inconsistency between the two, a finishing process specified by the finishing information is performed, and a final output document can be created.

Note that the host device 3000 sends the printing device 20
When the printing apparatus 2000 supports the finishing function and the printing apparatus 2000 supports the finishing function, the printing apparatus 2000 controls the finisher 1000 for finishing processing included in the above-described setting job. Control information corresponding to the command is given,
The finisher 1000 performs a finishing process accordingly.

According to the printing system of the present embodiment described above, even if the finishing process is not set by the printer driver of the host device 3000, the host device 30 can be used.
The finishing process intended by the operator can be performed by the finisher 1000 by inputting the finishing information in step 00, adding the printing information to the print job data, and transferring the finishing information to the finisher 1000 in the printing apparatus 2000. That is,
Printer driver and printing device 20 of host device 3000
Even if 00 does not support the finishing function of the finisher 1000, the finishing process intended by the operator can be performed.

Further, although the printer driver of the host device 3000 and the printing device 2000 support the finishing function of the finisher 1000, even if the setting conditions of each finishing process are limited, the setting of each finishing process by the finishing information can be performed. Since the conditions are not limited within the range of the finisher's ability, the finishing process can be performed under the setting conditions intended by the operator.

Further, even if the finisher 1000 is independent of the printing apparatus 2000 and is not directly controlled by the printing apparatus 2000, the finishing process can be performed in accordance with the transferred finishing information. Thus, the finishing process can be performed efficiently and at high speed. In addition, the finishing process can be performed efficiently and at high speed because the setting condition of the finishing process is not limited within the range of the finisher's ability.

Further, in the host device 3000, the operator can input finishing information, add the information to the print job data, and output it to the printing device 2000 together with the data. realizable. Also, in the printing apparatus 2000, the finishing information input together with the print job data from the host apparatus 3000 is transmitted to the finisher 1000.
The configuration for transferring data to the CPU 12 can be realized simply and inexpensively by the control program of the CPU 12. Furthermore, finisher 100
0, a configuration in which the finishing process designated by the finishing information transferred from the printing apparatus 2000 can be realized simply and inexpensively by the control program of the CPU 30.

The printing system according to the present invention described above may be either a stand-alone environment or a network environment.

[0086]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, in a printing system including a host device, a printing device, and a finisher, the printer driver and the printing device of the host device support the finishing function of the finisher. Even if there is no support or there is a limitation, the finishing process intended by the operator can be performed efficiently and at high speed without limitation within the capability of the finisher. An excellent effect that it can be realized simply and at low cost is obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a host device and a printing apparatus of a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a finisher of the printing system according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of finishing information added as a header to print job data in the host device of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of finishing information added as a footer to print job data in the higher-level device of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a control procedure for inputting and adding finishing information by a CPU of the host device.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram for explaining an operation from output of a print job from a higher-level device to completion of finishing processing by a finisher in the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a control procedure of output processing of print job data and finishing information by the CPU of the host device of the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for print job data and finishing information by the CPU of the printing apparatus of the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a finishing process performed by a CPU of the finisher according to the embodiment;

FIG. 10 is an external view of a printing apparatus and a finisher connected to the printing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 CPU of upper apparatus 2 RAM 3 ROM 9 keyboard 10 CRT display 11 external memory 12 CPU of printing apparatus 13 ROM 14 external memory 17 printing unit 19 RAM 21 input interface 28 finisher interface 30 finisher CPU 31 ROM 32 RAM 33 printer interface 38 Paper feed mechanism 39 Tray moving mechanism 40 Staple mechanism 1000 Finisher 2000 Printing device 3000 Host device

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued from the front page F term (reference) 2C061 AP01 AQ05 AQ06 AS11 AS13 CK01 CK04 HJ08 HN05 HN06 HN15 HN16 HR06 HV32 5B021 AA01 BB01 BB04 CC06 5C062 AA05 AB08 AB21 AB32 AB35 AB40 AB46 AC04 AC15 AC43 AF03

Claims (9)

[Claims] A print apparatus configured to output print job data to a printing apparatus; a print apparatus configured to generate print data based on print job data input from the print apparatus and printing the print data on a sheet; In a printing system including a finisher that receives a printed sheet from the printer and performs finishing processing on the sheet, the upper-level device is information that specifies an arbitrary finishing process performed by an operator and should be transferred to the finisher. Input means for inputting finishing information;
Control means for adding the finishing information input from the input means to print job data and controlling the print information to be output to the printing apparatus together with the print job data. When job data is input and the finishing information is added to the data, print data is created and printed on paper based on the print job data, and the finishing information is transferred to the finisher. The finisher receives the printed sheet from the printing apparatus and, when the finishing information is transferred, performs a finishing process specified by the finishing information on the sheet. Control means for controlling the printing system Temu. 2. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the control unit of the higher-level device performs control so that the finishing information is added as a header to the head of print job data. 3. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the control unit of the higher-level device performs control so that the finishing information is added as a footer at the end of print job data. 4. A higher-level device that outputs print job data to a printing device, a printing device that creates print data based on print job data input from the higher-level device, and prints the data on paper, A method of controlling a printing system comprising a finisher for receiving a sheet printed from a finisher and performing a finishing process on the sheet, wherein, in the upper-level device, information that specifies an arbitrary finishing process by an operator, wherein the finisher Having input means for inputting finishing information to be transferred to the printing apparatus, adding the finishing information input from the input means to print job data, and outputting the data together with the print job data to the printing apparatus. In the printing device, data of a print job is input from the higher-level device. If the finishing information is added to the data, the print data is created based on the data of the print job, printed and printed, and the finishing information is transferred to the finisher. A printing system for receiving a printed sheet from the printing apparatus and transferring the finishing information to the finishing apparatus, the finishing apparatus performing a finishing process specified by the finishing information on the sheet. Control method. 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the higher-level device controls the finishing information so as to add the finishing information as a header to the head of the print job data. 6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the host device controls the finishing information so as to add the finishing information as a footer at the end of print job data. 7. A high-level device that outputs print job data to a printing device, a printing device that creates print data based on the print job data input from the high-level device, and prints the data on paper, And a computer-readable storage medium storing a control program of a printing system including a finisher that receives a printed sheet from the printer and performs a finishing process on the sheet. The print job includes input means for inputting finishing information to be transferred to the finisher, the information specifying processing, and adding the finishing information input from the input means to print job data. For controlling output to the printing device together with the data of A control program and, in the printing device, when print job data is input from the higher-level device and the finishing information is added to the data, print data is created based on the print job data and printed on paper. While printing, a control program for controlling to transfer the finishing information to the finisher, and in the finisher, when receiving the printed paper from the printing apparatus and transferring the finishing information, the finishing information is transferred to the paper. A storage medium storing at least one control program among three control programs including a control program for controlling a finishing process specified by the finishing information. 8. The storage medium according to claim 7, wherein the host device stores a control program for controlling the finishing information to be added as a header to the head of print job data. 9. The storage medium according to claim 7, wherein the host device stores a control program for controlling the finishing information to be added as a footer to the end of print job data.