JP2001301281A - Imaging system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an imaging system in which high speed operation is realized for the entire system by altering the level of print data generated from a print driver depending on the state of an imaging apparatus. SOLUTION: A host computer 1 comprises a printer driver 2 which can designate an element type used at the time of generating print data, a section 3 for transmitting print data, and a section 4 for receiving state information from an imaging apparatus 5, wherein the imaging apparatus 5 comprises a section 6 for receiving print data from the host computer 1, an image developing section 8 for bit mapping the print data, a section 10 for sequentially printing the bit mapped print data, a section 9 for detecting various states of the imaging apparatus 5, and a section 7 for transmitting state information indicative of detected state to the host computer 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming system such as a color laser image forming apparatus for forming a copied image based on image data of various applications stored.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the progress of computer graphics and the like, opportunities for printing image data created by a host computer with an image forming apparatus have increased. Consistency and coordination are becoming important.

Hereinafter, a conventional image forming system will be described.
This will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a conventional image forming system.

In FIG. 4, 1 is a host computer,
Reference numeral 2 denotes a printer driver that converts image data created by various application programs into print data. 3 denotes a print data transmission unit that sends print data created by the printer driver 2 to an image forming apparatus 5 described later. A print data receiving unit for receiving print data;
8 is an image developing unit that expands the received print data into an image.
An image recording unit 10 prints the image developed by the image developing unit 8 on paper or the like.

The operation of the image forming system configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG.
FIG. 6 is a schematic explanatory diagram showing a data flow, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation of the printer driver 2 of the host computer 1 constituting the image forming system of FIG.
In FIG. 5, reference numeral 21 denotes an application program;
Reference numeral 2 denotes image data; 24, a printer driver (same as the printer driver 2 in FIG. 4); 25, an operating system; and 26, print data.

In FIG. 5, image data 22 created by an application program 21 includes vector elements (graphic elements) such as straight lines, circles, ellipses, rectangles, and curves, and character elements (bitmaps and outline curves). Text element) and a bitmap element such as a photographic image. The printer driver 24 converts the image data 22 into print data 26. Elements that can be included in the print data 26 include:
At the time of operation of the image forming apparatus 5, in order to construct an efficient system as an entire image forming system from the development capacity and the amount of installed memory, the assumed processing capacity of the host computer 1, the data transmission capacity of the transmission path, etc. It is fixedly determined to what level of graphic element the print data is developed by the printer driver 2 of the host computer 1.

The operation of the image forming system shown in FIG. 4 will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 6, a printer driver 24 includes:
Data is sequentially read from the image data 22 created by the application program 21 (S11, S12). At this time, if the processing of all data has been completed, the operation ends (S11). The element type of the input image data obtained from the application program 21 is analyzed, and it is determined whether or not the element type is usable (S13). If usable, the corresponding print data is generated as it is (S14). If the element cannot be used, the element is converted to another element type by using the operating system 25 or a unique expansion function, for example, by approximating a curve with a plurality of straight line groups (S15). Print data to be generated (S14).

[0010]

However, in the above-described conventional image forming system, the load of a transmission line such as a network that changes every moment, the load of CPU processing on the image forming apparatus 5 and the host computer 1, and their memories. There is a problem that an efficient image forming system cannot always be constructed because print data is always generated in a fixed manner without considering the usage amount. Specifically, for example, in a system in which a relatively abstract graphic element such as a circle, an ellipse, or a square is frequently used as print data, the size of the print data is small and the load on the transmission path is small. The load of developing an image is large. In such a system, when print data is sent from many host computers 1 one after another, or when the CPU mounted on the image forming apparatus has a shortage of computational power, it is mounted on the image forming apparatus. For example, when the number of stored memories is small, the processing load of the image forming apparatus becomes very heavy, and the processing time may be very long.

In this image forming system, the level of the print data generated by the printer driver can be changed in accordance with the state of the image forming apparatus, thereby enabling a higher-speed image forming system in accordance with the state of the image forming apparatus. Is required to be realized.

According to the present invention, an image forming system capable of changing the level of print data generated by a printer driver in accordance with the state of an image forming apparatus to satisfy the demand and speeding up the entire system. The purpose is to provide.

[0013]

In order to solve this problem, an image forming system according to the present invention is an image forming system having a host computer and an image forming apparatus. A printer driver capable of designating an element type to be used for printing, a print data transmitting unit for transmitting print data, and a status information receiving unit for receiving status information from the image forming apparatus. A print data receiving unit that receives print data sent from the printer, an image developing unit that converts the received print data into a bitmap, and an image recording unit that sequentially prints the bitmapped print data and performs image recording, A state detection unit that detects various states of the image forming apparatus, and state information that transmits state information indicating the detected states to the host computer And a structure having a signal portion.

Thus, an image forming system capable of changing the level of the print data generated by the printer driver in accordance with the state of the image forming apparatus and speeding up the entire system is obtained.

[0015]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An image forming system according to a first aspect of the present invention is an image forming system having a host computer and an image forming apparatus, wherein the host computer is used when generating print data. A printer driver capable of designating an element type; a print data transmission unit for transmitting print data; and a status information receiving unit for receiving status information from the image forming apparatus. A print data receiving unit that receives the received print data, an image developing unit that converts the received print data into a bitmap, an image recording unit that sequentially prints the bitmapped print data to record an image, and an image forming apparatus And a status information transmitting unit that transmits status information indicating the detected status to the host computer. It is obtained by and.

According to this configuration, the printer driver can specify the element type to be used when generating the print data in accordance with the detection state of the image forming apparatus. It can be changed according to the state of the forming apparatus, and has the effect of speeding up the entire system.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image forming system according to the first aspect, the state detection unit includes a CPU capable of the image forming apparatus, a mounted memory capacity, and an image processing hardware. This is to detect hardware resources such as presence / absence.

According to this configuration, it is possible to generate print data of a level corresponding to the processing capability of the hardware of the image forming apparatus by the printer driver, and it is possible to realize a higher-speed image forming system. .

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image forming system according to the first aspect, the state detection unit includes a current processing load of a CPU of the image forming apparatus and a remaining amount of a mounted memory. This is to detect the hardware resource status of the above.

According to this configuration, it is possible to generate print data at a level corresponding to the hardware resource status of the image forming apparatus by the printer driver, which has the effect of realizing a higher-speed image forming system. .

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming system according to the first aspect, the state detecting section detects a communication load state of a transmission line connecting the host computer and the image forming apparatus. Things.

With this configuration, it is possible to generate print data of a more efficient level by the printer driver in accordance with the load condition of the transmission path, and it is possible to realize a higher-speed image forming system. .

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming system of the first aspect, the state detecting section detects and accumulates the actual development processing time for each element.

With this configuration, it is possible to generate print data at a level corresponding to the processing capability of the hardware of the image forming apparatus by the printer driver, and it has the effect of realizing a higher-speed image forming system. .

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming system of the first aspect, the state detecting section detects a type of an element which can be developed and set in advance in the image forming apparatus. Things.

With this configuration, it is possible to generate print data of a level corresponding to the processing capability of the hardware of the image forming apparatus by the printer driver, and it is possible to realize a higher-speed image forming system. .

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an image forming system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a host computer,
Reference numeral 2 denotes a printer driver capable of designating an element type used when generating print data, 3 denotes a print data transmitting unit that transmits print data, 4 denotes a status information receiving unit that receives status information from the image forming apparatus 5, 6 is the host computer 1
A print data receiving unit that receives print data sent from
Reference numeral 7 denotes a status information transmitting unit that transmits status information indicating various statuses of the image forming apparatus 5 to the host computer 1, 8 denotes an image developing unit that converts received print data into a bitmap, and 9 denotes various types of the image forming apparatus 5. State detection unit that detects the state, 1
An image recording unit 0 sequentially prints the developed image data and records the image. Note that the host computer 1 and the image forming apparatus 5 are connected by a connection unit such as a parallel interface and a network.

The operation of the image forming system configured as described above will be described.

In FIG. 1, data created by an application program on a host computer 1 is converted into print data via a printer driver 2 and transferred to an image forming apparatus 5 via a print data transmission unit 3. In the image forming apparatus 5, the print data is received by the print data receiving unit 6, syntax analysis and image expansion are performed by the image expansion unit 8, and the image data created and expanded is printed by the image recording unit 10. In the image forming apparatus 5, at the same time as performing such a printing operation, various state information detected by the image forming apparatus 5 is detected by the state detecting unit 9,
This status information is transmitted to the host computer 1 by the status information transmitting unit 7.

The host computer 1 receives the status information by the status information receiving unit 4 and notifies the printer driver 2 of the status information. The printer driver 2 creates print data with reference to the status information.

FIG. 2 is a schematic explanatory diagram showing a data flow around the printer driver 2 in FIG. 2, reference numeral 21 denotes an application program, 22 denotes image data, 23 denotes usable element type data, 24 denotes a printer driver (same as the printer driver 2 in FIG. 1), 25
Denotes an operating system, and 26 denotes print data.

In FIG. 2, image data 22 created by the application program 21 includes vector elements (graphic elements) such as straight lines, circles, ellipses, rectangles, and curves, and character elements (bitmaps and outline curves). Text element) and a bitmap element such as a photographic image. The printer driver 24 converts the image data 22 to the print data 26 while recognizing and considering the usable element type data 23 based on the status information notified from the image forming apparatus 5.
The elements that can be included in the print data 26 are more likely to be included in the image forming system as a whole, based on the development capacity and memory capacity of the image forming apparatus 5, the assumed processing capacity of the host computer 1, and the data transmission capacity of the transmission path. In order to construct an efficient system, it is dynamically determined at the time of operation of the image forming apparatus 5 which graphic element of which level is to be developed by the printer driver 2 of the host computer 1 and used as print data (that is, the graphic element level). Operates according to the state).

FIG. 3 shows the printer driver 24 (FIG. 1) of FIG.
Is the same as the printer driver 2).

First, the printer driver 24 analyzes the status information notified from the image forming apparatus 5 (S1). Next, a usable element type is set based on the analyzed information (S2). Next, the application program 21
The data are sequentially read from the image data 22 created by (1) (S3, S4). At this time, if the processing of all data has been completed, the operation ends (S3). The element type of the input data obtained from the application is analyzed to determine whether the element type is usable (S5). If usable, the corresponding print data is generated as it is (S
6). If the element cannot be used, the element is converted to another element type using the operating system 25 or a unique expansion function, for example, by approximating a curve with a plurality of straight line groups (S7), and then the corresponding element is used. Print data is generated (S6).

With such a configuration, it is possible to change the level of the print data generated by the printer driver 2 in accordance with various situations detected by the image forming apparatus 5, and to perform faster image formation in accordance with the situation. The system can be realized dynamically.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the host computer 1 allows the printer driver 2 (24) capable of specifying the element type used when generating the print data 26.
A print data transmitting unit 3 for transmitting print data 26,
A status information receiving unit 4 for receiving status information from the image forming apparatus 5; the image forming apparatus 5 includes a print data receiving unit 6 for receiving print data 26 sent from the host computer 1; An image developing unit 8 that converts the data 26 into a bit map; an image recording unit 10 that sequentially prints the bit mapped print data to record an image; and a state detecting unit 9 that detects various states of the image forming apparatus 5 And the status information transmitting unit 7 for transmitting status information indicating the detected status to the host computer 1, so that the printer driver 2 can set the element type used when generating the print data 26 Since it can be specified according to the detection state of the device 5, the printer driver 2
Can change the level of the print data generated in accordance with the state of the image forming apparatus, and can speed up the entire system.

(Embodiment 2) The configuration of an image forming system according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention is the same as that of Embodiment 1 shown in FIG. The difference between the present embodiment and the first embodiment is the operation of the state detection unit 9. That is, the state detection unit 9 is configured to detect hardware resources such as the capacity of the CPU and the memory capacity of the image forming apparatus 5 and the presence / absence of image processing hardware.

The operation of the image forming system configured as described above will be described.

The image data 22 created by the application program 21 on the host computer 1 is converted into print data 26 via the printer driver 2 and transferred to the image forming apparatus 5 via the print data transmitting section 3. In the image forming apparatus 5, the print data 26 is received by the print data receiving unit 6, syntax analysis and image expansion are performed by the image expansion unit 8, and the generated image data is printed by the image recording unit 10. The image forming apparatus 5 performs such a printing operation, and at the same time, transfers hardware resources such as the CPU capacity and the installed memory capacity of the image forming apparatus 5 and whether or not image processing hardware is installed to the image forming apparatus 5. When the power is turned on or the like, the state is detected in advance by the state detection unit 9 as state information, and the state information is transmitted to the host computer 1 by the state information transmission unit 7.

The host computer 1 receives the status information by the status information receiving unit 4 and notifies the printer driver 2 of the status information. The printer driver 2 creates the print data 26 with reference to the status information. At this time, in consideration of the information on the hardware resources of the image forming apparatus included in the status information, it is determined to what level the host computer 1 performs the processing, and the print data 26 using the more efficient element type is determined. Generate

For example, after comparing the hardware resources of the host computer 1 and the image forming apparatus 5, it was determined that the host computer 1 should break down to low-level elements without using curve elements such as Bezier. In this case, the printer driver 2 on the host computer 1 approximates the curve elements by a group of straight lines to generate print data 26.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the state detection unit 9 detects hardware resources such as the capacity of the CPU, the memory capacity of the image forming apparatus 5, and the presence / absence of image processing hardware. Since the printer driver 2 can generate print data at a level corresponding to the processing capability of the hardware of the image forming apparatus 5, a higher-speed image forming system can be realized.

(Embodiment 3) The configuration of an image forming system according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention is the same as that of Embodiment 1 shown in FIG. The difference between the present embodiment and the first embodiment is the operation of the state detection unit 9. That is, the state detection unit 9 is configured to detect the current hardware resource status such as the current processing load of the CPU of the image forming apparatus 5 and the remaining amount of the mounted memory.

The operation of the image forming system configured as described above will be described.

The image data 22 created by the application program 21 on the host computer 1 is converted into print data 26 via the printer driver 2 and transferred to the image forming apparatus 5 via the print data transmitting section 3. In the image forming apparatus 5, the print data 26 is received by the print data receiving unit 6, syntax analysis and image expansion are performed by the image expansion unit 8, and the generated image data is printed by the image recording unit 10. The image forming apparatus 5 performs such a printing operation and, at the same time, periodically updates the current hardware resource state of the image forming apparatus 5 such as the current processing load of the CPU and the remaining amount of the mounted memory using a timer or the like. The status information indicating the current hardware resource status is detected by the status detection unit 9 and transmitted to the host computer 1 by the status information transmission unit 7.

The host computer 1 receives the status information by the status information receiving section 4 and notifies the printer driver 2 of the status information. The printer driver 2 creates the print data 26 with reference to the status information. At this time, in consideration of information on the current hardware resources of the image forming apparatus 5 included in the state information, it is determined to what level the host computer 1 performs processing, and a more efficient element type is used. The print data 26 is generated.

For example, after comparing the current hardware resources of the host computer 1 and the image forming apparatus 5, it is determined that it is better to break down to a low-level element by the host computer without using a curve element such as Bezier. In this case, the printer driver 2 on the host computer 1 approximates the curve elements by a group of straight lines to generate print data 26.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the state detecting unit 9 detects the current hardware resource status such as the current processing load of the CPU of the image forming apparatus 5 and the remaining amount of the mounted memory. This allows the printer driver 2 to generate print data at a level corresponding to the hardware resource status of the image forming apparatus 5, so that a higher-speed image forming system can be realized.

(Embodiment 4) The configuration of an image forming system according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention is the same as that of Embodiment 1 shown in FIG. The difference between the present embodiment and the first embodiment is the operation of the state detection unit 9. That is, the state detection unit 9 is configured to detect the communication load state of the transmission line connecting the host computer 1 and the image forming apparatus 5.

The operation of the image forming system configured as described above will be described.

The image data 22 created by the application program 21 on the host computer 1 is converted into print data 26 via the printer driver 2 and transferred to the image forming apparatus 5 via the print data transmitting section 3. In the image forming apparatus 5, the print data 26 is received by the print data receiving unit 6, syntax analysis and image expansion are performed by the image expansion unit 8, and the generated image data is printed by the image recording unit 10. In the image forming apparatus 5, at the same time as performing such a printing operation, the state detecting unit 9 detects the communication load state of the transmission line connecting the host computer 1 and the image forming apparatus 5, and indicates the communication load state of the transmission path. The status information is transmitted to the host computer 1 by the status information transmitting unit 7.

The host computer 1 receives the status information by the status information receiving unit 4 and notifies the printer driver 2 of the status information. The printer driver 2 creates print data with reference to the status information. At this time, in consideration of the information regarding the communication load of the current transmission path of the image forming apparatus included in the state information, it is determined to what level the host computer 1 performs the processing, and a more efficient element type is used. Generated print data.

The detection of the communication load on the transmission path by the state detection unit 9 is performed, for example, by detecting the date and time data included in the print data generated by the printer driver 2 and the image forming apparatus 5.
The communication load on the current transmission path can be calculated from the difference between the time and the size of the transmitted print data. For example, when it is determined that the communication load on the transmission path is heavy, the printer driver 2 on the host computer 1 frequently uses element types with a high degree of abstraction and a small amount of data, such as straight lines, circles, ellipses, rectangles, and curves. Then, an effort is made to reduce the time required for data transmission by creating print data as small as possible.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the state detecting section 9 detects the communication load on the transmission line connecting the host computer 1 and the image forming apparatus 5, and thereby detects the load on the transmission line. Accordingly, print data at a more efficient level can be generated by the printer driver 2, so that a higher-speed image forming system can be realized.

(Embodiment 5) The configuration of an image forming system according to Embodiment 5 of the present invention is the same as that of Embodiment 1 shown in FIG. The difference between the present embodiment and the first embodiment is the operation of the state detection unit 9. That is, the state detection unit 9 is configured to detect and accumulate the actual expansion processing time for each element.

The operation of the image forming system configured as described above will be described.

The image data 22 created by the application program 21 on the host computer 1 is converted into print data 26 via the printer driver 2 and transferred to the image forming apparatus 5 via the print data transmitting section 3. In the image forming apparatus 5, the print data 26 is received by the print data receiving unit 6, syntax analysis and image expansion are performed by the image expansion unit 8, and the generated image data is printed by the image recording unit 10. The image forming apparatus 5 performs such a printing operation, and at the same time, detects and accumulates the actual developing time of each element type in the image developing unit 8 of the image forming apparatus 5 by the state detecting unit 9 using a timer or the like. The status information indicating the actual deployment time is transmitted to the host computer 1 by the status information transmitting unit 7.

The host computer 1 receives the status information by the status information receiving unit 4 and notifies the printer driver 2 of the status information. The printer driver 2 creates the print data 26 with reference to the status information. At this time, in consideration of the information on the required development time for each element type included in the state information, it is determined to what level the host computer 1 performs processing, and printing using a more efficient element type is performed. Generate data.

For example, when the time required for curve development such as Bezier in the image development unit 8 of the image forming apparatus 5 is slow for some reason, it is determined that it is better to perform the linear approximation to the curve element in the host computer 1. In the printer driver 2 on the host computer 1, the curve elements are approximated by a group of straight lines,
Generate print data.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the state detection unit 9 detects and accumulates the actual development processing time for each element, thereby reducing the processing capacity of the hardware of the image forming apparatus 5. Since print data of a corresponding level can be generated by the printer driver 2, a higher-speed image forming system can be realized.

(Embodiment 6) The configuration of an image forming system according to Embodiment 6 of the present invention is the same as that of Embodiment 1 shown in FIG. The difference between the present embodiment and the first embodiment is the operation of the state detection unit 9. That is, the state detection unit 9 is configured to detect a deployable element type preset in the image forming apparatus 5.

The operation of the image forming system configured as described above will be described.

The image data 22 created by the application program 21 on the host computer 1 is converted into print data 26 via the printer driver 2 and transferred to the image forming apparatus 5 via the print data transmission section 3. In the image forming apparatus 5, the print data 26 is received by the print data receiving unit 6, syntax analysis and image expansion are performed by the image expansion unit 8, and the generated image data is printed by the image recording unit 10. In the image forming apparatus 5, at the same time as performing such a printing operation, when the power of the image forming apparatus 5 is turned on, the expandable element type preset in the image forming apparatus 5 is detected by the state detection unit 9. Then, the status information indicating the preset expandable element type is transmitted to the host computer 1 by the status information transmitting unit 7.

The host computer 1 receives the status information by the status information receiving unit 4 and notifies the printer driver 2 of the status information. The printer driver 2 creates print data with reference to the status information. At this time, in consideration of the element type included in the status information and expandable by the image forming apparatus 5, it is determined to what level the host computer 1 performs processing, and printing using the more efficient element type is performed. Generate data.

For example, when the image developing unit 8 of the image forming apparatus 5 cannot develop a curve such as Bezier, the printer driver 2 on the host computer 1 approximates the curve element with a group of straight lines. hand,
The print data that can be developed by the image forming apparatus 5 is generated.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the state detection section 9 detects the expandable element type set in the image forming apparatus 5 in advance, so that the hardware of the image forming apparatus 5 is provided. Since print data at a level corresponding to the processing capability of the ware can be generated by the printer driver 2, a higher-speed image forming system can be realized.

[0069]

As described above, according to the image forming system of the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming system including a host computer and an image forming apparatus,
The host computer includes a printer driver capable of designating an element type used when generating print data, a print data transmitting unit that transmits print data, and a state information receiving unit that receives state information from the image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus has a print data receiving unit that receives print data sent from the host computer, an image developing unit that converts the received print data into a bit map, and sequentially prints the bit mapped print data. A printer driver having an image recording unit for performing image recording by using a printer, a state detecting unit for detecting various states of the image forming apparatus, and a state information transmitting unit for transmitting state information indicating the detected state to the host computer. Can specify the element type to be used when generating print data according to the detection state of the image forming apparatus. The level of the print data generated by the printer driver can be changed in accordance with the state of the image forming apparatus, an advantageous effect is obtained that it is possible to speed up the whole system.

According to the image forming system of the second aspect, in the image forming system of the first aspect, the state detecting unit includes a CPU capable of the image forming apparatus, a mounted memory capacity, and an image processing hardware. By detecting hardware resources such as presence / absence, the printer driver can generate print data at a level corresponding to the processing capacity of the hardware of the image forming apparatus, realizing a faster image forming system. This has the advantageous effect that it can be performed.

According to the image forming system of the third aspect, in the image forming system of the first aspect, the state detecting unit includes the current processing load of the CPU of the image forming apparatus, the remaining amount of the mounted memory, and the like. By detecting the current hardware resource status of the image forming apparatus, print data at a level corresponding to the hardware resource status of the image forming apparatus can be generated by the printer driver, thereby realizing a higher-speed image forming system. This has the advantageous effect of being able to do so.

According to the image forming system of the fourth aspect, in the image forming system of the first aspect, the state detecting unit detects a communication load state of a transmission line connecting the host computer and the image forming apparatus. Accordingly, print data at a more efficient level can be generated by the printer driver in accordance with the load condition of the transmission path, so that an advantageous effect that a higher-speed image forming system can be realized can be obtained.

According to the image forming system of the fifth aspect, in the image forming system of the first aspect, the state detecting unit detects and accumulates the actual development processing time for each element to form the image. Since print data of a level corresponding to the processing capability of the hardware of the apparatus can be generated by the printer driver, an advantageous effect that a higher-speed image forming system can be realized can be obtained.

According to the image forming system of the sixth aspect, in the image forming system of the first aspect, the state detecting section detects an expandable element type preset in the image forming apparatus. Accordingly, print data at a level corresponding to the processing capability of the hardware of the image forming apparatus can be generated by the printer driver, so that an advantageous effect that a higher-speed image forming system can be realized can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an image forming system according to first to sixth embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic explanatory diagram showing a data flow around the printer driver of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the printer driver of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a conventional image forming system.

FIG. 5 is a schematic explanatory diagram showing a data flow.

6 is a flowchart showing an operation of a printer driver of a host computer constituting the image forming system of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 host computer 2, 24 printer driver 3 print data transmission unit 4 status information reception unit 5 image forming device 6 print data reception unit 7 status information transmission unit 8 image development unit 9 status detection unit 10 image recording unit

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An image forming system comprising a host computer and an image forming apparatus, wherein the host computer is capable of designating an element type used when generating print data;
A print data transmitting unit that transmits print data; and a status information receiving unit that receives status information from the image forming apparatus, wherein the image forming apparatus performs printing that receives print data transmitted from the host computer. A data receiving unit, an image developing unit that converts the received print data into a bitmap,
An image recording unit that sequentially prints the bit-mapped print data to record an image; a state detection unit that detects various states of the image forming apparatus; and a host computer that stores state information indicating the detected state. An image forming system, comprising: a state information transmitting unit that transmits the state information to the image forming apparatus. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the status detection unit detects hardware resources such as a CPU capacity, a mounted memory capacity, and presence or absence of image processing hardware of the image forming apparatus. The image forming system as described in the above. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the status detection unit detects a current hardware resource status such as a current processing load of a CPU of the image forming apparatus and a remaining amount of a mounted memory. Image forming system. 4. The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein the state detecting unit detects a communication load state of a transmission line connecting the host computer and the image forming apparatus. 5. The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein the state detection unit detects and accumulates an actual development processing time for each element. 6. The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein the state detecting unit detects an expandable element type preset in the image forming apparatus.