JP2003029942A - Printing controller, control method therefor, program and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing controller transmitting the printing information of a plurality of printing settings set for the same original in one printing job to an output device, and to provide the control method, a program and a storage medium. SOLUTION: In the case that the presentation mode of printing the printing information of the same original to an OHP film and a paper sheet is specified, the printing settings for the OHP film and the paper sheet are set, the printing information (PDL data) to be printed to the OHP film and the paper sheet is generated on the basis of the printing settings and the generated printing information (PDL data) is transmitted to a printer as one printing job.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a print control apparatus, a control method therefor, a program, and a storage medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Overhead projectors (OH
When a presentation is made using P), there is a case where a routine work of printing one copy of an original on an OHP film for presentation and then printing a plurality of copies of the same original on paper for distribution. Conventionally, a manuscript is created by an information processing device such as a personal computer, one copy of the output for OHP is printed on paper by an output device such as a printer, the printed manuscript is copied to an OHP film by a copying machine, and further distributed. The most common procedure is to set the number of copies, layout, single-sided / double-sided, stapling, etc., change the OHP output to paper output, and perform copying.

In recent years, a printer in which a personal computer and a printer can be connected to each other and printing on an OHP film or stapling as an output medium has become common, and a user can use the personal computer without using a copying machine. Work can be done only with a printer. In such work using a personal computer and a printer, an original is first created on the host computer, the OHP is directly specified on the printer as an output medium, the OHP output for presentation is printed, and the print setting is changed and distributed. It is possible to print on paper for use.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, the troublesome work of changing the setting for the same original and executing printing a plurality of times is required. Further, since a plurality of print jobs are transmitted to the printer, two print jobs are generated by one print operation by the user, and a plurality of print jobs are generated on the OS spooler, the spooler in the printer, or the hard disk built in the printer. Since it is treated as a print job, it can be paused, stopped, reprinted,
When executing the print job status display, etc.,
It was necessary to target multiple print jobs. Further, in the shared printer connected on the network, another print job has a problem that it interrupts between the plurality of print jobs.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and a print control device and a print control device capable of transmitting print information of a plurality of print settings set for the same document in one print job to an output device. It is an object of the present invention to provide a control method, a program, and a storage medium.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a print control apparatus of the present invention includes a designating unit for designating a print mode for printing print information of the same document on a plurality of output media, and the print mode. Is specified, setting means for setting print settings for the plurality of output media and one print job in which respective print information to be printed on the plurality of output media are combined based on the print settings are generated. And generating means.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the control method of the print control apparatus of the present invention is such that the print mode of the same document is printed on a plurality of output media, and the print mode is specified. When specified, a setting step of setting print settings for the plurality of output media, and generation of one print job by combining respective print information to be printed on the plurality of output media based on the print settings And a process.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

First, before describing the present embodiment, a system including a printer to which the present invention is applicable and an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer connected to the printer,
In particular, as spool means for temporarily storing in a data format (so-called intermediate code) different from the print data finally sent to the printer before generating print data to be sent to the printer on the information processing device. , A despooler as a despooler for generating print data to be finally sent to the printer from the data temporarily stored in the intermediate code format, and a printer driver for generating a printer control command. The system configuration will be described.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of a printer control system according to this embodiment. As shown, the printer control system includes a host computer 30.
00 and printer 1500.

As long as the functions of the present invention can be realized, a single device or a system composed of a plurality of devices can be connected and processed through a network such as LAN or WAN. The present invention can be applied to a system in which

The host computer 3000 shown in FIG.
Shows a preferred example of the print control device of the present invention, and includes a program ROM in the ROM 3 and an external memory (H
D, FD) 11 is provided with a CPU 1 for executing document processing in which graphics, images, characters, tables (including spreadsheets, etc.) are mixed based on a document processing program stored in D, FD 11 and is connected to a system bus 4. The CPU 1 generally controls each device. In addition, the program ROM in this ROM3
An operating system (hereinafter referred to as “OS”) which is a control program of the CPU 1 and the like are stored in the external memory 11 and the font ROM in the ROM 3 and the external memory 11
Stores the font data and the like used in the document processing, and the data ROM in the ROM 3 and the external memory 11 store various data used in the document processing and the like. The RAM 2 functions as a main memory, a work area, etc. of the CPU 1.

Further, in the host computer 3000, 5 is a keyboard controller (KBC) which controls inputs from the keyboard 9 and a pointing device (not shown). 6 is a CRT controller (CRTC)
And controls the display on the CRT display (CRT) 10. 7 is a disk controller (DKC),
Boot program, various applications, font data, user files, edit files, printer control command generation program (hereinafter "printer driver")
It controls access to the external memory 11 such as a hard disk (HD), a floppy (registered trademark) disk (FD), etc. for storing the like. 8 is a printer controller (PRT
C), which executes a communication control process with the printer 1500 connected via the bidirectional interface (interface) 21.

It should be noted that the CPU 1 executes the rasterizing process of the outline font in the display information area set on the RAM 2, for example, and the W on the CRT 10 is executed.
It enables YSIWYG. Further, the CPU 1 is C
Open various windows registered based on commands designated by a mouse cursor (not shown) on the RT10,
Performs various data processing. As a result, when executing printing, the user can open a window relating to print settings and make printer settings and print processing method settings for the printer driver, including print mode selection.

On the other hand, in the printer 1500, 12 is a printer CPU, which is a program R in the ROM 13.
The system bus 1 based on the control program or the like stored in the OM or the control program or the like stored in the external memory 14.
An image signal as output information is output to the printing unit (printer engine) 17 connected to the printer 5. Also, this ROM1
A control program of the CPU 12 and the like are stored in the program ROM of 3, font data and the like used when generating output information are stored in the font ROM of the ROM 13, and a data ROM of the ROM 13 is stored. In the case of a printer having no external memory 14 such as a hard disk, information used on the host computer is stored.

The CPU 12 can communicate with the host computer 3000 via the input unit 18, and can notify the host computer 3000 of information and the like in the printer 1500. The RAM 19 is the CPU 12
RAM that functions as the main memory and work area of the device, and is connected to an expansion port (not shown)
The memory capacity can be expanded by the AM.

The RAM 19 is used as an output information expansion area, environment data storage area, NVRAM, and the like. Access to the external memory 14 such as the hard disk (HD) or IC card described above is controlled by the memory controller (MC) 20. The external memory 14 is connected as an option and stores font data, emulation programs, form data and the like. In addition, the operation panel 1
Reference numeral 501 includes a switch for operation, an LED display, and the like.

Further, the above-mentioned external memory 14 is not limited to one, but a plurality of external memories can be connected, and in addition to the built-in font, an option card and a plurality of external memories storing programs for interpreting printer control languages of different languages can be connected. It may be configured as follows. Further, an NVRAM (not shown) may be provided to store printer mode setting information from the operation panel 1501.

Next, a typical printing process executed by a host computer to which a printing device such as a printer is directly connected or connected via a network will be described.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a printing process executed in the host computer 3000. The application 201, the graphic engine 202, the printer driver 203, and the system spooler 204 in the figure are
It is a program module that exists as a file stored in the external memory 11 and is loaded into the RAM 2 and executed by a module that uses the OS or its module when executing. Further, the application 201 and the printer driver 203 can be added to the HD of the external disk 11 via the FD of the external memory 11, a CD-ROM (not shown), or a network (not shown).

First, the application 201 stored in the external memory 11 is loaded into the RAM 2 and executed. Printer 150 from this application 201
When the keyboard 9 or a mouse (not shown) is instructed to perform printing on 0, output (drawing) is performed using the graphic engine 202 that is also loaded in the RAM 2 and is executable.

Here, the graphic engine 202 similarly loads the printer driver 203 prepared for each printing apparatus from the external memory 11 to the RAM 2, and sets the output of the application 201 in the printer driver 203. Then, the G received from the application 201
Based on the DI (Graphic Device Interface) function, DDI (D
Evice Driver Interface) function, and outputs the DDI function to the printer driver 203.

As a result, the printer driver 203 converts the control command recognizable by the printer 1500, for example, PDL (Page Description Language) based on the DDI function received from the graphic engine 202.
Then, the converted printer control command is passed by the OS to the system spooler 204 loaded in the RAM 2 and output as print data to the printer 1500 via the interface 21.

Next, the printing system in this embodiment will be described. In this embodiment, in addition to the printing system including the printer and the host computer shown in FIG.
Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the print data from the application is temporarily spooled with the intermediate code data.

FIG. 3 is an extension of the system shown in FIG. 2. When the print command is sent from the graphic engine 202 to the printer driver 203, the spool file 303 consisting of the intermediate code is once generated. is there.

In the system shown in FIG. 2, the application 201 is released from the print processing when the printer driver 203 finishes converting all the print commands from the graphic engine 202 into printer control commands.

On the other hand, in the system shown in FIG. 3, it is the time when the spooler 302 converts all print commands into intermediate code data and outputs it to the spool file 303. That is, according to the system shown in FIG. 3, the application 201 is released from the printing process in a short time. Further, in the system shown in FIG. 3, the contents of the spool file 303 can be processed. Therefore,
It is possible to realize a function not provided by the application, such as enlarging / reducing the print data from the application 201 or reducing a plurality of pages to one page and printing.

Thus, for the system shown in FIG.
The system shown in FIG. 3 is expanded so that the intermediate code data is spooled. In order to process the print data, the normal printer driver 20
The printer driver 203 saves the settings in the RAM 2 or the external memory 11 by making settings from the window provided by the printer 3.

Next, the print processing of the system shown in FIG. 3 will be described in detail. As shown in the figure, in this extended processing method, the dispatcher 301 receives a DDI function which is a print command from the graphic engine 202. Here, in the dispatcher 301, the print command (DDI function) received from the graphic engine 202 is sent from the application 201 to the graphic engine 202.
If it is based on the print command (GDI function) issued to the printer 2, the spooler 302 stored in the external memory 11 is loaded into the RAM 2 and the printer driver 203
Instead, the print command (DDI function) is sent to the spooler 302.

The spooler 302 analyzes the received print command, converts it into an intermediate code in page units, and outputs it to the spool file 303. The spool file of the intermediate code stored in page units is called a page drawing file (PDF). Also,
The spooler 302 processes the print data set for the printer driver 203 (bookbinding printing,
(Nup, duplex, staple, color / monochrome, etc.) is acquired from the printer driver 203 and stored in the spool file 303 as a file for each job. At this time, the setting file stored for each job is called a job setting file (SDF: Spool Description File for short). This job setting file will be described later.

Although the spool file 303 is generated as a file in the external memory 11, it may be generated in the RAM 2. Further, the spooler 302 has an external memory 1
Spool file manager 304 stored in 1
Is loaded in the RAM 2 and the spool file manager 304 is notified of the generation status of the spool file 303. After that, the spool file manager 304
Determines whether printing can be performed according to the contents of the processing settings regarding the print data stored in the spool file 303.

Here, the spool file manager 30
4 determines that printing can be performed using the graphic engine 202, the despooler 305 stored in the external memory 11 is loaded into the RAM 2, and the intermediate code described in the spool file 303 is written to the despooler 305. Command to print the page drawing file. As a result, the despooler 305 processes the page drawing file of the intermediate code included in the spool file 303 according to the job setting file including the processing setting information included in the spool file 303, and the GDI
The function is regenerated and the GDI function is output again via the graphic engine 202.

On the other hand, when the print command (DDI function) received from the graphic engine 202 is based on the print command (GDI function) issued from the despooler 305 to the graphic engine 202, the dispatcher 301 is Instead, a print command is sent to the printer driver 203. As a result, the printer driver 203 generates a printer control command in page description language or the like based on the DDI function acquired from the graphic engine 202, and the system spooler 204
Output to the printer 1500 via.

Further, FIG. 3 shows an example in which a previewer 306 and a setting change editor 307 are provided in addition to the extended system described so far to enable previewing, print setting change, and combining of a plurality of jobs.

Here, print preview, print setting change,
In order to combine a plurality of jobs, it is necessary for the user to first specify "edit + preview" from the pull-down menu that is a means for "designating the output destination" on the property screen of the printer driver shown in FIG.

Here, the contents set by the properties of the printer driver are stored as a setting file in a structure provided by the OS (for example, DEVMODE in the Windows (registered trademark) OS). The structure includes, for example, a setting as to whether to store in the spool file manager 304 during the processing setting included in the spool file 303. The spool file manager 304 reads the processing setting via the printer driver, When the store is designated, the page drawing file and the job setting file are generated and stored in the spool file 303 as described above. Then, as shown in FIG. 16, the spool file manager window screen pops up, and the spool file 303
The jobs spooled to are displayed in a list.

FIG. 16 shows an example in which four jobs are spooled, and the job can be operated by pressing the menu bar 1601 or the menu icon 1602 immediately below it. The number of operations of the menu bar 1601 and the menu icon 1602 is the same. The types of this operation are "print" with a job selected, "save and print" to leave the spool file of the intermediate code as it is, and the output preview of the job in consideration of print settings. "Preview", "Delete" to delete the intermediate code spool file, "Duplicate" to create a copy of the intermediate code spool file, and "Join" to combine jobs of multiple intermediate code spool files into one job ”,“ Split ”to divide the combined job into multiple original jobs,“ Edit job ”to change the print settings (layout settings, finishing settings, etc.) of a single job or combined job, and the print order of the desired job first. "Move to the beginning", move the print order of the desired job one step earlier, "Move up" to change the print order of the desired job One slow "moves down one", or more "last movement" to end the printing order of a desired job, there are eleven operations.

When a preview of a single job or a combined job is specified on the window screen of the spool file manager shown in FIG. 16, the previewer 306 stored in the external memory 11 is loaded into the RAM 2,
Spool file 303 for previewer 306
It is instructed to perform the preview processing of the job of the intermediate code described in.

The previewer 306 is the spool file 3
Page drawing file of intermediate code included in 03 (PD
F) is sequentially read, processed according to the contents of the processing setting information included in the job setting file (SDF) stored in the spool file 303, and the GDI function is output to the graphic engine 202. Then, the graphic engine 202 outputs the drawing data to the client area of the graphic engine 202, which enables output on the screen.

The graphic engine 202 can also perform appropriate rendering according to the designated output destination. Therefore, like the despooler 305, the previewer 306 can be realized by a method of processing the intermediate code included in the spool file 303 according to the contents of the processing settings included in the spool file 303 and outputting it using the graphic engine 202. Becomes

As described above, the processing settings set by the printer driver 203 are stored in the spool file 303 as a job setting file, and the data of the page drawing file is processed and output based on the job setting file. If the actual drawing data is printed, and if Nup (processing to reduce the logical page of N pages to the physical page of 1 page and print) is specified, double-sided printing is performed. In this case, if the bookbinding printing is designated or the stamp is designated, the user can be provided with a print preview closest to that output by the printer.

The preview function provided by the application software such as the conventional document creation is based on the page setting in the application, so that the print setting in the printer driver 203 is not reflected and the actual printing is performed. The output preview could not be recognized by the user.

By performing the preview processing as described above, a large preview of the print processing settings included in the spool file 303 is displayed in the previewer 3 as shown in FIG.
06 is displayed on the screen, and then the previewer 306 is closed by the user's non-display instruction, and the control shifts to the window screen of the spool file manager shown in FIG.

If the user prints according to the contents displayed by the previewer 306, the print request is issued by instructing "print" or "save and print" on the window screen of the spool file manager 304. Issue. As a result, the despooler 305 processes the page drawing file based on the job setting file to generate the GDI function, the print request is transmitted to the graphic engine 202, and the print command is sent to the printer driver 203 via the dispatcher 301. Printing is executed.

Next, the setting change using the setting change editor 307 will be described. As a method of realizing this, similarly to the preview, it is possible to set the job for which "edit + preview" is designated in FIG. By the same process, the window screen of the spool file manager 304 is popped up, and the spooled jobs are displayed in a list. When “job edit” is specified on the window screen of the spool file manager 304 and a setting change instruction is given, the setting change editor 307 stored in the external memory 11 is loaded into the RAM 2 and the setting change editor 307 is set. Instruct to display the current or default processing settings. Then, a job setting screen as shown in FIG. 18 is displayed.

The setting change editor 307 acquires the job setting file of the job for which "job editing" is specified from the spool file 303, and based on the setting items specified in the job setting file, the job shown in FIG. Change the default value on the setting screen. In the example shown in FIG. 18, in the job setting file of the job for which “job editing” is designated, the number of copies: 1 copy, the printing method: single-sided, the layout: 1 page / sheet, etc. are designated.

This setting change editor 307 also processes the page drawing file of the intermediate code contained in the spool file 303 according to the contents of the processing setting contained in the job setting file stored in the spool file 303,
By outputting to the client area of itself using the graphic engine 202, it is possible to output a small preview on the screen shown in FIG.

Further, here, it is possible to change or modify the contents of the processing setting contained in the job setting file stored in the spool file 303. At this time, the settable items of the printer driver 203 may be included in the user interface on the setting change editor 307, or the user interface of the printer driver 203 itself may be called.

As shown in FIG. 18, the number of copies, printing method (single-sided, double-sided, bookbinding printing), page layout, layout order, etc. can be specified, and by pressing "Detailed setting",
Most of the items that can be specified by the printer driver can be reset. However, changing the settings related to print quality such as resolution and graphic mode is not allowed.

The change item changed here is authenticated according to the authentication request on the setting change editor 307, and the control is transferred to the spool file manager 304. If the change is authenticated, the print setting change will be saved.However, instead of saving it in the original job setting file, a new job output setting file used for job editing etc. is created. It will be saved. Details of the job output setting file will be described later with reference to FIG.

Then, if the user similarly confirms with the previewer 306 and prints according to the changed settings,
A print request is issued on the spool file manager 304. The print request is transmitted to the graphic engine 202, and the printer driver 2 is sent via the dispatcher 301.
A print command is sent to 03 and printing is executed.

Further, in the window screen of the spool file manager 304 shown in FIG. 16, it is possible to specify that a plurality of print jobs are combined and printed as one print job. This is also premised on a job whose output destination is designated as "edit + preview" in the properties of the printer driver shown in FIG.

Next, when the user combines print jobs, first, the printer driver 203 is called from the application 201, and "Edit + Preview" is selected from the user interface as shown in FIG. As in the case described above, this selection causes the spool file 30
3, and the window screen of the spool file manager 304 is popped up as shown in FIG. Then, the spooled jobs are displayed as a list on the window screen of the spool file manager 304. By performing the same operation from the application 201, a list of a plurality of jobs will be displayed on the spool file manager 304.

Here, when a plurality of jobs are selected and "combined" is designated, the setting change editor 307 stored in the external memory 11 is loaded into the RAM 2 and the top of the setting change editor 307 on the list is loaded. Instruct to display the job or default processing settings. And
A combination setting screen as shown in FIG. 18 is displayed. Although the job setting screen of the setting change editor 307 is used as the combination setting screen, a different module may be used.

The setting change editor 307 processes the page drawing file of the intermediate code contained in the spool file 303 according to the contents of the processing setting contained in the job setting information stored in the spool file 303, and designates it as a combined job. All the jobs are output to the client area of the client by using the graphic engine 202 to output on the screen. At that time, a small preview of all the jobs selected in the preview area shown in FIG. 18 is possible. Further, when generating a combined job, a job output setting file is generated by expanding the job setting file of each individual job.
This job output setting file is created even when a job is edited, one file can be created for one job, and one file is created for a combined job.

Here, it is possible to display the processing settings for each job before combining them, or to change and modify the combined processing settings for the combined job so that the combined jobs can be displayed. At this time, the settable items of the printer driver 203 may be included in the user interface on the setting change editor 307, or the user interface of the printer driver 203 itself may be called.

As for the job and the changed items changed here, the change is authenticated according to the authentication request on the setting change editor 307 as described above, and the control is transferred to the spool file manager 304. By these operations, the plurality of jobs selected previously are displayed as one combined job on the window of the spool file manager.

If the user similarly confirms with the previewer 306 and prints according to the changed settings,
A print request is issued on the spool file manager 304. The print request is transmitted to the graphic engine 202, and the printer driver 2 is sent via the dispatcher 301.
A print command is sent to 03 and printing is executed.

Next, the printer 15 in the present embodiment, which performs printing based on the printer control command input from the printer driver 203 via the system spooler 204.
The structure of 00 will be described.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the structure of the printer in this embodiment. Here, a color laser printer having a double-sided printing function will be described as an example of the printer 1500.

As shown in FIG. 4, in this printer, a laser beam modulated according to the image data for each color obtained based on the print data input from the host computer 3000 is reflected by the polygon mirror 431 on the photosensitive drum 415.
Scan over to form an electrostatic latent image. Then, this electrostatic latent image is toner-developed to obtain a visible image, and this is multi-transferred to the intermediate transfer member 409 for all colors to form a color visible image. Then, the color visible image is transferred to the transfer material 40.
2 and the color visible image is fixed on the transfer material 402.

The image forming section for performing the above control includes a drum unit 413 having a photosensitive drum 415, a primary charging section having a contact charging roller 417, a cleaning section, a developing section, an intermediate transfer member 409, a sheet cassette 401 and various rollers 403. The sheet feeding unit includes 404, 405, and 407, a transfer unit including a transfer roller 410, and a fixing unit 425.

The drum unit 413 comprises a photosensitive drum (photosensitive member) 415 and a cleaner container 414 having a cleaning mechanism which also functions as a holder of the photosensitive drum 415, which are integrally formed. The drum unit 413 is detachably supported on the printer body, and the photosensitive drum 415 is supported.
The unit can be easily replaced according to the life of the unit. The photosensitive drum 415 is formed by applying an organic photoconductor layer on the outer circumference of an aluminum cylinder, and
It is rotatably supported by 14. Photosensitive drum 415
Is rotated by transmitting the driving force of a drive motor (not shown), and the drive motor rotates the photosensitive drum 415 in the counterclockwise direction according to the image forming operation. An electrostatic latent image is formed by selectively exposing the surface of the photosensitive drum 415.

In the scanner section 430, the modulated laser light is reflected by the polygon mirror 431 which rotates in synchronization with the horizontal synchronizing signal of the image signal by the motor 431a, and the photosensitive drum 415 is irradiated through the lens 432 and the reflecting mirror 433. To do.

The developing section develops yellow (Y), magenta (M) and cyan (C) in order to visualize the electrostatic latent image into three color developing devices 420Y and 420Y.
0M, 420C and one black developing device 421B for developing black (B). The color developing devices 420Y, 420M, 420C and the black developing device 421B have sleeves 420YS, 420MS,
420CS and 421BS, and these sleeves 420Y
S, 420MS, 420CS, 421BS coating blades 420YB, 420MB, 4 which come into pressure contact with the outer periphery of each.
20 CB and 421 BB are provided respectively.
Also, three color developing devices 420Y, 420M, 420C
Coating rollers 420YR, 420MR, 420CR
Is provided.

The black developing device 421B is detachably attached to the printer main body, and
0Y, 420M, and 420C are detachably attached to the developing rotary 423 that rotates around the rotation shaft 422.

Sleeve 421 of black developing device 421B
The BS is arranged with respect to the photosensitive drum 415 with a minute gap of, for example, about 300 μm. The black developing device 421B conveys the toner by a feeding member built in the device, and imparts a charge to the toner by frictional charging so that the toner is applied to the outer circumference of the sleeve 421BS rotating in the clockwise direction by the applying blade 421BB. Further, by applying a developing bias to the sleeve 421BS, the photosensitive drum 415 is developed according to the electrostatic latent image, and a visible image is formed on the photosensitive drum 415 with black toner.

Three color developing devices 420Y, 420M,
420C rotates with the rotation of the developing rotary 423 at the time of image formation, and the predetermined sleeves 420YS, 42Y
0MS, 420CS is 300 for the photosensitive drum 415
They face each other with a minute interval of about μm. Thereby, the predetermined color developing devices 420Y, 420M, 420
C stops at the developing position facing the photosensitive drum 415, and a visible image is formed on the photosensitive drum 415.

At the time of color image formation, the intermediate transfer member 409
The developing rotary 423 rotates for each one rotation of the yellow developing device 420Y, the magenta developing device 420M, the cyan developing device 420C, and then the black developing device 421B in this order, and the intermediate transfer member 409 rotates four times to rotate yellow. , A magenta, cyan, and black toner are sequentially formed, and as a result, a full-color visible image is formed on the intermediate transfer member 409.

The intermediate transfer member 409 is configured to come into contact with the photosensitive drum 415 and rotate with the rotation of the photosensitive drum 415. The intermediate transfer member 409 rotates clockwise during color image formation, and the photosensitive drum 415 rotates four times. Receive multiple transfer of visible image. Also, the intermediate transfer member 409 is
A transfer roller 410, which will be described later, comes into contact with the transfer material 402 so that the transfer material 402 is nipped and conveyed.
The above color visible images are simultaneously transferred in multiplex. On the outer peripheral portion of the intermediate transfer body 409, TOP sensors 409a and R for detecting the position in the rotation direction of the intermediate transfer body 409 are provided.
An S sensor 409b and a density sensor 409c for detecting the density of the toner image transferred to the intermediate transfer member 409 are arranged.

The transfer roller 410 is provided with a transfer charger that is supported so as to be able to come into contact with and separate from the photosensitive drum 415, and is constructed by winding a metal shaft around a medium resistance foamed elastic body. As shown by the solid line in FIG. 4, this transfer roller 410 is spaced apart downward so as not to disturb the color visible image during the multiple transfer of the color visible image onto the intermediate transfer member 409. After the color visible images of four colors are formed on the intermediate transfer member 409, the transfer roller 410 is indicated by a dotted line in the figure by a cam member (not shown) at the timing of transferring the color visible image to the transfer material 402. Position it above. As a result, the transfer roller 410 is pressed against the intermediate transfer member 409 via the transfer material 402 with a predetermined pressing force, and a bias voltage is applied,
The color visible image on the intermediate transfer member 409 is transferred to the transfer material 402.

The fixing section 425 is for fixing the transferred color visible image while conveying the transfer material 402, and for fixing the transfer material 402 to the fixing roller 426 and the transfer material 402 in pressure contact with the fixing roller 426. Pressure roller 427. The fixing roller 426 and the pressure roller 427 are formed in a hollow shape, and have heaters 428 and 429 built therein. That is, the transfer material 402 holding the color visible image is conveyed by the fixing roller 426 and the pressure roller 427, and the toner is fixed on the surface by applying heat and pressure.

The transfer material 402 after fixing the visible image is then discharged by the paper discharge rollers 434, 435, 436 to the paper discharge unit 437, and the image forming operation is completed.

The cleaning means cleans the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 415 and the intermediate transfer member 409. After the visible image formed by the toner formed on the photosensitive drum 415 is transferred to the intermediate transfer member 409. The waste toner and the waste toner after transferring the color visible images of four colors formed on the intermediate transfer member 409 to the transfer material 402 are stored in the cleaner container 414.

The transfer material (recording paper) 402 to be printed is
The color toner image is taken out from the paper feed tray 401 by the paper feed roller 403, is conveyed so as to be sandwiched between the intermediate transfer body 409 and the transfer roller 410, and a color toner image is recorded. It is fixed. In the case of single-sided printing, the guide 438 forms a conveyance path so as to guide the recording paper to the upper paper discharge unit 437, but for double-sided printing, a path is formed so as to guide it to the lower duplex unit.

The recording sheet guided to the double-sided unit is once fed to the lower part of the tray 401 (conveyance path indicated by the chain double-dashed line) by the conveyance rollers 440 and then conveyed in the opposite direction.
It is sent to the double-sided tray 439. On the double-sided tray 439, the paper is turned upside down from the state of being placed on the paper feed tray 401, and is also turned upside down in the carrying direction. In this state, double-sided printing can be performed by transferring and fixing the toner image again.

Here, the spooler 302 described above inputs a print request from the application 201 via the graphic engine 202 and the dispatcher 301, analyzes the print request, converts it into an intermediate code in page units, and generates a spool file. The generation process in the spooler 302 will be described.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the generation process in the spooler 302. First, step S5
In 01, the spooler 302 is the application 2
The print request is accepted from 01 via the graphic engine 202 and the dispatcher 301. In the application 201, a dialog for inputting print settings as shown in FIG. 8 is displayed, and the print settings input from this dialog are passed to the spooler 302 via the printer driver 203. The setting input dialog shown in FIG. 8 includes setting items such as 801 for determining the number of logical pages to be laid out on one physical page.

Next, in step S502, the spooler 302 determines whether the received print request is a job start request. If it is determined that the print start request is a job start request, the process proceeds to step S503, and the spooler 302 temporarily stores the intermediate data. A spool file 303 to be stored in is created. Next, in step S504, the spooler 302
Notifies the spool file manager 304 of the progress of the printing process, and in the subsequent step S505, the spooler 3
The page number counter 02 is initialized to "1". Here, the spool file manager 304 reads the job setting information and the processing settings for the job for which printing has started from the spool file 303 and stores them.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S502 that the request is not a job start request, the process advances to step S506, and the spooler 302 determines whether the received request is a job end request. If it is determined that the request is not a job end request, the process advances to step S507 to determine whether the page is a page break. If it is determined in step S507 that the page is a new page, the process advances to step S508 to notify the spool file manager 304 of the progress of the printing process, increment the page number counter,
Close the page drawing file that stores the intermediate code,
Generate the next page drawing file.

If it is determined in step S507 that the received print request is not a page break, the process advances to step S509, and the spooler 302 prepares to write the intermediate code in the page drawing file. Then, in step S510, in order to store the print request in the spool file 303, the spooler 302 converts the print request into the intermediate code of the DDI function. Next, in step S511, the spooler 302 writes the print request (intermediate code) converted into the form that can be stored in step S510 into the page drawing file of the spool file 303. After that, the process returns to step S501, and the print request is received from the application 201 again.

The series of processing from step S501 to step S511 is continued until a job end request (End Doc) is received from the application 201. Then, the spooler 302 simultaneously sets the printer driver 20.
Information such as the processing settings stored in the DEVMODE structure is acquired from 3 and stored in the spool file 303 as a job setting file. On the other hand, when it is determined in step S506 that the print request from the application 201 is the job end, all the print requests from the application have ended, and thus the process proceeds to step S512.
The spool file manager 304 is notified of the progress of the print processing, and the processing ends.

Next, the spool file manager 304
A process for receiving a progress notification from the spooler 302 or the despooler 305 and controlling the generation process by the spooler 302 and the print data generation process by the despooler 305 described later will be described.

FIG. 6 shows the spool file manager 30.
6 is a flowchart showing control by No. 4. First, in step S601, the spool file manager 3
04 receives a progress notification of the printing process from the spooler 302 or the despooler 305. Next, step S60.
In 2, the spool file manager 304 determines whether the progress notification is the print start notification from the spooler 302 notified in step S504 shown in FIG. If the print start notification is sent from the spooler 302, the process advances to step S603 to read the print processing settings from the spool file 303 and start job management.

On the other hand, in step S602, if it is not the print start notification from the spooler 302, step S60.
In step 4, the spool file manager 304 determines whether the progress notification is a print end (page break) notification of one logical page from the spooler 302 notified in step S508 illustrated in FIG. If it is a print end notification for one logical page, the process advances to step S605 to store the logical page information for this logical page. And step S
At 606, it is determined at this point whether printing of one physical page can be started for the n logical pages for which spooling has ended. If printing is possible, step S607.
Then, the physical page number is determined from the logical number assigned to one physical page to be printed.

Regarding the calculation of this physical page, for example, when the processing setting is such that four logical pages are arranged in one physical page as shown in FIG. 8, the first physical page is the fourth.
When the logical page is spooled, it becomes printable and becomes the first physical page. Similarly, the second physical page can be printed when the eighth logical page is spooled.

Even if the total number of logical pages is not a multiple of the number of logical pages to be arranged on one physical page, the logical page to be arranged on one physical page can be determined by the spool end notification in step S512 shown in FIG. Is.

Then, in step S608, as shown in FIG.
In the format shown in 0, the logical page number that constitutes the printable physical page and information such as the physical page number are saved in the job output setting file (file containing physical page information) The despooler 305 is notified that the information for one physical page has been added. Then, it returns to step S601 and waits for the next notification. still,
This job output setting file will be described later with reference to FIG.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the printing process can be performed even when the spooling of the print job is not completed at the time when one page of print data, that is, the logical page forming one physical page is spooled. is there.

On the other hand, in step S604 described above,
If the progress notification is not the print end notification of one logical page from the spooler 302, the process advances to step S609, and the spool file manager 304 executes step S51 shown in FIG.
It is determined whether or not it is the job end notification from the spooler 302 notified in 2. Here, if it is a job end notification, the process proceeds to step S606 described above. If it is not the job end notification, the process advances to step S610, and the spool file manager 304 determines that the received notification is the despooler 3
It is determined whether or not the print end notification from 05 is one physical page. Here, if it is the print end notification of one physical page, the process proceeds to step S612, and it is determined whether or not the printing of the processing settings is all finished. When printing is completed, the process advances to step S612 to notify the despooler 305 of the end of printing. If it is determined in step S611 that the printing for the processing setting is not completed yet, the process proceeds to step S606 described above.

The despooler 305 according to the present embodiment.
Assumes that one physical page is used as a unit for performing print processing. Further, in step S608 described above, the information necessary for performing the printing process of one physical page is sequentially saved in a file and is in a reusable format. However, when reusability is not necessary, a shared memory or the like is used. A high-speed medium may be used and may be configured to overwrite one physical page at a time to save speed and resources. Also, despool 3
If the progress of the spool 302 is faster than the progress of 05 or if the despool 305 is started after the spooling of all pages is finished, the page printable is not notified for each physical page in step S608. , Despool 30
It is also possible to save the number of notifications by setting the notification content that a plurality of physical pages or all physical pages can be printed according to the progress on the 5 side.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S610 that the notification is not the print end notification of one physical page from the despooler 305, the process proceeds to step S613.
The spool file manager 304 uses the despooler 30.
It is determined whether or not it is the print end notification from 5. If it is determined that the notification is the print end notification from the despooler 305, the process advances to step S614, the spool file manager 304 deletes the corresponding page drawing file of the spool file 303, and ends this process. If it is not the print end notification from the despooler 305 in step S613, the process proceeds to step S615, other normal processing (for example, error processing) is performed, and the next notification is awaited.

Next, a print data generation process in which the despooler 305 reads necessary information (page drawing file, job setting file, etc.) from the spool file 303 in response to a print request from the spool file manager 304 and generates print data explain. The method of transferring the generated print data to the printer 1500 is as described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a print data generation process in the despooler 305. First, in step S701, the notification from the spool file manager 304 is input. Continued Step S70
In 2, the despooler 305 determines whether the input notification is a job end notification, and if it is a job end notification, the process proceeds to step S703, and the end flag is set. Then, the process proceeds to step S705.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S702 that the job has not been completed, the process advances to step S704 and the process shown in FIG.
It is determined whether or not it is the print start request for one physical page notified in step S608 shown in FIG. Here, if it is not a print start request, the process proceeds to step S710 to perform other processing (error processing), returns to step S701, and waits for the next notification. If it is determined in step S704 that the print start request is for one physical page, the process proceeds to step S705, and the despooler 305 stores the ID of the printable physical page notified in step S704. Then, in step S706, the despooler 305
It is determined whether the print processing has been completed for all the pages of the physical page ID stored in step S705. Here, if the printing process of all the physical pages has been completed, the process proceeds to step S707, and it is determined whether or not the end flag is set in step S703 described above. Here, if the end flag is set, it is considered that the job has ended, and the spool file manager 304 is notified of the processing end of the despooler 305, and this processing is ended. If the end flag is not set in step S707, the process returns to step S701 to wait for the next notification.

On the other hand, in step S706 described above,
If it is determined that there are printable physical pages, the process proceeds to step S708, and the despooler 305 sequentially reads the unprocessed physical page IDs from the stored physical page IDs. Then, the information necessary for generating the print data of the physical page corresponding to the read physical page ID is read and the printing process is performed. This print processing is processing for converting the print request command stored in the spool file 303 into a format (GDI function) that can be recognized by the graphic engine 202 in the despooler 305, and transferring it.

As in this embodiment, a plurality of logical pages are set to 1
Processing settings that are laid out on the physical page (below,
For “print N pages”), this step S708
Convert while considering the reduced layout with. Next, when the necessary printing process is completed, the spool file manager 304 is notified in step S709 that the print data generation for one physical page is completed. Then, the process returns to step S706 again, and is repeated until the print processing is performed for all the printable physical page IDs stored in step S705.

Above, the dispatcher 301 and the spooler 3
02, the spool file manager 304, and the despooler 305 perform the print processing, so that the spooler 3
The application 201 is released from the print processing at the timing when 02 generates the intermediate code and stores it in the spool file 303, and the processing time can be shortened as compared with the conventional print processing in which the application 201 directly outputs to the printer driver 203.

Further, since the spool file 303 is temporarily stored as an intermediate file (page drawing file, job setting file) based on the print settings of the printer driver, the user can recognize the print preview to be actually printed. Or multiple applications 201
By combining and rearranging the print jobs generated by the above, it is possible to allow the user to perform the print setting change without restarting the application 201 and printing.

Here, in the print processing using the spooler 302, the job output setting file is generated by the despooler 305 when a print request is sent to the graphic engine 202, but the job output setting file is also used when previewing or combining jobs. File is generated. This job output setting file is equivalent to the job setting file in the case of a single job, and is generated based on a plurality of job setting information in the case of a combined job.

The job output setting file in this embodiment will be described below.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a job output setting file in this embodiment. This job output setting file stores the information that constitutes the printable physical page generated by the spool file manager 304 in step S608 of FIG. In FIG. 10, an ID for identifying a job is stored in a field 1001, and it is also possible to store it in the form of a file name in which this information is stored or a shared memory name.
Job setting information is stored in the field 1002.
This job setting information includes the graphic engine 202.
Structure needed to start printing the job for
Information that can be set only for one job, such as N page printing designation, additional drawing designation of a page frame, etc., finishing designation such as number of copies and stapling, is included. Further, this job setting information stores as much information as necessary according to the function for the job.

The field 1003 stores the number of physical pages of the job, and it is shown that, after this field, physical page information of this number is stored. In the present embodiment, since the method of notifying the number of printable physical pages is used, it is possible to operate without this field. After this field, the physical page information is stored by the number stored in the field 1003 from the field 1004 to the end. This physical page information will be described later with reference to FIG.

FIG. 11 shows the field 100 shown in FIG.
It is a figure which shows an example of the 2nd job setting information. In FIG. 11, the field 1101 stores the total number of physical pages, and the field 1102 stores the total number of logical pages. The information in the fields 1101 and 1102 can be used when added to the print data and printed such as the number of pages as additional information. When printing is continued, both fields are tentative values, or the spool file manager 304 postpones the creation of printable physical page information until printing is completed. Field 1
In 103, copy number information that specifies how many copies are to be printed in a print job is stored. In the field 1104, in the case of setting to print a plurality of copies in the field 1103, a designation as to whether or not to print each copy is stored. The field 1105 stores finishing information such as stapling, punching, and Z-folding, and is designated when a finisher is provided in the printer body or outside. A field 1106 stores decorations such as a page frame, additional information such as a date, a user name, the number of pages, and information added to a job such as digital watermark printing. It should be noted that as the number of functions increases, the number of fields included in this job setting information also increases. For example, when double-sided printing is possible, a field for saving the designation of double-sided printing is added.

FIG. 12 shows the field 100 shown in FIG.
It is a figure which shows an example of the physical page information of No. 4. In FIG. 12, a physical page number is stored in the first field 1201 and a value used when managing the printing order and additionally printing the physical page number is stored. Field 120
The physical page setting information is stored in 2, and when the layout and color / monochrome can be designated for each physical page, the layout and color / monochrome settings are saved. The field 1203 stores the number of logical pages allocated to physical pages, and when 4 pages are allocated to one physical page, ID indicating 4 or 4 page printing is stored.
Is saved. From the field 1204 onward, information of logical pages is stored by the number specified in the field 1203.

Depending on the number of pages printed by the application 201, the actual number of page data may be smaller than the number of pages designated by the field 1203. In that case, special data indicating an empty page is stored in the logical page information to handle it.

FIG. 13 shows the field 120 shown in FIG.
It is a figure which shows the example of 2 physical page setting information. In FIG. 13, a field 1301 stores the order of arranging the logical pages on the physical page, and the order of arranging the logical pages on the physical page in N page printing (from upper left to horizontal, from upper left to lower, etc.). The specifications are saved. Depending on the system, the setting of the field 1301 may be substituted by arranging the logical page information after the field 1204 in the order according to the arrangement order instead of the page number order, instead of the arrangement order. The field 1302 has a double-sided printing surface.
Information on the back side is stored and used, for example, when aligning the binding margins on the front side and the back side. A field 1303 stores a designation of a color page or a monochrome page. When the printer has a monochrome mode and a color mode, in a document in which the color page and the monochrome page are mixed, the color page is the color mode and the monochrome page is the monochrome mode. It is used when you want to print with. By having this information, it becomes possible to change the processing by the color printer page by page as the auto color mode.
That is, the color page makes four rotations if the intermediate transfer body (intermediate transfer drum, intermediate transfer belt) or the transfer body (transfer drum, transfer belt) is YMCK for the number of device colors, and the monochrome page makes one rotation only for black. This makes it possible to control transcription. Field 1304
The additional print information is stored in and is used when additional information such as the number of pages and the date is printed on the physical page. A field is added to this physical page setting information according to the function of the system.

FIG. 14 shows the field 120 shown in FIG.
It is a figure which shows an example of the logical page information of No. 4. In FIG. 14, a field 1401 stores the ID of a logical page, and the spool file 303 is used to refer to the intermediate code of the page drawing file corresponding to the logical page using this ID. Further, it is sufficient that the intermediate code of the logical page can be accessed using this ID, and the intermediate code itself that constitutes the logical page may be contained even if it is a file or a memory pointer. A logical page number is stored in the field 1402 and is used when the logical page number is printed as additional information or as auxiliary information of the logical page ID. Format information is stored in the field 1403, and various setting items that can be designated in logical page units are stored. For example, additional printing information such as a page frame, and information of various settings such as enlargement / reduction ratio designated in logical page units are stored. If necessary, attribute information for a logical page such as color / monochrome information for each logical page can be stored. On the contrary, the field 1403 is not necessary in a system in which setting is changed in logical page units or attribute information in logical page units is unnecessary.

As described above, the job output setting file is formed, but the job setting file is also formed in almost the same manner, and the print format (single-sided, double-sided, bookbinding printing),
It has a print layout (Nup, poster print), additional information (digital watermark, date, user name addition), number of copies, paper size information as a job, and for each physical page,
It is configured by the layout order of logical pages, the front side or the back side of double-sided printing, the color mode, and the like.

A process for realizing the job setting changing function by the setting changing editor 307 shown in FIG. 3 will be described below in addition to the extended system described above.
In the present embodiment, the setting contents of the job are included in the job setting file in the case of a single job and in the job output setting file shown in FIG. 10 in the case of a combined job, and the intermediate code is saved. Spool file 303
Since it is independent from, it is possible to change the job settings by recreating the job output setting file.
The setting change editor 307 realizes a job setting changing function by recreating a job output setting file alone or in cooperation with the spool file manager 304 or by rewriting a part of the setting file.

FIG. 15 is a flow chart showing the job setting change process in the setting change editor 307. First, in step S1501, the setting change editor 3
Reference numeral 07 reads the job setting file or the job output setting file. The job output setting file is the same file that the previewer 305 and the despooler 303 read. Next, in step S1502, the contents of the read file are displayed to the user, and in the following step S1503, a dialog with the user is performed on the user interface as shown in FIG. Change the settings. This step may be performed in a batch format in which the step is changed according to the contents of the setting change written in a file or the like, instead of the interactive format.

Next, in step S1504, the setting change editor 307 compares the setting contents first read in step S1501 with the current setting contents, and determines whether or not the setting contents have been changed. If there is a change in the setting contents, the process advances to step S1505 to generate a new job output setting file, notify the spool file manager 304 of the change, and terminates. If it is determined in step S1504 that the setting contents have not been changed, the spool file manager 304 is notified that the setting contents have not been changed, and the processing ends.

In this way, a new job output setting file is generated, and when the user selects the "OK" button on the user interface screen shown in FIG. 18, the new job output setting file is validated. Delete the old job output configuration file. Also, instead of changing the settings file for job output, in the case of a job settings file for a single job, it is saved without being deleted.
Further, in the user interface screen shown in FIG. 18, when the user selects the "reset to initial state" button, the new job output setting file is deleted and the old job output setting file is validated and reflected in the display. Let

In this embodiment, the setting change editor 3
Although 07 has been described as a separate module, it may simply be a part of the user interface of the spool file manager 304. Also, the setting change editor 307 does not actually write the changed contents to the job output setting file,
Spool file manager 30
The spool file manager 304 may be configured to actually change the job output setting file only by notifying the user of No. 4.

Next, in addition to the conventional extended system for combining a plurality of print jobs and printing them as one print job,
An extension for despooling a combined job will be described.

Generally, the intermediate code format spool file 303 is created for each job. In the case of a single job, since the intermediate code of each logical page in the job file to be processed is sequentially read and processed, the field 14
A logical page ID of 01 can be realized by a relative or absolute offset indicating where each logical page is located in the file. Field 14 for combined jobs
It is necessary to specify the spool file 303 and the page information belonging to the job from the job ID of 01.
In this embodiment, I for identifying the spool file 303
The spool file 303 is specified by adding D to the logical page ID. In this case, the only major change is the field 1401. Here, if the spool file 303 can be identified, the reading of the page portion can be processed by the same logic as the processing of a single job. Further, when the spool file 303 is stored in the form of a separate file for each logical page, the file name of the logical page is stored in the field 14 as it is.
The logical page ID may be 01.

Next, a case will be described in which a plurality of different settings are made for a document created by the host computer 3000 of the above-described printing system, and the document is sent to the printer 1500 as one print job. Specifically, for example, the printer 1500 does not have a presentation function of continuously outputting print data received from the host computer 3000 to an OHP output for presentation and a paper output for distribution (that is, a presentation mode is designated). A method for realizing a presentation function by using a job binder function (defined by using a protocol) when a command cannot be understood) will be described.

The job binder function described above means that the PDL data as a plurality of documents are continuously written between commands for instructing from the start to the end of one print job transmitted from the printer driver 203 to the printer 1500. This is a function that enables transmission.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a user interface of the printer driver 203 for designating printing of the same document in a plurality of print settings. When the check box of "Presentation Mode" 1901 is checked on this user interface, the presentation function of printing the presentation OHP and the distribution material at once becomes effective. Further, when the “detailed setting button” 1902 in the presentation mode becomes valid and the button is pressed,
The dialog indicated by 0 is activated.

In the dialog shown in FIG. 20, detailed settings for the presentation mode can be made.
Note that the user interface of the printer driver 203 has the same setting items as the items that can be set here, but the settings there are applied to the distribution material, and the OHP is set.
The above dialog settings are applied to. As shown in the figure, the setting items are paper type 2001, color print mode 2002, output paper size 2003, and number of copies 20.
04, page layout 2005, printing method 2006,
It is composed of a paper discharge method 2007, a paper discharge destination 2008, and the like. Since the printing of the announcement OHP is assumed here, the default value of each setting is "color" or "automatic determination" if the paper type 2001 is "OHP film" and the color printing mode 2002 is a color machine. , Output paper size 2003 is “same as original size”, number of copies 2004 is “1”, page layout 2005 is “1 page / sheet (standard)”, printing method 2006 is “single-sided printing”, and discharge destination 2008 is It becomes the discharge destination where OHP can be discharged.

Since these settings can be changed in this dialog, it is also possible to output on paper for presentation or N-up print, for example, instead of OHP film. Since the setting in this dialog can be made independently of the setting for the distribution material, it is possible to print in color on the OHP film and monochrome in the distribution material.

When the user designates the presentation mode through the user interface shown in FIGS. 19 and 20 and executes printing, as described above, the spooler 302 sets the processing settings for the job to the job setting file of the spool file 303. Saved in
Presentation OH set in the user interface shown in
The setting for P is also saved in the spool file 303 in the same format as the job setting file. That is, when this presentation mode is specified, the presentation OH
A job setting file for P and a job setting file for paper material for distribution are stored.

When "Edit + Preview" is selected as the output destination of the user interface of the printer driver 203 during printing, the user interface of the spool file manager 304 shown in FIG. 16 is popped up, Furthermore, the large preview shown in FIG.
The job setting screen shown in FIG. 18 can be used similarly. When a job in which the presentation mode is specified is opened on the job setting screen, the check box 1801 for the presentation mode shown in FIG. 18 is activated in the ON state. When the check box 1801 is turned on, the detailed setting button 1802 and the preview target selection combo box (2103 shown in FIG. 21 described later or 2204 shown in FIG. 22) are configured to be enabled.

When the detailed setting button 1802 is pressed here, a dialog similar to the detailed setting dialog of the presentation mode provided in the user interface of the printer driver 203 shown in FIG. 20 is displayed, and the OHP material for presentation is displayed. The setting contents can be confirmed or changed. The content displayed in this dialog is the OHP for presentation stored in the spool file 303.
When it is read from the job setting file for the material and changed, it is saved in the job output setting file as described above.

However, in the case of the presentation mode, two job output setting files are stored, one for the OHP material for presentation and one for the paper material for distribution. However, if the job output setting file has already been created, a dialog is displayed based on this content. Further, in the combo box for selecting the preview target, it is possible to select which of the OHP material for presentation and the paper material for distribution is to be previewed.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a job setting screen when distribution is selected in the preview target selection combo box 2103. As shown in the figure, the small preview area 2101 previews the distribution material laid out with 2 pages / sheet on both sides, and as shown by 2102, it is also displayed that the required number of sheets is 7. ing. The display here shows the contents of the job setting file corresponding to the paper material for distribution. However, if a job output setting file has already been created, a preview display is performed based on the contents.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing a job setting screen when presentation is selected in the preview target selection combo box 2204. As shown in the figure, in the small preview area 2201, presentation materials laid out on one side with one page / sheet are previewed, and as shown by 2202, the required number of sheets of paper (OHP) is 27. Is also displayed. At this time, the print settings 2203 such as the number of copies, the printing method, and the layout show setting values for distribution, and only the small preview area 2201 is changed for presentation.

In the presentation display, unlike the small preview display of the job setting screen described above, the preview display is performed based on the contents of the job setting file corresponding to the OHP material for presentation stored in the spool file 303. . Regarding other displays, the display is performed based on the contents of the job setting file corresponding to the paper material for distribution. Of course, if the job output setting file has already been generated, both the announcement and distribution files are displayed based on the contents of the job output setting file.

By such processing, the print setting for the OHP material for presentation and the print setting for the paper material for distribution can be confirmed in the preview area before printing. Further, in the present embodiment, the large preview user interface shown in FIG. 17 does not include a control for switching the preview target, but the preview target can be switched and previewed as in the job setting screen. It is easy to understand that it is possible.

Next, description will be made on the processing when the presentation mode is enabled and printing is executed by the user interface of the printer driver 203 or the job setting screen. It should be noted that "Edit + Preview" is set in the output destination setting of the user interface of the printer driver 203.
When printing is executed with the presentation mode turned on by selecting any other than, the user interface of the spool file manager 304 shown in FIG. 16 is not displayed, but the print processing is performed from the spool file manager 304 by "Edit + Preview". The processing is the same as the printing processing when printing is executed.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing the print processing in the presentation mode in the despooler 305 and printer driver 203. First, the despooler 305 is O
According to the print processing procedure of S, for example, in the case of Windows OS,
A process of generating a GDI function which is a print data drawing function such as CreateDC () and StartDoc () is executed. This process
The printer driver 203 is notified via the graphic engine 202 (hereinafter, referred to as GDI), and the printer driver 203 performs job generation processing and job attribute setting processing for the printer 1500. In particular,
The printer driver 203 is the graphic engine 20.
2 (GDI) based on a DDI function input, a command for instructing the printer 1500 of job generation and job attributes, and a command to the printer 1500 via an OS procedure for transmitting data to the printer 1500. To send.

Next, the despooler 305 uses ExtEscape (DO
CUMENT_START) to the printer driver 203 1
The start of the document having the second print setting is notified via GDI. Specifically, it means notification of printing start of the announcement OHP portion. In the next ResetDC (), the print settings for the first document are set as GDI functions.
The DDI function output to DI and converted by GDI is notified to the printer driver 203. Specifically, the print setting for the announcement OHP is notified to the printer driver 203. Upon receiving these processes, the printer driver 203 performs the document generation process and the document attribute setting process for notifying the printer 1500 that the first document has started. Specifically, a printer control command for instructing the printer 1500 to set print settings for the OHP part for presentation is generated, and the printer 15
Command is sent to the printer 1500 through the OS procedure for sending data to 00.

After that, the despooler 305 notifies the printer driver 203 of the drawing content of the first document, that is, the drawing content of the OHP for presentation.
As described above, the printer driver 203 receives the drawing content in the form converted from the GDI function to the DDI function,
A drawing command such as PDL that can be interpreted by a printer is converted and transmitted to the printer 1500.

Next, the despooler 305 informs ExtEscape (DOCUMENT_END) and ExtEscape (DOCUMENT_END) that the first document ends and the second document starts.
The printer driver 203 is notified by (START). Since these two notifications are intended to notify the document boundary, it is possible to combine them into one notification that notifies the document boundary.

After that, the despooler 305 performs the process for the second document, that is, the paper material for distribution, similarly to the process for the first document. The process is the same as the process for the first document except that the notification of the print settings and the drawing content is for the paper material for distribution.

Finally, the despooler 305 follows the print processing procedure of the OS, for example, if it is a Windows OS, EndDoc ().
And so on to terminate the print job. This processing is notified to the printer driver 203 via GDI, and the printer driver 203 performs job end processing. Specifically, a command for instructing the printer 1500 to end the job is generated, and the command is transmitted to the printer 1500 through an OS procedure for transmitting data to the printer 1500.

Here, the despooler 305 is the GDI.
Although specific APIs such as ExtEscape () and ResetDC () have been given as examples of means for notifying the printer driver 203 via the above, if the despooler 305 and the printer driver 203 can execute print processing in synchronization with each other,
It goes without saying that the same processing can be realized by using a means other than this API.

The print job generated in the presentation mode by such processing applies a plurality of print settings (for presentation and distribution) to the same document, but the job binder function (defined using the protocol) is used. Can be sent from the printer driver 203 to the printer 1500 as one print job. For example, the printer driver 203 is the printer 150.
For 0, one print job divided into a plurality of blocks including a document generation command, a document attribute setting command, and PDL data as shown in FIG. 24 is generated. Here, each block is bound by the job binding information.

According to the above-described embodiment, when the same document is printed by applying a plurality of print settings in one print operation, it is possible to send it as one print job to an output device such as a printer. It will be possible. As a result, it is handled as one print job on the spooler of the OS, the spooler of the output device such as a printer, or the hard disk of the output device. When displaying or the like, it is possible to set one print job as an operation target, like a normal print job.

Further, even a shared printer connected to the network will not be interrupted by another print job.

Even when the present invention is applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (eg, host computer, interface device, reader, printer, etc.), a device composed of one device (eg, copier, facsimile) Device).

Further, an object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium having a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus, and to supply a computer (CPU or MP) of the system or apparatus.
It goes without saying that U) is also achieved by reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

A storage medium for supplying the program code is, for example, a floppy disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD.
-R, CD-RW, DVD, magnetic tape, non-volatile memory card, ROM, etc. can be used.

Moreover, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by executing the program code read by the computer, but also the OS (operating system) running on the computer based on the instructions of the program code. It is needless to say that this also includes a case where the above) performs a part or all of the actual processing and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written in the memory provided in the function expansion board inserted in the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instruction of the program code, It goes without saying that a case where the CPU provided in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs a part or all of the actual processing and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is also included.

[0147]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to transmit the print information of a plurality of print settings set for the same document to one output device in one print job.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a printer control system according to this embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a printing process executed in a host computer 3000.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration in which a print command from an application is temporarily spooled as intermediate code data.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of the printer in this embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a generation process in the spooler 302.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing control by a spool file manager 304.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a print data generation process in the despooler 305.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a dialog for inputting print settings.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a property screen of a printer driver.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a job output setting file according to the present embodiment.

11 is a diagram showing an example of job setting information in a field 1002 shown in FIG.

12 is a diagram showing an example of physical page information of a field 1004 shown in FIG.

13 is a diagram showing an example of physical page setting information in a field 1202 shown in FIG.

14 is a diagram showing an example of logical page information of a field 1204 shown in FIG.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a job setting change process in the setting change editor 307.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a window screen of a spool file manager.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a large preview of print processing settings included in the spool file 303.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a job setting screen.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a user interface of a printer driver for designating printing of the same document with a plurality of print settings.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing a detailed setting dialog in a presentation mode.

FIG. 21 is a preview target selection combo box 210.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a job setting screen when distribution is selected in 3.

FIG. 22 is a selection target combo box 220 for previewing.
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a job setting screen in the case where the announcement use is selected in 4.

FIG. 23 is a despooler 305 and a printer driver 203
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a printing process in a presentation mode in FIG.

FIG. 24 is a print data configuration diagram illustrating a print job including a plurality of document generation blocks generated by the printer driver 203.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 CPU 2 RAM 3 ROM 4 system bus 12 CPU 13 ROM 19 RAM 201 application 202 graphic engine 203 printer driver 204 System Spooler 301 dispatcher 302 Spooler 303 spool file 304 Spool File Manager 305 Despooler 306 Previewer 307 Setting change editor 1500 printer 3000 host computer

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Yasuo Mori             3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo             Non non corporation F-term (reference) 2C061 AP01 AP03 AP04 AQ06 AR01                       AR03 AS13 HN16 HR06                 2C087 AA09 AB05 AC08 BA01 BA03                       BA07 BD06 BD57 CA03 CA05                       CB12 CB20 DA01                 5B021 AA01 CC07 KK00

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. A designating unit for designating a print mode for printing the print information of the same document on a plurality of output media; and a setting unit for configuring print settings for the plurality of output media when the print mode is designated. And a generating unit that generates one print job that combines print information to be printed on the plurality of output media based on the print setting. 2. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of output media are an OHP film and paper. 3. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the setting unit has a display control unit that displays a user interface for editing the print setting. 4. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the generation unit generates one print job by combining a plurality of print data blocks including print information and print attributes by job binding information. . 5. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a transmitting unit that transmits the print information generated by the generating unit to the output device as one print job. 6. A designation step of designating a print mode for printing the print information of the same document on a plurality of output media, and a setup step of setting print settings for the plurality of output media when the print mode is designated. And a generating step of generating one print job in which print information to be printed on the plurality of output media is combined based on the print setting. 7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the plurality of output media are an OHP film and paper. 8. The control method of a print control apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the setting step includes a display control unit for displaying a user interface for editing the print setting. 9. The print control apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the generating step generates one print job in which a plurality of print data blocks including print information and print attributes are combined by job binding information. Control method. 10. The print information generated in the generating step is set to 1
7. The method of controlling a print control apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising a transmission step of transmitting one print job to the output device. 11. A designation procedure for designating a print mode for printing the print information of the same document on a plurality of output media, and a setup procedure for setting print settings for the plurality of output media when the print mode is designated. And a generating procedure for causing a computer to execute a generating procedure for generating one print job in which print information to be printed on the plurality of output media is combined based on the print setting. 12. The program according to claim 11, wherein the setting procedure includes a display control procedure for displaying a user interface for editing the print setting. 13. The program according to claim 11, wherein the generation procedure generates one print job in which a plurality of print data blocks including print information and print attributes are combined by job binding information. 14. The print information generated in the generation procedure is set to 1
The program according to claim 11, further comprising a transmission procedure for transmitting one print job to the output device. 15. A computer-readable storage medium in which the program according to any one of claims 11 to 14 is stored.