JP2005243048A - Information processor, print processing method, program, and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform an output faithful to a result expected by a user by controlling a reprinting start page in accordance with an attribute set in a print job in reprinting at the time of a printer failure. <P>SOLUTION: An information processor for generating print data to be printed by a printer includes a recognition module for recognizing a failure occurrence in processing a print job of a document together with a failure occurrence page when the document is printed; a determination module for determining a reprinting start page according to a print attribute of the print job interrupted by the failure occurrence and the failure occurrence page; and a data transfer module for transferring print data in a reprinting rage specified by the reprinting start page determined by the determination module to a printer for representatively reprinting the interrupted print job to make the printer execute the reprinting. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus that generates print data in reprint control of a printer in a printing system, an information processing method thereof, and the like.

In a conventional printing system, when printing is interrupted due to a printer failure or the like, the printer detects the number of printed pages, determines that the next page is a reprint start page, and proceeds with print data processing. . Then, the reprint start page is set as print data, and the print processing interrupted by transferring the print data to another printer or the original printer after waiting for the recovery of the trouble has been attempted.
As the above-described prior art, for example, there is one shown in Patent Document 1 below.
JP 10-49314 A

  However, in the conventional printing system, when resuming printing, the printing attribute for determining the printing format set for the printing job before and after the interruption of the printing job is not taken into consideration. A format different from the result may be output. For example, when double-sided printing is specified as a print job attribute, if the reprint start page is an even page, if the double-sided printing is normally processed, printing is performed on the back side of the print page. There may be a case where the combination of pages printed on the front and back sides is shifted after the reprint start page and the result is different from the result expected by the user, for example, the content is printed on the front side.

  Also, if stapling is specified for the print job, the user should expect stapling for each copy, but the page before the reprint start page of the document is missing May be stapled, which may be different from the result intended by the user.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and by controlling the reprint start page of a print job according to the attributes set in the print job, an output faithful to the result expected by the user can be obtained. It is intended to do.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises the following arrangement.

That is, an information processing device that generates print data to be printed by a printer
Recognizing means for recognizing a failure occurrence in the print job processing of the document together with the failure page when printing the document;
Determining means for determining a reprint start page according to a print attribute of the print job interrupted due to the occurrence of a failure and the failed page;
Data transfer means for transferring the print data in the reprint range specified from the reprint start page determined by the determination means to a printer acting on behalf of the reprint of the interrupted print job, and executing the reprint; It is characterized by providing.

  According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, in the above information processing apparatus, print data for the reprint range is generated from intermediate file format data in accordance with the faulty page recognized by the recognition means and the print attribute. And a transfer unit that transfers the print data in the reprint range generated by the generation unit to a printer acting as a proxy.

  According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the information processing apparatus further includes setting means for setting a printer that performs the reprinting when the interrupted print job is reprinted.

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, in the information processing apparatus, the setting unit sets the priority order of a plurality of printers acting on behalf of each printer,
The data transfer means specifies a printer that performs the reprinting according to the priority order.

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the information processing apparatus further includes a data input means for performing print setting of the document,
In accordance with the input from the data input means, a printer that performs reprinting and / or a priority order of the printer is set.

  According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, in the information processing apparatus, the determination unit includes a result of the failure detected by the failure detection unit, and a print attribute of the print job suspended due to the failure. , The reprint start page is determined.

  According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, in the information processing apparatus, when the determination unit detects that double-sided printing is designated as a print attribute of the print job, the reprint start page is If the failure page is a front page, it is set as the failure page (L), and if the failure page is a back page, it is set as the page (L-1) before the failure page. .

  According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, in the information processing apparatus, when the determination unit detects that stapling is specified as a print attribute of the print job, the reprint start page is Set to the first page of the print job.

  According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, in the information processing apparatus described above, when the determining unit detects that the data of one print is repeatedly arranged as a print attribute of the print job, The reprint start page is calculated based on the number of pages (M) for one copy.

  According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, in the above information processing apparatus, the determining means is configured based on a number of pages (M) corresponding to the number of copies of a number sequence (1, M, 2 × M, 3 × M, ... NN × M... (NN is a natural number)), and among the sequence elements, the maximum value not more than the failed page (L) is set as the reprint start page.

  According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, in the information processing apparatus, when the determination unit detects that bookbinding printing is set as a print attribute of the print job, the reprint start page is displayed. The first page of the paper including the faulty page is set.

  According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, in the information processing apparatus, when the determination unit detects that booklet volume printing is set as a print attribute of the print job, the reprint start page is displayed. The volume containing the failure page is retrieved and set as the first page included in the volume.

Alternatively, an information processing method for generating print data to be printed by a printer is as follows:
A recognition step of recognizing a failure occurrence in the print job processing of the document together with a failure page when printing the document;
A determination step of determining a reprint start page according to the print attribute of the print job interrupted due to the occurrence of a failure and the failure occurrence page;
A data transfer step of transferring the print data in the reprint range specified from the reprint start page determined in the determination step to a printer acting as a proxy for the reprint of the interrupted print job, and executing the reprint; It is characterized by providing.

  According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, in the information processing method described above, the print data of the reprint range is generated from the intermediate file format data according to the faulty page recognized by the recognition step and the print attribute. The information processing method according to claim 13, further comprising: a generation step that transfers the print data in the reprint range generated by the generation step to a printer acting as a proxy.

  According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the information processing method further includes a setting step of setting a printer that performs the reprinting when the interrupted print job is reprinted.

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, in the information processing method described above, the setting step sets the priority order of a plurality of printers acting on behalf of each printer,
In the data transfer step, a printer that performs the reprinting in accordance with the priority order is specified.

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the information processing method further includes a data input step for setting print setting of the document,
In accordance with the input in the data input step, a printer that performs reprinting and / or a priority order of the printer is set.

  According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, in the information processing method described above, the determination step includes a result of occurrence of a failure detected by the failure detection step, and a print attribute of the print job interrupted due to the occurrence of the failure. , The reprint start page is determined.

  According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, in the information processing method, when the determination step detects that double-sided printing is designated as a print attribute of the print job, the reprint start page is If the failure page is a front page, it is set as the failure page (L), and if the failure page is a back page, it is set as the page (L-1) before the failure page. .

  According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, in the information processing method, when the determination step detects that stapling is specified as a print attribute of the print job, the reprint start page is Set to the first page of the print job.

  According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, in the above information processing method, when it is detected that the determination step is data in which a part of data is repeatedly arranged as a print attribute of the print job, The reprint start page is calculated based on the number of pages (M) for one copy.

  According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, in the information processing method described above, the determining step is based on a number of pages (M) corresponding to the number of copies of a number sequence (1, M, 2 × M, 3 × M, ... NN × M... (NN is a natural number)), and among the sequence elements, the maximum value not more than the failed page (L) is set as the reprint start page.

  According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, in the information processing method, when the determination step detects that bookbinding printing is set as a print attribute of the print job, the reprint start page is displayed. The first page of the paper including the faulty page is set.

  According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, in the information processing method described above, when the determination step detects that booklet volume printing is set as a print attribute of the print job, the reprint start page is displayed. The volume containing the failure page is retrieved and set as the first page included in the volume.

  Further, the computer program is characterized in that the function of the information processing apparatus is specified as a function executed by the computer.

  A computer-readable storage medium stores the above computer program.

  According to the present invention, even when a print job is interrupted due to a printer failure or the like, by determining the reprint start page based on the print attribute, the print attribute before the interrupt is maintained even during reprinting, A print job can be executed under consistent print attributes, and an output faithful to the result expected by the user can be performed.

<System overview>
An outline of a document processing system which is a preferred embodiment of the information processing system of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In this document processing system, a data file created by a general application is converted into an electronic document file by an electronic document writer. The bookbinding application provides a function for editing the electronic manuscript file. Details will be described below.

<System configuration and operation>
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a software configuration of the document processing system according to the present embodiment. The document processing system is realized by a digital computer 1000 which is a preferred embodiment of the information processing apparatus of the present invention. The general application 1010 is an application program that provides functions such as word processing, spreadsheet, photo retouching, drawing or painting, presentation, and text editing, and has a printing function for the OS. These applications use a predetermined interface (generally called GDI) provided by an operating system (OS) when printing application data such as created document data and image data.

  In other words, the application 1010 transmits an OS-dependent output command (referred to as a GDI function) to the OS output module that provides the interface in order to print the created application data. . Upon receiving the output command, the output module converts the command into a format that can be processed by an output device such as a printer, and outputs the converted drawing command (referred to as a DDI function). Since the format that can be processed by the output device varies depending on the device type, manufacturer, model, etc., a device driver is provided for each device. The OS uses the device driver to convert commands and print data. A print job is generated by generating and enclosing with JL. When using Microsoft Windows as the OS, a module called GDI corresponds to the output module described above.

  The electronic document writer 1020 is a software module provided as one of the above-described device drivers to realize the document processing system. However, the electronic document writer 1020 is not intended for a specific output device, and converts an output command into a format that can be processed by a bookbinding application 1040 or a printer driver 1060 described later. The format converted by the electronic document writer 1020 (hereinafter referred to as an electronic document format) is not particularly limited as long as a document in page units can be expressed in a detailed format. Among substantial standard formats, for example, a PDF format by Adobe Systems, an SVG format, or the like can be adopted as an electronic document format.

  When the electronic document writer 1020 is used by the application 1010, printing is executed after the electronic document writer 1020 is designated as a device driver used for output. However, the electronic document file as created by the electronic document writer 1020 does not have a complete format as an electronic document file. Therefore, the bookbinding application 1040 designates the electronic document writer 1020 as a device driver, and conversion of application data into an electronic document file is executed under the management of the bookbinding application 1040. The bookbinding application 1040 completes the new incomplete electronic document file generated by the electronic document writer 1-2 as an electronic document file having a format to be described later.

  Hereinafter, when it is necessary to clearly identify this point, a file created by the electronic manuscript writer 1020 is called an electronic manuscript file, and an electronic manuscript file given a structure by the bookbinding application is called a book file. If there is no need to distinguish between them, a document file, an electronic manuscript file, and a book file generated by an application are all referred to as a document file (or document data).

  In this way, by specifying the electronic document writer 1020 as a device driver and printing the data by the general application 1010, the application data is in units of pages (hereinafter referred to as logical pages or document pages) defined by the application 1010. It is converted into an electronic manuscript format and stored as an electronic manuscript file 1030 in a storage medium such as a hard disk. The hard disk may be a local drive included in a computer that implements the document processing system of the present embodiment, or may be a drive provided on the network when connected to the network. .

  The bookbinding application 1040 reads an electronic document file or book file 1030 and provides a user with a function for editing the file. However, the bookbinding application 1040 does not provide a function for editing the contents of each page, but provides a function for editing the structure of a chapter or book, which will be described later, configured with a page as a minimum unit.

  When the book file 1030 edited by the bookbinding application 1040 is printed, the bookbinding application 1040 activates the electronic document despooler 1050. The electronic manuscript despooler 1050 reads out a designated book file from the hard disk and generates an output command suitable for the above-described OS output module in order to print each page in the format described in the book file. Output to the output module. At that time, the driver 1060 of the printer 1070 used as the output device is designated as the device driver. The output module converts the output command received using the device driver 1060 of the designated printer 1070 into a device command that can be interpreted and executed by the printer 1070. The device command is transmitted to the printer 1070, and an image corresponding to the command is printed by the printer 1070.

<Electronic manuscript data format>
Before referring to details of the editing application 1040, the data format of the book file will be described. The book file has a three-layer structure imitating a paper medium book. The upper layer is called a “book”, imitating one book, and attributes related to the whole book are defined. The middle layer below it corresponds to the chapter in the book and is also called “chapter”. For each chapter, attributes for each chapter can be defined. The lower layer is a “page” and corresponds to each page defined by the application program. You can define attributes for each page. A book may contain multiple chapters, and a chapter may contain multiple pages.

  FIG. 10A is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of a book file format. In the book file of this example, a book, a chapter, and a page are indicated by corresponding nodes. One book file contains one book. Since the book and chapter are concepts for defining the structure of the book, they include defined attribute values and links to lower layers as entities. The page has data for each page output by the application program as an entity. Therefore, the page includes an original page entity (original page data) and a link to each original page data in addition to the attribute value. Note that a print page when outputting to a paper medium or the like may include a plurality of document pages. This structure is not displayed by a link, but is displayed as an attribute in each hierarchy of a book, chapter, and page.

  In FIG. 10A, a book attribute is defined in a book 3010, and two chapters 3020A and 3020B are linked. This link displays that chapters 3020A and 3020B are included in book 3010. The chapter 3020A is linked to pages 3030A and 3030B, and indicates that these pages are included. Each page 3030A and 3030B has an attribute value defined, and includes links to the original document page data (1) and (2). These links point to the data (1) and (2) of the original page data 3040 shown in FIG. 10B, and indicate that the entities of the pages 3030A and 3030B are the original page data (1) and (2). To do.

  FIG. 11 is a list of book attributes. For items that can be defined overlapping with the lower layer, the attribute value of the lower layer is preferentially adopted. Therefore, for items included only in the book attribute, the value defined in the book attribute becomes a valid value throughout the book. However, items that overlap the lower layer have meanings as default values when they are not defined in the lower layer. Each item illustrated does not specifically correspond to one item, but may include a plurality of related items.

  FIG. 12 shows a list of chapter attributes, and FIG. 13 shows a list of page attributes. The relationship between chapter attributes and page attributes is the same as the relationship between book attributes and lower layer attributes.

  Items unique to the book attributes are six items: printing method, bookbinding details, front / back cover, index paper, slip sheet, and chapter break. These are items defined throughout the book. As printing method attributes, three values of single-sided printing, double-sided printing, and bookbinding printing can be designated. “Bookbinding printing” is a method of printing in a format that allows bookbinding by bundling a separately designated number of sheets into two and folding the bundle. As the bookbinding details attribute, when bookbinding printing is designated, the spread direction, the number of sheets to be bundled, and the like can be designated.

  The front cover / back cover attribute includes designation of adding sheets to be a front cover and a back cover when printing an electronic document file to be collected as a book, and designation of print contents on the added sheet. The index sheet attribute includes designation of insertion of index sheets with ears separately prepared in the printing apparatus as chapter breaks and designation of print contents in the index (ear) portion. This attribute can be used when a printing device used by an inserter having an insert function for inserting a sheet prepared separately from the printing sheet into a desired position, or a plurality of paper cassettes can be used. Effective in some cases. The same applies to the slip sheet attribute.

  The slip sheet attribute includes designation of insertion of a sheet supplied from an inserter or a sheet feed cassette as a chapter break, and designation of a sheet feed source when a slip sheet is inserted.

  The chapter break attribute includes designation of whether to use a new sheet, use a new print page, or do nothing in particular at the chapter break. During single-sided printing, the use of new paper and the use of a new print page have the same meaning. In double-sided printing, if “use new paper” is specified, consecutive chapters will not be printed on one sheet, but if “use new print page” is specified, consecutive chapters will be 1 It may be printed on the front and back of a sheet of paper.

  As for chapter attributes, there are no items specific to chapters, and all items overlap with book attributes. Therefore, if the definition in the chapter attribute is different from the definition in the book attribute, the value defined in the chapter attribute has priority. Items common only to the book attribute and chapter attribute are five items: paper size, paper orientation, N-up printing designation, enlargement / reduction, and paper discharge method. Among these, the N-up print designation attribute is an item for designating the number of document pages included in one print page. Examples of arrangements that can be specified include 1 × 1, 1 × 2, 2 × 2, 3 × 3, and 4 × 4. The paper discharge method attribute is an item for designating whether or not stapling is performed on the discharged paper, and the validity of this attribute depends on whether the printing apparatus to be used has a stapling function.

  Items unique to the page attribute include a page rotation attribute, zoom, layout designation, annotation, and page division. The page rotation attribute is an item for designating a rotation angle when placing an original page on a print page. The zoom attribute is an item for designating the scaling factor of the original page. The scaling factor is specified with the size of the virtual logical page area as 100%. The virtual logical page area is an area occupied by one original page when the original page is arranged in accordance with designation of Nup or the like. For example, if it is 1 × 1, the virtual logical page area is an area corresponding to one print page, and if it is 1 × 2, each side of one print page is an area reduced to about 70%.

  Attributes common to the book, chapter, and page include a watermark attribute and a header / footer attribute. A watermark is a separately designated image or character string that is printed over data created by an application. The header / footer is a watermark printed on the upper margin and the lower margin of each page. However, items that can be specified by variables, such as page numbers and date / time, are prepared in the header / footer. The contents that can be specified in the watermark attribute and the header / footer attribute are common to the chapter and the page, but the book is different from them. In the book, the contents of the watermark and header footer can be set, and how the watermark and header footer are printed throughout the book can be specified. On the other hand, for a chapter or page, it is possible to specify whether or not to print a watermark or header / footer set in the book for the chapter or page.

<Book file generation procedure>
The book file has the structure and contents as described above. Next, a procedure for creating a book file by the bookbinding application 1040 and the electronic document writer 1020 will be described. Creation of the book file is realized as part of the book file editing operation by the bookbinding application 1040.

  FIG. 14 shows a procedure for opening a book file by the bookbinding application 1040.

  First, it is determined whether the book file to be opened is to be newly created or is an existing one (step S7010). In the case of new creation, a new book file that does not include a chapter is created (step S7020). In the example of FIG. 10, the newly created book file is a book node having only the book node 3010 and no link to the chapter node. As the book attribute, a set of attributes prepared in advance for new creation is applied. Then, a user interface (UI) screen for editing the new book file is displayed (step S7040). FIG. 18 is an example of a UI screen when a book file is newly created. In this case, since the book file has no substantial content, nothing is displayed on the UI screen 11000.

  On the other hand, if there is an existing book file, the designated book file is opened (step S7030), and a user interface (UI) screen is displayed according to the structure, attributes, and contents of the book file. FIG. 17 shows an example of this UI screen. The UI screen 11000 includes a tree portion 11010 that shows a book structure and a preview portion 11020 that displays a printed state. In the tree portion 11010, chapters included in the book and pages included in each chapter are displayed in a tree structure as shown in FIG. The page displayed in the tree portion 11010 is a manuscript page. In preview portion 11020, the contents of the print page are reduced and displayed. The display order reflects the structure of the book.

  Now, application data converted into an electronic manuscript file by the electronic manuscript writer can be added to the opened book file as a new chapter. This function is called an electronic document import function. By importing an electronic manuscript into a newly created book file by the procedure of FIG. 14, the book file is given an entity. This function is activated by dragging and dropping application data on the screen of FIG. FIG. 15 shows an electronic document import procedure.

  First, the application program that generated the specified application data is activated, the electronic document writer 1020 is specified as a device driver, and the application data is printed out to be converted into electronic document data (step S8010). When the conversion is completed, it is determined whether or not the converted data is image data (step S8020). This determination can be performed based on the file extension of the application data under the Windows OS. For example, if the extension is “bmp”, it is determined to be Windows bitmap data, if “jpg”, it is determined to be jpg compressed image data, and if “tiff”, it is determined to be image data in the tif format. In the case of such image data, since it is possible to generate an electronic document file directly from the image data without starting an application as in S8010, the processing in S8010 can be omitted.

  If it is not image data, the electronic document file generated in step S8010 is added as a new chapter to the book of the currently opened book file (step S8030). As the chapter attribute, the value of the book attribute is copied for those that are common to the book attribute, and for those that are not, the preset value is set in advance.

  In the case of image data, in principle, no new chapter is added, and each original page included in the electronic original file generated in step S8010 is added to the designated chapter (step S8040). However, if the book file is a newly created file, a new chapter is created, and each page of the electronic document file is added as a page belonging to the chapter. As the page attribute, the attribute value is given to the attribute common to the upper layer attribute, and the value is given to the attribute that is defined in the application data in the electronic manuscript file. For example, when Nup designation or the like is made in the application data, the attribute value is inherited. In this way, a new book file is created or a new chapter is added.

  FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a procedure for generating an electronic document file by the electronic document writer 1020 in step S8010 of FIG. First, a new electronic document file is created and opened (step S9010). An application corresponding to the designated application data is activated, and an output command is transmitted to the output module of the OS using the electronic document writer as a device driver. The output module converts the received output command into electronic document format data by the electronic document writer and outputs it (step S9020). The output destination is the electronic document file opened in step S9010. It is determined whether or not conversion has been completed for all designated data (step S9030), and if completed, the electronic document file is closed (step S9040). The electronic document file generated by the electronic document writer 1020 is a file including document page data entities shown in FIG.

<Edit book file>
As described above, a book file can be created from application data. With respect to the generated book file, the following editing operations are possible for chapters and pages.

(1) New addition (2) Delete (3) Copy (4) Cut (5) Paste (6) Move (7) Rename chapter (8) Rename page number (9) Insert cover (10) Insert paper Insert (11) Insert index sheet (12) Page layout for each document page.

  In addition, an operation for canceling an editing operation once performed and an operation for redoing the canceled operation are possible. Using these editing functions, for example, integration of multiple book files, rearrangement of chapters and pages in the book file, deletion of chapters and pages in the book file, layout change of manuscript pages, insertion of slip sheets and index sheets, etc. Operation becomes possible. When these operations are performed, the search results are reflected in the attributes shown in FIGS. 11 to 18 or in the structure of the book file. For example, if a blank page new addition operation is performed, a blank page is inserted at a specified location. This blank page is treated as a manuscript page. If the layout of the original page is changed, the changed content is reflected in attributes such as a printing method, N-up printing, front / back cover, index paper, slip sheet, and chapter break.

<Output book file>
The book file created and edited as described above has the final purpose of print output. When the user selects a file menu from the UI screen 11000 of the bookbinding application shown in FIG. 17 and selects printing from the file menu, printing is output by the designated output device. At this time, the bookbinding application 1040 first creates a job ticket from the currently opened book file and passes it to the electronic document despooler 1050. The electronic document despooler 1050 converts the job ticket into an OS output command, for example, a Windows GDI command, and transmits it to an output module, for example, GDI. The output module generates a command suitable for the device by the designated printer driver 1060 and transmits the command to the device.

  The job ticket is data having a structure with a manuscript page as a minimum unit. The structure in the job ticket defines the layout of the manuscript page on the paper. One job ticket is issued per job. For this reason, there is a document node at the top, and attributes of the entire document, such as double-sided printing / single-sided printing, are defined. Below that, a paper node belongs, and includes attributes such as an identifier of a paper to be used and designation of a paper feed port in the printer. Each paper node includes a node of a sheet printed on the paper. One sheet corresponds to one sheet. A print page (physical page) belongs to each sheet. For single-sided printing, one physical page belongs to one sheet, and for double-sided printing, two physical pages belong to one sheet. Each physical page has an original page arranged thereon. The physical page attribute includes the layout of the original page.

  The electronic document despooler 1050 converts the above-described job ticket into an output command to the output module.

<Other system configurations>
The outline of the document processing system of this embodiment is as described above. This is a stand-alone system, but a book file is created and edited in almost the same configuration and procedure even in a server client system to which this is extended. However, the book file and print processing are managed by the server.

  FIG. 19 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a server client type document processing system. The client document processing system has a configuration in which a virtual printer driver 1090, a virtual print service module 1100, and a DS (document service) client module 1080, which are client modules, are added to a stand-alone system. A document management server 12010, a centralized printing management server 12020, and a print server 12030 are connected to the client document processing system 12000.

  These servers are normally connected to the client document processing system via a network, but are connected by inter-process communication that simulates communication between networks when the server also functions as a client at the same time. In FIG. 19, both the document management server 12010 and the centralized printing management server 12020 are connected to the client, but only one of them may exist on the network. If the connected server is a document management server, the document management server client system 12010SC including the client module is the stand-alone print management server client system 12020SC including the client module. Added to document management system.

  The document management server 12010 is a server that stores book files created and edited by the bookbinding application 1040. When a book file is managed by the document management server 12010, the book file is stored in the database 12110 of the document management server 12010 instead of or in addition to the local HD of the client PC. Saving and reading of a book file between the bookbinding application 1040 and the document management server 12010 is performed via the DS client 1080 and the DS core 12120.

  The print central management server 12020 is a server that manages printing of book files stored in the client document management system 12000 or stored in the document management server 12010. The print request in the client is transmitted to the server module 12210 of the print central management server 12020 via the virtual printer driver 1090 and the virtual print service module 1100.

  The centralized print management server 12020 passes electronic document data to the electronic document despooler 1050 via the client virtual print service module 1100 when printing with the client printer, and when printing with the print server 12030, the print server 12030. To the virtual print service module 12030. For example, the centralized print management server performs a security check on the qualification of the user who issued the print request to the saved book file, and saves a print processing log. As described above, the document processing system can be realized as a stand-alone or a client-server system.

<Contents of preview display>
As described above, when the book file is opened by the bookbinding application, the user interface screen 11000 shown in FIG. 17 is displayed. In the tree portion 11010, a tree showing the structure of an open book (hereinafter referred to as “book of interest”) is displayed. In the preview section, three display methods are prepared according to the user's designation. The first is a mode called a document view that displays a document page as it is. In the document view mode, the content of the document page belonging to the book of interest is reduced and displayed. The layout is not reflected in the preview display. The second is a print view mode. In the print view mode, the preview unit 11020 displays the original page in a form that reflects the original page layout. The third is a simple print view mode. In the simple print view mode, the contents of each original page are not reflected in the display of the preview portion, but only the layout is reflected.

<First Embodiment>
Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 8 is a hardware block diagram of the computer 101. In FIG. 8, the CPU 2010 executes programs such as an OS, a general application, and a bookbinding application that are stored in the program ROM of the ROM 2030 or loaded from the hard disk 2110 to the RAM 2020 to realize the procedure of the flowchart described later. The RAM 2020 functions as a main memory and work area of the CPU 2010. A keyboard controller (KBC) 2050 controls key input from a keyboard 2090 or a pointing device (not shown).

  A CRT controller (CRTC) 2060 controls display on the CRT display 2100. A disk controller (DKC) 2070 controls access to a hard disk (HD) 2110 or a floppy (registered trademark) disk (FD) that stores a boot program, various applications, font data, user files, edit files, and the like. The PRTC 2080 controls the exchange of signals with the connected printer 1070. The NC 2120 is connected to the network and executes communication control processing with other devices connected to the network.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a module configuration of the information processing system in the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 denotes a host computer, which is connected to printers A and B (102, 103) via a LAN 104, and can communicate data with each other. In this configuration, two printers are set as output destination printers, but the number of printers is not limited to this.

  Reference numeral 105 denotes an application program (hereinafter referred to as “application”) that provides functions such as word processing, spreadsheet, and text editing. When the application 105 issues a print request to the intermediate code generation module 106, the print processing described in this embodiment is executed.

  The intermediate code generation module 106 (corresponding to the virtual printer driver 1090 in FIG. 19) receives a print request from the application 105 and receives an image such as EMF (intermediate file format data) or PDF that expresses a document in page units with a detailed format. An intermediate code including data and printing attribute instruction data such as DEVMODE and JDF is generated, and the intermediate code storage module 107 stores the data in a file. Here, the bookbinding application of FIG. 19 described above corresponds to the application.

The print data generation module 108 (corresponding to the virtual print service 1100 in FIG. 19) receives the intermediate code stored from the intermediate code storage module 107, converts it into print data in a format such as PDL that can be printed by the output destination printer, Print data is transferred from the print data transfer module 109 to the output destination printer via the LAN 104. Although not shown in FIG. 1, the print data generation module 108 selects, from a predetermined storage unit, a printer driver corresponding to a printer to be substituted from a printer driver corresponding to each of a plurality of printers. And a function for causing the print data transfer module 109 to transfer print data (PDL) generated using the selected printer driver to the substitute printer.

The printer failure detection module 110 monitors the status of the output destination printer, determines whether the print job has been printed normally or has failed in the middle, and detects the failed page along with information on the number of pages that have been printed. Notify the module 111. Here, the status of the output destination printer is monitored for various failure events (out of paper / out of toner / paper jam / memory full, etc.) generated from the output destination printer, and the failure detection module 110 itself monitors the status of the output destination printer. It takes the form of inquiring. Further, the detection of a failure here refers to a process for recognizing failure information.

  Based on the information notified from the printer failure detection module 110, the failure page detection module 111 calculates a failure page number from information on the number of pages that have been printed by the output destination printer, and identifies the failure page.

  The print attribute detection module 112 acquires the intermediate code of the print job corresponding to the page whose printing is interrupted due to the failure from the intermediate code storage module 107 based on the information on the failed page specified by the failed page detection module 111 ( The print attribute information set in the print job is acquired and recognized.

  The reprint start page determination module 113 determines the optimum reprint start page from the faulty page number received from the faulty page detection module 112 and the print attribute information corresponding to the page, and sends the intermediate page to the print data generation module 108. A code and the reprint start page are designated, a printer having a high priority based on automatic reprint settings and a normal printer is designated as a reprint destination printer, and a print instruction is output. This optimum reprint start page determination method will be described with reference to FIGS.

  Based on the reprint start page determined by the reprint start page determination module 113, the print data generation module 108 specifies the reprint range from the reprint start page to the end of the corresponding print job, The intermediate code is converted into print data in a format such as PDL that can be printed by the output destination printer. At this time, the print data generation module 108 can refer to information regarding the substitute printer from the print data transfer module 109.

The print data is transferred by the print data transfer module 109 to a reprint destination printer identified as a printer acting as a proxy for reprinting the interrupted print job.

  The substitute printer setting module 114 sets a substitute printer group as an output destination for reprinting in order to resume a print job that has been interrupted due to a failure. The substitute printer setting module 114 sets the priority order of a plurality of reprinting printers for each printer, and the print data transfer module 109 specifies a printer that performs reprinting according to this priority order.

  In addition, the application 105 and other modules (106 to 114) constituting the information processing system are software modules provided for realizing the information processing system, and are not necessarily mounted on the same host computer or the like. Instead, the modules (106 to 114) constituting the information processing system may exist on the server side of the system, and the application 105 may exist on the client side of the system.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a setting screen in the automatic reprint algorithm displayed on the CRT 2100. In the figure, “output destination printer candidate” is set and “priority” of the output destination is set. In the example shown in FIG. 2, “printer A” and “printer B” are set as output destination printer names, and the priority order is set to 1 and 2, respectively. In this case, first, printing is attempted with the first printer A, and when a failure occurs in the printer A, the printer B set as the second priority is set to execute reprinting. This setting may be automatically set by the above-described substitute printer setting module 114, or may be set by the user or the like from the input unit such as the keyboard (2090) when the administrator or the user issues a print request from the application. May be.

  Next, the flow of print data processing will be described in detail with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of processing when printing is performed from the application 105.

  First, in step S31, a print request is issued from the application 105 to the intermediate code generation module 106, and print processing is started.

  In step S <b> 32, the intermediate code generation module 106 generates an intermediate code based on the print request from the application 105. As described above, this intermediate code includes image data such as PDF and print attribute instruction data such as JDF, and the intermediate code storage module 107 stores the intermediate code in a file in step S33.

  In step S34, the print data generation module 108 acquires the intermediate code from the intermediate code storage module 107, and converts it into print data that can be printed by the output destination printer with the highest priority. When printing application data such as document data and image data created by the application 105, print data in a format that can be processed by an output device such as a printer using a predetermined interface module provided by an operating system (OS). Intermediate code is converted into

  In step S35, the print data transfer module 109 receives the print data generated in step S34, and transfers the received data to the output destination printer via the LAN 104.

  In step S36, printing is started by the designated printer. The processing status of the printer is monitored by the printer fault detection module 110 of FIG. 1 (S37), and the print processing ends normally if no fault occurs in the print data processing and the print processing is completed normally. (S37-No, S38).

  On the other hand, if a failure occurs during the printing process (S37-Yes), the process proceeds to the reprinting process operation described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 7 (S39).

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the reprint processing operation when a failure is detected in the printer designated as the output destination.

  When the printer failure detection module 110 detects that a failure has occurred in the output destination printer (S41), the printer failure detection module 110 determines the number of pages that have been printed before the failure occurred in the printer (hereinafter referred to as "printing"). The failure page detection module 111 determines the failure page number (L) based on the print completion page number.

  Next, the process proceeds to step S43, and the print attribute detection module 112 detects the print attribute from the intermediate code DEVMODE, JDF, etc. stored in the intermediate code storage module 107. In this print attribute, for example, it is data in which one set of data is repeatedly arranged for printing a plurality of copies, whether a stapling instruction is specified, double-sided printing is set, or bookbinding printing (Specified number of sheets are bundled and folded in half, and the book can be bound by binding the bundle) is specified, or the booklet separate volume (the specified number of sheets is stacked and saddle-stitched into two An attribute indicating whether or not (create a plurality of booklets) is specified is included, but is not limited thereto.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the reprint start page setting process based on the print attributes. After detecting the print attribute in step S43 in FIG. 4, the process proceeds to step S52 in FIG. 5, and the initial value of the reprint start page (N) is set to the faulty page number (L) determined in step S42 in FIG. To do.

  In step S53, the print attribute acquired in step S43 is analyzed. If the intermediate code has a configuration in which data is repeatedly arranged for printing a plurality of copies (S53-YES), the process proceeds to step S54, and if the intermediate code has not been repeatedly arranged (S53-NO). Advances the process to step S56.

  In step S54, since the print job includes data for a plurality of copies, in order to reprint one copy, the number of pages (M) for that one copy is acquired, and the process proceeds to step S55. Proceed.

  In step S55, in order to determine the reprint start page N, a number sequence {1, M, 2 × M, 3 × M ..., NN × M, ...: (NN is a natural number)} is generated, Among the elements of this sequence, the maximum value is calculated for the failure page number L or less, the value is set as the reprint start page N, and the process proceeds to step S71 (FIG. 7).

  In step S56, it is determined whether or not a stapling stop instruction is specified as the print job attribute (print attribute). If specified (S56-YES), the process proceeds to step S57 to start the reprint start page. N is set to 1 (S57), and the process proceeds to step S71 (FIG. 7). Here, in the processing in step S57, since stapling is specified as the attribute of the print job, stapling cannot be performed for each copy if reprinting is performed in the middle of one copy of data. The reprint start page N is set to the first page.

  If stapling is not designated (S56-NO), the process proceeds to step S61 (FIG. 6).

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the setting process of the reprint start page based on the print attributes relating to bookbinding printing, booklet separation, and duplex printing. If stapling is not specified in step S56 in FIG. 5, it is determined in step S62 in FIG. 6 whether or not the bookbinding printing attribute is set. If the bookbinding printing attribute is set as the print job attribute (S62-YES), the process proceeds to step S63. If the bookbinding printing attribute is not set (S62-NO), the process proceeds to step S64. Proceed to

  In step S63, a sheet including the faulty page L is retrieved from the intermediate code, the top page number included (laid out) in the sheet is set as the reprint start page N, and the process is performed in step S71 (FIG. 7). ).

  In step S64, it is determined whether or not bookbinding volume printing is set as an attribute of the print job, and if the bookbinding volume attribute is set (S64-YES), the process proceeds to step S65, and is not set. In (S64-NO), the process proceeds to step S66.

  In step S65, the volume including the failed page L is retrieved from the intermediate code, the top page number included in the volume is set as the reprint start page N, and the process proceeds to step S71 (FIG. 7).

  In step S66, it is determined whether double-sided printing is set as the attribute of the print job. If the double-sided printing attribute is set (S66-YES), the process proceeds to step S67. Advances the process to step S71 (FIG. 7).

  In step S67, it is determined whether the faulty page L is printed on the front side or the back side of the output paper. If it is the front side, the faulty page L is set as the reprint start page N. If it is, the value of the failure page L-1 is set to N. Thus, even when the failed page is the back side, it is possible to print from the back side.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the processing from the confirmation of the reprint start page to the start of reprinting. In step S72 of FIG. 7, the reprint start page N based on the print attributes is finally determined.

  In step S73, based on the automatic reprint setting set in the print job, the output destination printer having the highest priority among the printers in the normal state is selected as the reprint destination printer. This setting is based on the printer and priority set on the automatic reprint setting screen in FIG.

  In step S74, the print data generation module 108 extracts an intermediate file in a range based on the reprint start page determined in step S72, and converts the extracted intermediate code into a format that can be printed by the reprint destination printer. Then, print data from the reprint start page to the last page is generated.

  In step S75, the print data transfer module 109 transfers the print data to the reprint destination printer via the LAN 104, and the reprint destination printer starts reprinting (S76). Here, the reprint destination printer determination process is automatically transferred to the substitute printer set through the user interface of FIG. 2 described above. As yet another preferred embodiment, a user interface capable of instructing selection of a substitute printer in response to the occurrence of a failure is displayed, and the substitute destination printer instructed to select via the displayed user interface is displayed. A mode is also conceivable in which the destination printer is selected and further converted into PDL data that can be printed by the selected printer and transferred. The process of converting the PDL data to be printable by the transfer destination printer again is realized by extracting and operating the printer driver software corresponding to the transfer destination from a predetermined storage unit. As described above, the print data generation module 108 has a function of selecting a printer driver corresponding to a target printer from printer drivers corresponding to a plurality of printers.

  In another embodiment, the host computer has been described as having the functions of the print data generation module 108 and the print data transfer module 109. However, the functions of the print data generation module 108 and the print data transfer module 109 have been described. It is also assumed that a server (for example, equivalent to 12020 in FIG. 19) capable of communicating with the host computer via a predetermined communication medium such as a network is provided.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, even when a print job is interrupted due to a printer failure or the like, by determining the reprint start page based on the print attribute, the reprint can be performed before the interruption. The print attributes can be maintained and the print job can be executed under the consistent print attributes.

<Other embodiments>
Note that the present invention can be applied to a system (copier, printer, facsimile machine, etc.) consisting of a single device even if it is applied to a system consisting of a plurality of devices (eg, host computer, interface device, reader, printer, etc.). You may apply.

  Another object of the present invention is to read a program code stored in a storage medium by a computer (or CPU or MPU) of a system or apparatus, which stores a program code of software that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments. It is also achieved by executing.

  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.

  As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD-R, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, or the like is used. be able to.

  Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS (operating system) operating on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. A case where part or all of the actual processing is performed and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing is also included.

  Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written in a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion board is based on the instruction of the program code. Also included is a case where the CPU or the like provided in the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the information processing system in this embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the setting screen in an automatic reprint algorithm. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of processing when printing is performed from an application 105. 10 is a flowchart for explaining a reprint processing operation when a failure is detected in a printer designated as an output destination. It is a flowchart explaining the setting process of a reprint start page based on a printing attribute. It is a flowchart explaining the setting process of a reprint start page based on a printing attribute. FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining processing from the confirmation of a reprint start page to the start of reprinting. 2 is a hardware block diagram of a computer 101. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a stand-alone document processing system. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the structure of a book file. It is a figure which shows the list of book attributes. It is a figure which shows the list of chapter attributes. It is a figure which shows the list of page attributes. It is a flowchart of the procedure of opening a book file. 10 is a flowchart of a procedure for importing an electronic document file into a book file. 10 is a flowchart of a procedure for converting application data into an electronic document file. It is a figure which shows an example of the user interface screen at the time of opening the existing book file. It is a figure which shows an example of the user interface screen at the time of opening a new book file. 1 is a block diagram of a client server type document processing system. FIG.

Claims (26)

An information processing apparatus that generates print data to be printed by a printer,
Recognizing means for recognizing a failure occurrence in the print job processing of the document together with the failure page when printing the document;
Determining means for determining a reprint start page according to a print attribute of the print job interrupted due to the occurrence of a failure and the failed page;
Data transfer means for transferring the print data in the reprint range specified from the reprint start page determined by the determination means to a printer acting on behalf of the reprint of the interrupted print job, and executing the reprint;
An information processing apparatus comprising: Further, according to the faulty page recognized by the recognition unit and the print attribute, the reprinting unit includes a generation unit that generates print data of the reprint range from intermediate file format data, and the transfer unit generates the reprint generated by the generation unit The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information is transferred to a printer acting as a proxy for reprinting the print data in the range. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a setting unit that sets a printer that performs the reprinting when the interrupted print job is reprinted. The setting means sets the priority order of a plurality of printers acting on behalf of each reprint for each printer,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the data transfer unit specifies a printer that performs the reprinting in accordance with the priority order. A data input unit for setting print of the document;
5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a printer that performs reprinting and / or a priority order of the printer is set in accordance with an input from the data input unit. The determination unit is configured to determine the reprint start page based on a failure occurrence result detected by the failure detection unit and a print attribute of the print job suspended due to the failure occurrence. The information processing apparatus according to 1. When the determination unit detects that double-sided printing is designated as the print attribute of the print job, the reprint start page is determined as a failure page (L) when the failure page is a front page. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the faulty page is a page on the back side, the page (L-1) before the faulty page is set. The determination unit, when detecting that stapling is specified as a print attribute of the print job, sets the reprint start page as the first page of the print job. The information processing apparatus described in 1. When the determination unit detects that the data of one copy is repeatedly arranged as a print attribute of the print job, the reprint start page is determined based on the number of pages (M) corresponding to the number of copies. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus calculates the information processing apparatus. The determining means generates a sequence (1, M, 2 × M, 3 × M,... NN × M... (NN is a natural number)) based on the number of pages (M) corresponding to the one copy. The information processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein a maximum value of the number sequence elements that is equal to or less than the failed page (L) is set as the reprint start page. When the determination unit detects that bookbinding printing is set as the print attribute of the print job, the determination unit sets the reprint start page as the first page of the sheet including the failed page. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. When the determination unit detects that booklet volume printing is set as the print attribute of the print job, the retrieval start page is searched for the reprint start page, the volume including the failed page, and the head included in the volume The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is set to a page. An information processing method for generating print data to be printed by a printer,
A recognition step of recognizing a failure occurrence in the print job processing of the document together with a failure page when printing the document;
A determination step of determining a reprint start page according to the print attribute of the print job interrupted due to the occurrence of a failure and the failure occurrence page;
A data transfer step of transferring the print data in the reprint range specified from the reprint start page determined by the determination step to a printer acting as a proxy for the reprint of the interrupted print job, and executing the reprint;
An information processing method comprising: Furthermore, according to the faulty page recognized by the recognition step and the print attribute, a generation step of generating print data of the reprint range from intermediate file format data is provided, and the data transfer step includes the re-generation generated by the generation step. The information processing method according to claim 13, wherein reprinting of print data in a print range is transferred to a printer acting as a proxy. The information processing method according to claim 13 or 14, further comprising a setting step of setting a printer that performs the reprinting when the interrupted print job is reprinted. The setting step sets a priority order of printers acting on behalf of a plurality of reprints for each printer,
The information processing method according to claim 15, wherein the data transfer step specifies a printer that performs the reprinting in accordance with the priority order. A data input step for making print settings for the document;
The information processing method according to any one of claims 13 to 16, wherein a printer that performs reprinting and / or a priority order of the printer is set in accordance with the input in the data input step. The determination step determines the reprint start page based on a result of the failure detected in the failure detection step and a print attribute of the print job interrupted due to the failure. 14. The information processing method according to 13. In the determination step, when it is detected that double-sided printing is designated as the print attribute of the print job, the reprint start page is selected, and if the faulty page is a front page, the faulty page (L The information processing method according to claim 13, wherein when the faulty page is a page on the back side, the page (L-1) before the faulty page is set. 14. The determining step sets the reprint start page as the first page of the print job when it is detected that stapling is specified as a print attribute of the print job. Information processing method described in 1. When the determination step detects that the data of one copy is repeatedly arranged multiple times as the print attribute of the print job, the reprint start page is determined based on the number of pages (M) for one copy. The information processing method according to claim 13, wherein calculation is performed. The determining step generates a sequence of numbers (1, M, 2 × M, 3 × M,... NN × M... (NN is a natural number)) based on the number of pages (M) for one copy. And
The information processing method according to claim 21, wherein, among the sequence elements, a maximum value not more than a faulty page (L) is set as the reprint start page. In the determining step, when it is detected that bookbinding printing is set as the print attribute of the print job, the reprint start page is set as the first page of the paper including the failed page. The information processing method according to claim 13. When the determination step detects that booklet volume printing is set as the print attribute of the print job, the reprint start page is searched for the volume that includes the failed page, and the head included in the volume is searched. The information processing method according to claim 13, wherein the information processing method is set to the following page. 13. A computer program for specifying the function of the information processing apparatus according to claim 1 as a function executed by a computer. A computer-readable storage medium storing the computer program according to claim 25.

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