JP2006018648A - Color printing system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a selection system capable of unified management of a color profile at print output by discriminating between color profile data managed by a client side and that managed by a printer controller on the client to enable switching selection, in a color image forming device system using a server and a printer controller unifying management of the color profile data for matching colors on a host and colors of a print output. <P>SOLUTION: This system is provided with a profile list management means in a printer, a profile list management means in a client, a means for acquiring profile management data from each management means, a means capable of displaying them and switching selection of profiles in the printer and in the client, and a means for acquiring/selecting attribute information of the selected color profile. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  It is used in the field of print systems that use input / output profile data as color management for a mechanism for matching colors on a host computer with colors at the time of print output.

  Conventionally, the color profile data that matches the colors on the host and the color of the print output is centrally managed on the client computer, and is not a mechanism that is performed on the printer side that is shared by multiple clients on the network. The client on the network was individually managed on the client host.

Therefore, when there is an update of the common color profile data on the printer side used for print output, each client identifies the difference between the color profile managed in the client and the common color profile. There is a problem that the color profile on the printer side is forcibly applied when printing is performed.
JP-A-11-46307

  In the color print system, the color profile data managed by the client side and the color profile data managed by the printer can be identified on the client and can be switched, and the color profile at the time of print output can be centrally managed. It is possible to provide a simple selection system.

  Profile list management means in the printer, profile list management means in the client, means for obtaining profile management data from each management means, and displaying them, and selecting the profile in the printer and the profile in the client And a means for obtaining / selecting attribute information of a selected color profile.

  That is, the technical contents of the present invention can solve the above-described problems by including the following configuration.

  (1) In a color print system including a color image forming apparatus capable of using a PDL (Page Description Language) connected to a plurality of client computers on a network, the client computer includes at least one color. Means for managing a list table of profiles, means for holding data of the color profile, and the list table has information used as a key for searching for a specific color profile, and further, from the actual data portion of the color profile. The color image forming apparatus includes means for managing a list table of at least one color profile, means for holding data of the color profile, and the list table stores a specific color profile. It has information to be a key for searching, and further comprises an actual data portion of the color profile, and is held on the client computer on the color image identifier and the color profile identifier held on the client side. Means for separately displaying color profile identifiers, and means for discriminating a plurality of identifiers registered in the client computer and the color image forming apparatus and selecting any one of the identifiers. A color printing system having a selection identifier for selecting either the client computer or the color image forming apparatus as a color profile to be held and used for printing.

  (2) When a color profile that does not exist on the color image forming apparatus is selected by the display selection means, the color image forming apparatus has means for registering the selected color profile information in the color image forming apparatus. The color print system according to (1), characterized in that:

  (3) When a color profile registered on the color image forming apparatus is selected by the display selection unit, only the identifier of the selected color profile is included in the PDL code during PDL conversion on the client. The color print system according to (1), further comprising means for not sending data other than a color profile identifier in the PDL code to the color image forming apparatus.

[Action]
The color profile data managed by the client side and the color profile data managed by the controller can be identified on the client and can be switched to select the color profile at the time of print output.

  According to the present invention, color profile data managed by the client side and color profile data managed by the controller can be efficiently selected and designated on the client side as the color profile at the time of print output.

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

  A color image forming apparatus system according to the present invention includes a plurality of client host computers connected on a network, one or more color image forming apparatuses connected on the network, and a printer connected to the color image forming apparatus. The system consists of digital color copiers with output functions.

  FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a client computer (400).

  The client computer (400) includes a network controller (440) for exchanging instruction codes / PDL code data with the color image forming apparatus (200), an OS (405) for central control, and instruction codes / PDL code data. A hard disk (451) for temporary registration and storage of various data, a hard disk controller (450) for controlling the hard disk, a memory of the ROM / RAM (406), a mouse (431) as an instruction input means from the operator, Keyboard (441) and their controllers (430), color display (412) for layout / editing / menu display, display memory (411), display controller (410), and various on client computer (400) image And a graphic manager (413) for performing display processing, graphic creation processing, etc., and data from an application program on the client computer (400) for printer output processing via the graphic manager (413). Printer driver (461) that converts the PDL code data into a PDL code data, and a spooler (460) that spools the converted PDL code data.

  When the user outputs from the application to the printer, the printer driver (461) uses it for color conversion processing to match the color on the display and the color after printing to be incorporated in the PDL code. The profile data to be recorded is registered as host profile list management data (100) in the hard disk, and is subjected to processing such as update / replacement / management by the client profile manager (420).

  FIG. 2 shows the configuration of a color image forming apparatus (700) according to the present invention.

  This apparatus is roughly divided into a main controller (710) for controlling the entire color image forming apparatus (700), a plurality of registered profile management data (300-1) (300-N), and their overall configuration. Profile list management data (300) to be managed, a profile manager (751) for registering / updating / managing the management data, and a printer driver (461) from a drawing command on the client computer (400), a printer PDL PDL rasterizer (761) that interprets the converted code into a raster image and converts it into a raster image, hard disk (742) / hard disk controller (741) that temporarily stores the PDL code from the client, and the rasterized Raster image data for each page There is a memory management controller to manage it (720) to register the raster image memory (760).

  Then, the color processing controller (780) performs color conversion processing according to the contents of the specified input / output profile data by the uniquely determined profile weaving identifier for the color processing specified in the PDL code data. Perform from time to time.

  The color processing controller (780) converts the rasterized color data from the PDL code into a standardized intermediate color space based on the input profile data such as the specified monitor profile, and further outputs the specified printer output profile. Thus, the conversion process from the previously standardized intermediate color space to the output color space is performed.

  As an external interface, a network controller (740) for controlling network processing with a client computer (400) and a color for exchanging image data and instruction codes with a digital color copying machine (1000) having a printer output unit. There is a digital interface controller (790).

  The digital color copier (1000) having a printer output unit has an operation panel (1001) for displaying and instructing various operation information.

  The color image forming apparatus (700) is identified by the expression “server” in the UI display on the client and in the identifiers of various parameters. In the following notation, the color image forming apparatus (700) Indicates <server>.

  The operation procedure for profile processing using the color image forming system configured as described above will be described below.

<Client registration of color profile>
The input color profile is profile information related to the color of the monitor used by the user, and is standardized profile data such as an ICC profile. This data is supplied from a monitor manufacturer, etc. A client profile manager (420) on the client computer (400) updates registration / management data. The client profile manager (420) first checks whether the specified profile information is in a standardized format. At that time, from the format information, <profile name>, format type such as ICC profile, and <profile type> indicating whether it is for input or output, and which profile of which manufacturer is uniquely determined Sub-information such as <device name> and <model name> and identification information such as <creation date> and <version information> are acquired from the format.

  The client profile manager (420) sequentially checks the host profile list management data (IN-001) from the acquired information in the format, and checks whether there is the same thing. This is performed for the total number of input profiles and the total number of output profiles. If there is no same thing, the total number of previous profiles is counted up as new profile data, and new profile management data (IN-002) is created.

  The client profile manager (420) includes <profile name>, <profile identifier>, <profile type>, <device name>, <model name>, <version information>, <created in the newly created profile management data Each field of day> is acquired from the profile data and set. The client profile manager (420) sets the size of the actual profile data portion in the data portion size field, and copies the actual data portion to <profile actual data portion>.

  At this time, since the actual printer to be the target of this profile has not been determined, <Registered Printer Identifier> is NULL.

<Client registration of output color profile>
The output color profile is profile information of the printer unit to be output. When the printer driver (461) is installed on the client computer (400), the host profile list management is performed as the default profile of the designated printer. Registered in the data.

  <Profile name>, <Profile identifier>, <Profile type>, <Device name>, <Model name>, <Version information>, <Created date> parameters other than actual data of these output profiles are installed Pre-held on the application.

  In the processing procedure, when the installation application of the printer driver (461) is executed on the OS, the client profile manager (420) is newly requested to create profile management data for output. The client profile manager (420) receives each parameter such as the above-described profile name held in the installation application, and sets the parameter in the corresponding parameter portion of the newly created profile management data. At this time, as a profile registration destination type, a uniquely determined parameter indicating a client or a server (color image forming apparatus) is set, and there is no actual profile data, so the size of the data part is registered as NULL. Is done. The client computer (400) only has information such as a profile registration name and registration destination, and there is no actual profile data.

<User print execution processing>
When the user prints out a color document created on the client computer (400), the application program requests the OS to perform print processing. With this trigger, the printer driver (461) is called, and the dialog for print output shown in FIG. 3 is opened.

  FIG. 3 shows a print dialog displayed by the printer driver (461).

  On the print dialog, the user sets a number of parameters according to the dialog user interface.

  Here, as a general printer dialog, the user can specify the document name on the application, the paper size (200-2) to be output, the number of sheets to be printed (200-3), and the print page range for a plurality of pages. Designation of printing range such as designation or all page designation (200-4), dialog display button (200-6) for detailed color setting in the present invention, and printer driver (461) For a printer dialog composed of an information display section (200-5) indicating the current status of the user, settings are made using a UI such as a mouse.

<Update profile information by printer driver>
When this printer driver (461) is called, the printer driver (461) forms a color image of the designated printer by the procedure of <obtaining color profile list information registered in the image forming apparatus> described later. For the apparatus, the color profile list information of the host profile list management data (100) already registered therein is obtained, and the information is temporarily held in the printer driver (461). The same processing can be performed at any time when an <update information> button (210-7) on a color detail setting dialog described later is pressed.

<Detailed color processing>
When the user makes detailed settings related to color, the above-mentioned <Detailed color settings> button is pressed, and the color detailed settings dialog shown in FIG. Is displayed.

  The detailed color setting dialog is composed of a color type (210-1) for setting color output or black and white output when printing, and a profile setting unit (210-) which is a feature of the present invention. 2).

  The profile setting unit (210-2) uses the name of the printer, the model name of the printer (210-3), and the input profile to be used on the client side or on the server (color image forming apparatus) side. A switching selection unit (210-13, 210-14) for switching whether to use one, a switching part (210-5) of each input profile for each client server by the switching, and an output profile to be used as a client Switching selection unit (210-15, 210-16) for switching between using one on the server side or one on the server (color image forming apparatus) side, and an output profile selection part corresponding to the switching ( 210-6) The color profile data set and requested by the client If it is not on the data side, a check box (210-4) for automatically updating the color profile, an information display section (210-8) for displaying status information such as the color profile status, An information update button (210-7) for intentionally updating the status status through communication with the printer-side controller is configured.

<Select input profile>
The user sets the input color profile (210-5) on the color detail setting dialog. This input color profile list (210-5) is stored in the name of the profile registered in advance in the host profile list management data (100) on the client computer (400) by the client profile manager (420) according to the above-described procedure. A profile list on the server (color image synthesizing apparatus) side is obtained by obtaining the list and obtaining color profile list information in the image forming apparatus described later. As shown in FIG. 4-1, the switching selection unit (210-13, 210-14) sets which profile on the client or server (image forming apparatus) side is used, and the selected side (server) 290-2 or the client 290-1) is displayed with a list of input profiles (FIG. 4-2 server-side list 290-3, client-side list 290-5), and the user can select from the list. It is possible. This list of input profiles is a list of input profiles related to the color of the monitor used by the user, and the user selects an arbitrary input profile using an instruction device such as a mouse. As for the selected input profile, the contents of the selected 290-4 are displayed on the input profile display section 210-5.

<Select output profile>
Also, the selection of output profile data for output is registered in the host profile list management data (100) from the client profile manager (420) on the client computer (400) in the same manner as the selection of the input profile described above. If the <profile registration destination type> is a client, and the switching selection unit (210-15, 210-16) selects the client (210-15), the list is displayed on the selection list ( 210-6), and when the server is selected (210-16), the profile of the obtained server (color image synthesizing apparatus) side is obtained by obtaining the color profile list information in the image forming apparatus described later. A list can be displayed and selected.

  At this time, similarly to the selection of the input profile described above, a list of output profiles registered on the selected side (server or client) is displayed and can be selected from the list. A list of the output profile lists is displayed and can be selected. As for the selected output profile, the selected content is displayed on the output profile display section 210-6.

  As a result, the user can select and confirm an output profile for an arbitrary printer.

<Obtaining Color Profile List Information Registered in Image Forming Apparatus>
The printer driver (461) uniquely determines the printer name and model name of the printer of the digital color copier connected to the specified color image forming apparatus (700). The color profile data list request command is set in the communication packet and sent to the color image forming apparatus (700) having the specified unique network identifier via the network controller (440).

  The main controller (710) of the color image forming apparatus (700) analyzes the contents of a series of packets sent from the network manager and determines a request command from the client computer (400).

  If a list request command for color profile data already registered in the color image forming apparatus (700) is designated, the main controller (710) manages profile list management for the profile manager (751). An instruction is given to transmit the data (300) to the client side. The profile manager (751) manages the profile list management data (300) having the configuration shown in FIG. 6-1 in the color image forming apparatus (700), and is specified from the contents of the request packet from the client. The printer name and model name corresponding to each of the printer name, model name, and profile list management data (300) are checked, and if they match, the profile manager (751) determines one or more profile management data ( INC-001) (INC-002), the parameters <profile name>, <profile identifier>, <profile type>, <creation date>, <registration date> are unique for the total number of input profiles and the total number of output profiles. The color profile data list reply command determined by the Is set to, via a network controller (740), and sent to the client computer which has issued the color profile data list request command (400), the printer driver (461) may obtain the list.

  At this time, the client profile manager (420) registers / updates the profile registered on the color image forming apparatus (server) side in the host profile list management data (100) which is management data on the client side, As an attribute of the profile data, <profile registration destination type> is set to <server> type.

<When the registered profile on the server (color image forming device) side is selected>
When the user selects an input / output profile registered on the server (color image forming apparatus) side on the UI (210-14, 210-16), the printer driver (461) generates a PDL code to be described later. In the process, when converting to the PDL operator of the color conversion processing unit, it can be realized only by the PDL setting description of the target profile information in the color image forming apparatus (server), and the actual data portion of the profile part is converted into the color image forming apparatus (server). ), The code size of the PDL can be reduced.

<When a client-side registration profile is selected>
When the user selects an input / output profile registered on the client side on the UI (210-13, 210-15), the printer driver (461) performs the following profile registration processing.

  The printer driver (461) is unique on the network of the printer unit of the digital color copier connected to the color image forming apparatus (700) to which the target printer unit is connected. Printer name, model name, and color profile data selected by the user and not existing in the color image forming apparatus (700), and corresponding profiles in the host profile list management data (100) The management data and the profile actual data part are set in a communication packet of a color profile data registration command uniquely determined, and a color image forming apparatus having a specified unique network identifier (via a network controller (440)) 700).

  The main controller (710) of the color image forming apparatus (700) analyzes the communication packet of the color profile data registration command sent via the network controller (740), and sends the profile manager (751) from the client. The registration of the profile data is instructed.

  The profile manager (751) checks the target printer name from the communication packet, and the profile name and profile requested by the client in order from the profile management data (INC-001) part for the total number of input / output profiles. Search for profile management data with the same identifier and confirm that there is no same thing.

  When the color profile data from the client is not yet registered in the color image forming apparatus (700) by the above search processing, the profile manager (751) displays <profile in the client profile management data set in the communication packet. From type>, it is determined whether it is an input profile or an output profile and the corresponding total number of profiles is incremented.

  Furthermore, from the profile management data part of the client extracted by the above means, <profile name>, <profile identifier>, <profile type>, <creation date>, <version information>, <device name>, and others are registered <Date of registration> <registration date>, data size of <profile actual data part> in the communication packet <data part size>, <registration of client identifier uniquely identified on the network of the specified client Set in each profile management data part of client identifier>.

  Further, the profile data of <profile actual data portion> in the communication packet is copied to the profile actual data portion (303).

  When the color profile data designated by the user on the client is not in the color image forming apparatus (700) to which the designated printer is connected, the color profile data on the client is converted into the color image forming apparatus by this series of processing. Are registered in the profile list management data (300) section.

  Thus, when the color profile data is registered in the color image forming apparatus (700), the network controller (740) of the color image forming apparatus has successfully registered with the client computer (400) of the client. By returning the identifier indicating that this is a communication packet, the printer driver (461) on the client side can confirm that the profile has been registered in the color image forming apparatus (700) on the printer side.

  As a result, even when the profile information is changed on the color image forming apparatus (server) side, print output is possible with the color processing profile held on the client side.

<PDL code generation process of printer driver>
After setting each parameter on the dialog of the printer driver (461) described above, the user presses the print execution button (200-8) with an instruction device such as a mouse, so that the printer driver (461) is displayed in the graphic manager. Request data output from the user's application. The user application data is matched with the standardized graphic drawing command via the graphic manager (413), and the printer driver (461) converts the graphic drawing command into a PDL code.

<Incorporation of color profile setting command into PDL data>
The printer driver (461) uniquely determines the profile names of the input profile and the output profile specified by the user on the dialog before converting the graphic command from the graphic manager (413) into PDL. The PDL operator of the color conversion processing portion of the PDL is created by setting the input profile specifying command and the output profile specifying command as parameters.

  The color profile setting command / operator is written in the stream in the PDL. The profile data specified by the user is registered in the color image forming apparatus (server) (700) when the profile in the color image forming apparatus (server) is specified by the printer driver using the UI, and is stored in the PDL. Since it is not necessary to incorporate the actual data part of the profile in the stream every time, the efficiency of transmission of PDL is improved.

<Conversion processing to PDL data>
The printer driver (461) continues to convert the graphic command from the graphic manager (413) into PDL, stream the PDL, and sends it to the spooler (460) as needed. In this spooler, the PDL stream converted by the printer driver is temporarily stored inside.

  The stored PDL stream data is divided into a plurality of communication packets via a network controller to a color image forming apparatus (server) (700) having a printer uniquely determined in advance as a target by the printer driver. And sent.

  In this communication packet, a print execution command uniquely determined in advance is set, and the data portion of the PDL is set by being divided into a plurality of parts in the packet, and the color image forming apparatus (( Server) 700).

<PDL code registration process in color image forming apparatus (server)>
The main controller (710) of the color image forming apparatus (server) (700) obtains the print execution communication packet from the client that executed the print job from the network controller (740), and the packet is <print Identifies that the command is a request for execution>. The main controller then extracts the data portion of the PDL from the plurality of communication packets containing the transmitted PDL data as needed, and the PDL data is stored in the hard disk (742) via the hard disk controller (741). Register.

<Rasterization processing of PDL code in color image forming apparatus>
Here, the main controller (710) causes the PDL rasterizer (761) to execute processing for creating a raster image from the PDL code previously registered in the hard disk.

  The PDL rasterizer (761) reads the PDL code from the hard disk as needed, analyzes the PDL code, and when specific color processing is required, the image data rasterized by the PDL rasterizer via the color processing controller (780). Then, the image data rasterized from the PDL code is finally registered in the raster image memory (760) via the memory management controller (720).

<Extract profile setting command in PDL code>
In the process of analyzing the PDL code, the PDL rasterizer (761), <input profile command> described on the PDL code by the printer driver on the client in the above-described procedure, and its parameter <input profile name Similarly, the <output profile command> described on the PDL code and the PDL code of the <output profile name> of the parameter are detected.

  Further, the PDL rasterizer instructs the profile manager (751) to specify each input / output profile in the color image forming apparatus (700) based on each profile name designation on the PDL code detected by the above-described procedure. It is checked whether it is registered in the profile list management data (300).

<Color processing controller input / output profile settings>
The profile manager (751) sequentially inputs the profile management data (INC-001) (INC-002) in the profile list management data (300) matching the profile name specified in the PDL from the client in order of the total number of input profiles. When comparison is made for the total number of output profiles and there is matching profile management data, the profile manager (751) inputs the profile type in the corresponding profile management data and the actual profile data portion of the color processing controller. Set as an output profile in the color processing controller.

  At this time, the profile manager (751) stores the contents of the access identifier (304-1-1) of the profile access management data section (304) shown in FIG. 305) The network identifier of the client that executed the print is compared with the client name, and if there is no match, the number of access registrations in the profile access management data section is counted up as a new access client, and the access is made As the identifier, the network identifier and client name of the user, and information such as the accessed date and time are registered.

  If there is a match, the date / time information of the matched access data is updated to the latest. Thereby, the date / time information of the last access of the color profile is stored for each user.

  If no profile is specified on the PDL code, profile data that is uniquely determined in advance is set as a default in the color processing controller unit.

<Output from digital color copier>
In this way, the image data rasterized from the PDL code is converted into a standardized color space by a series of input profiles via a color conversion controller, and further converted into a printer color space by an output profile. The image data converted from the PDL data by the profile is registered page by page in the raster image memory (760). When an image for one page is created, the main controller (710) is uniquely determined for the digital color copying machine (1000) having a printer unit via the color digital interface (790). The print execution command is transmitted, and the image data for one page already created is transmitted in the same manner through the color digital interface, and output processing is performed by the printer unit of the digital color copying machine.

<Display color profile list>
The color profile information registered in the color image forming apparatus (700) can display the data of the list information by external access.

  When a request for displaying a list of registered color profiles is instructed by an instruction from the user to the operation panel (1001) of the digital color copying machine (1000), the main operation is performed via the color digital interface (790). The controller (710) sends profile management information to the profile manager (751), and displays a color profile list on the panel operation unit (1001) of the digital color copying machine (1000) as shown in FIG. I do.

  The color profile list on the operation panel (1001) is obtained from the profile management data section sent from the color image forming apparatus (700) from <profile name> (230-10), <profile type> (230-11), < Creation date> (230-12), <version information> (230-13), and information of the access identifier (304-1-1) of the profile access management data section (304) for the number of access registrations (305) <Number of users used> (230-14), and <Last access date / time> (230-15) of the last accessed client in the access identifier in the profile access management data are displayed. When the number of color profiles is large, the list display can be switched by the <Next Page> (230-8) and <Previous Page> (230-7) buttons. The pages on the list at that time can be confirmed by the number of pages displayed in (230-5).

  This display can also be performed in the same manner as in FIG. 7 on the dialog of the profile display utility program on the client via the client profile manager (420) on each client.

<Color profile deletion process>
The color profile data once registered in the profile management data section in the color image forming apparatus (700) can confirm the current state in the color profile list display described above, and can be registered as necessary. It is possible to delete the completed color profile data.

  When a request for deleting a registered color profile is instructed to the operation panel (1001) of the digital color copying machine (1000) by a user instruction, the main controller is connected via the color digital interface (790). (710) sends profile management information to the profile manager (751) to the digital color copying machine (1000), and displays a color profile deletion operation display on the panel operation unit (1001) as shown in FIG. Display.

  The contents of the display on the delete operation panel are the same as in the list display described above, from the profile management data section sent from the color image forming apparatus (700), <profile name> (240-10), <profile type> (240 -11), <creation date> (240-12), <version information> (240-13), and the contents of the access identifier (304-1-1) of the profile access management data section (304) for the number of access registrations. The information of (305) is displayed as <number of used users> (240-14), and <last access date / time> (240-15) of the last accessed client in the access identifier in the profile access management data.

  When the number of color profiles is large, the list display can be switched by using the <Next Page> (240-8) and <Previous Page> (240-7) buttons. The pages on the list at that time can be confirmed by the number of pages displayed in (240-5).

  The row of the profile to be deleted from the list (240-3) is highlighted (240-4) by touch panel operation, and the delete button (240-1) is pressed.

<Color profile deletion processing based on profile deletion threshold>
The main controller (710) receives this deletion instruction via the color digital interface (790), and instructs the profile manager (751) to delete the specified color profile. The profile manager (751) registers the access of <profile deletion threshold> (300-6) in the profile list management data (300) and the profile access management data section (304) of the specified profile management data section to be deleted. The number (305) is compared.

  The parameters of <profile deletion threshold> (300-6) in the profile list management data (300) can be set by the operation panel (1001) or the profile utility program on each client, and when deleting a color profile. In addition, a threshold value for determining whether or not to perform deletion depends on the number of users who have executed print processing using the specified color profile.

  The profile manager (751) compares <profile deletion threshold> (300-6) described above with the number of access registrations (305) of the profile access management data part (304) to be deleted. If it is smaller than the deletion threshold, the target color profile is deleted, the target profile management data (INC-00X) is deleted from the profile list management data (300), and the total number of profiles in the profile list management data To change.

  If the number of access registrations is equal to or greater than the profile deletion threshold, a warning message indicating that deletion cannot be performed is displayed, and the deletion process is stopped.

<Color profile deletion processing based on the deletion protection period>
In addition to the color profile deletion determination using the profile deletion threshold described above, the <Delete Protection Period> allows the deletion when the last access date / time of the specified color profile exceeds a certain period. The judgment manager can also use the profile manager (751) as a deletion judgment.

  Similar to the above-described deletion processing, the main controller (710) receives this deletion command via the color digital interface (790), and instructs the profile manager (751) to delete the specified color profile. . The profile manager 751 <deletion protection period> (300-7) in the profile list management data (300) and <the last accessed client in the access identifier in the designated profile access management data to be deleted. The last access date / time> (230-15) is compared with the value of the difference between the current date / time held and updated by the main controller (710).

  The parameters of <deletion protection period> (300-7) in the profile list management data (300) can be set by the operation panel (1001) or the profile utility program on each client, and when deleting a color profile. In addition, the date / time when the specified color profile was last accessed is a threshold value for whether or not to execute deletion depending on whether or not the period based on the date / time at the time of deletion exceeds the <deletion protection period>. .

  When the above-described period exceeds the <deletion protection period> (300-7), the target color profile is deleted, and the target profile management data (INC-) is deleted from the profile list management data (300). 00X) is deleted, and the total number of profiles in the profile list management data is changed.

  If the above period is shorter than the <deletion protection period>, a warning message indicating that deletion cannot be performed is displayed, and the deletion process is stopped.

  The value of <deletion protection period> can correspond to either the number of days or a time value obtained by converting the number of days to time.

  These determinations based on <profile deletion threshold> and <deletion protection period> can be combined and independently used as a determination criterion by the profile manager (751).

  In addition, in the series of deletion processes, display / instructions similar to those in FIG. 8 are displayed on the dialog of the profile deletion utility program on the client via the client profile manager (420) on each client, as in the case of list display. It is also possible to do.

  This color image forming apparatus (server) (700) is incorporated in the digital color copying machine described above and can be used as an integrated one. One digital color copying machine can be directly connected to the network. It is also possible to connect and process PDL data from the client as a printer.

  According to the present invention described above, color profile data managed by the client side and color profile data managed by the controller can be efficiently selected and designated according to the user's purpose by switching the clients.

Client computer configuration diagram Configuration diagram of color image forming device (server) Figure showing the print dialog Figure showing the advanced color settings dialog Diagram showing client / server input profile menu selection Diagram showing profile list management data in the host The figure which shows the profile list management data in a color image forming apparatus Profile access management data configuration diagram Figure showing the profile panel list operation panel / display utility dialog Figure showing the delete operation panel / delete utility dialog

Explanation of symbols

100 management data 200 color image forming apparatus 300-1, 300-N management data 300 management data 400 client computer 405 OS for central control
406 ROM / RAM
410 display controller 411 display memory 412 color display 413 graphic manager 420 client profile manager 430 controller 431 mouse 440 network controller 441 keyboard 451 hard disk 450 hard disk controller 460 spooler 461 printer dry 700 color image forming apparatus 710 main controller 710 main controller 720 management controller 742 Hard disk 741 Hard disk controller 751 Profile manager 760 Raster image memory 761 PDL rasterizer 780 Color processing controller 790 Color digital interface 1000 Digital color copier 1001 Operation panel

Claims (3)

In a color print system including a color image forming apparatus capable of using a PDL (Page Description Language) connected to a plurality of client computers on a network,
Means for managing at least one color profile list table in the client computer;
Means for holding the data of the color profile;
The list table has key information for searching for a specific color profile.
Furthermore, it consists of the actual data part of the color profile,
Further, the color image forming apparatus includes means for managing a list table of at least one color profile;
Means for holding the data of the color profile;
The list table has key information for searching for a specific color profile.
Furthermore, it consists of the actual data part of the color profile,
Means for separately displaying an identifier of a color profile held on the client side and an identifier of a color profile held on the color image forming apparatus on the client computer;
The display means has means for determining a plurality of identifiers registered in the client computer and the color image forming apparatus, and selecting any one,
A color printing system, wherein a color profile used for printing has a selection identifier for selecting either the client computer or the color image forming apparatus.   When a color profile that does not exist on the color image forming apparatus is selected by the display selection means, the color image forming apparatus has means for registering the selected color profile information in the color image forming apparatus. The color print system according to claim 1.   When the color profile registered on the color image forming apparatus is selected by the display selection unit, only the identifier of the selected color profile is described in the PDL code at the time of PDL conversion on the client. The color printing system according to claim 1, further comprising means for not sending data other than a color profile identifier in the PDL code to the color image forming apparatus.

Images