JP2007223184A - Image recording apparatus and image data processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To relatively precisely notify a user of the percentage of completion of printing processing for image data which are associated with printing instructions from external equipment. <P>SOLUTION: This printer 100, which records an image on a recording medium on the basis of the image data split on a raster-by-raster basis, receives a raster ratio notification command word and its parameter along with the image data from a host computer 10, and stores them in a command word storage part 104. The printer 100 counts the number of printed rasters in the printing processing, compares the number of the printed rasters with the number of rasters for comparison, which is described as the parameter for the raster ratio notification command word, and checks the percentage of the completion of printing. The percentage of the completion of the printing is displayed on the display part 11 of the printer 100, or the host computer 10 is notified of the percentage of the completion of the printing, so that the percentage can be displayed on the display part 19 of the host computer. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus that records an image in response to a print instruction from the information processing apparatus, and an image data processing method in the information processing apparatus related thereto.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image recording apparatus such as a printer that receives image data output from an external device such as a host computer and records the image data on a recording medium such as recording paper is known.

  In such an image recording apparatus, since the total amount of image data transmitted from the host computer is unknown, the ratio of the currently received data or the data currently being printed to the total image data amount For example, it has not been possible to determine how long the printing process will be completed.

  In addition, there are applications on the host computer side such as a printer driver that can monitor the printing state of a printer. However, this is based on the status of the printer that can be monitored from the host side through the network. For example, it is only possible to know the status of printing, an error has occurred, etc. Therefore, it was impossible to know exactly how much the printing process was progressing.

According to the method disclosed in Patent Document 1 in which the total amount of image data is described at the top of the image data and referred to, the currently received data or the data currently being printed is compared with the total amount of image data. You can know if it is a proportion of the degree. However, in an image recording apparatus such as a printer, it is received when there is a blank portion between a plurality of image components, or when the image components are different in the first half of the image and the data compression ratio changes drastically. In many cases, the amount of data and the amount of actual images recorded by the data are not necessarily proportional. For this reason, it is not possible to accurately know the amount of the image that has been printed at the present time based on the ratio of the data amount received at the current time, and the data reception progress displayed on the display unit and the actual print progress do not match. was there.
JP-A-6-206360

  Therefore, in the above conventional example, with respect to image data transmitted from a host computer which is an external device, the printer apparatus cannot determine how much of the image data has been printed, and the user is in progress. In view of the print result, the print processing end time must be predicted or the end of the print processing must be waited.

  The present invention has been made in such a background, and provides an image recording apparatus and an image data processing method that can inform a user of the progress of print processing for image data related to a print instruction from an external device relatively accurately. The purpose is to provide.

  An image recording apparatus according to the present invention includes storage means for receiving and storing ratio notification information for each unit processing amount together with image data, recording means for processing the stored image data and recording it on a recording medium, A monitoring unit that monitors the printed amount of the image data, a confirmation unit that compares a current printed amount with the ratio notification information, and confirms a ratio of the printed amount with respect to all image data, and a confirmed ratio. And display means for sequentially updating and displaying the print progress.

  The “unit processing amount” is a processing amount obtained by dividing the entire image data by a predetermined number of divisions, and can be represented by, for example, the number of rasters when the image data is subjected to raster processing.

  “Ratio notification information” is issued for each processing of the unit processing amount, and includes at least processing amount up to the unit processing amount (the number of comparison rasters in the embodiment) and ratio information with respect to the processing amount of the entire image data. By comparing the current printed amount with the ratio notification information, the corresponding ratio is known, and the printing progress is confirmed based on this ratio.

  The degree of printing progress thus obtained is displayed on the display unit of the image recording apparatus, or is notified to the external device that has issued the print instruction and displayed on the display unit.

  An image data processing method according to the present invention is an image data processing method in an information processing apparatus that processes image data to be printed and issues a print instruction to the image recording apparatus. Calculating the total number of rasters in the image area excluding, converting the image data to be printed into raster data, generating a raster data transmission command word in a raster data description language defined by the image recording device, Sending to the image recording device, and every time the number of rasters to be generated reaches a predetermined number, a ratio notification command including the number of printed rasters up to that point and the ratio of the number of printed rasters to the total number of rasters is generated And transmitting to the image recording apparatus.

  The predetermined number is, for example, a number obtained by dividing the total raster number by a predetermined division number.

  According to the present invention, the ratio notification information for each unit processing amount is transmitted to the image recording apparatus together with the image data related to the print instruction from the external device, and the image is compared with the ratio notification information during the printing process in the image recording apparatus. By determining the printed amount of data, it is possible to obtain the printing progress relatively accurately in parallel with the printing process. Further, the degree of progress of printing can be visually recognized on the display unit of the image recording apparatus or the external apparatus.

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

  FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a printing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The printing system includes a host computer 10 as an external device (information processing apparatus) that outputs a print setting command and print data, and a printer device 100 that receives the print setting command and print data and executes a printing operation. Is done.

  More specifically, the host computer 10 includes a control unit 11, a storage unit 13, a printer interface (I / F) unit 15, an operation unit 17, and a display unit 19, as in a normal PC. The control unit 11 includes a processor that executes information processing such as a CPU, and controls the entire host computer 10. The storage unit 13 includes a memory and an external storage device as devices for storing various programs and data. The printer interface unit 15 constitutes a communication interface for issuing a print instruction to the printer apparatus 100. The operation unit 17 includes a keyboard and a pointing device, and is a part that provides a user input interface. The display unit 19 includes a display device such as an LCD or a CRT, and is a part that provides a display interface for the user.

  At the start of print data generation, the control unit 11 of the host computer 10 according to the present embodiment converts the image length including all possible non-blank image components into the number of rasters at the resolution to be printed. The length is stored in the storage unit 13. It is assumed that print data is also stored in the storage unit 13. When the print data generation process is started, the control unit 11 counts the number of generated image rasters and sequentially calculates a ratio to the effective image length. When this ratio reaches a predetermined numerical value, a raster data ratio notification command word is inserted immediately after the corresponding raster data is generated. In this command word, the number of comparison rasters and the progress ratio in the raster data portion with respect to the effective image length are described as command parameters. The predetermined numerical value is a numerical value in increments of 10% from 10% to 90%, for example, but the number of divisions may be changed according to the size of the image to be printed. For example, when the image to be printed is extremely small, the command word may be inserted only at a specific ratio, for example, 50%, or may not be inserted at all.

  In the printer apparatus 100, the reception control unit 102 receives print data (including a command word) sent from the host computer 10 and stores the received data in the reception buffer 103.

  If the data received by the reception control unit 102 is the raster number ratio command word, the command word storage unit 104 stores the number of comparison rasters described as command parameters in the command and the ratio to the total number of rasters. The command word storage unit 104 has, for example, a buffer configuration in an array format. For example, the command word storage unit 104 can store array elements related to 10 command words necessary and sufficient to store all the progress ratios in 10% increments. It has become. The command word storage unit 104 has a structure in which an array component 400 is assigned to each command word.

  In this embodiment, each command word is issued for each predetermined processing unit, the number of comparison rasters that are the number of printed rasters up to the processing unit, the progress ratio to the processing unit with respect to the total number of rasters, and the It has a flag (ON / OFF) indicating whether or not the processing unit has been printed. When each command word is received, the flag indicating the presence / absence of internal processing of the printer is always stored as ON. In the present embodiment, the array buffer is used from the array component 400 with index 0, and when the array component 400 with index 9 is used up, the presence / absence of internal printer processing in the array component 400 with index 0 is again performed. Refer to the flag indicating. If this flag indicates printed, this array component 400 can be used again. If it has not been printed, the data analysis process is paused and the print control unit is waited until the flag is printed.

  The data control unit 105 reads the print data received from the reception buffer 103 and develops the read print data in the print buffer 106.

  The print control unit 107 controls the recording unit 108 according to the print data read from the print buffer 106 to print on the recording paper. The print control unit 107 counts the number of rasters read by the data control unit 105 and printed by the recording unit 108. The print control unit 107 refers to the comparison raster number in each array element of the command word storage unit 104 every time the number of rasters subjected to print processing is incremented, and this value is stored in the array element of the command word storage unit 104. If any of the rasters subjected to the printing process is less than the number of rasters subjected to the printing process, the flag indicating the presence / absence of the printing internal process is sequentially turned OFF for the corresponding array element, and the display control unit 109 described later in the array element turned OFF Issue a display change command with the print progress ratio of

  The recording unit 108 prints print data input from the print control unit 107 on a recording medium such as recording paper.

  The display control unit 109 controls data display on the display unit 110. The display unit 110 is a display device such as an LCD or a CRT that displays various data. The display control unit 109 receives the display change command received from the print control unit 107 and updates the display of the print progress degree on the display unit 110.

  As described above, when receiving a print instruction from the host computer 10, the printer device 100 sequentially prints the received image data portion before receiving all the image data. At this time, since the size of the substantial image area excluding the blank area and the boundary of each unit can be determined from the parameters of each command word in the command word storage unit 104, before receiving all the image data, the image data As the printing process progresses, the progress ratio can be accurately confirmed.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a range of image data to be counted in the host computer 10. The printer apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment prints the blank areas 211 to 213 of the image (areas other than the ranges indicated by the image areas L1 and L2) by rapidly carrying the paper and omitting the recording process. The control is performed so that is shortened.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an image data generation processing procedure in the host computer 10 of this embodiment. A program representing the execution procedure of the processing of this flowchart is stored in a memory (not shown) in the host computer 10, and this processing is realized by the CPU constituting the control unit interpreting and executing it. Reference is made to FIG. 2 when describing this flowchart.

  First, in step S21, a print start trigger from a user input using a predetermined user interface in the host computer 10 is received. At this time, if print settings are separately input using the user interface, image data generation processing based on the print settings is performed. If the print settings are not input, the same processing based on predetermined default print settings is performed. I do.

  Next, in step S22, the output image size is calculated. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 2, an image including characters 201 and graphics 202 exists in the page. The length (length in the paper transport direction) of the area (non-blank area) where an image to be printed in this page is L1 + L2 = L, which is the print size. The size unit system at this time may be an mm unit system or an inch unit system.

  Next, in step S23, the pixel unit system, that is, the unit system of the actually generated image data line is converted using the calculated print size and the predetermined print resolution used in the print setting. The print size (number of output rasters) is calculated.

  In step S24, image data generation processing is performed. The image data generation process is performed in units of raster data obtained by dividing the image in units of pixels in the horizontal direction, and is generated sequentially from the raster data at the head of the image. The generated raster data is converted into a raster data transmission command word in a raster data description language defined by the printer device, and is sequentially transmitted to the printer device through the printer I / F unit 15.

  In step S25, the raster data generated in step S24 is counted. When the number of generated raster data reaches a predetermined ratio, that is, 10%, 20%,..., 90% of the total print size (number of output rasters) in this embodiment, the process proceeds to step S26. If these predetermined ratios are not reached, steps S24 to S25 are repeated.

  In step S26, for example, a raster data ratio notification command word is generated based on a predetermined command format to be described later, and transmitted to the printer apparatus using the same procedure as the raster data transmission command word.

  In step S27, the end of the print data generation process is determined, and steps S24 to S26 are repeated a predetermined number of times. When all the print data is converted into a raster data transmission command word, it is determined that the process ends, and the process proceeds to step S28.

  In step S28, a predetermined print end process is performed in the host computer 10, and the image data generation process ends.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the reception control unit 102 of the printer apparatus 100 according to this embodiment. A program representing the execution procedure of the process of this flowchart is stored in a memory (not shown) in the printer apparatus 100, and this process is realized by the CPU constituting each control unit interpreting and executing the program. The same applies to other flowcharts described later.

  First, in step S41, data sent from the host computer 10 is received, and the process proceeds to step S42.

  In step S42, it is determined whether or not the command in the image data received in step S41 is a raster number ratio command. If it is a raster number ratio command, the process proceeds to step S44; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S43.

  In step S43, processing corresponding to another command type, such as storing received data in the reception buffer 103, is performed.

  In step S44, the comparison raster number (** lines), which is the number of processed rasters up to the processing unit, the progress ratio (**%) up to the processing unit with respect to the total number of rasters, and whether the processing unit has been printed. A flag indicating whether or not (“ON” at this time) is stored in the command data storage unit 104.

  In step S45, it is determined whether or not all the data reception has been completed. If the data reception has been completed, the processing in the reception control unit is terminated. If there is remaining data, the process returns to step S41, and the processes of steps S41 to S45 are repeated.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure in the print control unit 107 of the printer apparatus according to this embodiment.

  First, in step S51, the print data developed in the print buffer 106 by the data control unit 105 is taken out and output to the recording unit 108 for printing.

  In step S52, the amount of data printed in the recording unit 108 is counted. Here, the print data amount to be counted is specifically the number of image rasters that have been printed.

  In step S53, it is determined whether or not the print internal processing flag of the first array element in the raster number progress notification command word stored as an array element in the command word storage unit 104 is ON. If it is ON, the process proceeds to step S56. If it is OFF, the process proceeds to step S54.

  In step S54, it is determined whether or not all the array elements have been checked and the print internal processing flag in all the array elements is OFF. Here, if the print internal processing flag is OFF for all the array elements, it is assumed that the check by the storage in the command word storage unit 104 is finished, and the process proceeds to step S58. If all the array elements have not been checked, the process proceeds to step S55.

  In step S55, the pointer of the currently referenced array element in the command word storage unit 104 is incremented to change to refer to the next array element, and the process returns to step S53.

  In step S56, for the corresponding array element parameter, the number of comparison rasters included in the raster number progress command word is compared with the number of printed rasters counted in step S52, and the number of printed rasters is the number of comparison rasters. It is judged whether the numerical value equal to or higher than is reached. If the numerical value is equal to or greater than that, the process proceeds to step S57. When that is not right, it returns to step S51 and repeats the process of step S51-S56.

  In step S57, a display update command for performing display update is issued to the display control unit 109 using the progress ratio in the array element as a parameter, and a flag indicating the presence or absence of print internal processing in the array element is turned OFF. And

In step S58, it is determined whether all printing processes are completed. If the printing process has been completed for all the image data, the process proceeds to step S59. If not completed, the process returns to step S51 to repeat the processes of steps S51 to S58.
In step S59, a display update command with a print progress value of 100% is issued to the display control unit 109, and the process in the print control unit 107 is terminated.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a display example of the display unit 110 of the printer apparatus according to the present embodiment. In this display example, a status display area 601 indicating that the printer is currently printing, a time display area 602 indicating the printing time, and a graph area 603 indicating the ratio of printed data are displayed. The printing time displayed in the time display area 602 is a printing time estimated to be required to print the 100% image data. As for the printing time, the printing time corresponding to 100% of the image data may be displayed during the printing, or may be displayed so as to decrease in proportion to the increase of the% value of the progress degree.

  In this example, the graph area 603 shows 10 squares arranged in a straight line, and the change in each square (here, the change in color from white to black) is in increments of 0% to 10%. The degree of progress up to 100% can be expressed.

  The display control unit 109 receives the display update command issued from the print control unit 107 and changes the display content on the display unit 110.

  The display update command includes a command main body and parameters, and the parameters include a print progress value of the printing process. Based on the numerical value of this parameter, for example, in the graph area 603 shown in FIG. 6, if 20%, for example, 10 squares, 2 squares from one end (here left) are displayed in black, and the progress is 20%. Let users know.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram showing a printing system according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The hardware configuration of this system is substantially the same as that of the first embodiment. The difference from the first embodiment is the operation of the system. In the following, description of the same configuration and operation as in the first embodiment will be omitted, and different points will be mainly described.

  In the present embodiment, a print update notification command is not issued from the print control unit 107 to the display control unit in the printer apparatus 100, but is issued from the print control unit 107 to the host transmission data control unit 112. The host transmission data control unit 112 issues a display update command to the host computer 10 through the interface. Accordingly, it is possible to directly display the progress of the printing process recognized by the printer device on the display device of the host computer 10. In this embodiment, the increment of progress is changed from 10% in the first embodiment to 5%. This is in consideration of the fact that the display screen of the display unit 19 of the host computer 10 is larger, but it may be the same as in the first embodiment.

  In FIG. 7, the control unit 11 of the host computer 10 executes the same processing as shown in FIG. 3 except that a ratio notification command is generated in increments of 5%.

  In the printer apparatus 100, the command word storage unit 104 is configured to be capable of storing an array component 405 relating to 20 command words necessary and sufficient to store all the progress ratios in 5% increments. This is the same as the first embodiment. In the printer apparatus 100, the host transmission data control unit 112 receives a display change command from the print control unit 107, and transmits a display change command in a predetermined format to the host computer 10 based on the display change command.

  The host computer 10 receives the display change command transmitted from the host transmission data control unit 112 described above, and causes the display unit 19 to display a print processing progress display screen as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure in the print control unit 107 of the printer apparatus according to this embodiment. Since the processing performed from the host computer 10 to the print buffer 106 of the printer apparatus 100 is the same as that described in the first embodiment, a description thereof will be omitted.

  In the process of FIG. 8, first, in step S81, the print data developed in the print buffer 106 by the data control unit 105 is taken out and output to the recording unit 108 for printing.

  In step S82, the amount of data printed in the recording unit 108 is counted. Here, the print data amount to be counted is specifically the number of image rasters that have been printed.

  In step S83, it is determined whether or not the print internal processing flag of the first array element of the raster number progress notification command word stored as an array element in the command word storage unit 104 is ON. If it is ON, the process proceeds to step S86. If it is OFF, the process proceeds to step S84.

  In step S84, it is determined whether all the array elements have been checked and whether the print internal processing flag in all the array elements is OFF. Here, when the print internal processing flag is OFF for all the array elements, it is assumed that the check by the storage in the command word storage unit 104 is finished, and the process proceeds to step S88. If all the array elements have not been checked, the process proceeds to step S85.

  In step S85, the pointer of the currently referenced array element in the command word storage unit 104 is incremented, changed to refer to the next array element, and the process returns to step S83.

  In step S86, for the corresponding array element parameter, the number of printed rasters included in the raster number progress command word is compared with the number of comparison rasters counted in step S82, and the number of printed rasters is the number of comparison rasters. It is judged whether the numerical value equal to or higher than is reached. If the numerical value is equal to or greater than that, the process proceeds to step S87. When that is not right, it returns to step S81 and repeats the process of step S81-S86.

  In step S87, a display update command issuance command using the progress ratio in the array element as a parameter is issued to the host transmission data control unit 112, and a flag indicating the presence or absence of print internal processing in the array element is turned OFF. And

In step S88, it is determined whether all printing processes have been completed. If the printing process has been completed for all the image data, the process proceeds to step S89. If not completed, the process returns to step S81 to repeat the processes of steps S81 to S88.
In step S89, a command for issuing a display update command with a print progress value of 100% is issued to the host transmission data control unit 112, and the processing in the print control unit 107 is terminated.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a display example on the display unit 19 associated with the host computer 10 of the present embodiment. The display unit 19 includes a window 900 for displaying the printing progress, a status display area 901 indicating that printing is in progress, a time display area 902 indicating the actual printing time, and a graph area indicating the ratio of printed data 903 is displayed. The graph area 903 has a space so that a graph of 20 squares is displayed at 100%, and one square is displayed every time printing of 5% is completed.

  The host transmission data control unit 112 receives the display update command issued from the print control unit 107 and transmits the display update command to the host computer 10 according to a predetermined format. The host computer 10 receives the display update command issued from the host transmission data control unit 112, and issues a command for updating the print progress display to the window 900 on the display unit 19.

  Each display update command is composed of a command body and parameters, and the parameters include the progress value of the printing process. Based on the numerical value of this parameter, for example, in the graph area 903 shown in FIG. 9, for example, if 40%, 8 squares out of 20 squares are displayed and the user is notified that the progress is 20%.

  The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, but various modifications and changes other than those mentioned above can be made. For example, the above-described step amount may be selected by the user from a plurality of step amounts, or the user may specify an arbitrary step amount.

  In the above description, the case of displaying the print progress for one page printing has been described. However, for a multi-page print job, the print progress may be displayed with the entire print data on all pages being 100%. Good.

  Although no particular mention was made of the recording method of the printer device, the present invention is based on image data divided into raster units sent from a host computer, such as an inkjet recording method, a thermal recording method, and a thermal transfer storage method. The present invention can be used for any image recording apparatus that records an image on a medium.

  The first and second embodiments described above can be used in combination.

1 is a functional block diagram illustrating a printing system according to a first embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the image data range used as the count object in the host computer of the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the image data generation process procedure in the host computer of the 1st Embodiment of this invention. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure in a reception control unit of the printer device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure in a print control unit of the printer device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a display unit of the printer device according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a functional block diagram which shows the printing system which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure in a print control unit of a printer device according to a second embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a display on the display part accompanying the host computer of the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

10 Host computer (external device)
11 Control unit 13 Storage unit 15 Printer I / F unit 17 Operation unit 19 Display unit 100 Printer device 102 Reception control unit 103 Reception buffer 104 Command word storage unit 105 Data control unit 106 Print buffer 107 Print control unit 108 Recording unit 109 Display control Unit 110 display unit 112 host transmission data control unit 900 window

Claims (10)

Storage means for receiving and storing ratio notification information for each unit processing amount together with image data;
Recording means for processing the stored image data and recording it on a recording medium;
Monitoring means for monitoring the printed amount of the image data;
A confirmation means for comparing a current printed amount with the ratio notification information and confirming a ratio of the printed amount to all image data;
An image recording apparatus comprising: display means for sequentially updating and displaying the print progress based on the confirmed ratio. An image recording apparatus for recording an image on a recording medium based on image data divided into raster units sent from an external device,
Received data storage means for receiving and storing the image data;
Command word storage means for storing a raster ratio notification command word received together with the image data and its parameters;
Counting means for counting the number of printed rasters;
Checking means for comparing the number of printed rasters with the number of comparison rasters described as parameters of the raster ratio notification command word, and confirming the degree of printing progress;
An image recording apparatus comprising: display means for displaying the degree of printing progress.   The raster ratio notification command word is issued for each predetermined processing unit, and includes, as parameters, the number of rasters for comparison up to the processing unit and the progress ratio up to the processing unit with respect to the total number of rasters. The image recording apparatus according to claim 2.   The confirmation means, when the number of printed rasters exceeds any of the number of comparison rasters, confirms the degree of printing progress based on a progress ratio corresponding to the number of comparison rasters. 3. The image recording apparatus according to 3.   4. The raster ratio notification command word includes a flag indicating whether or not the processing unit has been printed, and the confirmation unit performs the progress ratio confirmation processing based on the flag. Image recording device. Storage means for receiving and storing ratio notification information for each unit processing amount together with image data relating to a print instruction from an external device;
Recording means for processing the stored image data and recording it on a recording medium;
Monitoring means for monitoring the printed amount of the image data;
A confirmation means for comparing a current printed amount with the ratio notification information and confirming a ratio of the printed amount to all image data;
An image recording apparatus comprising: communication means for notifying the external device of the confirmed ratio. An image recording apparatus for recording an image on a recording medium based on image data divided into raster units sent from an external device,
Received data storage means for receiving and storing the image data;
Command word storage means for storing a raster ratio notification command word received together with the image data and its parameters;
Counting means for counting the number of printed rasters;
Checking means for comparing the number of printed rasters with the number of printed rasters described as a parameter of the raster ratio notification command word, and confirming the degree of printing progress;
An image recording apparatus comprising: a communication unit that notifies the external device of information representing the degree of printing progress. An image data processing method in an information processing apparatus that processes image data to be printed and issues a print instruction to an image recording apparatus,
For the image data to be printed, calculating the total number of rasters in the image area excluding the blank area;
Converting the image data to be printed into raster data, generating a raster data transmission command word in a raster data description language defined by the image recording device, and transmitting to the image recording device;
A step of generating a ratio notification command including the number of printed rasters up to that point and the ratio of the number of printed rasters to the total number of rasters every time the number of generated rasters reaches a predetermined number, and transmitting the command to the image recording apparatus An image data processing method comprising: Receiving from the image recording apparatus information indicating the degree of progress of the printing after a printing instruction to the image recording apparatus;
9. The image data processing method according to claim 8, further comprising a step of displaying the received information indicating the degree of progress on a display unit.   9. The image data processing method according to claim 8, wherein the predetermined number is obtained by dividing the total raster number by a predetermined number.

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