JP2008048171A - Image-data processing system and image processor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To print a large quantity of image data without loading a memory having a large capacity on a printer, even when a large quantity of these time-specified image data are transmitted from a user terminal connected to a network. <P>SOLUTION: A time arrival monitor 164 monitors whether or not a specified time to print the image data comes. When the arrival of the specified time is decided, the time-arrival monitor 164 acquires the image data from a time-standby information storage 163, and outputs the acquired image dada to an output control unit 18. The output control unit 18 transmits the image data to the printer 2. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image data processing system and an image processing apparatus that acquire image data to be printed at a specified time from a user terminal and transmit the image data to a printing apparatus when the specified time elapses.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printing apparatus connected to a user terminal via a network receives image data designating a print start time from the user terminal side and stores the image data in a built-in storage device when performing time designation printing. , Make the built-in timer start timing. Thereafter, when the timer counts the printing start time, the printing apparatus reads the image data specifying the printing start time from the storage device and prints it (for example, see Patent Document 1).
JP-A-11-157176

  However, in the printing apparatus described in Patent Document 1, a large amount of time-designated image data may be sent from a network-connected user terminal, and a large-capacity memory must be installed in preparation for this. There was a problem.

  Therefore, in view of the above-described problems, the present invention enables a printing apparatus to install these images without mounting a large-capacity memory even when a large amount of time-designated image data is sent from a user terminal connected to the network. An object of the present invention is to provide an image data processing system and an image processing apparatus capable of printing data.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides an image processing apparatus that acquires image data to be printed at a specified time from a user terminal and transmits the image data to a printing apparatus when the specified time has elapsed. In the constructed image data processing system, the image processing device stores image data storage means for storing the image data, and time arrival monitoring means for monitoring whether a designated time at which the image data is printed has arrived, Image data acquisition / supply unit that acquires the image data from the image data storage unit and supplies the acquired image data to a printing apparatus when the time arrival monitoring unit determines that the specified time has arrived It has the composition of providing.

  According to this configuration, when it is determined by the time arrival monitoring unit that the designated time has arrived, the image data acquisition / supply unit acquires the image data from the image data storage unit, and the acquired image data is printed by the printing apparatus. Therefore, even when a large amount of time-specified image data is sent from a user terminal connected to the network, the printing apparatus can print these image data without installing a large-capacity memory. .

  Further, the present invention acquires image data to be printed at a specified time from a user terminal, and image data constructed by the image processing apparatus and the printing apparatus that transmits the image data to the printing apparatus when the specified time elapses. In the processing system, the image processing apparatus stores image data storage means for storing the image data, identification information acquisition means for acquiring identification information for identifying the image data at which the designated time has arrived, and the identification Image data acquisition / supply means for acquiring the image data indicated by the identification information acquired by the information acquisition means and supplying the acquired image data to the printing apparatus, wherein the printing apparatus includes the image data Time arrival monitoring means for monitoring whether or not a designated time for printing is reached, and the designated time arrives by the time arrival monitoring means. And when it is determined has a structure that comprises, an identification information supply unit for supplying the identification information acquisition unit of the identification information the image processing device of the image data designated time has come.

  According to this configuration, when the identification information acquisition unit of the image processing apparatus acquires the identification information of the image data that has been output by the identification information supply unit of the printing apparatus, the image data acquisition / supply unit Since the image data is acquired from the storage means and the acquired image data is supplied to the printing apparatus, even if a large amount of time-specified image data is sent from a user terminal connected to the network, the printing apparatus has a large-capacity memory. These image data can be printed by the printing apparatus without mounting the printer.

  Further, according to this configuration, since the time arrival monitoring unit of the printing apparatus monitors whether or not the designated time for printing the image data has arrived, the processing load of the image processing apparatus can be reduced. The apparatus can be reduced in size.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing apparatus for acquiring image data to be printed at a specified time from a user terminal and transmitting the image data to a printing apparatus after the specified time has elapsed. Means, time arrival monitoring means for monitoring whether or not a designated time at which the image data is printed has arrived, and if the designated time has arrived by the time arrival monitoring means, the image data An image data acquisition / supply unit that acquires the image data from the storage unit and supplies the acquired image data to a printing apparatus is provided.

  According to this configuration, when it is determined by the time arrival monitoring unit that the designated time has arrived, the image data acquisition / supply unit acquires the image data from the image data storage unit, and the acquired image data is printed by the printing apparatus. Therefore, even when a large amount of time-specified image data is sent from a user terminal connected to the network, the printing apparatus can print these image data without installing a large-capacity memory. .

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing apparatus for acquiring image data to be printed at a specified time from a user terminal and transmitting the image data to a printing apparatus after the specified time has elapsed. Means for acquiring identification information for identifying the image data for which the specified time has arrived from the printing apparatus, and acquiring the image data indicated by the identification information acquired by the identification information acquiring means. The image data acquisition / supply means for supplying the acquired image data to the printing apparatus.

  According to this configuration, when the identification information acquisition unit of the image processing apparatus acquires the identification information of the image data that has been output by the identification information supply unit of the printing apparatus, the image data acquisition / supply unit Since the image data is acquired from the storage means and the acquired image data is supplied to the printing apparatus, even when a large amount of time-specified image data is sent from the network-connected user terminal, the printing apparatus has a large capacity. These image data can be printed by the printing apparatus without mounting a memory.

  As described above, according to the present invention, even when a large amount of time-designated image data is sent from a user terminal connected to the network, the printing apparatus prints the image data without installing a large-capacity memory. be able to.

  Next, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of Embodiment 1 of an image data processing system according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the image data processing system according to the first embodiment acquires image data to be printed at a specified time from a user terminal, and transmits the image data to the printing apparatus 2 when the specified time elapses. The system is a system in which the apparatus 1 and the printing apparatus 2 are connected by a connection cable such as a network, a Centronics cable, or a USB cable.

  The image processing apparatus includes an application 11, an input unit 12, a display unit 13, a print spooler 14, a printer driver 15, a print monitor 16, a timing mechanism unit 17, and an output control unit 18. ing.

  The application 11 is an application that processes a word processor language, for example, and holds application data 111 that can be interpreted by the application 11. When a print instruction is input from the display unit 13 or the input unit 12 by the user, the application 11 creates a drawing command that can be processed by the print spooler 14 using the application data 111, for example, a GDI command. Is output to the print spooler 14.

  In addition, when the user performs a printing operation, the application 11 reads a dialog 151, which will be described later, held by the printer driver 15, and uses this to use the document properties shown in FIG. 2 (the contents of this screen will be described later). It is displayed on the display unit 13. The user designates the print time using the document properties displayed on the display unit 13.

  The input unit 12 includes a pointing device such as a keyboard and a mouse, and information for executing processing required when image data is transmitted to the printing apparatus 2 is input by the user.

  The display unit 13 includes, for example, a liquid crystal display device, and displays a display screen on which, for example, document properties necessary for executing image processing are displayed.

  When a drawing command is input from the application 11, the print spooler 14 outputs this command to the printer driver 15. The print spooler 14 receives image data that can be printed by the printing apparatus 2 corresponding to the previously output drawing command from the printer driver 15 and accumulates the image data. The print spooler 14 assigns a unique job ID for identifying the image data for each stored image data, and outputs the job ID and the image data to the print monitor 16. When the job ID assigned to the image data output to the output control unit 18 by the time designation detection unit 161 constituting the print monitor 16 is input from the time waiting determination unit 162, the print spooler 14 receives the job ID. The image data indicated by is deleted.

  Further, the print spooler 14 receives a request for causing the time designation detection unit 161 to output image data corresponding to a job ID described later in the time waiting information from the time arrival monitoring unit 164 constituting the print monitor 16. Then, the image data indicated by the job ID described in the request and the job ID are output to the time designation detection unit 161.

  The printer driver 15 includes a dialog 151 and an image data forming unit 152. The dialog 151 causes the display unit 13 to display a display screen including document properties shown in FIG. The display screen including the document properties includes a time designation print check box 151a, a designated time check box 151b, an OK button 151c, and a cancel button 151d.

  The time designation print check box 151a is a check box for the user to enable the setting of the time designation printing. When the user places the cursor at this position and clicks the mouse, the setting of the time designation printing becomes effective. A check mark indicating that this is displayed. In the designated time check box 151b, a designated time at which image data is printed is input. When this location is clicked by the user, the OK button 151c outputs the information input by the user (hereinafter referred to as dialog information) to the application 11. The cancel button 151d invalidates the output of dialog information when this portion is clicked by the user. That is, the cancel button 151d does not output the dialog information to the image data forming unit 152, and shifts to the next processing wait state.

  When the dialog information is not input from the application 11, the image data forming unit 152 shown in FIG. 1 converts the drawing command input from the print spooler 14 into image data in a format that can be printed by the printing apparatus 2, and this image data Is output to the print spooler 14. Further, when the dialog information is input from the application 11, the image data forming unit 152 converts the drawing command input from the print spooler 14 into image data in a format that can be printed by the printing apparatus 2, and further designates it. A command for instructing printing at a time (hereinafter referred to as a specified time) (hereinafter referred to as a time specified print command) is embedded at the beginning of the image data, and the image data in which the time specified print command is embedded is output to the print spooler 14. To do.

  The print monitor 16 includes a time designation detection unit 161, a time waiting determination unit 162, a time waiting information storage unit 163, and a time arrival monitoring unit 164.

  When the image data and job ID are input from the print spooler 14, the time designation detection unit 161 determines whether a time designation print command is embedded at the beginning of the image data, and specifies the time designation at the beginning of the image data. When it is determined that the print command is not embedded, this image data is output to the output control unit 18, while when it is determined that the time specification command is embedded at the head of the image data, the time specification is performed. The specified time and job ID described in the print command are output to the time wait determination unit 162, and an instruction from the time wait determination unit 162 is awaited.

  Further, as a result of waiting for an instruction from the time wait determination unit 162, the time designation detection unit 161 receives a notification of a request for outputting image data from the time wait determination unit 162 to the output control unit 18 (hereinafter referred to as an output request notification). Then, image data obtained by deleting this command from the image data in which the time designation print command input from the print spooler 14 is embedded is output to the output control unit 18.

  Further, as a result of waiting for an instruction from the time wait determination unit 162, the time specification detection unit 161 requests the time wait determination unit 162 to delete the image data in which the time specification print command input from the print spooler 14 is embedded. When a notification (hereinafter referred to as a deletion request notification) is input, the image data is deleted without being output to the output control unit 18.

  The time wait determination unit 162 searches for time wait information 163b (described later) stored in the time wait information storage unit 163, and the time wait information 163b in which the job ID input from the time designation detection unit 161 is described. It is determined whether or not it is stored. As a result of the determination, when it is determined that the time waiting information 163b describing the input job ID is stored, the time waiting determination unit 162 outputs the output request notification to the time designation detection unit 161. Then, a notification of a request to delete the image data indicated by the input job ID is output to the print spooler 14, and then the time waiting information 163b is deleted from the time waiting information storage unit 163.

When the time waiting determination unit 162 determines that the time waiting information 163b in which the input job ID is described is not stored, the time waiting determination unit 162 newly generates the time waiting information 163b in which the job ID is described. The generated time waiting information 163b is registered after the last registered time waiting information 163b, and the deletion request notification is output to the time designation detecting unit 161.

  The time waiting information 163b has internal information necessary for printing image data waiting for time at a specified time. As shown in FIG. 3, the internal information includes a job ID 163ba, a specified time 163bb, a time monitoring state 163bc, a previous information pointer 163bd, and a next information pointer 163be.

  The job ID 163ba describes the job ID input from the time designation detection unit 161 by the time wait determination unit 162. The designated time 163bb describes the designated time input from the time designation detection unit 161 by the time waiting determination unit 162. The time monitoring state 163bc indicates that “time monitoring is in progress” if the time waiting information 163b is a monitoring target for the arrival of time, and “time monitoring has been completed” if the arrival of time has been monitored. Described.

  The previous information pointer 163bd and the next information pointer 163be are used to pointer-connect these time waiting information 163b to each other when a plurality of time waiting information 163b exists in the time waiting information storage unit 163. The previous information pointer 163bd points to the head address of the time waiting information 163b registered before the time waiting information 163b that is currently referred to. The next information pointer 163be points to the head address of the time waiting information 163b registered next to the time waiting information 163b that is currently referred to. If there is no next information pointer 163be, the next information pointer 163be becomes an invalid value. Here, NULL (generally 0) is used as the invalid value.

  The time waiting information storage unit 163 stores the time waiting information 163b, and the time waiting information determination unit 162 and the time arrival monitoring unit 164 refer to, change, delete, and register the time waiting information 163b. As shown in FIG. 4, the time waiting information storage unit 163 includes a time waiting information head pointer 163a, the time waiting information 163b described above, and a time waiting information final pointer 163c.

  The time waiting information head pointer 163a stores the head address of the oldest (first) registered as the time waiting information 163b. In FIG. 4, the time wait information head pointer 163a describes the head address of the time wait information 163b indicated by # 1 stored in the time wait information storage unit 163. When the time waiting information 163b is not registered in the time waiting information storage unit 163, an invalid value is described in the time waiting information head pointer 163a.

  The time waiting information final pointer 163c stores the head address of the latest (lastly) registered information as the time waiting information 163b. In FIG. 4, the time wait information final pointer 163c describes the start address of the time wait information 163b indicated by #n stored in the time wait information storage unit 163. If the time waiting information 163b is not registered in the time waiting information storage unit 163, an invalid value is described in the time waiting information final pointer 163c. Further, the above-described head address is hereinafter referred to as a pointer.

  The time arrival monitoring unit 164 shown in FIG. 1 monitors all the time waiting information 163b registered in the time waiting information storage unit 163 at a cycle shorter than the minimum unit of time that can be specified in the dialog 151, and the time measuring mechanism unit The current time read from 17 is compared with the designated time 163bb described in the time waiting information 163b. Then, the time arrival monitoring unit 164 determines that the designated time has arrived if the time waiting information 163b in which the current time matches the designated time 163bb is registered in the time waiting information storage unit 163. A notification of a request for causing the time designation detection unit 161 to output image data corresponding to the job ID 163ba described in the time waiting information 163b is output to the print spooler 14.

  The time measuring unit 17 measures the current time, and outputs the current time measured at a predetermined cycle to the time arrival monitoring unit 164.

  The output control unit 18 transmits the image data output from the time designation detection unit 161 to the printing apparatus 2.

  The printing apparatus 2 interprets the image data input from the output control unit 18 and prints it.

  Next, the operation of the image processing apparatus according to the first embodiment is as follows: 1) the operation until the generated image data is accumulated in the print spooler 14 after the printing start operation is performed, and 2) the operation is accumulated by the print spooler 14. Operation until image data is transmitted to the printing apparatus 2 or waits for a specified time, 3) operation until an output request for image data when the specified time arrives is output to the print spooler 14 by the time arrival monitoring unit 164 This will be explained separately.

  1) Operation after the print start operation is performed until the generated image data is accumulated in the print spooler 14

  FIG. 5 shows the operation of the image processing apparatus for constructing the image data processing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention until the generated image data is accumulated in the print spooler 14 after the print start operation is performed. It is a flowchart which shows.

  When the user executes the application 11 using the keyboard or mouse provided in the input unit 12 to start the print start operation (step S11), the application 11 calls the dialog 151 included in the printer driver 15, 2 is displayed on the display unit 13 (step S12).

  When the user places a cursor in the time designation print check box 151a displayed in the dialog 151 and clicks with the mouse, the check box 151a is checked, and the designated time is input to the designated time check box 151b. (Step S13) When the OK button 151c or the cancel button 151d is clicked, the application 11 determines whether the clicked button is the OK button 151c or the cancel button 151d (step S14).

  If the application 11 determines that the cancel button 151d has been clicked (step S14; cancel button), all the operations performed in the dialog 151 are invalidated, the dialog 151 is deleted from the display unit 13, and the process proceeds to step S11. The same processing as described above is performed. On the other hand, when the application 11 determines that the OK button 151c has been clicked (step S14; OK button), the application 11 acquires dialog information from the display unit 13. Thereafter, the application 11 outputs the designated time described in the dialog information to the image data forming unit 152 of the printer driver 15 (step S15). Next, the application 11 generates a drawing command using the application data 111 (step S16), and outputs the drawing command to the print spooler 14.

  The print spooler 14 outputs the drawing command input from the application 11 to the printer driver 15 (step S17).

  When a drawing command is input (step S18), the image data forming unit 152 of the printer driver 15 converts the drawing command into image data that can be printed by the printing apparatus 2 (step S19).

  The image data forming unit 152 determines whether or not a specified time has been input (step S20). If the image data forming unit 152 determines that the designated time is not input from the application 11 (step S20; NO), the image data forming unit 152 outputs the image data in which the time designation command is not embedded to the print spooler 14 (step S21). ), The process proceeds to step S25. On the other hand, if the image data forming unit 152 determines that the designated time has been input (step S20; YES), the image data forming unit 152 creates a time designated print command that can be analyzed by the print monitor 16 (step S22). Thereafter, the image data forming unit 152 embeds the created time designation print command at the head of the image data (step S23), and outputs this image data to the print spooler 14 (step S24).

  When image data is input from the printer driver 15, the print spooler 14 accumulates the image data without being aware of the time designation command embedded at the head of the image data, and then identifies the image data. A job ID to be assigned is assigned (step S25), and the process is terminated.

  2) Operation until image data stored in the print spooler 14 is transmitted to the printing apparatus 2 or until printing is waited until a designated time.

  6 and 7 construct the image data processing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention until the image data accumulated in the print spooler 14 is printed by the printing apparatus 2 or until printing is waited until the designated time. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of an image processing apparatus.

  When the print spooler 14 receives the image data indicated by the job ID and a notification requesting output for the job ID from the time arrival monitoring unit 164, the print spooler 14 sends the requested image data and job ID to the time designation detection unit 161. Output (step S31).

  The time designation detection unit 161 determines whether a time designation print command is embedded in the input image data (step S32). When it is determined that the time designation command is not embedded in the image data (step S32; NO), the time designation detection unit 161 outputs the image data to the output control unit 18 (step S33).

  The output control unit 18 transmits the image data input from the time designation detection unit 161 to the printing apparatus 2 and ends the processing.

  When the time designation detection unit 161 determines that the time designation command is embedded in the image data (step S32; YES), the time designation detection unit 161 uses the designated time described in the time designation print command embedded in the image data. The specified time and the job ID input from the print spooler 14 are output to the time waiting determination unit 162. Thereafter, the time designation detection unit 161 waits for an instruction from the time wait determination unit 162.

  When the designated time and job ID are input from the time designation detection unit 161, the time wait determination unit 162 determines whether or not the time wait information head pointer 163a included in the time wait information storage unit 163 is an effective value. (Step S34). When the time waiting determination unit 162 determines that the time waiting information head pointer 163a is a valid value (step S34; YES), the time waiting determination unit 162 refers to the time waiting information 163b indicated by the pointer 163a (step S35).

  Next, the time wait determination unit 162 determines whether or not the job ID 163ba described in the time wait information 163b indicated by the time wait information head pointer 163a is the same as the job ID input from the time designation detection unit 161. Is determined (step S36). When the time waiting determination unit 162 determines that the job ID 163b described in the time waiting information 163b to be referred to is not the same as the job ID input from the time designation detection unit 161 (step S36; NO), Further, it is determined whether or not the next information pointer 163be described in the time waiting information 163b to be referred to is an invalid value (step S37).

  The time waiting determination unit 162 determines that the next information pointer 163be described in the time waiting information 163b to be referred to is not an invalid value (step S37; NO), that is, if the next information pointer 163be is a valid value. The time waiting information 163b indicated by the next information pointer 163be is referred to (step S38), the processing is shifted to step S36, and the same processing as described above is continued. On the other hand, when the time wait determination unit 162 determines that the next information pointer 163be included in the time wait information 163b is an invalid value (step S37; YES), the job ID and the designation input from the time designation detection unit 161 are specified. Time waiting information 163b of image data having time is generated (step S39). That is, the time waiting determination unit 162 describes the job ID input from the time designation detection unit 161 in the job ID 163ba of the time waiting information 163b, and describes the designation time input from the time designation detection unit 161 in the designation time 163bb. The time monitoring state 163bc describes “time monitoring in progress”, the previous information pointer 163bd describes the pointer of the time waiting information 163b, and the next information pointer 163be generates time waiting information 163b describing an invalid value, The time waiting information 163b generated after the last time waiting information 163b registered in the time waiting information storage unit 163 is registered (step S40).

  Next, the time waiting determination unit 162 stores the pointer of the generated time waiting information 163b in the next information pointer 163be and the time waiting information final pointer 163c that are invalid values described in the time waiting information 163b referred to earlier. (Step S41), and the process proceeds to Step S52.

  In step S36, the time waiting determination unit 162 determines that the job ID 25 described in the time waiting information 163b to be referred to is the same as the job ID input from the time designation detection unit 161 (step S36). (S36; YES), it recognizes that the image data output to the time designation detector 161 is image data that has passed the designated time, and reads this time wait information 163b from the time wait information storage 163 (step S42).

  Thereafter, the time wait determination unit 162 describes the previous information pointer 163bd described in the time wait information 163b indicated by the next information pointer 163be described in the read time wait information 163b in the read time wait information 163b. The previous information pointer 163bd is changed, and the next information pointer 163be described in the time waiting information 163b indicated by the previous information pointer 163bd described in the read time waiting information 163b is waited for the reading time. The information is changed to the next information pointer 163be described in the information 163b. Next, the time waiting determination unit 162 deletes the previously read time waiting information 163b from the time waiting information storage unit 163 (step S43).

  Next, the time waiting determination unit 162 determines whether or not the time waiting information 163b is stored in the time waiting information storage unit 163 (step S44). When it is determined that the time waiting information 163b is stored in the time waiting information storage unit 163 (step S44; YES), the time waiting determination unit 162 shifts the process to step S47. On the other hand, when the time wait determination unit 162 determines that the time wait information 163b is not stored in the time wait information storage unit 163 (step S44; NO), the time wait information start pointer 163a and the time wait information final pointer An invalid value is stored in 163c (step S45), a notification for ending the monitoring of time arrival (hereinafter referred to as time arrival monitoring end notification) is output to the time arrival monitoring unit 164 (step S46), and the time arrival monitoring unit 164 is notified of the time. Stop monitoring the arrival of.

  After that, the time waiting determination unit 162 outputs a notification of the request for outputting the image data input from the print spooler 14 to the output control unit 18 to the time designation detection unit 161 (the output request notification) and also the print spooler. A request to delete the image data indicated by the job ID is output to 14 (step S47).

  When the output request notification is input from the time waiting determination unit 162, the time specification detection unit 161 deletes the time specification print command embedded in the image data input from the print spooler 14 from this image data, and this time specification The image data from which the print command is deleted is output to the output control unit 18 (step S48).

  When the image data is input from the time designation detection unit 161, the output control unit 18 transmits this image data to the printing apparatus 2 and ends the process.

  When the notification of a request for deleting the image data indicated by the job ID is input from the time waiting determination unit 162, the print spooler 14 deletes the image data indicated by the job ID.

  In step 34, when the time waiting determination unit 162 determines that the time waiting information head pointer 163a is not a valid value (step S34; NO), that is, the image indicated by the job ID input from the time designation detection unit 161. If it is determined that the data time wait information 163b is not registered in the time wait information storage unit 163, the image data time wait information 163b is generated (step S49). That is, the time waiting determination unit 162 describes the job ID input from the time designation detection unit 161 in the job ID 163ba in the time waiting information 163b, and describes the designation time input from the time designation detection unit 161 in the designation time 163bb. Then, the time monitoring state 163bc is described as “time monitoring in progress”, and time waiting information 163b in which invalid values are described in the previous information pointer 163bd and the next information pointer 163be is generated (step S49). The information is registered in the waiting information storage unit 163 (step S50).

  Next, the time wait determination unit 162 stores the generated time wait information pointers in the time wait information start pointer 163a and the time wait information final pointer 163c stored in the time wait information storage unit 163 (step S51). Thereafter, the time waiting determination unit 162 outputs a notification (deletion request notification) of a request to delete image data input from the print spooler 14 to the time designation detection unit 161 (step S52).

  When the deletion request notification is input from the time waiting determination unit 162, the time designation detection unit 161 discards the image data input from the print spooler 14 without outputting it to the output control unit 18 (step S53). The fact that the process has been completed is output to the time waiting determination unit 162.

  Thereafter, the time waiting determination unit 162 outputs a notification (hereinafter, referred to as a time arrival monitoring notification) that causes the time arrival monitoring unit 164 to monitor the arrival of time (step S54), and the time arrival monitoring unit 164 performs monitoring of the arrival of time. Execution is started and processing is terminated.

  3) Operations until the time arrival monitoring unit 164 outputs an output request for image data at the designated time to the print monitor 16

  FIG. 8 shows an image processing apparatus for constructing the image data processing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention until an output request for image data at the designated time is output to the print monitor 16 by the time arrival monitoring unit 164. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement. When the time arrival monitoring notification is input from the time waiting determination unit 162 (step S61), the time arrival monitoring unit 164 then determines whether a time arrival monitoring end notification is input from the time waiting determination unit 162 (step S61). Step S62). When the time arrival monitoring unit 164 determines that a time arrival monitoring end notification has been input (step S62; YES), the processing proceeds to step S61 and the same processing is continued. On the other hand, when the time arrival monitoring unit 164 determines that the time arrival monitoring end notification has not been input (step S62; NO), it is determined whether or not the time waiting information 163b is registered in the time waiting information storage unit 163. Is determined (step S63).

  When the time arrival monitoring unit 164 determines that the time waiting information 163b is not registered in the time waiting information storage unit 163 (step S63; NO), that is, the time waiting information head pointer of the time waiting information storage unit 163. When 163a and the time waiting information final pointer 163c are invalid values, the process proceeds to step S61, and the same process as described above is continued. On the other hand, when the time arrival monitoring unit 164 determines that the time waiting information 163b is registered in the time waiting information storage unit 163 (step S63; YES), the time arrival monitoring unit 164 updates the current time monitoring unit 164 from the time measuring mechanism unit 17 at a predetermined cycle. The time is read (step S64).

  Next, the time arrival monitoring unit 164 refers to the time waiting information 163b in order from the time waiting information 163b indicated by the time waiting information head pointer 163a included in the time waiting information storage unit 163 (step S65), and the time measuring mechanism 17 It is determined whether or not the designated time 163bb of the time waiting information 163b referred to from the current time read from elapses (step S66). When the time arrival monitoring unit 164 determines that the designated time has not elapsed (step S66; NO), the process proceeds to step S69. On the other hand, when the time arrival monitoring unit 164 determines that the specified time has elapsed (step S66; YES), the time arrival monitoring unit 164 reads the job ID 163ba described in the referenced time waiting information 163b.

  Thereafter, the time arrival monitoring unit 164 outputs a request to the print spooler 14 to output the image data indicated by the read job ID 163ba to the print spooler 14 (step S67) and the time wait information 163b referred to earlier. The time monitoring described in the time monitoring state 163bc is changed to time monitoring completed (step S68). The print spooler 14 outputs the image data indicated by the job ID to the time designation detection unit 161 when a request to be output from the time arrival monitoring unit 164 is input.

  Next, the time arrival monitoring unit 164 determines whether or not the next information pointer 163be of the referenced time waiting information 163b is an invalid value (step S69). When the time arrival monitoring unit 164 determines that the next information pointer 163be of the referenced time waiting information 163b is an invalid value (step S69; YES), the time arrival monitoring unit 164 proceeds to step S62 and continues the same processing described above. . On the other hand, the time arrival monitoring unit 164 determines that the next information pointer 163be of the referenced time waiting information 163b is not an invalid value (step S69; NO), that is, determines that the next information pointer 163be is an effective value. In this case, the time wait information 163b registered in the time wait information storage unit 163 indicated by the next information pointer 163be that is not an invalid value is referred to (step S70), and the process proceeds to step S66. Continue processing similar to.

  According to the first embodiment, when the time arrival monitoring unit 164 determines that the designated time has arrived, the time designation detection unit 161 obtains image data from the print spooler 14, and obtains the obtained image data. Since the data is supplied to the printing apparatus 2, even when a large amount of time-designated image data is sent from a user terminal connected to the network, the printing apparatus prints the image data without installing a large-capacity memory. be able to.

  FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image processing apparatus that constructs an image data processing system according to the present invention. FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a printing apparatus that constructs an image data processing system according to the present invention. is there. As shown in FIGS. 9 and 14, the image data processing system according to the second embodiment acquires image data to be printed at a specified time from the user terminal, and transmits the image data to the printing apparatus 5 when the specified time has elapsed. The image processing apparatus 4 and the printing apparatus 5 are connected by a connection cable such as a network, a Centronics cable, or a USB cable.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the image processing apparatus 4 includes an application 41, an input unit 42, a display unit 43, a print spooler 44, a printer driver 45, a print monitor 46, and an input / output control unit 47. It is prepared for.

  The application 41 is, for example, Microsoft Word supplied by Microsoft Corporation, and holds application data 411 that can be interpreted by itself. When a print instruction is input from the display unit 43 or the input unit 42 by the user, the application 41 creates a drawing command that can be processed by the print spooler 44 using the application data 411, for example, a GDI command. Is output to the print spooler 44. Further, when the user performs a printing operation, the application 41 reads a dialog 451, which will be described later, held by the printer driver 15, and uses this to display a display screen including, for example, document properties shown in FIG. Let The user designates the print time by using a display screen (the contents of this screen will be described later) including the properties of this document.

  The input unit 42 includes a pointing device such as a keyboard and a mouse, and inputs information necessary for executing image processing.

  The display unit 43 is composed of, for example, a liquid crystal display device, and displays a display screen such as a monitor that is necessary for executing image processing again.

  When a drawing command is input from the application 41, the print spooler 44 outputs the command to the printer driver 45. The print spooler 44 receives image data that can be printed by the printing apparatus 5 corresponding to the previously output drawing command from the printer driver 45 and accumulates the image data. The print spooler 44 assigns a unique job ID for identifying the image data for each stored image data, and outputs the job ID and the image data to the print monitor 46. The print spooler 44 receives the job ID assigned to the image data output from the time designation detection unit 461 to the input / output control unit 47 from the job ID determination unit 462 constituting the print monitor 46. The image data indicated by the ID is deleted.

  Further, the print spooler 44 receives a request from the job ID collating unit 464 constituting the print monitor 46 to cause the time designation detecting unit 461 to output image data corresponding to a job ID described later in the job ID information. Then, the image data indicated by the job ID described in the request and the job ID are output to the time designation detection unit 461.

  The printer driver 45 includes a dialog 451 and an image data forming unit 452. The dialog 451 causes the display unit 43 to display a display screen including the document properties shown in FIG. This display screen is a display screen showing document properties, and includes a time designation print check box 451a, a designated time box 451b, an OK button 451c, and a cancel button 451d.

  The time designation print check box 451a is a check box for the user to validate the setting of the time designation printing. When the user places the cursor at this position and clicks the mouse, the setting of the time designation printing becomes valid. A check mark indicating that this is displayed. In the specified time box 451b, a specified time for printing by the user is input. The OK button 451c outputs the dialog information input by the user to the application 41 when the user places a cursor at this position and clicks the OK button 451c. When the cancel button 451d is clicked by the user, the dialog information is invalidated. That is, the cancel button 451d shifts to the next processing wait state without outputting the dialog information to the image data forming unit 452.

  When the dialog information is not input from the application 41, the image data forming unit 452 shown in FIG. 9 converts the drawing command input from the print spooler 44 into image data in a format that can be printed by the printing apparatus 5, and this image data Is output to the print spooler 44. When the dialog information is input from the application 41, the image data forming unit 452 converts the drawing command input from the print spooler 44 into image data in a format that can be printed by the printing apparatus 5, and further, the specified time. A command for instructing printing (hereinafter referred to as a time designation print command) is embedded at the head of the image data, and the image data in which the time designation print command is embedded is output to the print spooler 44.

  The print monitor 46 includes a time designation detection unit 461, a job ID determination unit 462, a job ID information storage unit 463, a job ID collation unit 464, and a job ID command reception unit 465.

  When the image data and job ID are input from the print spooler 44, the time designation detection unit 461 determines whether or not a time designation command is embedded at the beginning of the image data, and the time designation command at the beginning of the image data. Is determined not to be embedded, the image data is output to the input / output control unit 47. On the other hand, if it is determined that the time designation command is embedded at the beginning of the image data, the print spooler 44 The input job ID is output to the job ID determination unit 462, and an instruction from the job ID determination unit 462 is awaited.

  In addition, as a result of waiting for an instruction from the job ID determination unit 462, the time designation detection unit 461 receives an output request notification for outputting image data from the job ID determination unit 462 to the input / output control unit 47. The image data in which the command is deleted from the image data in which the time designation print command input from is embedded is output to the input / output control unit 47.

  When a job ID reception waiting notification (to be described later) is input from the job ID determination unit 462, the time specification detection unit 461 receives the time specification print command embedded in the image data input from the print spooler 44, from the print spooler 44. The job ID command generated by the input job ID and the print start time command are output to the input / output control unit 47, and other image data are discarded.

  As shown in FIG. 11, the job ID command describes the job ID assigned to the image data to be printed with the time designation, and the print start time command describes the printing time of the image data.

  The job ID determination unit 462 searches the job ID information 463b shown in FIG. 12 stored in the job ID information storage unit 463 using the job ID input from the time designation detection unit 461 as a key, and the job ID is described. If the job ID information 463b stored is stored in the job ID information storage unit 463, it is determined whether the job ID information 463b stored is stored in the job ID information storage unit 463. The job ID information 463b is deleted from the job ID information storage unit 463, and a print request notification is output to the time designation detection unit 461. If the job ID determination unit 462 determines that the job ID information 463b in which the input job ID is described is not stored, the job ID determination unit 462 generates new job ID information 463b in which the job ID is described. The generated job ID information 463b is registered after the job ID information 463b last registered in the job ID information storage unit 463, and the deletion request notification is output to the time designation detection unit 161.

  The job ID information 463b is information indicating image data that has been received by the job ID command from the printing apparatus 5, and includes a job ID 463ba, a previous information pointer 463bb, and a next information pointer 463bc as shown in FIG. Have.

  The job ID 463ba describes the job ID input from the print spooler 44 together with the image data. When there are a plurality of job ID information 463b, the previous information pointer 463bb and the next information pointer 463bc are information for connecting the information 463b by pointers. In the previous information pointer 463bb, a pointer in the job ID information storage unit 463 of the job ID information 463b registered before the currently referred job ID information 463b is described. If there is no previous information pointer 463bb, an invalid value is described. In the next information pointer 463bc, a pointer of the job ID information 463b registered next to the currently referred job ID information 463b is described. If there is no pointer, an invalid value is described.

  The job ID information storage unit 463 stores the job ID information, and the job ID determination unit 462 and the job ID collation unit 464 refer to, delete, and register the job ID information 463b. As illustrated in FIG. The job ID information start pointer 463a, the above-described job ID information 463b, and the job ID information final pointer 463c are included.

  The job ID information head pointer 463a stores the pointer of the job ID information 463b registered the oldest (first) as the job ID information 463b. In FIG. 13, the job ID information head pointer 463a points to the pointer of the job ID information 463b of # 1. If the job ID information 463b is not registered in the job ID information storage unit 463, an invalid value is stored in the job ID information head pointer 463a.

  The job ID information final pointer 463c stores the pointer of the most recently registered job ID information 463b as the job ID information 463b. In FIG. 13, the job ID information final pointer 463c points to the pointer of the job ID information 463b of #n. If the job ID information 463b is not registered in the job ID information storage unit 463, an invalid value is stored in the job ID information head pointer 463a.

  When the job ID transmitted from the printing apparatus 5 is input from the job ID command receiving unit 465, the job ID collating unit 464 shown in FIG. 9 is registered in the job ID information storage unit 463 using the job ID as a key. The current job ID information 463b is searched, and it is determined whether or not the job ID information 463b having the job ID input from the time designation detection unit 461 is registered in the job ID information storage unit 463. When the job ID collating unit 464 determines that the job ID information 463b describing the input job ID is registered in the job ID information storage unit 463, the job ID and the image data indicated by the job ID are displayed. Is output to the print spooler 44.

  The job ID command receiving unit 465 requests the input / output control unit 47 to receive data from the printing apparatus 5 at a cycle shorter than the minimum unit of time that can be specified in the dialog 451, and the received data is the job shown in FIG. If it is the ID command 462a, the job ID collating unit 464 is notified of the job ID indicated by the received job ID command 462a.

  The input / output control unit 47 transmits the image data, the time designation print command, the job ID command 462a, and the print start time command 462b to the printing apparatus 5 and receives the job ID command 462a from the printing apparatus 5.

  As shown in FIG. 14, the printing apparatus 5 constituting the image data processing system according to the second embodiment includes a device input / output control unit 51, a job ID command transmission unit 52, a command determination unit 53, and time waiting information registration. A unit 54, a time waiting information storage unit 55, a time arrival monitoring unit 56, a timing mechanism unit 57, an image data editing unit 58, and a printing mechanism unit 59.

  The device input / output control unit 51 outputs data input from the input / output control unit 47 constituting the image processing apparatus 4 to the command determination unit 53. In addition, the device input / output control unit 51 transmits the job ID command 462 a generated by the job ID command transmission unit 52 to the input / output control unit 47 of the image processing apparatus 4. Here, the data includes a command including a job ID command 462a and a print start time command 462b and image data.

  When the job ID is input from the time arrival monitoring unit 56, the job ID command transmission unit 52 generates a job ID command 462 a based on the job ID and outputs the job ID command 462 a to the device input / output control unit 51.

  The command determination unit 53 determines whether the data input from the device input / output control unit 51 is image data or a command. If the command determination unit 53 determines that the input data is image data, the command determination unit 53 outputs the input image data to the image data editing unit 58. If the command determination unit 53 determines that the input data is the job ID command 462a and the print start time command 462b, the command determination unit 53 describes the specified time described in the print start time command 462b and the job ID command 462a. The current job ID is output to the time waiting information registration unit 54. Further, the command determination unit 53 discards this data when the input data is not image data and is one of the job ID command 462a and the print start time command 462b.

  The time waiting information registration unit 54 generates time waiting information 55b (see FIG. 15), which will be described later, based on the designated time input from the command determination unit 53 and the job ID, and uses the generated time waiting information 55b as time waiting information. Registration is performed after the time waiting information 55 b registered at the end of the storage unit 55.

  The time waiting information 55b is used to hold information of image data waiting for time, and is registered from 0 to plural in response to a request from the time waiting information registration unit 54. As shown in FIG. 15, the time waiting information 55b includes a job ID 55ba, a specified time 55bb, a previous information pointer 55bc, and a next information pointer 55bd.

  The job ID 55ba describes the job ID output from the command determination unit 53. The designated time 55bb describes the designated time output from the command determination unit 53. The previous information pointer 55bc and the next information pointer 55bd are used to connect the information to each other when there are a plurality of time waiting information 55b. The previous information pointer 55bc indicates a pointer of the time waiting information 55b registered before the time waiting information 55b that is currently referred to. The next information pointer 55bd indicates a pointer of the time waiting information 55b registered next to the time waiting information 55b that is currently referred to. If there is no next information pointer 55bd, the next information pointer 55bd becomes an invalid value.

  The time waiting information storage unit 55 stores the time waiting information 55b, and the time arrival monitoring unit 56 refers to, changes, deletes, and registers the time waiting information 55b. As shown in FIG. It has a pointer 55a, time waiting information 55b, and time waiting information final pointer 55c.

  As the time wait information head pointer 55a, the pointer of the time wait information 55b registered the oldest in the time wait information storage unit 55 is stored. The time waiting information head pointer 55a shown in FIG. 16 points to the pointer of the time waiting information 55b of # 1 registered in the time waiting information storage unit 55. If the time waiting information 55b is not registered in the time waiting information storage unit 55, an invalid value is stored in the time waiting information head pointer 55a.

  As the time wait information final pointer 55c, the pointer of the time wait information 55b newly registered in the time wait information storage unit 55 is stored. The time wait information head pointer shown in FIG. 16 points to the pointer of #n time wait information 55 b registered in the time wait information storage unit 55. If the time waiting information 55b is not registered in the time waiting information storage unit 55, an invalid value is stored in the time waiting information final pointer 55c.

  The time arrival monitoring unit 56 shown in FIG. 14 monitors all the time waiting information 55b registered in the time waiting information storage unit 55 at a cycle shorter than the minimum unit of time that can be specified in the dialog 451, and the time measuring mechanism unit The current time read from 57 is compared with the designated time 55bb described in all the time waiting information 55b. The time arrival monitoring unit 56 determines that the designated time has arrived if there is time waiting information 55b in which the current time matches the designated time 55bb, and the job described in the time waiting information 55b. The ID 55ba is output to the job ID command transmission unit 52.

  The time measuring unit 57 measures the current time, and outputs the current time measured at a predetermined cycle to the time arrival monitoring unit 56.

  The image data editing unit 58 edits the received image data so that the printing mechanism unit 59 can print it, and outputs the edited image data to the printing mechanism unit 59.

  The printing mechanism unit 59 prints the edited image data input from the image data editing unit 58 on a sheet using printing hardware.

  Next, the operation of the image data processing system according to the present invention will be described separately for the operation of the image processing apparatus and the operation of the printing apparatus.

  In explaining the operation of the image processing apparatus, 1) the operation until the generated image data is accumulated in the print spooler 44 after the print start operation is performed, and 2) the image accumulated by the print spooler 44. Operation until data is printed by the printing device 5 or waits for a specified time, 3) The output request of image data when the specified time has arrived is divided into operations until output to the print monitor 46 by the job ID collating unit 464 I will explain.

  1) Operation until the generated image data is accumulated in the print spooler 44 after the user performs a print start operation using the printer driver 45

  FIG. 17 shows an image processing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention until the generated image data is accumulated in the print spooler 44 after a print start operation is performed by the user using the printer driver 45. It is a flowchart which shows this operation | movement.

  When the user uses the keyboard or mouse provided in the input unit 42 to execute the application 41 and execute the print start operation (step S81), the application 41 calls a dialog 451 included in the printer driver 45, and 10 is displayed on the display unit 13 (step S82).

  After the user checks the time designation print check box 451a displayed in the dialog 451 and inputs the designated time to be printed in the designated time box 451b (step S83), the OK button 451c or the cancel button 451d is clicked. Then, the application 41 determines whether the clicked button is the OK button 451c or the cancel button 451d (step S84).

  If the application 41 determines that the cancel button 451d has been clicked (step S84; cancel button), the application 41 invalidates all operations performed in the dialog 451, deletes the dialog 451 from the display unit 13, and performs the process in step S82. The same processing as described above is performed. On the other hand, when the application 41 determines that the OK button 451c has been clicked (step S84; OK button), the application 41 acquires dialog information from the display unit 43. Thereafter, the application 41 outputs the specified time obtained in the dialog information to the image data forming unit 452 of the printer driver 45 (step S85). Next, the application 41 generates a drawing command using the application data 411 (step S86), and outputs the drawing command to the print spooler 44.

  The print spooler 44 outputs the drawing command input from the application 41 to the printer driver 45 (step S87).

  When a drawing command is input (step S88), the image data forming unit 452 of the printer driver 45 converts the input drawing command into image data that can be printed by the printing apparatus 5 (step S89).

  The image data forming unit 452 determines whether or not a specified time has been input (step S90). When the image data forming unit 452 determines that the designated time is not input from the dialog 451 (step S90; NO), the image data forming unit 452 outputs the image data in which the time designated print command is not embedded to the print spooler 44 (step S90). S91), the process proceeds to step S95. On the other hand, if the image data forming unit 452 determines that the designated time has been input (step S90; YES), the image data forming unit 452 creates a time designated print command that can be analyzed by the print monitor 46 (step S92). Thereafter, the image data forming unit 452 embeds the created time designation print command at the head of the image data (step S93), and outputs this image data to the print spooler 44 (step S94).

  When image data is input from the printer driver 45, the print spooler 44 accumulates the image data without being aware of the presence of the time designation print command embedded at the head of the image data, and then stores the image data. A job ID to be identified is assigned (step S95), and the process ends.

  2) Operation until image data stored in the print spooler 44 is printed by the printing device 5 or waits for a specified time in the image processing device

  18 and 19 show the image data processing system according to the second embodiment of the present invention until image data stored in the print spooler 44 is printed by the printing device 5 or until the designated time is waited in the image processing device. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the image processing apparatus to construct | assemble.

  When the image data indicated by the job ID and a notification requesting output for the job ID are input from the job ID collating unit 464, the print spooler 44 designates the requested image data and job ID at the time specified by the print monitor 46. It outputs to the detection part 461 (step S101).

  The time designation detection unit 461 determines whether there is a time designation print command embedded in the input image data (step S102). When it is determined that the time designation print command is not embedded in the image data (step S102; NO), the time designation detection unit 461 outputs the image data to the input / output control unit 47 (step S103).

  The input / output control unit 47 transmits the image data input from the time designation detection unit 461 to the printing apparatus 5 and ends the process.

  On the other hand, when the time designation detection unit 461 determines that the time designation print command is embedded in the image data (step S102; YES), it is described in the time designation print command embedded in the image data. The designated time is read, and the designated time and the job ID input from the print spooler 44 are output to the job ID determination unit 462. Thereafter, the time designation detection unit 461 waits for an instruction from the job ID determination unit 462.

  When the specified time and job ID are input from the time specification detection unit 461, the job ID determination unit 462 determines whether or not the job ID information head pointer 463a included in the job ID information storage unit 463 is a valid value. (Step S104). When the job ID determination unit 462 determines that the job ID information head pointer 463a is a valid value (step S104; YES), the job ID determination unit 462 refers to the job ID information 463b indicated by the pointer 463a (step S105).

  Next, the job ID determination unit 462 determines whether or not the job ID 463ba described in the referenced job ID information 463b is the same as the job ID input from the time designation detection unit 161 (step S106). ). When the job ID determination unit 462 determines that the job ID 463ba described in the referenced job ID information 463b is not the same as the job ID input from the time designation detection unit 461 (step S106; NO), It is determined whether or not the next information pointer 463bc referred to is an invalid value (step S107).

  When the job ID determination unit 462 determines that the next information pointer 463bc to be referred to is not an invalid value, that is, an effective value (step S107; NO), the job ID information 463b indicated by the next information pointer 463bc is displayed. Reference is made (step S108), the process proceeds to step S106, and the same processing as described above is continued.

  On the other hand, when the job ID determination unit 462 determines that the next information pointer 463bc to be referred to is an invalid value (step S107; YES), the image data having the job ID input from the time designation detection unit 461 is displayed. Job ID information 463b is generated (step S109). That is, the job ID determination unit 462 describes the job ID input from the time designation detection unit 461 in the job ID 463ba, describes the pointer of the job ID information 463b referred to in the previous information pointer 163bd, and invalidates the next information pointer 463bc. The job ID information 463b describing the value is generated, and the generated job ID information 463b is registered after the job ID information registered at the end of the job ID information storage unit 463 (step S110).

  Next, the job ID determination unit 462 stores the generated job ID information pointer in the job ID information head pointer and job ID information final pointer stored in the job ID information storage unit 463 (step S111), and the process proceeds to step S121. To migrate.

  In step S106, when the job ID determination unit 462 determines that the job ID 463ba described in the participating job ID information 463b and the job ID input from the time designation detection unit 461 are the same (step S106). S106; YES), it recognizes that the image data output to the time designation detection unit 461 is image data that has passed the designated time, and reads this job ID information 463b from the job ID information storage unit 463 (step S112).

  Thereafter, the job ID determination unit 462 changes the previous information pointer 463bb described in the read job ID information 463b to the previous information pointer 463bb described in the job ID information 463b indicated by the next information pointer 163bc, Further, the next information pointer 463bc described in the read job ID information 463b is changed to the next information pointer 463bc described in the job ID information 463b indicated by the previous information pointer 463bb. Next, the job ID determination unit 462 deletes the previously read job ID information 463b from the job ID information storage unit 463 (step S113).

  Thereafter, the job ID determination unit 462 determines whether or not the job ID information 463b is stored in the job ID information storage unit 463 (step S114). If the job ID determination unit 462 determines that the job ID information 463b is stored in the job ID information storage unit 463 (step S114; YES), the job ID determination unit 462 shifts the processing to step S116. On the other hand, when the job ID determination unit 462 determines that the job ID information 463b is not stored in the job ID information storage unit 463 (step S114; NO), the job ID information head pointer 463a and the job ID information final pointer An invalid value is stored in 463c (step S115).

  Next, the job ID determination unit 462 outputs a notification of the request for outputting the image data input from the print spooler 14 to the input / output control unit 47 to the time designation detection unit 461 (the output request notification), and A request to delete the image data indicated by the job ID is output to the print spooler 44 (step S116).

  When the output request notification is input from the job ID determination unit 462, the time specification detection unit 461 deletes the time specification print command embedded in the image data input from the print spooler 44 from the image data, and this time specification print The image data from which the command has been deleted is output to the input / output control unit 47 (step S117).

  When image data is input from the time designation detection unit 461, the input / output control unit 47 transmits this data to the printing apparatus 5 and ends the processing.

  The print spooler 44 deletes the image data indicated by the job ID when a notification of a request to delete the image data indicated by the job ID is input from the job ID determination unit 462.

  If the job ID determination unit 462 determines in step 104 that the job ID information head pointer 163a is not a valid value (step S104; NO), that is, if the job ID information head pointer is determined to be an invalid value. Then, job ID information 463b of the image data is generated (step S118). That is, the job ID determination unit 462 describes the job ID input from the time designation detection unit 461 in the job ID 463ba in the job ID information 463b, and describes the job ID in which invalid values are described in the previous information pointer 463bb and the next information pointer 463bc. Information 463b is generated, and this job ID information 463b is registered in the job ID information storage unit 463 (step S119).

  Next, the job ID determination unit 462 stores the generated pointers of the job ID information 463b in the job ID information head pointer 463a and the job ID information final pointer 463c included in the job ID information storage unit 463 (step S120). Thereafter, the job ID determination unit 462 sends the time designation command input from the print spooler 44, the job ID command generated based on the job ID, and the print start time command to the time designation detection unit 461. And a notification of a request to delete the image data (the deletion request notification) are output to the time designation detection unit 461 (step S121).

  Thereafter, the time designation detection unit 461 outputs the time designation command, job ID command, and print start time command to the print spooler 14 to the input / output control unit 47 and also performs input / output control on the image data input from the print spooler 44. It discards without outputting to the part 47 (step S122), and complete | finishes a process.

  3) Operation until the job ID collation unit 464 outputs an output request for image data at the designated time to the print monitor 46

  FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing the operation of the image processing apparatus constructing the image data processing system according to the present invention until the job ID collating unit 464 outputs the output request for the image data at the designated time to the print monitor 46. It is. The job ID command receiving unit 465 periodically monitors data transmitted from the printing apparatus 5 via the input / output control unit 47, and determines whether this data is a job ID command (step S131).

  If the job ID command receiving unit 465 determines that the received data is not a job ID command (step S131; NO), the job ID command receiving unit 465 continues the same processing until the job ID command is received. On the other hand, when the job ID command receiving unit 465 determines that the transmitted data is a job ID command (step S131; YES), the job ID command receiving unit 465 reads the job ID described in the received job ID command, This job ID is output to the job ID verification unit 464.

  When a job ID is input from the job ID command receiving unit 465, the job ID collating unit 464 includes a job ID 463ba described in the job ID information 463b indicated by the job ID information head pointer 463a included in the job ID information storage unit 463. It is determined whether or not the input job ID matches (step S133). If the job ID collating unit 464 determines that they match each other (step S133; YES), the job ID collating unit 464 outputs a request for outputting the image data indicated by the job ID to the time designation detecting unit 461 to the print spooler 44. The process proceeds to S131 and the same process as described above is continued. On the other hand, when the job ID collating unit 464 determines that they do not match (step S133; NO), the next information pointer 463bc described in the job ID information 463b indicated by the job ID information head pointer 463a is an invalid value. Whether or not (step S135).

  If the job ID collating unit 464 determines that the next information pointer 463bc described in the job ID information 463b indicated by the job ID information head pointer 463a is an invalid value (step S135; YES), the process proceeds to step S131. And the same processing as described above is continued. On the other hand, when the job ID collating unit 464 determines that the next information pointer 463bc described in the job ID information 463b indicated by the job ID information head pointer 463a is a valid value (step S135; NO), the next information The job ID information 463b indicated by the pointer 463bc is referred to, the process proceeds to step S133, and the same process as described above is continued.

  Next, the operation of the printing apparatus that constructs the image data processing system according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  In describing the operation of the printing apparatus, 1) the operation until the time waiting information is registered in the time waiting information storage unit 55, and 2) the arrival of the time waiting information, the job of the corresponding time waiting information is confirmed. The operation until the ID command is transmitted to the image processing apparatus 4 will be described separately.

  1) Operation until time waiting information is registered in the time waiting information storage unit 55

  FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing the operation of the printing apparatus that constructs the image data processing system according to the second embodiment of the present invention until the time waiting information is registered in the time waiting information storage unit 55. The device input / output control unit 51 determines whether data is received from the image processing device 4 (step S141). If the device input / output control unit 51 determines that data has not been received from the image processing apparatus 4 (step S141; NO), it continues the same determination until data is received. On the other hand, when the device input / output control unit 51 determines that data has been received from the image processing apparatus 4 (step S141; YES), the device input / output control unit 51 inputs the received data to the command determination unit 53.

  When data is input from the device input / output control unit 51, the command determination unit 53 determines whether this data is a command or image data (step S142). If the command determination unit 53 determines that the command is a command (step S142; YES), the command determination unit 53 determines whether both the job ID command 462a and the print start time command 462b have been input (step S142). S143). When the command determination unit 53 determines that the input command is one of the job ID command 462a and the print start time command 462b (step S143; NO), the input command is discarded. (Step S144), the process proceeds to Step 141, and the same process as described above is continued. On the other hand, if the command determination unit 53 determines that both the job ID command 462a and the print start time command 462b are input (step S143; YES), the command determination unit 53 describes the input job ID command 462a. The specified job time and the specified time described in the print start time command 462 b are output to the time waiting information registration unit 54.

  The time waiting information registration unit 54 receives the job ID and the specified time from the command determination unit 53, and then determines whether or not the time waiting information head pointer 55a included in the time waiting information storage unit 55 is an invalid value ( Step S145). When the time waiting information registration unit 54 determines that the time waiting information head pointer 55a included in the time waiting information storage unit 55 is an invalid value (step S145; YES), the input job ID is described in the job ID 55ba. The input specified time is described in the specified time 55bb, and time waiting information 55b in which invalid values are described in the previous information pointer 55bc and the next information pointer 55bd is generated (step S146). Registration in the time waiting information storage unit 55 (step S147).

  Next, the time wait information registration unit 54 stores the generated time wait information 55b pointers in the time wait information head pointer 55a and the time wait information final pointer 55c stored in the time wait information storage unit 55 (step S148).

  Thereafter, the time waiting information registration unit 54 outputs a notification (time arrival monitoring start notification) for starting the time monitoring to the time arrival monitoring unit 56 (step S149), shifts the process to step S141, and is the same as described above. Continue the process.

  In step S145, when the time waiting information registration unit 54 determines that the time waiting information head pointer 55a included in the time waiting information storage unit 55 is not an invalid value, that is, a valid value (step S145; NO), The time wait information 55b indicated by the wait information head pointer 55a is referred to (step S150), and it is determined whether or not the next information pointer 55bd of the time wait information 55b to be referred to is an invalid value (step S151).

  When the time waiting information registration unit 54 determines that the next information pointer 55bd of the time waiting information 55b to be referred to is a valid value (step S151; NO), the time waiting information registration unit 54 is described in the time waiting information b referred to. The next information pointer 55bd is referred to (step S152), the process proceeds to step S151, and the same process as described above is executed. On the other hand, when determining that the next information pointer 55bd of the time waiting information 55b to be referred to is an invalid value (step S151; YES), the time waiting information registration unit 54 sets the previously input job ID to the job ID 55ba. Describe and input the designated time at the designated time 55bb, describe the pointer of the time waiting information final pointer 55c in the previous information pointer 55bc, and write the time waiting information 55b in which the invalid value is described in the next information pointer 55bd The time waiting information 55b is registered in the time waiting information storage unit 55 (step S154).

  Next, the time waiting information registration unit 54 stores the pointer of the generated time waiting information 55b in the time waiting information final pointer 55c stored in the time waiting information storage unit 55 (step S155), and shifts the processing to step S141 to perform the above-described processing. Continue processing similar to what you did.

  In step S142, when the command determination unit 53 determines that the received data is image data (step S142; image data), the command determination unit 53 outputs the image data to the image data editing unit 58.

  The image data editing unit 58 edits the received image data so that the printing mechanism unit 59 can print it (step S156), and outputs the edited image data to the printing mechanism unit 59.

  The printing mechanism unit 59 prints the edited image data input from the image data editing unit 58 on a sheet using printing hardware (step S157), proceeds to step S141, and performs the same processing as described above. continue.

  FIG. 22 shows the printing that constitutes the image data processing system according to the present invention until the time arrival monitoring unit 56 confirms the arrival of the time waiting information 55b and transmits a job ID command to the image processing apparatus 4. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of an apparatus. The time arrival monitoring unit 56 determines whether or not a time arrival monitoring notification is input from the time waiting information registration unit 54 (step S161). When the time arrival monitoring unit 56 determines that the time arrival monitoring notification has not been input (step S161; NO), the time arrival monitoring unit 56 waits for the time arrival monitoring notification to be input from the time waiting information registration unit 54. On the other hand, when the time arrival monitoring unit 56 determines that the time arrival monitoring notification is input (step S161; YES), the time arrival monitoring unit 56 reads the current time from the time measuring mechanism unit 57 (step S162).

  Next, the time arrival monitoring unit 56 refers to the time waiting information 55b indicated by the time waiting information head pointer stored in the time waiting information storage unit 55 (step S163), and the designation described in the referenced time waiting information 55b. The time 55bb is compared with the current time read from the time measuring mechanism 57, and it is determined whether or not the current time has passed the designated time 55bb (step S164). If the time arrival monitoring unit 56 determines that the current time has not passed the designated time 55bb (step S164; NO), the time arrival monitoring unit 56 shifts the process to step S169. On the other hand, when the time arrival monitoring unit 56 determines that the current time has passed the designated time 55bb (step S164), it reads the job ID 55ba described in the referenced time waiting information 55b and reads the read job The ID 55ba is output to the job ID command transmission unit 52.

  When the job ID command transmission unit 52 receives the job ID 55ba from the time arrival monitoring unit 56, the job ID command transmission unit 52 creates a job ID command describing the job ID 55ba and outputs the job ID command to the device input / output control unit 51 (step S165).

  The device input / output control unit 51 outputs the input job ID command to the input / output control unit 47 of the image processing apparatus 4.

  When the time arrival monitoring unit 56 outputs the job ID 55ba to the job ID command transmission unit 52, the previous information pointer 55bc described in the referenced time waiting information 55b is described in the time waiting information 55b indicated by the next information pointer 55bd. The next information pointer 55bd described in the time wait information 55b indicated by the previous information pointer 55bc is changed from the next information pointer 55bd described in the referenced time wait information 55b to the previous information pointer 55bc. Change to When the next information pointer 55bd described in the referenced time waiting information 55b is an invalid value, the time arrival monitoring unit 56 uses the next information described in the time waiting information 55b indicated by the previous information pointer 55bc. The pointer 55bd is changed to an invalid value. Next, the time arrival monitoring unit 56 deletes the referenced time waiting information 55b from the time waiting information storage unit 55 (step S166).

  Next, the time arrival monitoring unit 56 determines whether or not the time waiting information 55b is stored in the time waiting information storage unit 55 (step S167). When the time arrival monitoring unit 56 determines that the time waiting information 55b is not stored in the time waiting information storage unit 55 (step S167; NO), the time waiting information head pointer 55a included in the time waiting information storage unit 55 is stored. Then, an invalid value is stored in the time waiting information final pointer 55c (step 168), the process proceeds to step S161, and the same process as described above is continued.

  On the other hand, when the time arrival monitoring unit 56 determines that the time waiting information 55b is stored in the time waiting information storage unit 55 (step S167; YES), the currently waiting time waiting information 55b, that is, the destination It is determined whether or not the next information pointer 55bd described in the time waiting information 55b indicated by the next information pointer 55bd of the time waiting information 55b deleted in step S169 is an invalid value (step S169).

  When the time arrival monitoring unit 56 determines that the next information pointer 55bd described in the time waiting information 55b that is currently referred to is an invalid value (step S169; YES), the process proceeds to step S161. The same processing as described above is continued. On the other hand, when the time arrival monitoring unit 56 determines that the next information pointer 55bd described in the currently-waiting time waiting information 55b is not an invalid value, that is, a valid value (step S169; NO), The time wait information 55b indicated by the next information pointer 55bd described in the time wait information 55b to be referred to is referred to (step S170), the process proceeds to step S164, and the same process as described above is continued.

  According to the second embodiment, the time designation detection unit 461 acquires the image data of the job ID described in the job ID command received from the printing apparatus 5 from the print spooler 44, and the acquired image data is the printing apparatus. Therefore, even when a large amount of time-specified image data is sent from a user terminal connected to the network, the printing apparatus prints these image data without installing a large-capacity memory. can do.

  Further, according to the second embodiment, based on the current time read from the time measuring unit 57 by the time arrival monitoring unit 56 of the printing apparatus 5, it is monitored whether or not the designated time at which image data is printed has arrived. Therefore, the processing load of the image processing apparatus 4 can be reduced and the apparatus can be miniaturized.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a first embodiment of an image data processing system according to the present invention. FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the dialog in FIG. It is explanatory drawing explaining time waiting information. It is explanatory drawing explaining the time waiting information storage part in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the image processing apparatus which constructs | assembles the image data processing system of Example 1 which concerns on this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the image processing apparatus which constructs | assembles the image data processing system of Example 1 which concerns on this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the image processing apparatus which constructs | assembles the image data processing system of Example 1 which concerns on this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the image processing apparatus which constructs | assembles the image data processing system of Example 1 which concerns on this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the image processing apparatus which constructs Example 2 of the image data processing system which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the dialog in FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a job ID command and a print start time command. It is explanatory drawing explaining job ID information. It is explanatory drawing explaining the job ID information storage part in FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the printing apparatus apparatus which constructs Example 2 of the image data processing system which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing explaining time waiting information. It is explanatory drawing explaining the time waiting information storage part in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the image processing apparatus which constructs | assembles the image data processing system of Example 2 which concerns on this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the image processing apparatus which constructs | assembles the image data processing system of Example 2 which concerns on this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the image processing apparatus which constructs | assembles the image data processing system of Example 2 which concerns on this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the image processing apparatus which constructs | assembles the image data processing system of Example 2 which concerns on this invention. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a printing apparatus that constructs an image data processing system according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a printing apparatus that constructs an image data processing system according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

1, 4 Image processing device 11, 41 Application 111, 411 Application data 12, 42 Input unit 13, 43 Display unit 14, 44 Print spooler 15, 45 Printer driver 151, 451 Dialog 152, 452 Image data forming unit 16, 46 Print Monitor 161, 461 Time designation inspection unit 162, Time wait determination unit 163 Time wait information storage unit 164 Time arrival monitoring unit 462 Job ID determination unit 463 Job ID information storage unit 464 Job ID collation unit 465 Job ID command reception unit 17 Timekeeping mechanism Unit 18 Output control unit 47 Input / output control unit 2, 5 Printing device 51 Device input / output control unit 52 Job ID command transmission unit 53 Command determination unit 54 Time waiting information registration unit 55 Time waiting information storage unit 56 Time arrival monitoring unit 57 When the mechanism section

Claims (18)

In an image data processing system constructed by an image processing apparatus that acquires image data to be printed at a specified time from a user terminal and transmits the image data to the printing apparatus after the specified time has elapsed,
The image processing apparatus includes:
Image data storage means for storing the image data;
Time arrival monitoring means for monitoring whether or not a designated time at which the image data is printed has arrived;
Image data acquisition / supply unit that acquires the image data from the image data storage unit and supplies the acquired image data to a printing apparatus when the time arrival monitoring unit determines that the specified time has arrived When,
An image data processing system comprising: The image data processing system according to claim 1,
The image processing apparatus includes:
A time keeping means for keeping time, and
Print waiting information storage means for storing print waiting information in which identification information for identifying image data waiting to be printed at the specified time and the specified time are described;
Further comprising
The time arrival monitoring means is
When the current time measured by the time measuring means has passed the designated time described in the print waiting information stored in the print waiting information storage means, the image data waiting for printing having the designated time is stored. An image data processing system characterized by determining that a designated time has arrived. The image data processing system according to claim 2, wherein
The time arrival monitoring means of the image processing device comprises:
When the current time measured by the time measuring means has passed the designated time described in the print waiting information stored in the print waiting information storage means, the image data waiting for printing having the designated time is stored. An image data processing system that judges that a designated time has arrived and outputs a request to the image data storage means to output image data for which the designated time has arrived. In the image data processing system according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The image processing apparatus includes:
In addition to acquiring the image data from the image data storage unit, the image data acquisition / supply unit further acquires the identification information,
Identification information assigning means for assigning the identification information;
Print waiting information determining means for determining whether or not the print waiting information describing the same identification information as the identification information acquired by the image data acquiring / supplying means is stored in the print waiting information storage means;
The print waiting information determining unit determines that the print waiting information in which the same identification information as the identification information acquired by the image data acquiring / supplying unit is described is stored in the print waiting information storage unit. In this case, image data supply request output means for outputting a request for supplying the image data acquired from the image data storage means to the printing apparatus to the image data acquisition / supply means;
Further comprising
The image data acquisition / supply unit supplies the image data acquired from the image data storage unit to the printing apparatus when the request is input from the image data supply request unit. system. The image data processing system according to claim 4, wherein
The print waiting information determining unit determines that the print waiting information describing the same identification information as the identification information acquired by the image data acquiring / supplying unit is not stored in the print waiting information storage unit. In this case, the print waiting information is generated from the identification information acquired by the image data acquisition / supply unit and the specified time when the image data is printed, and the print waiting information is written in the print waiting information storage unit. Waiting information writing means;
A deletion request output means for outputting a request for deletion to the image data acquisition / supply means before supplying the image data acquired from the image data storage means to the printing apparatus;
Further comprising
The image data acquisition / supply means
When the request is input from a deletion request output unit, the image data acquired from the image data storage unit is deleted before being supplied to the printing apparatus. In an image data processing system constructed by an image processing apparatus that acquires image data to be printed at a specified time from a user terminal and transmits the image data to the printing apparatus after the specified time has elapsed,
The image processing apparatus includes:
Image data storage means for storing the image data;
Identification information acquisition means for acquiring identification information for identifying image data at which the designated time has arrived, from the printing apparatus;
Image data acquisition / supply means for acquiring the image data indicated by the identification information acquired by the identification information acquisition means, and supplying the acquired image data to the printing apparatus;
With
The printing apparatus includes:
Time arrival monitoring means for monitoring whether or not a designated time at which the image data is printed has arrived;
If the time arrival monitoring means determines that the specified time has arrived, identification information supply means for supplying the identification information of the image data for which the specified time has arrived to the identification information acquisition means of the image processing device;
An image data processing system comprising: The image data processing system according to claim 6.
The image processing apparatus includes:
The image data acquisition / supply means
In addition to acquiring the image data from the image data storage means, further acquiring identification information for identifying the image data,
Identification information storage means for storing the identification information of image data waiting to be printed at the designated time;
Identification information determination means for determining whether or not the same identification information as the identification information acquired by the image data acquisition / supply means is stored in the identification information storage means;
When it is determined by the print waiting information determination means that the same identification information as the identification information acquired by the image data acquisition / supply means is stored in the identification information storage means, the image data acquisition / A print request notification means for notifying the image data acquisition / supply means of a request for the supply means to supply the printing apparatus with the image data acquired from the image data storage means;
Further comprising
The image data acquisition / supply means
An image data processing system, wherein the image data is supplied to the printing apparatus when the request notification is received from the print request notification means. The image data processing system according to claim 6 or 7,
The image processing apparatus includes:
When the identification information determination unit determines that the same identification information as the identification information acquired by the image data acquisition / supply unit is not stored in the identification, the image data acquisition / supply unit acquires Identification information writing means for writing the identification information to the identification information storage means;
A deletion request output means for outputting a request for deletion to the image data acquisition / supply means before supplying the image data acquired from the image data storage means to the printing apparatus;
Further comprising
When the request is input from the deletion request output unit, the image data acquisition / supply unit deletes the image data acquired from the image data storage unit before supplying the image data to the printing apparatus. Image data processing system. The image data processing system according to any one of claims 6 to 8,
The printing apparatus includes:
A time keeping means for keeping time, and
Print wait information storage means for storing print wait information in which the identification information and the designated time are described;
Further comprising
The time arrival monitoring means is
When the current time measured by the time measuring means has passed the designated time described in the print waiting information stored in the print waiting information storage means, the image data waiting for printing having the designated time is stored. An image data processing system characterized by determining that a designated time has arrived. The image data processing system according to any one of claims 6 to 9,
The time arrival monitoring means of the printing apparatus includes:
When the current time measured by the time measuring means has passed the designated time described in the print waiting information stored in the print waiting information storage means, the image data waiting for printing having the designated time is stored. An image data processing system which judges that the designated time has arrived and outputs the identification information of the image data at which the designated time has arrived to the identification information acquisition means of the image processing apparatus. In an image processing apparatus that acquires image data to be printed at a specified time from a user terminal and transmits the image data to a printing apparatus when the specified time has elapsed.
Image data storage means for storing the image data;
Time arrival monitoring means for monitoring whether or not a designated time at which the image data is printed has arrived;
Image data acquisition / supply unit that acquires the image data from the image data storage unit and supplies the acquired image data to a printing apparatus when the time arrival monitoring unit determines that the specified time has arrived When,
An image processing apparatus comprising: The image processing apparatus according to claim 11.
A time keeping means for keeping time, and
Print waiting information storage means for storing print waiting information in which identification information for identifying image data waiting to be printed at the specified time and the specified time are described;
Further comprising
The time arrival monitoring means is
When the current time measured by the time measuring means has passed the designated time described in the print waiting information stored in the print waiting information storage means, the image data waiting for printing having the designated time is stored. An image processing apparatus that determines that a designated time has arrived. The image processing apparatus according to claim 12.
The time arrival monitoring means is
When the current time measured by the time measuring means has passed the designated time described in the print waiting information stored in the print waiting information storage means, the image data waiting for printing having the designated time is stored. An image processing apparatus that judges that a designated time has arrived and outputs a request to the image data storage means to output image data that has reached the designated time to the image data acquisition / supply means. The image processing device according to claim 11,
In addition to acquiring the image data from the image data storage unit, the image data acquisition / supply unit further acquires the identification information,
Identification information assigning means for assigning the identification information;
Print waiting information determining means for determining whether or not the print waiting information describing the same identification information as the identification information acquired by the image data acquiring / supplying means is stored in the print waiting information storage means;
The print waiting information determining unit determines that the print waiting information in which the same identification information as the identification information acquired by the image data acquiring / supplying unit is described is stored in the print waiting information storage unit. In this case, image data supply request output means for outputting a request for supplying the image data acquired from the image data storage means to the printing apparatus to the image data acquisition / supply means;
Further comprising
The image data acquisition / supply unit supplies the image data acquired from the image data storage unit to the printing apparatus when the request is input from the image data supply request unit. . The image processing apparatus according to claim 14.
The print waiting information determining unit determines that the print waiting information describing the same identification information as the identification information acquired by the image data acquiring / supplying unit is not stored in the print waiting information storage unit. In this case, the print waiting information is generated from the identification information acquired by the image data acquisition / supply unit and the specified time when the image data is printed, and the print waiting information is written in the print waiting information storage unit. Waiting information writing means;
A deletion request output means for outputting a request for deletion to the image data acquisition / supply means before supplying the image data acquired from the image data storage means to the printing apparatus;
Further comprising
The image data acquisition / supply means
When the request is input from a deletion request output unit, the image data acquired from the image data storage unit is deleted before being supplied to the printing apparatus. In an image processing apparatus that acquires image data to be printed at a specified time from a user terminal and transmits the image data to a printing apparatus when the specified time has elapsed.
Image data storage means for storing the image data;
Identification information acquisition means for acquiring identification information for identifying image data at which the designated time has arrived, from the printing apparatus;
Image data acquisition / supply means for acquiring the image data indicated by the identification information acquired by the identification information acquisition means, and supplying the acquired image data to the printing apparatus;
An image processing apparatus comprising: The image processing apparatus according to claim 16.
The image data acquisition / supply means
In addition to acquiring the image data from the image data storage means, further acquiring identification information for identifying the image data,
Identification information storage means for storing the identification information of image data waiting to be printed at the designated time;
Identification information determination means for determining whether or not the same identification information as the identification information acquired by the image data acquisition / supply means is stored in the identification information storage means;
When it is determined by the print waiting information determination means that the same identification information as the identification information acquired by the image data acquisition / supply means is stored in the identification information storage means, the image data acquisition / A print request notification means for notifying the image data acquisition / supply means of a request for the supply means to supply the printing apparatus with the image data acquired from the image data storage means;
Further comprising
The image data acquisition / supply means
An image processing apparatus, wherein the image data is supplied to the printing apparatus when the request notification is received from the printing request notification means. The image processing apparatus according to claim 16 or 17,
When the identification information determination unit determines that the same identification information as the identification information acquired by the image data acquisition / supply unit is not stored in the identification, the image data acquisition / supply unit acquires Identification information writing means for writing the identification information to the identification information storage means;
A deletion request output means for outputting a request for deletion to the image data acquisition / supply means before supplying the image data acquired from the image data storage means to the printing apparatus;
Further comprising
When the request is input from the deletion request output unit, the image data acquisition / supply unit deletes the image data acquired from the image data storage unit before supplying the image data to the printing apparatus. Image processing device.

Images