JP2011083967A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To establish a printing conditio beforehand on an image forming apparatus side. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus includes a setting part by which an input image forming condition is established, a detection part for detecting the printer language of an input image forming job, a discrimination part for discriminating whether the image forming condition and image data of an image forming job are separated based on the detected printer language, a memory of image forming condition list wherein an image forming condition list showing the image forming condition for every printer language in which the image forming condition and image data are not separated, a list creation part for creating the image forming condition list about the detected printer language with the established image forming condition if the discrimination part distinguishes that the image forming condition and image data are distinguished not to be separated, and the first development part for developing the image data with the detected printer language under the image forming condition of the created image forming condition list. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.

  Conventionally, an image forming apparatus receives image data transmitted from a host computer (for example, a PC), and the received image data is printed by the image forming apparatus. A technique has been proposed in which frequently used printing conditions are automatically preset in a printer driver on the host computer side (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).

However, when using a plurality of image forming apparatuses by a plurality of host computers (in a group), if it can be set in advance (preset) under printing conditions with a high group usage frequency rather than an individual usage frequency, printing efficiency and Running costs may improve. However, in the techniques described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, since the printing conditions are set according to the frequency of personal use, the printing conditions are not set in advance according to the usage frequency of the entire group, and the versatility of the image forming apparatus is improved. It was missing.
In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to propose an image forming apparatus in which printing conditions are set in advance on the image forming apparatus side and image formation is performed based on the printing conditions.

  In order to achieve the object, a setting unit for setting an input image forming condition, a detecting unit for detecting a printer language of the input image forming job, and the image forming job based on the detected printer language A determination unit for determining whether or not the image forming conditions and the image data are separated, and an image forming condition list indicating the image forming conditions for each printer language in which the image forming conditions and the image data are not separated If the image forming condition list storage unit and the determining unit determine that the image forming condition and the image data are not separated, the image forming for the detected printer language is performed under the set image forming condition. Image data is developed in the detected printer language with a list creation unit that creates a condition list and the image formation conditions of the created image formation condition list. An image forming apparatus comprising: the first deployment part, a for.

  In the case of the crease forming apparatus and the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the printing conditions are set on the image forming apparatus side in advance, and the image forming is performed using the printing conditions, so that the printing conditions with high use frequency of the group are set. Can be set in advance.

1 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of an image forming system according to an embodiment. 1 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of a printer instruction unit according to the present exemplary embodiment. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing that printing conditions of the present embodiment are set in the image forming apparatus 100 in advance. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a print job described in PS. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a print job described in PCL or the like. FIG. 3 is a flowchart (part 1) illustrating a main processing flow of the image forming apparatus according to the present exemplary embodiment. FIG. 3 is a flowchart (part 2) illustrating the main processing flow of the image forming apparatus according to the present exemplary embodiment. The figure which shows an example of a language list. The figure which shows an example of a non-separated printer language printing condition list. The figure which shows an example of the printing conditions of non-separation printer language PS.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, the same number is attached | subjected to the process which performs the structure part which has the same function, and the same process, and duplication description is abbreviate | omitted.
[Explanation of terms]
First, terms used below will be explained. Examples of the image forming apparatus include a printer, a facsimile, a copying apparatus, a plotter, and a complex machine of these. The recording medium is, for example, paper, thread, fiber, leather, metal, plastic, glass, wood, ceramics, film coat, and the like. The image formation also means that an image such as a character, a figure, or a pattern is applied to the medium, or that droplets are simply landed on the recording medium. Moreover, a droplet shows an ink, for example. The ink is not limited to what is called an ink, but is used as a general term for all liquids that can form an image, such as a recording liquid, a fixing processing liquid, and a liquid. For example, a DNA sample, Resist and pattern material are also included.

Hereinafter, unless otherwise specified, the recording medium will be described as paper, and image formation will be described as printing. In addition, “image forming conditions” that are image forming conditions are referred to as “printing conditions”. The “image forming condition list” is referred to as a “printing condition list”.
[Image forming system]
FIG. 1 shows an example of the functional configuration of the image forming system of this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the user transmits a print job indicating that image data or the like is to be printed by the printer driver 202 in the PC 200, and the image forming apparatus 100 prints the image data. This print job includes “image data” and “printing conditions”. In the following description, the “image data” and “printing conditions” will be mainly referred to.
[Image forming apparatus]
FIG. 2 shows a functional configuration example of the image forming apparatus 100. As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 100 includes a monochrome line printer 102 that performs monochrome printing and a color printer 104 that performs color printing. Further, the image forming apparatus 100 includes, as other hardware resources 106, a scanner, a facsimile, a hard disk (HD), a memory, a network interface, and the like. In addition, the image forming apparatus 100 includes a software group including a platform group 108 (or execution unit group) and an application group (or instruction unit group 130).
The platform group 108 includes a control service 109 that interprets a processing request from the application group 130 and generates a hardware resource acquisition request, and manages one or a plurality of hardware resources. The system resource manager (indicated as “SRM110” in FIG. 2) and a general-purpose OS (Operating System) 111 are provided.
The control service 109 is formed of a plurality of service modules, and includes an SCS 112 (system control service), an ECS 113 (engine control service), an MCS 114 (memory control service), an OCS 115 (operation panel control service), and an FCS 116 (fax control). Service) and NCS 117 (network control service).
The platform group 108 has an application program interface (API) that can receive a processing request from the application group 130 by a predefined function.
The general-purpose OS is a general-purpose operating system such as UNIX (registered trademark), and executes the software of the platform group 108 and the application group 130 in parallel as processes.
The process of the SRM 110 performs system control and resource management together with the SCS. The process of the SRM 110 includes an engine (not shown) such as a scanner unit and a printer unit, memory, HDD file, and host I / O (centro I / F, network I / F, IEEE 1394 I / F, RS232C I / F, etc.) hardware Arbitration is performed according to requests from higher layers that use resources, and execution control is performed.
The process of the SCS 112 performs application management, operation unit control, system screen display, LED display, resource management, interrupt application control, and the like. The ECS 113 process controls the hardware resource engine. The MCS 114 process acquires and releases image memory, uses a hard disk drive (HDD), compresses and decompresses image data, and the like. The process of FCS 116 includes APIs for performing facsimile transmission / reception using PSTN / ISDN network from application, registration / quotation of various facsimile data managed by BKM (backup SRAM), facsimile reading, facsimile reception printing, and fusion transmission / reception. provide. The OCS 115 controls an operation panel (operation panel) serving as information transmission means between the operator (user) and the main body control.

The NCS 117 process is a process for providing a service that can be used in common for applications that require network I / O. Data received from the network side according to each protocol is distributed to each application, or data from the application. Mediation when sending to the network side. Specifically, it has server daemons such as ftpd, httpd, lpd, snmpd, telnetd, and smtpd, and client functions of the same protocol.
The application supports a page description language (interprets the language using page description language (PDL) or the like), a printer application (printer instruction unit 300) that is a printer application, and a copy application (copy instruction unit) that is a copy application. 132), a fax application (fax instruction unit 134) that is a facsimile application, a scanner application (scanner instruction unit 136) that is a scanner application, and the like.
Any of these applications is generated and operated as a process by an initialization unit (not shown) when the image forming apparatus 100 is activated. Each process of the application and each process of the control service perform inter-process communication by calling a function, sending a return value, and sending / receiving a message. Accordingly, the copy instruction unit 132 performs copy processing, the printer instruction unit 300 performs printer processing, the scanner instruction unit 136 performs scanner processing, and the fax instruction unit 134 performs facsimile processing.

As described above, the image forming apparatus 100 includes a plurality of applications and a plurality of control services, all of which operate as processes. In each of these processes, one or a plurality of threads are generated and parallel execution is performed in units of threads. The control service provides a common service for the application. For this reason, a number of these processes perform a parallel operation and a parallel operation of threads to perform inter-process communication with each other and perform a cooperative operation, and perform processing related to image forming processing such as copying, printers, scanners, and facsimiles. .
[Printer instruction unit 300]
Next, details of the printer instruction unit 300 of this embodiment will be described. FIG. 3 shows a functional configuration example of the printer instruction unit 300. As shown in FIG. 3, the printer instruction unit 300 includes a printer control unit 150, a development unit 140, and a detection unit 110. The printer control unit 150 also includes a non-separated printer language printing condition list storage unit 108, a printing condition list storage unit 106, a printing condition preset unit 113, a separation / non-separated printer language list storage unit 116, and a preset unit 120. And including.

  The printer control unit 150 includes a first development unit 112 and a second development unit 114. The print condition preset unit 113 includes a determination unit 119 and an overwrite unit 115. The preset unit 120 includes a list creation unit 122 and a setting unit 102.

  A user (an administrator of the image forming apparatus) inputs printing conditions from the input unit 101. The input unit 101 is a Web displayed on the PC 200 connected to the image forming apparatus 100 or a touch panel provided in the image forming apparatus.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing that printing conditions are preset in the image forming apparatus 100. First, the user turns on the preset application of the image forming apparatus (step S102). Specifically, the check box of “preset application” shown on the Web is turned on, or the “preset application” displayed on the touch panel is turned on. By turning on this preset application, the user can select a printing condition from a previously created printing condition list or select a new printing condition. The printing condition list is stored in the printing condition list storage unit 106 shown in FIG. The image forming apparatus 100 performs printing based on the printing conditions set from the input unit 101 instead of the printing conditions transmitted from the PC 200.

Next, a print condition list is displayed on the Web or the touch panel. The printing condition list is, for example, a list on which printing conditions such as “stapling printed paper” and “duplex copying” are displayed.
Then, the user can (A) “select a print condition from a previously registered print condition list” or (B) “because there is no desired print condition in the previously registered print condition list. "Register printing conditions" is selected (step S104). When the user selects (A) “select printing condition from previously registered printing condition list” (Yes in step S104), the input unit 101 functions as a display unit, and the printing condition list is displayed. Display and make it visible to the user. Then, the user selects a printing condition from the printing condition list and inputs it from the input unit 101. The setting unit 102 acquires the printing condition selected from the printing condition list in the printing condition list storage unit 106. The acquired printing conditions are displayed on the input unit 101 (display unit) and visually recognized by the user.

  In addition, when the user selects (B) “Register a new printing condition because there is no desired printing condition in the previously registered printing condition list” (No in step S104), the user selects A new printing condition is input from the input unit 101. Then, the setting unit 102 registers this new printing condition in the printing condition list.

As described above, the image forming apparatus according to the present exemplary embodiment updates the print condition in the print job transmitted from the printer driver 202 (see FIG. 1) to the print condition input from the input unit 101, and the image data is updated. Expand and print. For example, when the printing condition in the print job transmitted by the printer driver 202 is “single-sided printing”, the user selects “double-sided printing” from the input unit 101 from the printing condition list (step S106), or the user If “double-sided printing” is newly registered in the printing condition list (step S108), the image forming apparatus side 100 develops image data by “double-sided printing”. As described above, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present exemplary embodiment sets printing conditions in advance, and performs image formation using the printing conditions. Accordingly, since the administrator can set in advance under printing conditions in which the group is frequently used, the versatility of the image forming apparatus can be improved.
By the way, page description language (PDL, hereinafter referred to as “printer language”) includes page description language (hereinafter referred to as “non-separated printer language”) in which image data and printing conditions are not separated, and image data. And a printer language in which printing conditions are separated (hereinafter referred to as “separated printer language”). The “non-separated printer language” is, for example, PS (POSTSCRIPT), and the “separated printer language” is, for example, PCL (Printer Control Language). In the following description, the separated printer language is PCL and the non-separated printer language is PS. When the printer language is PS, a print job is transmitted from the PS printer driver 202, and when the printer language is PCL, the print job is transmitted from the PCL printer driver 202.

  FIG. 5 shows an example where the printer language is PS (that is, a print job output from a PS printer driver to a file). In FIG. 5, the printing conditions A to C indicate A “do not staple”, B “do not perform duplex printing (do one side printing)”, and C “carry paper from the tray 1”, respectively. D represents image data. Thus, in PS, the printing conditions A to C and the image data D are described in the same PS. Note that E indicates that “the print job shown in FIG. 5 is described in“ PS ”” is described in the printer language PJL (Printer job language).

  FIG. 6 shows an example of a printer language that is PCL (that is, a file obtained by outputting a print directory from a PCL printer driver). In the example of FIG. 6, the printing conditions A to C are described in PJL. Similarly to FIG. 5, the printing conditions A to C indicate A “do not staple”, B “do not perform duplex printing (do one side printing)”, and C “carry paper from the tray 1”. D indicates that the image data is described in the PCL printer language.

In the case of a separate printer language such as PCL, printing conditions are described in PJL, and image data is described in PCL. That is, since the printing conditions and the image data are separated, the printing conditions can be changed directly on the image forming apparatus side.
However, in the case of a non-separated printer language such as PS, the printing conditions and the image data are not separated (because they are described in PS, which is the same printer language), so the printing conditions are directly formed by image formation. Cannot be changed on the device side. In this embodiment, as a technique for changing the printing condition in the non-separated printer language, the non-language printer language (PS) is interpreted from the beginning, and the printing condition is changed (overwritten) when the printing condition is interpreted.

  In this way, in the image forming apparatus according to the present exemplary embodiment, it is possible to appropriately change the printing conditions regardless of whether the printer language is the separated printer language or the non-separated printer language. 7 and 8 show the main processing flow of the image forming apparatus of this embodiment. The image forming apparatus according to the present exemplary embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 3, 7, and 8.

  First, the image forming apparatus 100 receives a print job from the printer driver 202 (see FIG. 1) of the PC 200 (step S2). At this time, the image forming apparatus 100 does not recognize whether the received job is a separated printer language or a non-separated printer language. The received print job (PJL command described in the part E in FIG. 5) is transmitted to the detection unit 110 in the print condition preset unit 113 through the NCS 117 (see FIG. 3) (step S6).

The detection unit 110 detects the printer language of the print job. That is, the detection unit 110 detects information indicating the type of printer language of the print job (hereinafter referred to as “language information”) from the PJL command.
The detection unit 110 interprets the print job (command) along with the detection of the printer language (step S8). Interpretation result information after interpretation by the detection unit 110 includes the printing conditions and image data. That is, printing conditions, image data (interpretation result information) language information, and the like are acquired by detection and interpretation by the detection unit 110. The detection unit 110 may use a PJL emulator, for example. The detection unit 110 transmits print conditions, image data (interpretation result information), language information, and the like to the determination unit 119.

  The determination unit 119 determines whether the print condition (image formation condition) of the print job (image formation job) and the image data are separated based on the language information (the printer language detected by the detection unit 110) ( Step S12). For example, the determination unit 119 refers to a language list stored in the language list storage unit 116 to determine whether or not the image formation conditions and the image data of the print job are separated.

FIG. 9 shows an example of the language list. As shown in FIG. 9, the printer language and the language type are stored in association with each other. In the following description, a printer language in which printing conditions and image data are separated is referred to as a separated printer language, and a language that is not separated is referred to as a non-separated printer language. In the example of FIG. 8, the printer language PS is assumed to be a non-separated printer language, and the printer language PCL is assumed to be a separated printer language. Although not shown in FIG. 8, other printer languages are also stored in association with whether they are separated printer languages or non-separated printer languages. The determination method of the non-separated printer language or the separated printer language of the determination unit 119 is not limited to the method using the language list. In the following description, information indicating the separated printer language is referred to as separated language information, and information indicating the non-separated printer language is referred to as non-separated language information.
[When the print job is written in a separate printer language]
Next, the case where the determination unit 119 determines that the print job is described in the separated printer language (Yes in step S12) will be described. In this case, the determination unit 119 transmits separated language information indicating the separated printer language to the preset unit 120. Upon receiving the separated language information, the presetting unit 120 acquires (presets) printing conditions from the printing condition list in the printing condition list storage unit 106 (step S20). This printing condition to be acquired is the printing condition acquired in step S106 in FIG. 4 or the printing condition registered in step S108.
Then, the printing condition acquired by the preset unit 120 is transmitted to the printing condition preset unit 113. The overwrite unit 115 in the print condition preset unit 113 overwrites the set print condition (that is, the print condition in the print condition list) with the print condition of the print job (for example, the print conditions A to C in FIG. 6). (Step S22).

  On the other hand, the deployment unit 140 includes a first deployment unit 112 and a second deployment unit 114. The first developing unit 112 develops image data of a print job described in a non-separated printer language, and the second developing unit 114 develops image data of a print job described in a separated printer language. The first expansion unit 112 may use a PS emulator, for example, and the second expansion unit 114 may use a PCL emulator, for example.

The printing condition preset unit 113 transmits the overwritten printing conditions, image data, and the like as a print job to the second development unit 114 (step S22). Then, the second developing unit 114 determines whether a print condition reference destination (described later) is set (step S24). Since the printing condition reference destination is not set (No in step S24), the second developing unit 114 develops the image data based on the input (overwritten) printing condition (step S36). Then, the second development unit 114 causes the monochrome printer 102 or the color printer 104 (see FIG. 2) to print the developed image data (step S40).
[When the print job is written in non-separated printer language]
Next, the case where the determination unit 119 determines that the print job is described in a non-separated printer language (No in step S12) will be described. In this case, the determination unit 119 transmits non-separated language information to the preset unit 120 (step S14). The non-separated printer language printing condition list storage unit 108 stores a non-separated printer language printing condition list. The non-separated printer language printing condition list is a printing condition list provided for each non-separated printer language. Non-separated printer languages include GS (hostscript) in addition to PS. FIG. 10 shows an example of the non-separated printer language printing condition list. As shown in FIG. 10, for example, the printing conditions for the non-separated printer language PS “do not staple”, “perform single-sided copying”, “replenish paper from tray 1”, and the like are set. Printing conditions are also set for GS, which is another non-separated printer language. FIG. 11 shows an example of printing conditions for the non-separated printer language PS.

  The preset unit 120 acquires printing conditions from the printing condition list in the printing condition list storage unit 106. Then, the list creation unit 122 in the preset unit 120 creates a non-separated printer language printing condition list of the acquired printing conditions (set in the setting unit 102) for the detected printer language PS (step S16). If a non-separated printer language printing condition list has been previously created, the acquired printing conditions are overwritten on the created non-separated printer language printing condition list. In other words, the “creation” of the list creation unit 122 means that a new non-separated printer language printing condition list is created and the newly acquired printing conditions are added to the previously created non-separated printer language printing condition list. Including overwriting.

  Then, the preset unit 120 transmits a print condition reference destination, which is reference destination information, as a print condition to the first developing unit 112 (step S18). Further, the preset unit 120 may generate a print condition reference destination for each print condition and transmit the print condition reference destination to the first developing unit 112. When the print condition reference destination is transmitted, the first developing unit 112 sets the print condition reference destination. In addition, the print condition preset unit 113 transmits a print job (described in PS, for example) to the first developing unit 112 (step S22).

  Next, the first developing unit 112 determines whether or not a print condition reference destination is set (step S24). In step S18, since the print condition reference destination is transmitted and set to the first developing unit 112, the first developing unit 112 determines that the print condition reference destination is set (Yes in step S24). .

Next, the first developing unit 112 reads and interprets PDL (print job) commands (for example, print conditions) one by one. Specifically, the first developing unit 112 searches whether or not there is a print condition overwrite condition in the non-separated printer language print condition list when the print condition is read (step S28). The search destination is a non-separated printer language print condition list indicated by the print condition reference destination.
If there is an overwrite condition for the print condition (Yes in step S28), the first developing unit 112 acquires the overwrite condition for the print condition (step S30). Then, PDL (print job) is interpreted based on the acquired overwrite condition (step S32). If there is no print condition overwrite condition (No in step S28), the print job (PDL) is interpreted with the previous print condition (step S32).
Then, the first development unit 112 determines whether or not all the development of the print job (PDL) has been completed (step S34).

When the first developing unit 112 determines that all the print jobs (PDL) have been developed, the first developing unit 112 sends the developed image data to the monochrome printer 102 or the color printer 104 (see FIG. 2). Printing is performed (step S40). If the first development unit 112 determines that development of all PDLs (print jobs) has not been completed, the process returns to step S26.
In other words, if the printer language is a non-separated printer language, while interpreting the non-separated printer language, if there is a print condition overwrite condition when interpreting the print condition, the print condition is overwritten to interpret the print job. (Steps S26 to S34).
[Effect of the image forming apparatus of this embodiment]
For example, it is assumed that the user transmits a print job including image data to the image forming apparatus 100 from the PC 200 (see FIG. 1) using single-sided printing as a printing condition. However, if the entire group to which the user belongs frequently performs double-sided printing, if the double-sided printing can be set in advance for the image forming apparatus 100, the versatility of the image forming apparatus is improved. In the image forming apparatus according to the present exemplary embodiment, the administrator of the image forming apparatus 100 can set setting conditions in advance from the input unit 101 (see FIG. 3). Further, the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment has an effect that the printing conditions can be set in advance regardless of whether the printer language of the print job is a separated printer language or a non-separated printer language.

  If the printing conditions can be set on the image forming apparatus side, the user usually selects the printer driver and selects the printing conditions from the properties. Also, the use of properties varies depending on the printer language. For this reason, only the driver corresponding to the image forming apparatus is selected, and there is no need to select the printing conditions on the user side, so that the user's work is reduced.

  Further, when the printing conditions can be set on the image forming apparatus side, the printing conditions such as the number of printed sheets and duplex / aggregation can be determined on the administrator side of the image forming apparatus. Therefore, there is an advantage that it is easy to save paper and manage the number of paper sheets.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Image forming apparatus 101 ... Input part 102 ... Setting part 106 ... Print condition list memory | storage part 110 ... Detection part 112 ... 1st expansion | deployment part 114 ... 2nd expansion | deployment part 113 ... Print condition preset unit 115 ... Overwrite unit 116 ... Determination unit 120 ... Preset unit 122 ... List creation unit 200 ... PC

JP 2006-48269 A JP 2005-329169 A

Claims (2)

A setting unit for setting the input image forming conditions;
A detection unit for detecting the printer language of the input image forming job;
A determination unit that determines whether image forming conditions and image data of the image forming job are separated based on the detected printer language;
If the determining unit determines that the image forming conditions and the image data are not separated, a list creating unit that creates an image forming condition list of the set image forming conditions for the detected printer language;
An image forming apparatus, comprising: a first developing unit that develops image data in the detected printer language under the image forming conditions of the created image forming condition list. When the determining unit determines that the image forming condition of the image forming job is separated from the image data, an overwriting unit that overwrites the set image forming condition on the image forming condition of the image forming job;
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a second expansion unit that expands image data using the detected printer language and the overwritten image forming condition.

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