JP2011138330A - Print control device, control method for print control device, program, and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing system capable of notifying a user of a document that can be printed within the current remaining amount of print recording materials, regarding a plurality of print documents. <P>SOLUTION: A print control device includes a recording material remaining amount acquisition means 34 capable of acquiring a recording material remaining amount of a printer 15, a recording material used amount calculation means 23 for calculating a recording material used amount necessary for printing of a plurality of documents for which print requests have been received, a recording material amount comparison mean 42 for comparing a recording material used amount calculated by the recording material used amount calculation means with a recording material remaining amount acquired by the recording material remaining amount acquisition means, and a display control means for exerting display control to the plurality of documents for which the print requests have been received, and if the recording material amount comparison means has determined that the recording material remaining amount is larger, exerts display control so that the plurality of documents to be displayed on the display means can be identified as printable documents. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a print control apparatus capable of presenting to a user a document that can be printed within a remaining amount of recording material such as current printing ink for a plurality of print documents.

  When printing with an ink-type printer, there is a problem that printing cannot be performed if there is not enough ink remaining. There is also a problem that a desired printing result cannot be obtained.

  With respect to these problems, Patent Document 1 discloses a system relating to calculation of printable printing conditions in a printing system capable of detecting the remaining amount of ink. In this system, when the current ink remaining amount is less than the ink usage amount of the printed document, the printing condition that allows printing with a smaller amount of ink usage is displayed.

  Further, Patent Document 2 discloses a system relating to calculation of a printable sheet number that can acquire a printable sheet number in a printing system that can acquire a remaining ink amount.

In this system, when the print selection image and the print mode match the recording information, the number of printable sheets is calculated from the recorded ink consumption and the current remaining ink amount, and the resulting number of printable sheets is displayed. Is.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228561 discloses a technique for notifying a user of ink cartridge replacement timing information in a printing apparatus that performs printing by discharging ink. In this technique, when it is determined that the predicted number of prints based on the usage history exceeds the number of printable sheets derived from the detected remaining ink amount, a print for displaying an ink cartridge replacement recommendation screen on the display unit is performed. A control program for the apparatus is described.

JP 2006-268441 A JP2009-113208A JP 2009-119676 A

  However, the printing system disclosed in Patent Document 1 presents the user with printing conditions that allow printing with a smaller ink usage amount when the remaining amount of ink is less than the ink usage amount of the printed document when printing is performed. However, since the printing system determines each print document, when the user prints a plurality of documents, the user may run out of ink in the middle of printing when printing the plurality of print documents.

  In Patent Document 2, the number of printable sheets of a print document is calculated from the remaining amount of ink. However, when printing a plurality of print documents, there is a possibility that ink may run out during printing as in Patent Document 1. is there.

On the other hand, in Patent Document 3, the user is notified of the replacement timing of the ink cartridge based on the usage history, but the user needs it because the printable range is not notified to the user within the current remaining ink amount. Printing may not be possible.
For example, in the case where it is desired to select and print a plurality of files from a screen capable of displaying a plurality of files, the above-mentioned conventional technology cannot cope.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a printing system capable of presenting to a user a document that can be printed within a current printing ink remaining amount with respect to a plurality of print documents.

  The invention of the present application is a print control apparatus that is connected to a printing apparatus and can accept a print request for a plurality of documents, the recording material remaining amount acquisition means capable of acquiring the remaining recording material of the printing apparatus, and the print request The recording material usage amount calculating means for calculating the recording material usage amount required for printing a plurality of documents, the recording material usage amount calculated by the recording material usage amount calculation means, and the recording material remaining amount acquisition means. A recording material amount comparison unit that compares the remaining recording material amount, and a display control unit that controls display of the plurality of documents that have received the print request. When it is determined that there are more, the display control unit performs display control so that a plurality of documents displayed on the display unit can be identified as printable documents.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the printing system which can show a user the document which can be printed within the present printing ink remaining amount with respect to several printing documents can be provided.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a specific example of a printing system according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a hardware block diagram of a printing system. These are examples of elements related to the amount of ink used for creating the printing condition ratio table. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a printing condition ratio table. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when the printing system is executed. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when the printing system is executed. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when the printing system is executed. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when the printing system is executed. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when the printing system is executed. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when the printing system is executed. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when the printing system is executed. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when the printing system is executed. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when the printing system is executed. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when the printing system is executed. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when the printing system is executed. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when the printing system is executed. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when the printing system is executed. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when the printing system is executed. These are flowcharts which show the 1st control flow in this invention. These are flowcharts which show the 2nd control flow in this invention. These are flowcharts which show the 3rd control flow in this invention. These are flowcharts which show the 4th control flow in this invention. These are flowcharts which show the 5th control flow in this invention. These are flowcharts which show the 6th control flow in this invention. These are the flowcharts which show the 7th control flow in this invention.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
In the present embodiment, description will be made using ink suitable as a recording material. However, the present invention can be realized even if the recording material is other toner.

  The application of the present invention realizes the following functions. When a print request for a plurality of print documents is received, the ink usage required for each print document is calculated, and the ink usage required for each print document is displayed. When it is determined that the total amount of ink used for each print document is less than the remaining amount of ink, a printing condition that enables printing with a smaller amount of ink used is displayed. When each print document is not printable, a print impossible display is displayed. When the non-printable document is selected, a printing condition for printing the non-printable document is calculated from the remaining ink usage amount and displayed.

  In addition, it is possible to select a document to be printed from among the plurality of print documents. When a print document is selected, if it is determined that the amount of ink used for each selected document is less than the remaining amount of ink, a print condition that enables printing with a smaller amount of ink is displayed. When a non-printable document is selected at the time of selecting a print document, a print condition for printing the non-printable document is calculated from the remaining ink usage amount and displayed.

  When the remaining amount of ink is less than the amount of ink required for multiple print documents, fewer print conditions are presented, and the print conditions are set for multiple print documents to prevent running out of ink during printing. Execute printing. In addition, when the user selects a print document, the print desired by the user is preferentially executed, and the print document required by the user can be printed.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a specific example of a printing system according to an embodiment. The whole is controlled by the computer 10. The computer 10 includes a display 11, a main body control 12, a keyboard 13, and a mouse 14. The main body control unit 12 of the computer 10 is provided with a storage device 20 and an arithmetic processing device 30.

The storage device 20 stores print data 21, print management data 25, and print condition management data 27. The print data 21 is a total ink usage amount 22 that is the total ink usage amount of documents that can be printed in the selected plurality of documents, and prints all of the selected plurality of documents under the current printing conditions. Data such as a necessary total ink usage amount 23 which is a necessary ink usage amount, an ink usage amount 24 for printing a single document or directory such as a file or a directory, and the like is included. These are obtained from the elements relating to the amount of ink used shown in FIG. The total ink use amount 22 includes the ink use amount of a document that cannot be printed.
The print management data 25 includes data such as the ink remaining amount 26. The print condition management data 27 includes a print condition 28 and the like.

  The arithmetic control unit 30 includes a print document selection unit 31, a print substitution unit 32, an ink usage amount display unit 33, an ink remaining amount display unit 34, an ink usage amount calculation unit 35, an ink remaining amount detection unit 36, and a multiple document request reception unit. 37, a printing condition display unit 38, a printing control unit 39, a printing availability display unit 40, a printing condition setting unit 41, and a printing condition calculation unit 42.

  The printer 15 has a function of printing a requested document by the computer 10. The document is printed on the printing paper 18. The print data 21 stored in the storage device 20 is data for printing the requested document and is transferred to the printer 15. The print management data 25 is data acquired from the printer. The printing condition management data is data in which the ink usage ratio for each printing condition is calculated.

  The print document selection means 31 of the arithmetic processing unit 30 has a function that allows the user to select a document to be printed from the print data stored in the print data 21. The print substitution unit 32 has a function of performing printing to another printer connected to the computer 10 when the required total ink usage amount 23 does not satisfy the ink remaining amount 26. The ink usage amount display means 33 has a function of displaying the ink usage amount used for the requested document of the print data 21 on the screen. The ink remaining amount display means 34 has a function of displaying the ink remaining amount 26 of the print management data 25 on the screen. The ink use amount calculation means 35 has a function of calculating the ink use amount necessary for printing a document.

  The remaining printing amount detection means 36 has a function of accepting printing for printer printing. The printing condition display unit 38 has a function of displaying the printing condition calculated by the printing condition calculation unit 42 when the remaining ink amount 26 is less than the total ink usage 23 necessary for printing. The print control unit 39 has a function of causing the printer 15 to print a plurality of print documents selected by the print document control unit 39 under the print conditions set by the print condition setting unit 41.

  The print permission / inhibition display means 40 has a function of determining whether printing is possible from the total ink use amount 22 and the ink remaining amount 26 of the document accepted by the multiple document request acceptance 37. The printing condition setting unit 41 has a function of setting printing conditions for the document received by the multiple document request reception 37. The printing condition calculation unit 42 has a function of calculating a printing condition with a smaller ink usage amount when the remaining ink amount 26 does not satisfy the total ink usage amount 21 from the printing condition management data 27.

  FIG. 2 is a hardware block diagram of the above system. The present invention can be applied to the main body control unit 12 of the computer 10 shown in FIG. The internal bus 210 includes a CPU (central processing unit) 211, a ROM (read only memory) 212, a RAM (random access memory) 213, an HDD (hard disk) 214, an input / output interface 215, and an output interface including a display. 11, a keyboard 13, a mouse 14, and a printer 15 are connected.

  FIG. 3 is an example of elements registered in the ink usage 24 in order to create a printing condition ratio table existing in the print management data 26. This table stores items that affect the amount of ink used. In this embodiment, mode details 301, resolution 302, gradation 302, color intermediate color 304, size 305, layout 306, and stamp presence / absence 307 are stored. It is also possible to have different settings for each printer.

  FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the printing condition ratio table 29 stored in the storage device 20. The printing condition ratio table is obtained by determining the ink usage ratio under each printing condition by combining the elements related to the ink usage amount shown in FIG. The ink use ratio is 100, where the most ink is used, and the ratio under each condition is obtained. When the ink remaining amount is less than the total ink use amount based on the print condition ratio table 29, the condition with the highest ink use ratio is presented to the user as the print condition.

The ink use ratio 408 is determined from the paper size 401, mode details 402, resolution 403, gradation 404, color intermediate color 405, layout 406, and stamp presence / absence 407.
FIG. 19 is executed by the computer 10 when the application of the present invention is started by the user. At startup, a screen as shown in FIG. 5 is displayed.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on the display 11 when the present invention is executed.

  When the present invention is executed, the computer 10 requests the remaining amount of ink from the printer 15. Thereafter, the printing condition ratio table 29 is created from the elements relating to the ink usage shown in FIG. A file to be printed is displayed in the document display area 501. In the present embodiment, the document to be printed is dragged into the display area, but it can also be linked to a file system such as Explorer. In that case, by selecting a folder or the like, the contents of the selected folder are targeted.

When the print start button 504 is pressed, print data is transmitted to the printer 15 and all the documents received in the multi-document request reception are printed. By pressing a mode switching button 502, an all-print mode for printing a plurality of documents accepted by a multi-document request reception and a selection mode for selecting a document to be printed from a plurality of documents accepted by a multi-document request reception Can be switched. The current display mode is represented in the current mode column 503.
In the print setting column 505, print conditions set by default by the user in advance are displayed, and reception of a plurality of document requests is started.

  In step S 1901, the application communicates with the printer 15 to acquire the ink remaining amount, and stores it as the ink remaining amount 26 in the print management data 25 of the storage device 20. In step S1902, the printing condition ratio table 29 is created based on the printer settings that affect the ink usage. Thereafter, in step S1003, the currently set printing conditions are acquired, and a screen display as shown in FIG. 6 is performed.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed when the ink remaining amount display function is executed at the time of execution of the present invention. The remaining ink amount 601 displays the ratio between the remaining ink amount acquired from the printer 15 and the maximum remaining ink amount. It is assumed that the remaining ink display can be switched by pressing a button (not shown) in the menu bar menu.
Returning to the flowchart of FIG. 19, a print document request is accepted in step S1004.
FIG. 20 is a processing flow of the computer 10 after receiving a print document request.

  In step S2001, a print document request is accepted. In the reception, a file or a folder can be selected by dropping the file in the document display area 501 or in conjunction with the OS file system. In step S2002, the user inputs a plurality of print documents into the application.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed when a plurality of documents for each directory are input in addition to a single document by the multiple document request receiving function when the present invention is executed. When a print request for the directory is made, it is performed for all documents existing in the directory. If there are subdirectories in the directory, whether to make that directory the target can be set by options.

  Therefore, the displayed ink usage amount is calculated by using the ink usage amount calculation function of a plurality of documents existing in the directory, and the sum is displayed as the ink usage amount of the directory 801. A printable display is also made for the directory.

In step 2003, a print document ink use amount calculation process is sequentially performed on each print document, and an ink use amount for each print document is calculated. In step 2004, the calculated ink usage is displayed on the right side of each print document input into the application, as shown in FIG.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed when a plurality of print documents are input by the multi-document request receiving function when executing the present invention.

  After the print document is input, the present invention calculates the ink use amount necessary for printing each print document based on each print document. The calculated ink usage is displayed for each ink color in an ink usage column 702 used on the right side of each print document 701.

  In step S2005, a printability display process is performed for each print document, and the total ink usage 22 of the printable document up to that time and the total ink usage of the document are the ink remaining amount stored in the ink remaining amount 26. It is determined whether or not the print document exceeds the limit, and as shown in FIG.

  The above is executed for all the input print documents. In step S2006, it is determined whether the ink usage calculation for all documents has been completed. After calculating the ink usage amount and displaying the printability for all print documents, if there is a non-printable document in step S2007, print condition detection is performed in step S2008. In step S2009, the printing conditions are displayed. If it is determined in step S2007 that there is no unprintable document, the process ends.

    FIG. 9 is displayed when there is a print document that cannot be printed because the remaining amount of ink is less than the total ink use amount when a plurality of documents are input by the multi-document request receiving function when the present invention is executed. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen.

When calculating the ink use amount of each print document, the total print use amount used for printing a plurality of documents is calculated. When the remaining ink amount is exceeded, a print-inhibited display as indicated by 901 or 902 is displayed. The display is an example, and another display method may be used as long as it is understood that printing is impossible.
When “printing impossible” is displayed, printing conditions that can be printed with a smaller amount of ink used are calculated and displayed from the printing condition ratio table.

  If the remaining ink level is less than the total remaining ink level, there are printable documents that cannot be printed.Therefore, in order to calculate the conditions that all print documents entered by the multi-document request acceptance function can print, the total required The ratio between the ink usage and the ink remaining amount is obtained.

  This ratio is set as a printable coefficient. The printable coefficient is calculated by the remaining ink amount / required total ink usage amount. A print condition that does not satisfy the print condition currently set by the user is acquired from the print condition ratio table 29 and the print ratio of the print condition that does not satisfy the currently set print condition is multiplied by this printable coefficient. Is used to calculate and display printing conditions that enable printing. The calculation result is displayed in the printing condition column 903. In this embodiment, it can be seen that printing is possible if the quality is changed from “best” to “standard”. If the “Yes” button 901 is selected, a new condition is set. If the “No” button 902 is selected, the print setting is not changed. A matter to be prioritized by the user can be set in the print condition used when obtaining the print condition, and the range of the print condition to be calculated can be limited.

FIG. 10 shows that when a plurality of documents are input by the multi-document request receiving function when the present invention is executed, the remaining amount of ink does not reach the total ink use amount, and therefore, when there is a print document that cannot be printed, all printing is performed. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen that is displayed when a printing condition that enables printing of a document is set.
When the print conditions are set for all print documents, the ink usage amount of each print document is calculated again, and the ink usage amount display of each print document is updated.
FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example of the print document ink usage amount detection process shown in S1201 of FIG.

  In the case of a file, the print document ink usage calculation processing executes file ink usage calculation processing. In the case of a directory, directory ink usage calculation processing is executed.

  In step S2101, it is determined whether the selected ink usage calculation method is a file or not. In the case of file ink usage calculation processing, file ink usage calculation processing is performed in step S2102.

On the other hand, in the case of directory ink usage calculation processing, file ink usage calculation processing is performed on all files in the directory, and the sum of all ink usage is defined as directory ink usage. The calculated ink use amounts are stored in the ink use amount 24 for each document.
FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating an example of a directory ink usage amount calculation process.

In step 2001, the ink usage of the files in the directory is calculated. In step S2202, the ink usage of a file not included in the directory is calculated, and in step S2203, the ink usage is added to the directory. The process loops until all documents are calculated in step S2204. The calculated ink use amounts are stored in the ink use amount 24 for each document.
FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example of the printing condition detection process in S2208 of FIG.
The print condition detection process is a process executed when a non-printable document exists. This process is also executed when a non-printable document is selected.

  FIG. 9 is displayed when there is a print document that cannot be printed because the remaining amount of ink is less than the total ink use amount when a plurality of documents are input by the multi-document request receiving function when the present invention is executed. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen.

When calculating the ink use amount of each print document, the total print use amount used for printing a plurality of documents is calculated. When the remaining ink amount is exceeded, a print-inhibited display as indicated by 901 or 902 is displayed. The display is an example, and another display method may be used as long as it is understood that printing is impossible.
When “printing impossible” is displayed, printing conditions that can be printed with a smaller amount of ink used are calculated and displayed from the printing condition ratio table.

  If the remaining ink level is less than the total remaining ink level, there are printable documents that cannot be printed.Therefore, in order to calculate the conditions that all print documents entered by the multi-document request acceptance function can print, the total required The ratio between the ink usage and the ink remaining amount is obtained.

  This ratio is set as a printable coefficient. The printable coefficient is calculated by the remaining ink amount / required total ink usage amount. A print condition that does not satisfy the print condition currently set by the user is acquired from the print condition ratio table 29 and the print ratio of the print condition that does not satisfy the currently set print condition is multiplied by this printable coefficient. Is used to calculate and display printing conditions that enable printing. The calculation result is displayed in the printing condition column 903. In this embodiment, it can be seen that printing is possible if the quality is changed from “best” to “standard”. If the “Yes” button 901 is selected, a new condition is set. If the “No” button 902 is selected, the print setting is not changed. A matter to be prioritized by the user can be set in the print condition used when obtaining the print condition, and the range of the print condition to be calculated can be limited.

  In the screens shown in FIG. 9 and FIG. 13, the current mode is “all print mode”, and all the selected documents are to be printed. Therefore, marks such as 901, 902, and 1301 are given to documents that cannot be printed. Here, when the mode switching button 1302 is pressed, the mode is switched from the “all print mode” to the “selection mode” as shown in FIGS.

  FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed before a plurality of documents are input by the multiple document request reception function and before switching to a selection mode in which a print document to be printed can be selected.

  FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed after a plurality of documents are input by the multiple document request receiving function and the mode is switched to a selection mode in which a print document to be printed can be selected. When the mode is switched to the selection mode, all the print documents are not selected.

  FIG. 15 shows a screen that is displayed when a print document to be printed is selected after a plurality of documents are input by the multi-document request reception function and the print document to be printed is switched to a selection mode that can be selected. It is a figure which shows an example. When a print document to be printed is selected, marks 1504 and 1505 that can be understood when printing is performed on the print document to be printed are displayed. The mode displayed in the current print setting field 1501 is a print setting for the document 4 and the document 5 selected by the mark.

  FIG. 16 shows that when a plurality of documents are input by the multi-document request receiving function and a plurality of print documents to be printed are selected after switching to a selection mode in which a print document to be printed can be selected, the remaining amount of ink is FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen on which a document that is displayed as being unprintable because the total ink usage amount is not reached. When printing impossible is displayed, the printing conditions for printing all documents are calculated and displayed in the display field 1601 as in the all printing mode. When the calculated print condition is selected, the printable condition is set for all the documents as in the all print mode, and the display of the ink usage amount is updated.

  FIG. 17 shows that when a plurality of documents are input by the multi-document request reception function and the print document to be printed is switched to a selection mode in which the print document can be selected, a plurality of print documents to be printed are selected. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen that is displayed when a document that is displayed as not printable is selected because the total ink usage amount is not satisfied. The printing conditions calculated for the selected print document are the same as the calculation in FIG.

  FIG. 18 shows that when a plurality of documents are input by the multi-document request receiving function and a plurality of print documents to be printed are selected after switching to a selection mode in which a print document to be printed can be selected, the remaining amount of ink is reduced. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen that is displayed when a printable condition is set after a document that has been displayed as being unprintable because it is less than the total ink usage amount.

  Returning to the description of FIG. In step S2301, it is determined whether there is a non-printable document. If a non-printable document is selected, the non-printable document is selected as a processing target in step S2302. In step S2303, the remaining ink amount is calculated from the remaining ink amount and the total ink amount. In step S2305, the printable coefficient (remaining ink amount / required ink usage amount) is calculated from the remaining ink amount and the necessary ink usage amount of the selected document. calculate.

  On the other hand, if no unprintable document is selected in step S2301, a printable coefficient (remaining ink / required total ink usage) is calculated from the remaining ink amount and the required total ink usage amount to be printed in step S2304.

  Thereafter, in step S 2306, each printable coefficient is multiplied by the currently set ink use ratio 408 in the print ratio condition table 29. In step S 2307, printing conditions 401 to 407 having an ink usage ratio 408 smaller than the ratio obtained as a result of multiplication are calculated from the printing ratio condition table 29.

  In step S2308, it is determined whether a printable condition exists. If it exists, it is determined that printing is possible under the print condition, and the print condition as shown in FIG. 11 is displayed in step S2309. If it does not exist, it is determined that printing is impossible, and printing is not possible in step S2310.

  FIG. 11 shows that when a plurality of documents are input by the multi-document request receiving function at the time of execution of the present invention, the remaining amount of ink does not reach the total ink use amount. It is a figure which shows the example of the screen displayed when the performed printed document is selected.

When a print document for which printing is disabled is selected, a printable condition is calculated for the selected print document. The printable condition is calculated by subtracting the total ink use amount from the remaining ink amount to calculate the remaining ink amount. A printable coefficient is calculated from the remaining ink amount / ink usage amount. The printable coefficient is calculated by multiplying the printable coefficient by the ink use ratio 408 of the current printing condition. A print ratio smaller than the printable ratio is calculated from the print condition ratio table, and the condition is displayed as a printable condition. In the present embodiment, printing is not possible with the current print setting “color / postcard / best”, but printing is possible with “color / postcard / standard”.
Here, when a printable condition is set for an unprintable document, the condition is set as shown in FIG.

FIG. 12 shows that when a plurality of documents are input by the multi-document request accepting function after starting the present invention, the remaining amount of ink is less than the total ink use amount, so that when there is a print document that cannot be printed, a print disable display is displayed. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when a printable condition to be presented is set for a print document by selecting a printed document. The newly set condition is displayed as “color / postcard / standard” in the individual condition display field 1201. FIG. 24 is a flowchart showing an example of the print permission / prohibition display process in step S2005 of FIG.
The print permission / inhibition display process is a process executed when a print document is received by receiving a plurality of document requests.

  In step S2401, when printing of a document is accepted, a temporary ink usage amount is calculated using the ink usage amount of the file or directory as the temporary usage amount. In step S2402, the temporary ink usage amount is added to the current total usage amount. In step S2403, the total usage amount obtained by adding the temporary ink usage amount and the current total usage amount is compared with the remaining ink amount. If the remaining amount of ink is less than the total use amount, printing is disabled in step S2407, and the temporary ink use amount added in step S2402 is reduced to determine the total ink amount. On the other hand, if the remaining ink amount satisfies the total use amount, the total ink use amount is determined in step S2405, and a printable display is performed in step S2406. In step S2408, the determined total ink amount is added to the total required ink amount, and the process ends.

  FIG. 25 is a flowchart showing the update of the ink usage amount. When the printing conditions are reset for all documents in step S2501, the ink usage of all documents is updated in step S2502. It may be executed by pressing an update button from the application screen, or may be executed when a separate update process is instructed.

  Although one embodiment has been described above, the present invention can take an embodiment as, for example, a system, apparatus, method, program, or recording medium, and specifically includes a plurality of devices. The present invention may be applied to a system including a single device.

  The program according to the present invention is a program that allows a computer to execute the processing method of the flowchart shown in the embodiment, and the storage medium of the present invention stores a program that allows the computer to execute the processing method of the flowchart. The program in the present invention may be a program for each processing method of each device.

  As described above, a recording medium that records a program that implements the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus, and a computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus stores the program stored in the recording medium. It goes without saying that the object of the present invention can also be achieved by executing the reading.

  In this case, the program itself read from the recording medium realizes the novel function of the present invention, and the recording medium storing the program constitutes the present invention.

  As a recording medium for supplying the program, for example, flexible disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD-R, DVD-ROM, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, EEPROM, silicon A disk, solid state drive, or the like can be used.

  Further, by executing the program read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS (operating system) operating on the computer based on an instruction of the program is actually It goes without saying that a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by performing part or all of the processing and the processing is included.

  Furthermore, after the program read from the recording medium is written to the memory provided in the function expansion board inserted into the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion board is based on the instructions of the program code. It goes without saying that the case where the CPU or the like provided in the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

  Further, the present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single device. Needless to say, the present invention can be applied to a case where the present invention is achieved by supplying a program to a system or apparatus. In this case, by reading a recording medium storing a program for achieving the present invention into the system or apparatus, the system or apparatus can enjoy the effects of the present invention.

Furthermore, by downloading and reading a program for achieving the present invention from a server, database, etc. on a network using a communication program, the system or apparatus can enjoy the effects of the present invention.
In addition, all the structures which combined each embodiment mentioned above and its modification are also included in this invention.

Computer 10
Display 11
Body control 12
Keyboard 13
Mouse 14
Storage device 20
Arithmetic processing unit 30

Claims (10)

A print control device connected to a printing device and capable of accepting print requests for a plurality of documents,
Recording material remaining amount acquisition means capable of acquiring the remaining amount of recording material of the printing apparatus;
A recording material use amount calculating means for calculating a recording material use amount necessary for printing a plurality of documents that have received the print request;
A recording material amount comparison unit that compares the recording material usage amount calculated by the recording material usage amount calculation unit with the recording material remaining amount acquired by the recording material remaining amount acquisition unit;
Display control means for controlling the display of a plurality of documents that have received the print request,
When it is determined by the recording material amount comparison means that there is more recording material remaining,
The print control apparatus, wherein the display control unit performs display control so that a plurality of documents displayed on the display control unit can be identified as printable documents.   When the recording material usage amount comparison unit determines that the recording material remaining amount is less than the recording material usage amount, a document in which the recording material remaining amount is insufficient can be identified as a non-printable document. 2. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein display control is performed. Print setting calculation means for calculating print settings such that the non-printable document can be printed;
The print control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the display control unit performs display control so that the print condition calculated to enable printing can be selected for the unprintable document. Printing condition receiving means for receiving selection of the display-controlled printing condition;
The printing control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the printing condition is accepted by the printing condition acceptance unit, the recording material usage amount of a plurality of print documents is calculated again.   The recording material usage amount calculating means calculates a recording material usage amount for each document of the plurality of documents and calculates a total thereof, and the recording material usage amount for each document is displayed for each document. Item 5. A printing control apparatus according to items 1 to 4.   6. The print control according to claim 1, wherein the request receiving means for receiving a print request for a plurality of documents performs request reception for a document, a directory on a file system in which the document is stored, or the like. apparatus.   The means for selecting a document to be printed from the plurality of documents preferentially prints the one selected from the plurality of documents, and the recording material usage amount of the selected plurality of documents does not satisfy the recording material remaining amount. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the non-printable display unit is provided for the plurality of documents that are not selected. A control method of a print control apparatus connected to a printing apparatus and capable of accepting a print request for a plurality of documents,
A remaining recording material acquisition step capable of acquiring the remaining recording material of the printing apparatus;
A recording material usage calculation step for calculating a recording material usage required for printing a plurality of documents that have received the print request; and
A recording material amount comparison step for comparing the recording material usage amount calculated in the recording material usage amount calculation step with the recording material remaining amount acquired by the recording material remaining amount acquisition means;
A display control step of controlling display of a plurality of documents that have received the print request,
When it is determined by the recording material amount comparison step that there is more recording material remaining,
The display control step performs display control so that a plurality of documents displayed in the display step can be identified as printable documents.   A program for enabling a computer to operate as the print control apparatus according to claim 1. &#8195; A recording medium on which the program according to claim 9 is recorded.

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