JP2011203957A - Image forming apparatus and image forming program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus capable of printing an XPS file without notifying the outside of a print setting of the image forming apparatus itself about the print order of a page.SOLUTION: A printer acquires an XPS print order setting as a print setting of an XPS file related to the print order of a page of the XPS file by a print unit (S106), acquires apparatus print order setting as the print setting of the image forming apparatus related to the print order (S107), decides the print order based on either the acquired XPS print order setting and the apparatus print order setting (S108) according to priority information, and makes the print unit perform printing according to the decided print order (S109).

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus capable of printing an XPS (XML (Extensible Markup Language) Paper Specification) file.

  Conventionally, XPS is known as a standard for electronic documents. An XPS file is a file in which a plurality of files are compressed in ZIP format. The XPS file is generated by, for example, printing an application file such as Microsoft Office (registered trademark) Word using XPS Document Writer installed as standard in Windows Vista (registered trademark). The plurality of files in the XPS file generated in this way are usually arranged and compressed so that the pages are in normal order.

  Therefore, when the printer receives and prints an XPS file in which multiple files are arranged and compressed so that the pages are in normal order from an external information processing device, the multiple files in the XPS file are printed from the first page. The data is received from the external information processing apparatus in the normal order up to the last page.

  Here, the printer needs to print in the normal order from the first page to the last page when face-down output for discharging the paper with the print side facing down is set in the print settings. Therefore, when performing face-down output on an XPS file in which multiple files are arranged and compressed so that the pages are in the normal order, the printer outputs multiple files in the XPS file from the first page to the last page. Each time the data is received from the external information processing apparatus in the normal order, the received page can be printed.

  On the other hand, the printer needs to print in reverse order from the last page to the first page when face-up output for discharging the paper with the print side facing up is set in the print settings. Therefore, when performing face-up output on an XPS file in which multiple files are arranged and compressed so that the pages are in the normal order, the printer will transfer multiple files in the XPS file from the first page to the last page. The received page cannot be printed until it has been received from the external information processing apparatus in the normal order.

  In other words, when printing an XPS file in which a plurality of files are arranged and compressed so that the pages are in the normal order, the face-up output is less efficient than the face-down output.

  As a method for solving the problem of reduction in printing efficiency in the case of face-up output, first, the printer setting of the printer is acquired from the printer by the printer driver of the external information processing apparatus, and then the acquired printing setting is acquired. When face-up output is set in, the XPS file structure is changed by the printer driver to a structure in which multiple files are arranged and compressed so that the pages are in reverse order, and finally the pages are in reverse order A method of transmitting an XPS file in which a plurality of files are arranged and compressed as described above to a printer by a printer driver is known (for example, see Patent Document 1). With this method, even when face-up output is performed, the printer does not need to receive files of all pages from the external information processing apparatus when starting page printing. Each time a page file is received, the received page can be printed.

JP 2009-145999 A

  However, the method described in Patent Document 1 has a problem that the printer driver of the external information processing apparatus must obtain from the printer the printer print settings related to the page printing order.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides an image forming apparatus capable of printing an XPS file without notifying externally the print settings of the image forming apparatus itself regarding the printing order of pages.

  The image forming apparatus of the present invention is an image forming apparatus that includes a printing unit that prints an XPS file, the printing order determining unit that determines the printing order of pages of the XPS file by the printing unit, and the printing order. A printing control unit that causes the printing unit to perform printing in the printing order determined by the determining unit; an XPS printing order setting acquisition unit that acquires an XPS printing order setting that is a printing setting of the XPS file related to the printing order; An apparatus print order setting acquisition unit that acquires an apparatus print order setting that is a print setting of the image forming apparatus related to the print order, and indicates which of the XPS print order setting and the apparatus print order setting is to be preferentially applied. Priority information storage means for storing priority information, the printing order determination means, the XPS printing order setting acquired by the XPS printing order setting acquisition means, Based on the person in accordance with the priority information of the to said device print order setting an acquisition by location print order setting acquiring unit, and determines the printing order.

  With this configuration, the image forming apparatus of the present invention performs printing based on the print setting of the XPS file related to the print order of pages and the print setting of the image forming apparatus itself related to the print order of pages according to priority information. Since the order is determined, the XPS file can be printed without notifying the outside of the print settings of the image forming apparatus itself regarding the page printing order.

  An image forming program according to the present invention is an image forming program executed by an image forming apparatus including a printing unit that prints an XPS file, and determines a printing order of pages of the XPS file by the printing unit. Determining means, print control means for causing the printing unit to perform printing in the printing order determined by the printing order determining means, and XPS for acquiring XPS printing order settings that are print settings of the XPS file relating to the printing order Priority is given to the print order setting acquisition means, the apparatus print order setting acquisition means for acquiring the apparatus print order setting which is the print setting of the image forming apparatus relating to the print order, and the XPS print order setting and the apparatus print order setting. The image forming apparatus functions as a priority information storage unit that stores priority information indicating whether to apply automatically, and the printing order determination unit includes the XPS Based on the one corresponding to the priority information among the XPS printing order setting acquired by the printing order setting acquisition unit and the apparatus printing order setting acquired by the apparatus printing order setting acquisition unit, the printing order is determined. It is characterized by determining.

  With this configuration, the image forming apparatus that executes the image forming program according to the present invention can select one of the XPS file print settings related to the page print order and the image forming apparatus print settings related to the page print order according to priority information. Therefore, the XPS file can be printed without notifying the outside of the image forming apparatus of the print setting of the image forming apparatus regarding the page printing order.

  The image forming apparatus of the present invention can print an XPS file without notifying outside of the print settings of the image forming apparatus itself regarding the page printing order.

1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the printer illustrated in FIG. 1. 2 is a flowchart of the operation of the printer shown in FIG. 1 when printing an XPS file. It is a figure which shows the structure of the XPS file analyzed by the control part shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the list | wrist which arranged the order of the page in the normal order by the control part shown in FIG. It is a flowchart of the printing order determination process shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the list | wrist shown in FIG. 5 changed into the reverse order of the page. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the list shown in FIG. 5 in which the page order is changed based on the XPS print order setting.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  First, the configuration of the image forming system according to the present embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of an image forming system 10 according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 1, an image forming system 10 transmits a printer 20 as an image forming apparatus of the present invention and print data to be printed by the printer 20 to the printer 20 or receives image data read by the printer 20. PC (Personal Computer) 30 which is an information processing apparatus. The printer 20 and the PC 30 are connected to a network 11 such as a LAN (Local Area Network) in a state where they can communicate with each other.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the printer 20.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the printer 20 includes a control unit 21 that controls the entire printer 20, a storage unit 22 that stores various information, a printing unit 23 that performs printing on a recording medium such as paper, and a PC 30. A communication interface 24 for communicating with an external device via the network 11 is provided.

  The control unit 21 includes, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory) that is a non-volatile memory that stores in advance a program including the image forming program of the present invention and various data, and a CPU This is a computer configured with RAM (Random Access Memory) which is a volatile memory used as a work area. The CPU is an arithmetic processing unit that operates the control unit 21 by executing a program stored in the ROM. The RAM temporarily stores programs and various data when the programs are executed by the CPU.

  As will be described later, the control unit 21 executes the image forming program to determine the printing order of the pages of the XPS file 22a by the printing unit 23 and the printing order determination unit 21a. A printing control unit 21b that causes the printing unit 23 to perform printing in the printing order, an XPS printing order setting obtaining unit 21c that obtains an XPS printing order setting 22b that is a printing setting of the XPS file 22a relating to the printing order, and a printer 20 that relates to the printing order. The apparatus print order setting acquisition unit 21d that acquires the apparatus print order setting 22c that is the print setting of the printer is configured to function.

  Here, the apparatus printing order setting 22c will be described. When the printer 20 includes a paper discharge tray that performs face-down output and a paper discharge tray that performs face-up output, the printer 20 determines which paper output tray is preferentially output. Can be set by instructions. This setting is the apparatus printing order setting 22c. The preferential output to the paper discharge tray where the face-down output is performed is set in the apparatus printing order setting 22c. This means that the normal printing is set in the apparatus printing order setting 22c. On the other hand, the fact that the preferential output to the paper discharge tray where the face-up output is performed is set in the apparatus printing order setting 22c means that the reverse printing is set in the apparatus printing order setting 22c. .

  The storage unit 22 is configured by, for example, a RAM, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), or the like. The storage unit 22 includes, for example, any one of the XPS file 22a, the XPS print order setting 22b and the apparatus print order setting 22c, the list 22d representing the page order of the XPS file 22a, the XPS print order setting 22b, and the apparatus print order setting 22c. Is stored as priority information 22e indicating whether or not to be preferentially applied, and constitutes priority information storage means of the present invention. The XPS file 22a, the XPS print order setting 22b, and the list 22d are information stored in the storage unit 22 after the printer 20 receives the XPS file 22a from the PC 30, but the apparatus print order setting 22c and the priority information 22e. Is information to be stored in advance before the printer 20 receives the XPS file 22a from the PC 30.

  The priority information 22e can be set, for example, according to a user instruction.

  The printing unit 23 is a printing device that prints a print job of print data from the PC 30.

  For example, the communication interface 24 receives print data to be printed by the printing unit 23 from the external PC 30 via the network 11.

  Next, the operation of the image forming system 10 will be described.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the operation of the printer 20 when printing the XPS file 22a.

  The user can cause the printer 20 to print the XPS file 22 a on the PC 30 by operating the PC 30. At this time, the printer driver on the PC 30 transmits the XPS file 22 a to the printer 20 via the network 11.

  When the XPS file 22a is transmitted from the PC 30 via the communication interface 24, the control unit 21 of the printer 20 starts the processing illustrated in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the control unit 21 first receives all of the XPS file 22a transmitted from the PC 30, and stores the received XPS file 22a in the storage unit 22 (S101).

  Next, the control unit 21 analyzes the structure of the XPS file 22a stored in the storage unit 22 in S101 (S102). Specifically, the control unit 21 performs ZIP decompression on the XPS file 22a stored in the storage unit 22, and acquires the page order of the XPS file 22a.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the structure of the XPS file 22a analyzed by the control unit 21. As shown in FIG.

  The XPS file 22a has a three-level hierarchy of jobs, documents, and pages.

  In the example shown in FIG. 4, the Job folder, which is a folder for the XPS file 22a, has a Metadata folder and a Documents folder.

  The Metadata folder directly under the Job folder has Job_PT.xml, which is a file describing job print settings and the like.

  The Documents folder includes a Metadata folder, a first folder that is a first document folder, and a second folder that is a second document folder. The Documents folder also has third and subsequent document folders, similar to the first and second folders.

  The Metadata folder directly under the Documents folder is Doc1_PT.xml, which is a file that describes the print settings for the first document, and Doc2_PT, which is a file that describes the print settings for the second document. xml. Like the Doc1_PT.xml and Doc2_PT.xml, the Metadata folder directly under the Documents folder also has the third and subsequent document files.

  One folder has a Metadata folder and a Pages folder.

  The Metadata folder directly under the first folder is Page1_PT.xml, which is a file that describes the print settings for the first page, and Page2_PT.xml, which is a file that describes the print settings for the second page. xml. The Metadata folder directly under one folder also has files for the third and subsequent pages, similar to Page1_PT.xml and Page2_PT.xml.

  The Pages folder directly under the 1 folder is 1.fpage which is the file describing the print contents of the first page, and 2.fpage which is the file describing the print contents of the second page. have. The Pages folder directly under one folder also has files for the third and subsequent pages, similar to 1.fpage and 2.fpage.

  Although one folder has been described above, the same applies to the second folder and the third and subsequent document folders.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the control unit 21 stores the order of the pages acquired in S102 in the storage unit 22 as a list 22d in the normal order (S103).

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the list 22d in which the page order is arranged in the normal order by the control unit 21.

  In the example shown in FIG. 5, the job of the XPS file 22a includes three documents, Documents / 1 /, Documents / 2 /, and Documents / 3 /. Documents / 1 / includes Pages / 1. There are three pages, fpage, Pages / 2.fpage, Pages / 3.fpage, and Documents / 2 / contains two pages, Pages / 1.fpage and Pages / 2.fpage. Documents / 3 / includes three pages: Pages / 1.fpage, Pages / 2.fpage, Pages / 3.fpage.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the control unit 21 determines whether or not the PrintTicket is included in the XPS file 22a analyzed in S102 (S104).

  Here, the PrintTicket is a file in which the print settings of the XPS file 22a are described, and includes the above-described Job_PT.xml, Doc1_PT.xml, Doc2_PT.xml, Page1_PT.xml, Page2_PT.xml, and the like.

  When determining in S104 that the XPS file 22a includes a PrintTicket, the control unit 21 determines whether the PrintTicket includes an XPS print order setting 22b (S105).

  Job_PT.xml, which is the PrintTicket of the job, prints the job by setting the print order of the job directly to the normal or reverse order, and by specifying the output tray to which the printed output of the job is discharged The order can be set indirectly in the forward or reverse order. For the PrintTicket of a document such as Doc1_PT.xml or Doc2_PT.xml, set the document print order directly to the normal or reverse order, and specify the output tray to which the printed output of the document is output. The document printing order can be indirectly set in the normal or reverse order. The PrintTicket of pages such as Page1_PT.xml, Page2_PT.xml, etc. can indirectly set the printing order of pages by specifying the paper output tray to which the printed matter that is the output result of the page is discharged. it can. These print order settings are the XPS print order setting 22b.

  Note that the setting of the PrintTicket print order of the document has priority over the setting of the PrintTicket print order of the job. Also, the setting of the print order of the PrintTicket of the page has priority over the setting of the print order of the PrintTicket of the document.

  When the control unit 21 determines in S105 that the XPS print order setting 22b is included in the PrintTicket, the XPS print order setting acquisition unit 21c, which is one of the functions of the control unit 21, acquires the XPS print order setting 22b. Is stored in the storage unit 22 (S106).

  Next, the device printing order setting acquisition unit 21d, which is one of the functions of the control unit 21, acquires the device printing order setting 22c stored in the storage unit 22 (S107). The apparatus print order setting acquisition unit 21d determines that the control unit 21 determines in step S104 that the XPS file 22a does not include a PrintTicket, and if the print ticket does not include the XPS print order setting 22b in step S105. Also when 21 determines, the process of S107 is executed.

  Next, the printing order determination unit 21a, which is one of the functions of the control unit 21, acquires the XPS printing order setting 22b acquired by the XPS printing order setting acquisition unit 21c in S106 and the apparatus printing order setting acquisition unit 21d in S107. The printing order determination processing for determining the printing order of the pages of the XPS file 22a by the printing unit 23 based on the device information corresponding to the priority information 22e stored in the storage unit 22 among the device printing order setting 22c. Execute (S108).

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the printing order determination process.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the printing order determination unit 21a determines whether the priority information 22e indicates that the XPS printing order setting 22b is preferentially applied among the XPS printing order setting 22b and the apparatus printing order setting 22c. Judgment is made (S121).

  If the printing order determination unit 21a determines in S121 that the priority information 22e indicates that the apparatus printing order setting 22c is preferentially applied, it determines whether reverse printing is set in the apparatus printing order setting 22c. (S122).

  If the printing order determination unit 21a determines in S122 that reverse printing is not set in the apparatus printing order setting 22c, the printing order determination unit 21a ends the printing order determination process shown in FIG. 6 and returns to the process shown in FIG.

  On the other hand, if the printing order determination unit 21a determines in S122 that reverse printing is set in the apparatus printing order setting 22c, the printing order determination unit 21a changes the list 22d stored in the storage unit 22 in S103 in reverse order (S123). 6 is terminated, and the process returns to the process shown in FIG.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of the list 22d in which the page order is changed in the reverse order. The list 22d shown in FIG. 7 is obtained by changing the order of pages in the list 22d shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 6, when the print order determination unit 21a determines in S121 that the priority information 22e indicates that the XPS print order setting 22b is preferentially applied, the list stored in the storage unit 22 in S103. After changing 22d based on the XPS print order setting 22b (S124), the print order determination process shown in FIG. 6 is terminated and the process returns to the process shown in FIG.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a list 22d in which the page order is changed based on the XPS print order setting 22b. The list 22d shown in FIG. 8 is a list when reverse printing is set only in Doc2_PT.xml. In the list 22d shown in FIG. 5, Pages / 1.fpage and Pages / 2.fpage of Documents / 2 / Only has been changed in reverse order. How the print order determining unit 21a changes the list 22d depends on the PrintTicket included in the XPS file 22a. Note that the printing order determination unit 21a does not change the list 22d stored in the storage unit 22 in S103 when the PrintTicket included in the XPS file 22a is set to normal printing.

  As shown in FIG. 3, when the printing order determination unit 21a finishes executing the printing order determination process in S108, the printing control unit 21b, which is one of the functions of the control unit 21, is determined by the printing order determination unit 21a. According to the list 22d as the print order, a file of each page such as Documents / 1 / Pages / 1.fpage is accessed to create a bitmap from the drawing data, and the bitmap is printed by the printing unit 23 (S109). .

  As described above, the printer 20 includes the XPS print order setting 22b that is the print setting of the XPS file 22a related to the page print order, and the device print order setting 22c that is the print setting of the printer 20 itself related to the page print order. Since the printing order of the pages of the XPS file 22a by the printing unit 23 is determined based on the one corresponding to the priority information 22e, the XPS file 22a can be printed without notifying the device printing order setting 22c to the outside. Can do.

  The XPS file 22a can randomly access the file on each page due to the specification. Therefore, the printer 20 according to the present embodiment does not need to reconstruct the XPS file 22a itself as in the method described in Patent Document 1, even when the XPS file 22a is printed out of order. .

  In the method described in Patent Document 1, the printer prints the page file every time the XPS file page file is sent from the printer driver of the external information processing apparatus. Even if the order of pages sent from the printer driver is wrong for some reason, printing is performed in the wrong order. On the other hand, the printer 20 according to the present embodiment determines the printing order of pages by the printer 20 itself, and takes out the file of each page from the XPS file 22a by the printer 20 itself, thereby preventing printing in an incorrect order. be able to.

  In the method described in Patent Document 1, since the XPS file printed in reverse order by the printer is reconstructed so that the pages are in reverse order, it is acquired from the printer and confirmed by the user by XPS Viewer. The pages are in reverse order and the electronic document is defective. On the other hand, since the XPS file 22a printed in reverse order by the printer 20 according to the present embodiment does not need to be reconstructed, the XPS file 22a is acquired from the printer 20 and confirmed by the user by the XPS Viewer. Even so, the pages are in normal order and there is no problem as an electronic document.

  In this embodiment, the printer driver of the PC 30 instructs the printer 20 to print the XPS file via the network 11. However, the printer 20 and the PC 30 are locally connected via a USB (Universal Serial Bus) cable or the like. Similar effects can also be obtained when connected. Further, when a storage device such as a USB memory can be directly connected to the printer 20 and the XPS file stored in the storage device is directly printed by the printer 20, the same effect can be obtained.

  In this embodiment, a printer is described as an image forming apparatus. However, an image forming apparatus other than a printer, such as a multifunction peripheral, can be used as long as it is an image forming apparatus capable of printing an XPS file. good.

20 Printer (image forming device)
21a Printing order determining means 21b Printing control means 21c XPS printing order setting obtaining means 21d Device printing order setting obtaining means 22 Storage section (priority information storing means)
22a XPS file 22b XPS printing order setting 22c device printing order setting 22e priority information 23 printing section

Claims (2)

An image forming apparatus having a printing unit for printing an XPS file,
A printing order determining unit that determines a printing order of pages of the XPS file by the printing unit; a printing control unit that causes the printing unit to perform printing in the printing order determined by the printing order determining unit; and the printing order An XPS print order setting acquisition means for acquiring an XPS print order setting that is a print setting of the XPS file, and an apparatus print order setting acquisition means for acquiring an apparatus print order setting that is a print setting of the image forming apparatus regarding the print order And priority information storage means for storing priority information indicating which of the XPS printing order setting and the apparatus printing order setting is preferentially applied,
The printing order determination unit corresponds to the priority information among the XPS printing order setting acquired by the XPS printing order setting acquisition unit and the apparatus printing order setting acquired by the apparatus printing order setting acquisition unit. An image forming apparatus that determines the printing order based on the method. An image forming program executed by an image forming apparatus including a printing unit for printing an XPS file,
A printing order determining unit that determines a printing order of pages of the XPS file by the printing unit; a printing control unit that causes the printing unit to perform printing in the printing order determined by the printing order determining unit; and the printing order An XPS print order setting acquisition means for acquiring an XPS print order setting that is a print setting of the XPS file, and an apparatus print order setting acquisition means for acquiring an apparatus print order setting that is a print setting of the image forming apparatus regarding the print order And causing the image forming apparatus to function as priority information storage means for storing priority information indicating which of the XPS printing order setting and the apparatus printing order setting is preferentially applied,
The printing order determination unit corresponds to the priority information among the XPS printing order setting acquired by the XPS printing order setting acquisition unit and the apparatus printing order setting acquired by the apparatus printing order setting acquisition unit. An image forming program for determining the printing order based on the method.

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