JP2012155415A - Printing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing system which performs printing processing in section units including color printing and monochrome printing, the printing system being improved, especially, in throughput.SOLUTION: The printing system has a printer and host equipment connected through a network. The host equipment includes print data generation means of generating print data in section units including color printing and monochrome printing; generation means of generating an image save instruction, an image load instruction, and a monochrome conversion instruction; and transmission means of transmitting print data of color printing, the image save instruction, etc., to the printer. The printer stores image data of color printing in storage means based upon the image save instruction, reads the image data out of the storage means based upon the image load instruction, converts the image data into a monochrome image based upon the monochrome conversion instruction, and prints a color image on a recording medium based upon the image data and a monochrome image on the recording medium based upon the monochrome image.

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing system that performs printing processing in units of copies including color printing and monochrome printing.

  Today, copy printing is performed to print a plurality of the same pages as presentation materials. When such unit printing is performed, from the viewpoint of saving toner, for example, color printing for managers and monochrome printing for other parties are often performed separately. For example, using the copy unit printing function of the printer driver, designation of “n copies for color printing” or “m copies for monochrome printing” is performed, and printing processing is performed.

  Note that the invention according to Patent Document 1 has been proposed as a case of printing presentation materials. According to the present invention, a plurality of prints are added to print data for one job, transmitted from a host computer to a printing apparatus, and the data is collectively processed on the printing apparatus side to perform, for example, multi-page printing.

  On the other hand, Patent Documents 2 and 3 have been proposed as inventions of printing apparatuses in which color printing and monochrome printing coexist, for example. The invention according to Patent Document 2 is an invention that determines whether the print mode is a color print mode or a monochrome print mode, and if the print mode is the color print mode, switches the print mode to the monochrome print mode.

  The invention according to Patent Document 3 specifies priority output when color pages and monochrome pages coexist. For example, when priority output of color pages is specified, the color page is output first, and monochrome pages are output. In the invention, when priority output is designated, a monochrome page is output first to improve the throughput of the entire system.

JP 2002-254774 A JP 2000-218871 A JP 2001-103318 A

  However, when the above-mentioned designation of “n copies for color printing” or “m copies for monochrome printing” is performed, printing is performed by designating “n copies for color printing” and “m copies for monochrome printing”. It is necessary to follow the procedure of performing the print processing by specifying the above. Such processing is less affected because it does not take a spool time when printing a document with a small number of pages. However, when printing a document with a large number of pages, the spool time of print data is doubled, and an efficient print process is performed. I can't.

The invention according to Patent Document 1 prints a plurality of pages of data as a presentation material on, for example, one recording sheet, and does not perform color printing and monochrome printing in units of copies. The invention according to Patent Document 2 is an invention in which when the color printing mode is selected, the printing mode is switched to the monochrome printing mode and the printing process is performed, and the color printing and the monochrome printing are not performed in units of copies. Furthermore, the invention according to Patent Document 3 is an invention that preferentially outputs color pages or monochrome pages, and cannot be said to be a printing system with sufficiently improved throughput.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a printing system in which throughput is sufficiently improved when performing unit printing including color printing and monochrome printing.

  According to the present invention, in the printing system in which a printing apparatus and a host device are connected via a network, the host device creates print data creation means for creating copy data including color printing and monochrome printing. An image save command for storing the color print image data in the print data, an image load command for reading the image data stored by the image save command, and the image data stored by the image save command. A creation means for creating a monochrome conversion command to be converted into monochrome image data, the print data for color printing, the image save command, the image load command, and the monochrome conversion command are transmitted to the printing apparatus. A transmission unit, and the printing apparatus performs the color printing image based on the image saving instruction. Data is stored in the storage means, the image data is read from the storage means based on an image load command, and the image data is converted into a monochrome image based on the monochrome conversion command, and based on the image data This can be achieved by providing a printing system having a print processing means for printing a color image on a recording medium and printing a monochrome image on the recording medium based on the monochrome image.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a printing system in which a user can perform unit printing including color printing and monochrome printing by one printing operation in a unit printing process, and can improve throughput. it can.

1 is a system configuration illustrating a printing system according to an embodiment. 1 is a diagram illustrating a system configuration of a printing apparatus. It is a figure which shows the software structure of a printing apparatus. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating processing of the present embodiment, and is a diagram illustrating processing of a printer driver. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating processing of the present embodiment, and is a diagram illustrating processing of a printer driver. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating processing of the present embodiment, and is a diagram illustrating processing of a printer driver. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a UI setting screen and a basic setting screen of a printer driver. It is a figure which shows the example of an image save command. It is a figure which shows the example of an image load command. It is a figure which shows the example of an image monochrome conversion command. It is a figure which shows the example of an image deletion command. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating processing of the present embodiment, and is a diagram illustrating processing on the printing apparatus side. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating processing of the present embodiment, and is a diagram illustrating processing on the printing apparatus side. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating processing of the present embodiment, and is a diagram illustrating processing on the printing apparatus side.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a system configuration illustrating a printing system according to the present embodiment. The printing system of the present embodiment has a configuration in which a printing apparatus 1 and a host computer 2 that is a host device of the printing apparatus 1 are connected in a network such as a LAN (local area network) or in a peer-to-peer format. . When the printing apparatus 1 is connected to the host computer 2 via a network, a plurality of host computers 2 are connected to the printing apparatus 1, and FIG. 1 representatively shows the internal configuration of one host computer 2. Is shown.

  The host computer 2 includes an application 3, a print API 4, a printer driver 5, a spooler 6, and a port monitor 7. The application 3 causes the printer driver 5 to generate print data using the print API 4 when the user executes a print operation. Print data (PDL data) generated by the printer driver 5 is transmitted to the spooler 6 and held in the spooler file 8. The spooler 6 transmits print data held in the spool file 8 to the port monitor 7, and the port monitor 7 transmits print data to the printing apparatus 1.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a system configuration of the printing apparatus 1. The CPU 10, the ROM 11, the RAM 12, the auxiliary storage device 13, the NIC (Network Interface Card) circuit 14, the host (Host) I / F circuit 15, and the video (Video). An I / F circuit 16 and an engine I / F circuit 17 are included.

  The CPU 10 performs various controls of the printing apparatus 1 according to programs stored in the ROM 11. The RAM 12 is used as a work area for processing performed by the CPU 10. The RAM 12 also functions as a reception buffer and a frame memory described later. The auxiliary storage device 13 configured by an EEPROM or the like stores color printing image data and monochrome printing image data, which will be described later.

  The NIC circuit 14 is an interface that exchanges data with the above-described host computer 2 that is a host device connected to a LAN (local area network). Print data is transmitted from the host computer 2 to the printing apparatus 1 via the NIC circuit 14.

  The host I / F circuit 15 is an interface when communicating with a printer server or a personal computer (PC) (not shown), and is connected by, for example, Centronics that is a parallel interface or USB (universal serial bus) specifications.

  A print head (not shown) is connected to the video I / F circuit 16 to control the output of drawing data, and the engine I / F circuit 17 is an interface to control each part of the printer engine (not shown).

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a software configuration of the printing apparatus 1, and is a diagram for explaining processing by the CPU 10, the ROM 11, and the RAM 12. In addition, the processing operation which CPU10 performs is described in the circle | round | yen shown in the same figure.

  The print data transmitted from the host computer 2 is subjected to reception processing 20 via the NIC circuit 15 and stored in the reception buffer 12a in the RAM 12. Thereafter, the print data stored in the reception buffer 12a is read in accordance with the print request, subjected to print control processing 21 such as command analysis, drawn in the frame memory in the RAM 12, and the video data drawn in the frame memory is The data is transmitted to a print head (not shown) via the video I / F circuit 16 and printed on paper.

In the above configuration, the processing operation of this example will be described below.
FIGS. 4 to 6 are flowcharts for explaining the processing of this example, and explain the processing of the printer driver 5 described above. First, in the flowchart shown in FIG. 4, reference is made to the copy printing information for UI (user interface) setting (step (hereinafter referred to as S) 1).

  FIG. 7 is an example of a UI setting screen and is a basic setting screen of the printer driver 5. In this setting screen, the above-mentioned set printing information includes a check unit 22 for set printing, a description area 23 for the number of copies (I), and a description area 24 for the number of monochrome prints. For example, in FIG. 7, a check, that is, a unit printing instruction is given to the unit printing check unit 22, and “15” is set as the total number of copies in the description area 23 for the number of copies (I), and monochrome printing is performed. In the description area 24 for the number of copies, designation of how many of the total number of copies to be printed in monochrome is set as “11”, for example.

  Next, a PDL command is generated and output from the print request from the application 3 (S2). That is, the application 3 causes the printer driver 5 to generate and output print data using the print API 4 when the user executes a print operation.

  Next, it is determined whether command generation for one page has been completed (S3). When command generation for one page has been completed, it is determined whether copy printing has been designated (S4). In this example, as shown in FIG. 7 described above, the unit printing check unit 22 is checked, and the unit printing is instructed (S4 is YES), and the printing apparatus 1 outputs the PDL command of the corresponding page. An image save command for interpreting and saving the image generated on the printing apparatus 1 side is output (S5).

  FIG. 8 shows an example of an image save command, which shows an example of a command that is transmitted to the printing apparatus 1 and saved in the printing apparatus 1. For example, if the image save command is 'U' 'm' '7' 'P' 'a' 'g' 'e' '0' '0' '1', as shown in the figure, “Page001” It is saved with the saved name. The first “Um” of the saved name is the PDL command name, and the subsequent “7” indicates the length of the saved name.

  Next, a page break command is output (S6). Note that, in the determination (S4), if there is no instruction for copy printing (NO in S4), the page break command is immediately output.

Thereafter, it is determined whether command generation for all pages has been completed (S7). In this initial determination, only command generation for the first page has been completed (S7 is NO), and the process returns to process (S4). Generation processing and output processing of the PDL command for the page are performed. Then, similarly to the above, it is determined that the command generation for the second page has been completed (S3), it is determined whether copy printing is specified (S4), an image save command is output (S5), and a page break command is output. (S6).
Thereafter, the above process is repeated, and when command generation for all pages is completed (YES in S7), the determination of the flowchart shown in FIG. 6 is performed.

  That is, it is determined whether or not there is a unit print designation (S8), and if there is no unit print designation (S8 is NO), the process ends. In this example, the unit print is designated as described above (S8). YES), the current output number is the second copy, and the total number of color outputs is set as the UI set print number minus the UI set monochrome print number (S9).

  Next, it is determined whether it is a monochrome printing target part (S10). The determination as to whether or not the copy is a monochrome print target is made based on whether or not the current output number exceeds the color output number. For example, in the above example, the first output copy number is the second copy, the number of print copies is 15, the monochrome print copy number is 11, and the current output copy number is smaller than the color output copy number. NO).

  In this case, in order to reuse the color image of the corresponding page stored in the printing apparatus, an image load command is output (S11). FIG. 9 shows an example of the image load command, which is transmitted from the printing apparatus 1 and saved in the printing apparatus 1 in the same manner as the image save command described above. For example, if the image load command is 'U' 'n' '7' 'M' 'o' 'n' 'o' '0' '0' '1', as shown in the figure, “Mono001” The image data stored in the printing apparatus 1 with the storage name is loaded into the image memory. The first “Un” of the image load command is the PDL command name, and “7” indicates the length of the saved name as described above.

  Thereafter, a page break command is output (S12), and it is determined whether output of all pages per copy is completed (S13).

  In this example, in the second and third copies, the current output copy number <the number of color output copies, which is a color print target (S10 is NO), and the color image of the corresponding page stored in the printing apparatus 1 is reused. Therefore, an image load command is output (S11). On the other hand, for the fifth copy, the current output copy number> the color output copy number, and the target is monochrome printing (YES in S10).

  Next, it is determined whether it is the first monochrome printing (S14). In this determination, for example, it is determined whether or not a value obtained by subtracting the number of color output copies from the current number of output copies is “1”. That is, in the present example, as described above, the first monochrome printing is performed when the number of output copies is the fifth copy ((1) = current output number (5) −color output number (4)) (YES in S14).

  In this case, in order to reuse the color image of the corresponding page stored in the printing apparatus, an image load command is output (S15). Then, a monochrome image conversion command is output (S16), and an image save command is output to save the monochrome image converted in the printing apparatus (S17). FIG. 10 shows an example of the image monochrome conversion command, which is transmitted from the printing apparatus 1 and stored in the printing apparatus 1 in the same manner as the image save command described above. For example, when the name of this image monochrome conversion command is “Uv”, a PDL command of “U” “v” “*” is output as shown in FIG.

  On the other hand, if it is not the first monochrome printing (NO in S14), that is, if the number of output copies is the sixth or later, an image load command is output in order to reuse the monochrome image of the corresponding page stored in the printing apparatus. (S18).

  Therefore, in this example, an image load command is output to reuse the monochrome image of the corresponding page thereafter until the final number of output copies is the 15th copy. Then, when the output of all pages per copy is completed (S13 is YES), the process proceeds to the flowchart shown in FIG. 7, and the current output number is updated (+1) (S19). Judgment is made (S20).

  Thereafter, when the command output for all the numbers is completed (YES in S20), an image deletion command for deleting the stored image data is output (S21). FIG. 11 shows an example of the image deletion command, and the stored image that is transmitted to the printing apparatus 1 and stored in the printing apparatus 1 is deleted in the same manner as the image save command described above. For example, when the name of this image deletion command is “Uk”, a PDL command of “U” “k” “*” is output as shown in FIG.

  Next, processing on the printing apparatus 1 side will be described using the flowcharts shown in FIGS. First, according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 11, the printing apparatus 1 waits for reception of print data from the host computer 2 (step (hereinafter referred to as ST) 1), and the print data is received when supplied from the host computer 2. The print data is stored in the reception buffer 12a (ST2). That is, as shown in FIG. 3 described above, the print data transmitted from the host computer 2 is subjected to reception processing 20 via the NIC circuit 15 and stored in the reception buffer 12a in the RAM 12.

  Next, the print control process is activated (ST3). That is, the print data stored in the reception buffer 12a is read according to the print request, and the print control process 21 is started. FIG. 13 is a flowchart for explaining the print control process 21.

  First, a print request is waited (ST4), and if there is a print request as described above (YES in ST5), the print data stored in the reception buffer 12a is read according to this print request, and command analysis is started (ST6).

For example, if the command transmitted from the host computer 2 is the above-described image save command, the image data is developed on the image memory and stored in the auxiliary storage device 13 (ST7). At this time, the image data developed on the image memory is subjected to command analysis of the print data transmitted from the host computer 2, and data corresponding to a character code or the like is read from a font ROM (not shown) and stored in the image memory. This is the developed image data.
On the other hand, if the command transmitted from the host computer 2 is the above-described image load command, the image data stored in the auxiliary storage device 13 is written into the image memory (ST8). Further, if the command transmitted from the host computer 2 is the above-described image deletion command, the image data stored in the auxiliary storage device 13 is deleted (ST9).

  On the other hand, if the command transmitted from the host computer 2 is the above-described image monochrome conversion command, the color image data is converted into a monochrome image (ST10). If it is any other command, a print command drawing process is performed (ST11). For example, if it is a print command such as shading or ruled line, a drawing process instructed by the command is performed, and for example, the first image data is developed in the image memory.

When the above command processing is applied to the above-described example, the number of copies set by the user for the unit printing is 15 copies, of which 4 copies are color printing and the remaining 11 copies are monochrome printing. In this case, the first color image printing process is first performed based on the image data developed in the image memory based on the print data.
Next, the second color printing is performed based on the image data stored in the auxiliary storage device 13 based on the image data developed in the image memory in accordance with the instruction of the image save command. That is, in the 22nd copy, the image data stored in the auxiliary storage device 13 is read into the image memory according to the instruction of the analyzed image load command, and the printing process is performed according to the image data read into the image memory.
The same applies to the third copy and the fourth copy. The image data stored in the auxiliary storage device 13 is read into the image memory in accordance with the instruction of the analyzed image load command, and is printed according to the image data read into the image memory. Process. Thereafter, the image monochrome command is analyzed, and the color image data is converted into a monochrome image for monochrome printing of the fifth copy.

  FIG. 14 is a flowchart for explaining this image monochrome conversion process. First, for example, a C (cyan) color frame is used, and a color image of the corresponding color frame is read from the image memory (ST10-1, ST10-2). Next, density conversion is performed by applying a mask pattern corresponding to the color frame read into the image memory, and OR (or) addition is performed on K (black) image data (ST10-3, ST10-4).

  Similarly, the M (magenta) color frame is used, the color image of the color frame is read from the image memory, the density conversion is performed by applying a mask pattern corresponding to the color frame, and the K (black) image data. On the other hand, OR (or) addition is performed (ST10-1 to ST10-4). Further, the color image of Y (yellow) is used, the color image of the color frame is read from the image memory, the density conversion is performed by applying a mask pattern corresponding to the color frame, and the image data of K (black) is OR (or) addition is performed (ST10-1 to ST10-4).

  The above process is repeated (ST10-5), the color image is converted into a monochrome image, and the converted monochrome image is stored in the auxiliary storage device 13. Thereafter, from the sixth copy to the last fifteenth copy, the monochrome image stored in the auxiliary storage device 13 is developed in the image memory, and the monochrome image printing process is repeated.

  By performing the processing in this way, it is possible to print a monochrome image using the converted monochrome image stored in the auxiliary storage device 13, and to efficiently perform the printing process. Further, for example, according to this example, it is possible to specify 4 colors and 11 monochrome in the copy processing, and the user can perform simultaneous copy printing of color printing / monochrome printing by one printing operation. It becomes possible.

  In the description of the present embodiment, 4 colors and 11 monochromes are specified. Of course, other number of copies can be specified, and simultaneous printing of color printing / monochrome printing is possible. In the description of the present embodiment, an example of color images of C (cyan), M (magenta), and Y (yellow) has been described, but the present invention is not limited to the above example.

  Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described, the present invention is included in the inventions described in the claims and their equivalents. Hereinafter, the invention described in the scope of claims at the beginning of the filing of the present patent application will be added.

Appendix 1
In a printing system in which a printing device and a host device are connected via a network,
The host device is
Print data creation means for creating print data in units including color printing and monochrome printing;
An image save instruction for storing the color printing image data in the print data, an image load instruction for reading the image data stored by the image save instruction, and the image data stored by the image save instruction as a monochrome image Creating means for creating a monochrome conversion instruction to convert to data;
Transmission means for transmitting the print data for color printing, the image save command, the image load command, and the monochrome conversion command to the printing apparatus;
The printing apparatus stores the color printing image data in a storage unit based on the image save command, reads the image data from the storage unit based on an image load command, and reads the image data based on the monochrome conversion command. Control means for converting the data into a monochrome image;
Print processing means for printing a color image on a recording medium based on the image data, and printing a monochrome image on the recording medium based on the monochrome image;
A printing system comprising:

Appendix 2
In the host device connected to the printing device via the network,
Print data creation means for creating print data in units including color printing and monochrome printing;
An image save instruction for storing the color printing image data in the print data, an image load instruction for reading the image data stored by the image save instruction, and the image data stored by the image save instruction as a monochrome image Creating means for creating a monochrome conversion instruction to convert to data;
Transmitting means for transmitting the print data of the color printing, the image save command, the image load command, and the monochrome conversion command to the printing device;
Have
The printing apparatus stores the color printing image data in a storage unit based on the image save command, reads the image data from the storage unit based on an image load command, and outputs the monochrome conversion command. A host device converting the image data into a monochrome image based on the image data.

Appendix 3
In a printing device connected to a host device via a network,
Copy data output from the host device including color printing and monochrome printing, an image save command, an image load command, and an input means for inputting a monochrome conversion command;
The image data for color printing is stored in a storage unit based on the image save command, the image data is read from the storage unit based on an image load command, and the image data is converted into a monochrome image based on the monochrome conversion command. Control means for converting;
Print processing means for printing a color image on a recording medium based on the image data, and printing a monochrome image on the recording medium based on the monochrome image;
A printing apparatus comprising:

Appendix 4
The printing system according to appendix 1, wherein the host device outputs an image erasure command for erasing image data stored in the storage unit to the printing device when the printing device completes printing processing.

Appendix 5
In a printing method of a printing system in which a printing apparatus and a host device are connected via a network,
The host device is
Print data creation processing for creating copy data including color printing and monochrome printing;
An image save instruction for storing the color printing image data in the print data, an image load instruction for reading the image data stored by the image save instruction, and the image data stored by the image save instruction as a monochrome image A process for creating a monochrome conversion instruction to convert to data,
Performing the process of transmitting the print data of the color printing, the image save command, the image load command, and the monochrome conversion command to the printing device;
The printing apparatus stores the color printing image data in a storage unit based on the image save command, reads the image data from the storage unit based on an image load command, and reads the image data based on the monochrome conversion command. Processing to convert the data into a monochrome image;
Printing a color image on a recording medium based on the image data, and printing a monochrome image on a recording medium based on the monochrome image;
A printing method characterized by performing.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printing apparatus 2 ... Host computer 3 ... Application 4 ... Print API
5 ... Printer driver 6 ... Spooler 7 ... Port monitor 8 ... Spool file 10 ... CPU
11. ROM
12. RAM
12a ·· Receive buffer 13 · · Auxiliary storage device 14 · · NIC circuit 15 · · Host I / F circuit 16 · · Video I / F circuit 17 · · Engine I / F circuit 20 · · Receive processing 21 · · Print control Process 22 ··· Check unit 23 · · Description area 24 · · Description area

Claims (5)

In a printing system in which a printing device and a host device are connected via a network,
The host device is
Print data creation means for creating print data in units including color printing and monochrome printing;
An image save instruction for storing the color printing image data in the print data, an image load instruction for reading the image data stored by the image save instruction, and the image data stored by the image save instruction as a monochrome image Creating means for creating a monochrome conversion instruction to convert to data;
Transmission means for transmitting the print data for color printing, the image save command, the image load command, and the monochrome conversion command to the printing apparatus;
The printing apparatus stores the color printing image data in a storage unit based on the image save command, reads the image data from the storage unit based on an image load command, and reads the image data based on the monochrome conversion command. Control means for converting the data into a monochrome image;
Print processing means for printing a color image on a recording medium based on the image data, and printing a monochrome image on the recording medium based on the monochrome image;
A printing system comprising: In the host device connected to the printing device via the network,
Print data creation means for creating print data in units including color printing and monochrome printing;
An image save instruction for storing the color printing image data in the print data, an image load instruction for reading the image data stored by the image save instruction, and the image data stored by the image save instruction as a monochrome image Creating means for creating a monochrome conversion instruction to convert to data;
Transmitting means for transmitting the print data for color printing, the image save command, the image load command, and the monochrome conversion command to the printing device;
Have
The printing apparatus stores the color printing image data in a storage unit based on the image save command, reads the image data from the storage unit based on an image load command, and outputs the monochrome conversion command. A host device converting the image data into a monochrome image based on the image data. In a printing device connected to a host device via a network,
Copy data output from the host device including color printing and monochrome printing, an image save command, an image load command, and an input means for inputting a monochrome conversion command;
The image data for color printing is stored in a storage unit based on the image save command, the image data is read from the storage unit based on an image load command, and the image data is converted into a monochrome image based on the monochrome conversion command. Control means for converting;
Print processing means for printing a color image on a recording medium based on the image data, and printing a monochrome image on the recording medium based on the monochrome image;
A printing apparatus comprising:   The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the host device outputs an image erasure command for erasing image data stored in the storage unit to the printing device when the printing device completes printing processing. . In a printing method of a printing system in which a printing apparatus and a host device are connected via a network,
The host device is
Print data creation processing for creating copy data including color printing and monochrome printing;
An image save instruction for storing the color printing image data in the print data, an image load instruction for reading the image data stored by the image save instruction, and the image data stored by the image save instruction as a monochrome image A process for creating a monochrome conversion instruction to convert to data,
Performing the process of transmitting the print data of the color printing, the image save command, the image load command, and the monochrome conversion command to the printing device;
The printing apparatus stores the color printing image data in a storage unit based on the image save command, reads the image data from the storage unit based on an image load command, and reads the image data based on the monochrome conversion command. Processing to convert the data into a monochrome image;
Printing a color image on a recording medium based on the image data, and printing a monochrome image on a recording medium based on the monochrome image;
A printing method characterized by performing.