JP2016172452A - Image processing system and image processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide means for notifying a user of a method for reducing a charge amount in printing a desired document.SOLUTION: An image processing system has: an output method extraction unit for extracting a plurality of outputting methods on the basis of print setting information specified by a print setting specifying unit and size information of a print medium acquired by an information acquisition unit; a charge amount calculation unit for calculating a charge amount from the number of print media used when at least print data is printed and unit price information, for each of the output methods extracted by the output method extraction unit; an output method display unit for displaying the respective charge amounts together with the output methods, and receiving selection of the output method. The output method extraction unit extracts the plurality of output methods on the basis of the charge amount setting information and the print setting information, and the output method display unit displays the plurality of output methods and the charge amounts of the output methods together with the previously specified output method and the charge amounts of the output methods.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing system and an image processing method that charge for printing.

  Some conventional image processing methods calculate the charge for printing using the unit price of the print medium, the number of print media to be printed, the used toner, the specified print density, and the specified reduction ratio. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

JP-A-2002-32199

However, in the above-described conventional technology, when printing a desired document, there is no opportunity to inform a user who does not know how to keep the billing amount lower, and the user prints with a high billing amount. There is a problem of end.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to inform a user of a method for further reducing the charge amount when printing a desired document.

  Therefore, the present invention provides an image processing system having an image processing means for creating print data and an image forming means for charging when printing the print data, wherein the image processing means creates the print data. A print setting designation unit for designating print setting information to be used for printing, an information acquisition unit for obtaining size information and unit price information of the print medium currently accommodated in the image forming unit as billing setting information, and the print setting An output method extracting unit that extracts a plurality of output methods based on the print setting information specified by the specifying unit and the size information of the print medium acquired by the information acquiring unit, and the output method extracting unit extracts For each of the output methods, a charge amount is calculated from at least the number of print media used when printing the print data and the unit price information acquired by the information acquisition unit. An amount calculation unit, an output method display unit that displays each billing amount calculated by the billing amount calculation unit together with the output method, and receives the selection of the output method, and an output method selected by the output method display unit A print data generation unit that generates the print data based on the output method, wherein the output method extraction unit extracts a plurality of output methods based on the charging setting information and the print setting information, and displays the output method display The unit displays the plurality of output methods extracted by the output method extraction unit and the billing amount of the output method together with a predetermined output method and the billing amount of the output method.

  According to the present invention as described above, it is possible to notify the user of a method for further reducing the billing amount when printing a desired document.

The block diagram which shows the structure of the image processing system in 1st Example. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a printer driver in a first embodiment. Explanatory drawing of the enlarged print data in the first embodiment Explanatory drawing of the expansion method setting screen in the first embodiment Explanatory drawing of reduced print data in the first embodiment Explanatory drawing of the reduction method setting screen in the first embodiment Explanatory drawing of the billing setting list in the first embodiment The flowchart which shows the flow of the printing process in a 1st Example. The flowchart which shows the flow of the print setting change process in a 1st Example. Flowchart showing the flow of print data creation processing in the first embodiment The flowchart which shows the flow of the expansion / contraction method list creation process in 1st Example. The flowchart which shows the flow of the expansion / contraction method list creation process in 1st Example. The flowchart which shows the flow of the expansion / contraction method list creation process in 1st Example. The flowchart which shows the flow of the expansion / contraction method list creation process in 1st Example. The flowchart which shows the flow of the charge amount calculation process in a 1st Example. The flowchart which shows the flow of the charge amount calculation process in a 1st Example. The flowchart which shows the flow of the charge amount calculation process in a 1st Example. The flowchart which shows the flow of the charge amount calculation process in a 1st Example. Explanatory drawing of the enlargement / reduction method ID in the first embodiment Explanatory drawing of the enlargement / reduction mode list in the first embodiment Explanatory drawing of the enlargement / reduction mode list in the first embodiment Explanatory drawing of the enlargement / reduction mode list in the first embodiment FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment. Flowchart showing the flow of printing processing in the second embodiment Flowchart showing the flow of copy setting change processing in the second embodiment Flowchart showing the flow of print data creation processing in the first embodiment

  Embodiments of an image processing system and an image processing method according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image processing system in the first embodiment.
In FIG. 1, an image processing system includes a computer 1 as an image processing apparatus (image processing means) that creates print data, and a printer 2 as an image forming apparatus (image forming means) that charges when printing the print data. The computer 1 and the printer 2 are communicably connected via a communication line.
The computer 1 includes an input unit 11, a control unit 12, a display unit 13, a data transmission unit 14, a data reception unit 15, and a storage unit 16.

The control unit 12 is configured by, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and the like, and based on various programs (software) and data stored in the storage unit 16, the input unit 11, the display unit 13, the data transmission unit 14, and the like. The data receiving unit 15 is controlled to control the operation of the entire computer 1.
The input unit 11 includes, for example, a keyboard and a mouse, and receives an input operation from the user P.
The display unit 13 is configured by an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), for example, and displays characters and images on the screen under the control of the control unit 12.

The data transmission unit 14 transmits data received from the storage unit 16 under the control of the control unit 12 to the printer 2.
The data receiving unit 15 receives data transmitted from the printer 2.
The storage unit 16 is configured by a memory such as a RAM (Random Access Memory), an HD (Hard Disc), or the like, for example, an OS (Operating System software) 31, an application (software) 32, a printer driver (software) 33, A print setting 34 and a billing setting 35 are provided.

The OS 31 is executed by the control unit 12 and is used in common by the application 32 such as input / output functions such as data input from the input unit 11 and screen output to the display unit 13 and management of the storage unit 16. Software that provides various functions and manages the entire computer 1.
The application 32 is software managed by the OS 31. In addition, the OS 31 and the application 32 allow the user P to operate the input unit 11 and press a “print” button or the like displayed on the display unit 13 to input a print command. The printer driver 33 is provided with a function for instructing the printer driver 33 to print the data input via the.

The printer driver 33 is a program that converts document data created by the application 32 into data in a format that can be interpreted by the printer 2, and sets the functions of the printer 2 and the printer driver 33 before printing. Is a program that provides the user P with a GUI (Graphical User Interface).
The print setting 34 as the print setting information stores, for example, an enlargement / reduction ratio that is an enlargement ratio or a reduction ratio, a document paper size, and a print paper size as setting values.

The billing setting 35 as billing setting information is a copy of the billing setting 28 stored in the storage unit 27 of the printer 2 described later, and has the same configuration as the billing setting 28.
The printer 2 includes a data reception unit 21, a data transmission unit 22, a control unit 23, an input unit 24, a display unit 25, a printing unit 26, a storage unit 27, and a paper storage unit 29. .
The control unit 23 is configured by, for example, a CPU, and based on various programs and data stored in the storage unit 27, the data reception unit 21, the data transmission unit 22, the input unit 24, the display unit 25, and printing. The unit 26 and the paper storage unit 29 are controlled to control the overall operation of the printer 2.

The storage unit 27 includes, for example, a RAM or HD that stores print setting information, print data, and accounting information 28; a ROM (Read) that stores firmware, character font data, and the like as various programs for controlling the printer 2; Only Memory).
The input unit 24 is an operation button disposed on the operation panel, for example, and accepts an input operation by the user P.
The display unit 25 is configured by an LCD, for example, and displays characters and images on the screen under the control of the control unit 23.

The data transmission unit 22 is controlled by the control unit 23 and transmits data to the computer 1.
The data receiving unit 21 receives data transmitted from the computer 1.
The printing unit 26 is a printing mechanism that prints print data on, for example, printing paper.
The paper storage unit 29 includes, for example, a tray A41, a tray B42, a tray C43, a tray D44, and a tray E45, and can store different sizes and types of print media in the respective trays. Are supplied to the printing unit 26.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the billing setting list 28 as a billing setting list includes a sheet size stored in each of the trays A41 to E45 of the sheet storage unit 29 as a sheet storage tray, and a color when color printing is performed for each sheet size. It consists of a color unit price as printing unit price information and a monochrome unit price as monochrome printing unit information when monochrome printing is performed. Note that the accounting setting 35 of the computer 1 is a copy of the accounting setting 28.

Next, the configuration of the printer driver 33 stored in the storage unit 16 of the computer 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 1 based on the block diagram showing the configuration of the printer driver in the first embodiment of FIG.
In FIG. 2, the printer driver 33 has a print setting change program 101 and a print data creation program 102.

  A print setting change program 101 serving as an enlargement / reduction ratio designating unit is an enlargement / reduction ratio designating program that designates an enlargement / reduction ratio, an original paper size, and a print paper size used when creating print data. Of the 33 functions, a function is provided to provide the user P with a GUI for setting the functions of the printer 2 and the printer driver 33 before printing. The print setting change program 101 acquires the setting from the print setting 34 when displaying the GUI, reflects the setting on the GUI, and saves the setting on the GUI in the print setting 34 when the GUI ends.

The print data creation program 102 has a function of converting the document data created by the application 32 into print data in a data format that can be interpreted by the printer 2 among the functions of the printer driver 33. The print data created by the print data creation program 102 is created based on the print setting information stored in the print setting 34.
The print data creation program 102 includes a charge setting acquisition program 103, an enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104, a charge amount calculation program 105, an enlargement / reduction mode display program 106, a page data creation program 107, and a print data transmission program 108. And have.

The charge setting acquisition program 103 as an information acquisition unit is an information acquisition program for acquiring size information and unit price information of the print medium accommodated in the printer 2, and acquires the charge setting 28 from the printer 2.
The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 serving as an output method extraction unit includes a plurality of enlargement / reduction rates specified by the print setting change program 101 and a plurality of pieces of print medium size information acquired by the charge setting acquisition program 103. This is an output method extraction program for extracting an output method, and lists the enlargement / reduction methods that can be realized from the enlargement / reduction ratio, paper size, and billing setting 35 stored in the print setting 34.

  A billing amount calculation program 105 as a billing amount calculation unit uses a print medium used from the size information of the print medium acquired by the billing setting acquisition program 103 for each output method extracted by the enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104. The charge amount calculation program calculates the charge amount from the number of pieces and the unit price information acquired by the charge setting acquisition program 103. The enlargement / reduction method list-up program 104 lists each enlargement / reduction method listed in FIG. On the other hand, the charge amount is calculated based on the charge setting 35. The charge amount calculation program 105 determines whether the print data is color or monochrome and calculates the charge amount.

  The enlargement / reduction mode display program 106 as an output method display unit is an output method display program that displays each billing amount calculated by the billing amount calculation program 105 together with the output method, and accepts selection of the output method. The enlargement / reduction method listed by the method list-up program 104 and the charge amount of each enlargement / reduction method calculated by the charge amount calculation program 105 are displayed on the display unit 13, and the user P is given the enlargement / reduction method by the input unit 11. Let them choose.

The page data creation program 107 serving as a print data generation unit is a print data generation program that generates print data based on the output method selected by the enlargement / reduction mode display program 106. Based on the enlargement / reduction method selected by the method display program 106, page data is created as print data in a data format that can be interpreted by the printer 2.
The print data transmission program 108 is a program that transmits the page data created by the page data creation program 107 to the printer 2 via the data transmission unit 14.

The operation of the above configuration will be described.
First, an outline of the printing process performed by the image processing system will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 in accordance with the step represented by S in the flowchart showing the flow of the printing process in the first embodiment of FIG.
S101: The print setting change program 101 of the printer driver 33 of the computer 1 performs print setting change processing for changing the print setting 34 of the storage unit 16 based on the print setting information input by the input unit 11 by the operation of the user P. Do. The print setting 34 is referred to when document data created by the application 32 operating on the OS 31 is converted into print data.
S102: The application 32 receives the operation of the user P instructing printing with the input unit 11, and starts printing.

S103: The print data creation program 102 of the printer driver 33 performs print data creation processing for creating print data.
S104: The data transmission unit 14 of the computer 1 transmits the created print data to the printer 2, and the data reception unit 21 of the printer 2 receives the print data.
S105: The printing unit 26 of the printer 2 prints the print data received by the data receiving unit 21. At this time, the printing unit 26 feeds the designated print medium from the paper storage unit 29 to perform printing, charges based on the charging setting 28 stored in the storage unit 27, and ends this processing.

Next, the print setting change process performed by the print setting change program of the printer driver of the computer is shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. This will be described with reference to FIG. This print setting change process is a process performed in S101 of FIG.
S201: The print setting change program 101 acquires the print setting 34 including the document paper size, the print paper size, and the enlargement / reduction ratio from the storage unit 16.

S202: The print setting change program 101 sets the acquired print setting as a setting parameter for each item. For example, the print setting change program 101 sets “A4” as the setting parameter for the original paper size, sets “A4” as the setting parameter for the printing paper size, and sets “100%” as the setting parameter for the enlargement / reduction ratio. To do.
S203: The print setting change program 101 displays a GUI reflecting the setting parameters set in S202 on the display unit 13.

  S204: The print setting change program 101 accepts an operation to change the setting of each item by the user P at the input unit 11, and changes the setting of each item. For example, when printing the print data shown in FIG. 3, since the document size is “A4”, the setting parameter of the original paper size remains “A4” and the enlargement / reduction ratio is 141%, so the setting of the printing paper size is performed. The parameter is changed from “A4” to “A3”, and the enlargement / reduction ratio setting parameter is changed from “100%” to “141%”.

S205: The print setting change program 101 displays that the print setting is finished in the GUI, determines whether or not the “OK” button is pressed on the GUI, and if it is determined that the button is pressed, the process proceeds to S206. If it is determined that a “cancel” button other than the “OK” button has been pressed, the process ends without saving the changed setting in the print setting 34.
S206: The print setting change program 101 stores the changed setting in the print setting 34, and ends this process.

Next, the print data creation process performed by the print data creation program of the printer driver of the computer is shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 1 according to the step represented by S in the flowchart of the print data creation process in the first embodiment of FIG. This will be described with reference to FIG. This print setting changing process is a process performed in S103 of FIG.
S301: The print data creation program 102 acquires the original paper size, the paper size name, width and height of the print paper size, and the enlargement / reduction ratio R (%) from the print setting 34.

S302: The print data creation program 102 determines whether or not the acquired enlargement / reduction ratio R is 100%, and if it is determined to be 100%, the enlargement / reduction is not performed, so the page data is generated with the specified setting. Therefore, the process proceeds to S315, and if it is determined that it is not 100%, the process proceeds to S303.
S303: When the enlargement / reduction ratio R acquired by the print data creation program 102 is determined not to be 100%, the charge setting acquisition program 103 acquires the charge setting 28 from the printer 2.

  At this time, the billing setting acquisition program 103 generates command data as a command for acquiring billing settings and sends the command data from the data transmission unit 14 to the data reception unit 21 of the printer 2. The control unit 23 of the printer 2 executes the command received by the data reception unit 21, and sends the accounting setting 28 stored in the storage unit 27 from the data transmission unit 22 to the data reception unit 15 of the computer 1.

  S304: If the charge setting acquisition program 103 determines that acquisition of the charge setting 28 is successful, the process proceeds to S305. On the other hand, when the charging setting 28 does not exist in the printer 2, the control unit 23 of the printer 2 cannot execute the command correctly because there is no transmission target, and the charging setting acquisition program 103 stores the charging setting 28. Since it is determined that the acquisition has failed, and information necessary for the subsequent processing does not exist, the process proceeds to S315 in order to create page data with the specified settings.

S 305: The billing setting acquisition program 103 that has succeeded in acquiring the billing setting 28 saves the billing setting 28 sent to the data receiving unit 15 in the storage unit 16 and sets it as the billing setting 35.
S306: Charge setting acquisition program 103 acquires I, which is the number of items of charge setting 35. As shown in FIG. 7, the billing setting 35 includes a paper size stored as a paper storage tray in each of the trays A <b> 41 to E <b> 45 of the paper storage unit 29, and a color printing unit price when color printing is performed for each paper size. Since it is composed of a unit price and a monochrome unit price as a monochrome printing unit price when monochrome printing is performed, the item number I can be obtained from the configuration. In the example shown in FIG. 7, the number of items I is 5.

  S307: The charge setting acquisition program 103 checks the spool status of the print data. Here, the print data is spooled on the spooler in the EMF (Enhanced Metafile Format) format, for example, before the page data creation process is performed by the print data creation program 102 of the printer driver 33. Normally, the spooled print data is sequentially subjected to page data creation processing by the print data creation program 102 of the printer driver 33. Here, the spooled print data is not passed to the page data creation program 107 until the enlargement / reduction mode setting screen is completed. And

S308: The accounting setting acquisition program 103 shifts the process to S307 from the spool status of the print data to the end of the spool from the spooling state, and shifts the process to S309 when the spool ends.
S309: The accounting setting acquisition program 103 that has detected the end of spooling acquires the total page number N of print data from the spooled print data.

S310: Next, the enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 creates an enlargement / reduction mode list. Details of the process for creating the enlargement / reduction mode list will be described later.
S311: Next, the billing amount calculation program 105 calculates a billing amount for each item in the created enlargement / reduction mode list. Details of processing for calculating the charge amount for each item in the enlargement / reduction mode list will be described later.
S312: Next, the enlargement / reduction mode display program 106 displays an enlargement / reduction mode setting screen.

Here, the enlargement / reduction mode setting screen is shown in FIG. 3 in the case where a one-page document is enlarged to 141% at A4 and printed on A3 paper as in the print data shown in FIG. It becomes. The enlargement / reduction mode setting screen 120 displays a list 121 of four printing method candidates in the center, and a preview 122 based on the selected printing method below.
Further, the enlargement / reduction mode setting screen 120 does not apply the OK button 123 for instructing to apply the enlargement / reduction method selected by the user P to printing, and the enlargement / reduction method selected by the user P to printing. A cancel button 124 for instructing printing with a preset setting is displayed.

  The candidate list includes a method for enlarging / reducing to a pre-specified paper size, a method for enlarging / reducing to a paper size larger than the paper size, and a poster printing function for enlarging and printing on a plurality of papers when enlarging And a method of printing using an N-up printing function for collecting and printing a plurality of pages on one sheet at the time of reduction, and these are listed in S310. The

Since the print data shown in FIG. 3 is a monochrome image having a color image in the upper half of the paper and no color image in the lower half, the print data is printed on two sheets of A4 size paper using the poster print function. When printing is divided, the number of printed color pages is one, the number of monochrome pages is one, and the charge amount is 25 yen, which is the lowest price.
Further, when the A4 paper is reduced to 70% and printed on A5 paper as in the print data shown in FIG. 5, the enlargement / reduction mode setting screen 130 shown in FIG. 6 is displayed. The enlargement / reduction mode setting screen 130 displays a list 131 of four printing method candidates in the center, and a preview 132 based on the selected printing method below.

The enlargement / reduction mode setting screen 130 does not apply the OK button 133 for instructing to apply the enlargement / reduction method selected by the user P to printing and the enlargement / reduction method selected by the user P to printing. Then, a cancel button 134 for instructing printing with a preset setting is displayed.
When the print data shown in FIG. 5 is collected and printed on two sheets of A4 size paper using the N-up printing function, the number of printed color pages is two, and the charge amount is 30 yen, which is the lowest price. .
S313: The enlargement / reduction mode display program 106 accepts an operation for selecting a desired enlargement / reduction mode by the user P on the enlargement / reduction mode setting screen.

S314: The enlargement / reduction mode display program 106 accepts an end operation of the enlargement / reduction mode setting screen by the user P on the enlargement / reduction mode setting screen, and when the OK button 123 shown in FIG. Is applied to the page data creation process, and the cancel button 124 is pressed, the selected enlargement / reduction method is not applied to the page data creation process, but the previously specified enlargement / reduction method is applied to the page data creation process.
At this time, the enlargement / reduction mode display program 106 starts supplying the print data spooled by the spooler to the page data creation program 107.
S315: The page data creation program 107 creates page data by applying the selected or designated enlargement / reduction method, and ends this processing.

Next, enlargement / reduction mode list creation processing performed by the enlargement / reduction mode list-up program will be described with reference to FIGS. Note that the enlargement / reduction mode list creation processing is processing performed in S310 of FIG.
First, an overview of the enlargement / reduction mode list creation process will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 according to the step indicated by S in the flowchart showing the flow of the enlargement / reduction mode list creation process in the first embodiment of FIG. To do.

S401: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 initializes the list number T, which is a variable representing the number of lists, to “0”.
S402: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 adds a method for printing on the designated paper size to the enlargement / reduction mode list.
Here, the enlargement / reduction mode list is a collection of items having 10 items as shown in FIG. 20 in one item of the list.

  The ten items indicate, for example, an enlargement / reduction method ID that is identification information for identifying the enlargement / reduction method, a print paper size indicating the size of the medium on which the enlarged / reduced lower page data is printed, and the number of print media. , The number of printed sheets that takes into account the result of poster printing or N-up printing, and the number of pages to be divided in the horizontal direction when using the poster printing function, are arranged in the horizontal direction when using the N-up printing function. X indicating the number of pages, the number of pages divided in the vertical direction when using the poster printing function, Y indicating the number of pages arranged in the vertical direction when using the N-up printing function, and the medium to be printed in the vertical direction The total number of pages in consideration of the orientation of printing that indicates whether to use page data to be arranged or the page data to be arranged in the horizontal direction, and the result of poster printing or N-up printing With this enlargement / reduction method, the number of color pages indicating the number of pages to be printed in color, the number of monochrome pages indicating the number of pages to be printed in monochrome out of the total number of pages considering the result of poster printing or N-up printing, and A billing amount indicating a billing amount when printing is performed, and a cheapest flag which is a flag indicating the cheapest scaling method in the scaling method list.

The enlargement / reduction method as an output method includes an output method for outputting with a print medium having a specified size, a method for outputting with a print medium larger than the size of the specified print medium, and an enlarged output to a plurality of print media. This method is a method or a method of collecting and outputting a plurality of pages on a single print medium, and is identified by an enlargement / reduction method ID.
For example, as shown in FIG. 19, the enlargement / reduction method ID is expressed by a numerical value from 1 to 4, ID1 is an ID indicating a method of printing with enlargement / reduction to a predetermined paper size, and ID2 is specified in advance. ID 3 indicates a method for printing by enlarging / reducing to a paper size larger than the paper size, and ID 3 is an ID indicating a method for printing one page of data on a plurality of print media using the poster printing function. Yes, ID4 is an ID that indicates a method of collecting data of a plurality of pages on a single print medium using the N-up printing function, and printing the reduced data.

The item added to the list in S402 is the item No. in FIG. 21 when the print data is the print data shown in FIG. 1, the enlargement / reduction mode ID is “1”, the printing paper size is “A3”, the number of printed sheets is “1”, X is “1”, Y is “1”, and the printing direction is “vertical”. Since the set number of color pages, the number of monochrome pages, the charge amount, and the cheapest flag are set in S311, each is temporarily set to “0” here.
In addition, the item added to the list in S402 is No. in FIG. 22 when the print data is the print data shown in FIG. 1, the enlargement / reduction mode ID is “1”, the printing paper size is “A5”, the number of printed sheets is “4”, the X is “1”, the Y is “1”, and the printing direction is “vertical”. Similarly, the number of color pages, the number of monochrome pages, the charge amount, and the cheapest flag are temporarily set to “0” here.

S403: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 adds “1” to the list number T.
S404: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 performs a process of adding a method for printing on a paper larger than the designated paper size to the enlargement / reduction mode list. Details of this processing will be described later.
S405: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 determines whether the enlargement / reduction ratio R is greater than or less than 100%, and determines whether the enlargement / reduction ratio R is greater than 100%. Then, the process proceeds to S406, and if it is determined that the enlargement / reduction ratio R is reduced printing smaller than 100%, the process proceeds to S407.

S406: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 that has determined that the enlargement / reduction rate R is enlargement printing greater than 100% performs a process of adding an enlargement printing method using the poster printing function to the enlargement / reduction mode list. The process ends. Details of the process of adding the enlargement printing method using the poster printing function to the enlargement / reduction mode list will be described later.
S407: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 that has determined that the reduction print has an enlargement / reduction rate R smaller than 100% performs processing for adding a reduction printing method using the N-up printing function to the enlargement / reduction mode list. This process is terminated. Details of the process of adding a reduction printing method using the N-up printing function to the enlargement / reduction mode list will be described later.

Next, the enlargement / reduction method list creation process in the first embodiment of FIG. 12 is performed by the enlargement / reduction method list-up program to add a method for printing on a paper larger than the designated paper size to the enlargement / reduction method list. In the flowchart showing the flow, the process will be described with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. The process of adding a method for printing on a paper larger than the designated paper size to the enlargement / reduction method list is the process performed in S404 of FIG.
This process is a process of adding, to the enlargement / reduction mode list, a method for printing on the cheapest paper among papers larger than the designated paper size using the accounting setting 35. The charging setting 35 is a charging setting list as shown in FIG. 7, and the enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 performs processing by sequentially referring to the information of the charging setting 35.

S501: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 displays the list No. of the charging setting 35. Is initialized with “0”.
S502: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 initializes the loop counter i with “0”.
S503: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 initializes the color billing unit price U with “0”. Here, the color billing unit price U is used to determine whether the billing unit price between print media is high or low. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the relationship between the monochrome charging unit price and the color charging unit price does not change between printing media, and the color charging unit price is used as a representative to determine whether the charging unit price is high or low.

S504: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 determines whether or not the loop counter i is smaller than the total number I of items in the list of charging settings 35, and the loop counter i determines that the total of the list of charging settings 35 If it is determined that the value is smaller than the item number I, the process proceeds to S505. If the loop counter i is determined to be a value equal to or greater than the total number I of items in the list of the charging setting 35, the process proceeds to S512.
Here, when all items in the list of the billing setting 35 are confirmed, the value of the loop counter i becomes equal to the value of the total number of items I, and the loop is exited and the process proceeds to S512. While the value of the loop counter i is smaller than the value of the total number of items I, it means that all items in the list of the billing setting 35 are not confirmed, and the next item is confirmed.

  S505: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 compares the height Ho of the designated print paper size with the paper size height Hi stored as the item of the i-th list, and the height Hi is the height. If it is greater than Ho, the process proceeds to S506. If the height Hi is less than or equal to the height Ho, the designated print paper size is assumed to be smaller than the paper size stored in the list, and is excluded from the consideration of the charging unit price. Therefore, the process proceeds to S511.

  S506: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104, which has determined that the height Hi is greater than the height Ho, specifies the width Wo of the designated print paper size and the width Wi of the paper size stored as the i-th list item. If the width Wi is larger than the width Wo, the process proceeds to S507. If the width Wi is equal to or smaller than the width Wo, it is determined that the designated print paper size is smaller than the paper size stored in the list, and charging is performed. In order to exclude the unit price from consideration, the process proceeds to S511.

  S507: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 that has determined that the width Wi is larger than the width Wo determines whether the color billing unit price U is “0”, and determines that the color billing unit price U is “0”. Since the paper size stored in is the first large paper size, the process proceeds to S509 without performing the color billing unit price comparison process in S508, and at least once if it is determined that the color billing unit price U is not “0”. Since the large paper size is set as the paper size to be printed, the process proceeds to S508.

  S508: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 that has determined that the color charging unit price U is not “0” compares the color charging unit price U with the color unit price Ui in the list of the charging setting 35, and the color unit price Ui is the color charging unit price U. If it is determined that the paper size is smaller than the specified paper size and the color unit price Ui of the charge setting 35 is equal to or less than the color charge unit price U that has already been selected, the process proceeds to step S509. If it is determined that Ui is larger than the color charging unit price U, the paper size is larger than the designated paper size, but since the already selected color charging unit price U is lower than the color unit price Ui of the charging setting 35, the process proceeds to S511. To do.

S509: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 that has determined that the color unit price Ui is equal to or less than the color charge unit price U substitutes the i-th color unit price Ui of the charge setting 35 into the color charge unit price U.
S510: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 displays the list No. of the charging setting 35. The loop counter i is substituted into a variable C indicating As a result, the No. of the list of charging settings 35 to be selected is displayed. Is stored as candidate information.
S511: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 updates the loop counter i by adding “1” to process the next item of the billing setting 35, and the process proceeds to S504.

S512: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104, which has determined that the loop counter i is equal to or greater than the total number I of items in the list of the charge setting 35 in S504, determines whether the color charge unit price U is “0”. If it is determined that the color billing unit price U is “0”, it means that there is no paper size larger than the paper size specified in the billing setting 35. If it is determined that the color billing unit price U is not “0”, it means that there is a paper size larger than the paper size specified in the billing setting 35, and the process proceeds to S513.
S513: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 uses the stored candidate information to display the list No. of the charging setting 35 to be selected. To the list of scaling methods.
At this time, the enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 displays the list No. of the charging setting 35. No. in the list of charging setting 35 with the value stored in variable C indicating Can know.

For example, when printing the print data (print paper size A3) shown in FIG. 3, when selecting from the accounting setting list shown in FIG. 7, “2” is stored in the variable C, and is referred to by an index starting from 0. No. A candidate to be printed using paper size A3 No. 3 is added to the enlargement / reduction mode list. At this time, the enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 sets the enlargement / reduction mode ID in the enlargement / reduction mode list to “2”, the print paper size “A3 Nobi”, the number of prints “1”, the X “1”, and the Y “1” is set to “vertical” as the paper orientation, and a temporary value “0” is provisionally set and added to the number of color pages, the number of monochrome pages, the charge amount, and the cheapest flag.
S514: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 adds “1” to the list number T, and ends this processing.

  Next, a process of adding an enlargement / reduction method list using the poster printing function, which is performed by the enlargement / reduction method list-up program, to the enlargement / reduction method list in the first embodiment of FIG. Description will be made with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 in accordance with the step represented by S in the flowchart shown. The process of adding the enlargement printing method using the poster printing function to the enlargement / reduction mode list is the process performed in S406 of FIG.

This process is a process of adding, to the enlargement / reduction method list, a method for enlarging printing using a poster printing function on a plurality of sheets smaller than the designated paper size using the accounting setting 35. The charging setting 35 is a charging setting list as shown in FIG. 7, and the enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 performs processing by sequentially referring to the information of the charging setting 35.
S601: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 initializes the loop counter i with “0”.

  S602: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 determines whether or not the loop counter i is smaller than the total number I of items in the list of charging settings 35, and the loop counter i determines that the total of the list of charging settings 35 If it is determined that the value is smaller than the number I of items, it is determined that all the items in the list have not been confirmed, and the process proceeds to S603, where the loop counter i is determined to be equal to or greater than the total number I of items in the list of the billing setting 35. Then, since all the items in the list have been confirmed, this process ends.

S603: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 prints the printing paper whose size is set in advance in the horizontal direction in which the printing paper sizes of the i-th list in the billing setting 35 are arranged in the horizontal direction with the longitudinal direction as the vertical direction. The number of print sheets Xp that is longer than the width of the sheet size is calculated.
Here, the number Xp of print sheets arranged in the horizontal direction is obtained by dividing the width Wo of the print sheet size designated in advance by the width Wi of the print sheet size in the i-th list of the billing setting 35. The number Xp is an integer rounded up after the decimal point.

S604: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 prints print sheets having the length in the vertical direction in which the print paper sizes of the i-th list in the billing setting 35 are arranged in the vertical direction with the longitudinal direction set to the vertical direction. The number of print sheets Yp that is longer than the height of the sheet size is calculated.
Here, the number Yp of the printing papers arranged in the vertical direction is obtained by dividing the height Ho of the printing paper size designated in advance by the printing paper size height Hi of the i-th list of the billing setting 35. Note that the number Yp is an integer obtained by rounding up the number after the decimal point.

S605: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 prints the printing paper whose size is set in advance in the horizontal direction in which the printing paper sizes of the i-th list in the accounting setting 35 are arranged in the horizontal direction with the longitudinal direction set to the horizontal direction. The number of print sheets Xq that is longer than the width of the sheet size is calculated.
Here, the number Xq of print sheets arranged in the horizontal direction is obtained by dividing the width Wo of the print sheet size designated in advance by the height Hi of the print sheet size in the i-th list of the billing setting 35. The number Xq is an integer obtained by rounding up the number after the decimal point.

S606: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 prints the printing paper whose size is the printing paper size of the i-th list in the charging setting 35, in which the length in the vertical direction is arranged in the vertical direction with the longitudinal direction set to the horizontal direction. The number of print sheets Yq that is longer than the height of the sheet size is calculated.
Here, the number Yq of print sheets arranged in the vertical direction is obtained by dividing the height Ho of the print sheet size designated in advance by the width Wi of the print sheet size in the i-th list of the billing setting 35. Note that the number Yq is an integer obtained by rounding up the number after the decimal point.

S607: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 prints designated in advance when printing sheets of the printing sheet size in the i-th list of the billing setting 35 are used side by side in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction with the longitudinal direction as vertical. In order to determine whether it is not so large as to include the paper size, it is determined whether the value obtained by multiplying the number Xp calculated in S603 by the number Yp calculated in S604 is greater than one.
If the enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 determines that the value obtained by multiplying the number Xp and the number Yp is greater than 1, the process proceeds to S608 assuming that the print paper size designated in advance is not included, and the number Xp and the number If it is determined that the value obtained by multiplying Yp is 1 or less, it is assumed that the print paper size specified in advance is included, and it is not necessary to divide and print on multiple pages using the poster print function. The process proceeds to S613.

S608: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104, which has determined that the value obtained by multiplying the number Xp by the number Yp is larger than 1, prints the printing paper size of the printing paper size in the i-th list of the charging setting 35 in the longitudinal direction. In order to determine whether the print sheet size is not large enough to include the printing paper size specified in advance, the number Xq calculated in S605 is multiplied by the number Yq calculated in S606. It is determined whether the value is greater than 1.
If the enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 determines that the value obtained by multiplying the number Xq and the number Yq is greater than 1, the process proceeds to S609 on the assumption that the print paper size designated in advance is not included, and the number Xq and the number If it is determined that the value obtained by multiplying Yq is 1 or less, it is assumed that the print paper size specified in advance is included, and it is not necessary to divide and print on multiple pages using the poster print function. The process proceeds to S613.

S609: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 that has determined that the value obtained by multiplying the number Xq and the number Yq is greater than 1 has multiplied the value obtained by multiplying the number Xp and the number Yp by the number Xq and the number Yq. Compare the value.
This is because the printing paper size of the printing paper size of the i-th list of the billing setting 35 can be printed efficiently when the longitudinal direction is used vertically or when the longitudinal direction is used horizontally. The smaller the multiplied value is, the less the number of sheets to be used.

  If the enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 determines that the value obtained by multiplying the number Xp and the number Yp is equal to or less than the value obtained by multiplying the number Xq and the number Yq, the process proceeds to S610, and the number Xp, the number Yp, If it is determined that the value obtained by multiplying is greater than the value obtained by multiplying the number Xq and the number Yq, the process proceeds to S611.

S610: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104, which has determined that the value obtained by multiplying the number Xp and the number Yp is equal to or less than the value obtained by multiplying the number Xq and the number Yq, is the printing paper for the i-th list in the billing setting 35. A pattern that uses a printing paper of a size with the longitudinal direction as vertical is added to the enlargement / reduction mode list, and the process proceeds to S612.
At this time, the enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 sets “3” as the enlargement / reduction mode ID of the enlargement / reduction mode list, “print paper size of the i-th list of the billing setting 35” as the print paper size, and “original” as the number of prints. The value obtained by multiplying the number of pages N by the number of pages Xp and further multiplying the number of pages Yp ”, X is set to“ number of sheets Xp ”, Y is set to“ number of sheets Yp ”, and the paper orientation is set to“ vertical ”. A provisional value “0” is provisionally set and added to the number of monochrome pages, the charge amount, and the cheapest flag.

S611: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104, which has determined that the value obtained by multiplying the number Xp and the number Yp is greater than the value obtained by multiplying the number Xq and the number Yq, is the print paper size of the i-th list in the billing setting 35. A pattern that uses the print sheet of No. 1 as the horizontal direction is added to the enlargement / reduction mode list, and the process proceeds to S612.
At this time, the enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 sets “3” as the enlargement / reduction mode ID of the enlargement / reduction mode list, “print paper size of the i-th list of the billing setting 35” as the print paper size, and “original” as the number of prints. Multiplied by the number of pages N and the number of sheets Xq, and further multiplied by the number of sheets Yq ”, X is set to“ number of sheets Xq ”, Y is set to“ number of sheets Yq ”, and the paper orientation is set to“ landscape ”. A provisional value “0” is provisionally set and added to the number of monochrome pages, the charge amount, and the cheapest flag.

S612: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 adds “1” to the list number T.
S613: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 updates the loop counter i by adding “1” in order to process the next item of the accounting setting 35, and the process proceeds to S602.

Next, processing for adding a reduction printing method using the N-up printing function to the enlargement / reduction method list performed by the enlargement / reduction method list-up program is the same as the enlargement / reduction method list creation processing in the first embodiment of FIG. The process will be described with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 in accordance with the step represented by S in the flowchart showing the flow. The process of adding the reduced printing method using the N-up printing function to the enlarged / reduced method list is the process performed in S407 of FIG.
This process is a process of adding, to the enlargement / reduction mode list, a method for performing reduced printing using the N-up printing function that aggregates a plurality of pages on a paper larger than the designated paper size using the accounting setting 35. . The charging setting 35 is a charging setting list as shown in FIG. 7, and the enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 performs processing by sequentially referring to the information of the charging setting 35.

S701: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 initializes the loop counter i with “0”.
S702: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 determines whether or not the loop counter i is a value smaller than the total number I of items in the list of the charging setting 35, and the loop counter i determines that the total of the list of the charging setting 35 If it is determined that the value is smaller than the number of items I, the process proceeds to S703 because all items in the list have not been confirmed, and the loop counter i is determined to be a value equal to or greater than the total number I of items in the list of the billing setting 35. Then, since all the items in the list have been confirmed, this process ends.

S703: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 prints the print designated in advance within a range that does not exceed the width in the horizontal direction when the longitudinal direction of the printing paper size of the printing paper size of the i-th list in the billing setting 35 is vertical. The number Xp of sheets in which the printing paper of the paper size can be arranged in the horizontal direction is calculated.
Here, the number Xp of the printing papers arranged in the horizontal direction is obtained by dividing the printing paper size width Wi of the i-th list of the billing setting 35 by the printing paper size width Wo specified in advance. The number Xp is an integer rounded up after the decimal point.

S704: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 is designated in advance within a range that does not exceed the height in the vertical direction when the longitudinal direction of the printing paper size of the printing paper size of the i-th list in the billing setting 35 is vertical. The number Yp of print sheets that can be arranged in the vertical direction is calculated.
Here, the number Yp of print sheets arranged in the vertical direction is obtained by dividing the height Hi of the print sheet size in the i-th list of the billing setting 35 by the height Ho of the print sheet size designated in advance. Note that the number Yp is an integer obtained by rounding up the number after the decimal point.

S705: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 prints the print designated in advance within a range that does not exceed the width in the horizontal direction when the longitudinal direction of the printing paper size of the printing paper size of the i-th list in the accounting setting 35 is horizontal. The number of sheets Xq that can arrange the printing sheets of the sheet size in the horizontal direction is calculated.
Here, the number Xq of printing papers arranged in the horizontal direction is obtained by dividing the height Hi of the printing paper size in the i-th list of the billing setting 35 by the width Wo of the printing paper size designated in advance. The number Xq is an integer obtained by rounding up the number after the decimal point.

S706: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 is designated in advance within a range that does not exceed the height in the vertical direction when the longitudinal direction of the printing paper size of the printing paper size of the i-th list in the billing setting 35 is horizontal. The number Yq of print sheets that can be arranged in the vertical direction is calculated.
Here, the number Yq of print sheets arranged in the vertical direction is obtained by dividing the width Wi of the print sheet size in the i-th list of the billing setting 35 by the height Ho of the print sheet size designated in advance. Note that the number Yq is an integer obtained by rounding up the number after the decimal point.

S707: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 has a size that includes the print paper size specified in advance when the print paper size of the i-th list of the billing setting 35 is set to the vertical direction. Therefore, it is determined whether or not the value obtained by multiplying the number Xp calculated in S703 by the number Yp calculated in S704 is greater than one.
If the enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 determines that the value obtained by multiplying the number Xp and the number Yp is greater than 1, the process proceeds to S709 assuming that N-up printing is possible, and the number Xp, the number Yp, If it is determined that the value multiplied by 1 is 1 or less, it is determined that N-up printing is impossible, and the process proceeds to S708.

  S708: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104, which has determined that N-up printing is impossible when the printing paper size of the i-th list in the charging setting 35 is set to the vertical direction, is charged In order to determine whether or not the print paper size of the print paper size in the i-th list of setting 35 is the size including the print paper size specified in advance when the longitudinal direction is horizontal, the calculation is performed in S705. It is determined whether or not a value obtained by multiplying the number Xq by the number Yq calculated in S706 is greater than one.

If the enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 determines that the value obtained by multiplying the number Xq by the number Yq is greater than 1, the process proceeds to S709 because N-up printing is possible, and the number Xq, the number Yq, If it is determined that the value multiplied by 1 is 1 or less, it is determined that N-up printing is not possible, and the printing paper size of the printing paper size in the i-th list of the billing setting 35 uses the N-up printing function. Since printing cannot be performed, the process proceeds to S713 without adding to the enlargement / reduction mode list.
S709: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 that has determined that N-up printing is possible in S707 or S708 has a value obtained by multiplying the number Xp and the number Yp, and a value obtained by multiplying the number Xq and the number Yq. Compare.

This is because the printing paper size of the printing paper size of the i-th list of the billing setting 35 can be printed efficiently when the longitudinal direction is used vertically or when the longitudinal direction is used horizontally. The larger the multiplied value is, the more pages are collected on one print medium, so that it is determined to be more efficient.
If the enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 determines that the value obtained by multiplying the number Xp and the number Yp is equal to or greater than the value obtained by multiplying the number Xq and the number Yq, the process proceeds to S710, and the number Xp and the number Yp are set. If it is determined that the value obtained by multiplying is smaller than the value obtained by multiplying the number Xq and the number Yq, the process proceeds to S711.

S710: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104, which has determined that the value obtained by multiplying the number Xp and the number Yp is equal to or greater than the value obtained by multiplying the number Xq and the number Yq, is the printing paper for the i-th list in the billing setting 35. A pattern using the size of the printing paper with the longitudinal direction as vertical is added to the enlargement / reduction mode list, and the process proceeds to S712.
At this time, the enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 sets “4” as the enlargement / reduction mode ID of the enlargement / reduction mode list, “print paper size of the i-th list of the billing setting 35” as the print paper size, and “original” as the number of prints. The value obtained by dividing the number of pages N by the number of pages Xp and then dividing by the number of pages Yp ”, X is set to“ number of pages Xp ”, Y is set to“ number of pages Yp ”, and the paper orientation is set to“ vertical ”. A provisional value “0” is provisionally set and added to the number of pages, the charge amount, and the cheapest flag.

S711: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104, which has determined that the value obtained by multiplying the number Xp and the number Yp is smaller than the value obtained by multiplying the number Xq and the number Yq, is the print paper size of the i-th list in the billing setting 35. A pattern that uses the print paper of which the longitudinal direction is horizontal is added to the enlargement / reduction mode list, and the process proceeds to S712.
At this time, the enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 sets “4” as the enlargement / reduction mode ID of the enlargement / reduction mode list, “print paper size of the i-th list of the billing setting 35” as the print paper size, and “original” as the number of prints. The value obtained by dividing the number of pages N by the number Xq, and further dividing by the number Yq ”, X is set to“ number Xq ”, Y is set to“ number Yq ”, and the paper orientation is set to“ landscape ”. A provisional value “0” is provisionally set and added to the number of pages, the charge amount, and the cheapest flag.

S712: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 adds “1” to the list number T.
S713: The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104 updates the loop counter i by adding “1” in order to process the next item of the accounting setting 35, and the process proceeds to S702.

Next, the billing amount calculation process performed by the billing amount calculation program will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 in accordance with the step represented by S in the flowchart showing the flow of the billing amount calculation process in the first embodiment of FIG. explain. This billing amount calculation process is a process performed in S311 of FIG.
This process is a process for calculating a charge amount for each item in the enlargement / reduction mode list listed by the enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 104. The billing amount calculation program 105 performs processing by sequentially referring to information in the enlargement / reduction mode list.
S801: Billing amount calculation program 105 initializes loop counter r with “0”.

S802: Charge amount calculation program 105 compares loop counter r with the number T of items in the enlargement / reduction method list listed by enlargement / reduction method list-up program 104 and loop counter r. If it is determined that the value is smaller than the number T of items in the list, the charge amount is not calculated for all items in the enlargement / reduction mode list, and the process proceeds to S803, where the loop counter r determines whether the item is in the enlargement / reduction mode list. If it is determined that the value is equal to or greater than the number T, the charged amount is calculated for all items in the enlargement / reduction mode list, and the process proceeds to S860.
S803: The charge amount calculation program 105 initializes the page counter i with “0”, stores a variable Pc for storing the number of color pages for the items of the enlargement / reduction mode list for which the charge amount is calculated, and the number of monochrome pages. The variable Pm to be initialized is initialized with “0”.

S804: The charge amount calculation program 105 determines the value of the enlargement / reduction method ID of the enlargement / reduction method to be calculated, and executes the process of S810 when the value of the enlargement / reduction method ID is “1” or “2”. When the value of the enlargement / reduction method ID is “3”, the process of S820 is executed, and when the value of the enlargement / reduction method ID is “4”, the process of S840 is executed. The billing amount calculation program 105 that has executed the processes of S810, S820, and S840 moves the process to S802 and forms a loop. Details of the processing of S810, S820, and S840 will be described later.
S860: When the same enlargement / reduction method ID is used and the number of printed sheets is the same, the charge amount calculation program 105 leaves the lower charge amount and deletes the higher one from the enlargement / reduction method list. This is to provide the user P with more effective choices for each enlargement / reduction method, and the less effective options are deleted from the enlargement / reduction method list.

S861: The charge amount calculation program 105 extracts the item with the lowest charge amount from the items in the enlargement / reduction method list, changes the cheapest flag of the corresponding item in the enlargement / reduction method list to “1”, and ends this processing. To do.
In this way, the billing amount calculation program 105 completes the enlargement / reduction mode list, and the enlargement / reduction display program 106 displays the enlargement / reduction mode setting screen on the display unit 13 based on this enlargement / reduction mode list.

  FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the flow of the billing amount calculation process in the first embodiment of FIG. 16 when the billing amount calculation program performs the billing amount calculation process when the value of the enlargement / reduction method ID is “1” or “2”. The steps will be described with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. This billing amount calculation process is a process performed in S810 of FIG.

S811: Charge amount calculation program 105 compares page counter i with total page number N, and if it is determined that page counter i is smaller than total page number N, all pages have not been processed, and the process proceeds to S812. If the page counter i determines that the total number of pages is equal to or greater than N, all pages have been processed, and the process proceeds to S816.
S812: Charge amount calculation program 105 determines whether or not the data of the i-th page is a color page. If it is determined that the data is a color page, the process proceeds to S813, and is not a color page, that is, a monochrome page. If determined, the process proceeds to S814.

Here, the determination of whether or not the page is a color page is performed using RGB (Red Green Blue) values which are color information designated for each data in the page data. The color information in which the R element, the G element, and the B element of the RGB value have the same value is treated as monochrome information, and the color information that has a different value in any of the R element, the G element, and the B element of the RGB value is color. Treat as information.
The billing amount calculation program 105 performs this determination processing for all data in the page, determines that a page having color information is a color page, and determines a page having only monochrome information is a monochrome page.

S813: Charge amount calculation program 105 determined to be a color page in S812 adds “1” to variable Pc for storing the number of color pages, and the process proceeds to S815.
S814: On the other hand, the billing amount calculation program 105 determined to be a monochrome page in S812 adds “1” to the variable Pm for storing the number of monochrome pages, and the process proceeds to S815.
S815: The billing amount calculation program 105 adds “1” to the page counter i and shifts the process to S811 in order to process the next page.

S816: The charge amount calculation program 105 that has determined that the page counter i is equal to or greater than the total number of pages N in S811 and has processed all the pages, sets the variable Pc to the number of color pages of the r-th item in the enlargement / reduction mode list. Is substituted, and the value of the variable Pm is substituted for the number of monochrome pages. Further, the billing amount calculation program 105 adds a value obtained by multiplying the color unit price by the variable Pc and a value obtained by multiplying the monochrome unit price by the variable Pm, and substitutes the value into the billing amount Pr. R is a loop counter.
Here, the color unit price and the monochrome unit price are obtained by searching the charging setting list shown in FIG. 7 of the charging setting 35 based on the determined printing paper size.
S817: The billing amount calculation program 105 adds “1” to the loop counter r in order to process the next enlargement / reduction mode list item, and ends this processing.

Next, a charge amount calculation process performed by the charge amount calculation program when the value of the enlargement / reduction method ID is “3” is shown in the flowchart S of the charge amount calculation process in the first embodiment of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. This billing amount calculation process is a process performed in S820 of FIG.
S821: The billing amount calculation program 105 calculates the number of pages I3 to divide one page by multiplying Xr, which is the r-th item in the enlargement / reduction mode list, and Yr, which is Y.

S822: Billing amount calculation program 105 compares page counter i with total page number N, and if page counter i determines that page counter i is smaller than total page number N, all pages have not been processed, and the process proceeds to S823. If the page counter i determines that the total number of pages is equal to or greater than N, all pages have been processed, and the process proceeds to S830.
S823: The billing amount calculation program 105 initializes a counter i3 for sequentially processing the number of pages I3 for dividing one page to “0”.

S824: Charge amount calculation program 105 compares counter i3 with divided page number I3, and if counter i3 is determined to be smaller than divided page number I3, all pages that are still divided for one original page are determined. If it is determined that the counter i3 is equal to or greater than the number of divided pages I3, all pages to be divided for one page of the document have been processed, and the process is shifted to S829. Migrate to
S825: The charge amount calculation program 105 determines whether or not the data of the i-th page is a color page. If it is determined that the data is a color page, the process proceeds to S826, and is not a color page, that is, a monochrome page. If determined, the process proceeds to S827.

Here, the determination of whether the page is a color page or a monochrome page is the same method as in S812 of FIG. 16, but in the case of printing using the poster printing function, the page is divided, so the determination range is also divided into all divided areas. Against.
The billing amount calculation program 105 arranges the page data at the center of the size of the printing paper size of the r-th enlargement / reduction mode list in the horizontal direction and arranges the Y size in the vertical direction, and each paper size to be divided It is checked whether the drawing data in the area is color information or monochrome information.
S826: The billing amount calculation program 105 determined to be a color page in S825 adds “1” to the variable Pc for storing the number of color pages, and the process proceeds to S828.

S827: On the other hand, the billing amount calculation program 105 determined to be a monochrome page in S825 adds “1” to the variable Pm for storing the number of monochrome pages, and the process proceeds to S828.
S828: The billing amount calculation program 105 adds “1” to the counter i3 and shifts the process to S824 in order to process the next page in the poster print function.
S829: The billing amount calculation program 105 that has determined that the counter i3 is equal to or greater than the number of divided pages I3 in S824 adds “1” to the page counter i and performs the process for the next page. Migrate to

S830: The billing amount calculation program 105 that has determined that the page counter i is equal to or greater than the total number of pages N in S822 and that all pages have been processed, sets the variable Pc to the number of color pages of the r-th item in the scaling method list. Is substituted, and the value of the variable Pm is substituted for the number of monochrome pages. Further, the billing amount calculation program 105 adds a value obtained by multiplying the color unit price by the variable Pc and a value obtained by multiplying the monochrome unit price by the variable Pm, and substitutes the value into the billing amount Pr. R is a loop counter.
Here, the color unit price and the monochrome unit price are obtained by searching the charging setting list shown in FIG. 7 of the charging setting 35 based on the determined printing paper size.
S831: The billing amount calculation program 105 adds “1” to the loop counter r in order to process the next item in the enlargement / reduction mode list, and ends this processing.

Next, the charge amount calculation process performed by the charge amount calculation program when the value of the enlargement / reduction method ID is “4” is shown in the flowchart of FIG. 18 showing the flow of the charge amount calculation process in the first embodiment of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. This billing amount calculation process is a process performed in S840 of FIG.
S841: The billing amount calculation program 105 calculates the number of pages I4 to be consolidated into one page by multiplying Xr, which is the rth item in the enlargement / reduction mode list, and Yr, which is Y.

S842: Billing amount calculation program 105 compares page counter i with total page number N. If page counter i determines that page counter i is smaller than total page number N, all pages have not been processed, and the process proceeds to S843. If the page counter i determines that the total number of pages is equal to or greater than N, all pages have been processed, and the process proceeds to S853.
S843: The billing amount calculation program 105 initializes a counter i4 for sequentially processing the number of pages I4 to be consolidated into one page and a flag F indicating that there is a color page to “0”.

S844: Charge amount calculation program 105 compares counter i4 with aggregated page number I4 and determines that counter i4 is smaller than aggregated page number I4. If it is determined that the counter i4 has a value equal to or greater than the number of consolidated pages I4, all pages to be aggregated with respect to the print paper size have been processed, and the process proceeds to S849. Migrate to
S845: Charge amount calculation program 105 determines whether or not the data of the i-th page is a color page. If it is determined that the data is a color page, the process proceeds to S846, and is not a color page, that is, a monochrome page. If determined, the process proceeds to S847.

Here, the determination of whether the page is a color page or a monochrome page is the same method as in step S812 in FIG. 16, but in the case of printing using the N-up printing function, the pages are aggregated. To do. Therefore, the billing amount calculation program 105 checks whether each logical page to be collected is color or monochrome.
S846: Charge amount calculation program 105 determined to be a color page in S845 substitutes “1” for flag F.

S847: Billing amount calculation program 105 adds “1” to counter i4.
S848: The charge amount calculation program 105 compares the value obtained by adding the page counter i and the counter i4 with the value of the total page number N, and the value obtained by adding the page counter i and the counter i4 is the total page number N. If it is determined that the value is smaller than the value, since there is a page that has not been processed yet, the process proceeds to S844, and if it is determined that the sum of the page counter i and the counter i4 is equal to or greater than the total page number N, all Since the process of page No. has been completed, the process proceeds to S849.

S849: Next, the billing amount calculation program 105 determines whether or not the flag F indicating that the entire page in which a plurality of pages are aggregated is a color page is “1”, and is determined to be “1”. Then, the process proceeds to S850, and if it is not “1”, the process proceeds to S851.
S850: The charge amount calculation program 105 that has determined that the flag F is “1”, that is, the entire page in which a plurality of pages are aggregated is a color page, adds “1” to the variable Pc that stores the number of color pages. The process proceeds to S852.

S851: On the other hand, in S849, the charge amount calculation program 105 that has determined that the flag F is not “1”, that is, the entire page including a plurality of pages is a monochrome page, sets “1” in the variable Pm that stores the number of monochrome pages. Is added, and the process proceeds to S852.
S852: The billing amount calculation program 105 adds the counter I4 to the page counter i, and the process proceeds to S842.

S853: In S842, the charge amount calculation program 105 that has determined that the page counter i is equal to or greater than the total page number N and has processed all the pages, sets the variable Pc to the number of color pages of the r-th item in the enlargement / reduction mode list. Is substituted, and the value of the variable Pm is substituted for the number of monochrome pages. Further, the billing amount calculation program 105 adds a value obtained by multiplying the color unit price by the variable Pc and a value obtained by multiplying the monochrome unit price by the variable Pm, and substitutes the value into the billing amount Pr. R is a loop counter.
Here, the color unit price and the monochrome unit price are obtained by searching the charging setting list shown in FIG. 7 of the charging setting 35 based on the determined printing paper size.

S854: The billing amount calculation program 105 adds “1” to the loop counter r in order to process the next item in the enlargement / reduction mode list, and ends this processing.
As described above, in the first embodiment, when printing is performed by specifying enlargement or reduction, a plurality of different printing methods for obtaining a print result with the same enlargement / reduction ratio are displayed together with the charge amount. In order to notify the user and select the printing method, the user can select the optimal scaling printing method in consideration of the charged amount from among the multiple printing methods provided. The effect that it can select is acquired.

FIG. 23 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image forming apparatus in the second embodiment.
A copier (copier) 200 as an image forming apparatus (image processing system) including an image processing unit that creates print data and an image forming unit that charges when printing the print data includes an input unit 201 and a control unit 202. A display unit 203, an image scanning unit 204, a printing unit 205, a paper storage unit 206, and a storage unit 212.

The control unit 202 includes, for example, a CPU and the like, and based on various programs (software) and data stored in the storage unit 212, the input unit 201, the display unit 203, the image scanning unit 204, the printing unit 205, and the like. To control the operation of the entire copying machine 200.
The input unit 201 is an operation button disposed on the operation panel, for example, and accepts an input operation by the user P.
The display unit 203 is configured by, for example, an LCD or a touch panel, and displays characters and images on the screen under the control of the control unit 202.

The image scanning unit 204 is configured by an image reading mechanism that reads an image drawn on a document controlled by the control unit 202 as image data.
The printing unit 205 includes a printing function that prints image data of a document read by the image scanning unit 204 on printing paper.
The paper storage unit 206 includes, for example, a tray A 207, a tray B 208, a tray C 209, a tray D 210, and a tray E 211, and can store different sizes and types of printing media in the respective trays. Are supplied to the printing unit 205.

The storage unit 212 includes, for example, a memory such as a RAM, an HD, and a ROM that stores firmware, character font data, and the like as various programs for controlling the copier 200. The storage unit 212 includes a copy setting 213 and a billing setting 214. The storage unit 212 also includes a setting change program 215, a charge setting acquisition program 216, an enlargement / reduction method list-up program 217, a charge amount calculation program 218, an enlargement / reduction method display program 219, and a page data creation program 220. have.
As shown in FIG. 7, the billing setting 214 as the billing setting list includes a sheet size stored in each of the trays A41 to E45 of the sheet storage unit 206 as a sheet storage tray, and a color when color printing is performed for each sheet size. A color unit price as a print unit price and a monochrome unit unit price as a monochrome print unit price when monochrome printing is performed.

The setting change program 215 serving as an enlargement / reduction ratio designating unit is an enlargement / reduction ratio designation program that designates an enlargement / reduction ratio, an original paper size, and a print paper size used when creating print data. In addition, it has a function of providing the user P with a GUI for setting the functions of the copier 200 before printing, such as the number of copies, the original paper size, and the printing paper size. The setting change program 215 acquires the setting from the copy setting 213 when displaying the GUI, reflects the setting on the GUI, and saves the setting on the GUI in the copy setting 213 when the GUI ends.
The copy setting 213 as print setting information includes setting values changed by the setting change program 215, for example, an enlargement / reduction ratio that is an enlargement ratio or reduction ratio, the number of copies, the original paper size, and the print paper size. It is something to remember as.

The charging setting acquisition program 216 as an information acquisition unit is an information acquisition program that acquires size information and unit price information of the print medium accommodated in the paper storage unit 206, and acquires the charging setting 214.
The enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 217 serving as an output method extraction unit outputs a plurality of outputs based on the enlargement / reduction ratio specified by the setting change program 215 and the print medium size information acquired by the charge setting acquisition program 216. This is an output method extraction program for extracting a method, and lists the enlargement / reduction methods that can be realized from the enlargement / reduction ratio, paper size, and accounting setting 214 stored in the copy setting 213.

  A billing amount calculation program 218 serving as a billing amount calculation unit uses a printing medium used from the size information of the printing medium acquired by the charging setting acquisition program 216 for each output method extracted by the enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 217. The charge amount calculation program calculates the charge amount from the number of pieces and the unit price information acquired by the charge setting acquisition program 216. Each enlargement / reduction method listed by the enlargement / reduction method list-up program 217 On the other hand, the charge amount is calculated based on the charge setting 214.

  The enlargement / reduction mode display program 219 as an output method display unit is an output method display program that displays each billing amount calculated by the billing amount calculation program 218 together with the output method and accepts selection of the output method. The enlargement / reduction method listed by the method list-up program 217 and the charge amount of each enlargement / reduction method calculated by the charge amount calculation program 218 are displayed on the display unit 203, and the user P is given the enlargement / reduction method by the input unit 201. Let them choose.

  The page data creation program 220 serving as a print data generation unit is a print data generation program that generates print data based on the output method selected by the enlargement / reduction mode display program 219, and the image of the document read by the image scanning unit 204. Page data as print data is created based on the data copy setting 213 and the enlargement / reduction method selected by the enlargement / reduction method display program 219.

The operation of the above configuration will be described.
First, an outline of a printing (copying) process performed by a copier as an image processing system will be described with reference to FIG. 23 according to a step represented by S in the flowchart showing the flow of the printing process in the second embodiment of FIG. explain.
S1101: First, an original to be copied is placed on the image scanning unit 204 of the copier 200 by the user P.

The setting change program 215 of the copier 200 displays the current setting content on the display unit 203 and changes the copy setting 213 of the storage unit 212 based on the print setting information input by the input unit 201 by the operation of the user P. Perform print setting change processing. The copy setting 213 is referred to when image data of a document is converted into print data.
S1102: The control unit 202 accepts the operation of the user P instructing copying using the input unit 201, and starts copying.

S1103: The control unit 202 performs a page image scanning process in which the image scanning unit 204 reads an image drawn on the placed document.
S1104: The control unit 202 processes the page image read by the image scanning unit 204, and performs print data creation processing for the page image to be printed.
S1105: The printing unit 205 prints the print data of the created page image. At this time, the printing unit 205 feeds the designated printing medium from the paper storage unit 206 to perform printing, charges based on the charging setting 214 stored in the storage unit 212, and ends this processing.

Next, the print setting change process performed by the setting change program of the copier will be described with reference to FIG. 23 in accordance with the step represented by S in the flowchart showing the flow of the print setting change process in the second embodiment of FIG. To do. This print setting change process is a process performed in S1101 of FIG.
S1201: The setting change program 215 acquires a copy setting 213 including the document paper size, the print paper size, and the enlargement / reduction ratio from the storage unit 212.

S1202: The setting change program 215 sets the acquired print setting as a setting parameter for each item. For example, the setting change program 215 sets “A4” as the setting parameter for the original paper size, sets “A4” as the setting parameter for the printing paper size, and sets “100%” as the setting parameter for the enlargement / reduction ratio. .
S1203: The setting change program 215 displays a GUI reflecting the setting parameters set in S1202 on the display unit 13.

  S1204: The setting change program 215 accepts an operation for changing the setting of each item by the user P at the input unit 201, and changes the setting of each item. For example, when the print data shown in FIG. 3 is copied, since the document size is “A4”, the setting parameter of the original paper size remains “A4”, and the enlargement / reduction ratio is 141%. The parameter is changed from “A4” to “A3”, and the enlargement / reduction ratio setting parameter is changed from “100%” to “141%”.

S1205: The setting change program 215 saves the changed setting in the copy setting 213.
S1206: The setting change program 215 displays that the print setting is to be ended on the GUI, determines whether or not the “OK” button is pressed on the GUI, and if it is determined that the button is pressed, the process is terminated. If it is determined that a “cancel” button other than the “?” Button has been pressed, the process proceeds to S1204, and the processes in S1204 and S1205 are repeated.

Next, the print data creation process performed by the copier will be described with reference to FIG. 23 according to the step represented by S in the flowchart showing the flow of the print data creation process in the second embodiment of FIG. This print setting change process is a process performed in S1104 of FIG.
S1301: The accounting setting acquisition program 216 acquires the original paper size, the paper size name, width, and height of the printing paper size, and the enlargement / reduction ratio R (%) from the copy setting 213.

S1302: The billing setting acquisition program 216 determines whether or not the acquired enlargement / reduction ratio R is 100%, and if it is determined to be 100%, no enlargement / reduction is performed, so page data is created with the specified settings. Therefore, the process proceeds to S1313, and if it is determined that it is not 100%, the process proceeds to S1303.
S1303: The charge setting acquisition program 216 that has determined that the acquired enlargement / reduction ratio R is not 100% acquires the charge setting 214.

  S1304: Charge setting acquisition program 216 acquires I which is the number of items of charge setting 214. As shown in FIG. 7, the billing setting 214 includes a paper size stored as a paper storage tray in each of the trays A <b> 41 to E <b> 45 of the paper storage unit 206, and a color printing unit price when color printing is performed for each paper size. Since it is composed of a unit price and a monochrome unit price as a monochrome printing unit price when monochrome printing is performed, the item number I can be obtained from the configuration. In the example shown in FIG. 7, the number of items I is 5.

  S1305: Charge setting acquisition program 216 confirms the scan status of the document to be copied. Here, the image data scanned for each page of the document is not passed to the page data creation program 220 for processing, but is passed to the page data creation program 220 after all pages to be copied have been scanned. Meanwhile, image data obtained by scanning the document is stored in the storage unit 212.

S1306: Charge setting acquisition program 216 moves the process to S1305 until the scanning of all pages of the document is finished, and moves the process to S1307 when the scanning is finished. Note that the end of scanning is detected when the auto document feeder of the image scanning unit 204 changes from the paper present state to the paper absent state.
S1307: Charge setting acquisition program 216 that has detected the end of scanning acquires the total number N of pages of data to be copied from the scanned image data.
S1308: Next, the enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 217 creates an enlargement / reduction mode list. Note that the process of creating the enlargement / reduction mode list is the same as the process of FIGS. 11 to 14 of the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.

S1309: Next, the charge amount calculation program 218 calculates a charge amount for each item in the created enlargement / reduction mode list. The processing for calculating the charge amount for each item in the enlargement / reduction mode list is the same as the processing in FIGS. 15 to 18 of the first embodiment, except for the color and monochrome determination methods, and the description thereof is omitted. To do.
The color and monochrome determination method according to the present exemplary embodiment determines that the color information of all image data is monochrome when the variation is within the threshold range with respect to each element of RGB, and the variation is the threshold value. If it is out of range, it is determined as color.

Here, the variation is a difference between the components of the RGB components. The variation of RGB (0, 0, 0) to RGB (128, 128, 128) is “0”, and RGB (126, 128, 130). Then, the difference between the value of the smallest R element and the largest B element is a variation, and the variation is “4”.
S1310: Next, the enlargement / reduction mode display program 219 displays an enlargement / reduction mode setting screen. The enlargement / reduction mode setting screen is the same as that in the first embodiment.
S1311: The enlargement / reduction mode display program 219 accepts a selection operation of a desired enlargement / reduction method by the user P on the enlargement / reduction mode setting screen.

S1312: The enlargement / reduction mode display program 219 receives an end operation of the enlargement / reduction mode setting screen by the user P on the enlargement / reduction mode setting screen, and when the OK button 123 shown in FIG. Is applied to the page data creation process, and the cancel button 124 is pressed, the selected enlargement / reduction method is not applied to the page data creation process, but the previously specified enlargement / reduction method is applied to the page data creation process.
At this time, the enlargement / reduction mode display program 219 starts supplying the image data stored in the storage unit 212 to the page data creation program 220.
S1313: The page data creation program 220 creates page data by applying the selected or designated enlargement / reduction method, and ends this processing.

As described above, in the second embodiment, when copying is performed by specifying enlargement or reduction in the copying machine, a plurality of different printing methods for obtaining a print result with the same enlargement / reduction ratio are charged. In addition, the user can select the printing method by displaying it on the display unit, and the user can select the printing method from among the multiple printing methods provided. The printing method can be selected.
In the first embodiment and the second embodiment, the image processing system has been described as a printer, a computer connected to the printer, and a copier. A computer connected to the machine and having a facsimile function or a multifunction machine having a copy function may be used.

1 Computer 2 Printer 11, 24, 201 Input unit 12, 23, 202 Control unit 13, 25, 203 Display unit 14, 22 Data transmission unit 15, 21 Data reception unit 16, 27, 212 Storage unit 26, 205 Printing unit 29 206 Paper storage unit 31 OS
32 application 33 printer driver 34 print setting 28, 35, 214 charge setting 101 print setting change program 102 print data creation program 103, 216 charge setting acquisition program 104, 217 enlargement / reduction mode list-up program 105, 218 charge amount calculation program 106, 219 Enlargement / reduction mode display program 107, 220 Page data creation program 108 Print data transmission program 200 Copier 204 Image scan unit 213 Copy setting 215 Setting change program

Claims (6)

In an image processing system having image processing means for creating print data and image forming means for charging when printing the print data,
The image processing means includes
A print setting designating unit for designating print setting information used when creating the print data;
An information acquisition unit for acquiring, as charging setting information, size information and unit price information of a print medium currently accommodated in the image forming unit;
An output method extraction unit that extracts a plurality of output methods based on the print setting information specified by the print setting specification unit and the size information of the print medium acquired by the information acquisition unit;
A billing amount for calculating a billing amount for each output method extracted by the output method extracting unit from at least the number of print media used when printing the print data and the unit price information acquired by the information acquiring unit A calculation unit;
An output method display unit that displays each billing amount calculated by the billing amount calculation unit together with the output method, and receives selection of the output method;
A print data generation unit that generates the print data based on the output method selected by the output method display unit;
The output method extraction unit extracts a plurality of output methods based on the billing setting information and the print setting information,
The output method display unit displays the plurality of output methods extracted by the output method extraction unit and the charge amount of the output method together with a pre-designated output method and the charge amount of the output method. A featured image processing system. The image processing system according to claim 1,
The image processing system, wherein the print setting information includes at least one of enlargement or reduction designation, paper size designation, color or monochrome designation, poster printing designation, aggregate printing designation, and printing orientation designation. The image processing system according to claim 1 or 2,
The image processing system according to claim 1, wherein the charge amount calculation unit calculates the charge amount by determining print setting information specified by the print setting specifying unit. In an image processing method for charging when printing print data,
Specify print setting information to be used when creating print data,
Acquire size information and unit price information of the print medium accommodated in the apparatus as charging setting information,
Based on the specified print setting information and the obtained print medium size information, a plurality of output methods are extracted,
For each of the extracted output methods, a charge amount is calculated from at least the number of print media used when printing the print data and the obtained unit price information,
Display each calculated charge amount together with the output method, accept the selection of the output method,
Generating the print data based on the selected output method;
The output method is extracted as a plurality of output methods based on the billing setting information and the print setting information,
An image processing method, wherein the plurality of extracted output methods and the charge amount of the output method are displayed together with a predetermined output method and the charge amount of the output method. The image processing method according to claim 4,
The image processing method, wherein the print setting information includes at least one of enlargement or reduction designation, paper size designation, color or monochrome designation, poster printing designation, aggregate printing designation, and printing orientation designation. The image processing method according to claim 4 or 5, wherein:
The charge amount is calculated by determining specified print setting information as well.

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