JP2017120451A - Print processing system, print processing method, and program for executing print processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a print processing method enabling an operator to accurately grasp the amount of work of a post-processing job transmitted to a post-processing device at the time of graphical representation.SOLUTION: There is provided a printing method of performing post-processing on an output object from an image forming apparatus in a post-processing device, the method including: a print job transmission step 703 of transmitting a print job to the image forming apparatus; a post-processing job transmission step of transmitting a post-processing job to a post-processing processing device; printing state acquisition steps 705 and 711 of acquiring the state of the print job from the image forming apparatus; a post-processing state acquisition step 709 of acquiring the state of the post-processing job from the post-processing processing device; a print job processing predicted time calculation step of calculating a processing predicted time for the print job in the image forming apparatus; a post-processing job processing predicted time calculation step of calculating a processing predicted time for the post-processing job in the post-processing processing device; and a graphical representation step of representing graphs of the print job and post-processing job.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 7

Description

  The present invention relates to a print processing system, a print processing method, and a program for executing a print processing method for producing a product by post-processing a printed material output from an image forming apparatus by a post-processing device.

  Conventionally, in the commercial printing industry, various products are manufactured by combining an image forming apparatus and a post-processing apparatus. For example, a high-quality product can be manufactured by setting a printed material that has been printed by the image forming apparatus in a post-processing apparatus and performing post-processing such as bookbinding or cutting.

  In a printing system that realizes such processing, a print application that manages a workflow sends a print job to the image forming apparatus, and at the same time, performs a post-processing job that instructs to process paper printed by the print job. Send to processing equipment. The image forming apparatus that has received the print job sequentially performs print processing according to the instruction.

  In the post-processing apparatus, first, the output printed paper is installed in a predetermined paper feed port of the post-processing apparatus. Next, a job corresponding to the installed printed material is selected from the received post-processing jobs and executed, thereby creating a product. Each of the image forming apparatus and the post-processing apparatus transmits information to the printing application in the processing. When the print application receives the information of the processing completion result, it changes the information of the job managed internally to the end state, and the workflow is completed.

  Some printing applications having the above-described functions include a work graph function that displays a total work amount of jobs assigned to the image forming apparatus and the post-processing apparatus in order to improve productivity associated with manufacturing. The work graph function displays the integrated value of the number of pages of jobs processed for each apparatus as a bar graph. The time required for job processing is displayed based on the number of pages. When the printing system displays the amount of work in a graph, the operator can intuitively determine the amount of work in each device at the time of display.

  As a system for performing the above-described work time display, there is a system that displays a processing time of a workflow by obtaining a time required for processing each print job based on the performance of the image forming apparatus (see Patent Document 1).

JP 2010-225136 A

  When the print job is displayed as a work graph, the print application obtains an integrated value of the number of pages of the job transmitted to the image forming apparatus, thereby illustrating the work amount of each image forming apparatus as a graph.

  On the other hand, whether or not the post-processing job sent to the post-processing apparatus can be executed depends not only on the job instruction but also on the material to be actually processed, that is, the state of the paper. Therefore, there is a problem that even if a graph in which the amount of work is calculated based on only received job information is displayed, the worker cannot accurately grasp the amount of work at the time of the graph display.

In order to solve the above-described problems, a post-printing processing system according to the present invention includes:
A printing system for post-processing an output from an image forming apparatus by a post-processing device,
Print job transmission means for transmitting a print job to the image forming apparatus;
Post-processing job transmission means for transmitting a post-processing job to the post-processing apparatus,
Print status acquisition means for acquiring the status of a print job from the image forming apparatus;
Post-processing status acquisition means for acquiring the status of the post-processing job from the post-processing processing apparatus, print job processing expected time calculation means for calculating the expected processing time of the print job in the image forming apparatus,
A post-processing job processing expected time calculating means for calculating an estimated processing time of the post-processing job in the post-processing processing device;
A graph display means for displaying a graph of a print job and a post-processing job is provided.
The graph display means changes the display according to the type of job, and the graph display means,
The post-processing state acquisition unit includes a post-processing state acquisition unit that determines the state of the post-processing job based on the state of the print job related to the post-processing job.

  According to the post-printing processing system according to the present invention, it is possible to accurately display the work amount of the post-processing job assigned to the post-processing apparatus in a graph.

It is a system configuration figure of the information processing system concerning this embodiment. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of the post-processing apparatus concerning this Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of the information processing apparatus concerning this Embodiment. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a software configuration of the image forming apparatus and the post-processing apparatus according to the present embodiment. 6 is a flowchart for explaining a print job transmission process in the image forming apparatus in the information processing system according to the embodiment. It is a flowchart figure which shows the process of the printing application concerning this Embodiment. It is an example of a screen structure of the printing application concerning this Embodiment. It is a table referred by the determination process of the printing process time in the printing application concerning this Embodiment. It is a flowchart explaining the display process of the work graph of the printing application concerning this Embodiment. It is a display example of a work graph when the process of the present embodiment is not applied. It is an example of a display of the work graph displayed with the printing application concerning this Embodiment.

  Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

<Configuration example of information processing system>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of an information processing system according to the present invention. It should be noted that the environment of the entire information processing system in the following description is for facilitating understanding of the description of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to these environments.

  In FIG. 1, an image forming apparatus 101, a post-processing apparatus 102, and an information processing apparatus 103 are connected to a network 100. The image forming apparatus 101 analyzes a print job including print data transmitted from the information processing apparatus 103, converts the print job into a dot image page by page, and prints it. Further, the post-processing device 102 analyzes the post-processing job transmitted from the information processing device 103, and performs processing for processing the paper based on the designated parameters. The printed matter output from the image forming apparatus 101 is delivered to the post-processing apparatus 102 via a manual operation by a printing operator or a belt conveyor (not shown).

  The post-processing apparatus 102 is not physically connected to the image forming apparatus 101, but is a post-processing apparatus that can communicate with the image forming apparatus 101 and the information processing apparatus 103 via the network 100. On the information processing apparatus 103, programs such as a workflow management program and a WEB server described later are operating. Also, a printer driver program for controlling the image forming apparatus 101 connected to the image forming apparatus 101 and the post-processing apparatus 102 via a network is installed.

  In the figure, each of the image forming apparatus 101, the post-processing apparatus 102, and the information processing apparatus 103 is one, but may be plural. The network 100 may be the Internet. For example, the network 100 may be configured to access the image forming apparatus 101 and the post-processing apparatus 102 from the information processing apparatus 103 via the Internet.

<Example of hardware configuration of information processing system>
FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of the image forming apparatus 101 according to the present exemplary embodiment.

  The image forming apparatus 101 includes an operation unit 204, an authentication unit 205, a NIC 206, a CPU 209, a RAM 210, a ROM 211, a storage unit 212, an image reading unit 207, and a printing unit 208, which are connected via the control unit 201.

  The control unit 201 includes a device control unit 202 that controls the entire image forming apparatus 101 and an image processing unit 203 that processes image data.

  The operation unit 204 includes, for example, a software keyboard, a touch panel, and other input / output devices, and can input and display various setting values.

  The CPU 209 executes programs such as programs stored in the ROM 211 and applications loaded from the storage unit 212 to the RAM 210. That is, when the CPU 209 executes the program stored in a readable storage medium, the CPU 209 functions as each processing unit that executes processing in each flowchart described below.

  A RAM 210 is a main memory of the CPU 209 and functions as a work area or the like.

  The image reading unit 207 is configured by a scanner, for example, and can acquire a document image in an image data format by reading a paper document or the like.

  The control unit 201 provides the document image stored in the storage unit 212 to the operation unit 204 and executes processing for outputting the document image on the operation unit 204. Similarly, the control unit 201 provides the text image stored in the storage unit 212 to the printing unit 208, and the printing unit 208 executes processing for outputting a document image in various formats.

  For example, the printing unit 208 can execute processing for outputting image data relating to a document image to a storage medium. Alternatively, the printing unit 208 may have a printing function and execute processing for outputting a document image to an output medium such as a paper medium.

  In addition, the image forming apparatus 101 is connected to a network via the NIC 206 to enable data transmission / reception. Data obtained via the NIC 206 can also be displayed on the operation unit 204.

  FIG. 3 is a hardware configuration diagram of the post-processing apparatus 102 of this embodiment.

  The post-processing apparatus 102 includes an operation unit 304, a NIC 305, a CPU 308, a RAM 309, a ROM 310, a storage unit 311, a sensor reading unit 306, and a post-processing unit 307, which are connected via the control unit 301.

  The control unit 301 includes a sensor processing unit 302 that processes sensor information read by the sensor reading unit 306, and a device control unit 303 that controls the entire post-processing apparatus 102.

  The operation unit 304 includes, for example, a software keyboard, a touch panel, and other input / output devices, and can input and display various setting values.

  The CPU 308 executes programs such as programs stored in the ROM 310 and applications loaded from the storage unit 311 to the RAM 309. That is, when the CPU 308 executes the program stored in a readable storage medium, the CPU 308 functions as each processing unit that executes processing of each flowchart described below.

  A RAM 309 is a main memory of the CPU 308 and functions as a work area.

  The sensor reading unit 306 can read job information to be post-processed (for example, collating a combination of a cover and a body of a case binding job) via a device such as a camera.

  The control unit 301 provides post-processing information stored in the storage unit 311 to the operation unit 304, and executes processing for outputting post-processing setting information on the operation unit 304. Similarly, the control unit 301 provides post-processing information stored in the storage unit 311 to the post-processing unit 307, and the post-processing unit 307 executes post-processing in various forms.

  Further, the post-processing device 103 is connected to a network via the NIC 305 and can transmit and receive data. Data obtained via the NIC 305 can also be displayed on the operation unit 304.

  FIG. 4 is a hardware configuration diagram of the information processing apparatus 103 according to the present exemplary embodiment.

  The information processing apparatus 103 can be configured by hardware of a general computer (PC).

  In FIG. 4, the CPU 401 executes a program stored in a program ROM in the ROM 403 or a program such as an OS (operation system) or application loaded from the hard disk 410 to the RAM 402. That is, when the CPU 401 executes the program stored in a readable storage medium, the CPU 401 functions as each processing unit that executes processing in each flowchart described below.

  A RAM 402 is a main memory of the CPU 401 and functions as a work area or the like.

  A keyboard controller 404 controls operation inputs from a keyboard 408 and a pointing device (not shown) (mouse, touchpad, touch panel, trackball, etc.).

  The display controller 405 controls display on the display 409.

  The disk controller 406 controls data access to an external memory 410 such as a hard disk (HD) or flexible disk (FD) that stores various data.

  A network controller (NC) 407 is connected to the network and executes communication control processing with other devices connected to the network.

<Software configuration example of information processing system>
FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram showing the function of each device described in this embodiment.

  First, the function of each processing unit of the image forming apparatus 101 will be described.

  A device control unit 5101 controls the image forming unit 5108 in response to a print instruction from the job control unit 5103.

  A job control unit 5103 performs control related to print job processing. That is, based on the print job information stored in the job information storage unit 5107 and the command received from the information processing apparatus 103, the device control unit 5101 is instructed about the printing process, or the information processing apparatus 103 executes the printing process. Send status and result information.

  The instruction analysis unit 5103 analyzes the instruction received from the information processing apparatus 103.

  The instruction generation unit 5104 generates an instruction to be transmitted to the information processing apparatus 103.

  A communication processing unit 5105 performs data communication with the information processing apparatus 103.

  A job information management unit 5105 manages print job information stored in the job information storage unit 5107.

  A job information storage unit 5107 stores information related to a print job for performing print processing in the image forming apparatus 101.

  The image forming unit 5108 is a processing mechanism that performs a printing process.

  Next, functions of each processing unit of the post-processing apparatus 103 will be described.

  A communication processing unit 5201 performs data communication with the information processing apparatus 103.

  An instruction analysis unit 5202 analyzes an instruction included in the post-processing job received from the information processing apparatus 103.

  An instruction generation unit 5203 generates an instruction to be transmitted to the information processing apparatus 103.

  A job control unit 5204 performs control related to processing of a post-processing job for performing post-processing in the post-processing apparatus 102. That is, based on the post-processing job information stored in the job information storage unit 5206, an instruction related to post-processing is given to the device control unit 5205 or a command is sent to the information processing apparatus 103.

  A device control unit 5205 controls the post-processing device 5208 in accordance with a print instruction from the job control unit 5204.

  The job information storage unit 5206 stores information related to a post-processing job for performing post-processing in the post-processing apparatus 102. The post-processing job information includes instruction information indicating what post-processing should be performed for each job. For example, in the case of post-processing for case binding, information such as the cover / text paper size, paper type, and finished size is included. Such information may be input by the operator from the operation unit 304 of the post-processing apparatus 102.

  A job information management unit 5207 manages post-processing job information stored in the job information storage unit 5206. The post-processing device 5208 is a processing mechanism that performs post-processing.

  FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating functions of the print application 600 that operates on the information processing apparatus 103 according to the present exemplary embodiment.

  A control unit 601 operates in the CPU 401 of the information processing apparatus 103 and controls the entire print application.

  A communication unit 602 communicates with the image forming apparatus 101 and the post-processing apparatus 102 via the network 100.

  A job setting generation unit 603 generates a print job or a post-processing job from job information stored in the job information storage unit or an operation instruction acquired via the display unit 604.

  A display unit 604 controls the user interface of the print application. Input / output to the keyboard 408 and the display 409 of the information processing apparatus 103 is controlled.

  A job information storage unit 605 is a storage area for storing job information acquired via the communication unit 602. The print job generated by the job information generation unit 603 is also stored in the job information storage unit.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing processing of the proposed print application.

  In step 601, the information processing apparatus 103 of the printing system determines whether the control unit 601 has received job data from the outside via the communication unit 602. In addition, it is determined whether or not job information is input by a user operation on the display unit 604. If the job data has not been received, the control unit 601 waits for reception and remains in step 701. When the job data is received, the control unit 601 proceeds to step 702. The control unit 601 updates the status information of the job received in Step 702 to “Ready”. Also, the job status information displayed on the display unit 604 is updated.

  In step 703, the control unit 601 detects whether the transmission button has been pressed in a state where a job is selected on the display unit 604. When the control unit 601 detects that the transmission button has been pressed, the control unit 601 determines that the job has been transmitted, and causes the communication unit 602 to transmit the selected job to the designated transmission destination.

  When the transmission is completed, the control unit 601 proceeds to step 704 and determines the type of job to be transmitted.

  If it is determined in step 704 that the type of the transmitted job is a print job, the process proceeds to step 705. In step 705, the control unit 601 waits for reception of information transmitted from the image forming apparatus 101. When the notification of receiving the print job is received, the process proceeds to step 706, and the control unit 601 updates the status information of the corresponding print job to “Processing”. A print job shifted to the “Processing” state is subjected to print processing by the operator.

  If it is determined in step 704 that the transmitted job type is a post-processing job, the process proceeds to step 707. In step 707, the control unit 601 detects whether the device displayed on the work graph includes a post-processing apparatus. If a post-processing device is included, in step 708, the horizontal axis of the graph display is set to “processing time”.

  In step 709, the control unit 601 waits for reception of information transmitted from the post-processing apparatus 102. Upon receiving the notification that the job has been received, the process proceeds to step 710 where the control unit 601 updates the status information of the corresponding post-processing job to “Processing (before printing)”.

  In step 711, the control unit 601 detects that the status information of the print job to be subjected to post-processing processing is “Completed”. When detecting “Completed”, the control unit 601 determines the print processing time in step 712. The time elapsed after the end of the print processing of the print job is calculated and compared with a reference time that differs depending on the type of print paper and the content of surface processing applied to the print paper.

  As an effect of surface processing on post-processing, for example, after printing on plain paper, the surface of the paper may be warped or wavy due to the effects of heat or chemical changes. You may not be able to start. Therefore, it is considered that the machining can be started when a certain time has passed before the machining.

  If it is determined that the processing can be started after a certain time has elapsed, the control unit 601 changes the status of the post-processing job to “Processing (after printing)” in step 713. When the status of the post-processing job is changed to “Processing (after printing)”, the operator of the post-processing apparatus can determine that the processing can be started and executes the processing.

  If a job processing completion notification is received from the image forming apparatus and the post-processing apparatus in step 714, the control unit 601 changes the job status to “Completed” in step 715.

  FIG. 8 is a screen configuration example of the print application.

  A job managed by the ID 801 in the print application includes a print job 803 and a post-processing job 806.

  For example, a print job of a job managed with ID = 1001 is a setting for printing 100 copies of color printing on both sides of A3 paper. Since the transmission destination is the image forming apparatus managed in P1, and the status 804 is “Completed”, it can be seen that the printing process has already been completed. The corresponding post-processing job instructs saddle stitching, and the transmission destination is the saddle stitching machine managed in middle 1. The status is “Processing (printed)”, indicating that the post-processing can be started or that the processing has already been started. Similarly, the job managed with ID = 1002 is not printed (“Processing”), and the associated post-processing job (folding, case binding, cutting) waits for printing completion (“Processing ( Before printing) ”).

  The job indicated by ID = 10003 is a state in which neither a print job nor a post-processing job is transmitted to the apparatus.

  When it is detected that the job transmission button 811 has been pressed, the print application performs transmission processing for the selected job.

  Also, by pressing the graph display button 812, a work graph for all jobs managed by the print application is displayed.

  FIG. 9 is a table referred to in the print processing time determination processing shown in step 712.

  The table 901 includes a paper type 902, surface processing information 903, and a reference time (minutes) 904. For example, when laminating is performed on plain paper and further processing is performed, it is understood that it is necessary to leave 600 minutes from the table until the next post-processing starts.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining a work graph display process of the printing application.

  The graph display is executed without depending on the job status when the operator presses the graph display button of the printing application.

  In step 1001, when the print application control unit 601 detects that the graph display button has been pressed on the display unit 604, the process proceeds to step 1002 and displays a work graph based on the status of the job assigned to each device.

  The bar graph of the work graph is obtained by multiplying the print target image that is the setting value of each job, for example, the number of pages of a PDF file and the number of copies. The value to be displayed is determined by obtaining this value for each job assigned to each device and taking the sum for each status.

  When the horizontal axis setting of the graph is “number of pages”, the obtained numerical value is displayed as a bar graph of each device. When the setting of the horizontal axis of the graph is “processing time”, the time required for the processing of each device is obtained by further dividing the obtained numerical value by the number of pieces that can be processed by each device, and displayed as a bar graph.

  In step 1003, the control unit 601 determines whether the job information is updated during graph display. When the information is updated, the process returns to step 1002, and the graph is updated based on the updated information.

  When the graph end button is pressed on the display unit 604, the control unit 601 detects this in step 1004 and performs a process of terminating the graph display.

  FIG. 11 is a display example of a work graph when the present proposal is not applied.

  An image forming apparatus 1102 and a post-processing apparatus 1106 are mixed in the work graph 1101.

  A bar graph 1103 of the image forming apparatus 1102 is a print job having a status of Ready, 1104 is a print job having a status of Processing, and 1105 is a value obtained by integrating the print jobs having a status of Completed.

  On the other hand, the bar graph of the saddle stitch binding machine 1 is a post-processing job in which 1106 is Ready, 1107 is Processing, and 1108 is Completed. The bar graph 1107 indicating that the status is “Processing” includes a job that cannot be actually started just by receiving a post-processing job.

  FIG. 12 is a display example of the work graph shown in the present proposal.

  The image forming apparatus 1 of the work graph 1201 displays the assigned job according to three statuses.

  On the other hand, the saddle stitch binding machine 1206 is displayed in four statuses: Ready 1207, Processing (before printing) 1208, Processing (printed) 1209, and Completed 1210. A post-processing job related to a print job that has completed status in the image forming apparatus is displayed with a status of Processing (printed).

100 network, 101 image forming apparatus, 102 post-processing apparatus,
103 Information processing apparatus

Claims (1)

A printing system for post-processing an output from an image forming apparatus by a post-processing device,
Print job transmission means (703) for transmitting a print job to the image forming apparatus;
Post-processing job transmission means (703) for transmitting a post-processing job to the post-processing processing apparatus;
Print status acquisition means (705, 711) for acquiring the status of the print job from the image forming apparatus;
Post-processing status acquisition means (709) for acquiring the status of the post-processing job from the post-processing processing device;
Print job processing expected time calculation means (1002) for calculating a print job processing expected time in the image forming apparatus;
A post-processing job processing expected time calculating means (1002) for calculating a processing time of a post-processing job in the post-processing apparatus;
A graph display unit (1002) for displaying a graph of a print job and a post-processing job;
The graph display means changes the display according to the type of job, the graph display means (704, 707, 708),
The post-processing state acquisition unit (709 to 713) determines the state of the post-processing job based on the state of the print job related to the post-processing job.
A post-printing processing system comprising: