JP2020086699A - Information processing device, printing control method and printing control program - Google Patents

Abstract

To cause the issue timing of a print job by a printer driver to be faster.SOLUTION: According to the present invention, an information processing device includes a hook part for hooking a series of output instructions issued to a printer driver to output object data of an output request, an analysis part for analyzing the hooked output instructions, and an issue part for reissuing the analyzed output instructions to the printer driver. The issue part issues a third output instruction showing a break of the output of the object data to the printer driver after reissuing a first output instruction and before reissuing a second output instruction about the next page in the case that the analyzed first output instruction shows a page break.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing device, a print control method, and a print control program, and more particularly to an information processing device, a print control method, and a print control program for performing print control.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-242242 discloses a technique related to a print control device that transfers a print job from an information processing device to a printer connected to a network and performs print processing. The print control device according to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-242242 divides a print job received from an information processing device into minimum units, generates a minimum unit print job, and outputs the print job to a printer.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-242242 discloses a technique related to a printer controller that controls a printer. The printer controller according to Patent Document 2 receives print data as a print job, converts the print data into image data, and prints and outputs the image data onto a print sheet.

Patent Document 3 discloses a technique related to a printer controller. The data control unit of the printer controller according to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-242242 develops PDL (Page Description Language) received from the client into image data (print output format) and holds it in the page memory. Then, the output IF of the printer controller transfers the image data held in the page memory to the printer.

Here, a printer driver is installed in the information processing apparatus, the client, or the like, which is the issuer of the print job or the like in Patent Document 1 and the like described above. Then, it can be said that the printer driver converts the output command issued from the application that is the request source of the print processing into a print job and outputs the print job.

In recent years, Microsoft Corporation (registered trademark) of the United States has decided to adopt a new V4 printer driver as a printer driver architecture to be installed in Windows (registered trademark) 8 in place of the conventional V3 printer driver.

JP, 2007-310770, A JP, 2002-091748, A JP-A-2000-229451

Here, the architecture of the V4 printer driver is significantly different from the architecture of the V3 printer driver, and there are some functional differences. Output control is one of the functional differences. First, a user application normally issues a series of output commands including individual drawing commands and output control commands when printing a document or the like. When the V3 printer driver receives the issued output command, the V3 printer driver sequentially performs an analysis process and a command process necessary for outputting to the printer, and outputs the print job to the print spooler. On the other hand, in the V4 printer driver, after receiving all the output commands for the document to be printed, the initialization process is started, and then all the output commands are collectively analyzed and commanded, and the print spooler is executed. Output as a print job. Therefore, when the V4 printer driver is used, even when the number of print pages of the document to be printed is large, the printer does not start the output until the output instructions for all the pages are received. That is, there is a problem that the print job issuance by the printer driver may be delayed. In particular, as the V4 printer driver becomes widespread in the future, this problem may become more remarkable.

Note that the techniques according to the above-mentioned Patent Documents 1 to 3 are not for solving the above problems, because they are the improvement of the process for the print job issued by the printer driver.

The present disclosure has been made to solve such problems, and an object thereof is to provide an information processing device, a print control method, and a print control program for speeding up the print job issuing timing by the printer driver. To aim.

An information processing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present disclosure is
A hook unit that hooks a series of output instructions issued to the printer driver in order to output the target data of the output request,
An analysis unit for analyzing the hooked output instruction,
An issuing unit for reissuing the analyzed output command toward the printer driver;
Equipped with
The issuing unit is
When the analyzed first output instruction indicates a page break, the output of the target data is output after the first output instruction is reissued and before the second output instruction for the next page is reissued. A third output command indicating a break is issued to the printer driver.

A print control method according to a second aspect of the present disclosure,
Computer
Hook a series of output commands issued to the printer driver to output the target data of the output request,
Parse the hooked output instruction,
When the analyzed first output command indicates a page break, after reissuing the first output command toward the printer driver and before reissuing the second output command for the next page, A third output command indicating an output delimiter of the target data is issued to the printer driver.

A print control program according to the third aspect of the present disclosure,
A process of hooking a series of output commands issued to the printer driver in order to output the target data of the output request,
Analyzing the hooked output instruction,
When the analyzed first output command indicates a page break, after reissuing the first output command toward the printer driver and before reissuing the second output command for the next page, A process of issuing a third output command indicating an output delimiter of the target data to the printer driver;
Causes the computer to execute.

According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide an information processing apparatus, a print control method, and a print control program for making a print job issuance timing faster by a printer driver.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an information processing device according to the first exemplary embodiment. 6 is a flowchart showing a flow of a print control method according to the first embodiment. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an information processing device according to the second exemplary embodiment. FIG. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a print control unit according to the second embodiment. FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the concept of print processing using a V4 printer driver. 6 is a flowchart showing a flow of a print control method according to the second embodiment. FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the concept of print processing using the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment and a V4 printer driver.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In each drawing, the same or corresponding elements are designated by the same reference numerals, and repeated explanations are omitted as necessary for the sake of clarity.

<Embodiment 1>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the information processing device 1 according to the first embodiment. The information processing device 1 is a computer connected to a printer (not shown). In the information processing device 1, an arbitrary application program (not shown) is executed, and the application issues an output command in response to a print instruction from a user or the like. A printer driver (not shown) is installed in the information processing apparatus 1, and the printer driver generates a print job from the output command and outputs the print job to the printer.

The information processing device 1 includes a hook unit 11, an analysis unit 12, and an issuing unit 13. The hook unit 11 hooks a series of output commands issued to the printer driver in order to output the target data of the output request. Here, the target data is data processed on the above-described application, and is, for example, a document, an image, or the like. The output request is a request made by the user or the like to the application in order to output the target data to the printer or the like. Therefore, the application issues an output command in response to the received output request. Moreover, the output command includes a drawing command and an output control command. The drawing command is, for example, a command for causing the printer to draw the characters and lines that form the content of the document. The output control command is, for example, a command indicating the start or end of the document, or the start or end of the page. The output control command indicating the end of the page can be said to be a command indicating a page break.

The hook refers to acquiring the output command issued by the application via an OS (Operating System) (not shown) or the like. Therefore, the output command hooked by the hook unit 11 does not reach the printer driver. In other words, the hook unit 11 intercepts the output command issued to the printer driver.

The analysis unit 12 analyzes the hooked output instruction. Here, the analysis includes, for example, determining the type of the output command, extracting the print settings from the output command, and determining the range of the print settings. Further, the determination of the print setting range includes whether the print setting range is the entire document, whether it is specific to a page, whether it is common to adjacent pages, and the like.

The issuing unit 13 reissues the analyzed output command to the printer driver. Here, "reissue" means that the output command has already been issued by the application, and therefore is reissued. Therefore, the issuing unit 13 itself issues the “analyzed output command” to the printer driver for the first time. Then, when the analyzed first output instruction indicates a page break, the issuing unit 13 reissues the first output instruction and before reissuing the second output instruction for the next page, A third output command indicating the output separation of the target data is issued to the printer driver. Here, the second output instruction is an instruction issued by the application after the first output instruction. In particular, the second output instruction is an output instruction targeting the page next to the page targeted by the first output instruction when the target data is printed by the printer across a plurality of printing sheets. The third output command is neither issued by the application nor hooked by the hook unit 11. That is, the issuing unit 13 inserts and issues the third output instruction while reissuing the hooked first output instruction and second hooked output instruction.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the flow of the print control method according to the first embodiment. As a premise, it is assumed that the application executed on the information processing device 1 sequentially issues output commands for the printer driver in order to output the target data to the printer in response to an output request from a user or the like. At this time, the hook unit 11 hooks the first output instruction of the issued output instructions (S11).

Next, the analysis unit 12 analyzes the hooked first output instruction (S12). Then, the analysis unit 12 determines whether or not the analyzed first output instruction indicates a page break (S13). When the analyzed first output command indicates a page break, the issuing unit 13 issues the third output command after reissuing the first output command and before reissuing the second output command. Yes (S14). That is, the issuing unit 13 reissues the first output instruction for the first page, inserts and issues the third output instruction indicating the page break between the first page and the second page, and then issues it. , Reissue the second output instruction for the second page. When it is determined that the first output instruction analyzed in step S13 does not indicate a page break, the issuing unit 13 reissues the first output instruction and then reissues the second output instruction. Issue.

Here, the first, second and third output instructions are not hooked again. Therefore, the printer driver receives in the order issued by the issuing unit 13, that is, in the order of the first output instruction, the third output instruction, and the second output instruction. Since the third output command indicates a page break, the printer driver sets the first page targeted by the first output command as one document to be output at the stage of receiving the third output command. Generate a print job and output it to a printer (or printer spooler). Accordingly, the printer can print the first page according to the print job. That is, the printer driver generates a print job for the first page targeted by the first output command received up to that point, without waiting for the reception of the second output command targeted for the second page. Can start. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the print job issuance timing by the printer driver can be accelerated. Therefore, the printer can promptly start printing without waiting for reception of all output commands.

The information processing device 1 includes a processor, a memory, a storage device, and the like, which are not shown. Further, the storage device stores a computer program in which the processing of the print control method according to the present embodiment is implemented. Then, the processor reads the computer program from the storage device into the memory and executes the computer program. As a result, the processor of the information processing device 1 realizes the functions of the hook unit 11, the analysis unit 12, and the issuing unit 13 described above.

<Second Embodiment>
The second embodiment is a specific example of the first embodiment described above. Here, it is preferable that the third output instruction is an instruction for causing the printer driver to start generating an output job with a set of issued output instructions as an output unit. Alternatively, the third output instruction may be an instruction for causing the printer driver to start generating an output job with the page to which the first output instruction belongs as an output unit. As a result, the printer driver can more surely start the generation of the output job before receiving the second output command.

Also, the issuing unit issues an end instruction indicating the end of the target data as the third output instruction, and after the end instruction is issued and before the second output instruction is reissued. A start instruction indicating the start of data may be issued. In this way, the printer driver can recognize each page as a different document by appropriately outputting the command indicating the end position of the document and the start position of the document, and can appropriately control the printer driver.

Further, the analysis unit extracts the first print setting unique to a specific page from the hooked output command by the analysis. Then, when the first output instruction indicates a page break of the specific page, the issuing unit assigns the first output instruction that belongs to the specific page to the output instruction before the third output instruction. It is desirable to add print settings. This makes it possible to match print settings between divided print jobs.

Further, in the analysis, the analysis unit may output a first page to which the first output instruction belongs and a second page to which the second output instruction belongs and which is output next to the first page. It is preferable to further determine whether or not the first print setting is common to the page. Then, when the first print setting is common in the determination, the issuing unit preferably suppresses addition of the first print setting to the output command belonging to the second page. In this way, when the print settings overlap between consecutive pages, the data size of the output command can be suppressed and the throughput can be improved by excluding the second and subsequent print settings.

Further, the third output command may include a first clear command that causes the printer driver to clear the first print setting. In this case, the issuing unit excludes the first clear instruction from the third output instruction belonging to the first page when the first print setting is common according to the determination. Issue an output command. As a result, when the print settings are duplicated between consecutive pages, the subsequent print job can be generated by reusing the received print settings temporarily stored in the printer driver or the printer. The efficiency can be improved.

Further, the analysis unit extracts the second print setting for the entire target data from the hooked output instruction by the analysis. In that case, the third output command includes a second clear command for clearing the second print setting in the printer driver. In this case, the issuing unit may exclude the second clear instruction from the third output instruction and issue the third output instruction. As a result, even if a print job is generated page by page in the printer driver by the third output command, print settings can be shared between print jobs, and the print job generation efficiency can be improved.

Further, the issuing unit may suppress reissuance of the second output instruction when the second output instruction is an end instruction indicating the end of the target data. As a result, the printer driver does not receive an unnecessary end command, and can suppress unnecessary processing.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the information processing device 100 according to the second embodiment. The information processing device 100 is an example of the information processing device 1 described above, and is a computer device connected to the printer 200. The information processing device 100 includes a control device 110 and a storage device 120. The storage device 120 is a volatile or non-volatile storage device. The storage device 120 stores the program 121, the hooked output instruction 122, and the like. The program 121 is a computer program in which the processing of the print control method according to the second embodiment is installed. The hooked output command 122 is, as described later, a command in which the print control unit 112 hooks the output command issued by the application unit 111. The storage device 120 may be, for example, a non-volatile storage device such as a hard disk or a flash memory, a ROM (Read Only Memory), or the like, but is not limited thereto.

The control device 110 is a control circuit such as a processor. The control device 110 reads the program 121 from the storage device 120 into a memory (not shown) and executes it. As a result, the control device 110 functions as the print control unit 112. Further, the control device 110 realizes the application unit 111 by executing a predetermined application program (not shown). Further, the control device 110 realizes the OS unit 113 by executing an OS (not shown).

The application unit 111 is, for example, a GDI (Graphics Device Interface) application. The application unit 111 may be known software. Therefore, the application unit 111 creates a document or the like according to a user's operation, calls a plurality of GDI functions according to a print request (output request) of the document from the user, and directs an output command to the OS unit 113. To issue.

The OS unit 113 may be a known OS. The OS unit 113 includes a printer driver 1131 and a print spooler 1132. The printer driver 1131 is a device driver that receives an output command issued from the application unit 111, generates a print job, and outputs the print job to the print spooler 1132. The printer driver 1131 is, for example, a V4 printer driver.

The print spooler 1132 is a message queue that manages a print job output from the printer driver 1131 with a FIFO (First-In First-Out). Then, the print spooler 1132 outputs the print jobs to the printer 200 in the order of registration.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the print control unit 112 according to the second embodiment. The print control unit 112 includes a hook unit 1121, an analysis unit 1122, and an issuing unit 1123. The hook unit 1121 is an example of the hook unit 11 described above, and monitors the application unit 111 and hooks the output command issued by the application unit 111. The analysis unit 1122 is an example of the above-described analysis unit 12, and analyzes the output command hooked by the hook unit 1121. The issuing unit 1123 is an example of the above-described issuing unit 13, and the analyzing unit 1122 reissues an output instruction or additionally issues a new instruction according to the analysis result.

Here, in order to describe the problem to be solved by the present embodiment, a print process when the present embodiment is not used will be described. FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the concept of print processing using the V4 printer driver. Here, the GDI application 111a is an example of the application unit 111, and the V4 printer driver 1131a is an example of the printer driver 1131.

First, the GDI application 111a issues StartDoc as an output command (S900). Then, the V4 printer driver 1131a receives the StartDoc. Then, the GDI application 111a issues a series of output commands for the first page (S901). Then, the V4 printer driver 1131a sequentially receives the output commands for the first page. However, since the V4 printer driver 1131a has not received the EndDoc at this point, it does not start generating the print job.

After that, the GDI application 111a sequentially issues a series of output commands for the second page to the Nth page (S902, S903). Then, the V4 printer driver 1131a sequentially receives the output commands for the second page to the Nth page. Then, the GDI application 111a issues EndDoc indicating the end of the document to be output (S904). Then, the V4 printer driver 1131a receives the EndDoc. The V4 printer driver 1131a performs an initialization process to start generation of a print job in response to the reception of EndDoc (S911). Then, the V4 printer driver 1131a performs XPS (XML (Extensible Markup Language) Paper Specification) analysis on the received output command group of the first page (S912) and converts it into a command (S913). That is, the V4 printer driver 1131a starts generating the print job for the first page after receiving all output commands for all pages of the document to be printed. Subsequently, the V4 printer driver 1131a repeats the XPS analysis and command conversion for each page for the received output command group of the second and subsequent pages (S914) to generate an XPS file. Then, the V4 printer driver 1131a stores the generated XPS files for all pages in the print spooler 1132 (S915). After that, the printer 200 performs printing according to the XPS file output from the print spooler 1132, and outputs it as output paper 210.

As shown in FIG. 5, the V4 printer driver 1131a cannot start generation of a print job until it receives EndDoc. That is, the V4 printer driver 1131a starts generating print jobs in order from the first page after receiving the output command for all pages of the document to be printed. Therefore, it takes time t1 from when the GDI application 111a issues the StartDoc to when the V4 printer driver 1131a starts generating the print job. Then, it takes time t2 before the printer 200 starts printing the output paper 210 of the first page.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, the print control unit 112 is interposed between the application unit 111 and the printer driver 1131 so that the print control unit 112 inserts EndDoc in page units and issues the EndDoc. As a result, the printer driver 1131 can be made to recognize that issuance of the output command in document units has been completed, and the printer driver 1131 can speed up the generation of the print job for the first page.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of the print control method according to the second embodiment. First, as a premise, it is assumed that the user has previously set the application unit 111 to be monitored in the print control unit 112.

Therefore, the hook unit 1121 monitors the output command issued by the application unit 111 (S101). Then, the hook unit 1121 hooks the output command issued by the application unit 111 (S102). Here, since it is the first output command, it is assumed that the print target start command (StarDoc or the like) is hooked as the output command. Then, the analysis unit 1122 analyzes the hooked output command, determines that the command is a print target start command, and performs initialization processing (S103).

Subsequently, the hook unit 1121 sequentially hooks subsequent output commands (S104). Then, the analysis unit 1122 analyzes the hooked output instruction and stores it as the hooked output instruction 122 in the storage device 120 (S105). At this time, the analysis unit 1122 extracts the print setting from the output command, and determines whether the print setting is the entire document or peculiar to the page. In addition, the analysis unit 1122 may store the extracted print settings in the storage device 120.

Then, the analysis unit 1122 determines whether the output instruction indicates the end of one page (page break) by analysis (S106). At this time, if the output instruction does not indicate the end of one page, the process returns to step S104, and is repeated thereafter. On the other hand, when the output instruction indicates the end of one page, for example, when the output instruction is EndPage, the issuing unit 1123 issues the hooked output instruction 122 group accumulated in the storage device 120 to the printer driver 1131 ( S107). That is, the issuing unit 1123 reads out and issues the hooked output instructions 122 from the storage device 120 in the order of accumulation. At this time, the issuing unit 1123 may appropriately add the print settings extracted above to the output command. For example, if the print settings are page-specific (paper information, such as paper size or paper orientation), the issuing unit 1123 adds the print settings to the StartPage. As described above, the issuing unit 1123 newly issues an output command, but since the hooked output command 122 has already been issued by the application unit 111, the issue in step S107 is the hooked output command 122. May be expressed as “reissue”. The issuing unit 1123 deletes the hooked output instructions 122 stored in the storage device 120 after issuing them.

Subsequently, the issuing unit 1123 issues a print target end command (S108). For example, when the output instruction issued at the end of step S107 is EndPage, the issuing unit 1123 newly adds EndDoc as an end instruction and issues it.

After that, the hook unit 1121 hooks the next output command (S109). Then, as in step S105, the analysis unit 1122 analyzes the hooked output instruction and stores it as the hooked output instruction 122 in the storage device 120 (S110). The output command hooked in step S109 is StartPage, which is a start command for the next page, or EndDoc, which indicates the end of the document if there is no next page.

Then, the analysis unit 1122 determines whether or not the output command indicates the end of the print target (delimiter of output of target data) by analysis (S111). At this time, if the output command does not indicate the end of the print target, the issuing unit 1123 issues a print target start command (StartDoc) (S112). That is, the output command (StartPage) hooked in step S109 is accumulated, and the issuing unit 1123 inserts and issues StartDoc before the StartPage is reissued. At this time, the issuing unit 1123 may appropriately add the print settings extracted above to the output command. For example, when the print settings are for the entire document, the issuing unit 1123 adds the print settings to the StartDoc. After that, the process returns to step S104 and is repeated thereafter. Therefore, when the EndPage of the second page is detected in step S106, the output instructions of the second page are sequentially reissued in step S107 in order from the StartPage of the second page hooked in the previous step S109. .. Then, in step S108, EndDoc of the second page is newly inserted and issued. Then, when EndDoc is hooked in step S109, it is determined in step S111 that the print target is the end, and the print control unit 112 performs the end process (S113). That is, the EndDoc hooked in the last step S109 is not reissued.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the concept of print processing using the information processing apparatus according to the second embodiment and the V4 printer driver. First, the GDI application 111a issues StartDoc as an output command (S200). At this time, the print control unit 112 hooks StartDoc and performs initialization processing (S210). Further, since the print control unit 112 hooks, the V4 printer driver 1131a does not receive StartDoc at this stage.

Then, the GDI application 111a issues a series of output commands for the first page (S201). Then, the print control unit 112 hooks a series of output commands for the first page, hooks EndPage for the first page, and then issues a series of output commands for the first page to the V4 printer driver 1131a (S211). At that time, after issuing the EndPage of the first page, the print control unit 112 inserts EndDoc and issues it.

In response to this, the V4 printer driver 1131a receives a series of output commands for the first page and starts initialization (S221). Subsequently, the V4 printer driver 1131a performs XPS analysis (S222) and command conversion (S223) for a series of output commands related to the first page, and outputs the XPS file 131 of the first page to the print spooler 1132 as a print job. To do. After that, the printer 200 performs printing according to the XPS file 131 (S241) output from the print spooler 1132, and outputs it as output paper 211.

After step S201, the GDI application 111a issues a series of output commands for the second page (S202). Then, the print control unit 112 inserts and issues the StartDoc after hooking the StartPage of the second page and before reissuing the StartPage. Then, the print control unit 112 hooks a series of output instructions for the second page, hooks EndPage for the second page, and then issues a series of output instructions for the second page (StartPage to EndPage) to the V4 printer driver 1131a. (S212). At this time, after issuing the EndPage of the second page, the print control unit 112 inserts EndDoc and issues it.

In response to this, the V4 printer driver 1131a receives the series of output commands for the second page and starts initialization (S224). Subsequently, the V4 printer driver 1131a performs XPS analysis (S225) and command conversion (S226) for a series of output commands related to the second page, and outputs the XPS file 132 of the second page to the print spooler 1132 as a print job. To do. After that, the printer 200 performs printing according to the XPS file 132 (S242) output from the print spooler 1132, and outputs it as output paper 212.

After that, similarly, the GDI application 111a issues a series of output commands regarding the Nth page (S203), and the print control unit 112 hooks the StartPage of the Nth page and before reissuing the StartPage. Insert and issue StartDoc. Then, the print control unit 112 hooks a series of output commands related to the Nth page, hooks EndPage of the Nth page, and then issues a series of output commands related to the Nth page (StartPage to EndPage) to the V4 printer driver 1131a. Yes (S213). At that time, after issuing the EndPage of the Nth page, the print control unit 112 inserts EndDoc and issues it.

In response to this, the V4 printer driver 1131a receives a series of output commands regarding the Nth page and starts initialization (S227). Subsequently, the V4 printer driver 1131a performs XPS analysis (S228) and commandization (S229) for a series of output commands related to the Nth page, and outputs the XPS file 133 of the Nth page to the print spooler 1132 as a print job. To do. After that, the printer 200 performs printing according to the XPS file 133 (S243) output from the print spooler 1132, and outputs it as output paper 213.

After step S203, the GDI application 111a issues EndDoc indicating the end of the print target as an output command (S204). Then, the print control unit 112 hooks EndDoc and then performs termination processing (S214). At this time, the print control unit 112 does not reissue the hooked EndDoc.

As shown in FIG. 7, it takes a time t3 from when the GDI application 111a issues the StartDoc to when the V4 printer driver 1131a starts generating the print job of the first page. The time t3 is shorter than the time t1 shown in FIG. Therefore, according to this embodiment, the print job issuance timing by the printer driver can be made faster. Further, it takes time t4 before the printer 200 starts printing the output sheet 211 of the first page. The time t4 is shorter than the time t2 shown in FIG. Therefore, the first page can be printed faster.

<Other Embodiments>
Each of the above-described embodiments is applicable to a printing system that uses a print spooler of Windows OS and a V4 printer driver. The above-described embodiments are also applicable to the same print processing as the V4 printer driver, that is, an application that requests the print spooler to execute print after receiving all output commands. Further, the above-described embodiments are applicable not only to the XPS file output of the V4 printer driver but also to the case of outputting a PDF (Portable Document Format) such that printing cannot be started until the end of the file. Play.

In the above embodiment, the hardware configuration has been described, but the hardware configuration is not limited to this. The present disclosure can also be realized by causing a CPU to execute a computer program for arbitrary processing.

In the above example, the program can be stored using various types of non-transitory computer readable media and supplied to the computer. Non-transitory computer readable media include various types of tangible storage media. Examples of the non-transitory computer-readable medium include a magnetic recording medium (for example, flexible disk, magnetic tape, hard disk drive), magneto-optical recording medium (for example, magneto-optical disk), CD-ROM (Read Only Memory), CD-R, It includes a CD-R/W, a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), and a semiconductor memory (for example, a mask ROM, a PROM (Programmable ROM), an EPROM (Erasable PROM), a flash ROM, and a RAM (Random Access Memory)). In addition, the program may be supplied to the computer by various types of transitory computer readable media. Examples of transitory computer-readable media include electrical signals, optical signals, and electromagnetic waves. The transitory computer-readable medium can supply the program to the computer via a wired communication path such as an electric wire and an optical fiber, or a wireless communication path.

It should be noted that the present disclosure is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be modified as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure. Further, the present disclosure may be implemented by appropriately combining the respective embodiments.

The whole or part of the exemplary embodiments disclosed above can be described as, but not limited to, the following supplementary notes.
(Appendix A1)
A hook unit that hooks a series of output instructions issued to the printer driver in order to output the target data of the output request,
An analysis unit for analyzing the hooked output instruction,
An issuing unit for reissuing the analyzed output command toward the printer driver;
Equipped with
The issuing unit is
When the analyzed first output instruction indicates a page break, the output of the target data is output after the first output instruction is reissued and before the second output instruction for the next page is reissued. An information processing apparatus that issues a third output command indicating a break to the printer driver.
(Appendix A2)
The third output command is a command for causing the printer driver to start generating an output job with a set of issued output commands as an output unit.
The information processing device according to attachment A1.
(Appendix A3)
The third output command is a command for causing the printer driver to start generation of an output job with the page to which the first output command belongs as an output unit.
The information processing apparatus according to appendix A1 or A2.
(Appendix A4)
The issuing unit is
An end instruction indicating the end of the target data is issued as the third output instruction,
The information processing apparatus according to any one of supplementary notes A1 to A3, which issues a start instruction indicating the start of the target data after the end instruction is issued and before the second output instruction is reissued.
(Appendix A5)
The analysis unit is
The analysis extracts a first print setting that is unique to a particular page from the hooked output instruction,
The issuing unit is
When the first output command indicates a page break of the specific page, the first print setting belongs to the specific page and the first print setting is added to the output commands prior to the third output command. The information processing apparatus according to any one of A to A4.
(Appendix A6)
The analysis unit is
In the analysis, between the first page to which the first output instruction belongs and the second page to which the second output instruction belongs and which is output next to the first page, Further determine whether the first print setting is common,
The issuing unit is
The information processing apparatus according to attachment A5, wherein when the first print settings are common due to the determination, addition of the first print settings to an output command belonging to the second page is suppressed.
(Appendix A7)
The third output command is
The printer driver includes a first clear command for clearing the first print setting;
The issuing unit is
When the first print setting is common according to the determination, the first clear command is excluded from the third output commands belonging to the first page, and the third output command is issued. The information processing device described.
(Appendix A8)
The analysis unit is
By the analysis, the second print setting for the entire target data is extracted from the hooked output command,
The third output command is
The printer driver includes a second clear command for clearing the second print setting,
The issuing unit is
The information processing apparatus according to any one of supplementary notes A1 to A7, wherein the second clear instruction is excluded from the third output instruction and the third output instruction is issued.
(Appendix A9)
The issuing unit is
The information processing device according to any one of supplementary notes A1 to A8, wherein when the second output instruction is an end instruction indicating the end of the target data, reissuance of the second output instruction is suppressed.
(Appendix B1)
Computer
Hook a series of output commands issued to the printer driver to output the target data of the output request,
Parse the hooked output instruction,
When the analyzed first output command indicates a page break, after reissuing the first output command toward the printer driver and before reissuing the second output command for the next page, A print control method for issuing to the printer driver a third output command indicating an output break of the target data.
(Appendix C1)
A process of hooking a series of output commands issued to the printer driver in order to output the target data of the output request,
Analyzing the hooked output instruction,
When the analyzed first output command indicates a page break, after reissuing the first output command toward the printer driver and before reissuing the second output command for the next page, A process of issuing a third output command indicating an output delimiter of the target data to the printer driver;
A print control program that causes a computer to execute.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Information processing device 11 Hook part 12 Analysis part 13 Issuing part 100 Information processing device 110 Control device 111 Application part 112 Print control part 1121 Hook part 1122 Analysis part 1123 Issuing part 113 OS part 1131 Printer driver 1132 Print spooler 120 Storage device 121 Program 122 Hooked output command 200 Printer 210 Output paper 211 Output paper 212 Output paper 213 Output paper 111a GDI application 1131a V4 printer driver 131 XPS file 132 XPS file 133 XPS file t1 hour t2 hour t3 hour t4 hour

Claims (10)

A hook unit that hooks a series of output instructions issued to the printer driver in order to output the target data of the output request,
An analysis unit for analyzing the hooked output instruction,
An issuing unit for reissuing the analyzed output command toward the printer driver;
Equipped with
The issuing unit is
When the analyzed first output instruction indicates a page break, the output of the target data is output after the first output instruction is reissued and before the second output instruction for the next page is reissued. An information processing apparatus that issues a third output command indicating a break to the printer driver. The third output command is a command for causing the printer driver to start generating an output job with a set of issued output commands as an output unit.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. The third output instruction is an instruction for causing the printer driver to start generating an output job in which the page to which the first output instruction belongs is set as an output unit.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. The issuing unit is
An end instruction indicating the end of the target data is issued as the third output instruction,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a start command indicating the start of the target data is issued after the end command is issued and before the second output command is reissued. The analysis unit is
The analysis extracts a first print setting that is unique to a particular page from the hooked output instruction,
The issuing unit is
When the first output command indicates a page break of the specific page, the first print setting is added to an output command that belongs to the specific page and is before the third output command. The information processing apparatus according to any one of 1 to 4. The analysis unit is
In the analysis, between the first page to which the first output instruction belongs and the second page to which the second output instruction belongs and which is output next to the first page, Further determine whether the first print setting is common,
The issuing unit is
The information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein when the first print setting is common due to the determination, addition of the first print setting to an output command belonging to the second page is suppressed. The third output command is
The printer driver includes a first clear command for clearing the first print setting;
The issuing unit is
7. When the first print setting is common due to the determination, the first clear command is excluded from the third output commands belonging to the first page, and the third output command is issued. The information processing device described in 1. The analysis unit is
By the analysis, the second print setting for the entire target data is extracted from the hooked output command,
The third output command is
The printer driver includes a second clear command for clearing the second print setting,
The issuing unit is
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the third output instruction is issued by excluding the second clear instruction from the third output instruction. Computer
Hook a series of output commands issued to the printer driver to output the target data of the output request,
Parse the hooked output instruction,
When the analyzed first output command indicates a page break, after reissuing the first output command toward the printer driver and before reissuing the second output command for the next page, A print control method for issuing to the printer driver a third output command indicating an output break of the target data. A process of hooking a series of output commands issued to the printer driver in order to output the target data of the output request,
Analyzing the hooked output instruction,
When the analyzed first output command indicates a page break, after reissuing the first output command toward the printer driver and before reissuing the second output command for the next page, A process of issuing a third output command indicating an output delimiter of the target data to the printer driver;
A print control program that causes a computer to execute.

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