JP2020100032A - Image formation apparatus, control method and program of the same - Google Patents

Abstract

To solve such a problem that, although printing processing is executed in accordance with attribute information designated with a PCL 5 command for the first page when a document having the PCL 5 command described in a field is printed by a PCLXL printer using a printer driver for PCLXL, the designation is not reflected for the second or subsequent pages.SOLUTION: An image formation apparatus determines whether or not a received printing job includes pass-through data, determines whether or not the pass-through data includes a page control command when determining that the pass-through data is included, stores attribute information designated with the page control command when determining that the page control command is included, and updates the attribute information in a page being analyzed of the printing job with the stored attribute information in accordance with the storage of the attribute information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, a control method thereof, and a program.

Conventionally, it is known to set an area called a field in which a control command is described, at the head of a document created by an application. Known document creating application software having a function of setting such fields is, for example, Word (registered trademark) which is document creating application software provided by MicroSoft. This field has, for example, a header and a footer, and can automatically enter a page number, a date, and the like. Further, this field has a function of describing a command of PCL5 (Printer Control Language 5) which is a page description language (PDL: Page Description Language) for printing. When printing from the document creation application via the printer driver, the PCL5 command described in this field is sent directly to the printer without passing through the conversion process to PDL by the driver. This function is called driver pass-through. ing. By using this function, commands can be issued regardless of the printer driver settings. For this reason, for example, when it is desired to perform double-sided printing on a PCL5 printer or to print on paper of a predetermined paper feed stage, a template of the document creation application is created in advance, and the PCL5 command is described in the field in the template. You can use this function by setting it.

Further, PCLXL which is a PDL different from the conventional PCL5 is known, and a PCLXL printer which executes a print command described by using this PCLXL is known. Here, there is a case where the user uses a document template in which a command of PCL5 is described in a field as a document template to be printed by the PCL5 printer.

At this time, when the printer used by the user is switched from the PCL5 printer to the PCLXL printer, but the document template is not updated, a document in which the PCL5 command is described in the field is created, and the document is transmitted to the printer for PCLXL. There is. In such a case, the PCLXL printer driver transmits a PCXL print command to the PCLXL printer, and further, the PCL5 print command described in the field is transmitted to the PCLXL printer through driver pass-through.

Patent Document 1 proposes a mechanism for converting these two PDLs into a print command of one type of PDL. In Patent Document 1, the first control command described in the field is determined as PCL5 and the second control command is determined as PCLXL, and the first control command is converted into the second control command PCLXL. Thus, even if a print language different from the print language of the printer driver is input through pass-through, a method of limiting the command to only one type is proposed.

JP, 2008-186084, A

In the PCL5 printer that operates according to the PCL5 instruction, once the page attribute information is specified by the PCL5 instruction, it is not necessary to specify the page attribute instruction in the subsequent pages, so the specified page information is directly reflected in the subsequent page. .. Therefore, when a document in which the PCL5 command is described in the field is printed by the PCL5 printer using the printer driver for PCL5, the attribute information according to the PCL5 command entered in the field is reflected in all subsequent pages. It

On the other hand, when the document in which the PCL5 command is described in the field is printed by the PCLXL printer using the PCLXL printer driver, there are the following problems.

Unlike the language specification of PCL5, PCLXL always specifies the page attribute information such as the paper size and the paper orientation at the beginning (BeginPage) of each page. Therefore, if a document in which the PCL5 command is described in the field is printed by the PCLXL printer using the printer driver for PCLXL, the printing process is executed according to the attribute information specified by the PCL5 command on the first page, but on the second page. The designation will not be reflected after the eyes. As a result, as with the PCL5 printer, for a user who expects that the attribute information is reflected on all pages, the PCL5 instruction specified in the field is not reflected on the subsequent page, so that the print result intended by the user is not obtained. There is a problem that it will not be obtained.

An object of the present invention is to solve at least one of the above-mentioned problems of the conventional technology.

An object of the present invention is to provide a technique for, when pass-through data includes a page control command, reflecting attribute information designated by the page control command also on a subsequent page.

In order to achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention has the following configuration. That is,
Receiving means for receiving a print job,
First determining means for determining whether or not the print job includes pass-through data,
Second determining means for determining whether the pass-through data includes a page control command when the first determining means determines that the print job includes pass-through data;
Storage means for storing the attribute information designated by the page control command when the second determination means determines that the page control command is included;
Update means for updating the attribute information of the page under analysis of the print job with the stored attribute information in response to the storage means storing the attribute information. ..

According to the present invention, when pass-through data includes a page control command, it is possible to reflect the attribute information designated by the page control command on the subsequent page.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that, in the accompanying drawings, the same or similar configurations are denoted by the same reference numerals.

The accompanying drawings are included in and form a part of the specification, illustrate the embodiments of the invention, and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a printing system according to a first embodiment of the invention. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of print processing in the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating processing when a general printer receives and prints a print job created by a general host computer. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a PCLXL command analysis process of S203 of FIG. 2 by a conventional printer device. FIG. 3 is a flowchart (A) illustrating the PCLXL command analysis processing of step S<b>203 of FIG. 2 by the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment, and a diagram (B) illustrating an example of correspondence between BitFlags and page attribute information. 6 is a flowchart illustrating processing of updating page attribute information by a page control command of pass-through data of PCL5 in S505 of FIG. 5A. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a BitFlag update process by a pass-through page control command in S510 of FIG. 5A is a flowchart illustrating processing that is executed after the CPU 112 determines in S503 of FIG. 5A that the command is a page start command. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on the operation unit of the image forming apparatus according to the second embodiment.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following embodiments are not intended to limit the present invention according to the claims, and all combinations of the features described in the present embodiments are essential to the solving means of the present invention. Not necessarily.

[Embodiment 1]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a printing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

In this printing system, a plurality of image forming apparatuses 100 and 101 and a host computer (PC) 191 can communicate with each other via TCP/IP via a LAN (Local Area Network) 190 such as Ethernet (registered trademark). It is connected to the. The protocol used for communication may be a protocol such as UDP other than TCP/IP.

The image forming apparatuses 100 and 101 are multi-function peripherals (MFPs) and execute processing in response to a print instruction from the host computer 191. Here, the image forming apparatuses 101 and 101 may be SFP (Single Function Printer) or LBP (Laser Beam Printer) other than the MFP. Further, the image forming apparatuses 100 and 101 may be printers of a printing method other than the MFP, SFP, and LBP. Since the image forming apparatus 100 and the image forming apparatus 101 have the same configuration, the configuration of the image forming apparatus 100 will be described below.

The image forming apparatus 100 includes a reader unit 120, a printer unit 130, an operation unit 140, an image storage unit 150, an authentication unit 160, and a control unit 110 that controls each of these components. The control unit 110 includes a CPU 112, a ROM 114, a RAM 116, and the like, and the CPU 112 expands a program stored in the ROM 114 or another storage medium (not shown) in the RAM 116 and executes the expanded program, whereby the MFP 100 is executed. Control the whole. The RAM 116 is used as a work area for the CPU 112. For example, the control unit 110 is configured to load a predetermined program for performing rendering processing or the like on the CPU 112. Regarding rendering processing, although not described here, dedicated hardware may be used. In the first embodiment, a program for executing the procedure shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. 2, 4, 5A, 6, 7, and 8 is stored in the ROM 114, and the program is expanded in the RAM 116. , CPU 112.

The reader unit 120 reads a document according to an instruction from the control unit 110 and generates image data corresponding to the image of the document. The printer unit 130 prints an image using a printer engine (not shown) according to the image data supplied from the control unit 110. The operation unit 140 has operation keys for the user to operate, and a display unit for displaying/setting image data and various functions, and notifies the control unit 110 of information such as user operations. The image storage unit 150 is used as a work area of the control unit 110 and is used for storing data such as a print job. The authentication unit 160 acquires user authentication information from an ID card or the like and notifies the control unit 110 of it.

Next, an outline of the processing executed by the host computer 191 will be described. Since the host computer 191 has the same components as a general computer, the description of the configuration will be omitted.

The host computer 191 generates PDL data described in a page description language (PDL: Page Description Language) using a printer driver based on a print command requested from the application via the OS. PDL data composed of PDL commands converted and generated for each print command becomes a print job. Then, the host computer 191 transmits the print job to the image forming apparatus 100 via the LAN 190 and TCP/IP.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of print processing in the image forming apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment. The process shown in this flowchart is realized by the CPU 112 executing a program loaded from the ROM 114 to the RAM 116.

First, in step S201, the CPU 112 receives a print job transmitted from the host computer 191 or the like via TCP/IP via the LAN 190. Next, the processing proceeds to step S202, and the CPU 112 determines the PDL type from the received print job. At this time, the CPU 112 corresponds to a plurality of PDL types that can be analyzed. In the first embodiment, the CPU 112 executes the PCLXL print job analysis and drawing processing. However, the present invention is not limited to this PDL type, and another PDL may be used. If the CPU 112 determines in S202 that the print job is a PCLXL job, it advances the processing in S203, and if it determines that it is other PDL (eg XPS) data, advances the processing to S204.

In step S203, the CPU 112 executes the PDL analysis processing as PCLXL data. Here, the CPU 112 stores the result of analyzing the PDL command in the RAM 116 or the image storage unit 150 as intermediate data, and advances the processing to S205. Here, an analysis method when a job including pass-through data is designated when the CPU 112 executes the PCLXL analysis process will be described later in detail with reference to FIG.

On the other hand, in step S204, the CPU 1112 executes PDL analysis processing as XPS data. The CPU 112 stores the result of analyzing the PDL command in the RAM 116 or the image storage unit 150 as intermediate data and advances the process to S205.

In S205, the CPU 112 executes the rendering process of the image data from the intermediate data generated in the PDL command analysis (S203 or S204). Then, the CPU 112 outputs the generated image data to the printer unit 130 to perform print processing, and ends this processing.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a process when a general printer receives and prints a print job created by a general host computer. Here, the configuration of PCLXL data when the user inputs the PCL5 command as pass-through data in the document and the state of print processing in the printer device are shown.

Here, for example, the document 301 created by Word (registered trademark) that is the document creating application software will be described as an example. In FIG. 3A, a document 301 includes a PCL5 command 302 in the header field of the document and a normal sentence 303 in the body. When the host computer receives a print instruction of the document 301 from the user, the host computer creates a print job using the PCLXL printer driver 304 and transmits the print job to the printer device 330. At this time, the printer driver 304 creates the print job 307 with the PCL5 command 302 in the field of the document 301 as the PCL5 command instead of the PCLXL data (FIG. 3B). Further, the printer driver 304 converts the normal sentence 303 of the document 301 into a PCLXL command 305 to create a PCLXL print job 307 (FIG. 3B).

The printer device 330 starts the analysis process 306 with the print job 307 sent from the printer driver 304 as the PDL type of PCLXL.

FIG. 3B shows the data structure of the PCLXL print job 307 sent from the printer driver 304.

The PCLXL print job 307 is data in which the printer driver 304 converts each page of the document 301 into PCLX command print. The printer driver 304 converts the first page 309 and the second page 310 of the document 301 into PCLXL commands. A page start command (BeginPage) for each page sets page attributes of A4 size, portrait orientation, and automatic paper feed (Auto). Here, in the PCLXL print job 307, the PCL5 command 302 is embedded as pass-through data 308 by the PCLXL command in the middle of the first page 309. Further, in the PCLXL print job 307, the pass-through data 308 includes the PCL5 command 302 and the data size of the command. Here, the PCL5 command 302 embedded in the document 301 is merely an example, and the PCL5 command 302 can be specified regardless of only the page size or the paper direction of the page control command without any particular specification. Further, as the PCL5 command 302, a drawing command command such as an image, a text, or a graphic can be used in addition to the page control command.

FIG. 3C shows a list of each page attribute information when the PCLXL print job 307 is analyzed in the PCLXL analysis processing 306. In the PCLXL analysis processing 306, the information of the paper size “A4”, the paper orientation “vertical direction”, and the paper feed tray “automatic” is acquired from the attribute information designated by BeginPage of the first page 309. When the command of the pass-through data 308 is detected when the next command is analyzed, the PCLXL analysis process 306 switches the PDL analysis process to the PCL5 analysis process and executes the PCL5 command 302 analysis process.

Here, the PCLXL analysis processing 306 updates the page attribute information with the paper size of the first page set to “letter” and the paper orientation to “lateral” from the analysis result of the PCL5 command.

Then, the PCLXL analysis process 306 starts the analysis process of the second page 310 after performing the analysis up to the end (EndPage) of the first page 309. The PCLXL analysis processing 306 acquires information of the paper size “A4”, the paper orientation “vertical direction”, and the paper feed tray “automatic” from the attribute information designated by BeginPage of the second page 310.

In this way, the page attribute information of the pass-through data 308 included in the first page 309 of the PCLXL print job 307 (paper size is “letter”, paper orientation is “horizontal”) is obtained by analysis of the second page 310. The PCLXL page attribute information (paper size is “A4”, paper orientation is “vertical”) is overwritten, and the print result has a paper size and orientation different from the first page 309.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart for explaining the PCLXL command analysis processing of S203 of FIG. 2 by the conventional printer device 330.

First, in step S401, the printer apparatus 330 acquires the head data of the PCLXL data of the received print job and analyzes the command. Next, in S402, the printer device 330 determines whether the analyzed command is pass-through data. If it is determined to be pass-through data, the process proceeds to S403, and if not, the process proceeds to S406. In S403, the printer device 330 activates the PCL5 analysis program process and shifts to a state in which the PCL5 command can be analyzed. Next, proceeding to S404, the printer device 330 analyzes the binary size data designated by the pass-through data as a PCL5 command. Here, regardless of whether the PCL5 command specified by the pass-through data is a drawing command or a page control command, the analysis processing unit of the PCL5 notifies the analysis unit of the PCLXL command of the drawing and page control results. The process advances to step S405, and the printer device 330 determines whether the analysis of the PCL5 command for the data size designated by the pass-through data has been completed. In S405, if all the data of the pass-through data has been analyzed, the process returns to the analysis processing unit of PCLXL and proceeds to S406. On the other hand, if unanalyzed data of pass-through data still remains in S405, the process proceeds to S404 in which the PCL5 command is acquired and analyzed to continue the PCL5 analysis process. In step S406, the printer apparatus 330 acquires the next PCLXL command from the received print job. Then, in step S407, it is determined whether the PCLXL command is a command indicating the end of the job (EndSession), and if it is the end of the data, the analysis processing of this PDL command is ended. On the other hand, if the next PCLXL command is not the end of the job, the process proceeds to S401 to analyze the next PCLXL command.

FIG. 5A is a flowchart illustrating the PCLXL command analysis processing of S203 of FIG. 2 by the image forming apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment. The process shown in this flowchart is realized by the CPU 112 executing a program loaded from the ROM 114 to the RAM 116.

First, in step S501, the CPU 112 sets a bit flag (FIG. 5B) as a pass-through page control command flag in the RAM 116 or the image storage unit 150, and sets the initial value to “0x0”. The pass-through page control command flag is flag information indicating whether or not page attribute information such as paper size designation and paper orientation is included in the PCL5 command. Then, the page attribute information such as the paper size designation and the paper orientation direction, for example, the paper size A4, the letter, and the attribute information such as the horizontal and vertical directions of the paper direction are associated with these page control command flags, for example, It is stored in the RAM 116 or the like. If the bit of the page control command flag BitFlag is valid "1", the page attribute information designated by pass-through is managed. FIG. 5B shows an example of the correspondence between BitFlag and each page attribute information.

In the example of FIG. 5B, BitFlag “0x00000001” indicates a paper size attribute, and BitFlag “0x00000002” indicates a paper orientation attribute. As described above, the presence or absence of each attribute can be determined by whether the bit at each bit position of BitFlag is “0” or “1”. As described above, the paper size “letter” and the paper orientation “lateral direction” are stored in different areas in association with the page control command flag. The method of holding the BitFlag is not limited to these, and each attribute of other page attribute information may be added in association with the bit position.

Next, the processing proceeds to step S502, and the CPU 112 starts the analysis of the PCLXL command of the print job and advances the processing to step S503. In step S503, the CPU 112 determines whether the PCLXL command analyzed in step S502 is a page start (BeginPage) command. If it is determined that the command is the page start command, the process proceeds to S504. If not, the process proceeds to S507.

In step S504, the CPU 112 determines whether the page control command flag is valid based on whether the value of BitFlag is other than “0x0”. Here, if any page attribute of BitFlag is valid, the value is "0x0" or more, and therefore it is determined that the pass-through page control command is included, and the process proceeds to S505. On the other hand, when BitFlag="0x0" in S504, it is determined that the pass-through page control command is not included, and the process proceeds to S506.

In step S505, the CPU 112 changes the setting so as to update the stored pass-through page attribute information, and proceeds to step S512. The process in which the CPU 112 updates the subsequent page to the page attribute of the pass-through data in S505 will be described later with reference to FIG.

On the other hand, in step S506, the CPU 112 acquires the page attribute information from the BeginPage command of PCLXL and sets the page attribute information as the page attribute information of the page being analyzed, and proceeds to step S512.

If it is not the page start command in S503, the CPU 112 proceeds to S507 and determines whether the PCLXL command of S502 is pass-through data. If it is determined to be pass-through data, the process proceeds to S508, and if not, the process proceeds to S512. In step S508, the CPU 112 analyzes the binary size data designated by the pass-through data as a PCL5 command. Next, proceeding to step S509, the CPU 112 determines from the analysis result of step S508 whether the pass-through data is a page control command. When the CPU 112 determines in S509 that the PCL5 command is a page control command, the CPU 112 advances the process to S510. Here, the CPU 112 determines that the command is a page control type command because it is a PCL5 command such as double-sided/single-sided designation, sheet size, sheet orientation, and sheet feed stage designation. On the other hand, if it is determined in S509 that the command is other than the page control system command, the process proceeds to S511. Here, the CPU 112 determines a command other than the page control system is a PCL5 command of a drawing system such as text, image, and graphics.

In step S510, the CPU 112 changes the pass-through page control command flag of the RAM 116 or the image storage unit 150 to valid, and proceeds to step S511. Here, the CPU 112 stores the page attribute information of the page control system command in the RAM 116 or the BitFlag of the image storage unit 150 in step S<b>509. A detailed description when the CPU 112 saves the page attribute information designated by pass-through in BitFlag in S510 will be described later with reference to FIG. 7.

In S511, the CPU 112 determines whether the analysis of the PCL5 command for the data size designated by the pass-through data has been completed. If it is determined that all the pieces of pass-through data have been analyzed, the process returns to the analysis processing unit of PCLXL and advances to S512. On the other hand, if it is determined in S511 that the pass-through data data still remains, the process proceeds to S508 in which the PCL5 command is acquired and analyzed in order to continue the PCL5 analysis process.

In step S512, the CPU 112 acquires the next PCLXL command from the print job. Then, the processing proceeds to step S<b>513, and the CPU 112 determines whether or not the PCLXL command is a command indicating the end of the job (EndSession). If it is determined that the end of the data has been reached, the PDL command analysis processing ends. On the other hand, if the next PCLXL command is not the end of the job, the process proceeds to S502 to analyze the next PCLXL command.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a process of updating the page attribute information by the page control command of pass-through data of PCL5 in S505 of FIG. 5A.

In step S601, the CPU 112 acquires the BitFlag stored in the RAM 116 or the image storage unit 150. Here, when the CPU 112 analyzes the PCLXL print job 307 of FIG. 3B, for example, the value of BitFlag is “0x00000003” because the paper size and the paper orientation are specified.

Next, proceeding to step S602, the CPU 112 determines whether the least significant bit of BitFlag indicating the paper size is valid “1”. When it is determined in S602 that the bit indicating the paper size is "1", the process proceeds to S603. At this time, for example, in the case of the PCLXL print job 307 of FIG. 3B, since the designation of the paper size is included, the least significant bit of BitFlag is “1”, and it is determined that the paper size is designated by pass-through. Then, the process proceeds to S603. On the other hand, if it is determined in S602 that the least significant bit of the BitFlag is "0", the paper size has not been designated, and the process proceeds to S604. Note that, for example, in the case of the PCLXL print job 307 of FIG. 3B, since the designation of the paper size is included, the process of setting the least significant bit of BitFlag to “1” is executed in S510 of FIG. The processing will be described later with reference to FIG. 7.

In step S603, the CPU 112 acquires the paper size corresponding to the least significant bit “1” of BitFlag from the RAM 116 or the image storage unit 150, for example. Then, the paper size of the page attribute information of the current page is updated with the paper size corresponding to the least significant bit “1” of BitFlag, and the process proceeds to S604. Thus, the paper size specified by pass-through is set as the attribute information of the page, not the paper size specified by the page start command (BeginPage) of PCLXL, and the paper size of the subsequent page is specified by pass-through. It can be attribute information.

In step S604, the CPU 112 determines whether the second least significant bit of the BitFlag corresponding to the sheet orientation is valid “1”. When the CPU 112 determines in S604 that the second least significant bit of the BitFlag corresponding to the sheet orientation is "1", the process proceeds to S605. At this time, for example, in the case of the analysis result of the PCLXL print job 307 of FIG. 3B, since the pass-through includes “vertical direction” as the paper orientation, the second least significant bit of BitFlag is “1”. Has become. Therefore, it is possible to determine that the paper orientation is designated by pass-through. On the other hand, when the CPU 112 determines in S604 that the second least significant bit of the BitFlag is invalid "0", the update to the page attribute information by pass-through ends, and the process ends.

In step S605, the CPU 112 acquires the sheet orientation value corresponding to the second least significant bit of BitFlag, for example, from the RAM 116 or the image storage unit 150. Then, the paper orientation of the page attribute information of the current page is updated with the acquired paper orientation value. As a result, the paper orientation specified by pass-through can be set instead of the paper orientation specified by the page start command (BeginPage) of PCLXL. As a result, the paper orientation of the subsequent page can be printed with the attribute information designated by pass-through.

As described above, according to this processing, the page attribute information of the current page can be updated to the page attribute information of PCL5 designated by pass-through. In the first embodiment, the method of updating two page attribute information has been described, but the present invention is not limited to two, and all attribute information that can be specified by the page start command of PCLXL can be added.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the BitFlag update processing by the pass-through page control command in S510 of FIG.

In step S701, the CPU 112 determines whether the PCL5 command in step S508 is a control command (¥033&l#A) that specifies the paper size. At this time, the CPU 112 detects, as PCL5 binary data, whether or not it is a control command for designating the paper size of the PCL5 command, and if they match, it shifts to S702 which is determined as a control command for designating the paper size. On the other hand, if the CPU 112 determines in step S701 that the control command does not specify the paper size, the process proceeds to step S703. In step S<b>702, the CPU 112 sets the least significant bit of the BitFlag to “1”, acquires a set value (#), for example, the size “letter” from the control command that specifies the paper size, and stores it in the memory such as the RAM 116 or the image storage unit 150. Then, the process is finished.

In step S703, the CPU 112 determines whether the PCL5 command in step S508 is a control command (¥033&l#O) that specifies the paper orientation. In S703, the CPU 112 detects, as PCL5 binary data, whether or not the control instruction specifies the paper orientation of the PCL5 command, and if they match, determines that the control instruction specifies the paper orientation and advances the processing to S704. On the other hand, when the CPU 112 determines in step S703 that the control instruction does not specify the paper orientation, the processing ends. In step S<b>704, the CPU 112 sets the second least significant bit of the BitFlag to “1”, acquires the set value (#) of the control command that specifies the paper orientation, for example, “landscape”, and stores it in the RAM 116 or the image storage unit. The data is stored in the memory such as 150, and this process ends.

As described above, according to this flowchart, the page attribute information of the PCL5 designated by pass-through can be stored and used as the page attribute of the PCLXL command. Although the method of updating two page attribute information has been described in the first embodiment, the present invention is not limited to two, and all page attribute information that can be specified by the PCL5 command can be added to the determination.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the page attribute information of the PCLXL is updated with the page attribute information of the control instruction of the PCL5 designated by the passthrough, so that the passthrough page information is inherited to the subsequent page. be able to. As a result, when the PCLXL data includes pass-through data and the pass-through data includes page attribute information of PCL5, the page attribute information is added not only to the current page but also to the subsequent page of the PCLXL data. Can be inherited.

[Embodiment 2]
In the second embodiment, an example will be described in which whether to inherit the control command of the PCL5 designated by pass-through to the succeeding page is switched on the menu screen displayed on the operation unit. The hardware configuration of the system and the image forming apparatus 100 according to the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention is the same as that of the first exemplary embodiment, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a process executed after the CPU 112 determines in S503 of FIG. 5A that the command is a page start command. The process shown in this flowchart is realized by the CPU 112 executing a program loaded from the ROM 114 to the RAM 116.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on the operation unit 140 of the image forming apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment.

On this screen, the user specifies whether or not to allow the page attribute information of the PCL5 command specified by the PCLXL pass-through to be inherited to the subsequent page. When the user selects "Valid" and presses the OK button (in Fig. 9, "Valid" is selected), the page attribute information of the PCL5 command is inherited to the subsequent page. Is set. The set value is stored in the RAM 116. On the other hand, when the user presses the cancel button or selects “invalid” and presses the OK button, the page attribute information of the PCL5 command is set not to be inherited to the subsequent pages. The set value is also stored in the RAM 116.

In step S<b>801, the CPU 112 acquires the setting value set via the screen of FIG. 9 from the RAM 116. Next, the processing proceeds to step S802, and the CPU 112 determines whether or not the setting value is set to enable pass-through inheritance. Here, if pass-through inheritance is enabled, the CPU 112 advances the processing to step S504 in FIG. 5A in order to prioritize the page attribute information designated by pass-through of PCL5. On the other hand, if pass-through inheritance is disabled in step S802, the process proceeds to step S506 in FIG. 5A in order to prioritize the PCLXL page attribute information.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, the user can select whether to reflect the page attribute information designated by pass-through of PCL5 on the page attribute information designated by PCLXL data.

(Other embodiments)
The present invention supplies a program that implements one or more functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus via a network or a storage medium, and one or more processors in a computer of the system or apparatus read and execute the program. It can also be realized by the processing. It can also be realized by a circuit (for example, ASIC) that realizes one or more functions.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, in order to make the scope of the present invention public, the following claims are attached.

Reference numeral 100... Image forming apparatus, 110... Control section, 112... CPU, 114... ROM, 116... RAM, 140... Operation section, 150... Image storage section

Claims (11)

Receiving means for receiving a print job,
First determining means for determining whether or not the print job includes pass-through data,
Second determining means for determining whether the pass-through data includes a page control command when the first determining means determines that the print job includes pass-through data;
Storage means for storing the attribute information designated by the page control command when the second determination means determines that the page control command is included;
Updating means for updating the attribute information of the page under analysis of the print job with the stored attribute information in response to the storage means storing the attribute information;
An image forming apparatus comprising: The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print job includes a first page description language and a second page description language, and the pass-through data includes a control command of the second page description language. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the first page description language is PCLXL, and the second page description language is PCL5 (Printer Control Language 5). The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the page control command is a command not related to drawing processing. The storage unit stores the presence or absence of each of a plurality of attributes included in the attribute information as information associated with a bit position, and also stores a set value corresponding to each attribute. The image forming apparatus according to any one of 4 above. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the plurality of attributes include at least one of double-sided printing, designation of a paper feed stage, paper size, and paper orientation. When at least one bit of the information indicates that there is an attribute, the updating unit uses the setting value corresponding to the attribute indicating that the attribute information of the page under analysis of the print job. 7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the image forming apparatus is updated. Further comprising setting means for setting whether or not to permit updating the attribute information of the page under analysis of the print job using the attribute information stored in the storage means,
When the setting unit sets to permit the update, the updating unit updates the attribute information of the page under analysis of the print job using the attribute information stored in the storage unit. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: 9. The setting device according to claim 8, wherein the setting unit displays a screen for allowing the user to set whether or not to permit the update, and performs the setting according to the user's setting via the screen. Image forming apparatus. A control method for controlling an image forming apparatus, comprising:
A receiving step of receiving a print job,
A first determining step of determining whether or not the print job includes pass-through data,
A second determining step of determining whether the pass-through data includes a page control command when the first determining step determines that the print job includes pass-through data;
A storage step of storing attribute information designated by the page control command in a memory when the second determination step determines that the page control command is included;
An updating step of updating the attribute information of the page under analysis of the print job with the stored attribute information in response to the memory storing the attribute information;
A control method comprising: A program for causing a computer to function as each unit of the image forming apparatus according to claim 1.

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