JP3368175B2 - Print control apparatus and method - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a print control device and method, and more particularly to a print control device for outputting a printed material in a bookbinding state in a system including an information processing device such as a personal computer and an output device such as a printer. It is about the method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the case of bookbinding printing using a printer having a double-sided printing unit, that is, when printing is performed so that the printed page is folded in two, the page order is aligned. For example, pages to be printed are stored in the memory of the printer, and the pages are arranged and output in the printer. In this method, four continuous pages are arranged and printed such that when the printed paper is folded in two, the pages are continuous.

[0003]

In printing with such a conventional printer, the output printed materials are folded in two, one by one, and the folded printed materials are arranged in page order for the entire document. Only after a while can you bind. Therefore, the user has to fold the sheet into two sheets, one sheet by one sheet, which increases the number of operations when the number of pages is large. As described above, there is a drawback that the user is burdened with a great labor.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional example, and provides a printing control apparatus and method that can reduce the labor of the operator, improve the degree of freedom of selection by the user, and easily perform bookbinding printing. With the goal.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following constitution. That is, the pre
Application driver in memory and load the application
A graphic engine that converts output into a print job containing printer control commands using a printer driver
The information processing apparatus as a host computer comprising an input means for inputting a bookbinding setting for determining how the bookbinding layout is performed, to be printed is input via the graphic engine from the application data To intermediate data and convert the intermediate data to
Spooling means for readablely spooling in a desired order on a page-by-page basis in the storing means, arranging means for deciding the layout of pages of a print job to be sent to the printing apparatus according to the bookbinding setting, and the spooled intermediate data Raw
Monitors the status of printing and print processing based on the intermediate data
It is determined that the print processing is possible.
And an intermediate data processing unit that reads the intermediate data from the storage unit in an order according to the arrangement determined by the arrangement unit, processes the intermediate data, and re-outputs the intermediate data to the graphic engine; And a generation unit configured to generate a printer control command according to the arrangement, which is output to the printing apparatus, based on data to be printed input from the processing unit via the graphic engine.

More preferably, the arranging means is a bookbinding mark.
Arrange pages so that the minimum number of sheets that can be printed
To decide. More preferably, the arranging means is
When the first value is input from the force means as the bookbinding setting,
The pages are arranged in order when all printouts are overlapped and folded in half.
The pages are arranged on the recording medium as described above. More preferably
The second value from the input means is bound by the placement means.
When input as a setting, a predetermined number of printouts are overlaid.
On the recording medium so that the pages are arranged in order when folded in half.
Place the page on.

More preferably, the number of remaining pages to be printed is
If the number is less than four times the predetermined number,
A value obtained by dividing the remaining number of pages by 4 (rounding up after the decimal point)
Further comprises resetting means characterized by changing to
It More preferably, the binding setting is right-handed or left-handed.
Further including direction information for setting
The page layout is determined according to the direction information. More preferred
In other words, the generation unit performs double-sided printing on the printing device.
Let

More preferably, the bookbinding setting is a sheet section.
The resetting means further including information on whether to perform
Reset the page alignment if you want to save paper
It More preferably, the arranging means is provided for folding at the time of binding.
Of the pages that can be arranged in the units that make up the
Page so that the pages corresponding to the inside are printed out in order.
Place Ji. More preferably, the bookbinding setting is for paper.
It also includes information on whether to save money and saves paper.
If you cannot find it, print it out when the inner pages are complete.
Start the force.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments suitable for applying the present invention will be described below. [First Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a printer control system showing an embodiment of the present invention. In addition, as long as the functions of the present invention are executed, a LAN, a single device or a system composed of a plurality of devices,
The present invention can be applied even to a system in which processing is performed by connecting through a network such as WAN. <Configuration of Printing System> In the figure, the host computer 3000 creates graphics, images, characters, tables (including spreadsheets), etc. based on a document processing program stored in the program ROM of the ROM 3 or the external memory 11. A CPU 1 for executing mixed document processing is provided, and the CPU 1 comprehensively controls each device connected to the system bus 4. Further, in the program ROM of the ROM 3 or the external memory 11, an operating system program (hereinafter referred to as O
S) etc. are stored, the font ROM of the ROM 3 or the external memory 11 stores the font data or the like used in the document processing, and the data ROM of the ROM 3 or the external memory 11 performs the document processing or the like. Stores various data used at that time. The RAM 2 functions as a main memory, a work area, etc. of the CPU 1.

The keyboard controller (KBC) 5 is
Key input from the keyboard 9 or a pointing device (not shown) is controlled. CRT controller (CRTC)
Reference numeral 6 controls the display of a CRT display (CRT) 10. The disk controller (DKC) 7 is a boot program, various applications, font data,
Hard disk (HD), floppy disk (FD) that stores user files, edit files, printer control command generation programs (hereinafter printer drivers), etc.
Access to the external memory 11, etc. is controlled. The printer controller (PRTC) 8 is a printer 1 via a predetermined bidirectional interface (interface) 21.
It is connected to the printer 500 and executes communication control processing with the printer 1500.

It should be noted that the CPU 1 executes the rasterizing process of the outline font to the display information RAM set in the RAM 2, for example, and the W on the CRT 10 is executed.
It enables YSIWYG. Also, CPU1 is CR
Various registered windows are opened based on commands designated by a mouse cursor (not shown) on T10, and various data processes are executed. When executing printing, the user opens a window relating to print settings, and can make printer settings and print processing method settings for the printer driver including selection of print modes.

In the printer 1500, the printer C
The PU 12 outputs an image signal as output information to the printing unit (printer engine) 17 connected to the system bus 15 based on a control program stored in the program ROM of the ROM 13 or a control program stored in the external memory 14. Is output. The program ROM of the ROM 13 stores the control program of the CPU 12 and the like. The font ROM of the ROM 13 stores font data and the like used when generating the output information, and in the case of a printer in which the data ROM of the ROM 13 does not have an external memory 14 such as a hard disk, on the host computer. It stores information used.

The CPU 12 can communicate with the host computer via the input unit 18, and can notify the host computer 3000 of information in the printer. The RAM 19 is a RAM that functions as a main memory, a work area, etc. of the CPU 12, and is configured so that the memory capacity can be expanded by an optional RAM connected to an expansion port (not shown).
The RAM 19 is used as an output information expansion area, environment data storage area, NVRAM, and the like. Access to the external memory 14 such as the hard disk (HD) or IC card described above is controlled by the memory controller (MC) 20. The external memory 14 is optionally connected,
It stores font data, emulation programs, form data, etc. Further, the operation unit 1501 is provided with a switch for operation, an LED display, and the like.

The above-mentioned external memory is not limited to one, but at least one external memory is provided, and in addition to the built-in font, an option card and a plurality of external memories storing programs for interpreting printer control languages of different languages can be connected. It may be configured as follows. Furthermore, NV not shown
It may have a RAM and store the printer mode setting information from the operation unit 1501.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of typical print processing in a host computer to which a printing device such as a printer is directly connected or is connected via a network. The application 201, the graphic engine 202, the printer driver 203, and the system spooler 204 exist as files stored in the external memory 11, and when they are executed, they are loaded into the RAM 2 and executed by a module that uses the OS or its modules. It is a program module. In addition, the application 201 and the printer driver 203 are
It is possible to add to the HD of the external disk 11 via the FD of the external memory 11, a CD-ROM (not shown), or a network (not shown).

The application 201 stored in the external memory 11 is loaded into the RAM 2 and executed. From this application 201, the printer 1500 is executed.
Similarly, when printing is performed, the output (drawing) is performed using the graphic engine 202 that is similarly loaded in the RAM 2 and is executable. Graphic engine 2
02 is a printer driver 20 prepared for each printing apparatus
3 is similarly loaded from the external memory 11 to the RAM 2 and the output of the application 210 is output to the printer driver 203.
Is converted into a printer control command using. The converted printer control command is output to the printer 1500 via the interface 21 via the system spooler 204 loaded in the RAM 2 by the OS.

In addition to the printing system consisting of the printer and host computer shown in FIG. 2, the system of the present embodiment further includes a system for temporarily spooling print data from an application as intermediate code data as shown in FIG. It is assumed. <Structure of Print Control System> FIG. 3 is an extension of the system shown in FIG. 2. When a print command is sent from the graphic engine 202 to the printer driver 203, a spool file 303 consisting of an intermediate code is once generated. Figure 2
In this system, the application 201 is released from the printing process when the printer driver 203 finishes converting all the print commands from the graphic engine 202 into printer control commands. On the other hand, in the system of FIG. 3, the spooler 302 converts all print commands into intermediate code data, and then the spool file 3
It is the time of outputting to 03. The latter is usually faster. Further, in the system shown in FIG. 3, the contents of the spool file 303 can be processed.
As a result, it is possible to realize a function that the application does not have, such as enlarging / reducing print data from the application, reducing a plurality of pages to one page, and printing.

For these purposes, the system of FIG. 2 is spooled with intermediate code data as shown in FIG.
The system has been expanded. In addition, in order to process the print data, the operator normally makes settings on the setting screen provided by the printer driver 203, and the printer driver 203 stores the setting contents in the RAM 2 or the external memory 11.

The details of FIG. 3 will be described below. As shown in the figure, in this extended processing method, the dispatcher 301 receives a print command from the graphic engine 202. Graphic engine 2 for dispatcher 301
Print command received from the application 20
In the case of a print command issued from the 1 to the graphic engine 202, the dispatcher 301 uses the external memory 11
The spooler 302 stored in is loaded into the RAM 2 and the print command is sent to the spooler 302 instead of the printer driver 203.

The spooler 302 converts the received print command into an intermediate code and outputs it to the spool file 303. Further, the spooler 302 uses the printer driver 203.
The processing settings relating to the print data set for are acquired from the printer driver 203 and stored in the spool file 303. Although the spool file 303 is generated as a file on the external memory 11,
It may be generated on the second layer. Furthermore, the spooler 302
The spool file manager 304 stored in the external memory 11 is loaded on the RAM 2 and the spool file manager 304 is notified of the generation status of the spool file 303. After that, the spool file manager 304 determines whether or not printing can be performed according to the contents of the processing settings regarding the print data stored in the spool file 303. When the spool file manager 304 determines that printing can be performed using the graphic engine 202, the despooler 305 stored in the external memory 11 is loaded into the RAM 2, and the spool file 303 is described in the despooler 305. Instruct to print the intermediate code.

The despooler 305 is a spool file 30.
The intermediate code included in No. 3 is processed according to the contents of the processing setting included in the spool file 303, and is output again via the graphic engine 202.

The print command received by the dispatcher 301 from the graphic engine 202 is sent to the despooler 30.
In the case of the print command issued from the No. 5 to the graphic engine 202, the dispatcher 301 uses the spooler 302.
Instead, the print command is sent to the printer driver 203.

The printer driver 203 generates a printer control command according to the received print command and outputs it to the printer 1500 via the system spooler 204 and the bidirectional interface 21. <Configuration of Printer> FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view of a color laser beam printer having a double-sided printing function, which is an example of the printer 1500.

This printer is a host computer 300.
The laser light modulated by the image data for each color obtained based on the print data input from 0 is polygon mirror 31.
Thus, the photosensitive drum 15 is scanned to form an electrostatic latent image.
Then, this electrostatic latent image is developed with toner to obtain a visible image,
This is multi-transferred to the intermediate transfer body 9 for all colors to form a color visible image. Then, the color visible image is further transferred to the transfer material 2, and the color visible image is fixed on the transfer material 2. The image forming unit that performs the above control includes a drum unit having the photosensitive drum 15, a primary charging unit having a contact charging roller 17, a cleaning unit, a developing unit, an intermediate transfer member 9, a paper cassette 1, and various rollers 3, 4, 5 ,. The sheet feeding section includes a sheet feeding section including 7, a transfer section including the transfer roller 10, and a fixing section 25.

The drum unit 13 comprises a photosensitive drum (photosensitive member) 15 and a cleaner container 14 having a cleaning mechanism which also functions as a holder for the photosensitive drum 15 and are integrally formed. The drum unit 13 is detachably supported on the printer body, and the unit can be easily replaced according to the life of the photosensitive drum 15. The photosensitive drum 15 is formed by applying an organic photoconductor layer on the outer circumference of an aluminum cylinder, and is rotatably supported by the cleaner container 14. The photosensitive drum 15 is rotated by transmitting a driving force of a drive motor (not shown), and the drive motor rotates the photosensitive drum 15 in a counterclockwise direction according to an image forming operation. The exposure of the photosensitive drum 15 is performed by the scanner unit 3
The electrostatic latent image is formed by selectively exposing the surface of the photosensitive drum 15 with the laser beam sent from the laser. In the scanner unit 30, the modulated laser light is reflected by a polygon mirror that rotates in synchronization with a horizontal synchronizing signal of an image signal by a motor 31a, and irradiates a photosensitive drum via a lens 32 and a reflecting mirror 33.

The developing unit develops yellow (Y), magenta (M) and cyan (C) in order to visualize the electrostatic latent image into three color developing devices 20Y and 20Y.
It has a configuration including M, 20C and one black developing device 21B for developing black (B). The color developing units 20Y, 20M, 20C and the black developing unit 21B include sleeves 20YS, 20MS, 20CS and 21B.
S and these sleeves 20YS, 20MS, 20CS,
20BS Coating blades 20Y pressed against the outer periphery of each
B, 20 MB, 20 CB and 21 BB are provided respectively. In addition, three color developing devices 20Y, 20M, 20
C is provided with coating rollers 20YR, 20MR, 20CR.

The black developing device 21B is detachably attached to the printer body, and the color developing devices 20Y, 20M and 20C are detachably attached to the developing rotary 23 which rotates about the rotation shaft 22. ing.

Sleeve 21BS of the black developing device 21B
Are arranged with a minute gap of, for example, about 300 μm with respect to the photosensitive drum 15. Black developing device 21B
Is a sleeve 21B that rotates in the clockwise direction while the toner is conveyed by the feeding member built in the container.
A charge is applied to the toner by frictional charging so that the outer periphery of S is coated by the coating blade 21BB. Further, by applying a developing bias to the sleeve 21BS,
The photosensitive drum 15 is developed according to the electrostatic latent image to form a visible image on the photosensitive drum 15 with black toner.

Three color developing devices 20Y, 20M, 20
C rotates with the rotation of the developing rotary 23 at the time of image formation, and the predetermined sleeves 20YS, 20MS, 20
The CS faces the photosensitive drum 15 with a minute gap of about 300 μm. As a result, the predetermined color developing devices 20Y, 20M, 20C are stopped at the developing position facing the photosensitive drum 15, and a visible image is created on the photosensitive drum 15.

At the time of color image formation, 1 of the intermediate transfer member 9 is used.
The developing rotary 23 rotates for each rotation, and the yellow developing device 20Y, the magenta developing device 20M, the cyan developing device 20C,
Next, the development process is performed in the order of the black developing device 20B,
The intermediate transfer member 9 rotates four times to sequentially form a visible image with yellow, magenta, cyan, and black toners, respectively, and as a result, a full-color visible image is formed on the intermediate transfer member 9.

The intermediate transfer member 9 is configured to come into contact with the photosensitive drum 15 and rotate with the rotation of the photosensitive drum 15. The intermediate transfer member 9 rotates in the clockwise direction during color image formation, and the photosensitive drums 15 to 4 are rotated. Receive multiple transfers of visible images. Further, the intermediate transfer body 9 simultaneously transfers multiple color visible images on the intermediate transfer body 9 to the transfer material 2 by contacting a transfer roller 10 which will be described later during image formation and carrying the transfer material 2 therebetween. The intermediate transfer member 2 is provided on the outer peripheral portion of the intermediate transfer member.
A TOP sensor 9a and an RS sensor 9b for detecting the position of the toner image in the rotation direction, and a density sensor 9c for detecting the density of the toner image transferred to the intermediate transfer member are arranged.

The transfer roller 10 is provided with a transfer charger which is supported so as to be able to come into contact with and separate from the photosensitive drum 15, and is constructed by winding a metal shaft around a medium resistance foam elastic body.

The transfer roller 10 is separated downward so as not to disturb the color visible image during the multiple transfer of the color visible image onto the intermediate transfer body 9 as shown by the solid line in FIG. After the color visible images of four colors are formed on the intermediate transfer body 9, the color visible image is transferred to the transfer material 2
The transfer roller 10 is positioned above the dotted line in the drawing by a cam member (not shown) in accordance with the timing of transfer to the sheet. As a result, the transfer roller 10 is pressed against the intermediate transfer body 9 via the transfer material 2 with a predetermined pressing force, and a bias voltage is applied, so that the color visible image on the intermediate transfer body 9 is transferred to the transfer material 2.

The fixing section 25 fixes the transferred color visible image while the transfer material 2 is being conveyed. The fixing roller 26 for heating the transfer material 2 and the transfer material 2 are in pressure contact with the fixing roller 26. And the pressure roller 27. The fixing roller 26 and the pressure roller 27 are formed in a hollow shape, and have heaters 28 and 29 built therein. That is, the transfer material 2 holding the color visible image is conveyed by the fixing roller 26 and the pressure roller 27, and the toner is fixed on the surface by applying heat and pressure.

The transfer material 2 on which the visible image has been fixed is then discharged by the paper discharge rollers 34, 35 and 36 to the paper discharge section 37, and the image forming operation is completed.

The cleaning means cleans the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 15 and the intermediate transfer body 9, and after the visible image formed by the toner formed on the photosensitive drum 15 is transferred to the intermediate transfer body 9. The waste toner or the waste toner after transferring the color visible images of four colors formed on the intermediate transfer body 9 to the transfer material 2 is the cleaner container 1
Stored in 4.

The transfer material (recording paper) 2 to be printed is taken out from the paper feed tray 1 by the paper feed roller 3 and is conveyed so as to be sandwiched between the intermediate transfer body 9 and the transfer roller 10 to form a color toner image. Is recorded, and the toner image is fixed by passing through the fixing unit 25. For single-sided printing, guide 38
Forms a conveying path so as to guide the recording paper to the upper paper discharge section, but for a double-sided printing paper, forms a path so as to guide it to the lower duplex unit.

The recording paper guided to the double-sided unit is once fed to the lower part of the tray 1 (conveyance path indicated by the two-dot chain line) by the conveyance rollers 40, and then conveyed in the opposite direction to the double-sided tray 39. On the double-sided tray 39, the front and back sides of the sheet are reversed from the state of being placed on the sheet feed tray 1, and the front and rear sides are reversed with respect to the transport direction. In this state, double-sided printing can be performed by transferring and fixing the toner image again. <Method of Bookbinding Printing> FIG. 4 illustrates bookbinding printing and the result of its implementation.

Bookbinding printing is printing in such a manner that the page order is matched as a result of folding the print results output on both sides of the paper in half, and there are the following two methods.

1. When all pages to be printed are set in the unit of the number of sheets for bookbinding In this case, an output like the printed matter 41 in FIG. 4 is obtained, and the output is collectively folded into two to form a book.

2. In the case where an arbitrary page is used as the unit of the number of sheets for binding, in this case, an output like the printed matter 42 in FIG.

The term "number of sheets for bookbinding" as used herein means how many sheets of output paper should be collected and folded in half for bookbinding printing.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the format of the bookbinding output by the bookbinding printing may be as follows.

1. Arrange pages in ascending order from left (open left) 2. Arranging pages in ascending order from the right (opening to the right) Further, even when a page to be printed is in the horizontal direction, only the page is rotated and the page order is not changed.

In the printing system of this embodiment, printout is performed according to the various bookbinding printing methods described above. <Print Control Procedure> The bookbinding printing process will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 6 to 11 are control procedures executed by the spool file manager 304.

When the spool file manager 304 determines that printing can be started, the processing of FIG. 6 is started.

If it is determined in step 601 that the user has set the bookbinding printing, the process proceeds to step 602. If not, the normal printing is performed and the process proceeds to step 607.

In step 602, the setting relating to the number of sheets for bookbinding printing and the setting relating to printing format are acquired.

The following options are available for setting the number of prints.

1. Bookbinding printing with all pages to be printed together. The specified arbitrary page units are collectively bound and printed, and there are the following options for setting the print format.

1. Left opening 2. In the right-opening step 603, if all pages are selected in the unit of the number of bookbinding prints, the process proceeds to step 604, and if not selected, the process proceeds to step 605.

In step 604, bookbinding printing is performed by setting the number of bookbinding units to the entire print page. Details of this processing will be described later.

In step 605, if a specific number of sheets has been selected as the unit of bookbinding printing, the process proceeds to step 606, and if not, the process proceeds to step 607.

In step 606, bookbinding printing is performed in the designated number of sheets. Details of this processing will be described later.

In step 607, normal printing processing is performed.

The setting for bookbinding printing and the setting for each number of sheets are made by an operator's input from the host computer 3000.

The processing relating to step 604 in FIG. 6 will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8.

In step 701, the print format is acquired.

In step 702, the number of print pages is acquired. This print page can be acquired when all the print data from the application is spooled.

In step 703, the progress counter for bookbinding printing is set to zero. Pages printed when the counter is even are printed to be inside when folded, and pages printed when odd are printed to be outside when folded.

In step 704, the number of sheets of paper used is calculated by the following formula.

Number of sheets = number of pages / 4 (rounded up to the right of the decimal point) In step 705, two pages to be printed on the inner side of the innermost sheet when folded in two are calculated using the following formula. The pages to be printed thereafter are calculated based on these two pages.

Basic page 1 = number of sheets × 2 Basic page 2 = number of sheets × 2-1 For example, when print data of 50 pages is sent from the application, the number of sheets used for bookbinding printing is 50 ÷ 4 = 13 sheets, and the basic pages printed on the sheet to be folded when folded in two are basic page 1 = 13 × 2 = 26 pages and basic page 2 = 3 × 2-
1 = 25 pages. In the example of FIG. 4, the 11th page and the 10th page, which are the innermost folded surfaces of the printed matter 41, correspond to these.

In step 706, if the bookbinding printing process is completed, the process is terminated, and if not, the process proceeds to step 707.

In step 707, two pages printed side by side on one side of the recording paper are calculated by the following formula.

Print page 1 = basic page 1 + progress counter Print page 2 = basic page 2-progress counter For example, in the case of the above-mentioned 50 pages bookbinding printing, 26 + 1 = 27 pages and 25 are included in the second printing surface. -1 =
It will be 24 pages. After that, each time the progress counter is increased, it becomes 28 pages and 23 pages, 29 pages and 22 pages, and so on. Further, since the progress counter is 0 at the beginning, the basic page becomes the first printing surface.

In step 708, it is determined whether or not the calculated print page 1 is larger than the number of print pages from the application. If it is larger, it is treated as a margin and the process proceeds to step 709. If not larger, step 7
Skip to 10.

In step 709, since the print page 1 has a margin, the page number 0 representing the margin is substituted.

In steps 710 and 711, the layout of the two pages calculated from the print format (left open or right open) and the progress counter (whether it is inside or outside when folded) is determined.

Specifically, the inside / outside determination is inside when the number of print requests issued up to that time is even, and outside when it is odd. As a result of the determinations in steps 710 and 711, the processing proceeds as follows.

In the case of a page that is open to the left and is inside the fold, the process proceeds to step 712.

In the case of a page that is open to the left and is on the outside of the fold, the process proceeds to step 713.

In the case of a page that is open to the right and is on the outside of the fold, the process proceeds to step 712.

In the case of a page that is open to the left and is inside the fold, the process proceeds to step 713.

In step 712, print page 1 is arranged on the left side and print page 2 is arranged on the right side.

In step 713, print page 1 is arranged on the right side and print page 2 is arranged on the left side.

However, step 712 and step 713
In, if the print page 1 = 0, a margin is placed there.

The processing from step 710 to step 713 is for printing, for example, 24 pages on the back side of 25 pages and 27 pages on the back side of 26 pages.

In step 714, the print progress counter is incremented by 1.

In step 715, the despooler 30
It is determined whether or not the next print request for 5 is possible. If yes, the process proceeds to step 716, and if not, step 71.
7 and waits until the next print request becomes possible.

In step 716, a print request for one surface of the recording paper is issued for the print page whose layout has been completed.

In step 717, it is determined whether or not an output request for the next page is possible, and if yes, step 70.
Go to 6 and if not, wait until it is possible.

The printed matter printed and output as described above can be bound by simply folding it in half and folding it in half.

The processing relating to step 606 in FIG. 6 will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10.

The number-of-sheets unit here indicates how many sheets are folded and bookbinding printing is performed. This unit is called a block. For example, when 40 pages of print data from an application are bound and printed in units of two sheets, two folded sheets are regarded as one block, and eight pages of data are arranged in one block. .
Therefore, the entire print data is divided into 5 blocks for bookbinding printing.

In step 801, the print format and the number of sheets are acquired.

In step 802, the print end page is set to 0.

In step 803, it is determined whether or not the bookbinding printing process is finished. If it is finished, the process is finished, and if it is not finished, the process proceeds to step 804.

In step 804, a print page (bookbinding printability determination page) that enables bookbinding printing processing is acquired. The number of pages for which bookbinding printing is possible is determined in step S804 is the maximum number of pages in a block.

The number of pages for which bookbinding printing is possible in the first block is calculated as follows.

Bookbinding printability determination page = number of sheets × 4 For the second block and thereafter, the bookbinding printability determination page is obtained by the following.

Bookbinding printability determination page = bookbinding printability determination page of previous block + number of sheets × 4 For example, in the case of bookbinding printing in units of two 40 pages, the bookbinding printability determination page in the first block is 2 × 4 = 8
And the next block is 8 + 2 × 4 = 16 pages. After that, it will be 24 pages, 32 pages, and 40 pages.

At step 805, the number of pages for which spooling has been completed is acquired.

In step 806, it is determined whether spooling up to the print page (bookbinding printability determination page) that enables bookbinding printing processing or spooling of all pages has finished, and if processing is possible, step 807. If not possible, return to step 805.

In step 807, the progress counter is set to 0.

In step 808, two basic pages printed on the inner side of the innermost sheet when folded in half are calculated using the following formula.

Pages to be printed thereafter are calculated based on these two pages.

Basic page 1 = Bookbinding printability determination page-
Number of sheets × 2 + 1 Basic page 2 = Bookbinding printability determination page−Number of sheets × 2 In step 809, it is determined whether or not the print request of the current block is completed. If it is completed, the process proceeds to step 803.
If not completed, the process proceeds to step 810. Specifically, it is determined that the print request is completed when the progress counter becomes equal to the number of sheets.

At step 810, two pages for which a print request is made are calculated by the following formula.

Print page 1 = Basic page 1 + Progress counter Print page 2 = Basic page 2-Progress counter Since the progress counter is 0 at the beginning, the basic page is the first print page.

In step 811, it is determined whether the calculated print page 1 is larger than the number of print pages from the application. If it is larger, it is treated as a margin and the process proceeds to step 812. If not, step 8
Skip to 13.

In step 812, a blank space is arranged on the print page 1, so for example, page number 0 representing the blank space is substituted.

In steps 813 and 814, the layout of two pages calculated from the print format (left open or right open) and the progress counter (whether it comes inside or outside when folded) is determined.

More specifically, the inside / outside determination is inside when the number of print requests is even, and outside when the number of print requests is odd.

In the case of a page that is open to the left and is inside the fold, the process proceeds to step 815.

In the case of a page that opens to the left and is on the outside of the fold, the process proceeds to step 816.

[0107] If the page opens to the right and is on the outside of the fold, the process proceeds to step 815.

In the case of a page that opens to the left and is on the inside of the fold, the process proceeds to step 816.

In step 815, print page 1 is arranged on the left side and print page 2 is arranged on the right side.

In step 816, print page 1 is arranged on the right side and print page 2 is arranged on the left side.

However, step 815 and step 816
In, if the print page 1 = 0, a margin is placed there.

At step 817, the print progress counter is incremented by 1.

In step 818, it is determined whether or not the next print request can be made. If yes, the process proceeds to step 819. If not, the process waits until the next print request can be made.

In step 820, a print request for one sheet of paper is issued for the print page for which the layout has been completed.

If double-sided printing is performed by the printer 1500 in response to the print request issued by the above procedure, the bound printed matter can be obtained by simply folding and arranging the printed sheets for every desired number of sheets. Can be created. [Second Embodiment] When the bookbinding printing process is performed in units of an arbitrary number of pages after spooling all pages from the application and the number of pages printed in the final block is small, the specified number of pages is limited to the final block. By performing bookbinding printing in units of a smaller number of sheets, it is possible to use less paper.

For example, when the number of remaining pages is 3 and the unit of the number of pages is 2, 5 pages become a margin, but when this is changed to a unit of 1 page, the margin is 1 page. The number of sheets required is one less.

The final block number adjusting process will be described in detail with reference to FIG. This also applies when a larger number of print units is specified for a print page. For example, when bookbinding printing is designated in units of 10 sheets for print data of 30 pages from the application, the number of sheets actually required is 8, so the number of sheets is adjusted from 10 to 8. This gives the same output result as when printing a booklet on the entire page.

The following processing is performed in step 806 in FIG.
Between step 807 and step 807, the above-described reduction in the number of sheets is achieved by processing when the determination in step 806 is YES.

In step 901, it is determined whether spooling of all pages is completed. If completed, the process proceeds to step 902, and if not completed, the process ends.

At step 902, the number of remaining pages is calculated by the following formula.

Remaining page number = Printed page from application−Current bookbinding printable determination page In step 903, the number of pages remaining in the block in the currently set number of sheets is compared with the number of remaining pages, and the number of remaining pages If there are fewer, step 90
If not, the adjustment processing is not necessary and the processing is exited.

In step 904, the smallest number of bookbinding units in which the remaining pages fit is calculated by the following formula.

New bookbinding number unit = remaining pages / 4 (rounding up after decimal point) If the last block is printed after step 807 by using the new bookbinding number unit thus obtained, only one blank page is needed. Since the recording paper is not wasted and the number of recording surfaces is reduced, the time required for print output is shortened. [Third Embodiment] In the case of performing bookbinding printing processing for every arbitrary number of units, when saving paper in the last block as in the second embodiment, all pages are spooled from the application. After that, it is necessary to make a print request. On the other hand, if the paper saving in the last block is not performed, the print request can be started without waiting for the end of spooling of all the pages in the block, and thus the print time until the output of the first recording medium is completed. Can be shortened. Further, by starting the printing process early, it is possible to expect an improvement in the overall throughput as compared with printing. In the second embodiment, it is decided to save blank pages depending on whether or not spooling of all pages is finished, but in the present embodiment, it is instructed to save. If so, save blank pages.

FIG. 13 shows a flowchart of the procedure. This process determines whether it is necessary to wait for spooling of all pages in the block depending on whether or not to save paper in the last block. When the paper saving of the final block is not performed, the print request is started without waiting for the end of spooling of all pages in the block. FIG. 13 shows steps S806 (-YES) and S80 in FIG.
It is inserted between 7 and. This is obtained by adding step 1301 which is a determination as to whether or not to save paper to the head of the procedure shown in FIG. 11 in the second embodiment. That is, when saving paper, the same processing as in the second embodiment is performed, and otherwise, the same processing as in the first embodiment is performed. Note that step 13
This determination criterion in 01 may be specified by the operator from the keyboard 9 of the host computer 3000, and stored in the RAM 2.

However, if the paper is not saved, the print request can be started without waiting for the end of spooling of all pages of the block. Therefore, in the first and second embodiments, the steps of FIG. In step S <b> 804, the bookbinding printability determination page of the first block, which is obtained by “sheet number unit × 4”, can be replaced by “sheet number unit × 2 + 1”.

For example, in the case of bookbinding printing of two 40-page pages, if the spool of all pages of the block is waited for,
While waiting for the completion of spooling of 4 × 2 = 8 pages, if the paper is not saved, the binding printable determination page in the first block is 2 × 2 + 1 = 5 pages. That is, printing can be started earlier by 3 pages. In any case, the subsequent blocks are “bookbinding printable determination page of previous block + sheet number unit × 4”, so printing is completed 3 pages earlier.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of the procedure for replacing step 804 in FIG. If it is not necessary to save paper, in step 1403 the number of printable pages is calculated as follows.

First block bookbinding printability determination page = number of sheets × 2 + 1 Second and subsequent block bookbinding printability determination page = previous bookbinding printability determination page
+ Number of Sheets × 4 FIG. 14 is a flowchart of the procedure for replacing step 804 in FIG. If paper is to be saved, in step 1402 the number of printable pages is calculated as follows.

First block bookbinding printability determination page = number of sheets × 4 Second block bookbinding printability determination page = previous bookbinding printability determination page
If the paper saving of the final block is not performed by the processing of + number of sheets unit × 4 or more, the print request can be started without waiting for spooling of all pages in the block. Printing time to output is shortened. This effect becomes more significant as the number of sheets per one block of bookbinding printing increases. Further, by starting the print request early, it is possible to expect an improvement in the throughput of the entire print processing.

[0130]

Other Embodiments Even when the present invention is applied to a system including a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.), an apparatus including one device (for example, a copying machine). Machine, facsimile machine, etc.).

Further, an object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium having a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or an apparatus, and to supply a computer (or CPU) of the system or the apparatus.
Or MPU) reads and executes the program code stored in the storage medium.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD
-R, magnetic tape, non-volatile memory card, ROM, etc. can be used.

Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also the OS (operating system) running on the computer based on the instructions of the program code. ) And the like perform some or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written in the memory provided in the function expansion board inserted in the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instruction of the program code, This also includes a case where a CPU or the like included in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs some or all of the actual processing and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0136]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to perform bookbinding printing according to a user's request and reduce the labor for bookbinding print output.

In addition, the degree of freedom of the user's selection at the time of bookbinding printing is improved.

[0138] In addition to saving paper,
Improves print throughput.

[0139]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a printing system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing typical print data generation in a host computer.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating print data generation that is an extension of FIG. 2 that generates an intermediate code.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining bookbinding printing and a result of implementation thereof.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a format of bookbinding output by bookbinding printing.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a plurality of bookbinding printing control procedures.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a method of binding and printing all pages together.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method of binding and printing all pages together.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method of bookbinding printing with an arbitrary number of sheets as one block.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a method for bookbinding printing with an arbitrary number of sheets as one block.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a method of saving paper.

FIG. 12 is a sectional view of a laser beam printer having a duplex unit.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of a procedure for selecting the presence / absence of paper saving in the third embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a procedure for setting a booklet printability determination page in the third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 CPU 2 RAM 3 ROM 4 system bus 12 CPU 13 ROM 19 RAM 3000 host computer 1500 printer

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-5-301485 (JP, A) JP-A-7-276734 (JP, A) JP-A-6-284239 (JP, A) JP-A-7- 256975 (JP, A) JP-A-2-286363 (JP, A) JP-A-5-112087 (JP, A) JP-A-5-12262 (JP, A) JP-A-7-123239 (JP, A) JP-A-7-186486 (JP, A) JP-A-62-213381 (JP, A) JP-A-62-122375 (JP, A) JP-A-62-213379 (JP, A) (JP, U) (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 3/12 B41J 21/00 B42C 19/00 G06F 17/21 540 G06F 17/21 566 H04N 1/387

Claims (31)

(57) [Claims] 1. A printer driver is loaded into a memory,
Use the printer driver to convert the output of the application into a print job that includes printer control commands .
An information processing apparatus as a host computer equipped with a traffic engine, comprising input means for inputting bookbinding settings for deciding how bookbinding layout is performed, and printing for data input from an application through a graphic engine. Means for converting power data into intermediate data, and spooling the intermediate data in a storage unit so that the intermediate data can be read out in a desired order in page units, and page arrangement of print jobs to be sent to a printing device according to the bookbinding setting. And an arrangement means for determining, and the generation status of the spooled intermediate data,
Judge whether print processing based on the intermediate data is possible
However, when it is determined that the printing process is possible, the intermediate data is read from the storage unit in the order according to the arrangement determined by the arrangement unit, the intermediate data is processed, and the intermediate data is reproduced by the graphic engine. Generation of intermediate data processing means for outputting, and generation of a printer control command according to the arrangement output to the printing device, based on data to be printed input from the intermediate data processing means via the graphic engine An information processing apparatus comprising: 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the arranging unit determines the layout of the pages so that the minimum number of sheets for bookbinding printing can be obtained. 3. The arranging means is arranged such that the first means from the input means.
3. When the value of is input as the bookbinding setting, the pages are arranged on the recording medium so that the pages are arranged in order when the entire print output is overlapped and folded in half. apparatus. 4. The arranging means is arranged such that the second means from the input means.
3. When the value of is input as the bookbinding setting, the pages are arranged on the recording medium so that when a predetermined number of print outputs are overlapped and folded in two, the pages are arranged in order. Information processing equipment. 5. When the number of remaining pages to be printed is less than four times the predetermined number, the predetermined number is changed to a value obtained by dividing the number of remaining pages by 4 (rounding up after the decimal point). The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising resetting means. 6. The bookbinding setting further includes direction information for setting right-opening or left-opening, and the arranging unit determines page arrangement according to the directional information. 5. The information processing device according to any one of 5. 7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the generating unit causes the printing apparatus to perform double-sided printing. 8. The bookbinding setting further includes information on whether or not to save paper, and the resetting unit resets the page arrangement when saving paper. 5. The information processing device according to item 5. 9. The arranging means arranges the pages so that the pages corresponding to the innermost part of the fold among the pages that can be arranged in units of the fold at the time of bookbinding are sequentially printed out. Item 10. The information processing device according to any one of items 1 to 8. 10. The bookbinding setting further includes information on whether or not to save paper, and if the paper is not saved, printing output is started when the inner pages are aligned. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. 11. A printer driver is loaded into a memory.
And use the printer driver from the application output
It is converted to a print job including a printer control command have
An information processing method in a host computer equipped with a graphic engine, comprising an input step of inputting bookbinding settings for determining how a bookbinding layout is performed, and a printing process input from an application through the graphic engine. Step of converting the data to be converted into intermediate data, and spooling the intermediate data in a storage unit so that the intermediate data can be read out in a desired order in page units, and the arrangement of pages of a print job to be sent to the printing apparatus according to the bookbinding setting And an arrangement step for determining the generation status of the intermediate data spooled,
Judge whether print processing based on the intermediate data is possible
However, when it is determined that the print processing is possible, the intermediate data is read from the storage unit in the order according to the arrangement determined by the arrangement step, the intermediate data is processed, and the intermediate data is re-executed by the graphic engine. Generation of an intermediate data processing step for outputting and a printer control command according to the arrangement output to the printing device based on data to be printed input from the intermediate data processing step via the graphic engine An information processing method comprising: a step. 12. The information processing method according to claim 11, wherein in the arranging step, the page arrangement is determined so that the minimum number of sheets that can be printed by bookbinding is used. 13. In the arranging step, when the first value is input as the bookbinding setting from the input step, the pages are arranged on the recording medium so that the pages are arranged in order when all print outputs are overlapped and folded in half. The information processing method according to claim 11, wherein the information processing method is performed. 14. The arranging step, when the second value is input as the bookbinding setting from the input step, the pages are arranged on the recording medium such that when a predetermined number of print outputs are overlapped and folded in two, the pages are arranged in order. The information processing method according to claim 11 or 12, further comprising: 15. If the number of remaining pages to be printed is less than four times the predetermined number, the predetermined number is changed to a value obtained by dividing the remaining number of pages by 4 (rounding up after the decimal point). The information processing method according to claim 14, further comprising a resetting step. 16. The bookbinding setting further includes direction information for setting right-opening or left-opening, and the arranging step determines the page arrangement according to the direction information. 15. The information processing method according to any one of 15. 17. The information processing method according to claim 16, wherein the generating step causes the printing device to perform double-sided printing. 18. The bookbinding setting further includes information on whether or not to save paper, and in the resetting step, the page arrangement is reset when paper is saved. 15. The information processing method described in 15. 19. The arranging step arranges the pages to be printed out in order from a page corresponding to the innermost side of the fold among pages that can be arranged in units forming a fold during bookbinding. Item 19. The information processing method according to any one of items 11 to 18. 20. The bookbinding setting further includes information on whether or not to save paper, and if the paper is not saved, the print output is started when the inner pages are aligned. The information processing method according to any one of claims 11 to 19. 21. Loading a printer driver into memory
And use the printer driver from the application output
It is converted to a print job including a printer control command have
A printing system in which a host computer having a graphic engine and a printing device are connected, wherein the information processing device has an input unit for inputting bookbinding settings for determining how a bookbinding layout is performed. Spooling means for converting data to be printed input from an application via a graphic engine into intermediate data and spooling the intermediate data in a storage unit so that the intermediate data can be read in a desired order in page units; Therefore, by arranging means for deciding the layout of the pages of the print job to be sent to the printing device and the generation status of the spooled intermediate data,
Judge whether print processing based on the intermediate data is possible
However, when it is determined that the printing process is possible, the intermediate data is read from the storage unit in the order according to the arrangement determined by the arrangement unit, the intermediate data is processed, and the intermediate data is reproduced by the graphic engine. Generation of intermediate data processing means for outputting, and generation of a printer control command according to the arrangement output to the printing device, based on data to be printed input from the intermediate data processing means via the graphic engine And a means for performing printing output on both sides of the recording medium in the order sent by the generating means. 22. Load the printer driver into memory
And use the printer driver from the application output
It is converted to a print job including a printer control command have
Host computer equipped with a graphic engine
The how input means for bookbinding layout to enter a bookbinding setting for determining are performed to convert the data to be printed is input through the graphic engine from the application to the intermediate data, the intermediate data a spool means for spooling readably storing means in a desired sequence in units of pages, in accordance with the bookbinding setting, a positioning means for determining the placement of pages of the print job to be sent to the printing apparatus, the spooled intermediate data Monitor the generation status of
Judge whether print processing based on the intermediate data is possible
However, when it is determined that the printing process is possible, the intermediate data is read from the storage unit in the order according to the arrangement determined by the arrangement unit, the intermediate data is processed, and the intermediate data is reproduced by the graphic engine. Generation of intermediate data processing means for outputting, and generation of a printer control command according to the arrangement output to the printing device, based on data to be printed input from the intermediate data processing means via the graphic engine to function as a means
A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program recorded thereon. 23. The storage medium according to claim 22, wherein the arranging unit determines the layout of pages so that the minimum number of sheets that can be printed by bookbinding is used. 24. When the first value is input as the bookbinding setting from the inputting unit, the arranging unit arranges the pages on the recording medium so that the pages are arranged in order when all the print outputs are overlapped and folded in half. The storage medium according to claim 22, wherein the storage medium is a storage medium. 25. When the second value is input as the bookbinding setting from the input unit, the arranging unit sets pages on the recording medium so that when a predetermined number of print outputs are overlapped and folded in two, the pages are arranged in order. The storage medium according to claim 22, wherein the storage medium is arranged. 26. The computer program is a computer program.
If the number of remaining pages to be printed on the computer is less than the predetermined number, the number of blank pages will be 1 at most.
Resetting means characterized by changing to the number of pages
The storage medium according to claim 25, further functioning as . 27. The bookbinding setting further includes direction information for setting right-opening or left-opening, and the arranging unit determines the page arrangement according to the directional information. The storage medium according to any one of 26. 28. The storage medium according to claim 27, wherein the generating unit causes the printing device to perform double-sided printing. 29. The bookbinding setting further includes information on whether or not to save paper, and the resetting unit resets a page arrangement when saving paper. 26. The storage medium according to 26. 30. The arranging means arranges the pages so that the pages corresponding to the innermost part of the fold among the pages that can be arranged in the unit of the fold during bookbinding are sequentially printed out. Item 30. The storage medium according to any one of Items 22 to 29. 31. The bookbinding setting further includes information on whether or not to save paper, and if the paper is not saved, printing output is started when the inner pages are aligned. The storage medium according to any one of claims 22 to 30.