JP3911897B2 - Printing system, print job creation apparatus, and printing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a charging technique in a printing apparatus that prints a print job created by a computer.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Billing is an important factor in the field of somewhat large printing devices such as office and business use. In addition to lease contracts, even when printing devices are sold, regular maintenance / inspection by the device vendor is required, and it is common to charge for this according to the amount of equipment used. .
[0003]
A method often used as a charging method is charging according to the number of pages subjected to image processing on the printing apparatus side. The printing apparatus is provided with a page number counter for this purpose. In this method, even if a blank page is output, the user is charged if image processing is performed.
[0004]
In the duplex printing mode, when only one side is printed on the last sheet, there is a system in which the printing apparatus detects it and charges only for one side. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 10-207310 discloses a system that uses a printing apparatus that does not have such a function and does not charge the back side when the last sheet of double-sided printing is single-sided. Yes. In this system, an image control device that supplies an image to a printing apparatus is provided with a mechanism that detects whether the supplied image is blank or not and counts the number of blank pages. Subtracted from the count value of the number of output pages.
[0005]
The above is a relatively simple billing method that has existed for a long time to charge per output page (or one sheet), but there are other systems that perform additional billing according to the service content provided by the printing apparatus. Exists. For example, a system that performs additional charging for a collation function unique to a printing apparatus (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-261868), a system that performs additional charging according to a color function mode (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-20957), printing For example, a system (JP-A-5-108961) that additionally charges an amount of time required to process a printed material to be processed, and a system (JP-A-10-232914) that charges according to the number of corrections of the print object. .
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
When a model of a printing system is changed, a mechanism for realizing an existing function may be significantly changed. In such a case, an inconsistency may occur in the charging system before and after the model change.
[0007]
For example, one of the advanced functions of a printing apparatus is a chapter start function that adjusts paper feed so that the page designated as the head of a chapter is always the front side of the paper when performing duplex printing. This function is installed in a relatively high-grade printing apparatus. However, a similar function is added to a client application or printer driver that automatically inserts a PDL (page description language) description representing a blank page next to the page when the last page of the chapter comes on the paper table. Accordingly, the present invention can be realized even in a system using a printing apparatus that does not have a chapter start function. In the case of the former, that is, a system using a printing device with a chapter start function, if the back side of the last paper of the chapter is not printed, the printing device itself knows the fact, so it does not charge the back side of the last paper. Can be. On the other hand, in the latter case, that is, in the system in which the chapter start function is replaced by the client software, the printing device performs image processing on a blank page in the same manner as a general page. You will also be charged if the back side is blank. Therefore, when the customer's system is shifted from the former to the latter, the amount of billing at the time of chapter start processing increases. Such an increase in billing is a big problem for customers with many output copies. For smooth system transition, a mechanism for ensuring consistency of accounting methods is required.
[0008]
The above is a problem at the time of system migration. However, even when a completely new printing system is introduced, the conventional system has a problem that it is difficult to provide a detailed charging system for the service to be provided. In other words, in the conventional system, the service provided by the mechanism on the printing device side can be charged according to the contents, but when the function of the printing device such as chapter start is replaced by the software on the client device side The printing apparatus can only charge for a normal charge per page. This is because the blank page added for the chapter start also exists as a description of one page on the print job data, and cannot be distinguished from the description of the normal page with contents in the printing apparatus. As described above, in the conventional system, when the function of the printing apparatus is changed on the client side, the charging method is fixed, and it is not possible to set the detailed fee according to the function content.
[0009]
The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and can easily ensure the consistency of billing before and after the migration to the printing system, and can provide services for the entire printing system including the client device. An object of the present invention is to provide a billing system that can provide a fine billing system.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-described problem, a printing system according to the present invention is a printing system including a print job creation device that creates a print job, and a printing device that processes the print job and performs printing. The creation device is For each predetermined print function used in a print job, a charging rule management unit that stores the charging rule, a unit that receives designation of a printing function used in the printing process in response to a printing instruction for a document, Charge rules corresponding to the print function are obtained from the charge rule management means, billing information is created based on the found billing rules, and the billing information is transmitted to the printing apparatus in association with the print job created according to the print instruction. Billing information creation means; The printing apparatus includes a first billing unit that performs billing processing for a print job based on billing information associated with the print job.
[0011]
According to this configuration, the first charging unit is provided in the printing apparatus, so that charging is not performed based on the number of processed pages but based on the charging information given on the print job creation apparatus side. Can do. Even when the function of the printing apparatus is replaced on the print job creation apparatus side, appropriate billing information can be created according to the contents of the examination on printing designated by the print job creation apparatus. Accordingly, consistent charging can be performed regardless of whether the same function is realized by the printing apparatus or the print job creation apparatus.
[0012]
In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the printing apparatus includes a second charging unit that performs charging processing based on the number of pages output in the print job processing, and charging information associated with the print job received from the print job creation apparatus. A charging management unit that causes the first charging unit to perform a charging process in other cases, and a second charging unit in other cases. According to this aspect, it is possible to cope with a print job from a print job creation apparatus having no billing information creation function.
[0013]
In another preferred aspect, the billing information is a correction value for a billing value obtained based on the number of pages output when processing the print job in the printing apparatus, and the first billing unit is configured to process the print job. By correcting the charging value obtained based on the number of pages output in the above charging information, the charging value of the print job is determined. This aspect can be easily applied to a conventional page number-based charging method.
[0014]
In another preferred aspect, the print job creation device has a billing rule management unit that stores a billing rule for each predetermined function used in the print job, and the billing information creation unit is designated by a user. The accounting rule corresponding to the function is obtained from the accounting rule management means, and accounting information is created based on the obtained accounting rule. In this aspect, a detailed charging system can be provided by making it possible to register a charging rule for each function. In this aspect, the charging rule management means is provided with means for registering and updating each function and the charging rule corresponding to the function, whereby the charging rule can be set and changed.
[0015]
In another preferred aspect, the billing information includes billing value information for each page of the document represented by the print job. According to this aspect, even when the print job is interrupted for some reason, it is possible to accurately charge up to the interrupted point.
[0016]
In another preferred aspect, the print job creation device creates an inspection code for inspecting the validity of the association between the print job and the billing information, and associates the print job with the billing information in association with the print device. The printing apparatus has means for determining whether or not the association between the print job and the billing information is valid based on the inspection code associated with the print job and the billing information. According to this aspect, by checking the inspection code associated with the print job and billing information, it is possible to detect whether the print job or billing information has been tampered with and to prevent unauthorized use of billing information. .
[0017]
The print job creation apparatus according to the present invention is used in this print processing in correspondence with a charge rule management means for storing a charge rule for each predetermined print function used in a print job and a print instruction for a document. A print job created in response to a print instruction by receiving from the billing rule management unit a billing rule corresponding to the designated print function, a billing rule corresponding to the designated print function, and creating billing information based on the found billing rule Charging information generating means for transmitting the charging information to the printing apparatus in association with
[0018]
According to this configuration, it is possible to create appropriate billing information according to the print function designated by the user and transmit it to the printing apparatus in association with the print job.
[0019]
The printing apparatus according to the present invention also includes a first charging unit that performs charging processing based on charging information received in association with a print job, and a second processing that performs charging processing based on the number of pages output in the print job processing. If charging information is not associated with the charging means and the print job received from the print job creation apparatus, the first charging means performs charging processing. If the charging information is associated, the second charging means performs charging processing. Charging management means.
[0020]
According to this configuration, when there is no billing information in the print job, conventional page-based billing processing can be performed, and when there is billing information in the print job, an appropriate billing according to the billing information is performed. Processing can be performed.
[0021]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention (hereinafter referred to as embodiments) will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0022]
[System configuration]
FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printing system according to the present invention. The printing system includes a client device 100 and a printing device 200. In this example, the client apparatus 100 and the printing apparatus 200 are connected via a network 300. However, a form in which the client apparatus 100 and the printing apparatus 200 are connected by a parallel interface or the like is also included in the scope of the present invention. In FIG. 1, only one client device 100 and one printing device 200 are connected to the network 300, but it is within the scope of the present invention that a plurality of them are connected. You can understand from the explanation.
[0023]
<Client device>
In terms of hardware, the client device 100 is a computer system including a CPU, a main storage device, an auxiliary storage device, an input device such as a mouse and a keyboard, and a display device such as a CRT and a liquid crystal display. In terms of functionality, the client device 100 includes an application 110, a job creation unit 120, a printing device information management unit 130, and a charging rule management unit 140.
[0024]
(1) Application 110
The application 110 is an application program such as a word processor, DTP, spreadsheet, or database management. The application 110 generates an output document by input from a user or original data calculation processing.
[0025]
(2) Job creation unit 120
The job creation unit 120 is a unit for converting the output document data generated by the application 110 into a predetermined page description language (PDL) format that can be handled by the printing apparatus 200 and creating a print job. be called. In the job creation unit 120, the PDL description creation unit 122 performs processing for creating a PDL description from document data of the application 110. Also, the job creation unit 120 describes conditions such as the paper size and the number of copies, for example, specified by the user as print conditions for the output document, in a predetermined format as print information, and adds them to the PDL description of the output document. The print information creation unit 124 creates the print information. The print information is also called a job ticket. The job creation unit 120 configures a print job by combining the PDL description and the print information. For example, the print information can be added to the PDL description in a comment format.
[0026]
In this embodiment, when creating a print job, billing information for the print job is created and added to the print job as an item of print information. As a result, the printing apparatus 200 can perform charging processing based on the charging information. The billing information creation unit 126 creates billing information. As the billing information, for example, the number of pages to be billed can be used. In this case, the billing information creation unit 126 calculates the number of pages to be billed out of the total number of pages of the document represented by the print job and sets it as billing information. For example, if the chapter start function is replaced by blank page description insertion processing on the client device 100 side and charging is not performed for the inserted blank page, the charging information creation unit 126 inserts the blank page from the total number of pages of the print job. The value obtained by subtracting the number of pages is used as billing information. The billing information creation procedure will be described later.
[0027]
(3) Printing device information management unit 130
The printing apparatus information management unit 130 stores and manages information regarding functions of each printing apparatus 200 that can be used from the client apparatus 100. FIG. 2 is an example of function information of a printing apparatus registered in the printing apparatus information management unit 130. According to this, it can be seen that this printing apparatus has an interleaf function, but does not have a chapter start or page plex function. Such function information is registered in the printing apparatus information management unit 130 for each printing apparatus. Registration of the function information in the printing apparatus information management unit 130 is performed by a system administrator when the printing apparatus is connected to the network 300 or the like.
[0028]
Among the functions that the printing apparatus does not have, some of the functions can be replaced by collaboration between the application 110 of the client apparatus 100 and / or the job creation unit 120. The chapter start already described is a typical example, and similar substitute processing is possible for each of the slip sheet, page plex, label function, and collate designation functions illustrated in FIG.
[0029]
Information held by the printing apparatus information management unit 130 is referred to by the job creation unit 120 when creating a print job. That is, the job creation unit 120 refers to the printing apparatus information management unit 130 and determines whether or not the output destination printing apparatus has a function designated by the user. When a function that the output destination does not have is specified and the function can be replaced by the client device 100, the job creation unit 120 performs a predetermined replacement process.
[0030]
(4) Printing device function and its alternative processing on the client side
Here, the functions of each printing apparatus illustrated in FIG. 2 and the contents of the alternative processing on the client apparatus 100 side will be described. Note that the chapter start function and its alternative processing have already been described in the prior art, and will be omitted.
[0031]
a) Insert paper
The slip sheet is a function for inserting a sheet on which nothing is written between pages, and indicates, for example, the separation of output results between print jobs or the separation of each part in one print job. Used for such purposes. When a slip sheet insertion position is designated in the form of the beginning or end of a print job or “after what page” in the client apparatus, the printing apparatus inserts a blank sheet (slip sheet) at the designated position. Whether or not to charge the inserted slip sheet depends on the individual printing apparatus, but generally, the slip sheet is regarded as a special function, and one page is charged for each slip sheet. There are many cases.
[0032]
Substitution of the slip sheet function on the client device side can be performed by inserting a PDL description representing a blank page at the position of the slip sheet in the print job. For specifying one slip sheet, a blank page description is inserted for one page for single-sided printing and for two pages for double-sided printing. Therefore, when this function is used, for example, in the case of double-sided printing, the billing process of the conventional printing device increases the billing for two pages per slip sheet compared to a printing device that does not charge the slip sheet function at all. Compared with a printing apparatus that charges for one page per slip sheet, the charge for one page per slip sheet is high.
[0033]
b) Pageplex
Page plex is a function that can specify double-sided / single-sided for each page. For example, if an 8-page document is designated as single-sided printing for pages 1, 6, 7 and 8 and double-sided printing for pages 2, 3, 4 and 5, The following print result is output. In the following notation, “A / B” represents the printing result of one sheet, A represents the front side of the sheet, and B represents the back side of the sheet. Numbers applied to A and B indicate page numbers in the document, and X indicates a non-printed surface (and therefore no image processing is performed).
[0034]
[Expression 1]
1 / X 2/3 4/5 6 / X 7 / X 8 / X
When the printing apparatus has a page plex function, the client apparatus may send such 8-page document data to the printing apparatus after designating the page plex. The printing apparatus realizes printing as specified by adjusting the paper feed. Note that charging is generally performed for the number of pages printed (8 pages in the above example).
[0035]
The page plex function can be replaced on the client device side by inserting double-sided printing for the entire document after inserting the PDL of a blank page after the description of the page designated for single-sided. For example, in the case of the 8-page document shown above, insert a blank page description after the 1st, 6th, and 7th page descriptions in the print job (8 pages are the last page, so they are not required), and specify double-sided printing. do it. As a result, the following printing result is obtained. “White” indicates a blank page inserted.
[0036]
[Expression 2]
1 / white 2/3 4/5 6 / white 7 / white 8 / X
In this case, the printing apparatus performs double-sided printing of a total of 11 pages including the inserted 3 blank pages. Therefore, if the printing apparatus performs the conventional charging process, the user is charged for 3 pages more than when the page plex function of the printing apparatus is used.
[0037]
c) Label function
Also called variable data printing function, it is used for printing forms and direct mail. This is a function for combining and printing a common image portion (called a form) with individual image portions for each page. When this function of the printing apparatus is used, a PDL description of a form and an individual image part of each page is generated by the client apparatus and sent to the printing apparatus, and the pages are printed by synthesizing them. In order to differentiate the printing apparatus having this function from the printing industry, there is a case in which a discount fee such as a fraction of a normal one-page fee is set for a portion exceeding a predetermined number of pages per form. Many.
[0038]
In order to replace this label function on the client device side, the client device side simply synthesizes the form and the individual part to create complete data for each page, which is described in PDL and sent to the printing device. In this case, if the printing apparatus performs the conventional page number-based charging process, a normal charge is uniformly charged for all pages, and a discount as with a printing apparatus with a label printing function cannot be obtained.
[0039]
d) Collation designation
The collation function is a function for distinguishing and outputting a plurality of copies for each part. When this function is used, the number of copies is designated from the client device, the collation is designated, and the print job is sent. Then, the printing apparatus repeats and prints each page of the sent print job by the specified number of copies, and outputs the print result to each output bin of the sorter in order to realize collation output.
[0040]
In order to replace this function on the client device side, for example, a print job in which a PDL description representing an original document created by the application 110 is repeated for a specified number of copies may be created. If this is processed on the printing apparatus side, documents arranged in page order can be output in the order of the designated number of copies.
[0041]
(5) Billing rule management unit 140
The charging rule management unit 140 stores and manages a rule for obtaining a charging value for a print job. The charging rule includes, for example, a charging method when the chapter start function is replaced by the application 110 or the job creation unit 120 of the client device 100 (that is, blank page description insertion processing) (for example, the inserted blank page is not charged) Etc.) is specified. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of data contents of the charging rule management unit 140. The charging rule is defined for each function. This charging rule is applied both when the function is realized by the printing apparatus and when it is realized by alternative processing on the client apparatus side. That is, in the present embodiment, the billing amount is aimed to be the same regardless of the function implementation method.
[0042]
For example, in the example of FIG. 3, the chapter start function is not charged (ie, charging is zero). Therefore, according to this charging rule, when the chapter start function is replaced in the client device, charging is not performed for the image processing of the inserted blank page. Even when the chapter start function of the printing apparatus is used, no charge is made for processing by that function. On the other hand, with respect to slip sheets, a rule is registered in which charging is performed for one page per sheet. This rule is the same whether the slip sheet is realized on the printing apparatus side or the blank page insertion processing on the client side, and 1 per “one sheet” in both single-sided printing and double-sided printing. The charge for the page is the same. As for the label function, a discount fee is set according to the number of pages per form, which is the same regardless of whether the label function is realized by the printing apparatus or the client apparatus.
[0043]
The information of the charging rule management unit 140 is referred to by the charging information creation unit 126 when creating a print job. That is, the billing information creation unit 126 obtains billing rules corresponding to chapter start and other “functions” used in the print job from the billing rule management unit 140, and creates billing information according to the rules.
[0044]
<Printing device>
In terms of hardware, the printing apparatus 200 includes a mechanical printing mechanism that performs printing processing on paper, and a computer system that includes a CPU, a main storage device, an auxiliary storage device, and the like for controlling and operating the printing mechanism. Is provided. In terms of functions, the printing apparatus 200 includes a job management unit 210, a job processing unit 220, an IOT (image output terminal) 230, and a charge management unit 240.
[0045]
The job management unit 210 receives a print job from the client device 100, and performs various types of management such as spooling (processing order management) on the received print job.
[0046]
The IOT 230 is a device for forming a visible image on paper based on image data in a predetermined format such as a raster format, and is also called a print engine.
[0047]
The job processing unit 220 interprets the print job, generates image data of each page of the output document created by the application 110, and supplies the image data to the IOT 230. Therefore, the job processing unit 220 detects print information from the print job in addition to an interpretation processing system (called an interpreter) that interprets the PDL description and generates image data, and issues a control command corresponding to the print information to the IOT 230. It has a function. The print job may include billing information as a kind of print information. In the job processing unit 220, the billing information extraction unit 222 extracts billing information from the print job.
[0048]
The charging management unit 240 is a mechanism for performing charging processing in the printing apparatus 200. FIG. 4 shows an example of a detailed configuration of the charge management unit 240. In the configuration shown in the figure, the charge management unit 240 includes a second charge processing unit 242, a first charge processing unit 244, and a charge accumulation unit 246.
[0049]
The charge accumulating unit 246 is a mechanism that holds a result of accumulating the charge value of each print job processed by the printing apparatus 200. For example, when the charging value is expressed by the number of processed pages, the charging accumulating unit 246 may be a counter that counts the number of processed pages, for example. This counter holds the number of pages processed so far after initialization. Although it is possible to count by multiplying the number of pages by the unit price per page and converting it to an amount of money, in the following, the number of pages is used as a charge value for the sake of simplicity. Of course, what is selected as the unit of charge is irrelevant to the essence of the present invention.
[0050]
The second billing processing unit 242 is a mechanism that is conventionally known and charges based on the number of processed pages. For example, the second billing processing unit 242 sequentially counts a print completion signal for each page output from the IOT 230 until processing of one print job is completed. Alternatively, a signal indicating completion of image formation for one page by the job processing unit 220 may be counted. Which one is taken depends on the structure of the printing apparatus 200. Furthermore, it is possible to provide a mechanism for adding a count value in accordance with the use of various functions provided by the printing apparatus 200 (for example, collation or special image processing). Thus, the second billing processing unit 242 can be said to be a mechanism that determines a billing value according to “processing performed by the printing apparatus”.
[0051]
On the other hand, the first charging processing unit 244 is a mechanism for charging based on the charging information included in the print job. The first billing processing unit 244 receives the billing information extracted from the print job from the billing information extraction unit 222, and increments the counter of the billing accumulation unit 246 according to this billing information. For example, when the billing information indicates “the number of pages to be billed for the print job”, the first billing processing unit 244 increments the counter of the billing accumulation unit 246 by the number of pages.
[0052]
The charging management unit 240 has such two charging processing units. When the print job does not include charging information, the charging management unit 240 causes the second charging processing unit 242 to perform charging processing and includes the charging information. Causes the first billing processing unit 244 to perform billing processing. In this way, the charge management unit 240 can charge according to the charge information for a print job including the charge information, and can perform conventional charge for a print job that does not include the charge information. Accordingly, the printing apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment can perform charging processing even for a print job from a client apparatus that does not have the charging information creation unit 126.
[0053]
The configuration of the printing system according to the present embodiment has been described above. In the above, the configuration in which the IOT 230 that performs printing on paper and the system that controls the IOT 230 (the job management unit 210, the job processing unit 220, and the like) is integrated has been described. As a matter of course, the present invention can also be applied to a configuration connected by a network or cable.
[0054]
[Processing procedure]
Next, a charging process procedure in the printing system of this embodiment will be described.
[0055]
<Processing on client device>
In the client apparatus 100, billing information to be associated with the print job is generated. This process is started by a print instruction from the user interface of the application 110 by the user.
[0056]
From this user interface, the user designates the printing apparatus 200 that prints a document, sets various printing conditions such as the paper size and the number of copies, and instructs printing. When this instruction is input, the application 110 activates the job creation unit 120 and passes the name of the output destination printing apparatus 200, the printing conditions, and the like to request creation of a print job.
[0057]
In response to this, in the job creation unit 120, the PDL description creation unit 122 generates a PDL description from the document data of the application 110. At this time, if a function such as a chapter start function or a slip sheet function is specified in the printing conditions, the job creation unit 120 refers to the printing device information management unit 130, and the specified function is the output destination printing device. Check whether it is 200 or not. When the output destination does not have the designated function, the PDL description creation unit 122 performs alternative processing for the function, such as inserting a blank page description. The alternative processing for each function has already been described. If the output destination has a designated function, the PDL description creation unit 122 may perform a normal conversion process to PDL.
[0058]
After such a PDL description creation process or in parallel with this process, the print information creation unit 124 prints information such as the printing conditions designated by the user, such as the paper size / number of copies, so that the printing apparatus can interpret it. Create as information.
[0059]
At this time, the billing information creation unit 126 obtains billing information for the print job. If the print job is instructed to use a “function” such as chapter start, a charging rule corresponding to this function is obtained from the charging rule management unit 140 and charging information is calculated according to the rule. .
[0060]
For example, when “the number of pages to be charged for a print job” is used as the charging information, the charging information creation unit 126 basically obtains the number of pages of the document to be printed and uses this as the charging information. However, when “function” such as chapter start is designated, charging is adjusted according to the rules registered in the charging rule management unit 140.
[0061]
In the example of the charging rule shown in FIG. 3, for example, charging is set to zero for chapter start. Accordingly, the charging information of a print job in which chapter start is designated (assuming no other functions are designated) is the number of pages of the original document that is the basis of the job. When the output destination printing apparatus does not have the chapter start function, the job creation unit 120 inserts a description of a blank page into the print job, and as a result, the number of pages of the document represented by the print job is equal to the number of pages of the original document. Although the number of blank pages is increased, the “number of pages to be charged” indicated in the charging information is the number of pages of the original document.
[0062]
For example, consider a case in which chapter start is instructed so that a 9-page document is printed on both sides and the 6th page is on the front side. If the output destination printing apparatus does not have the chapter start function, the job creation unit 120 first determines from the printing apparatus information management unit 130 that the designated printing apparatus does not have the chapter start function, and the PDL description The creation unit 122 inserts a blank page description between the fifth and sixth pages to create a PDL description of substantially 10 pages. The print information creation unit 124 creates print information indicating double-sided printing, and the billing information creation unit 126 creates billing information indicating the number of pages to be billed (9 pages). The job creation unit 120 creates a print job by adding the print information (including charging information) to the PDL description. The print output represented by this print job is as follows.
[0063]
[Equation 3]
1/2 3/4 5 / white 6/7 8/9
FIG. 5 shows a description example of the print job created in this way. In this example, PostScript (trademark of Adobe Systems) widely used is used as the PDL. However, it will be apparent from the description herein that the present invention does not depend on a specific PDL. This example is a description example of a print job when duplex printing is performed by specifying a chapter start so that the sixth page is on the front side with respect to an original document of nine pages.
[0064]
In the example of FIG. 5, the first two rows, ie,
[Expression 4]
%% XI-plex Duplex
%% XI-validPage 9
Is print information (job ticket). The print information is described as a PostScript comment line (a line starting with the symbol “%”). The first line indicates double-sided printing (Duplex), and the second line indicates billing information. This billing information indicates that nine pages are valid for billing among the total number of pages output as a result of print job processing. In this example, the number of pages output in the print job processing is 10 pages (including the blank page inserted for chapter start), but since the chapter start is not charged, the inserted blank page is valid. Excluded from page count.
[0065]
Following the print information is a description for creating a print image of the document, which is the main body of the print job. The contents of each page are described between the comment line “%% Page: page number” and the next comment line “%% PageTrailer”. In this example, in order to replace the chapter start function, a blank page description is inserted on the sixth page, which is shown in FIG.
[Equation 5]
%% page:-6
showpage
%% PageTrailer
It is a description.
[0066]
Note that the accounting information described above is created and added to the print job whether or not the function of the printing apparatus is replaced on the client apparatus side. Since the charging information is described in the form of a comment, even if the printing device at the job destination is a device that does not have a function for processing the charging information, in that case, the charging information is simply ignored. There is no side effect on the original processing such as drawing processing.
[0067]
Note that instead of adding charging information to a print job in the form of a comment sentence in this way, it is also possible to embed charging information in the PostScript description by using a PostScript control code called device control.
[0068]
The print job including the billing information created in this way is transmitted to the printing apparatus 200 via the network 300 or the like.
[0069]
<Processing in the printing device>
In the printing apparatus 200 that has received the print job, the job management unit 210 schedules job processing, and when the order comes, the print job is transferred to the job processing unit 220. The job processing unit 220 first interprets print information (job ticket) at the head of a print job, and obtains information such as print conditions. In the case of the print job of FIG. 5, it is found from the analysis of the first row that the job is duplex printing, and the job processing unit 220 drives the IOT 230 in the duplex output mode. The charging information extraction unit 222 extracts charging information included in the print information and passes it to the charging management unit 240. In the example of FIG. 5, charging information that the number of valid pages to be charged is 9 is included, and the charging information extraction unit 222 transmits this information to the charging management unit 240. In response to this, the charging management unit 240 determines that charging processing based on the charging information should be performed for the current print job, and operates the first charging processing unit 244.
[0070]
When the processing related to the print information is completed, the job processing unit 220 sequentially processes the print job by a known print job processing function including a PDL interpreter function, and prints out the image of each page generated as a result via the IOT 230. . In the example of FIG. 5, a blank image is generated as the sixth page at this time, and as a result, the sixth page is output as a blank page. In the case of the print job of FIG. 5, the job processing unit 220 performs image processing for 10 pages, and the IOT 230 also performs an output operation for 10 pages. When all 10 pages have been output, the job processing unit 220 notifies the charging management unit 240 accordingly. In response to this, in the charging management unit 240, the first charging processing unit 244 recognizes that there are 9 pages to be charged for the job from the charging information of the print job, and the charging value held by the charging accumulating unit 246 Is increased by 9 pages.
[0071]
By such processing, regardless of the number of pages actually processed by the printing apparatus 200 (10 pages in the example), it is possible to charge only for the effective number of pages (9 pages in the example) according to the preset charging rule. .
[0072]
The charging process in the printing apparatus 200 based on the charging information has been described above. When a print job is received from a conventional client device that does not have a billing information creation function, the job processing unit 220 detects that billing information is not included. Then, the charging management unit 240 is notified of this, and as a result, the second charging processing unit 242 that performs internal charging processing independent of the charging information operates, and the charging accumulating unit 246 is performed every time one page is processed. A charging sequence based on the number of processed pages registered in advance in the printing apparatus 200 is executed, such as increasing the count value for each page.
[0073]
Note that the above example is an example in which no charge is made for the chapter start function. However, the charging method is an agreement between the device vendor and the user, and there may be a case where the chapter start function is charged. For example, in the example of performing double-sided printing by specifying the chapter start so that the sixth page is on the front side with respect to the original document of nine pages described above, even for the blank page increased due to the chapter start, it is equivalent to one page. Consider a case where billing is set. In this case, the charge value is 10 pages including the blank page to be inserted.
[0074]
As described above, the chapter start function is taken as an example, but the same applies when other functions are designated. For example, consider a case where a slip sheet is designated. In the example of the charging rule shown in FIG. 3, the slip sheet is set to charge for one page per sheet. That is, one page is charged for each slip sheet for both double-sided printing and single-sided printing. This rule is the same whether the output destination has a slip sheet function or not. In other words, even when the slip sheet function of the printing apparatus is used, or when the slip sheet function is substituted by inserting a blank page on the client apparatus side, the client apparatus side handles the same. If a special charge is to be made for the slip sheet function of the printing apparatus, the charging process may be left to the charging system on the printing apparatus side without generating charging information. When the slip sheet is designated, the billing information creation unit 126 of the client device 100 adds the “number of sheets” of the slip sheet to be inserted to the number of pages of the original document, and uses this as billing information. For example, in double-sided printing, when the output destination printing apparatus does not have a slip sheet function, when inserting two slip sheets into an original document of 10 pages, 2 × 2 ( = 4) Since the description of the blank page for the page is inserted, the number of pages subjected to image processing by the printing apparatus 200 is 14 pages. However, the billing information created by the billing information creation unit 126 is 12 pages, which is the number of original pages plus two slip sheets. The printing apparatus 200 adds the 12 pages indicated in the billing information to the billing value instead of the actual number of 14 pages processed.
[0075]
The page plex function can be charged in the same way as chapter start. In the rule example of FIG. 3, it is set that the page plex is not charged. Therefore, in the case of a job in which only a page plex is specified, the charging information creation unit 126 uses the number of pages of the original document as charging information. When the printing apparatus 200 does not have the page plex function, a blank page description is added as an alternative process in the client apparatus 100. As a result, the printing apparatus 200 has more blank pages than the number of pages in the original document. Although image processing is performed, charging is performed only for the number of pages of the original document based on the charging information.
[0076]
With respect to the label function, discount rules are set in stages according to the number of pages V per form in the rule of FIG. That is, if V is up to 10 pages, one page is charged for each page, but only 10 pages are charged for each page in the range of 10 <V ≦ 100. Further, when V exceeds 100, further discounts are charged for 0.4 pages per page. For example, when the job creation unit 120 performs the label function substitution process, the billing information creation unit 126 acquires the current page number N from the PDL description creation unit 122 every time a page description using a label is created. Then, V = N / F is obtained from the total number of pages F of the original form N, and a charging value corresponding to this V is obtained from the above charging rule, and this is accumulated. For example, if the total number of pages in the form is 1 and the current page number is 12, this 1 page is charged for 0.8 pages, and this information is accumulated in the charging information creation unit 126. When the value of F is 1 and the final page of the job is 12 pages, the charging information is a charging value for 11.6 (= 1 × 10 + 0.8 × 20) pages. It is also possible to perform processing such as rounding after the decimal point. When all pages have been processed and one job has been created, billing information is added to the print job and sent to the printing apparatus 200. After that, billing processing is executed according to the procedure described above.
[0077]
When the printing apparatus having the label function is the output destination, the accounting information creation unit 126 determines the above-described from the total number F of forms and the number of individual information (variable data) (number of pages) N applied to these forms. Calculate accounting information for jobs according to the rules.
[0078]
The collation-designated billing information creation process is the same as the label function.
[0079]
If a plurality of functions are specified, the print output when all these functions are realized is simulated, and the number of pages to be charged may be counted according to the rules of the charging rule management unit 140 among them. .
[0080]
[Billing rule settings / changes]
The charging rule is negotiated between the system vendor and the user when the printing system is sold. Then, the rule decided at this time is registered in the charging rule management unit 140 using a predetermined input tool. It is also possible to change a rule that has been registered once according to a change in the contract. In other words, when a billing rule change is decided between the vendor and the user, the registration rule of the billing rule management unit 140 may be corrected using the input tool to reflect the decision.
[0081]
[Effect of the embodiment]
As described above, in this embodiment, the client device 100 obtains the charging information of the print job according to the charging rule registered in the charging rule management unit 140, adds the charging information to the print job, and prints the printing device 200. The printing apparatus 200 performs billing processing according to the billing information corresponding to the print job. With such a mechanism, even when the function of the printing apparatus 200 is used and when the function is replaced by the client apparatus 100, even when the number of pages processed by the printing apparatus 200 is different, The same amount can be charged. Therefore, even when the mechanism for realizing the function is significantly changed by system migration or the like, by introducing the accounting system of this embodiment, the consistency of the accounting method before and after the migration can be maintained. In this case, the charging information creation unit 126 and the charging rule management unit 140 are installed in the existing client device 100, and the charging rules before the migration may be registered in the charging rule management unit 140.
[0082]
Further, according to the present embodiment, since the charging information is created by the client device 100 to which the specified content of the printing condition is input, it is possible to provide a fine charging system according to the content such as the specified function. In other words, in the case of charging on the printing device side, if the function of the printing device itself is used, special charging can be performed for that function, but if the function is replaced on the client side, it is based on the number of pages. There is no choice but to pay in fine detail according to the function. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the charging information is created by the client device 100, so that even when the function substitution processing is performed on the client device side, the charging according to the function can be performed.
[0083]
[Billing information format]
In the above example, “number of pages to be charged” is used as the charging information. However, the format of the billing information is not limited to this. For example, instead of this, “number of pages that should not be charged” can be used as the charging information. For example, when a blank page is inserted with the chapter start function under the rule setting that charging is not performed for the chapter start function, the number of inserted blank pages is used as charging information. The description of the billing information in this case is as follows, for example.
[0084]
[Formula 6]
%% XI-invalidPage 1
This billing information is also described as a comment. This billing information indicates that one page should not be billed.
[0085]
In the printing apparatus 200, the number of pages subjected to image processing is sequentially counted as in the conventional case. When all the print job processing is completed, the final charge is determined by subtracting “the number of pages that should not be charged” shown in the charge information from the count value.
[0086]
If the number of pages that should not be charged is used as the charging information, the number of image-processed pages and the number of pages that should not be charged are tabulated separately without determining the charge amount for each print job. The charging may be determined from the difference between the two tabulation results during maintenance. That is, as shown in FIG. 6, the charge management unit 240 is configured by a charge counter 243 that counts the number of pages that have undergone image processing, and a deduction counter 245 that counts the number of pages that should not be charged indicated in the charge information. Also good.
[0087]
In the above description, the number of pages is used as the accounting value. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and an amount or other unit may be used.
[0088]
[Modification 1]
In the above embodiment, billing information for the entire print job is created and added to the print job. On the other hand, in this modification, charging information for each page is added to the print job. That is, the print job is provided with information about the charge amount for each page. A description example of billing information in this case is shown below.
[0089]
[Expression 7]
%% XI-validPageSelect 5 1 1 0 4 1
Here, “%% XI-validPageSelect” indicates information relating to charging for each page. Subsequent numerical value columns form one set each from the left, in which the previous numerical value indicates the number of pages, and the subsequent numerical value indicates the billing amount per page. That is, in the above example, charging is 1 per page for each of the first five pages of the job, charging is 0 for the next page, and charging is 1 per page for the subsequent four pages. It is shown that.
[0090]
In this case, the billing information creation unit 126 refers to the billing rule management unit 140, determines the billing amount for each page, and describes the billing information based on it. For example, under the charging rule that charging is not performed for the chapter start function, when the job generation unit 120 substitutes the chapter start function by inserting a blank page, the charging information generation unit 126 charges for the inserted blank page. Is determined to be 0, and billing information indicating it is created.
[0091]
According to this modification, even when the processing of the print job in the printing apparatus is interrupted due to a failure or the like, it is possible to charge fairly accurately. That is, in the above-described embodiment, the accounting counter is operated based on the accounting information after the processing of all pages of the print job is completed. Therefore, when the job is interrupted, an accurate accounting value at the time of the interruption is obtained. It was difficult to ask for. On the other hand, in this modification, since the charge amount is known for each page, an accurate charge value up to the job interruption point can be obtained.
[0092]
[Modification 2]
In printing using the label function, even if one page is printed, there is a case where it is considered that it is too expensive because only one part is different but most of the contents are the same as the other pages and one page is charged. . Also, in the slip sheet function, it is easy to perceive that charging for one page of the inserted blank paper is too expensive. However, the slip sheet function itself is a convenient function, so if you do not charge for this, Cannot be balanced.
[0093]
In such a case, more appropriate charging can be realized by managing the charging amount with a decimal point. The following is an example of billing information when the decimal point management in the billing amount is combined with the billing management for each page in the first modification.
[0094]
[Equation 8]
%% XI-validPageSelect 4 0.8 2 0.2 4 0.7
In this example, the first four pages are charged for 0.8 pages per page. In other words, when printing of four pages is finished, the total amount of charging is 3.2, and when the number after the decimal point is rounded, charging for three pages is performed. Since the next two pages are 0.2 pages per page, the accounting total is 3.6 when printing up to 6 pages is completed, and there is no change in accounting for 3 pages when the decimal part is rounded. When all pages are printed, the total amount of billing is 6.4, and the final billing amount is six pages rounded up.
[0095]
[Modification 3]
In the system according to this embodiment in which charging information is added to a print job, measures against falsification of the charging information are required. That is, it is necessary to prevent fraudulent acts such as charging information being rewritten cheaply or adding a new page to the print job after the charging information is properly created.
[0096]
As a countermeasure, in the third modification, a code that proves the validity of the billing information is managed in association with the billing information. For example, as a simple example, an entire print job (including print information) is considered as one file, and a 2-byte checksum is calculated and used as an inspection code. An example of billing information with an inspection code added is shown below.
[0097]
[Equation 9]
%% XI-validPage 9 17623
In this example, “17623” is an inspection code. If any one of the print jobs is tampered with, the checksum value changes, so that the fact of tampering can be known by comparison with this inspection code. Therefore, when the printing apparatus receives a print job having charging information, it first executes a checksum and compares it with an inspection code attached to the charging information. If the two match, it is determined that the print job and the charging information are valid, and the charging process of the above-described embodiment is performed. If they do not match, it is determined that the print job body or the charging information has been tampered with, and a predetermined process is performed. As processing in this case, for example, the processing of the print job is canceled or the processing of the print job is performed, but regarding the charging, the attached charging information is ignored and the conventional charging based on the number of processed pages is used. There are methods such as making a charge at In any case, the contents of the processing to be performed when tampering is detected are registered in advance.
[0098]
Note that the checksum is a very simple example, and this may be sufficient even if the security is weak. In order to enhance security, for example, a combination with a known encryption technique is effective. That is, a predetermined encryption process is performed on at least one of the charging value and the inspection code in the charging information. Accordingly, the billing information is as follows, for example.
[0099]
[Expression 10]
%% XI-validPage dso2198dk0sah
In this example, both the billing value and the inspection code are encrypted together. The printing apparatus is equipped with this encryption decryption algorithm, and after this decryption, the check and billing processes are performed. Such encryption makes it extremely difficult to falsify billing information.
[0100]
It is also preferable to register the secret ID of the printing apparatus in the client apparatus and encrypt the billing value and checksum value using this secret ID. Since the billing information encrypted with the secret ID of a certain printing device cannot be correctly decrypted by other printing devices, fraud such as reuse of the billing information once created by another printing device can be prevented.
[0101]
The preferred embodiments and modifications of the present invention have been described above. In the above example, the job creation unit 120 corresponding to the printer driver creates the billing information. However, the application 110 may of course have a billing information creation function.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printing system according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of information held by a printing apparatus information management unit.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of information held by a charging rule management unit.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of an internal configuration of a charge management unit.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the contents of a print job including charging information.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing another example of the internal configuration of the charge management unit.
[Explanation of symbols]
100 client device, 110 application, 120 job creation unit, 122 PDL description creation unit, 124 print information creation unit, 126 billing information creation unit, 130 printing device information management unit, 140 billing rule management unit, 200 printing device, 210 job management Unit, 220 job processing unit, 222 charging information extraction unit, 230 IOT (image output terminal), 240 charging management unit, 242 second charging processing unit, 244 first charging processing unit, 246 charging accumulation unit, 300 network .

Claims (8)

A printing system that includes a print job creation device that creates a print job, and a printing device that processes the print job and performs printing.
The print job creation device includes:
Charging rule management means for storing the charging rule for each predetermined print function used in the print job;
Means for accepting designation of a print function to be used in the print processing in response to a print instruction for the document;
A charging rule corresponding to a specified printing function is obtained from the charging rule management means, charging information is created based on the obtained charging rule, and this charging information is associated with the print job created in response to the print instruction. Billing information creation means to be transmitted to,
Have
The printing apparatus includes a first billing unit that performs billing processing for a print job based on billing information associated with the print job.
A printing system characterized by that. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the charging information includes information for obtaining a number of pages to be charged in a print job. The printing apparatus includes:
  A second billing means for performing billing processing based on the number of pages output in the print job processing;
  A charging management unit that causes the first charging unit to perform charging processing when the charging information is associated with the print job received from the print job creation apparatus;
  The printing system according to claim 1, further comprising: The print job creation apparatus, the relative charging rule management means, the printing system according to claim 1, further comprising means for registering and updating the charging rule corresponding to each feature and it. The charging information to a printing system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that it comprises the information of the charge values for each page of the document expressed by the printing job. The print job creation device includes means for creating an inspection code for inspecting the validity of association between a print job and billing information, and transmitting the code to the printing device in association with the print job and billing information;
2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for determining whether or not the association between the print job and the billing information is valid based on an inspection code associated with the print job and the billing information. The printing system according to claim 5 . Charging rule management means for storing the charging rule for each predetermined print function used in the print job;
Means for accepting designation of a print function to be used in the print processing in response to a print instruction for the document;
A charging rule corresponding to a specified printing function is obtained from the charging rule management means, charging information is created based on the obtained charging rule, and this charging information is associated with the print job created in response to the print instruction. Billing information creation means to be transmitted to,
A print job creation apparatus. First charging means for performing charging processing based on the charging information received in association with the print job;
A second billing means for performing billing processing based on the number of pages output in the print job processing;
A charging management unit that causes the first charging unit to perform charging processing when charging information is not associated with the print job received from the print job creation apparatus; ,
A printing apparatus.

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