JP4337486B2 - Printing business support system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a system that supports a printing job involving a plurality of suppliers.

  Advertisement printed matter used in newspapers, magazines, direct mail, etc. is requested by an advertising company (client, ie, advertiser) from an advertising company. Is the general flow. For example, in the case of magazine advertising, the advertising company selects an advertising production company that actually produces advertisements, a magazine publisher, a plate making company, and a printing company. Then, the publisher receives and adjusts the advertisement data produced by the advertisement production company, performs the plate making on the side of the plate making company based on the adjusted data, prints the book making data at the printing company and binds it. , To be provided to the store side.

  In recent years, the production of printed matter using a computer called DTP (desktop publishing) has become widespread, and the data delivered between each supplier is often the data of this computer. For this reason, each trader can display the data on each computer, print it using the print output device that it owns, and adjust the color.

  However, the color reproduction capability for each print output device is not necessarily the same. In other words, assuming that the data is data of four colors of CMYK, even if the values of CMYK are the same, the color output for each print output device is slightly different at present. Therefore, if only the data is transferred, the printing company does not always print the advertisement printed matter in the color produced by the production company. That is, each supplier refers to the result of actual printing with each print output device as a sample.

A system that realizes color reproducibility matching between print output devices is disclosed in Patent Document 1.
JP 2002-290756 A

  As described above, while printing using a computer has been conventionally performed, a method of transferring only data at a commercial printing site is not adopted, and it is always necessary to transfer a result printed on a paper medium. On the other hand, in commercial printing, there is a strong demand for shortening the period from production to printing, and there has been a demand for a system that allows only data to be transferred.

  In addition, when the print shop accepts the data before rasterization as it is, such as PDF submission, for example, before the rasterization, ripping (RIP: Raster Image Process) processing such as rasterization may be performed at the print shop. It may be preferable.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and allows data to be exchanged while making it possible to match the color reproducibility of each supplier and is suitable for submission with data before rasterization. One of the purposes is to provide a printing business support system that can pass the image to the printing company.

  Another object of the present invention is to provide a system that supports a printing job as a whole, in which a large number of companies cooperate to manufacture printed matter.

The present invention for solving the problems of the above conventional example includes a data receiving server, a preliminary processing server, a data processing server, and a data delivery server. A system for supporting a printing job for manufacturing such printed matter, and means for accepting information for specifying the plurality of vendors, and information for specifying the vendors as information for specifying a vendor performing a project, For generating project information including at least a part of the information, and target device information for specifying a predetermined target print output device among print output devices used in the project to be performed, and used by each vendor Means for generating in advance a predetermined processing parameter relating to the print output device and the noted print output device, and storing it in a database; Seen, the the data receiving server, whether the data relating to printing operations received from the transfer source satisfies a predetermined provisioning condition, wherein the pre-processing server is determined, if it is data that does not satisfy the supply condition When the determination is made, the data processing server acquires the predetermined processing parameters related to the print output device used on the merchant side that is the delivery destination of the data and the focused print output device from the database, and the acquired predetermined performing a process based on processing parameters, the data transfer server, the processed data, delivered to the trader as the transfer destination of the data, the pre-processing server is, the printing operations received from the delivery source When it is determined that the data satisfies the provision conditions, the data is transferred as it is. It is characterized in that it is delivered to the skilled in the art to which the.

Here, as the data receiving server, and pretreatment server, and a data processing server, the data transfer servers, each containing at least one data receiving server group, pretreatment servers, data processing servers, The preliminary processing server group determines whether or not the data relating to the printing job received from the transfer source by the data receiving server belonging to the data receiving server group satisfies a predetermined provision condition by the data receiving server group. A print output device used by a data processing server belonging to the data processing server group on the merchant side to which the data is transferred when the preliminary processing server belonging to the data processing server determines that the data does not satisfy the provision condition And the predetermined processing parameters related to the noted print output device from the database, Prints received by the data delivery server belonging to the data delivery server group are processed by the data delivery server group and the processed data is delivered to the data delivery destination and received from the delivery source by performing processing based on the acquired predetermined processing parameters. When the preliminary processing server belonging to the preliminary processing server group determines that the data relating to the business satisfies the provision condition, the data is directly distributed to the delivery destination company, the data receiving server group, The number of each server device in each server group of the preliminary processing server group, the data processing server group, and the data transfer server group may be determined according to the load of the server device. Further, a device used when simulating the color reproducibility of the noticeable print output apparatus using the print output apparatus on the merchant side as a predetermined processing parameter for the print output apparatus used by each trader and the noticeable print output apparatus. A link profile may be included. Further, at this time, the information processing apparatus further includes means for accepting input of order information that defines a data transfer order between the respective suppliers, and means for generating a device link profile as the predetermined processing parameter is based on the input order information. The generation of a device link profile for the noticeable print output device may be limited or the generation order may be adjusted for each print output device used by each vendor.

Further, the prior art the present invention for solving the problems, the data receiving server, pretreatment server, data processing servers, and, using the data delivery server, the data across multiple skill A method of supporting a printing operation for manufacturing a printed matter related to the data, wherein one of the servers accepts information for identifying the plurality of vendors, and a vendor that performs the project. As the information to be identified, at least a part of the information for identifying the plurality of suppliers, and the target device information for specifying a predetermined target print output device among the print output devices used in the project to be performed, Predetermined process parameters relating to the process of generating project information including the print output device used by each supplier and the noted print output device are generated in advance, and Perform the step of holding the base, the data relating to printing operations that more acceptable from the transfer source to the data receiving server is, whether to satisfy a predetermined provisioning condition, the preliminary processing server is judged , when it is determined that the data does not satisfy the supply condition, the data processing server is a print output device to be used in the delivery destination to become skilled side of the data, the predetermined processing related with the attention printout equipment get the parameter from the database, performs processing based on a predetermined process parameters the acquired, the data delivery server is, the processed data, delivered to the trader as the transfer destination of the data, before Symbol delivery data relating to printing operations received from the source is, if it is the data that satisfies the provided condition, when the pretreated server determines the The data is intact, it is obtained by the be delivered to skilled in the art that the delivery destination. Here, the predetermined processing parameters relating to the print output device used by each vendor and the noted print output device are used when simulating the color reproducibility of the target print output device using the vendor's print output device. A device link profile may be included. In addition, the method further includes a step of accepting input of order information that defines a data transfer order between the respective suppliers. In the step of generating a device link profile as the predetermined processing parameter, each supplier is based on the input order information. For each print output device used in the above, generation of a device link profile for the target print output device may be restricted, or the generation order thereof may be adjusted.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The print job support system according to the embodiment of the present invention uses, for example, a print output device that actually manufactures a printed material as a noticeable print output device, and uses a print output device that is used by each vendor related to the printed material manufacture. Thus, the color reproducibility of this noticeable print output device is simulated, and only the data can be transferred, and the color reproducibility of each supplier can be matched. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, the system according to the present embodiment includes a web server group 1 as a data receiving server group, a preliminary processing server group 2, a data processing server group 3, and a data delivery server group. Format processing server group 4, mail transmission server 5, job manager 6, database 7, and registration management server 8, which are connected to each other via a LAN (local area network). Yes. Further, the web server group 1 and the format processing server group 4 are connected via a network to a personal computer system PC arranged on the side of a trader who manufactures printed matter.

  Here, the web server group 1, the preliminary processing server group 2, the data processing server group 3, and the format processing server group 4 are configured to include one or more server devices 10, respectively. As shown in FIG. 2, the control unit 11 includes a storage unit 12, a disk device 13, and a communication unit 14.

  Each control unit 11 operates in accordance with a program stored in the disk device 13. Specifically, the control unit 11 of the server device 10 belonging to the web server group 1 operates according to the web server program stored in the disk device 13, and the control unit 11 of the server device 10 belonging to the preliminary processing server group 2 is The control unit 11 of the server device 10 belonging to the data processing server group 3 operates according to the data check program stored in the disk device 13, operates according to the ripper program stored in the disk device 13, and the format processing server group 4 The control unit 11 of the server device 10 belonging to the server operates in accordance with the format processing program stored in the disk device 13, and the control unit 11 of the server device 10 belonging to the mail transmission server 5 operates as the mail stored in the disk device 13. Operates according to the transmission program, and the job manager 6 Belonging controller 11 of the server device 10 operates in accordance with a job management program stored in the disk device 13.

  In the following description, it is assumed that an advertisement production company or the like that has received a request from a client (client) of print production becomes a project manager and takes charge of design and publishing business. That is, for each item requested by the client, the contractor who has become the project manager forms a team of the contractor and manages the execution of the printing job. Each item is managed as a “project” in the following description.

  For example, the job management program has a process for accepting registration of a contractor or a project, a process for sharing data among a plurality of traders performing each project, a process for transferring data, and a process for each project. The processing of managing the workflow and the management process of manufacturing history are performed by the server device 10, and the ripper program is used in the print output device of interest such as color reproducibility in the print output device used by each supplier. The server apparatus 10 is made to perform processing for generating and providing information for simulating the properties of the printing results. Specific contents of the processing of each program will be described in detail later.

  The storage unit 12 stores a program executed by the control unit 11. The storage unit 12 operates as a work memory for the control unit 11. The disk device 13 stores information input from the control unit 11, and the information stored in the disk device 13 is set to be referable from other server devices 10.

  The communication unit 14 transmits various data via a network or the like according to instructions input from the control unit 11, and outputs data received via the network or the like to the control unit 11.

  The mail transmission server 5, the job manager 6, and the registration management server 8 have the same configuration as the server device 10, but are stored in the storage unit 12 and executed by the control unit 11 The contents of are different. Further, the disk device 13 is not necessarily required in the mail transmission server 5, the job manager 6, and the registration management server 8.

[Registration Management Server]
First, the operation of the registration management server 8 will be described. Information of each supplier that uses the system of the present embodiment is transmitted to the registration management server 8 and is subject to registration processing in advance. That is, the control unit 11 of the registration management server 8 (hereinafter, for the sake of distinction, the control unit 11 of the registration management server 8 will be described with the eighth alphabet “h” as the control unit 11h, for example). For example, it also operates as a web server, receives access from a personal computer system PC on the supplier side that desires registration, activates a module for supplier registration processing stored in the storage unit 12h, and performs user registration. A web page is provided, and authentication information such as a registered user name and password, as well as general information such as a trader name and contact information, are input and transmitted.

  In addition, the control unit 11h accepts input of information for specifying a print output device that can be used by the user as a device registration screen. Here, for example, the manufacturer of the print output device and the device name are input. When there are a plurality of pieces of information specifying the print output device received from the user, the control unit 11h designates a so-called default print output device that is mainly used by the user.

  The control unit 11h issues a unique user identifier (user ID) and an identifier (device ID) unique to each print output device, and gives the user ID and device ID to the access source user. Notice.

  Then, the control unit 11h distributes the color measurement patch data stored in advance in the storage unit 12h to the personal computer system PC that is the access source by using a protocol such as HTTP or FTP.

  The supplier uses each of the print output devices registered here to print the received color measurement patch data on a predetermined sheet, and assigns the device ID assigned to each print output device and its The print result of the color measurement patch data in the print output device is correlated and delivered to a color measurement center (not shown). This delivery is not performed electronically but by mail or the like. The color measurement center performs color measurement based on the print result, and transmits the color measurement result data (color measurement result data) to the print job support system side in association with the device ID associated with the print result. It will be.

  The control unit 11h receives the color measurement result data and the device ID associated therewith, and stores the device ID and the color measurement result data in the database 7 in association with each other.

  Here, the color measurement result data is provided to a target print output device as a color signal (device dependent color signal) as patch data for color measurement depending on a device such as CMYK or RGB. The color measurement result of the color of the printed image is acquired based on this color signal. This color measurement result data is generally a color signal (device independent color signal) obtained independently from the print output device, and is a color signal such as L * a * b *, L * u * v *, XYZ, or the like. . Note that the color expression by CMYK, RGB, L * a * b *, L * u * v *, XYZ, and the like is widely known, and a description thereof will be omitted.

  As a result of this registration processing, as shown in FIG. 3 as a user database, the database 7 uses a user ID as a key, authentication information such as a user name and password, general information, and at least one registered device ID. Of these, information specifying the device ID designated as the default is stored in association with each other. For each device ID, the color measurement result data received in association with the device ID is stored in the database 7 as a device database.

  In this embodiment, registration is performed on a per-user basis, and all users who use the system at each vendor register personally. However, registration by a vendor name representing each vendor is performed. It doesn't matter if you do.

  Further, in the system according to the present embodiment, the project manager contractor who has received the client's request selects another contractor related to the manufacture of the requested printed matter, and selects the project manager with information for identifying the project manager itself. Information that identifies the trader is to be registered. That is, the trader who has become the project manager obtains the user ID related to the user in each trader from the selected trader. Then, the registration management server 8 is requested to register the project. Note that the project manager may take the place of another contractor on the way.

  Upon receiving this request, the control unit 11h of the registration management server 8 distributes a web page for registering the project to the requesting personal computer system PC. In this web page, a project manager and a group of user IDs as information for identifying a business selected by the project manager, and order information that defines the order of business execution of each business (data delivery order between businesses) Let them enter. Specifically, the order information is represented as a permutation of user IDs. In the following description, each trader specified by the registered user ID group is referred to as a trader belonging to the project.

  In addition, the control unit 11h of the registration management server 8 uses the print output device used in the final output process as a noticed print output device, and prints the properties of the print result such as the device ID of the noticeable print output device and the paper type. It is associated with factor information for estimation and accepted as target information. Then, the control unit 11h issues a unique project ID and, as shown in FIG. 4, the input user ID, the order information, and the target information are stored in the database 7 using the issued project ID as a key. Store as.

  Further, the control unit 11h of the registration management server 8 may accept the setting related to the expiration date of the project and register the information on the expiration date in the project database.

  In addition, the control unit 11h of the registration management server 8 issues an access key unique to this project, and distributes the issued access key to each trader belonging to the project. Here, the access key can be a specific one that uses a common key encryption key, and is encrypted with a public key encryption key set for each supplier in advance. Distributed to vendors. This access key is used in a data sharing process described later.

  The control unit 11h of the registration management server 8 matches the color reproducibility of the print output device used by each supplier with the color reproducibility of the target print output device specified by the target information, and prints used by each supplier. Processing for generating information for simulating the color reproducibility of the noticeable print output device is further performed using the output device. Here, the target print output device is the print output device used in the final output process, so this information is the color measurement result of the target print output device and print paper used in the final output process. Generated based on a comparison between the data and the color measurement result data for the print output device used by the vendor that receives the data. Specifically, the color information contained in the sent data is converted. It is a parameter to do.

  That is, the data to be delivered includes color information used on the printed material described by the data as information on color spaces such as CMYK, RGB, and L * a * b *. Therefore, by converting the information of each color with predetermined parameters and providing the converted data to the receiving destination, the printing result on the device of the target printing output device and printing paper, and the printing at the receiving vendor Match the color reproduction state with the result. Here, the conversion may be performed by a conversion process similar to the conversion described in Patent Document 1.

  Further, this information can be defined in a brute force manner for each device included in the device database. Therefore, in the system according to the present embodiment, this information is associated with at least one of information (for example, user ID) for identifying each company and a device ID of a device used by the company, and device link profile information ( (Corresponding to a predetermined processing parameter of the present invention) and stored in the database 7. Furthermore, considering that each supplier may belong to a plurality of projects, and the target print output device may be different in each project, this device link profile information includes the project ID and the device of the target print output device. Information such as an ID may be included to indirectly or directly identify the target print output device.

  Specifically, when there is one print output device used by each vendor, the generated parameters are associated with each other and stored in the database 7 as device link profile information.

  In this way, a database of device link profile information is formed in the database 7. Note that one of the characteristic features of the present embodiment is that each processing company is considered in advance, that is, at the time when a project is defined in view of the relatively large processing load required to generate the device link profile information. Device link profile information is generated in advance and stored in the database 7 even if data is not actually exchanged between them.

  The device link profile information is used when data is transferred between vendors. For example, when data is transferred from the first trader to the second trader, device link profile information including information specifying the second trader is read from the database 7 by the data processing server 3 or the like and used. Become. In this case, when a plurality of print output devices are registered by the second vendor, device link profile information related to the device ID of the print output device designated by each vendor is used. In this case, the device link profile information related to the device ID designated in advance as a default is selectively used, or the device link profile information related to the device ID designated as the default is sequentially selected (priority). Device link profile information related to each device ID may be generated.

  Furthermore, one of the characteristic features of the present embodiment is that the order information associated with each project ID in the project database is referred to, and device link profile information to be generated is limited based on the order information. The order may be adjusted. That is, referring to the order information, the generation of device link profile information relating to a trader who does not exchange data may be suppressed.

  For example, if the order information stipulates that data is to be transferred from the producer to the platemaker, while the direct delivery of data from other vendors belonging to the project to the producer is not specified, registration management The control unit 11h of the server 8 generates device link profile information including information for specifying the producer, that is, information for simulating the color reproducibility of the target print output device using the print output device on the producer side. Control not to.

  Note that device link profile information between the output devices on the side of each supplier belonging to the project and the target output device is also generated at this stage.

  Further, the control unit 11h of the registration management server 8 receives the target information and information (preflight profile information) defining the check conditions used for the preflight check process from the supplier side, and stores the database together with the target information. 7 may be stored.

[Web server group]
The control unit 11 of the server device 10 belonging to the web server group 1 (hereinafter, for the sake of distinction, the control unit 11 of the server device belonging to the web server group 1 is denoted by “a” as the first alphabet, When a new project is registered in the database 7, a website related to the project is generated and stored in the disk device 13, and data is uploaded from the vendor side belonging to each project. Accept and hold it. In addition, when the acquisition request for the stored data is received from the trader belonging to the project, the data related to the acquisition request is distributed. In the present embodiment, a public key certificate for each trader that is set in advance in the personal computer system PC of each trader when the website is accessed is used to prevent unauthorized access. Since this processing is widely known as communication using, for example, SSL (Secure Socket Layer), detailed description thereof is omitted.

  For each project, the control unit 11a performs a process for supporting the data transfer between contractors belonging to the project. That is, the authentication information of the first trader is received from the trader side (first trader side) serving as the data delivery source, and the process shown in FIG. 5 is started, and is first stored in the user database. The information is compared with the authentication information to check whether or not the first trader is a valid user (authentication process; S1). If it is confirmed that the first trader is a valid user, the project to which the first trader belongs is searched from the project database (S2). As a result of the search, a list of projects to which the first company belongs is transmitted to the personal computer system PC of the first company, and the project ID of the project related to the data to be delivered is specified (S3). .

  Next, the control unit 11a acquires a list of traders belonging to the project, which is associated with the project ID and registered in the database 7, and transmits the list of traders to the personal computer system of the first trader. The user ID of the trader (second trader) that receives the data is specified (S4).

  The control unit 11a accepts the next data to be transferred (S5), stores this data in the disk device 13a (S6), and information indicating that the data has been received from the first supplier side (S6). (History information) is output to the job manager 6 in association with the project ID (S7), and the process ends. This history information is generated every time there is a data delivery instruction from each supplier, is output to the job manager 6, and is stored in the database 7 as a history database by the job manager 6.

The data to be transferred here is, for example, Adobe's PDF (Portable
It is also preferable to have portable data such as (Document Format) format. Specifically, in the system according to the present embodiment, data can be received using PDFTransit (trademark).

[Pre-processing server group]
The control unit 11 of the server apparatus 10 belonging to the preprocessing server group 2 (hereinafter, for the sake of distinction, the control unit 11 of the server apparatus belonging to the preprocessing server group 2 is denoted by the second alphabet “b”. The control unit 11b and the like) notify that the data to be processed is stored in the disk device 13a of the server device 10 belonging to the web server group 1 (including reference information indicating the storage location). In response to the notification, data to be processed is taken out from the disk device 13a of the server device 10 belonging to the web server group 1 and a so-called preflight check is performed. In the preflight check, when the preflight profile information of each trader is stored in the database 7, the preflight profile information associated with the user ID of the second trader specified in the process S4 is stored in the database. 7 is performed by checking whether or not the data to be processed matches the condition defined by the extracted preflight profile information. Here, the preflight profile information includes, for example, specification of a color space, specification that cannot be processed that can be included in image data (for example, specification of transparency may not be processed for a printer), and text verification The control unit 11b outputs information indicating that an error has occurred to the job manager 6 when the data to be processed does not meet these conditions, including definition of conditions such as layout verification.

  In addition, when the data to be processed matches these conditions, the control unit 11b stores the data to be processed in the disk device 13b, and indicates that the check of the data has been completed. Is output to the job manager 6.

  Further, in addition to the preflight check process, the control unit 11b may perform a predetermined correction process such as a font replacement process or a bitmap image replacement process. Specifically, the control unit 11b is a font used in the data to be processed, and defines the font shape used in the output (given by a bitmap or vector data) , So-called font glyph) is not included, the character shape definition information of the used font is acquired, and the font is rasterized. As a result, the character portion of the data is rasterized. Further, the rasterization may be substantially realized by converting a font not embedded in the PDF into an embedded font.

  In addition, when a bitmap image is included in the data to be processed, and there is a bitmap image having a higher resolution than the image represented by the bitmap image, the bitmap having a higher resolution is included. An image may be acquired, and the bitmap image in the data may be replaced with the acquired bitmap image having a higher resolution. In this case, when the resolution information of the device is obtained from the information about the device of the second vendor that is the data delivery destination, the resolution of the bitmap image included in the data to be processed is compared with the resolution information. The replacement process may be performed only when the value is low.

  In addition, when the application that generated the data to be processed can be identified, the data to be processed is inspected and corrected based on bug information predetermined in relation to the application. Also good. For example, when it is known that there is a bug in the parameter setting related to a specific instruction sequence in PDF data generated by a specific version V of an application A, the application A and its version are stored in the database 7. The information of the bug is held in association with the information specifying V, and the control unit 11b examines the application that generated the data to be processed and its version, and the application that generated the data and its version The bug information associated with is searched from the database 7, and when the bug information is found, the data is corrected by referring to the bug information. In this case, the bug information is information that defines the pattern in which the bug occurs and the replacement pattern for the pattern. For example, in PDF, “/ Range [0.0 1.0] (line feed)” is designated as “// If there is a bug that outputs without closing brackets, such as Range [0.0 1.0 (line feed)], associate "/ Range [* (line feed)]" with "/ Range [*] (line feed)" And keep it.

  When the control unit 11b searches for a pattern of “/ Range [* (line feed)] (where an asterisk searches as a regular expression that matches any one or more characters), the pattern is found by the search Is replaced with “/ Range [*] (line feed)” (the asterisk here is replaced with a character string that matches the regular expression at the time of search). As a result, “/ Range [0.0 1.0 (line feed)]” is changed to “/ Range [0.0 1.0] (line feed)”.

  Furthermore, the control unit 11b determines whether or not the data to be processed satisfies a predetermined provision condition. If the data satisfies the provision condition, the control section 11b performs the preflight check data ( Alternatively, the data obtained by performing the preflight check and the correction process) may be provided to the second trader side as the delivery destination as it is. As a result, data (pre-processing data) that has not been processed by the data processing server described later can be extracted. At this time, the control unit 11b stores the data to be processed in the disk device 13b, outputs information indicating that the data has been checked to the job manager 6, and the data processing server group 3 described below. May be provided to the second vendor side (along with pre-processing data). In addition, referring to a predetermined setting (a setting indicating which of the pre-processing data and the data processed by the data processing server group 3 is to be provided) for the user who is the second contractor side, the setting Accordingly, when the setting to provide pre-processing data is made, the pre-processing data may be provided as it is to the second vendor side as the delivery destination.

  If the provision condition is not satisfied, the control unit 11b stores the data to be processed in the disk device 13b, and outputs information indicating that the data check has been completed to the job manager 6, The processing by the data processing server group 3 described below is performed.

  The provision conditions here are, for example, whether or not the school has been completed, whether or not there has been an instruction from the project manager (whether there has been an instruction from the project manager to provide pre-processing data in the past, etc.) The conditions are as follows.

  For example, when the condition of whether or not school is completed is set as the provision condition, the control unit 11b determines whether or not the data is completed data (final data to be printed to the printing shop) If the data has been completed, the data that has been preflight checked (or the data that has been subjected to the preflight check and correction process) will be used as the school completion data, and the post-school data will be transferred to In the case of the second trader), that is, the trader (final output trader) provided with the print output device used in the final output process. For example, the control unit 11b operates as a web server, sets a part of the disk device 13b as a public area disclosed by the web server, stores data in the public area, and instructs the job manager 6 to Notify that school data is ready to be provided. Upon receiving this notification, the job manager 6 notifies the mail transmission server 5 of the URL to the school completion data stored in the public area to the final output vendor by e-mail. As a result, the data stored in the disk device 13b can be acquired from the personal computer system PC on the final output vendor side. The communication related to the data acquisition may be encrypted communication using SSL or the like.

  As described above, when the data that has been completed is to be provided to the final output company as it is, the data that the control unit 11b has processed is the disk that has not been completed. Information stored in the apparatus 13b and indicating that the data check has been completed is output to the job manager 6, and processing by the data processing server group 3 described below is performed.

  Here, the determination as to whether or not the data has been completed can be made by, for example, a predetermined condition relating to the order information or the like, designation from the first trader that is the source of the data, or the like. For example, when the order of the user ID of the first trader and the user ID of the second trader is an order corresponding to the end part of the permutation of the user IDs indicated in the order information, the first trader to the second trader The data handed over to the school can be determined to be school completion data.

  In this case, the control unit 11b operates as a web server and provides data satisfying the above provision conditions to the second vendor side. Instead, the control unit 11b performs a preflight check. When data (or data that has undergone preflight check and correction processing) is generated and stored in the disk device 13b, and the job manager 6 is notified that the processing has been completed, the data satisfies a predetermined provision condition. The job manager 6 determines whether or not the job is satisfied, and if the provision condition is satisfied, the data processing server group 3 is not processed and the format processing server group 4 serving as the data delivery server group is processed. The data stored in the disk device 13b may be instructed to be acquired and processed. As a result, the data that has been subjected to the preflight check (or the data that has been subjected to the preflight check and the correction process) is directly provided to the second contractor without performing the data processing described below. Become. In this case, the server device 10 of the format processing server group 4 may also provide the data as it is without performing the processing described later on the data.

  The data provided in this way is rasterized, for example, on the second vendor side. Specifically, in the case of school completion data, it is rasterized by the final output company and printed by the final output device.

[Data processing server group]
The control unit 11 of the server device 10 belonging to the data processing server group 3 (hereinafter, for the sake of distinction, the control unit 11 of the server device 10 belonging to the data processing server group 3 is denoted by the third alphabet “c”. The control unit 11c or the like) notifies that the data to be processed is stored in the disk device 13b of the server device 10 belonging to the preliminary processing server group 2 (reference information indicating the storage location). In accordance with the notification, data to be processed is extracted from the disk device 13b of the server device 10 belonging to the preliminary processing server group 2 and stored in the storage unit 12c.

  The control unit 11c of the server device 10 belonging to the data processing server group 3 receives from the job manager 6 the project ID related to the notification and the user ID of the first vendor authenticated by the server device 10 belonging to the web server group 1. The user ID of the second vendor is acquired, the target information associated with the project ID from the database 7, the device ID (delivery source device ID) associated with the user ID of the first vendor, and the second vendor's user ID The device ID (delivery destination device ID) associated with the user ID is acquired.

  Next, the control unit 11c searches the device link profile information database stored in the database 7 for the device link profile information associated with the acquired delivery source device ID and delivery destination device ID. Based on the device link profile information obtained as a result, the color information of the data to be processed extracted from the disk device 13b of the server apparatus 10 belonging to the preliminary processing server group 2 is converted (preliminary conversion). Device link profile information related to the device ID related to the user ID of the device and the device ID of the target print output device used in the final output process is searched from the database 7, and the device obtained as a result of the search Based on the link profile information, Further converts the color information of the target data (color conversion processing). As a result, the state at the time of final output can be simulated by the device on the second vendor side. Here, preliminary conversion is performed on the assumption that the data delivered from the first vendor side matches the color reproduction characteristics of the device of the first vendor, but the data delivered from the first vendor side is transferred to the device. This preliminary conversion is not necessarily required if the data is independent.

  If there are a plurality of device IDs when acquiring the device IDs associated with the user IDs of the first and second vendors, the colorimetric results associated with the device ID designated as the default Data may be selectively acquired, or device link profile information to be used may be designated on the first vendor side or the second vendor side.

In addition, the control unit 11c performs not only the color conversion process but also the lip (RIP: Raster).
Image Process) processing may be performed. In other words, instead of the data after the color conversion process itself, or the data after the color conversion process or the data before the color conversion process, the data after the lip process based on the data after the color conversion process is provided to the recipient To do. That is, (1) only data after lip processing, (2) set of data after color conversion processing and data after lip processing, (3) data before color conversion processing (that is, data to be processed itself) And a set of data after the lip process, (4) a set of data before the color conversion process, a data after the color conversion process, and a data after the lip process. Good. By performing the lip processing on the printing business support system side in this way, it is possible to prevent a problem that the printing result is different due to the difference in the fonts owned by each supplier.

  The control unit 11c stores the data subjected to the color conversion process and the lip process in the disk device 13c, and outputs information indicating that the processing of the data is completed to the job manager 6.

[Format processing server group]
The control unit 11 of the server device 10 belonging to the format processing server group 4 (hereinafter, for the sake of distinction, the control unit 11 of the server device belonging to the format processing server group 4 is denoted by the fourth alphabet “d”. The control unit 11d and the like) notify that the data to be processed is stored in the disk device 13c of the server device 10 belonging to the data processing server group 3 (including reference information indicating the storage location). In response to the notification, the data to be processed is extracted from the disk device 13c, the data to be processed is converted into a predetermined format, stored in the disk device 13d, and the data Information indicating that the processing has been completed is output to the job manager 6 together with information for specifying the storage location of the data.

  Here, as the predetermined format, an image data format such as wrapped PDF or TIFF may be adopted, or compression processing may be performed.

  The control unit 11d also operates as a web server. Upon receiving access from the personal computer system PC on the second vendor side, the control unit 11d sends a disk device 13d to the personal computer system PC on the second vendor side. The data stored in is transferred.

  Specifically, when accessing the control unit 11d, a public key certificate for each vendor that is set in advance in the personal computer system PC of the second vendor is used to prevent unauthorized access. Since this processing is widely known as communication using, for example, SSL (Secure Socket Layer), detailed description thereof is omitted.

[Job Manager]
The job manager 6 receives from the server device 10 belonging to the web server group 1 input information (history information) indicating that data has been received from the first vendor side and a project ID, and stores the history information in the database. 7 and for each server device 10 belonging to the preliminary processing server group 2, together with reference information for specifying the storage location in the disk device 13 a of any server device 10 belonging to the web server group 1, Notification that the data to be stored is stored in the storage location.

  The spare processing server group 2 is configured such that, among the server devices 10 belonging thereto, the server device 10 that has returned the response to the notification earliest performs the processing of the data.

  Similarly, when the job manager 6 receives a notification of processing completion from the preliminary processing server group 2, the data to be processed for each server device 10 belonging to the data processing server group 3 is stored in the preliminary processing server group 2. Is sent to the specific storage location of the disk device 13b included in the data processing server group 3 and when the processing completion notification is received from the data processing server group 3, each server device 10 belonging to the format processing server group 4 is notified. Thus, a notification that the data to be processed is stored in the specific storage location of the disk device 13c included in the data processing server group 3 is sent out.

  The data processing server group 3 and the format processing server group 4 are also configured such that the server device 10 that returned the earliest response to this notification among the server devices 10 belonging to them processes the data. ing.

  The job manager 6 further acquires information indicating the data storage location from the server device 10 belonging to the format processing server group 4 and information indicating the completion of the data processing, and sends the information to the mail transmission server 5 Sends an e-mail containing URL information for accessing the storage location of the acquired data in the server device 10 belonging to the format processing server group 4 with the e-mail address of the second vendor as the data transfer destination as the destination Let

  As a result, the user on the second vendor side can receive the data to be delivered (after the predetermined authentication process) by accessing the URL included in the e-mail.

  Further, the job manager 6 may also operate as a web server, provide information relating to the status of data exchange between the respective vendors, and implement workflow management. Specifically, a web page that provides history information generated in the process of receiving and transferring data as described above may be generated and distributed to the personal computer system PC on the supplier side.

  When the job manager 6 generates history information, the job manager 6 issues a unique job identifier, associates it with the history information, and notifies (communications) the server device 10 belonging to each of the server groups 1 to 4. , Communication is performed with the job identifier, and processing status information in the server group, such as whether or not the notification is received and the date and time when the notification is received, may be managed for each job identifier.

  Information such as the presence / absence of receipt of notifications managed for each job identifier is data representing the processing status of the data related to the job identifier, and the history related to the job identifier during the processing of the job manager 6 as a web server. It may be distributed to each trader (first and second traders) related to the information or each trader belonging to the project related to the history information.

  Thus, the website generated when the job manager 6 operates as a web server is generated for each trader (each user in each trader), and distribution of information related to the job related to the user is included in the web page. It may be configured to be performed.

[Installation of fonts etc. on the data processing server]
Data required for the lip processing or the like for the server device 10 belonging to the data processing server group 3 described above, which is installed in the operating system of the server device 10 and restarted or rehashed (rehash) If there is data that requires a period during which other processing cannot be performed during the installation process (for example, font data on a Windows (registered trademark) server), the installation of the data is performed according to the following procedure. It can be carried out.

  In performing this procedure, a data providing server that provides the data to be installed is required. As this data providing server, a server (not shown) may be particularly prepared, or any one of the server devices 10 and the job manager 6 may be used as the data providing server.

  Each server device 10 belonging to the data processing server group 3 stores data to be installed in the data providing server, and gives an instruction to install the data (such as a job manager 6 or a system administrator's terminal not shown). )), The current processing status is checked, and if there is data being processed, it waits for the processing of the data to end. During this standby, even if a notification that there is data to be newly processed is received from the job manager 6, the data related to the notification may not be processed.

  When the data processing is completed, the installation target data is acquired from the data providing server.

  Further, when performing standby as described above, in order to prevent all the server apparatuses 10 from entering a standby state at the same time, the server apparatus 10 that intends to wait is notified of a request for waiting, and in a predetermined order. In accordance with the predetermined priority order, the order of notifications indicating that the user wants to wait, and the current processing load, etc., so-called arbitration is performed in which instructions to wait are sequentially given to the server device 10 that has made the request. The processing may be performed by a data providing server or the like.

  In this case, the server apparatus 10 processes new data without entering the standby state until receiving an instruction to wait for a request to wait.

[Operation]
The system according to the present embodiment has the above-described configuration and operates as follows. Various vendors who intend to perform a printing job using the system of the present embodiment register information (color measurement result data, etc.) relating to the printing output device to be used in advance on the printing job support system side. In the following description, it is assumed that the provision condition is a condition indicating whether or not the data has been completed.

  A contractor (for example, an advertising production company) that has contracted the manufacture of printed materials to select a contractor that is required to perform the requested print job, and specify the information to identify the contractor and the order in which data is transferred between the contractors. Register the specified order information with the printing business support system and receive the project registration.

  When a project is registered, a web page related to the project is generated, and an access key for accessing the web page of the project is issued and notified to the selected vendor.

  When the project is registered, the print job support system side determines the order information (and the device ID of the print output apparatus designated as the default by the related company, regardless of whether or not data delivery is instructed). ), Device link profile information used for data transfer is sequentially generated and stored in the database 7.

  For example, when data relating to an advertisement printed matter generated by an advertisement producer is sent to the web server group 1, this data becomes a processing target and is managed together with a unique job identifier. Then, a preflight check is performed on the data to be processed by the server device 10 of the preliminary processing server group 2, and the server device 10 of the data processing server group 3 and The device link profile information with the advertisement producer (delivery source) is read from the database 7, and the color information of the delivered data is converted (preliminary conversion) using the read device link profile information. ) Further, device link profile information between the plate manufacturer that is the delivery destination and the printer that is the final output supplier is read from the database 7 and delivered using the read device link profile information. The color information of the data to be converted is converted. In addition, lip processing is performed, and the data after the lip processing is converted into data of a predetermined format by the server device 10 of the format processing server group 4.

  When the converted data is generated and stored in the server device 10 of the format processing server group 4, information for specifying the storage location is transmitted to the plate manufacturer as a delivery destination by e-mail, and the electronic If the platemaker accesses the storage location indicated in the mail, the processed and formatted data will be provided.

  The plate manufacturer side outputs the received data using a print output device of the plate manufacturer side. This output result is a simulation of the printing state in the final output device, and the platemaker performs the platemaking operation while watching this. Also, if the processing status of the data related to the delivery is provided, the advertisement production company as the project manager can refer to the processing status of the data (that is, the progress status of the project).

  Note that the data processed by each trader may be provided to a trader who is a project manager. In this case, calibration by the project manager is possible.

  In this way, the data is sequentially transferred between the respective vendors, and after completing the proofreading (including color school) and completing the school, for example, it is the final stage in which the data is transferred from the advertisement production company to the printing company. In this final stage, the data delivered from the advertisement production company is transmitted to the web server group 1, and the preflight check is performed by the server device 10 of the preliminary processing server group 2 with this data as a processing target. The data after this preflight check is delivered as it is to the printer. On the printer side, lip processing based on this data is performed and printing is performed.

[Modification]
In an actual printing job, for example, a printing company may request a subcontracting from another printing company. In addition, there is a request that such subcontracts are not desired to be known to higher-level contractors (for example, project managers). Therefore, each trader may further set a subproject so that traders belonging to the subproject cannot be referred to by other traders of the project. The subproject is basically registered in the same manner as the above-mentioned project and is used for the above processing.

  Further, in the data delivery, the resolution, compression format, etc. may be designated from the delivery source trader. That is, in the above-described lip processing, lip processing is generally performed at the resolution of the print output device used on the receiving side, but the delivery source can specify the resolution of the lip processing. Also good. Further, it may be possible to designate which one of the resolution specified by the delivery source trader and the resolution of the print output device used on the recipient trader side is to be used preferentially.

  In addition, when specifying the compression format, for example, specify the compression method (LZH method, JPEG method, etc.), reversible / irreversible, and the strength (compression rate setting) in the case of irreversible from the delivery source supplier You may be able to do it. In this case as well, if the compression format is determined based on the conditions related to the receiving print output device, it may be determined by that, but if specified from the data delivery source, Data compressed in the specified compression format will be provided. Furthermore, also in this case, which of the compression format specified by the delivery source and the compression format determined based on the conditions related to the print output device of the recipient is used preferentially from the data delivery source. May be accepted and followed.

  Also, the device link profile information is not necessarily uniquely determined with respect to the device ID. When a plurality of device link profile information related to the device ID of the receiving destination is found, an instruction as to which of the plurality of device link profile information is used may be accepted from the receiving destination or the delivery source. Good.

  Further, for example, when the print output device is an ink jet printer that uses six colors of ink, the device link profile information when printing using the four colors of ink and printing using the six colors of ink is performed. The device link profile information may be generated for each number of colors used for printing, such as the device link profile information used when printing. In this case, information regarding the number of colors used for printing may be received in advance from the receiving side, and device link profile information regarding the number of colors may be selected and used according to the received information during color conversion processing. Good. Further, as described above, an instruction as to which one to use may be accepted from a recipient or a delivery source.

  Furthermore, when there is such a difference in the number of colors, the procedure of the color conversion process may be changed. For example, a two-step conversion process may be performed such that a color conversion process assuming that four color inks are used is performed first, and then a unique conversion process is performed when using six color inks.

  Further, not only the difference in the number of colors, but also the procedure of color conversion processing may be changed based on the color generation method (other than inkjet, electrophotographic method, etc.) of the print output device used at the recipient.

  Furthermore, in the above description, when generating device link profile information, the color measurement result data registered for each device ID is used. For example, print output specified by each device ID is used. General data prepared in advance for each device model may be used. Further, the device link profile information generated using the general data in this way and the device link profile information generated using the actual color measurement result data are both stored in the database 7 as described above. Alternatively, the recipient or delivery source may select which one to use.

  Furthermore, in the system according to the present embodiment, each process is performed in a distributed manner by a plurality of server groups, so that the number of server devices 10 in each server group is adjusted according to the processing load status for each server group. It may be. However, one server device may be configured to perform each of the processes described above. Further, the server device 10 of each server group may be deployed in different organizations (for example, other companies).

  In addition, the above-described device link profile may include information on paper used by each vendor, color profile information for each device generated based on a predetermined image formed on the paper, and the like. As a result, it is possible to perform processing such as color conversion in consideration of the paper used by each supplier.

  Furthermore, in the description so far, the delivery destination of the data delivered from the first trader has been one second trader side, but there may be a plurality of delivery destinations designated as the second trader. Good. In this case, for each of a plurality of designated second traders, the server device of each server group performs the above-described processing, and the data processed corresponding to each second trader is displayed on the corresponding second trader side. Deliver to.

[Software distributed to vendors]
In order to access the web server group 1 of the above-described system, for example, on the setting screen of the virtual printer driver (PDFTransit (trademark) output dialog etc.) It is possible to specify an ID and a data delivery destination. For this reason, this virtual printer driver itself or add-on software for the virtual printer driver is provided with this setting screen, and the contents of the setting made by the user via the setting screen are sent to the server device belonging to the web server group 1 It is possible to install software to be sent to the personal computer system PC of each vendor.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing job support system and a connection state thereof according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram showing the example of a structure of each server apparatus. It is explanatory drawing showing an example of the content of a user database. It is explanatory drawing showing an example of the content of a project database. It is a flowchart figure showing an example of a data reception process.

Explanation of symbols

1 Web server group 2 Preliminary processing server group 3 Data processing server group 4 Format processing server group 5 Mail transmission server 6 Job manager 7 Database 8 Registration management server 10 Server device 11 Control unit 12 Storage Part, 13 disk device, 14 communication part.

Claims (5)

It is connected to a computer on the supplier side via a network , and includes at least one data receiving server, a preliminary processing server, a data processing server, and a data delivery server, while transferring print data among a plurality of suppliers, A system for supporting a printing job for producing printed matter related to print data,
Information that identifies multiple vendors that perform printing operations, device information that identifies the print output devices used in the printing operations, and the noted print output device that is the print output device that actually manufactures the printed matter Means for generating project information including information, and means for holding information used for simulating the color reproducibility of the print output device of interest generated for each set of print output devices used by each supplier And a registration management server including
The data receiving server receives the print data from a computer of a first merchant that is a delivery source of the print data;
The preliminary processing server obtains profile information associated with a second trader to which the accepted print data is transferred, confirms the print data based on the profile information, and outputs the confirmation result. At the same time, it is determined whether the print data has been completed or there has been an instruction to provide pre-processing data, and the print data has been completed or has been instructed to provide pre-processing data. When the determination is made, the data processing server is made to acquire the print data,
The data processing server acquires the print data and the project information according to a notification from the preliminary processing server , specifies information for specifying a print output device to be used on a trader side to which the print data is transferred, and the project Obtaining information used when simulating the color reproducibility of the noticeable print output device using the print output device on the contractor side associated with the information specifying the noticeable print output device included in the information ; based on the acquired information, it line conversion processing of the color information for print data to which the acquired, to acquire the data delivery server,
Wherein the data transfer server, the print data the acquired and distributed to the second merchant's computer serving as the transfer destination of the data,
Said pretreated server, the when the print data received from the transfer source is determined that an instruction should provide and or pre-processing data and proofreading is the print data as it is, the skilled in the art that the delivery destination A printing business support system characterized by being distributed. The printing business support system according to claim 1,
A printing business support system , wherein the number of each of a data receiving server, a preliminary processing server, a data processing server, and a data delivery server is determined according to a load of each server . The printing business support system according to claim 1 or 2 ,
The registration management server further includes means for accepting input of order information that defines the order of data transfer between each supplier, and for each print output device used by each supplier based on the input order information, printing business support system characterized by the target against the print output device, the color reproducibility of interest print output device to restrict the generation of information used when causing simulated, or to adjust the production order. Connected to a computer on the supplier side via a network, using at least one data receiving server, a preliminary processing server, a data processing server, and a data delivery server, respectively, while exchanging the data among a plurality of suppliers, A method for supporting a printing job for producing a printed matter related to data,
Information that identifies multiple vendors that perform print jobs using the registration management server, device information that identifies print output devices used in the print jobs, and print output devices that actually produce printed materials Used to generate project information including information for specifying a print output device, and to simulate the color reproducibility of a print output device of interest generated for each set of print output devices used by each vendor. Keep information,
Accepting the print data from the computer of the first merchant that is the delivery source of the print data by the data acceptance server;
The preliminary processing server obtains profile information associated with the second vendor that is the delivery destination of the accepted print data, confirms the print data based on the profile information, and outputs the confirmation result At the same time, it is determined whether the print data has been completed or there has been an instruction to provide pre-processing data, and the print data has been completed or has been instructed to provide pre-processing data. When the determination is made, the data processing server is made to acquire the print data,
Information that causes the data processing server to acquire print data and the project information according to a notification from the preliminary processing server, and to specify a print output device that is used on the side of the trader that is the delivery destination of the print data; and the project Information used when simulating the color reproducibility of the noticeable print output device using the print output device on the supplier's side associated with the information specifying the noticeable print output device included in the information is acquired. , Based on the acquired information, the color information conversion process for the acquired print data is performed, and the data delivery server acquires the data,
The acquired data is delivered by the data delivery server to a computer on the second merchant side as a data delivery destination,
When the preliminary processing server determines that the print data received from the delivery source has been completed or there has been an instruction to provide pre-processing data, the print data is delivered to the delivery destination as it is printing business support method, characterized in that it makes. A printing business support method according to claim 4,
Further comprising the step of accepting the input of order information that defines the order of data transfer between each contractor using the registration management server ,
Based on the input order information, each print output device to be used in each skill, the target against the print output device, the generation of information used the color reproducibility of interest print output device when to simulate A printing business support method characterized by being limited or the generation order thereof being adjusted.

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