JP4882694B2 - Printing control apparatus, printing control method, printing control program, printing apparatus, printing method, printing program, and recording medium - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a print control apparatus, a print control method, a print control program, a printing apparatus, a printing method, a printing program, and a recording medium that perform print control after receiving a print setting request including information related to a print job.

Generally, when printing print data in a page description language (PDL), information about the print job is displayed as print job definition data (for example, JDF: Job Descriptor).
finition Format), and a method of performing print control after receiving a print setting request based on the print job definition data is known.
For example, in Patent Document 1, a client device is an existing PDL (Page Description Lan
guage) DPA (Document Printing Application) showing new print settings for data
The job with the data added is sent to the print server, and the print server controller
DPA data is extracted from the job and input to the DPA converter. The DPA converter converts the DPA data into PDL data and inputs it to the PDL interpreter. The PDL interpreter interprets the data and sets its internal state. When the PDL interpreter completes the interpretation of the data, a print control apparatus is proposed in which the controller inputs the PDL data to the PDL interpreter, and as a result, the PDL data is processed based on the setting of the DPA data. Thus, the internal state of the PDL processing unit of the print control apparatus can be set according to data expressed in a format other than PDL that can be processed by the PDL processing unit.

A print control device having content data editing means has also been proposed.
FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a typical operation of a print control apparatus having conventional content data editing means.
First, in step S110, the data receiving unit 110 of the print control apparatus 100
Determine whether data has been received. This determination is repeated until data is received, and if it is received, print job definition data and content data are extracted from this data in step S120. In step S130, the print job definition data editing unit 120 analyzes the print job definition data. In step S140, content data editing information for editing the content data included in the print job definition data. In step S150, print job definition data for the printing apparatus (print job definition data after editing) is created. Next, in step S160,
The content data editing unit 130 edits the content data based on the content data editing information. In step S170, print job definition data and content data are transmitted to job scheduling step S210 of the printing apparatus 200.
Thereafter, after setting a job in job scheduling step S210, a printing apparatus is set in step S220, an image is created in step S230, and finally an image is formed in step S240.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-124272

However, generally, when print control is performed after receiving print settings based on print job definition data, the print control apparatus needs to edit content data depending on the contents of the print job definition. For example, imposition or received content data needs to be converted into a content data format that can be processed by the printing apparatus. In this case, since the apparatus described in Patent Document 1 does not have content data editing means, when it is necessary to edit the page data, the analysis and editing of the page data described in Patent Document 1 are all completed. The content data must be edited, and the entire processing time is slow.

Also in the conventional example having the content editing means shown in FIG. 13, the print job definition data is edited (step S150) and the content data is edited (step S150).
Step S160) is processed in series and is configured to edit the content data after the editing of the print job definition data is completed, so the problem is that the processing efficiency is low and the processing time is slow as a whole. It remains.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and when performing print control after receiving print settings based on print job definition data, the print control apparatus efficiently performs the entire process and shortens the processing time. An object of the present invention is to provide a printing control method, a printing control program, a printing apparatus, a printing method, a printing program, and a recording medium.

[Mode 1] In order to achieve the above object, a print control apparatus according to mode 1 is a print control apparatus that receives a print setting request based on print job definition data and performs print control.
Data receiving means for receiving the print job definition data and content data;
Print job definition data editing means for analyzing the print job definition data, creating content data editing information which is information for editing the content data based on the analysis result, and editing the print job definition data;
Content data editing means for editing the content data based on the content data editing information sent from the print job definition data editing means in parallel with the editing of the print job definition data by the print job definition data editing means When,
Content data storage means for storing the edited content data edited by the content data editing means;
A data communication unit for individually transmitting the print job definition data edited by the print job definition data editing unit and the edited content data stored in the content data storage unit to a printing apparatus; It is characterized by that.

According to this configuration, content data editing is performed in which content data is edited based on content data editing information sent from the print job definition data editing unit in parallel with editing of the print job definition data by the print job definition data editing unit. Therefore, the print job definition data can be processed without waiting for the end of the content data editing process.
In other words, it is possible to make advance reservations for jobs, so that it takes time to set up the printing device, for example, when preparation or setting of paper of a size that is not set in the printing device is required. Since the printing apparatus can be set in parallel with the content data editing process, the overall processing speed can be improved. Note that “print job definition data” generally refers to information relating to a print job, such as “print job specification data” and “print job setting data”.

“Print job specification data” is referred to as “print specification information” and refers to information that describes the specifications of a desired printed material as a final product by printing processing. Specifically, the information includes information regarding the finished paper size, the type of printing medium, the folding method and the cutting method, the binding position, the binding method, the duplex printing method, the document data and pages to be printed, and the ink to be used. The print specification information only needs to describe the specifications of the final product, and print setting information is not described. In other words, the printing apparatus cannot be automatically operated with only the print specification information, and it is necessary to convert the print specification information into print setting information that satisfies the specification in some form.

“Print job setting data” is referred to as “print setting information”, which is detailed setting information of a printing apparatus in print processing. Specifically, for example, when imposing (allocating and printing a plurality of pages on one side of a sheet so as to have a finished sheet size after folding and cutting), the size of the sheet to be used, the imposition method, Detailed coordinate information in imposition, information on folding method and cutting position are included. Some of the setting information included in the print setting information overlaps with the print specification information.

“Content data” refers to document data associated with print specification information.
This refers to electronic document data that is subject to print processing based on print specifications. As an association method, a document may be directly embedded in the print specification information, or a URL (
Uniform Resource Locator) or only the location of document data such as a file path may be described. A plurality of documents may be associated with the print specification information. Further, not only all pages of document data but also specific pages may be associated.

[Mode 2] The invention of mode 2 relates to the printing control apparatus of mode 1,
The data communication unit, when acquiring the print job definition data edited by the print job definition data editing unit, transmits the edited print job definition data to the printing apparatus.
According to this configuration, the print job definition data is transmitted to the printing apparatus without waiting for the editing of the content data to be completed, so that the overall processing speed can be improved.

That is, in the same way as in the first mode, it is possible to make an advance reservation for a job, and when it takes a long time to set the printing apparatus, for example, when preparation or setting of a sheet of a size not set in the printing apparatus is required Since the setting of the printing apparatus can be performed in parallel with the content data editing process in the printing control apparatus, the effect of improving the overall processing speed can be obtained.

[Mode 3] The invention of mode 3 relates to the printing control apparatus of mode 1 or 2,
When there is a request for the edited content data from the printing apparatus, the data communication unit transmits the edited content data to the printing apparatus as a response to the printing apparatus.
According to this configuration, only when there is a request for edited content data from the printing apparatus, the edited content data is transmitted to the printing apparatus, so that the printing apparatus responds to the content data storage status in the printing apparatus. Since the edited content data can be requested, even if the memory of the printing apparatus is small, there is an effect that it can be surely operated.

[Embodiment 4] The invention of embodiment 4 relates to the printing control apparatus of embodiment 3,
The request is made after the job scheduling and the setting of the printing apparatus are completed based on the edited print job definition data in the printing apparatus.
According to this configuration, since the request is made after the job scheduling and the setting of the printing apparatus are completed based on the edited print job definition data in the printing apparatus, the printing apparatus does not need to hold the content data. Even in a printing apparatus with a small amount of memory, there is an effect that scheduling of a plurality of jobs becomes possible.

[Embodiment 5] The invention of embodiment 5 relates to the printing control apparatus of embodiment 1 or 2,
The data communication unit transmits a part or all of the edited content data to the printing apparatus according to a storage status of the edited content data in the content data storage unit.
According to this configuration, part or all of the edited content data is transmitted to the printing device in accordance with the storage status of the edited content data. Therefore, the printing device does not need to hold the content data and the memory Even in a printing apparatus with a small number of print jobs, the effect that scheduling of a plurality of jobs becomes possible is obtained.

[Mode 6] The invention of mode 6 relates to the print control apparatus according to any one of modes 1 to 5,
The content data storage means specifies a location of the edited content data as a URL
Based on (Uniform Resource Locator) information, the print job definition data editing unit converts the URL information of the content data into a print job definition data format that can be stored.

According to this configuration, the location of the edited content data is indicated by a URL (Uniform Resource
The print job definition data editing unit converts the content data into a print job definition data format that can store the URL information of the content data. The effect that it can respond is acquired.
Furthermore, since the printing apparatus can request content data based on the URL information, it is possible to obtain an effect that the request can be easily made.

[Mode 7] The invention of mode 7 relates to the print control apparatus according to any one of modes 1 to 6,
The data receiving means extracts the job definition data and the content data, and individually sends them to the job definition data editing means and the content data editing means.
According to this configuration, the job definition data and the content data are extracted immediately after receiving the data, and are individually sent to the job definition data editing unit and the content data editing unit. Therefore, there is an effect that the processing efficiency is improved.

[Mode 8] The print control method of mode 8 is
A print control method for receiving a print setting request by print job definition data and performing print control,
A data receiving step for receiving the print job definition data and the content data;
A print job definition data editing step of analyzing the print job definition data, creating content data editing information that is information for editing the content data based on the analysis result, and editing the print job definition data;
A content data editing step for editing the content data based on the content data editing information sent from the print job definition data editing step in parallel with the editing of the print job definition data by the print job definition data editing step. When,
A content data storage step for storing the edited content data edited in the content data editing step;
A data communication step of individually transmitting the edited print job definition data in the print job definition data editing step and the edited content data stored in the content data storage step to a printing apparatus, respectively. It is characterized by that.

According to this configuration, content data editing is performed in which content data is edited based on the content data editing information sent from the print job definition data editing step in parallel with the editing of the print job definition data in the print job definition data editing step. Since it has steps, it is possible to process the print job definition data without waiting for the end of the content data editing process.
In other words, it is possible to make advance reservations for jobs, so that it takes time to set up the printing device, for example, when preparation or setting of paper of a size that is not set in the printing device is required. Since the printing apparatus can be set in parallel with the content data editing process, the overall processing speed can be improved.

[Embodiment 9] The invention of embodiment 9 relates to the printing control method of embodiment 8,
In the data communication step, when the edited print job definition data obtained in the print job definition data editing step is acquired, the edited print job definition data is transmitted to a printing apparatus.
According to this configuration, the print job definition data is transmitted to the printing apparatus without waiting for the editing of the content data to be completed, so that the overall processing speed can be improved.
That is, in the same way as in the eighth mode, it is possible to make an advance reservation for a job, and when it takes a long time to set the printing apparatus, for example, when preparation or setting of a sheet of a size not set in the printing apparatus is required. Since the setting of the printing apparatus can be performed in parallel with the content data editing process in the printing control apparatus, the effect of improving the overall processing speed can be obtained.

[Mode 10] The invention of mode 10 relates to the printing control method of mode 8 or 9,
In the data communication step, when there is a request for the edited content data from the printing apparatus, the edited content data is transmitted to the printing apparatus as a response to the printing apparatus.
According to this configuration, only when there is a request for edited content data from the printing device, the edited content data is transmitted to the printing device. The effect that it can be made is acquired.

[Mode 11] The invention of mode 11 relates to a printing control method of mode 10,
The request is made after the job scheduling and the setting of the printing apparatus are completed based on the edited print job definition data in the printing apparatus.
According to this configuration, since the request is made after the job scheduling and the setting of the printing apparatus are completed based on the edited print job definition data in the printing apparatus, the printing apparatus does not need to hold the content data. Even in a printing apparatus with a small amount of memory, there is an effect that scheduling of a plurality of jobs becomes possible.

[Mode 12] The invention of mode 12 relates to the printing control method of mode 8 or 9,
In the data communication step, a part or all of the edited content data is transmitted to the printing apparatus in accordance with a storage status of the edited content data in the content data storing step.
According to this configuration, part or all of the edited content data is transmitted to the printing device in accordance with the storage status of the edited content data. Therefore, the printing device does not need to hold the content data and the memory Even in a printing apparatus with a small number of print jobs, the effect that scheduling of a plurality of jobs becomes possible is obtained.

[Mode 13] The invention of mode 13 relates to the printing control method of any one of modes 8 to 12,
In the content data storing step, the location of the edited content data is set to U
The print job definition data editing step stores the URL information of the content data into a print job definition data format that can be stored based on RL (Uniform Resource Locator) information.
According to this configuration, the location of the edited content data is indicated by a URL (Uniform Resource
The print job definition data editing step is converted into a print job definition data format that can store the URL information of the content data, so that it is possible to cope with a format that cannot refer to the URL.

[Form 14] The invention of form 14 relates to the print control method of any one of forms 8 to 13,
In the data receiving step, the job definition data and the content data are extracted and respectively sent to the job definition data editing step and the content data editing step.
According to this configuration, the job definition data and the content data are extracted immediately after receiving the data, and are individually sent to the job definition data editing means and the content data editing step. Therefore, there is an effect that the processing efficiency is improved.

[Mode 15] The print control program of mode 15 is
A print control program that receives a print setting request based on print job definition data and performs print control.
Data receiving means for receiving the print job definition data and content data;
Print job definition data editing means for analyzing the print job definition data, creating content data editing information which is information for editing the content data based on the analysis result, and editing the print job definition data;
Content data editing means for editing the content data based on the content data editing information sent from the print job definition data editing means in parallel with the editing of the print job definition data by the print job definition data editing means When,
Content data storage means for storing the edited content data edited by the content data editing means;
Realized as data communication means for individually transmitting print job definition data edited by the print job definition data editing means and edited content data stored in the content data storage means to the printing apparatus. It is a program for causing a computer to execute processing.

According to this configuration, content data editing is performed in which content data is edited based on content data editing information sent from the print job definition data editing unit in parallel with editing of the print job definition data by the print job definition data editing unit. Therefore, the print job definition data can be processed without waiting for the end of the content data editing process.
In other words, it is possible to make advance reservations for jobs, so that it takes time to set up the printing device, for example, when preparation or setting of paper of a size that is not set in the printing device is required. Since the printing apparatus can be set in parallel with the content data editing process, the overall processing speed can be improved.

[Mode 16] The invention of mode 16 relates to the print control program of mode 15,
The data communication unit, when acquiring the print job definition data edited by the print job definition data editing unit, transmits the edited print job definition data to the printing apparatus.
According to this configuration, the print job definition data is transmitted to the printing apparatus without waiting for the editing of the content data to be completed, so that the overall processing speed can be improved.

That is, in the same way as in the form 15, it is possible to make a reservation for a job in advance, so that it takes time to set up the printing apparatus, for example, when preparation or setting of a sheet of a size not set in the printing apparatus is required. Since the setting of the printing apparatus can be performed in parallel with the content data editing process in the printing control apparatus, the effect of improving the overall processing speed can be obtained.

[Mode 17] The invention of mode 17 relates to a printing control program of mode 15 or 16,
When there is a request for the edited content data from the printing apparatus, the data communication unit transmits the edited content data to the printing apparatus as a response to the printing apparatus.
According to this configuration, only when there is a request for edited content data from the printing device, the edited content data is transmitted to the printing device. The effect that it can be made is acquired.

[Form 18] The invention of form 18 relates to a print control program of form 17,
The request is made after the job scheduling and the setting of the printing apparatus are completed based on the edited print job definition data in the printing apparatus.
According to this configuration, since the request is made after the job scheduling and the setting of the printing apparatus are completed based on the edited print job definition data in the printing apparatus, the printing apparatus does not need to hold the content data. Even in a printing apparatus with a small amount of memory, there is an effect that scheduling of a plurality of jobs becomes possible.

[Embodiment 19] The invention of embodiment 19 relates to a printing control program of embodiment 15 or 16,
The data communication unit transmits a part or all of the edited content data to the printing apparatus according to a storage status of the edited content data in the content data storage unit.
According to this configuration, part or all of the edited content data is transmitted to the printing device in accordance with the storage status of the edited content data. Therefore, the printing device does not need to hold the content data and the memory Even in a printing apparatus with a small number of print jobs, the effect that scheduling of a plurality of jobs becomes possible is obtained.

[Mode 20] The invention of mode 20 relates to the print control program of any one of modes 15 to 19,
The content data storage means specifies a location of the edited content data as a URL
Based on (Uniform Resource Locator) information, the print job definition data editing unit converts the URL information of the content data into a print job definition data format that can be stored.
According to this configuration, the location of the edited content data is indicated by a URL (Uniform Resource
Based on the (Locator) information, the print job definition data editing means converts the content data URL information into a print job definition data format that can store the URL information.

[Mode 21] The invention of mode 21 relates to the print control program of any one of modes 15 to 20,
The data receiving means extracts the job definition data and the content data, and individually sends them to the job definition data editing means and the content data editing means.
According to this configuration, the job definition data and the content data are extracted immediately after receiving the data, and are individually sent to the job definition data editing unit and the content data editing unit. Therefore, there is an effect that the processing efficiency is improved.

[Mode 22] A printing apparatus according to mode 22
A printing apparatus that performs printing after receiving a print setting request by print job definition data and performing print control,
Data receiving means for receiving the print job definition data and content data;
Print job definition data editing means for analyzing the print job definition data, creating content data editing information which is information for editing the content data based on the analysis result, and editing the print job definition data;
Content data editing means for editing the content data based on the content data editing information sent from the print job definition data editing means in parallel with the editing of the print job definition data by the print job definition data editing means When,
Content data storage means for storing the edited content data edited by the content data editing means;
Data communication means for individually transmitting the print job definition data after editing by the print job definition data editing means and the edited content data stored in the content data storage means;
Print job definition data processing means for performing job scheduling based on the print job definition data edited by the print job definition data editing means and setting a printing device;
Content data processing means for creating an image based on the edited content data stored in the content data storage means;
Image forming means for forming an image based on the image image;
It is provided with.

According to this configuration, content data editing is performed in which content data is edited based on content data editing information sent from the print job definition data editing unit in parallel with editing of the print job definition data by the print job definition data editing unit. Therefore, the print job definition data can be processed without waiting for the end of the content data editing process.
In other words, it is possible to make advance reservations for jobs, so that it takes time to set up the printing device, for example, when preparation or setting of paper of a size that is not set in the printing device is required. Since the printing apparatus can be set in parallel with the content data editing process, the overall processing speed can be improved.

[Form 23] The invention of form 23 relates to the printing apparatus of form 22,
The data communication unit, when acquiring the print job definition data edited by the print job definition data editing unit, transmits the edited print job definition data to the printing apparatus.
According to this configuration, the print job definition data is transmitted to the printing apparatus without waiting for the editing of the content data to be completed, so that the overall processing speed can be improved.

That is, in the same way as in the form 22, it is possible to make an advance reservation for a job, and when it takes a long time to set up the printing apparatus, for example, when preparation or setting of paper of a size not set in the printing apparatus is required. Since the setting of the printing apparatus can be performed in parallel with the content data editing process in the printing control apparatus, the effect of improving the overall processing speed can be obtained.

[Form 24] The invention of form 24 relates to the printing apparatus of form 22 or 23,
When there is a request for the edited content data, the data communication means transmits the edited content data as a response.
According to this configuration, since the edited content data is transmitted only when there is a request for edited content data, the operation can be reliably performed even when the memory of the printing apparatus is small. Is obtained.

[Mode 25] The invention of mode 25 relates to a printing apparatus of mode 24,
The request is made after the job scheduling and the setting of the printing apparatus are completed based on the edited print job definition data.
According to this configuration, since the request is made after the job scheduling and the setting of the printing apparatus are completed based on the edited print job definition data, the printing apparatus does not need to hold the content data and has a small amount of memory. Even in the case of a printing apparatus, there is an effect that scheduling of a plurality of jobs is possible.

[Form 26] The invention of form 26 relates to the printing apparatus of form 22 or 23,
The data communication means transmits a part or all of the edited content data in accordance with a storage status of the edited content data in the content data storage means.
According to this configuration, since part or all of the edited content data is transmitted to the printing device according to the storage status of the edited content data, it is not necessary to hold the content data in the printing device, and the memory is saved. Even if the number of printing apparatuses is small, an effect that scheduling of a plurality of jobs becomes possible is obtained.

[Embodiment 27] The invention of embodiment 27 relates to the printing apparatus of any one of embodiments 22 to 26,
The content data storage means specifies a location of the edited content data as a URL
Based on (Uniform Resource Locator) information, the print job definition data editing unit converts the URL information of the content data into a print job definition data format that can be stored.
According to this configuration, the location of the edited content data is indicated by a URL (Uniform Resource
Based on the (Locator) information, the print job definition data editing means converts the content data URL information into a print job definition data format that can store the URL information.

[Embodiment 28] The invention of embodiment 28 relates to the printing apparatus of any one of embodiments 22 to 27,
The data receiving means extracts the job definition data and the content data, and individually sends them to the job definition data editing means and the content data editing means.
According to this configuration, the job definition data and the content data are extracted immediately after receiving the data, and are individually sent to the job definition data editing unit and the content data editing unit. Therefore, there is an effect that the processing efficiency is improved.

[Form 29] The printing method of form 29 is
A printing method for performing printing after receiving a print setting request by print job definition data and performing print control,
A data receiving step for receiving the print job definition data and the content data;
A print job definition data editing step of analyzing the print job definition data, creating content data editing information that is information for editing the content data based on the analysis result, and editing the print job definition data;
A content data editing step for editing the content data based on the content data editing information sent from the print job definition data editing step in parallel with the editing of the print job definition data by the print job definition data editing step. When,
A content data storage step for storing the edited content data edited in the content data editing step;
A data communication step for individually transmitting the edited print job definition data in the print job definition data editing step and the edited content data stored in the content data storage step;
A print job definition data processing step for performing job scheduling based on the print job definition data after the editing by the print job definition data editing step and setting a printing device;
A content data processing step of creating an image based on the edited content data stored in the content data storage step;
An image forming step of forming an image based on the image image;
It is characterized by including.

According to this configuration, content data editing is performed in which content data is edited based on the content data editing information sent from the print job definition data editing step in parallel with the editing of the print job definition data in the print job definition data editing step. Since it has steps, it is possible to process the print job definition data without waiting for the end of the content data editing process.
In other words, it is possible to make an advance reservation for a job, so that it takes a long time to set up the printing apparatus, for example, when preparation or setting of a sheet of a size not set in the printing apparatus is necessary, Since the printing apparatus can be set in parallel, there is an effect that the overall processing speed is improved.

[Mode 30] The invention of mode 30 relates to the printing method of mode 29,
In the data communication step, when the edited print job definition data obtained in the print job definition data editing step is acquired, the edited print job definition data is transmitted to a printing apparatus.
According to this configuration, the print job definition data is transmitted to the printing apparatus without waiting for the editing of the content data to be completed, so that the overall processing speed can be improved.
That is, as in the case of the form 29, it is possible to make a reservation for a job in advance, and accordingly, when setting of the printing apparatus takes time, for example, when preparation or setting of a sheet of a size not set in the printing apparatus is required. Since the printing apparatus can be set in parallel with the content data editing process in the printing control apparatus, the overall processing speed can be improved.

[Form 31] The invention of form 31 relates to the printing method of form 29 or 30,
In the data communication step, when there is a request for the edited content data, the edited content data is transmitted as a response.
According to this configuration, since the edited content data is transmitted only when there is a request for edited content data, the operation can be reliably performed even when the memory of the printing apparatus is small. Is obtained.

[Form 32] The invention of form 32 relates to the printing method of form 31,
The request is made after the job scheduling and the setting of the printing apparatus are completed based on the edited print job definition data.
According to this configuration, since the request is made after the job scheduling and the setting of the printing apparatus are completed based on the edited print job definition data, it is not necessary to hold the content data, and the printing apparatus has a small memory. However, there is an effect that scheduling of a plurality of jobs becomes possible.

[Form 33] The invention of form 33 relates to the printing method of form 29 or 30,
In the data communication step, a part or all of the edited content data is transmitted according to a storage status of the edited content data in the content data storing step.
According to this configuration, since part or all of the edited content data is transmitted according to the storage status of the edited content data, the printing apparatus does not need to hold the content data and prints with less memory. Even in the case of an apparatus, it is possible to schedule a plurality of jobs.

[Form 34] The invention of form 34 relates to the printing method of any one of forms 29 to 33,
In the content data storing step, the location of the edited content data is set to U
The print job definition data editing step stores the URL information of the content data into a print job definition data format that can be stored based on RL (Uniform Resource Locator) information.
According to this configuration, the location of the edited content data is indicated by a URL (Uniform Resource
The print job definition data editing step is converted into a print job definition data format that can store the URL information of the content data, so that it is possible to cope with a format that cannot refer to the URL.

[Form 35] The invention of form 35 relates to the printing method of any one of forms 29 to 34,
In the data receiving step, the job definition data and the content data are extracted and respectively sent to the job definition data editing step and the content data editing step.
According to this configuration, the job definition data and the content data are extracted immediately after receiving the data, and are individually sent to the job definition data editing means and the content data editing step. Therefore, there is an effect that the processing efficiency is improved.

[Form 36] The print program of form 36 is
A print program that performs printing after receiving a print setting request by print job definition data and performing print control,
Data receiving means for receiving the print job definition data and content data;
Print job definition data editing means for analyzing the print job definition data, creating content data editing information which is information for editing the content data based on the analysis result, and editing the print job definition data;
Content data editing means for editing the content data based on the content data editing information sent from the print job definition data editing means in parallel with the editing of the print job definition data by the print job definition data editing means When,
Content data storage means for storing the edited content data edited by the content data editing means;
Data communication means for individually transmitting the print job definition data after editing by the print job definition data editing means and the edited content data stored in the content data storage means;
Print job definition data processing means for performing job scheduling based on the print job definition data edited by the print job definition data editing means and setting a printing device;
Content data processing means for creating an image based on the edited content data stored in the content data storage means;
It is a program for causing a computer to execute processing realized as image forming means for forming an image based on the image image.

[Form 37] The invention of form 37 relates to a printing program of form 36,
The data communication unit, when acquiring the print job definition data edited by the print job definition data editing unit, transmits the edited print job definition data to the printing apparatus.
According to this configuration, the print job definition data is transmitted to the printing apparatus without waiting for the editing of the content data to be completed, so that the overall processing speed can be improved.

That is, in the same way as in the form 36, it is possible to make an advance reservation for a job, and when it takes a long time to set up the printing apparatus, for example, when preparation or setting of paper of a size not set in the printing apparatus is required. Since the setting of the printing apparatus can be performed in parallel with the content data editing process in the printing control apparatus, the effect of improving the overall processing speed can be obtained.

[Form 38] The invention of form 38 relates to the printing program of form 36 or 37,
When there is a request for the edited content data, the data communication means transmits the edited content data as a response.
According to this configuration, since the edited content data is transmitted only when there is a request for edited content data, the operation can be reliably performed even when the memory of the printing apparatus is small. Is obtained.

[Embodiment 39] The invention of embodiment 39 relates to a printing program of embodiment 38,
The request is made after the job scheduling and the setting of the printing apparatus are completed based on the edited print job definition data.
According to this configuration, since the request is made after the job scheduling and the setting of the printing apparatus are completed based on the edited print job definition data, the printing apparatus does not need to hold the content data and has a small amount of memory. Even in the case of a printing apparatus, there is an effect that scheduling of a plurality of jobs is possible.

[Form 40] The invention of form 40 relates to the printing program of form 36 or 37,
The data communication means transmits a part or all of the edited content data in accordance with a storage status of the edited content data in the content data storage means.
According to this configuration, since part or all of the edited content data is transmitted to the printing device according to the storage status of the edited content data, it is not necessary to hold the content data in the printing device, and the memory is saved. Even if the number of printing apparatuses is small, an effect that scheduling of a plurality of jobs becomes possible is obtained.

[Form 41] The invention of form 41 relates to the printing program of any one of forms 36 to 40,
The content data storage means specifies a location of the edited content data as a URL
Based on (Uniform Resource Locator) information, the print job definition data editing unit converts the URL information of the content data into a print job definition data format that can be stored.
According to this configuration, the location of the edited content data is indicated by a URL (Uniform Resource
Based on the (Locator) information, the print job definition data editing means converts the content data URL information into a print job definition data format that can store the URL information.

[Form 42] The invention of form 42 relates to the printing program of any one of forms 36 to 41,
The data receiving means extracts the job definition data and the content data, and individually sends them to the job definition data editing means and the content data editing means.
According to this configuration, the job definition data and the content data are extracted immediately after receiving the data, and are individually sent to the job definition data editing unit and the content data editing unit. Therefore, there is an effect that the processing efficiency is improved.

[Form 43] The recording medium of form 43 is
A recording medium on which the printing control program according to any one of forms 15 to 21 or the printing program according to any one of forms 36 to 42 is recorded.
According to this configuration, content data editing is performed in which content data is edited based on content data editing information sent from the print job definition data editing unit in parallel with editing of the print job definition data by the print job definition data editing unit. Therefore, the print job definition data can be processed without waiting for the end of the content data editing process.
In other words, it is possible to make advance reservations for jobs, so that it takes time to set up the printing device, for example, when preparation or setting of paper of a size that is not set in the printing device is required. Since the printing apparatus can be set in parallel with the content data editing process, the overall processing speed can be improved.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
In the following description, an example in which the print control device and the print device are separate devices will be described. However, this print control device can also be incorporated in the print device. Is called a printing device.
Also, as a code indicating data or information, the print job definition data is A, the content data is B, the content data editing information is C, the request is D, the response is E, the edited print job definition data is A ′, and the edited data Will be described as B ′.

First, the configuration of the print control apparatus of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration (including the configuration of a printing apparatus) to which a printing control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied.
The print control apparatus 1 is arranged between the client apparatus 3 and the printing apparatus 2, edits data after receiving print settings based on print job definition data from the client apparatus 3, and sends the edited data to the printing apparatus 2. Print control is performed by sending.

As shown in the figure, the print control apparatus 1 includes a data receiving unit 11, a print job definition data editing unit 12, a content data editing unit 13, and a content data storage unit 14.
And data communication means 15. Further, the configuration of the printing apparatus 2 includes a print job definition data processing unit 21, a content data processing unit 22, and an image forming unit 23. The client device 3 can be a general-purpose personal computer or other information processing device.

Next, the function of each part will be described.
The data receiving device 11 receives print request data from the client device 3, separates it into print job definition data A and content data B, and sends these data to the print job definition data editing means 12 and content data editing means 13. . That is, the data receiving device 11 extracts the print job definition data and the content data immediately after receiving the data, and sends them individually to the job definition data editing unit 12 and the content data editing unit 13, respectively. Compared with the case where both the data and the content data are sent to the job definition data editing unit 12 and the content data editing unit 13, the amount of data to be transported is small, so that the processing efficiency can be improved.

The print job definition data editing unit 12 edits the received print job definition data A, creates edited print job definition data A ′, and passes it to the data communication unit 15. On the other hand, content data editing information C (information for editing content data B) included in the print job definition data A is generated and sent to the content data editing means 13.
The content data editing unit 13 edits the content data B based on the content data editing information C sent from the print job definition data editing unit 12, and passes the edited content data C ′ to the content data storage unit 14.

The content data storage unit 14 stores the edited content data B ′ and passes it to the data communication unit 15 as necessary.
The data communication unit 15 sends the edited print job definition data A ′ and the edited content data B ′ to the print job definition data processing unit 21 and the content data processing unit 22 of the printing apparatus 2, respectively.

The print job definition data processing means 21 performs a process for converting the edited print job definition data A ′ to data for printing.
The content data processing unit 22 sends a request D to the data communication unit 15 of the print control apparatus 1 to obtain the edited content data B ′, and the edited content data B ′ together with the response E from the data communication unit 15. Is received, and processing for making data for printing is performed.

The image forming unit 23 forms an image based on the print data generated from the print job definition data A ′ and the content data B ′ passed from the print job definition data processing unit 21 and the content data processing unit 22.
The edited print job definition data A ′ can be sent to the print job definition data processing unit 21 immediately after being sent from the print job definition data editing unit 12 to the data communication unit 15, and the print job definition data processing is performed. The content data can be edited while being processed by the means 21. Therefore, for the edited content data B ', the content data processing of the printing apparatus 2 is performed after the processing in the print job processing means 21 is completed. When there is a request D from the means 22, it can be transmitted together with the response E.

This makes it possible to make advance reservations for jobs, and when it takes time to set up the printing device, for example, when it is necessary to prepare or set paper of a size not set in the printing device, the content data in the print control device Since the printer can be set in parallel with the editing process, the print job definition data editing process, the content data editing process, and the printing apparatus setting are compared to the case where the setting is performed in series. The effect of improving the processing speed can be obtained.
As described above, the present invention is characterized in that, in particular, the content data editing unit 13 is provided, and the print job definition data editing process and the content data editing process are performed in parallel.

Hereinafter, the meaning and effect of the content data editing means 13 will be described more specifically. In the following description, “print job definition data” generally refers to information relating to a print job, such as “print job specification data” and “print job setting data”. “Print job specification data” is referred to as “print specification information” and refers to information that describes the specifications of a desired printed material as a final product by printing processing. “Print job setting data” is referred to as “print setting information”, which is detailed setting information of a printing apparatus in print processing. Also,
“Content data” refers to document data associated with print specification information, and refers to electronic document data to be subjected to print processing based on print specifications.

Depending on the contents of the print job definition data A, the print control apparatus 2 needs to edit the content data B. For example, it is necessary to perform imposition or editing by converting the received content data B into a content data format that can be processed by the printing apparatus 2. in this case,
Conventionally, if the print control apparatus 1 has the content data editing means 13, there has been a problem that the processing in the print control apparatus 1 increases and the overall processing speed becomes slow. Using the editing information C, this problem can be solved.

That is, the print job definition data editing unit 12 analyzes and edits the print job definition data A, generates content data editing information C, and sends the generated content data editing information C to the content data editing unit 13. The content data editing unit 13 performs imposition and editing / conversion of content data based on the received content data editing information C, and stores the edited content data B ′ in the content data storage unit 14 as needed. Send to the communication means 15. On the other hand, the print job definition data editing unit 12 sends the edited print job definition data A ′ to the data communication unit 15 as a result of analyzing and editing the print job definition data A. The printing apparatus 2 performs job scheduling and setting of the printing apparatus 2 based on the received edited print job definition data A ′, and acquires the edited content data B ′ to obtain the edited content data B ′. The request D is transmitted to the data communication means 15 in order to obtain the edited content data B ′. In response to the received request D, the data communication unit 15 acquires the edited content data B ′ from the content data storage unit 14 and transmits it to the content data processing unit 22 of the printing apparatus 1.

With the above configuration, the processing speed of the editing as a whole can be increased by processing the print job definition data and the content data serially in parallel.
FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the computer system.
Here, the print control system 1 includes a computer for realizing the data receiving unit 11, the print job definition data editing unit 12, the content data editing unit 13, the content data storage unit 14, the data communication unit 15, and the like on software. As shown in FIG. 2, the hardware configuration includes a central processing unit (CPU) 60 that is responsible for various controls and arithmetic processing, and a main storage device (Main Storage). RAM (Random Access M
memory) 62 and ROM (Read Only Me) which is a read-only storage device.
memory) to PCI (Peripheral Component Inte
rconnect) bus and ISA (Industrial Standard Arch)
In addition to being connected by various internal and external buses 68 such as a technology bus, an HDD (Hard Disk Dri) is connected to the bus 68 via an input / output interface (I / F) 66.
ve) and other external storage devices (Secondary Storage) 70, output means 72 such as printing means, CRT, and LCD monitor, input devices 74 such as an operation panel, mouse, keyboard, and scanner, and a print instruction device (not shown). The network L for connecting is connected.

When the power is turned on, a system program such as BIOS stored in the ROM 64 or the like is stored in various dedicated computer programs stored in the ROM 64 in advance or a CD.
-Various dedicated computer programs installed in the storage device 70 via a storage medium such as a ROM, DVD-ROM, flexible disk (FD), or the like via the communication network L such as the Internet are similarly loaded into the RAM 62. Each function of each means as described above can be realized on software by the CPU 60 performing predetermined control and arithmetic processing using various resources in accordance with instructions described in the program loaded in the RAM 62. .

Next, the operation of the print control apparatus of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the printing control apparatus of the present invention (including the operation in the printing apparatus).
First, in step S11, the data reception unit 11 of the print control apparatus 1 determines whether data has been received. This determination is repeated until data is received, and if it is received, print job definition data A and content data B are extracted from this data in step S12. Next, in step S13, the print job definition data editing unit 12 analyzes the print job definition data A. In step S14, the content data is based on the data related to the content included in the print job definition data A. The content data editing information C for editing is created. In step S15, print job definition data for the printing apparatus (print job definition data after editing) A ′ is created. In step S18, the edited print job definition data A 'after editing is transmitted to the printing apparatus 2. On the other hand, in parallel with step S15, in step S16, the content data editing means 13 edits the content data B based on the content data B and the content data editing information C created in step S14. In step S17, the edited content data B 'is stored in the content data storage means 14.

Next, in the printing apparatus 2, if print job definition data is received in step S18, the print job definition data processing means 21 performs a job based on the edited print job definition data A 'in step S21. Perform scheduling, step S2
2, the printing apparatus 2 is set. Next, in step S23, the content data processing unit 22 requests the edited content data B ′ from the data communication unit 15 of the print control apparatus 1. In step S24, after the data communication unit 15 receives the edited content data B ′ stored in the content data storage unit 14,
In step S25, the edited content data B 'is transmitted from the data communication unit 15 to the content data processing unit 22 of the printing apparatus 2, and in step S26, an image is created. In step S27, it is determined whether transmission of all necessary content data has been completed. If not, return to step S23,
Request the content data again. If it is determined that all necessary content data has been acquired, the image forming unit 23 forms an image in step S28.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing another operation (including the operation in the printing apparatus) of the printing control apparatus of the present invention. In this flowchart, the operation content is the same as in FIG. 3 described above, and only the procedure is different. Therefore, the same step number is used for the same operation.
First, in step S11, the data reception unit 11 of the print control apparatus 1 determines whether data has been received. This determination is repeated until data is received, and if it is received, print job definition data A and content data B are extracted from this data in step S12. Next, in step S13, the print job definition data editing unit 12 analyzes the print job definition data A. In step S14, the content data is based on the data related to the content included in the print job definition data A. The content data editing information C for editing is created. In step S15, print job definition data for the printing apparatus (print job definition data after editing) A ′ is created. In step S18, the edited print job definition data A 'after editing is transmitted to the printing apparatus 2. On the other hand, in step S16, the content data editing means 13 edits the content data B based on the content data B and the content data editing information C. In step S17, the edited content data B ′ is converted into the content data. The data is stored in the storage unit 14.

Next, in the printing apparatus 2, if print job definition data is received in step S18, the print job definition data processing means 21 performs a job based on the edited print job definition data A 'in step S21. Perform scheduling, step S2
2, the printing apparatus 2 is set. Next, in step S23, the content data processing unit 22 requests the edited content data B ′ from the data communication unit 15 of the print control apparatus 1. In step S24, after the data communication unit 15 receives the edited content data B ′ stored in the content data storage unit 14,
In step S25, the edited content data B 'is transmitted from the data communication unit 15 to the content data processing unit 22 of the printing apparatus 2, and in step S26, an image is created. In step S27, it is determined whether transmission of all necessary content data has been completed. If not, return to step S23,
Request the content data again. If it is determined that all necessary content data has been acquired, the image forming unit 23 forms an image in step S28.

Next, the data format will be described.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of content data editing information.
This content data editing information C is created by the print job definition data editing means 12 based on the print job definition data A, and is sent to the content data editing means 13 when it is created.

In the example of the content data editing information in the figure, paper size: A3, paper orientation: landscape, duplex printing: ON, enlargement / reduction: OFF, number of allocated pages: 4, page layout (page, sheet,
face, x, y): (1, 1, 1, 595, 0), (2, 1, 2, 0, 0), (3, 1
, 2,595,0) and (4,1,1,0,0). That is, the content data editing information is specified to lay out four pages on one sheet on both sides without scaling to A3 horizontal size, and the first page is arranged at the xy coordinates (595, 0) on the first surface, The second page is arranged at the xy coordinates (0, 0) of the second surface, and the third page is the xy coordinates (595, of the second surface).
0) and the fourth page is set to be arranged at (0, 0) on the first surface.

Next, the content data editing result according to the content data editing information C when the content data is given by A4 will be described.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example before and after conversion of content data edited according to the content data editing information of FIG.
In this content data editing information, the upper row shows the content data B before conversion (before editing), the lower row shows the content data B ′ after conversion (after editing), the left side of the lower row on the left side is the first surface (face 1), The right side shows the second surface (face 2). As the content data editing information C, as shown in FIG. 5, the page number, the number of sheets, the surface number, the x-coordinate, and the y-coordinate are raised as the elements of the page layout, and these are put together (page, sheet, fac).
e, x, y). For example, in the figure, from the top page 1 to page 4, (1,
1,1,595,0), (2,1,2,0,0), (3,1,2,595,0), (4,
Since there is editing information of (1, 1, 0, 0), taking the face, (x, y) coordinates, the content data is as shown in the lower part. That is, before conversion, the pages arranged in the order of “page IV”, “page IV”, “reference page”, and “page 4” are converted to “page 4” on the left side of the first side after conversion. "
The right side is arranged as “page”, the left side of the second side as “page”, and the right side as “reference page”.
The content data editing information described above lists information, but for example XML (ext
It is also possible to express it with an “enable Markup Language”.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a case where the content data editing information of FIG. 5 is expressed in XML. Therefore, the contents are the same.
First, as the XML version / composite method, <xml version = “1.0”
encoding = “UTF-8”>. That is, the XML version is 1,
0, indicating that the encoding method is UTF-8. UTF-8 is a UCS (I
SO / IEC10646), an encoding method that can be used in Unicode.
SO / IEC10646 uses 8-bitUCTransformationForma
In t and Unicode, this is called UnicodeTranslationFormat-8. Both are compatible in the code overlap range of UCS-4 and Unicode. As content data editing information, <ContentsEditInformation>, paper size “A3”, paper orientation “horizontal direction”, <Media Size = “A3” Direction
n = “Landscape”> and double-sided printing “ON” is set to <LayoutPrepar
ationParamsNumberUp = "21" Sides = "TwoSidedF
lipX ">, enlargement / reduction" OFF "is indicated as <Expand =" 1.0 "/>,
The allocated page number “4” is indicated as <LayoutParametersNumberUpPages = “4”>, and the page layout “number of pages, number of sheets, plane, xy coordinates” is indicated as <LayoutPageNumber.
r = “1”> 1,1,595,0 </ LayoutPage>, <LayoutPage
Number = “2”> 1,2,0,0 </ LayoutPage>, <LayoutP
ageNumber = "3"> 1,2,595,0 </ LayoutPage>, <La
The content data editing information can be expressed in XML, as shown by pagePageNumber = "4"> 1,1,0,0 </ LayoutPage>.

Next, the print job definition data A will be described.
The edited print job definition data A ′ input to the print control apparatus 2 is JDF (Job
(Definition Format) text, a print job definition format of each manufacturer, etc. can be used. In particular, the print job definition data A ′ output from the print job definition data editing unit 12 and transmitted to the printing apparatus 2 may be described in, for example, the following JDF format so that the URL can be referred to.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of print job definition data.
This example is described in the JDF format. First, <xml version = “1.0” encoding = “UTF-8”> is expressed as an XML version / composite method. Then, in order, as “job definition data number”, “status”, “type”, “version”, ICS version, xmlns ”, and“ setting method ”, <JDFI
D = "Job001" Status = "Ready" Type = "Combined" T
types = ”LayoutPreparationImpossionInterpr
etingRendering, DigitalPrinting “Version =”
1.2ICSVersions = “DP_L1-1.0” xmlns = ”http: //
www. CIP4. org / JDFSchema_1_1 "SettingPolicy
= "BestEffort">. Also, as a “run list class”
<RunListClass = “Parameter” ID = “ID001” Status
s = “Available”>, “LayoutSpec” as <FileSpecMim
eType = “application / pdf” URL = file: /// spool
/ PrintData / test01. ps "> is expressed.
If such print job definition data is used, the URL can be referred on the network.
Also, since the print job definition data editing means converts it into print job definition data referring to the location (URL) of the content data, the print job definition data for the print control device is U
A format that cannot be referred to by RL can also be supported.

Next, the request D and response of the edited content data B ′ will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of the request D.
The content data request D from the content data processing means 22 of the printing apparatus 2 may be requested by designating a page number. As shown in the figure, HTTP (Hyp
er Text Transfer Protocol) may be used.
When receiving the range designation from the content data processing unit 22, the data communication unit 15 transmits a part or all of the corresponding content data to the content data processing unit 22 as a response E. The content data processing means 22 processes the received content data to form an image. However, since the acquired data breaks are not always page breaks, requesting the content data continuously enables the next page. Subsequent images can be formed.

For example, FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a second request.
In this request, after Get /, spool PrintData / test01
. ps HTTP / 1.1 and HTTP range function are used.
age / gif, image / jpeg, User-Agent: Browser, Ra
nge: bytes = 32000-63999. Accept indicates an acceptable image format. For example, an image is a gif (Graphic Intercha).
nge Format), jpeg (Joint Photographic Expe
rts Group). User-Agent: Browser indicates that the user agent can access each browser. Range r
Since the angle is bytes = 32000−63999, it can be seen that the request is the second request. Although the first request is not illustrated, the range Range is bytes = 0-31999.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a response to the second request in FIG.
This response is first made with HTTP / 1.1 206 Parti as URL information.
al content, date Date, last revision date Last-Modify
d, Content range Content-Range, Content length Content-L
ength, content type Content-Type, etc. are posted.

In this example, the date Date is Wed, 20 Sep 2006 01:23:45.
September 20, 2006, 1:23:45, Last Revised Date Last-Mo
diffuse is Wed. 20 Sep 2006 01:23:43, 2
Wednesday, September 20, 2006 1:23:43, Content Range Content-Rang
e is byte 320000-63999 / 74222, content length Content
t-Length is 32000, content type Content-Type is ap
application / postscript. Any other necessary data can be posted sequentially.

FIG. 11 shows an example of the contents of the third request after the response shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, the range range is the byte in the second response in FIG.
Since s was 32000-63999, in the third request, bytes is 64000-95999. Other items are the same as in the second request in FIG.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a response to the third request in FIG. 11, that is, a third response.
In the third response, the date Date is Wednesday, September 20, 2006 at 1:23:05
5 seconds, Last Revision Date Last-Modified is Wednesday, September 20, 2006 1:23:48, Content Range Content-Range is byte 64000-74
021/74022, content length Content-Length is 10022, content type Content-Type is application / postscr
It is ipt.

As described above, the content data transmission can also send a part of the content data in response to a request from the printing apparatus (content data processing means), and can be reliably operated even when the memory of the printing apparatus is small. Can do.
As described above, according to the print control apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to process the print job definition data without waiting for the end of the content data editing process, thereby improving the processing speed of the entire system.

Further, since the printing apparatus performs scheduling only with the first-arrival print job definition data, it is not necessary to store content data, and even a printing apparatus with a small amount of memory can schedule a plurality of jobs.
In addition, it is possible to make advance reservations for jobs. As a result, when it takes time to set up the printing apparatus, for example, when it is necessary to prepare / set a sheet of a size that is not set in the printing apparatus, the printing apparatus in parallel with the content data editing process in the printing control apparatus This makes it possible to increase the processing speed of the entire system.

In the above embodiment, when executing the processing shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. 3 and 4, the case where a control program stored in advance in the ROM is executed has been described. Alternatively, the program may be incorporated into the RAM and executed from the storage medium on which the program is recorded. Alternatively, the program may be acquired from a network.

Here, the storage medium is a semiconductor storage medium such as RAM or ROM, a magnetic storage type storage medium such as FD or HD, an optical reading type storage medium such as CD, CDV, LD, or DVD, or a magnetic storage type such as MO. / Optical reading type storage media, including any storage media that can be read by a computer regardless of electronic, magnetic, optical, or other reading methods.
As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention has been described, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, A various change is possible without deviating from the meaning of this invention. For example, as described first, the print control apparatus 1 of the present invention may be configured integrally with the printing apparatus 2.

In this embodiment, the print job definition data processing unit, the content data processing unit, and the like are described as components in the printing apparatus. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the print control apparatus is an image forming unit of the printing apparatus. It is also possible to configure so as to perform processing up to generation of print data.
In addition, the print job definition data A in the data receiving unit 11 and the data communication unit 15,
Delivery of the content data B may be via a network, CD-ROM, DV
An external storage medium such as a D-RAM or a USB memory may be used.

1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration (including a configuration of a printing apparatus) to which a printing control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. It is a functional block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of a computer system. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation (including an operation in the printing apparatus) of the printing control apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a flowchart showing another operation (including an operation in the printing apparatus) of the printing control apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of content data edit information. It is a figure which shows an example before and after conversion of the content data according to the content data edit information of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example which expressed the content data edit information of FIG. 3 by XML. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of print job definition data. It is a figure which shows an example of a request (2nd time). It is a figure which shows an example of a response (2nd time). It is a figure which shows an example of a request (3rd time). It is a figure which shows an example of a response (3rd time). It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the conventional printing control apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Print control apparatus, 2 ... Printing apparatus, 3 ... Client apparatus, 11 ... Data receiving means, 12
... print job definition data editing means, 13 ... content data editing means, 14 ... content data storage means, 15 ... data communication means, 21 ... print job definition data processing means, 22 ...
Content data processing means 23 ... Image forming means A ... Print job definition data A '... Edited print job definition data B ... Content data B' ... Edited content data C ... Content data editing information D ... Request, E ... Response

Claims (13)

A print control apparatus that receives a print setting request based on print job definition data including information about a print job and performs print control.
Data receiving means for receiving the print job definition data and content data;
Analyzes of the print job definition data, and the print job definition data editing means after creating the content data editing information, you edit the print job definition data is information for editing the content data by the analysis result,
Content data editing means for editing the content data based on the content data editing information sent from the print job definition data editing means in parallel with the editing of the print job definition data by the print job definition data editing means When,
Content data storage means for storing the edited content data edited by the content data editing means;
A data communication means for individually sending the print job definition data after editing by the print job definition data editing means and the edited content data stored in the content data storage means to the printing apparatus;
A printing control apparatus comprising:   2. The printing according to claim 1, wherein the data communication unit transmits the edited print job definition data to a printing apparatus when the print job definition data edited by the print job definition data editing unit is acquired. Control device.   The said data communication means transmits the edited content data to the printing device as a response to the printing device when there is a request for the edited content data from the printing device. The printing control apparatus according to 1 or 2.   The print control apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the request is made in the printing apparatus after job scheduling and setting of the printing apparatus are completed based on the edited print job definition data.   The data communication unit transmits a part or all of the edited content data to the printing apparatus according to a storage status of the edited content data in the content data storage unit. Item 3. The print control apparatus according to Item 1 or 2.   The content data storage means stores the location of the edited content data based on URL (Uniform Resource Locator) information, and the print job definition data editing means stores the URL information of the content data. The print control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print control apparatus converts the print job definition data format into a print job definition data format.   The data receiving unit extracts the job definition data and the content data, and individually sends them to the job definition data editing unit and the content data editing unit. The printing control apparatus according to claim 1. A print control method for receiving a print setting request including information about a print job and performing print control,
A data receiving step of receiving the print job definition data and the content data by a data receiving means ;
The printing analyzes the job definition data, the print job after creating, the print job definition data in the content data editing information by the print job definition data editing means is information for editing the content data by the analysis result A print job definition data editing step to be edited by the definition data editing means ;
In parallel with the editing of the print job definition data in the print job definition data editing step, the content data editing means edits the content data based on the content data editing information sent from the print job definition data editing step . Content data editing step to be performed;
A content data storage step of storing the edited content data edited by the content data editing step by a content data storage means ;
A data communication step of individually transmitting the print job definition data edited by the print job definition data editing step and the edited content data stored in the content data storage step to the printing apparatus by the data communication means, respectively. When,
A printing control method comprising: A print control program that receives a print setting request including information about a print job and performs print control.
Data receiving means for receiving the print job definition data and content data;
Analyzes of the print job definition data, and the print job definition data editing means after creating the content data editing information, you edit the print job definition data is information for editing the content data by the analysis result,
Content data editing means for editing the content data based on the content data editing information sent from the print job definition data editing means in parallel with the editing of the print job definition data by the print job definition data editing means When,
Content data storage means for storing the edited content data edited by the content data editing means;
Realized as data communication means for individually transmitting print job definition data edited by the print job definition data editing means and edited content data stored in the content data storage means to the printing apparatus. A print control program for causing a computer to execute processing. A printing apparatus that performs printing after receiving a print setting request including information about a print job and performing print control,
Data receiving means for receiving the print job definition data and content data;
Analyzes of the print job definition data, and the print job definition data editing means after creating the content data editing information, you edit the print job definition data is information for editing the content data by the analysis result,
Content data editing means for editing the content data based on the content data editing information sent from the print job definition data editing means in parallel with the editing of the print job definition data by the print job definition data editing means When,
Content data storage means for storing the edited content data edited by the content data editing means;
Data communication means for individually transmitting the print job definition data after editing by the print job definition data editing means and the edited content data stored in the content data storage means;
Print job definition data processing means for performing job scheduling based on the print job definition data edited by the print job definition data editing means and setting a printing device;
Content data processing means for creating an image based on the edited content data stored in the content data storage means;
Image forming means for forming an image based on the image image;
A printing apparatus comprising: A printing method for performing printing after receiving a print setting request including information about a print job and performing print control,
A data receiving step of receiving the print job definition data and the content data by a data receiving means ;
The printing analyzes the job definition data, the print job after creating, the print job definition data in the content data editing information by the print job definition data editing means is information for editing the content data by the analysis result A print job definition data editing step to be edited by the definition data editing means ;
In parallel with the editing of the print job definition data in the print job definition data editing step, the content data editing means edits the content data based on the content data editing information sent from the print job definition data editing step . Content data editing step to be performed;
A content data storage step of storing the edited content data edited by the content data editing step by a content data storage means ;
A data communication step of individually transmitting the print job definition data after the editing by the print job definition data editing step and the edited content data stored in the content data storage step by a data communication unit ;
A print job definition data processing step for performing job scheduling based on the print job definition data edited by the print job definition data editing step , and setting a printing apparatus by a print job definition data processing unit ;
A content data processing step of creating an image image by content data processing means based on the edited content data stored in the content data storage step;
An image forming step of forming an image by an image forming unit based on the image image;
A printing method comprising: A print program that performs printing after receiving a print setting request including information about a print job and performing print control,
Data receiving means for receiving the print job definition data and content data;
Analyzes of the print job definition data, and the print job definition data editing means after creating the content data editing information, you edit the print job definition data is information for editing the content data by the analysis result,
Content data editing means for editing the content data based on the content data editing information sent from the print job definition data editing means in parallel with the editing of the print job definition data by the print job definition data editing means When,
Content data storage means for storing the edited content data edited by the content data editing means;
Data communication means for individually transmitting the print job definition data after editing by the print job definition data editing means and the edited content data stored in the content data storage means;
Print job definition data processing means for performing job scheduling based on the print job definition data edited by the print job definition data editing means and setting a printing device;
Content data processing means for creating an image based on the edited content data stored in the content data storage means;
A printing program for causing a computer to execute processing realized as image forming means for forming an image based on the image image.   A recording medium on which the printing control program according to claim 9 or the printing program according to claim 12 is recorded.

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